Chapter 90: The Drama Queen Goes Online
Now that they had already discussed the subsequent escape plan, there was no need to hold back. Ning Yuan wouldn’t let anyone take advantage of them, especially since there were many people exchanging supplies today, and the prices for the supplies were set even higher than yesterday.
But Zhang Xun hadn’t climbed to his current position by playing the victim. Since he could deduce that they had a space, he naturally thought of the possibility of them secretly escaping. He talked a load of nonsense and directly specified exchanging for gasoline, even agreeing when Ning Yuan offered one pound of water for one liter of gasoline.
Although gasoline cans were difficult to carry, everyone knew gasoline was scarce. If Ning Yuan refused three thousand liters of gasoline, it would clearly indicate that he had something to hide or precautions in mind. If he accepted, carrying a tanker truck, they wouldn’t be able to leave silently, and if they encountered robbers on the road, they would either give up the tanker truck at the first opportunity or constantly guard against it exploding. This was clearly a test.
In total, they exchanged for two hundred barrels of water, one hundred of which were exchanged for gasoline. For the other one hundred barrels, Zhang Xun actually used things like gas tanks, solar charging panels, and generators. He wouldn’t take out anything that wasn’t bulky. It would be difficult to carry them all without several trucks.
Ning Yuan set the prices ridiculously high, but Zhang Xun still wouldn’t budge, and in the end, he even said he didn’t want to exchange for their things anymore.
“Food is really scarce, I have no choice,” Zhang Xun saw the look on Ning Yuan’s face, who didn’t know what to say, and sneered inwardly, but on the surface, he still looked troubled. “Just bringing back these things took a lot of our effort. If it weren’t for the severe water shortage, I wouldn’t have taken them out. After all, the price you set for these things is ridiculously high.”
A hundred-square-meter charging panel was exchanged for a pound of water, totaling over a hundred pounds. Generators were offered twenty at a time, not to mention gas tanks were counted in hundreds. Ning Yuan wanted to ask if he had raided the nest of these things. He swallowed hard. “Wait, let me ask.”
Ning Yuan got up and walked towards Lu Weiyi, who was openly snacking in the kitchen under the guise of helping Zhuang Ai Yi find food. He roughly explained the situation, lowering his voice and saying fiercely, “These things are all bulky. On the one hand, he’s preventing us from sneaking away, and on the other hand, carrying so many things won’t make it easy for him on the road, making it easier to hijack him.”
Solar charging panels, generators, gas tanks… truly a good person sending pillows when one is sleepy! Lu Weiyi didn’t care about choking, forcefully swallowing the half-chewed meat bun in his mouth, tears welling up in his eyes.
Seeing him like this, Ning Yuan reached out and patted his back, whispering, “Don’t worry, I haven’t agreed to him yet. If we don’t want to exchange, we won’t…”
“…Exchange,” Lu Weiyi said as his first words after recovering, “Why wouldn’t we? Tell him we still have water, exchange as much as he has of these things.”
Ning Yuan felt that Lu Weiyi might not realize the seriousness of setting off with so many things and explained again, “Carrying so many things, if someone hijacks us, we’ll definitely drop them first. This would be equivalent to them getting hundreds of barrels of our water for free without giving anything.”
“It’s okay, exchange,” Lu Weiyi insisted, then added a condition after thinking, “Agree, but only exchange with five hundred pounds of vegetables, fruits, eggs, and meat. Otherwise, not even a bottle of water.”
Although those things were useful, that was only if they settled down. Scarce food was the top priority. Lu Weiyi felt he knew the importance of things very clearly.
“…Okay.” With these things, even if the others were lost… it would still be heartbreaking. Ning Yuan took two steps outside, turned back, and asked Lu Weiyi, “Can your space hold all these things?”
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi gave an accurate answer, then remembering Zhuang Mingxu’s previous words, added, “It should.”
Ning Yuan felt he was a bit unreliable, but Zhang Xun was still waiting outside, so he didn’t say anything more. He mentioned Lu Weiyi’s newly added condition, and Zhang Xun agreed almost immediately without saying anything else, instructing Zhang Qi to send the supplies over right away.
“Let’s move these things upstairs first to make some room for other things.” While others had been busy all day, Zhuang Mingxu had been sitting all day, not tired or hungry at all. He had Gu Qingyue give him an IV drip first and sat in the corner of the living room, constantly paying attention to the conversation between the two. At this moment, he spoke to Lin Yimu.
“Okay,” Lin Yimu glanced at the few people in the living room who hadn’t gone to sneak food. “Work first?”
Everyone in their hearts knew this was to mislead others. They nodded and carried the things they had just moved in from the courtyard upstairs.
“Wouldn’t it be fine to just leave those things in the courtyard?” Wang Yuan asked.
“Leaving them inside means we won’t need to be too alarmed when guarding at night,” Lin Yimu said, carrying two bags of flour past him, casually replying to his probing.
After a few interactions, Wang Yuan also realized that this group never spoke about things that could reveal weaknesses, and those who did speak never gave any openings for discovery. Unable to probe anything, Wang Yuan smiled and didn’t continue, instead casually chatting with Ning Yuan about some gossip and trivial matters.
The supplies had been prepared before they came. In a short while, Zhang Qi arrived with three large trucks, accompanied by a tanker truck. For ease of unloading, he also brought over a dozen people specifically to unload and transport the goods. Li Zhuang and the others didn’t need to lift a finger; they just counted the amounts, weighed them, and checked them, completing everything in about ten minutes.
