Chapter 458: Framed
Xu Yi quickly opened a bottle and, spotting Xu Sa looking over from not far away, raised it at him from a distance.
Zhuang Mingxu dampened a towel to help Lu Weiyi wipe his hands, reminding him to drink less, and took the opportunity to wipe Lu Weiyi’s right hand a few extra times.
The afternoon exhibition had little to do with the lower-tier ability users. The duels on the stage continued, and the format had even evolved into a more organized challenge-and-defense system, no longer limited to battles between the same types of abilities. The Capital base even offered rewards for the matches.
The team leaders from each base gathered at the expo to inspect the advanced equipment from the two most developed bases.
Compared to Half Moon Bay’s high prices, Capital Base took the completely opposite route—budget-friendly. They openly displayed their inferior-quality crystal core weapons right next to Half Moon Bay’s, even telling interested buyers directly: “Ours aren’t as good, but they’re cheaper.”
Surprisingly, this attracted a lot of people who were on the fence due to cost. Seeing this, Zhuang Mingxu had to admit, he was impressed.
All the products they brought were pricey but closely tied to survival—especially the headbands that reduced the energy of zombies in the body. With three Capital team leaders having personally tested them, they became hot commodities despite the steep price.
At first, Lu Weiyi was managing the overall flow to prevent chaos, but later he became a full-time cashier. Even the helpers sent by Lu Xiao were down to their last few crystal cores.
From excitement to numbness, it only took Lu Weiyi two hours.
With only a few headbands left, even the Half Moon Bay captains who had come along couldn’t help but speak up.
“Base Leader Lu, about those…” Ye Jia gestured subtly toward Zhuang Mingxu, who was rolling up his sleeves and working like a vendor, and said obsequiously, “Shouldn’t we set a few aside for our base’s squads?”
“You all want some?” Lu Weiyi looked at Chen Xing and Yue Qiwen behind him.
“Who wouldn’t want good gear?” Yue Qiwen adjusted his glasses with a polite smile.
“It’s just the price…” Ye Jia’s face scrunched into a bitter expression.
“Ask Base Leader Zhuang later if there are any leftovers or discounts. That’s not my department,” Lu Weiyi replied frankly. He knew his own strengths—sales wasn’t one of them. Letting Zhuang Mingxu handle it would not only make things smoother but also help foster goodwill among the ability-user captains, which was good for management.
“Base Leader Zhuang is always thinking of our teams—he definitely saved some for us,” said Yu Mengchu cheerfully. Then she raised her voice toward the crowd: “Come take a look, second-generation energy disruptors! The latest model that lets you adjust the interference range and intensity!”
“Guess I better get back to work,” Ye Jia laughed dramatically. “Maybe Base Leader Zhuang will reward my hard work with one of these!”
The foot traffic was nonstop. Lu Weiyi even had to fight for time just to go to the bathroom.
But just as he entered a stall, he heard the door to the restroom being locked. At first, he thought someone was targeting him—after all, he had stored all the crystal cores from the afternoon’s earnings in his spatial space. He stayed alert.
Then he heard two sleazy men talking outside.
“You sure the stuff you gave him works? What if he wakes up midway?”
“Waking up is better! Where’s the fun in doing a corpse? It’s the struggle that makes it spicy.”
“Right? I saw him trying to cozy up to that Base Leader earlier. Too bad he got ignored.”
“Guy like that already has his favorite around—who’d want these ugly leftovers?”
“Well, I’m not picky! I’ll take what I can get, ha!”
…
When Lu Weiyi stepped out of the stall, he saw the two middle-aged, greasy men—both half-naked—while a man lay unconscious on the ground, already stripped bare.
The two didn’t expect anyone to be inside and immediately recognized Lu Weiyi. They exchanged a panicked glance and, fumbling with their pants, stammered, “Base Leader Lu…”
“We… we…”
Lu Weiyi had seen scenes like this countless times even before the apocalypse. Unlike others who liked to play the hero, he preferred to ignore it altogether.
He didn’t even bother responding to the two. Calmly washing his hands, he walked past them and opened the door to leave.
“Help… help… Lu…”
A weak voice came from the man on the floor.
But Lu Weiyi moved even faster—he closed the door again before the voice finished.
Back at the venue, after only a few minutes of work, Zhao Qiang arrived with several men and women. He shot Lu Weiyi a strange look before veering toward Zhuang Mingxu, whispering a few words.
Zhuang Mingxu’s face darkened immediately. He looked at the man who had followed Zhao Qiang and said coldly, “That’s absolutely impossible.”
“Base Leader Zhuang, I don’t want to believe it either. But my brother-in-law swears the person he saw was Base Leader Lu. Your base owes us an explanation.”
The man’s voice was calm, but his eyes were full of hostility—like he was ready to stab Lu Weiyi on the spot.
People who were still asking about products turned around instantly.
“What’s going on, Team Leader Ling?” someone who recognized him asked.
The man looked toward Lu Weiyi, who appeared entirely indifferent. “My brother-in-law was drugged… and something happened…”
The implications were immediately clear to everyone present. All eyes turned to Zhuang Mingxu.
