Chapter 489: Rescue
“Okay! Taotao will come back soon.” Holding the note, Taotao took a few steps, then turned and waved toward a certain area. Two buckets of water and a prepared meal floated through the air and landed beside Lu Weiyi.
Racing through the forest day and night, he hadn’t felt anything. But now, seated, Lu Weiyi realized he didn’t even have the strength to move.
“Father, eat your meal,” Taotao reminded him softly, then left the space.
The moment he emerged, his little mouth pouted. Hugging Zhuang Aiyi, he said miserably, “Brother, Father’s hurt.”
“Hurt? Where?” Lu Xiao asked urgently.
Taotao handed him the paper and pointed to his own shoulder. “Bleeding.”
The note explained what had happened at the time and their situation afterward. Knowing they were alive, Lu Xiao finally relaxed. But hearing they still hadn’t regrouped made his heart clench again.
He quickly picked up a pen to write a reply while Taotao whispered to Zhuang Aiyi about Lu Weiyi’s miserable condition.
Lu Xiao had never seen Lu Weiyi look so bad. In the few battles he had witnessed, Lu Weiyi had always seemed like a god descending from the heavens—commanding and powerful, radiating invincibility.
“I’ll go get food. You take it to Little Daddy,” Zhuang Aiyi said, then ran toward the dining room and returned with the leftover pizza and chicken legs from the two kids—still on the plate—and stuffed it into Taotao’s arms.
Lu Xiao placed the reply letter on top and, seeing that Taotao had successfully entered the space again, immediately ordered the kitchen to prepare more food.
During their exchange, Lu Xiao also learned that they had been attacked by an SS-level mutant plant. With such a powerful mutant appearing near the base, no one would believe the base had no idea.
Sure enough, intercepting and detaining the people from Panshui Base had been the right call.
[Uncle, don’t come find us yet—there are too many mutant birds along the way.]
Even with an SS-level ability user protecting them and a team of skilled attackers assisting, it had only just been enough to land safely. If it were anyone else, who knew what could’ve happened on the way?
[Okay, I understand,] Lu Xiao replied with his hands, even as his mind raced, calculating possible rescue plans.
Now that he knew the forest wasn’t a direct threat to them, Lu Xiao advised him to prioritize his own safety while trying to find more people.
After they exchanged updates and rested briefly, Lu Weiyi left the space and resumed his journey, while Lu Xiao relayed the information to Zhuang Mingxu and continued thinking through support strategies.
While Lu Xiao was quietly preparing escape routes and rescue plans for the entire squad, Half Moon Bay Base had also silently entered a full defense posture.
In a very short time, the news of Lu Weiyi’s accident had spread across all the bases. Tang Bai, who was nearby, even bluntly asked whether the news was true—fortunately, he added that his team could help if needed, or else the anxious and suspicious Zhuang Mingxu might’ve kept score in his heart.
True or not, the tone was at least friendly. After thanking him, Zhuang Mingxu continued to receive messages from many more people.
Eventually, even Eric reached out.
Recalling Eric’s powerful psychic abilities, Zhuang Mingxu asked if he’d reached the peak of A-rank. Then he offered to sell a suppression headband at half price in exchange for Eric leading a team to help in the rescue.
The distance to Panshui Base was too far; a helicopter would be needed for the rescue. Their base had enough hidden helicopters, but the sky was swarming with mutant birds, so they would need a high number of psychic ability users.
Knowing the news had spread to every base that cared, Zhuang Mingxu left Wu Yue to handle the incoming inquiries and went to the weapons research center himself.
“Brother Mingxu? The assistant said you were looking for me?” Lu Xi had clearly worked through the night again—his eyes were bloodshot, hair messy and unkempt.
“Yes. Your brother went out on a mission and lost contact…”
“What did you say—?” Lu Xi rushed forward in panic, only to be stopped by Zhuang Mingxu’s hand.
“I’m arranging the rescue. Listen to me.” Zhuang Mingxu motioned for him to calm down. “You applied to do modification research on enemy fighter planes. How many have you finished?”
Lu Weiyi had spoiled this younger brother to the extreme—whatever personnel or materials Lu Xi needed for his research, he’d try his best to provide.
Lu Xi hadn’t let him down either. From his early work on crystal-core weapons to energy converters, and later even wanting to research new energy sources—before leaving Capital, he had even talked to Lu Weiyi about trying submarine modifications.
Lu Weiyi had actually started gathering intel on pre-apocalypse naval bases, hoping to transform underwater combat weapons.
“There are twelve modified aircraft using crystal-core weapons that are ready for deployment, but…” Lu Xi bit his lip, looking like he’d done something wrong. Under Zhuang Mingxu’s questioning gaze, he gritted his teeth and continued, “I’ve made progress on a crystal-core energy system and quietly installed it on seven of them.”
