Chapter 86: Military Shield Comes Knocking
“Brother Xi, please focus on cooking. Steamed buns, dumplings, pancakes, fried dough sticks, porridge, rice – anything that can be eaten at any time. Cook whatever you want, as much as you can. Put everything in basins when you’re done, and tell me anytime you’re short of seasonings.” Lu Weiyi turned his gaze to the five people remaining beside Xi Shi, opened his mouth, unsure how to assign the remaining tasks. He blinked and looked back at Zhuang Mingxu.
His cool demeanor lasted less than three seconds. Zhuang Mingxu felt helpless in his heart, but seeing him like a cute, begging animal, he found it funny. He looked at Lu Xi, “Little Xi, how’s your marksmanship?”
Boys from military compounds like them were all sent to the army for training, with good physical fitness and marksmanship. But when Lu Xi went to live in the compound, Zhuang Mingxu was no longer in the Capital, so he didn’t know much about it. And seeing that he was young and didn’t look very strong, Zhuang Mingxu thought it was better to ask.
“It’s okay, my dad taught me,” Lu Xi replied.
Zhuang Mingxu looked at Lu Weiyi. He didn’t know Lu Xiao and what his attitude was towards his children in life. Lu Weiyi nodded.
Lu Xiao was protective, but he was a principled person who clearly distinguished between public and private matters, especially in this regard, and wouldn’t bend the rules.
“Then Lu Xi, Dean, and Weiyi will stay home and wait for people to come to exchange things. The other three of you go to the trading market and try to promote our exchange of water for supplies, so that they all come to exchange.” After Zhuang Mingxu finished speaking, he gestured for Lu Weiyi to bring out the few guns and handed one to each of the five people.
“The people at the base might make a move against us. Be careful when you go out, don’t separate. Prioritize vegetables, eggs, and meat for supplies, as we said last night, followed by rice, flour, cooking oil, seasonings, and medicines, then seeds, seedlings, generators, and gas tanks, then solar panels and lights, and finally clothes. Ning Yuan will tell you the exchange rates.” After saying that, he looked at Zhuang Ai Yi, who was squeezed in the crowd looking at him, “Ai Yi…”
Zhuang Ai Yi’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Ai Yi, help Grandpa Xi at home. If you need to go out, come and tell Dad.”
“Okay!” Zhuang Ai Yi replied crisply and walked to Xi Shi’s side.
After assigning everything, the group prepared to separate. Xu Sa saw Liu Rui off in the courtyard, whispering reminders to be careful. Xi Shi took out more than twenty pancakes from last night and some pickles, dividing them into six portions and handing them to the six people who were leaving to pack in their bags. Ning Yuan was telling Gu Qingyue the exchange prices for various items.
Before getting in the car, Lu Weiyi took out six guns. “For emergencies, and also to guard against living people, but it’s best not to use them. Once a gunshot goes off, all the surrounding zombies will be attracted, and it will be difficult for you to escape.”
Rarely seeing Lu Weiyi give such instructions, Lin Yimu and Ning Yuan both felt a sense of satisfaction as if their own child had grown up. Only Li Zhuang took a gun, tucked it behind him, leaned out of the driver’s seat, ruffled Lu Weiyi’s hair, and before he could react, said “Let’s go,” and quickly drove out of the courtyard. Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw Lu Weiyi’s stunned expression followed by his face puffing up like a pufferfish, and he laughed out loud.
Zhuang Mingxu, sitting in his wheelchair at the door, turned his gaze from the departing car back to Lu Weiyi, his eyes deep and dark. But as Lu Weiyi turned around, he quickly composed himself, a hint of warmth on his face.
“What about them?” After seeing off the departing people, Gu Qingji looked at the unconscious group on the ground and asked.
“Tie them up, gag their mouths so they don’t make noise, and put them in my room. When Military Shield comes to demand people later, after opening the door, immediately call over the people from Zhang Xun and Lin Jun.” All three sides wanted to seize the benefits from them. In this situation, no one would allow one side to monopolize.
Zhuang Mingxu looked at Lu Weiyi, his eyes slightly indicating, “When the time comes, you drag the knocked-out people under the bed, and I’ll hide them.”
Lu Weiyi understood that he was covering for him and nodded without refuting.
It was still early, and not many people were at the market yet. Zhuang Mingxu asked Lu Weiyi to take out the medicines from the space and have someone sort them out, while the others went to help Xi Shi cook. He had his IV drip and took Lu Weiyi back to the room to ask about some things related to the space.
Around nine o’clock, there was a knock on the door outside. Lu Weiyi, who was sitting by the bed exercising and directing the small green branches, looked at Zhuang Mingxu who was on the IV drip on the bed and said, “They’re here,” while neatly dragging the few people in the corner of the room under the bed.
The two people who came, one of whom was Cheng Ying who had come last time, and the other with a stern face and fierce aura, were let in by Gu Qingyue and sat directly on the sofa. They glanced around. The house was simply furnished, even a bit crude, with a large pile of exchanged cotton quilts and clothes in the corner, giving it the feeling of a temporary residence. But the air was filled with the smell of cooking oil, which in this post-apocalyptic world gave a sense of stable, everyday life.
“Mr. Cheng, I wonder what brings you here so early in the morning?” Gu Qingji and Xu Sa had already gone to find Lin Jun’s and Zhang Xun’s people at the first opportunity. What Gu Qingyue needed to do now was to stall for time. He sized up the two men and asked Cheng Ying.
“Uh…” Cheng Ying actually didn’t want to come. After all, he had personally experienced what happened last time. Others might think it was alarmist talk, but he knew the situation clearly. But this time, five captains from Military Shield’s eight teams had gone missing, so he had no choice but to show up.