Then the man added, “He said he saw Base Leader Lu.”
The crowd broke into gasps of disbelief—just as Xu Sa let out a laugh.
“Sorry, couldn’t hold it in,” Xu Sa said unapologetically. Then he asked, “And you are?”
“Ling Chaoyang, captain of the Scorching Sun Team from the Changhong Base.”
“Oh,” Xu Sa crossed his arms and sized him up for a moment, then offered a very serious suggestion:
“Although it’s hard to find a psychologist nowadays, if you’re sick, you still need treatment. Delusional fantasies are really not a good look when they spread around.”
“You—” Ling Chaoyang glared at him angrily and turned to Zhao Qiang. “Sheriff Zhao, someone from our base encountered something this serious in the Capital. Don’t you think we deserve an explanation?”
Zhao Qiang looked toward Lu Weiyi. “How about cooperating with the investigation, Brother Lu?”
“Investigate what?” Lu Weiyi didn’t want to make things difficult for Zhao Qiang in front of everyone.
“Let’s talk somewhere else,” Zhao Qiang said, trying to protect Lu Weiyi’s reputation.
“No need—right here is fine. Captain Ling threw a huge accusation in public, and regardless of whether it’s toward our base or our base leader, the damage to our reputation is significant.” Zhuang Mingxu’s eyes were cold as he looked at Ling Chaoyang.
“If this is just a misunderstanding, how will Captain Ling compensate us?”
The moment Lu Weiyi heard the word “compensate,” his spirit instantly lifted.
“If it’s not true, I’ll apologize to Base Leader Lu.”
“Apologize? Who do you think you are? You think a half-hearted ‘sorry’ is enough to brush this off?” Xu Sa stood beside Zhuang Mingxu, arms crossed, his whole body radiating one word—arrogance.
“You’re just a small team leader, and you think slandering our base leader is that easy?”
“Do you even know your own worth? If you’re going to pull a stunt like this, at least make up a better excuse.”
“Maybe he thinks his sister’s whatever-number husband is some kind of once-in-a-lifetime man.”
“Wait—there’s a number for which husband she’s on?”
“Of course. Captain Ling’s sister is apparently supporting an entire base full of husbands. Hahaha—”
Amid the jokes and teasing, everyone from the Half Moon Bay Base stood firmly on Zhuang Mingxu’s side, presenting a united front.
Ling Chaoyang gritted his teeth so hard they made a grinding sound, his jaw clenched with tension.
“So this is how Half Moon Bay Base shelters criminals? Always waving around that banner of peaceful coexistence between ability users and ordinary people—this is what you call peace? Don’t tell me—”
“Captain Ling,” Yue Qiwen, who had been standing on the sidelines, pushed up his glasses and interrupted,
“Adults should choose their words carefully.”
“You’ve already tarnished the reputation of both our base leader and our entire base. And now you’re affecting our trade show. These damages can’t be made up for with just an apology or a ‘misunderstanding.’ So, don’t you think we should…”
Yue Qiwen looked toward Lu Weiyi, who was standing quietly behind their group.
Seeing him nod, Yue Qiwen continued,
“…discuss compensation first.”
“What kind of compensation are you asking for?” Ling Chaoyang asked.
“Is there anything more straightforward than crystal cores?” Yue Qiwen seemed to switch into calculator mode, a stream of numbers flowing from his mouth:
“Because of Captain Ling’s irresponsible remarks, our base’s reputation might suffer long-term damage, which could impact our cooperation with surrounding bases and our economic income. Captain Ling will need to take responsibility for this.”
“Secondly, our base leader is still young and emotionally vulnerable. Being hit with such an accusation out of nowhere could seriously affect his mental well-being. As the only SS-level ability user currently, the compensation for emotional damage also needs to be covered by Captain Ling. Otherwise…”
Yue Qiwen paused and looked around at the other base members who had gathered to watch.
At this point, all eyes were on Lu Weiyi, who was calmly counting crystal cores. That impassive expression didn’t match the “emotionally vulnerable” claim at all.
“If his mental state is affected and he can’t fight zombies in the future, then…”
Yue Qiwen didn’t finish, but the threat was crystal clear—enough to make even the bystanders start taking the situation seriously.
“Also, we’re in the middle of a trade fair. On average, every minute we’re losing—”
“Seven thousand six hundred eighty-four,” came Lu Weiyi’s voice from behind.
Before others even understood what that meant, Yue Qiwen immediately followed up,
“A loss of 7,684 crystal cores per minute—this economic loss also needs to be covered by Captain Ling.”
“This is extortion!” someone in Ling Chaoyang’s group shouted.
“Completely money-obsessed. What a disgrace to major bases.”
“Big bases bullying a small team like this—are we just going to watch and do nothing?”
“What are we supposed to talk about, if not money? Feelings? Bro, take a look in the mirror—who even knows who you guys are?”
Yu Mengchu rolled her eyes so hard they almost flew off her face.
