Chapter 491: Elder Zheng Appears
“Captain Lu—” Qian Min had been betting on the idea that the law wouldn’t punish the crowd, that if everyone shared the blame, Lu Xiao wouldn’t dare act. He had gambled wrong.
Now, seeing that every squad he’d secretly notified had shown up but Lu Xiao remained completely unmoved, he began to panic.
Lu Xiao ignored him. With a wave of his hand, dozens of people were gagged and taken away.
As they were led off, a grand procession arrived at the gate—at the head was Zheng Congzhong, the former head of the Zheng family and Zheng Yi’s grandfather.
This man had once been Lu Xiao’s superior. But after the Zheng and Zhuang branches split, Lu Xiao had sided with the Zhuang family. Still, compared to the self-serving Zhuang patriarch, Old General Zheng had fought his way up from the battlefield, with a deep loyalty to the country.
Before he could speak, Lu Xiao began:
“Old General, you didn’t raise your grandson right. He cozied up to my nephew, calling him brother and taking benefits—and then turned around and stabbed him in the back. Truly a disgrace to your family.”
“The information wasn’t even confirmed yet. Everyone else knew to wait and observe, but he just had to rush to the front. Hot-headed and unstable.” Lu Xiao shook his head with a helpless expression.
“Yes, he still needs tempering,” Old Zheng said, shooting Zheng Yi a glare and trying to smooth things over.
“But stabbing a brother in the back? He wouldn’t do that. There must be some misunderstanding.”
Among the three major forces in Capital, only Lu Xiao had a blood tie to Half Moon Bay Base. The other two families had a publicly friendly relationship with it.
Especially the Zhuang family—every time they interacted with Half Moon Bay, Zhuang Mingxu would go all out to make it ceremonial and show everyone their close personal ties. It was both a deterrent to outside threats and a shield against sudden betrayal.
The higher you rise, the more your character matters. You can be cruel, immoral, even lawless—but if you’re the kind of person who backstabs even your friends, then those around you have to seriously consider if you’re worth following.
Old Zheng immediately understood where Lu Xiao was steering the conversation, and quickly said:
“Zheng Yi! Explain yourself to your Uncle Lu. What exactly happened?”
Even Zheng Yi, as slow as he was, now felt a cold sweat break across his back.
“I didn’t betray anyone. I just received word that Uncle Lu had sent helicopters to attack ability users, so I came to ask what was going on.”
Lu Xiao looked at him with a half-smile, neither confirming nor denying whether he believed him.
“We just wrapped up the Capital ability user summit. If an incident happens to one of our bases right after, others may read too much into it,” Old Zheng interjected smoothly, defending Zheng Yi while subtly warning Lu Xiao not to escalate things.
He patted Zheng Yi’s back.
“I told you to stay low-key. You’re young and always surrounded by a crowd—made your Uncle Lu misunderstand. Apologize already.”
“…Sorry, Uncle Lu. I didn’t mean anything by it,” Zheng Yi said, managing to keep a straight face despite being publicly pressured—he had some composure, at least.
“If it’s just a misunderstanding, then let’s clear it up. As your uncle, I wouldn’t hold a grudge.” Lu Xiao, out of respect for the elder Zheng who had stepped down after handing control to Zheng Yi, took the opportunity to smooth things over and gestured toward the door to show they could leave.
“No rush. I heard there was a mishap in your operation,” Old Zheng said, then noticed Lu Xiao’s smile cool slightly and stopped.
He added, “If rescue is needed, the Zheng family army is ready to help at any time.”
Lu Xiao narrowed his eyes, while Old Zheng met his gaze openly.
“Every high-level ability user is a national asset. They play a vital role in our fight against zombies, and none should be sacrificed in vain.”
Then he turned to the squads that had followed Zheng Yi in and spoke in a commanding tone:
“Any real patriot should shed their blood on the battlefield—fighting for the survival of all humanity—not hide in safe zones scheming and squandering the lives of our precious ability users.”
“Today, I, Zheng Congzhong, speak for the entire Zheng army: anyone playing shady games is an enemy of ours. And enemies of ours will be thrown onto the front lines of the war.”
Everyone talked about uniting ability users to fight the zombies—but behind the scenes, they all had their own agendas.
Lu Xiao knew this but was powerless to stop it. Yet now, seeing Old General Zheng—his white hair stark against the morning light—step forward once again, he was reminded of that era of transition, when the country emerged from chaos into peace.
It was because of men like him, standing firm like mountains, that the nation survived.
Silence blanketed the room.
Just then, a low buzzing came from the sky—growing louder and closer.
Everyone looked to Lu Xiao, assuming he had summoned some new weapon. But Lu Xiao only frowned and stared up at the sky, confused.
