Chapter 45: My Sugar Daddy, Where Are You?
Whether Zhuang Mingxu arrived or not within five days, Lu Weiyi was definitely going back to Qingyuan. That night, Lin Yimu began planning what the two of them would need to bring for the return trip.
Lin Yimu was almost ten years older than Lu Weiyi. When Lu Weiyi was still living in the Ji family, Lin Yimu, who had unexpectedly retired from the army, desperately needed money but couldn’t find a good job. Zhuang Mingxu offered him several times his previous salary to come to Lu Weiyi’s side, with the only requirement being to prevent anyone from bullying him.
At that time, Lu Weiyi was as delicate as a porcelain doll, silent all day long. Lin Yimu had protected him, leading him out of the seemingly glamorous but utterly disgusting place that was the Ji family, unscathed, until Zhuang Mingxu took him away from the Ji family and left the Capital.
Protecting him was first a responsibility, then became a habit, and finally became a part of life. Calling himself a bodyguard, he was more devoted than raising a son, and their relationship was the closest besides Zhuang Mingxu.
Lin Yimu naturally didn’t want him to return to Qingyuan as poorly as he had, especially since the zombies had clearly been increasing recently, which meant more things needed to be prepared.
After eating, Lu Weiyi excused himself to rest, returning to his room to cultivate his abilities. Having been reborn with his abilities, he had reached the mid-stage after this period of strengthening. Lu Weiyi estimated that he could break through to B-level when the heavy snow arrived.
Each level of ability upgrade gave the ability user a sensation, like a container filling with water. Continuing to compress it would expand it into a larger container. Upgrading each level was not easy, but the difference between levels was also exceptionally obvious.
The highest level ability Lu Weiyi had seen was SSS. At that time, Zhuang Mingxu could metalize his entire body, making him impervious to blades and bullets. He could control all metal within a one-kilometer radius, once inspiring awe in the base’s higher-ups. According to him, reaching SSS felt like a drop of water entering the ocean, the sky vast and the sea wide, a sudden enlightenment.
Mental power advancement was even more difficult. Lu Weiyi had the highest level among all mental power ability users, no doubt due to Zhuang Mingxu piling up a lot of crystal cores for him, but he had only reached the peak of SS. Although only one step away from breaking through to SSS, sometimes that one step was like the ends of the earth.
At that time, his mind could cover a radius of over five hundred meters, and the mental power protective film around him could allow him to last for more than twenty minutes in a zombie horde. He could even silently invade the brains of low-level ability users, imperceptibly changing their thoughts and controlling their behavior, which once led other forces in the base to try to sow discord between him and Zhuang Mingxu, wanting to win him over to their camp while also secretly being extremely wary of him.
A mid-stage C-level ability user could only cover an area of about ten meters, and their mental protection film would only last a few minutes, enough for an emergency at a critical moment. In a world where ability users were one in a million, this was considered good, but having experienced greater power, Lu Weiyi was somewhat dissatisfied. He cultivated almost whenever he had time.
Lin Yimu said he was preparing things, but apart from food and water, everything else was dispensable. So, the next day, it was still the group of them going out to find supplies, just with Lin Yimu added.
Dean was left at home again, this time with the little green-haired guy to keep him company, using a scavenged English learning machine to teach him Chinese while also watching over the supplies they had previously found.
The location was still the north of the city.
However, they didn’t have yesterday’s good luck today. They went to three warehouses in a row, and all of them were filled with household goods, beds, sofas, and even refrigerators and TVs, but not a single edible item.
There were more and more zombies outside. Just getting there took half an hour longer than yesterday, and they cleared dozens more wandering around, but all they found were these completely impractical things, inevitably making the group somewhat disappointed.
Lu Weiyi pretended to look through things not far from the warehouse, secretly and quickly putting things like bed sheets, duvet covers, and quilts from the corner into his space.
Gu Qingji looked at the now-ubiquitous hand-drawn map and asked, “Further northwest, there’s a transfer warehouse for a courier company. It might all be express deliveries, so there must be all sorts of miscellaneous things inside. Should we go over and take a look?”
“Unpacking express deliveries?” Gu Qingyue handed a bottle of water to Gu Qingji and leaned over to take a look. Gu Qingji took a sip to moisten his throat, then held it to Gu Qingyue’s mouth.
Gu Qingyue took a sip. “I think it’s a good idea. It’s almost noon, so we can take it as a break. Who knows what we might find that we need?”
Gu Qingji nodded in agreement, took the water, and drank two mouthfuls from where Gu Qingyue had drunk, a faint blush appearing on his rebellious face.
Li Zhuang glanced over casually, surprised for a moment. Noticing Gu Qingyue’s oblivious look, he turned his gaze back to the map, pointing to a spot. “Let’s go around here and get some meat!”
“Chicken farm?” Lin Yimu raised an eyebrow.
Antonio’s eyes lit up instantly. “Go.”
“Yeah, let’s go around here and take a look, then head back to the courier place. In the afternoon, we can directly take San Kou Road back. There are two wet markets there, let’s stop by and have a look, what do you think?” Lin Yimu planned the most suitable route, looking at Li Zhuang and Antonio, who were implicitly the leaders.
Antonio made an OK sign. Li Zhuang didn’t answer, turning his head towards Lu Weiyi. “Little Young Master, have you finished your treasure hunt? We should go.”
Ever since Lin Yimu called Lu Weiyi “Young Master” yesterday, Li Zhuang would occasionally address him like this, his tone carrying a hint of teasing, especially paired with his ambiguous smile. Seeing Lu Weiyi glare at him, he would only smile more happily.
