Chapter 92: Dawn Departure
The risks had long been anticipated, and no one said anything at this moment.
“Me, Ai Yi, Lu Xi, Dean, Xi Shi, Gu Qingyue, Lin Yimu, and Ning Yuan will be in the truck bed. The rest of you can arrange yourselves. Next, those of us in the truck need to eat something in the dark, because once it’s light and we get in the truck, I won’t be able to conceal us from prying eyes. So we need to lie down in the truck bed while it’s still dark. Weiyi will then cover us with a bed sheet, and I will hide your presence, avoiding inspection, until we’re out of the base. But during this process, everyone must be careful. No one can make any noise, otherwise it will be all for nothing. Anyone who feels they can’t do it can say so in advance, and I’ll have someone knock them unconscious.”
The people whose names were called looked at each other, but in the end, no one spoke. Zhuang Mingxu looked down at Zhuang Ai Yi, who was still asleep in Lu Xi’s arms.
“He can stay with me,” Lu Weiyi said. There were too many potential situations with Zhuang Ai Yi lying in the truck, and he was still young, unable to control many situations himself.
Zhuang Mingxu pursed his lips and nodded. “Any other objections?”
A few people shook their heads. Zhuang Mingxu had Lu Weiyi bring out the food that Xi Shi had prepared yesterday and let the people sitting in the truck bed eat first. The mung bean and lily porridge was still warm, paired with steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and soy milk, as well as two small cold dishes. They could eat whatever they wanted.
The few people ate silently, quickly lined up to use the toilet, and prepared to quietly climb into the truck. Lin Yimu carried a person out of the house.
Looking in the dark, it was actually Lin Fei, who was disliked by everyone.
“He’ll be with us in the truck bed, to use him as a shield against Lin Jun’s people,” Zhuang Mingxu explained to the others.
Lin Yimu was about to go out when Lu Weiyi manipulated the small green branches to tie the person up from his hands, quietly walked out, and returned a dozen seconds later. The small green branches also returned to his hand, and all of them had listened without making a sound.
“Weiyi, why don’t you just send us over too? Otherwise, climbing up in the dark, I really can’t guarantee there won’t be any noise,” Gu Qingyue thought Lu Weiyi’s method was quite good and spoke up.
“Indeed,” Xi Shi was older than the others and his health wasn’t very good. His heart was pounding, and he immediately agreed.
Seeing that the others also meant this, Lu Weiyi nodded and immediately manipulated the small green branches to tie up Gu Qingyue and Xi Shi, who were nearby, horizontally and walked out.
“Hey, Qingyue, what does it feel like?” Xu Sa was quite curious seeing the two being effortlessly tied up in mid-air and automatically moving outside.
“Uh… a bit tight,” Gu Qingyue thought for a moment and replied.
“Want to try?” Lu Weiyi glanced at him.
“No, no need,” Xu Sa said with a sheepish smile, shaking his hands while taking a step back.
Lu Weiyi made three trips. When it was Zhuang Mingxu’s turn, he directly picked him up. Although his knee swelling had gone down, it was still injured and occasionally hurt. Lu Weiyi was a bit worried. “Your leg…”
“It’s okay, the truck will be less bumpy. Everyone won’t move and won’t press on it, and I’ll be careful,” Zhuang Mingxu said.
Lu Weiyi also knew that there wasn’t a better way at the moment. Although he could conceal people if Zhuang Mingxu sat in the front, there were only so many seats, and being too crowded would raise suspicion. “I’ll go out once in a while to let you all rest.”
“Okay,” Zhuang Mingxu was a bit awkward being carried princess-style at first, but he got used to it after a few times. The people in the truck probably also considered his leg and made a large space for him.
Returning to the room to get a piece of cloth the same color as the truck and spread it on the truck bed, Lu Weiyi told the people in the truck to try to press down the four corners. At the same time, he wrapped one end of the small green branches around Zhuang Mingxu’s finger and said in a low voice, “If anything happens, tug twice, and I’ll come out.”
“Okay, go back. You guys inside provide cover,” Zhuang Mingxu said.
The remaining people had nothing to do in the living room and each slumped in a corner to catch up on sleep. It wasn’t until after five o’clock that Li Zhuang, following the frequency of Xi Shi getting up to cook, turned on the generator in the courtyard, but no one was cooking inside.
Lu Weiyi took the backpacks of the people outside. Xiong Jie and Antonio replenished the things inside and then put them back inside.
Zhuang Ai Yi, who was woken up to drink milk, was a bit strange seeing so many people missing and asked Lu Weiyi, “Little Papa, where are Big Papa and Little Uncle?”
“They went out. You’ll follow me in a bit, don’t make a sound, don’t say a word, understand?” Lu Weiyi instructed.
“Yeah, Ai Yi understands,” Zhuang Ai Yi was always well-behaved, especially since he was following Lu Weiyi, who was usually not very close to him, so he was even more obedient now.
After eating and packing up, the group placed the few people who had been unconscious under the beds in several rooms and pulled down the sheets to cover them before preparing to leave.
Lu Weiyi looked around and said, “I’ll sit in the truck, Li Zhuang will drive, Brother Xiong will sit in the back, Ai Yi will sit next to you, and the rest of you can arrange yourselves.” Sitting in the truck, his mental power could cover the truck bed and also conceal Zhuang Ai Yi.
“I’ll drive,” Xu Sa volunteered. “Liu Rui, you sit in my passenger seat. If there are unavoidable zombies on the road, you use fire to clear the way. You two sit in the back.”
“Okay,” Gu Qingji nodded, and Antonio had no objections.