A few moments later, black dots appeared in the distance, flying rapidly toward Capital Base, trailed by a dark mass.
“Are those… J-20s?” Old Zheng asked uncertainly.
Even Lu Xiao couldn’t hide his shock. He looked up as four fighter jets approached the base’s airspace and suddenly turned—BOOM! Several fireballs shot toward the mutant birds that had been tailing them.
Flaming dragons whipped behind them as explosions and flame blasted the creatures away from the base, their shrieks echoing through the sky. The charred bodies, wreathed in flame, crashed to the ground.
Once no more mutants followed, the five jets turned and flew into the inner city of Capital Base.
The lead jet hovered directly above the top floor of the Blaze (Lieyan) team’s office building. A young figure appeared on the rooftop of the fourth floor and waved down excitedly, shouting, “Dad!”
“Xiao Xi!” Lu Xiao laughed heartily and took a step forward. Lu Xi leapt down from the fourth floor without any protection. Lu Xiao’s expression instantly changed, knowing his son’s powers. Before he could say anything, a massive plant web suddenly wove itself in midair and caught Lu Xi just before landing, even bouncing him a couple of times like a trampoline.
Lu Xi giggled as he climbed to his feet. The plant web withdrew into the ground, leaving only a patch of holes and marks from the roots.
“I completed the mission my brother gave me. I’ve got some time off, so I came back to visit you,” Lu Xi said, pointing toward the five fighter jets they arrived in. “These are the latest combat aircraft. Whether fuel or weaponry, they all run on crystal cores.”
The moment he said this, everyone present was visibly shocked. Crystal core energy had been a difficult technological challenge that all bases were trying to overcome. Progress had been slow, and energy utilization was too inefficient to be practical. No one expected that Half Moon Bay Base had already implemented this new energy into combat weapons.
Zheng Yi, who had felt somewhat unfazed earlier, now began to truly feel a sense of unease.
With a wave of his small hand, Lu Xi declared boldly, “This is your son’s gift to honor you. Are you happy?”
“Seriously?” Before Lu Xiao could reply, Cong Qing stepped forward, looking up at the massive jet several floors tall. Someone was still standing upright on top of it—presumably the pilot from earlier.
“Xiao Xi, you’re not messing with us, right?”
“What are you saying, Uncle Cong? I’m amazing, okay?” Lu Xi pouted unhappily. He pulled a large sack of crystal cores out of his space storage and pushed it toward Lu Xiao, chin raised proudly. “This is my salary and bonus. I’m leaving it for your retirement.”
Even with his face wrinkled from laughter, Lu Xiao didn’t move to touch it. Instead, one of the men beside him quickly stepped forward, opened the sack, and found it full of B-grade crystal cores—not a single low-grade one.
“Did your brother give you too much?” Lu Xiao asked, a little worried his nephew might have been shortchanged.
“That was from before. This time, I got these,” Lu Xi said, holding out three fiery red crystal cores that looked like they were burning. There was no need for testing—the sheer energy they emitted was enough for everyone to know these were high-grade crystal cores.
“My brother promised me that if I completed the research, I’d get high-grade fire-type cores. These are all A-grade. S-grade advancement needs high-grade energy, and this is safer for you to absorb.”
If the previous gift of crystal cores had simply made Lu Xiao happy, then these three truly touched his heart. He reached out, ruffled Lu Xi’s hair, and took them.
“See? That’s the benefit of having a son.”
“Even if we had sons, they’d never be at that level.”
“Exactly, Captain. A son like Xiao Xi? That’s heaven-sent.”
“General, let me ask—who exactly did you pray to back then? Maybe I can catch up and pray too, see if it’s not too late?”
As everyone continued to flatter him, Lu Xi finally seemed to notice the other people in the courtyard and asked curiously, “Dad, is something going on?”
“This is General Lu’s son? I heard he’s a genius scientist?” Old General Zheng asked first. His face now bore none of the earlier sternness—just warm kindness.
“This is Old General Zheng,” Lu Xiao introduced.
“Hello, Grandpa. I’m Lu Xi, currently deputy director of Half Moon Bay’s Weapon Research Center,” Lu Xi introduced himself confidently.
“To become deputy director at your age, you must be exceptionally talented. The future belongs to children like you. Our country will rely on you to lead us forward.”
As he spoke, Old General Zheng took an old, time-worn medal from his coat. Though aged, it had been carefully preserved. He handed it to Lu Xi with both hands, clasping Lu Xi’s hands tightly around it.
“This was the first medal I earned during the era of chaos, for protecting the people. I now pass it on to you.”
“The future is yours. You must fight, strive, and help restore the glory of our peaceful days.”
It was a symbolic moment—one generation handing the torch to the next—filled with hope and responsibility.
