Chapter 453: Xu Sen
The man, whose powers were already depleted, had been working all afternoon. When he came in, he shut the door behind him and collapsed onto the floor, exhausted.
Xu Yi whimpered in front of him for quite a while, trying to show he was awake, but the man didn’t spare him a single glance.
Sitting on the floor, the man gnawed on a dry bun, then got up and laid down on a dirt-packed bed, snoring within moments.
Even Xu Yi was stunned. Lu Weiyi was also a bit taken aback.
Xu Yi was tied up so tightly from head to toe that he couldn’t even cause a commotion if he wanted to. Lu Weiyi was just glad he hadn’t drunk much water earlier.
Night had fully fallen. There were only a few places nearby with lights, and those went out quickly, plunging everything into darkness. Occasional voices could be heard cursing in the night.
Lu Weiyi checked his phone—still no signal. The situation didn’t seem like it would change any time soon. He considered returning to the base for a bit, but he was worried something might happen in his absence.
After all, there were only two healers at the base. Losing even one would be a major loss.
Especially considering Xu Yi’s relationship with Li Zhuang. Even though they constantly bickered, it was clear both of them enjoyed it. Li Zhuang had gone to attend a meeting, and Lu Weiyi hadn’t protected his man—he couldn’t justify that.
Lu Weiyi simultaneously released his mental power and Little Green Vine toward the direction of the base, hoping to find a squad in the bustling crowd…
But before the mental power even had time to search, he picked up on Li Zhuang driving aimlessly along the streets near the city’s edge, honking his horn irritably and drawing muttered curses from pedestrians. It was as if he were desperate to announce to the whole world that he was there.
Lu Weiyi found it hard to watch. He sent a note to Li Zhuang via Little Green Vine. After reading it, Li Zhuang’s expression didn’t change. Not long after, he drove away from the street.
Half an hour later, someone familiar emerged from the ground within Lu Weiyi’s range of mental perception. The way they popped out was so eerie it looked like a monster had crawled up from the earth.
Guided by mental energy, Li Zhuang quickly found Lu Weiyi’s location. Glancing around at the exposed rooftop, he asked in a low voice, “You’ve been here all afternoon?”
“Of course not,” Lu Weiyi replied. The rooftop was too conspicuous during the day. He had only come up after dark. Not wanting people to think that a high-level ability user like him was suffering out here, he nodded toward the room where Xu Yi was being kept. “That room.”
When Li Zhuang realized they still had Xu Yi tied up, his face darkened. “Didn’t Gu Qingji refine the medicinal essence from the mutant climbing vine flower for you? Knock him out. I’m going in.”
Lu Weiyi raised an eyebrow and stealthily extended the Little Green Vine. After a while, he nodded—success.
“You head back first. The squad still doesn’t know what’s going on. Cover for me until dawn,” Li Zhuang said, then nimbly leapt down from the fifth floor and silently approached the room where Xu Yi was held.
Lu Weiyi stretched, looked toward the city gate—it was sealed now. Sneaking in wasn’t an option. So he had no choice but to…
Climb the wall!
With the help of Little Green Vine and his mental power to cover him, Lu Weiyi huffed and puffed his way back into the base, utterly exhausted.
Only then did he realize that in order to avoid attention, Li Zhuang had returned the car to the villa and snuck out alone. By now, Lu Weiyi was supposed to be at the villa—he couldn’t just drive back openly. This meant…
Lu Weiyi looked toward the distant villa district, then back at the dozens-of-meters-high wall he had just scaled. For a moment, he wasn’t sure which direction would be easier to return to.
By the time Lu Weiyi quietly made it back to the villa, the living room lights were already off. Inside, Zhuang Mingxu and a few others were sitting in the dark.
Hearing movement, Zhuang Mingxu was the first to get up. “What’s the situation?”
“Nothing much. Xu Yi and I decided to wait and see who’s behind all this,” Lu Weiyi replied, finally understanding what it meant to feel “dust-covered and travel-worn.” He downed the tea Zhuang Mingxu handed him in a few gulps and asked if there was any dinner left.
Zhuang Mingxu had never seen him in such a state and found it amusing.
“There is. I saved you some,” Gu Qingyue called as she headed to the kitchen.
After explaining what had happened, Lu Weiyi asked about the other bases’ reactions.
“After the meeting, I sent the squad members to keep an eye on people from the other bases. No movement yet.”
“Xu Yi’s okay, right? He’s not hurt?” Xu Sa, feeling guilty for failing to protect him, looked remorseful.
“…He’s not hurt.” But given Xu Yi’s proud nature, Lu Weiyi figured the treatment he’d endured was enough for him to want to tear those people limb from limb.
“As long as he’s not hurt, that’s good,” Xu Sa mumbled, clearly upset.
Lu Weiyi didn’t know how to comfort him and had Liu Rui take him to rest.
After dinner, he discussed the next day’s plans with Zhuang Mingxu. Learning the two kids were still with Lu Xiao, he hurried to his room to get some sleep.
But just after midnight, a guard knocked on the door, saying someone urgently needed to see them.
