Chapter 79: Finding Someone
“It’s right here,” Xu Sa pointed to an old street, a row of bungalows with a large ‘demolish’ written on the walls. This place felt out of place compared to the rest of the base, too old, like relics from a previous era.
The sunlight was completely blocked by several nearby high-rise buildings, making it dim even in the afternoon, just like the shady business conducted here. Many scantily clad men and women stood on both sides of the road, about twenty or thirty of them. Women made up the majority, but it had to be said that the remaining few boys looked even more eye-catching.
They stood against the walls, each subtly displaying their most attractive features, like merchandise, openly priced and waiting for those in need to come and choose.
Water was scarce now, they didn’t even have enough to drink, let alone wash. Although they looked presentable at first glance, a faint sour and fishy smell could be detected upon closer approach. It was the mixed odor of long-term sweat without bathing and something left on them by customers, making one feel disgusted just thinking about it.
It was still daytime, and there weren’t many passersby, but the sounds of panting, shouting, and the collision of flesh could still be heard from the houses on both sides.
Lu Weiyi never set foot in such places, not because Zhuang Mingxu was strict, but because this kind of decadent, hopeless thing made him fundamentally uncomfortable.
Seeing that all five of them were men, Little Liu introduced, “This is where these businesses are specifically done. Everyone is just trying to make a living. If you brothers have anyone you like, feel free to choose.”
Several men and women nearby became a little restless at the sight of their clothes. At this time, the way to judge whether someone had ability was not by the brand of their clothes or how expensive their jewelry was, but by cleanliness.
A clean person definitely didn’t lack water, and someone who could get water definitely wasn’t an ordinary person. And all five of them were neat and tidy. Although they didn’t shower every day, they wiped themselves down from time to time and didn’t have that sweaty smell.
“Brother Liu, do you know what we’re here for?” Little Liu looked older than Xu Sa, so he felt embarrassed to keep calling him Little Liu and just called him Brother Liu.
Xu Sa dodged a woman who wanted to get close, glared at her coldly as a warning, and didn’t forget to pull the bewildered Liu Rui to his side, saying “Scram” to the heavily made-up woman who was almost taking off her clothes on the spot.
The remaining few, Li Zhuang and Antonio, didn’t look like normal people dared to approach, while Lu Weiyi stood in the middle, clean and elegant, with an extraordinary bearing. Although there was no look of disgust in his eyes, one could tell at a glance that he was someone they couldn’t afford to associate with. Being with these people, who knew who was taking advantage of whom.
Little Liu didn’t say much more, instead smilingly said to the heavily made-up woman, “Sisters, could you ask where the boy who was just brought in was taken?” As he spoke, he took out a palm-sized small piece of bread from his backpack.
The others immediately fell silent and retreated to their original positions when they heard that they were asking about someone who had been caught and brought back. Only one woman with a pale face and obviously unsteady gait replied, “Is it Lu Xi? Fifteen years old, from the Capital?”
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi looked at her.
“I came here with him and know a lot of things,” the woman said, looking at Lu Weiyi. “One bottle of water, and I’ll tell you everything.”
Little Liu was about to stop her, but Lu Weiyi readily took out a bottle of mineral water. “Speak.”
“He just came here five days ago. It seems he was sold here by a good friend. He’s good-looking, and the people above kept him to serve wealthy guests, but he refused and injured a guest, so he was locked up as punishment. I don’t know the specifics, but he escaped today and was just caught and brought back,” the woman pointed to a three-story small courtyard at the very end of the alley, her eyes dull. “He’s in there, all the unwilling people are locked up there to receive ‘discipline’.”
“Mmm,” Lu Weiyi nodded, threw the water to her, and walked quickly inside. He was already fifty percent certain it was Lu Xi.
That was a stubborn and proud child who wouldn’t easily yield.
“Little brother, this place is run by a local tyrant. It’s best not to offend him,” Although Lu Weiyi’s face was expressionless, Little Liu just felt that this young nobleman was not to be trifled with and quickly revealed the situation to him. “He has connections with all three forces in the base, but he doesn’t rely on any of them. I heard he has this…” He made a gesture of a gun, “…but no one has seen it. And the three forces are all aware of what he’s doing, but they don’t interfere. Rumor has it they dare not interfere…”
While speaking, the group had already reached the door. Two small lackeys stood guard at the door. Seeing them approach, they immediately walked over. “What are you doing? Customers go ahead.”