“Once we’re a bit further out of the base, I’ll take the lead. We’ll improvise on the road,” Li Zhuang instructed.
Sure enough, people were constantly coming and going outside the villa, and even the nearest villas were full of people. If they hadn’t pulled all the curtains in the villa from the beginning, they might have been able to see from the windows that it was already empty inside.
Xiong Jie, carrying his backpack, was the first to get into the truck. Immediately after, Zhuang Ai Yi, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, was carried into the back seat, and Xiong Jie sat in the passenger seat. Li Zhuang got into the driver’s seat.
After the crackle of the walkie-talkie, Xu Sa’s voice came, “Let’s go.”
“Roger,” Li Zhuang replied, and at the same time, Lu Weiyi quickly manipulated the small green branches to lock the villa gate from the inside.
They drove unhurriedly all the way to the base gate. Although many people looked at them, no one stopped them. It wasn’t until the exit that they suddenly started checking vehicles.
“Didn’t go out yesterday,” Li Zhuang said, parking and looking outside, his voice low.
“It’s aimed at us,” Lu Weiyi was very clear in his heart. He manipulated the small green branches to warn Zhuang Mingxu in the truck bed while checking if any red cloth was exposed.
Soon it was their turn. One of the two people who came to check was an acquaintance, Zhang Qi.
“Yo, Brother Zhang, why is it so strict today?” Xu Sa took out two cigarettes and handed them over, asking loudly.
Zhang Qi took them and told the other person to check the records. “The number of people in the base recently doesn’t match the records. Isn’t this the latest regulation? Just recording it is considered verification. Where are you going? Not leaving today?”
“Planning to leave. Our team doctor who said last night that someone still needed medicine? So we’re going out today to find some medicine and leave tomorrow,” Xu Sa said with a sneer, also exhaling smoke. “If you ask me, it’s really a waste of time.”
Zhang Qi had witnessed their discord yesterday when he was with Zhang Xu, so he didn’t say anything. Instead, he asked, “Then are you still exchanging things today? I was thinking of going to exchange some more.”
“Exchange? Heh… the guy’s in a bad mood and directly had the gate closed, leaving his own bodyguards inside. If you’re not afraid of him turning hostile and pointing a gun at you, then go ahead,” Xu Sa said loudly, spitting outside.
Just at this moment, Lu Weiyi leaned out and shouted forward, “Are you done checking?”
“Almost,” Xu Sa replied loudly, muttering under his breath, “Hurry, hurry, hurry, it’s not like it’s medicine for my old man, working myself to death…”
Zhang Qi glanced at the person who went to record the number of people and check the truck bed. Seeing him nod, he then smiled and said, “Alright, be careful.”
“Okay, see you,” Xu Sa said, with a cigarette in his mouth, and drove the car out.
As Lu Weiyi passed, he threw something out towards Zhang Qi. As the truck drove out, he said using the rearview mirror, “Longteng’s Lin Jun dropped this. Please pass it on.”
“What is it?” Li Zhuang asked, following closely behind and driving out of the base.
“Lin Fei’s necklace, looks like he’s worn it for a long time,” Lu Weiyi replied.
The city suburbs began to appear. Even early in the morning, the air didn’t have the fresh smell of the past. Instead, it was filled with a stench of decay. The closer they got to the city, the stronger the smell became.
Few cars had gone out when they left. On the road, besides zombies, there were only ruins and rubble. Not even half a person could be seen.
Li Zhuang drove recklessly, directly crushing the zombies that came at them. Occasionally, they could see rotten flesh splattering on the windshield. Through the once-transparent glass, it always felt like it could splash onto their faces at any moment.
The truck’s cab was high, so it didn’t block the road, but it hindered their speed, especially with the accumulation underneath. The car behind wasn’t having a particularly easy time. Lu Weiyi simply manipulated the small green branches to push away the zombies appearing in front of the car, as if clearing a path.
They hadn’t gone two blocks, not even into the city center, when Xu Sa’s voice came from the walkie-talkie, “There’s a car behind us, don’t know whose people.”
Li Zhuang also saw the tail following behind, a line of about a dozen cars following not far behind them. “Ignore it for now,” Li Zhuang replied, while saying to Lu Weiyi beside him, “Give the people in the truck bed a walkie-talkie, synchronize the information.”
Lu Weiyi took out a walkie-talkie from the space and manipulated the small green branches to place it in Zhuang Mingxu’s hand. The people in the truck bed sat up after leaving the base. With the raised boards, the situation in the truck bed couldn’t be seen from the outside. At this time, Lin Yimu and Ning Yuan sat on either side of Zhuang Mingxu, protecting him, while the other few people were scattered, occasionally focusing their attention on the still unconscious Lin Fei.
“What do they want?” With Lu Weiyi clearing the way, the truck was traveling twice as fast. Although the cars following behind were hindered, they still stubbornly followed. Seeing that they had been driving for almost three hours and had already entered the city area, and still hadn’t stopped, Xiong Jie asked.
“Who knows?” Li Zhuang glanced at the rearview mirror.
“Ai Yi, are you hungry?” Xiong Jie suddenly changed the subject. The two in front hadn’t reacted yet, and Lu Weiyi was stunned for a moment before turning to look at the little boy behind him.
The back seat of the truck was a narrow bunk. Xiong Jie, being large, took up most of it. The already small Zhuang Ai Yi was completely blocked behind the backrest, and since he hadn’t made a sound the whole time, Lu Weiyi had forgotten about him. “Hungry?” Lu Weiyi asked.
Zhuang Ai Yi shook his head.
I wonder if there will be a fight next chapter?