“Who the hell shows up in the middle of the night?” Gu Qingji, who had been on night watch, confirmed it was a familiar guard and approached.
“It’s people from the Hope Base. They say it’s about healing-type ability users.”
“Wait a moment,” Gu Qingji replied crisply and went to wake everyone in the villa.
“Let them in, and have someone call Major General Lu, Chief Zhao, and Captain Zheng,” Zhuang Mingxu instructed after hearing the news.
Shortly after they were allowed in, Su Yan walked in awkwardly with more than a dozen people. Under Zhuang Mingxu’s questioning gaze, he revealed Xu Sen and others behind him.
“Mr. Zhuang, Young Master Lu,” Xu Sen stepped forward to greet them.
Since the powers conference began, countless bases had tried to cozy up to Moon Bay, but Xu Sen had kept his distance. During meetings, he only nodded from afar, doing his best to stay unnoticed.
Su Yan had explained it was because they feared Xu Yi. Lu Weiyi had assumed Xu Yi would go trouble them, and had prepared countless contingency plans for him—but Xu Yi never made a move. He figured they’d all tacitly agreed to let the matter go.
Who knew a surprise move was waiting here?
“Hello, Mr. Xu.”
“Was it you who kidnapped Xu Yi?”
Lu Weiyi didn’t bother with small talk. He asked directly.
Xu Sen nodded to the people behind him. They pushed out a young man who looked about twenty, with the haggard appearance of someone drained from long-term indulgence. He didn’t seem intimidated at all. Chin raised arrogantly, he looked Lu Weiyi up and down—just like Xu Yi would—but with a self-important swagger.
That gaze made Zhuang Mingxu’s face immediately darken. “Don’t want your eyes anymore?”
“Xu Miao!”
Tch.
Xu Sen’s rebuke and Xu Miao’s dismissive scoff came almost at the same time.
Such blatant disrespect was like stomping on the reputation of the entire Only Squad.
Lu Weiyi found it rather novel. In his previous life, Zhuang Mingxu had been powerful from the start, always holding high standards for himself and the team. Even after establishing themselves in the Capital Base, no one dared disrespect them like this.
In this life, Lu Weiyi had continued that style, developing the squad early on—yet this was the first time someone had dared look down on them so openly.
He sized up the person in front of him and gave an amused smile.
The next moment, before Xu Miao could even react, his entire body seemed to be struck by electricity. He was instantly enveloped in a sphere of crackling electric current, sizzling and sparking as it completely surrounded him.
“Ahh… fuck… who the hell… aahhh…”
Xu Miao’s curse barely escaped his mouth before it turned into a pained scream. He crumpled to the ground and started writhing, curling up like a shrimp.
The people standing on either side of him immediately stepped far back, afraid of being caught in the electric storm.
“Mr. Zhuang, my younger brother was being immature. I apologize on his behalf. Please, I hope you all won’t hold it against him,” Xu Sen quickly stepped in to take responsibility.
“Kids don’t know any better—just takes a few beatings before they learn,” Zhuang Mingxu had no intention of letting it slide. He invited Xu Sen and the others to sit, then, without waiting for Xu Sen to speak again, asked, “The guards said you know where our missing healer went?”
“I’d also like to know who’s acting so lawlessly in the Capital Base,” Lu Xiao strode in through the wide-open door.
Behind him followed Zhao Qiang and Zheng Yi, who had arrived in a hurry.
“Even healing-type abilities are being targeted now? How’s anyone supposed to feel safe going out?” Zhao Qiang, short in stature and with a cigarette dangling from his lips, spoke lazily, looking like he hadn’t fully woken up. He barely looked like a police chief—more like a street thug.
Zheng Yi yawned, took the stool Gu Qingyue handed him, and sat down with a thud. “Let’s hear it.”
With Xu Miao still screaming from the electric shock, the atmosphere was grim and tense, like a murder was about to happen on this dark and stormy night. Even though the nearby villas were spaced far apart, many had turned on their lights, curious about the commotion.
Xu Sen noticed that none of the three newcomers were stopping the situation, so he looked toward Su Yan for help, hoping the middleman would say something.
But Su Yan, who had brought them in, had gone straight to the back of the crowd, arms crossed, leaning against the sofa like he was catching up on sleep—clearly uninterested.
With no one to appeal to, Xu Sen finally began to explain the situation regarding Xu Yi.
As they’d guessed, Xu Sen had learned about Xu Yi’s presence the day he arrived at the Half Moon Bay Base. Su Yan, out of respect for their prior collaboration and the hope that they might still unite against the zombie threat in the future, had told him directly and warned him to be careful.
Xu Sen had immediately abandoned the idea of cozying up to the Half Moon Bay Base and told his subordinates not to cause any trouble.
After the long journey to the Capital Base, things had stayed relatively calm. But when Xu Yi never made a move, Xu Sen’s subordinates started to doubt whether there was anything to worry about. They still remembered Xu Yi as the person they had imprisoned, humiliated, and used at will. When Xu Miao started disappearing overnight for wild escapades, Xu Sen used it as an excuse to rein him in—but Xu Miao resented it deeply.