“I’m looking for your manager to discuss a business deal,” They had already caused enough trouble since arriving. Li Zhuang spoke before Lu Weiyi could open his mouth.
The two guards exchanged a glance, and one of them ran inside. After waiting for a while, a smiling tiger, a chubby man in his forties or fifties, came out from inside. He held a pair of walnuts in his hand and greeted them with a smirk. “I heard you gentlemen want to talk business with me? What kind of business?”
“Buying a person,” Li Zhuang said.
“Oh?” The smiling tiger stepped aside and gestured with his hand. “Please come in.”
The originally small courtyard had been connected to the neighboring one, making it look quite spacious. In the original small garden, small tomatoes were planted, with red and green fruits hanging.
The old house had modern facilities inside, with air conditioning and refrigerators, and it still had electricity, indicating it had its own generator.
In the retro living room, besides the main seat, there were only two stools on one side. Lu Weiyi automatically sat in the main seat, Li Zhuang sat next to him, Antonio also sat opposite without hesitation, and the remaining Liu Rui insisted on letting Xu Sa sit while he stood.
As for Little Liu who followed them in, he stood silently at the back, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. Nowadays, there was no such thing as offering water to guests. The group sat there dryly, and the smiling tiger asked, “I wonder what kind of person you gentlemen are looking to buy?”
“A boy named Lu Xi, fifteen years old, from the Capital,” Xu Sa described him, then, worried that these people would say they hadn’t seen him, added, “I saw him just now.”
The smiling tiger looked at Lu Weiyi, who had sat down first. “May I ask who wants to buy him?”
Lu Weiyi was busy manipulating vines to find someone and didn’t pay attention. Li Zhuang interjected, “What? Do we need to explain our purpose when buying something?”
“That’s not it,” the smiling tiger said slowly, rubbing a jade thumb ring on his finger, “It’s just that I’ve always emphasized mutual consent. If you want to buy, you also have to see if the person is willing to go with you. I’ll have someone ask if there’s such a person.” Saying that, he winked at someone standing at the door.
“No need,” Lu Weiyi, who hadn’t spoken all along, said, standing up at the same time. Immediately after, a scream came from outside. Li Zhuang and the others followed Lu Weiyi out. The smiling tiger in the main seat sensed something was wrong and immediately followed.
“Little bastard, let’s see where you can run!”
As soon as they went out, a young boy was running outside, wearing only a torn pair of underwear that barely covered him. His body was splattered with blood and a mixture of bruises from being beaten. His legs were unsteady, and he stumbled as he walked barefoot.
His panicked look was like that of a frightened small animal. Two men behind him held wooden sticks and shouted as they chased him. Behind them, a few more men came out, supporting two screaming men. Each of them was missing two arms, the uneven cuts clearly torn off by something.
Li Zhuang watched this obviously escalating situation, and his understanding of Lu Weiyi’s ability to cause trouble reached a new level.
The boy was startled by the few people suddenly coming out of the house. He lost his footing and fell directly to the ground. The four men behind him also caught up. One man cursed and swung his stick. The boy curled up into a ball, using his arms to cover his head.
The pain didn’t come for a long time. Instead, they heard a scream, followed by a spray of blood, and then another arm fell to the ground, the hand still clutching a stick.
This was a new skill that Lu Weiyi had just discovered.
Earlier, he had been using the small green branches to find someone. He had found the person, but two men were holding Lu Xi down, stripping his clothes off, uttering all sorts of vulgar words. Lu Xi didn’t have a gloomy look; his eyes were red as he struggled, not forgetting to threaten and curse the two men. However, he was small and not strong enough to be a match for them. It looked like his underwear was about to be pulled off.
Lu Weiyi only felt his blood surge. He thought about cutting off their hands, and then the small green branches directly moved and tore off their entire arms.
Lu Xi didn’t understand what was happening in front of him, but he knew he had to escape. He turned over again to get up when he heard someone call, “Xiao Xi.”
Following the sound, he saw a young boy. In the surrounding oldness, he was dazzlingly noticeable at a glance. “He’s really good-looking, it’s a pity he fell into a place like this,” Lu Xi just sighed in his heart and didn’t react much. He couldn’t even protect himself, so how could he care about others?