Zhuang Mingxu frowned. “Why didn’t you say something about such a big deal?”
Lu Xi lowered his head, obediently taking the scolding. “Our base isn’t short on fuel right now. If my brother knew I’d developed a crystal-core energy system, he would’ve prioritized it for civilian use…”
Whether it’s helicopters or fighter planes, switching fuel sources requires major reworking. It consumes a lot of time and energy. Even if Lu Weiyi doted on him, Lu Xi didn’t think he would let him monopolize modified weapons for a non-urgent project.
Zhuang Mingxu clenched his jaw. As a weapons researcher, Lu Xi’s passion and dedication were admirable, but as a superior who’d been kept in the dark, it was… irritating.
“Brother, I was wrong, I’ll never do this again. I promise I’ll report everything before making decisions,” Lu Xi quickly softened up when he saw Zhuang’s expression. “And I’ve already tested three of them—they work fine. Just use up some crystal cores, that’s all.”
A new energy source was certainly a good thing. But in this context, Zhuang Mingxu was so annoyed he couldn’t even compliment him. He pointed at him for a while and finally said, “I’ll let your brother handle you when he gets back.”
Lu Xi stuck his tongue out. “Four are still unfinished, but the remaining eight are ready for combat.”
Zhuang Mingxu nodded and considered. “Word’s already spreading among the bases. Some may be plotting against us. Your father’s place could be the first target. Go back and support him—take five fighter planes.”
He paused, then added, “Bring the three modified ones too. Are you sure they’re ready for travel?”
“They’re ready. I even got a few pilots from Uncle Lin to run ocean tests. Apart from using more crystal cores, they’re flawless.”
“Good. Once you get there, make it known those are crystal-core-powered fighter planes—but don’t reveal too much.”
Zhuang Mingxu told him to pack and leave quickly, then summoned all the top base commanders for a meeting.
Li Qing and others had already learned about Lu Weiyi’s disappearance and immediately offered to lead a rescue team.
Instead of responding to them, Zhuang Mingxu turned to Lin Yimu and asked, “How’s the air combat force training going? Can they handle high-altitude support?”
“We selected a hundred people to start with. About five or six had prior experience. Their combat awareness and ability are decent,” Lin Yimu replied.
“Good. Have them ready at all times. Also, have every psychic ability user in the base on standby—we may need to deploy at any moment.”
“What about the main team?”
“I’ll pick a few from Team One and bring some members from the Ability User Guild.”
“Sending them out…” Li Qing glanced around the office, confirming there were no outsiders, then asked bluntly, “Could anything go wrong?”
“Leaving them in the base is more dangerous. The base troops will defend the facility, temporarily lock down the base, and detain the squad members and their families for now.” Half Moon Bay was their stronghold—under no circumstances could it be breached.
“Then I’ll lead the rescue team. When do we depart?” Ning Yuan made a swift decision.
“Wait for the message from Capital. First, select team members and the needed supplies. Get everything ready and stand by.”
*
At this moment, Lu Weiyi had already reached the edge of the jungle. The first thing he saw was a swath of mutant plants. Unlike others who relied on the naked eye to observe form and color, his psychic scan detected energy signatures—this whole patch of flickering energy could only be from one plant.
There were no other stronger energy signatures nearby, so Lu Weiyi confirmed this was the plant that had attacked them.
Through his binoculars, he could clearly see signs of a battle on the ground: short trees near the forest edge were broken unevenly, with fallen branches and scattered leaves covering the ground. Amid the gaps, faint crimson bloodstains were visible.
A deep crater several dozen meters wide confirmed to Lu Weiyi that this was where the explosion had occurred.
A power user’s crystal core could explode in only two scenarios: one, zombie energy had accumulated too much during a level-up; or two, their powers went out of control in an emotional surge, triggering a core explosion.
The second case was extremely rare. In his previous life, it wasn’t known until years later. In this life, Lu Weiyi hadn’t heard of such a case.
What exactly had they gone through?
Although Lu Weiyi had initially deemed the rendezvous point dangerous, it was the only open spot nearby where he could feasibly regroup with the team. But now that it was confirmed someone had died there, he immediately decided to relocate.
Looking around, only one spot lacked vegetation; the rest was thick forest stretching endlessly.
He had to find his teammates before they got too close to this danger unknowingly—otherwise, more lives might be lost.
He hadn’t even dared to tell Lu Xiao about the possible casualties. Even though Lu Xiao had mentally prepared himself as soon as he heard about the crash, Lu Weiyi couldn’t bring himself to say it.