The man sitting on the sofa didn’t wait for Cheng Ying to answer, arrogantly glanced at Gu Qingyue, and asked, “Where are my men?”
Gu Qingyue looked at Cheng Ying. “And this gentleman is?”
“The captain of our Military Shield’s third team, Xu Xi,” Cheng Ying introduced.
“Oh, hello,” Gu Qingyue said lightly, then asked, “Mr. Xu’s family is missing? If they’re missing, you should go ask at the base’s surveillance department. Why come to our place to demand people?”
Gu Qingyue looked at Cheng Ying strangely and amusedly. “If we didn’t just meet, I’d suspect we’d offended you somewhere and you came here to cause trouble.”
“Whether it’s here or not, everyone knows what’s going on,” Xu Xi ignored Gu Qingyue’s words and went straight to the point. “Eight people from Military Shield came to your place last night and haven’t returned.”
Inside, Zhuang Mingxu, listening to Lu Weiyi’s real-time updates, said to Lu Weiyi as soon as he heard this person directly state their purpose, “Go out and help Qingyue. In case they fight, the few people outside won’t be a match.” After all, they specifically came after six people from their team had gone out, so they didn’t seem to have good intentions. And now that Xu Sa and Gu Qingji had gone out to call for reinforcements, only three underage people and Xi Shi, who basically wouldn’t fight, were left besides Gu Qingyue.
Lu Weiyi nodded, glanced at his IV drip which still had a while to go, and left the bedroom.
He glanced at the two people on the sofa and sat down expressionlessly on the single sofa next to Gu Qingyue. Cheng Ying saw Lu Weiyi and sat up a little straighter. Xu Xi had heard Cheng Ying mention this person’s remarkable abilities before, but Cheng Ying had exaggerated it so much that Xu Xi hadn’t taken it to heart. Now seeing that the person was just an inexperienced kid, the last bit of his apprehension disappeared.
Gu Qingyue, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief and continued to talk nonsense with them.
“Last night? No, we all went to bed quite late last night, after nine o’clock,” Gu Qingyue said, pretending to think, then suddenly exclaimed, “Oh, I remember now, someone did come last night, but… it wasn’t eight people you mentioned, only two came. Let me think…”
Gu Qingyue dragged it out for a long time, then said as if he had just remembered, “They… one was called Zhang Qi, and the other… what was the other one called? Yuan something.”
“Wang Yuan?” Cheng Ying asked.
“Yes, that’s right, Wang Yuan,” Gu Qingyue replied, his gaze simultaneously sizing up the two people sitting on the sofa. He saw Cheng Ying glance at Xu Xi, but Xu Xi didn’t react at all. Gu Qingyue continued, “But they seemed to say they were from the police station. Now you’re saying they’re your people? Who exactly is lying?”
“They are not our people…”
“You know who I’m talking about, don’t play dumb here,” Xu Xi saw that Gu Qingyue wasn’t getting to the point and his stern face grew even colder. He interrupted Cheng Ying before he could finish explaining and stood up with a “whoosh.” Before Gu Qingyue could react, his hand reached out to grab Gu Qingyue.
Although Gu Qingyue’s reaction and skills had been honed through several near-death experiences in zombie hordes during this period, compared to someone who was a bodyguard before the apocalypse, his reaction speed was still much slower, not to mention that ability users could also enhance their physical fitness. In this situation, it was impossible for him to dodge. Just as the person was about to grab Gu Qingyue, a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and intercepted Xu Xi’s arm.
“Are you going to make a move?” Lu Weiyi looked up expressionlessly at Xu Xi.
Xu Xi hadn’t taken them seriously in the first place. Last night was a covert operation, but today was an open and blatant grab. Seeing someone bump into him, he didn’t care who it was and immediately reached out with his other hand, wanting to subdue Lu Weiyi first, while shouting at Cheng Ying, “Cheng Ying!”
Before coming, Liu Qiang had specifically instructed them to negotiate if possible, to get the people out first. Otherwise, with several squad leaders missing, if he acted recklessly, it wouldn’t be worth it if they fought to the death. But seeing the current situation, Cheng Ying was completely dumbfounded, but since it had already happened, he didn’t have much room for thought.
The moment Gu Qingyue reacted, he immediately moved away from the three people on the sofa. Cheng Ying had to take a few steps forward to attack him, but before he could take two steps, he saw two young men, not very big, come out from behind Gu Qingyue. Each held a handgun, their posture and movements uniformly standard, and there was no trace of unease from holding a gun for the first time on their faces. They were clearly experienced.
Even with his abilities, he didn’t want to face bullets at this moment. He immediately raised his hands and took a step back, which also made him overlook what happened to the two fighting people behind him. But then he heard a “bang,” the sound of something hitting the ground coming from the courtyard. Cheng Ying saw that the two people in front of him had no intention of shooting, and he tilted his head slightly, only to see that the big guy who had come with him had already been thrown out, landing right at the feet of Zhang Qi and Wang Ning who had just opened the door and come in.
“Eh, isn’t this Captain Xu Xi of Military Shield’s third team? Get up, get up quickly. Such a big gift so early in the morning, we’re a bit unaccustomed to it,” Zhang Qi said with a chuckle, but didn’t back down, watching the person’s embarrassing state on the ground.
Xu Sa quickly ran in from behind the people who had just entered. Xu Sa stood in front of Lu Weiyi and sized him up, asking, “Are you okay?”
Lu Weiyi shook his head. Gu Qingji, who followed closely behind, glanced at him and quickly walked towards the room.
Thank you for the update