As soon as Lu Weiyi saw his eyes, he knew that this person probably didn’t recognize him. After all, they hadn’t seen each other since he went to Qingyuan. He took a few steps forward and said helplessly, “Xiao Xi, don’t you recognize me?”
“You?” Lu Xi heard the familiarity in his tone. He looked up at him for a long time, his eyes gradually filled with surprise and joy. “Brother? You’re my brother, right?”
This was the first word Lu Xi had said when he was learning to speak as a child. Lu Weiyi could still remember that little ball of flesh, vaguely calling ‘brother’, and his eyes softened even more.
“Yes, I’m your brother,” Lu Weiyi stepped forward and ruffled Lu Xi’s dirty hair.
“Brother, brother, save me, save me! I don’t want to serve customers. Those people are so scary, they’re so frightening… I don’t want to go!” Having someone to rely on, the tears that Lu Xi had been holding back instantly streamed down his face. He hugged Lu Weiyi tightly, crying and shouting incoherently.
“Okay, okay, you won’t go. Brother’s here, don’t be afraid,” Lu Weiyi was rarely gentle, not even towards Zhuang Ai Yi. After all, when Lu Xi was little, he was still a normal child and had taken care of Lu Xi for several years.
Lu Weiyi coaxed the somewhat out-of-control Lu Xi gently. Over there, the smiling tiger, seeing the mess in the courtyard, still maintained his smile, as if it was nothing serious, and said, “Gentlemen, no one has ever caused trouble here before.”
“Well, now there has been. There’s a first time for everything, right?” Li Zhuang also had a half-smile on his face. “It’s also a reminder to the boss that when forcing others, you need to clearly understand their background, so you don’t run into someone you can’t afford to offend, who might just wipe this place out. That would be terrible. In this world, aren’t we all just trying to survive peacefully?”
“Hahaha, brother is right. But everything I do is based on mutual consent, I never force anyone,” the smiling tiger laughed.
“Xiao Xi, tell brother, has anyone bullied you?” Lu Weiyi’s words had a hidden meaning.
Lu Xi shook his head, his whole body almost pressed against Lu Weiyi, hiccuping as he cried. “I hurt them.”
Lu Weiyi breathed a sigh of relief. This was the only seedling of the Lu family, and they had arrived just in time.
Hearing that nothing serious had happened, Lu Weiyi’s expression softened a bit. He looked up at the smiling tiger and saw that the smiling tiger had already sent someone to bring over a set of clothes and shoes for a young child. “There’s a guest room inside. Little brother, why don’t you let the child go put on some clothes, and then we can talk.”
Lu Weiyi nodded, picked up Lu Xi, and placed him on the bed in the guest room behind the hall, letting Lu Xi dress himself. He sat down in his original seat.
“I will compensate for the people injured outside. Boss, name your price,” Although Lu Weiyi didn’t want to say this, he also knew that everyone was just trying to survive. He didn’t agree with it, but he wouldn’t block someone’s livelihood.
“It’s nothing,” The smiling tiger didn’t want to offend someone who could injure people dozens of meters away right here. No one knew how far ability users could go in the future. He said to a man standing in the hall, “Tell this little brother about that child’s situation.”
“Yes, Boss,” the man in the hall replied, turning to look at Lu Weiyi. “When I was looking for business in the refugee area outside the base, someone approached me saying they wanted to sell their younger brother. They needed supplies to return to the Capital. At that time, Lu Xi had a fever and was asleep. I saw that he was good-looking and bought him. I even gave him medicine to bring down his fever. But after he woke up, he said that wasn’t his older brother and the deal didn’t count. I spent a lot of supplies to buy him, so naturally he wasn’t willing. He said he would go out to find supplies to pay me back. I gave him a chance, but he ended up being a burden and caused one of our brothers to be bitten by a zombie. We compensated the family with a large amount of supplies.”
Having said that, Lu Xi, who had finished dressing, walked out. The man paused, glanced at Lu Xi, who didn’t refute, clearly indicating he wasn’t lying. Lu Weiyi waved, signaling Lu Xi to stand beside him, and gestured for the man to continue.
