Chapter 452: Tracking
The cinema had also been temporarily shut down.
Everyone from the Half Moon Bay Base was notified when Lu Weiyi left. They were now scattered into small teams of two or three, searching for the missing person. Xu Sa handed communication with the security team over to Meng Huan and rushed toward the Ability User Conference venue with Liu Rui.
The conference site was close to the Capital Base government office. It was rebuilt after being attacked by spirit-type zombies a few years back. Guards were stationed in multiple layers, and no one was allowed near to avoid disrupting the meeting.
Xu Sa presented Half Moon Bay’s credentials for repeated inspection before being led inside.
The morning meeting had ended, and the base leaders were now eating lunch in the dining hall.
Since there was another meeting in the afternoon, no alcohol was served. Everyone was grouped up, discussing suggestions raised earlier in the morning.
Su Yan, Tang Bai, and Tao An were consulting with Zhuang Mingxu when the entrance door opened. Xu Sa and Liu Rui scanned the room and quickly ran over.
Zhuang Mingxu and Li Zhuang exchanged a glance and stood up immediately.
“Base Leader, our team’s healer is missing,” Xu Sa said calmly but clearly before he even reached them.
“What?” Li Zhuang frowned, stepping up to him.
“Xu Yi’s gone?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
“Yes. She vanished in broad daylight. The others are already out searching.”
People had already been paying attention since Xu Sa walked in, and now their expressions changed as they all looked over.
“Did you notify the base for assistance?” Zhuang Mingxu asked, turning his gaze to Zhao Qiang.
“The security team is interrogating those who were present. Meng Huan also sent resting members of Blaze to help search.”
“I’ll go check it out,” Li Zhuang said, about to leave, but then remembered that everyone here was an ability user, and leaving Zhuang Mingxu—a regular human—alone was like leaving a sheep among wolves.
“I—” Zhuang Mingxu was about to say something when Xu Sa subtly bumped his arm and glanced toward the Capital Base delegation. “Our base leader means that A-rank healers are extremely rare across all bases. Shouldn’t we ask everyone here to help with the search?”
Zhuang Mingxu caught the hint, and the two exchanged a meaningful look before he nodded. “That makes sense.”
Though not spoken loudly, those nearby had heard it. Lu Xiao quickly came over to ask what had happened.
“Thank you, Uncle Lu. Meng Huan has already called people to help,” Xu Sa said, then turned to Zhao Qiang who had followed him, “The people present have been taken for questioning by the security team. Could I trouble Officer Zhao to speed things up a bit? After all…”
“Training an A-rank healer is no easy feat.”
“Of course,” Zhao Qiang waved over one of the guards at the door and whispered a few instructions.
An A-rank healer disappearing in broad daylight—especially during a key period when Capital Base was trying to win over Half Moon Bay—naturally drew major attention. The afternoon meeting was even delayed by two hours because of it.
Only once they reached a safe location did Zhuang Mingxu ask for details. After hearing Xu Sa’s account, he breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out the phone that had been off during the meeting.
“Lu Weiyi left in a hurry and didn’t bring his phone. He’s using Yue Qiwen’s number, but I haven’t been able to reach him,” Xu Sa said, explaining how he had tried to check in before entering the meeting, but there seemed to be no signal.
“Capital Base’s local network has limited coverage. He either went to the outskirts… or has already left the base.”
Since he trusted Lu Weiyi’s ability level, Zhuang Mingxu shifted his focus to the current problem.
“Do you think it could be…” Zhuang Mingxu looked at Xu Sa but didn’t finish the sentence. After all, it involved Xu Sa’s mother, and it wasn’t appropriate for an outsider to speak badly of her.
“She was interrogated. They said it wasn’t her,” Xu Sa replied, then fell silent for a long moment before exhaling, his whole posture collapsing slightly, as if all the strength had left his bones. He muttered, “…I don’t even know anymore.”
He had always believed she was someone who prioritized appearances above all. Back when his father died, she couldn’t bear living like a lonely housewife with a child and gave him up without hesitation. But now, she seemed capable of casting all pride aside for this new child.
Xu Sa didn’t know if she was just putting on a show—or if he really did mean less to her than the child now.
Zhuang Mingxu, faced with this kind of family situation, didn’t know what to say. He just patted his shoulder and contacted the others for updates.
By the time the afternoon meeting began, there was still no word from Lu Weiyi. Li Zhuang decided to stay and monitor updates personally, assigning Liu Rui to stick with Zhuang Mingxu for his safety.
Meanwhile, Lu Weiyi had already followed the two suspects out of Capital Base and into the refugee district outside the base.
After four years of apocalypse, even the areas outside the base had formed a certain scale. Compared to the city inside, it was still filthy and chaotic—but on closer inspection, it had its own kind of order.
The streets and residential areas had everything you could think of, and were even more lively—shouting, cursing, scuffling, stealing—it felt like stepping into a lawless zone, visibly messy and wild.