The chicken farm already belonged to a small village outside the suburbs. In the early days of the apocalypse, most people were searching for food nearby, and few ventured too far, so they hadn’t encountered many people along the way.
The six of them split into three groups, driving two big trucks and a van. As soon as they got out of the vehicles, they followed the usual routine of each dealing with the zombies in front of them while converging in one place.
The sound of chickens clucking attracted some zombies. There were clearly more zombies here than outside, and they were still running out of the chicken coops intermittently. After spending some time dealing with all of them, Gu Qingji drove the van into the yard.
“Just listening to the sounds, I know there must be a lot. I’ll make chicken soup for you tonight,” Gu Qingyue said to his younger brother beside him.
“I don’t like chicken soup, it’s so high in calories,” Gu Qingji said with a straight face. “But if you insist on making it, I can reluctantly drink a bowl.”
“No need to force yourself, I can drink it for you,” Li Zhuang replied, who was scouting the way, while cautiously opening the half-closed chicken coop door, not forgetting Lu Weiyi. “Little Young Master, how do you like your chicken?”
“Mind your own business,” Lu Weiyi muttered, disliking his tone of teasing a child.
“Our Young Master likes chicken stew with mushrooms,” Lin Yimu knew Lu Weiyi’s preferences very well. “Stir-fried chicken pieces are also good. We can make a few different kinds when we get back.”
“Dean also likes chicken stew with mushrooms,” Antonio said, never forgetting his little boyfriend. “I haven’t let him eat fresh meat in a long time.” Antonio’s voice softened when he thought of his little boyfriend, but there was a hint of guilt in his words. If he were still in his home country, his father’s influence would have ensured that Dean lived a very good life, even in the apocalypse.
“You take very good care of him,” Gu Qingyue, easily sensing the emotions of those around him, comforted him in time.
“He could have had a better life,” Antonio was despondent for a few seconds, then regained his confidence. “But I can make that happen. Let’s start with eating chicken stew with mushrooms.”
The chicken farm in the village wasn’t very big, just one chicken coop. The zombies inside had been attracted by their earlier movements and had gone outside. The warehouse-like chicken coop could be seen at a glance, with long rows of four-tiered chicken cages, three rows of hens and one row of roosters, about a thousand in total.
“Whistle whistle…” Li Zhuang whistled cheerfully. “Let’s get to work. Kid, guard the door. Qingyue, collect the eggs. The rest of us, one row each.”
Lu Weiyi walked around the chicken coop. Noticing nothing unusual, he directed the little green branch to the other rooms. The room closest to the chicken coop was full of feed and other chicken-raising supplies. Further along were collected eggs, already packed in boxes and waiting to be shipped. In the back were several large freezers, containing already processed whole chickens, seemingly still powered.
There must be something generating electricity. The little green branch didn’t see it within its range. Lu Weiyi looked around and quickly ran over. Sure enough, he found a generator further away. Besides the connected freezers, it was also connected to the incubator on the other side, where several fluffy chicks had already hatched.
“Bro—!” Gu Qingji’s frightened voice came over. Lu Weiyi thought he had made a mistake and didn’t bother to look further, directly putting everything into his space. He trotted towards the chicken coop, looking around warily. He indeed didn’t see any zombies.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Weiyi entered the chicken coop and saw Gu Qingji’s pale face. He was nervously holding Gu Qingyue’s hand, rubbing it gently.
Gu Qingyue’s expression was also a bit unpleasant. He pointed at the chicken cage, patted Gu Qingji’s back to comfort him, and replied, “He thought I got pecked.”
The chickens in the cages were stiff, their heads sticking out, occasionally struggling to peck at people. Their feathers were clearly also pecked, messy and stained with blood.
“Zombie chickens?” The few people who came over exchanged glances, their expressions somewhat grave.
“If animals can turn into zombies, what about insects…?” Lin Yimu didn’t dare to continue. If insects also started turning into zombies, then zombie insects the size of fingernails would be truly impossible to defend against. Would there still be a place for humans to live then?
“Live one day at a time. Hurry up and continue, everyone keep an eye out,” Li Zhuang didn’t let them continue their morbid thoughts and prepared to have them continue.
“Did you kill the chickens?” Lu Weiyi smelled a faint bloody scent.
“Killed them,” Gu Qingyue said, puzzled. “We can’t take them away alive, can we?”
Lu Weiyi looked around and saw a pile of several chickens with their heads chopped off in one place. Li Zhuang and Antonio had obviously seen them too.
“Grab the stuff and leave quickly!” Li Zhuang shouted. The other three ran towards the pile of chickens with broken necks. Gu Qingyue didn’t understand what was happening for a moment but still picked up a box of eggs and pulled Gu Qingji out.
Lu Weiyi spread out his mental power to collect the remaining chickens into his space, while also chopping open the nearest chicken cage and grabbing two roosters.
Outside the gate, Li Zhuang and Antonio had each started a big truck. Inside the van in the yard, Lin Yimu was driving and the Gu Qingyue brothers were already seated. “Quick!” Gu Qingyue pulled Lu Weiyi into the car. Before he could close the door, they drove off.
Zombies were already rushing in through the gate. Lin Yimu said, “Hold on tight!” and rammed into a few zombies, accelerating at full speed. Outside, at least a hundred zombies had been attracted by the scent of blood, and many more could be seen gathering from the direction of the village.