The goods were numerous and bulky, and the living room couldn’t hold them all. The rest had to be placed in the courtyard, and the tanker truck was parked directly outside the gate. Seeing this scene, Zhang Xun, who was leaving with the water, rarely smiled.
“Wait a moment, Director Zhang, let’s give you one more barrel of water. Leave the two trucks behind, we’ll have use for them tomorrow,” Zhuang Mingxu waited until they had finished moving things and were about to drive away before speaking.
“We won’t need two, we’re just going to look for…” Xu Sa, who had been helping them carry water, said, stopping halfway, then frowned. “One van is enough. Besides, even if we want to exchange for trucks, exchanging at the base won’t even cost half a barrel of water. If we keep more water, we might be able to exchange for other supplies.”
“We’ll use them when we leave,” Zhuang Mingxu said.
“But…”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll talk to Weiyi,” Zhuang Mingxu interrupted Xu Sa before he could continue to object. Xu Sa opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he said nothing, turning his head to look at Li Zhuang and Antonio, looking like he was holding back his anger as he entered the villa. Immediately after, Li Zhuang and Antonio, who had been standing in the courtyard, also went inside.
Zhang Xun glanced around, saw Zhuang Mingxu tightly gripping the wheelchair armrests, the veins bulging on his hand, and his tense jaw muscles, and understood that there was internal conflict.
Ning Yuan then said awkwardly, “Mingxu, how about…”
“Exchange!” Zhuang Mingxu’s tone was clearly sharp as soon as he spoke. “Director Zhang, are you exchanging or not?”
“Exchange!” Although there weren’t a particularly large number of trucks at the base, there were still quite a few. Exchanging two trucks for thirty pounds of water was definitely not a loss. Zhang Xun agreed very readily.
Ning Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but was pulled back and shaken his head with Lin Yimu beside him.
“Farewell,” Zhang Xun, having taken an extra barrel of water, left with his men, satisfied.
After seeing them off, Ning Yuan pushed Zhuang Mingxu into the villa and asked in a low voice, “Do you think he believed it?”
“Who knows? Anyway, the news has been released to both sides. The worst-case scenario is…” Zhuang Mingxu’s expression was indifferent, with no trace of his previous restraint.
The people from Military Shield weren’t expected yet, and it was still early. After dinner, everyone was in the living room except for Lu Weiyi, who hurried back to the bedroom to “upgrade” his space ability.
Gu Qingyue was organizing the unfinished medicines with Xi Shi, Gu Qingji, and Lu Xi. Lin Yimu, Ning Yuan, and Dean were sorting the vegetables sent by Zhang Xun. The others were moving the things from the living room to the second floor, clearing space to move the outside things back inside.
Zhuang Ai Yi sat on a small stool, accompanying Zhuang Mingxu in his wheelchair in a corner of the living room, holding a few bags of dried fruit. His little hands kept picking and picking. After Zhuang Mingxu peeled one for him, he quickly stuffed it into his mouth, his little cheeks bulging as he looked up at Zhuang Mingxu and smiled.
Two of the three rooms on the first floor were filled with supplies. Lin Yimu carefully placed the sorted vegetables and fruits into the room, peeled the damaged ones in the kitchen, iced half in the freezer, and brought the rest on a plate, handing it to Zhuang Mingxu and asking in a low voice, “Mingxu, with so many things, can Weiyi’s space hold it all?”
Although there were some among so many people they were friendly with, they were all adults and being cautious was instinct. Moreover, they might not necessarily stay together in the future, and the others knew this in their hearts, so they didn’t ask much about Lu Weiyi’s space. But Lin Yimu and Ning Yuan were different, so only the two of them could bring up the topic.
Zhuang Mingxu gave a piece of apple to Zhuang Ai Yi, glanced around at the busy people in the living room, and nodded.
“That’s good. I was still worried about how to carry so many things if we drove,” Lin Yimu breathed a sigh of relief. “Do you have a plan for how we’ll leave tomorrow?”
Zhuang Mingxu didn’t answer, but instead asked, “What do you think of this group of people?”
Lin Yimu frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then said, “There’s no major problem with their character. They’re all people who get things done, not lazy or deceitful. In terms of ability, Antonio and Li Zhuang are the best fighters. Plus, they have abilities, so their overall physical quality is much stronger than others. Liu Rui himself isn’t great, but his ability fills a gap. Next are Xiong Jie and Gu Qingji. The rest… are okay, they’re not too much of a burden.”
He paused and asked, “Are you thinking of… forming a team?”
Zhuang Mingxu tapped the armrest of his wheelchair with one finger, his expression indifferent, revealing no thoughts. After a long while, he said, “I have the idea, but…” He chuckled softly, “I definitely won’t be able to convince everyone.”
He had been a proud son of heaven, and now he had fallen into the dust. How could he not care at all?
“Don’t say that…” Lin Yimu felt a bit sorry for him seeing him like this and comforted him, “Weiyi will definitely listen to you. His ability is very strong, and he’s saved quite a few people here. Many people are willing to listen to him. If he speaks up…”
“No need,” Zhuang Mingxu interrupted Lin Yimu, seeing that the others had almost finished moving things. “Let them offer it themselves.”
Around midnight, someone broke into the courtyard again. This time, Lu Weiyi woke up the first time without Zhuang Mingxu’s reminder.
“Let’s go to the living room,” Zhuang Mingxu said, sitting up in bed, his upper body clothes neat.
Lu Weiyi got up and quickly put on his shoes, then lifted Zhuang Mingxu onto the wheelchair.
So, when Liu Qiang personally led his men through the door, they found the pitch-black living room, and someone was actually waiting for them.
I sense drama coming