“After returning, I wanted him to serve customers, but he refused and even bit a customer, costing us a lot more supplies in compensation. After that, we kept him hungry and thirsty for the past two days, waiting for him to agree. As a result, he took advantage of a lax handover during guard change today and sneaked out. He was just caught and brought back a little while ago. The people downstairs might be ‘disciplining’ him again.”
Hearing about the repeated loss of a lot of supplies, Lu Xi felt uncertain. His cat-like eyes pitifully looked at Lu Weiyi, and he cautiously reached out to grab Lu Weiyi’s clothes, but Lu Weiyi grabbed his hand in return, gently patting it to reassure him.
“How many supplies? Name a price, I’ll pay,” Lu Weiyi said nonchalantly, turning to look at Lu Xi. Perhaps to attract customers, although he had been beaten, his face had no injuries at all. He just looked like he had been hungry and thirsty for a few days, his complexion wasn’t good, and his lips were chapped, but that didn’t stop Lu Weiyi from feeling sorry for him.
When he was a child, he had been treated like a young master with his maternal grandfather, and later with Lu Xiao, although Lu Xiao was busy, he had never lacked anything he should have or been wronged.
“You’re lucky he didn’t die here,” Lu Weiyi stood up, ready to leave, and looked at the smiling tiger. “Have you heard of Elder Zhuang of the Capital?”
“The founding general, I’ve heard of him,” the smiling tiger’s expression changed slightly.
“His great-grandfather,” Lu Weiyi continued casually, “This is the only descendant in our family. All his superiors are high-ranking military officials in the Capital. His father commands tens of thousands of soldiers. If he was humiliated here…” Lu Weiyi shook his head, not continuing, “I’m taking him. Have someone come get the supplies.”
“I’ve always done things based on mutual consent. Since it was due to poor supervision below, naturally we’ll take responsibility,” Whether he really thought so or just didn’t want to offend them too much, the smiling tiger said so.
“No need,” Lu Weiyi said, leading Lu Xi outside.
Even after they left the courtyard, Lu Xi still felt it was a bit unreal. This place he couldn’t escape no matter how hard he tried, he had thought he would rot here forever. “Brother…”
Lu Weiyi held his hand and replied, “It’s okay now. You just follow me for now, and if there’s a chance in the future, I’ll send you back to the Capital.”
Lu Xi responded and took a deep breath, as if trying to exhale all the pent-up frustration in his chest.
It wasn’t until the group left the alley that the silent Antonio finally asked, “Is his great-grandfather really Elder Zhuang?”
“You’re a foreigner, how do you know Elder Zhuang?” Lu Weiyi was a bit surprised.
“Of course, I know all the high-ranking officials and politicians of various countries,” Antonio said with a hint of pride.
A mercenary leader, what’s so proud about that? In the end, he still became a bodyguard and was completely under the thumb of someone’s young master, Lu Weiyi scoffed. “No.”
“You’re lying?” Antonio was surprised.
“Not really. My uncle, which is Xiao Xi’s father, is a soldier under Elder Zhuang’s son. His current military rank does indeed command tens of thousands of people,” Lu Weiyi explained, “Elder Zhuang is Zhuang Mingxu’s great-great-grandfather.”
Li Zhuang looked over in surprise, seemingly not expecting Zhuang Mingxu to have this kind of background. “Isn’t he a businessman?”
“He used to be a soldier, but later he insisted on interfering in my family’s mess and was reported by political opponents and forced to retire. Grandpa Zhuang kicked him out of the house, and that’s how he took me to Qingyuan to start a business,” Lu Weiyi briefly explained his entanglement with Zhuang Mingxu.
These were all internal matters, and naturally not many people knew about them. Xu Sa said in surprise, “I always thought that when people said his family couldn’t tolerate you and he eloped with you, that was already considered loyal and righteous. I didn’t expect there to be a deeper, more affectionate story.”
In fact, the inside story was even deeper. Zhuang Mingxu, as Elder Zhuang’s most capable younger relative, had been groomed with great importance since childhood. With his family holding high positions and great power, how could he have been easily forced to retire for a trivial matter? It wasn’t that Elder Zhuang had a desire to kill him, and Zhuang Mingxu refused to continue staying in the army no matter what, finally being exiled from the Capital after a great deal of effort.
However, there was no need to tell others about these things, so Lu Weiyi remained silent and instead briefly introduced these people to Lu Xi.
I’m so glad he’s ok