Lu Weiyi clearly didn’t belong there. He stopped tailing them directly and instead used his mental power to keep an eye on them.
Xu Yi had been placed in a separate room by the man. After tying her tightly, he stuffed a filthy rag into her mouth and secured it firmly.
Just seeing that filthy rag was enough for Lu Weiyi to imagine the smell. He looked at Xu Yi with a trace of pity in his eyes and thought, Poor kid, he’s probably never been treated like this before.
Thinking of how Xu Yi might react once he woke up, a hint of schadenfreude crept onto Lu Weiyi’s face.
After confirming that Xu Yi was properly secured, the man wiped his face, hid the remaining crystal cores, and only after double-checking everything, opened the door and left.
“Shunzi, you’re up? The foreman said you were sick. Feeling better?” someone greeted the man.
“A bit better,” the man replied in a simple, honest tone.
“You don’t look like you’ve fully recovered yet. Why not take another day off?”
“Yeah, you already asked for leave anyway. They’ll dock your pay for the day, so you might as well rest.”
“I feel better now. Better to earn a little than nothing.”
Chatting casually with the people passing by, the man made his way through the bustling market to a less crowded alley.
The alley was narrow and uneven, just wide enough for two people to pass. Many doors were shut, while a few were open, with large signs at the entrances reading things like: “Construction Team, * Earth-type Abilities Needed”.
The man passed several buildings before finally entering a small two-story structure labeled “Swift Construction Team.”
“Wang Shun, what brings you here?” Inside, a burly, middle-aged woman with a fierce aura was moving things around. As she spoke, the fat on her face jiggled.
“Sis Lü, just came to see if there’s any work for me at the team,” Wang Shun replied.
“Old Lü took the team to build a house for Old Man Sun in Little North Alley. You can go help if you’re free.”
“Alright, I’ll head over and lend a hand.”
After that, Wang Shun left and walked purposefully in a specific direction. After a few turns, he actually arrived at a house under construction.
Compared to Li Zhuang back at Half Moon Bay Base who could erect a tall building in an instant by himself, the two ability users here were clearly weaker. On top of that, they had to follow the owner’s plans for the room sizes, which further restricted their abilities.
To test the wall’s strength, a man—likely the homeowner—used a hammer to knock on the dirt wall formed by the ability users. At one point, a single blow caused the entire wall to crumble into dust. The others weren’t fazed—they quickly reformed it, again and again, until it passed the hammer test.
Wang Shun greeted a bearded man chewing on a blade of dry grass and then quickly got to work. Unlike earlier, when he had rapidly tunneled underground, he now controlled his power output carefully—stronger than the other two, but not by much.
This kind of mindless, repetitive labor didn’t stop from the moment it started.
After watching for a while, Lu Weiyi lost interest and turned his attention back to Xu Yi.
Xu Yi was already awake. After the initial panic, he had started struggling to free himself, but the bindings were too tight, leaving only deeper marks on his skin.
Not understanding the situation, Xu Yi didn’t dare make noise. He could only look around for help. The dirty rag in his mouth made him gag repeatedly, and after rolling his eyes twice, his eyes turned red. Lu Weiyi couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy.
[Don’t make a sound] Lu Weiyi wrote on his tablet and held it up in front of Xu Yi’s eyes.
Xu Yi immediately looked around in confusion, but was quickly smacked by a little green vine, forcing him to behave. The rag tied around his mouth was pulled down by Lu Weiyi, and Xu Yi promptly spat it out.
[Don’t spit it out], Lu Weiyi reminded him again.
He didn’t want to alert the enemy. If Xu Yi spit it out, someone would have to clean up.
Xu Yi nodded and forced himself to suppress his nausea with a few dry heaves.
“Where is this?”
[The refugee zone outside Capital Base. Do you remember what happened?]
“I think…” Xu Yi tried to recall, then winced, “Someone knocked me out. I don’t remember after that.”
[Someone brought you here. I’m trying to find out who’s behind it. Until then, cooperate with them.] After writing this, Lu Weiyi hesitated seeing how miserable Xu Yi looked and decided to give him a choice.
[Or should I take you away now?]
Xu Yi pondered for a moment, his eyes resting on the dirty rag on the floor. Then, gritting his teeth, he said, “Let’s wait for them to make a move.”
[You sure?] Lu Weiyi asked.
Xu Yi nodded determinedly, “I want them to pay.”
[Alright.]
Not knowing what the captors were planning, Xu Yi let Lu Weiyi feed him a little food via the green vine. He only drank two sips of water—afraid he’d need the toilet.
With Lu Weiyi occasionally communicating via the tablet—even though Xu Yi couldn’t see him—the reassurance made him feel much more at ease. He even started guessing who could’ve attacked him.
As night fell, Lu Weiyi warned him that someone was returning. Xu Yi closed his eyes and endured as the rag was placed back in his mouth. Lu Weiyi reminded him to cooperate for his safety and quickly stowed the tablet away.
