Faced with Chai Yuening’s disdain, You Lan snorted softly. “Even if I mutate, I’ll definitely remember to collect the debt you owe me.”
As she spoke, she lay back down on the bed, sighing with emotion. “Pity me, my good days are over…”
After that, she fell into a long silence.
The small room once again grew quiet.
The laughter and banter from moments ago felt like a fleeting illusion.
Chai Yuening didn’t know how she fell asleep, only that she hadn’t slept peacefully the entire night.
Strange nightmares caused her to drift in and out of sleep. Several times she opened her eyes, accompanied by a sense of groundless disorientation.
It wasn’t until the district’s morning broadcast sounded, just as it did every other morning, that she truly felt at ease and fell into a deep sleep on the hard floor.
But this nap, in the end, didn’t last long.
When she woke again, Chai Yuening tiptoed outside, switched on the living room’s ceiling light, and glanced at her pocket watch. It was only eight-thirty in the morning.
She stood at the doorway, stretched, and quietly pulled the door open, preparing to go out.
Just as she was about to turn and close the door, she found Chu Ci standing at the bedroom entrance at some unknown point. Her long, silver-white hair was slightly disheveled, and a pair of obviously sleepy eyes gazed at her foggily.
“I’m going to buy some things,” Chai Yuening said, then asked softly, “Want to come?”
Chu Ci nodded and followed her, light on her feet.
The impressive military armored vehicle headed toward the trading market in the Ninth District.
Chai Yuening had no money on her, but there were things in the vehicle that could be exchanged for a bit of cash. Although selling something right after buying it would likely mean a loss, she needed to purchase some household items for You Lan before leaving the Ninth District.
You Lan had helped her immensely; she couldn’t let You Lan go without even a decent place to live.
Chai Yuening selected a few items that were relatively easy to sell at the trading market and went from stall to stall asking for prices. She finally managed to exchange them for enough money to buy some pots, pans, bowls, bedsheets, and quilts for daily use.
As she and Chu Ci were each dragging two large bags, struggling to make their way back to the vehicle, a familiar voice called out from behind, making her ecstatic.
“Captain!” Lu Qi rushed over like he was flying, so excited he was almost incoherent. “Captain, you’re okay! We couldn’t reach you, we were all worried something happened to you… This is great, you and Chu Ci, you’re both okay!”
“You’re here. Where are Ren Dong and Lao Xiang?” Chai Yuening asked hurriedly. “Are you all okay?”
“We’re fine, we’re all fine!” Lu Qi said. “After the incident in the Tenth District, we were transferred here with the military. No one was injured!”
The heart that had been hanging in suspense for several days finally found some relief at this moment.
“That’s great, that’s great…” Having said this, she couldn’t help but ask one more question. “What about Du Xia?”
This time, however, only silence answered her.
After a brief silence, Lu Qi shook his head. “No news at all…”
The Fifth District was the first to fall. Everything happened so suddenly that the people there didn’t even have time to evacuate before the surrounding districts also fell, one after another.
Chai Yuening took a deep breath and smiled. “She’ll be fine… Where are you all staying now? I want to see Ren Dong and Lao Xiang.”
Lu Qi: “We’re staying in H9!”
Chai Yuening couldn’t help but be stunned. “We’re in H12.”
After a short silence, they both sighed and smiled.
Neither of them could have imagined that after being separated for days, they were all living so close to one another.
After some discussion, Chai Yuening decided to move over to H9 and stay with Ren Dong for the next couple of days.
Right now, only the Second and Ninth Districts in the outer city had not fallen. It was unknown which of the fallen districts had raised their isolation walls. Under these circumstances, trying to drive to the Fifth District for a search and rescue mission would require repeated trial and error to find a route, and the danger level would be no less than entering a level-six risk zone on the surface.
Over the past few days, Chai Yuening had seen too much death. She couldn’t lead her teammates into another risky venture, but she also couldn’t tolerate doing nothing.
She thought she should contact the main city’s military and contribute as much as possible to retaking the fallen districts.
But before that, she had to get You Lan settled.
Soon, with the help of Lao Xiang and Lu Qi, all the newly purchased daily necessities from the vehicle were carried upstairs.
The moment the door opened, You Lan ran out of the bedroom, her eyes red.
She leaned against the bedroom doorway, gazing at the familiar faces outside, completely disregarding her usual image as she let out a loud “Waaah!” and burst into tears.
Faced with this sudden wail, Lao Xiang and Lu Qi dazedly moved all the things in their hands inside, then stood on either side of the doorway like a pair of door gods, staring at each other in utter confusion.
Chai Yuening: “Are you having a fit?”
“I woke up and you were all gone. I thought you’d abandoned me…” You Lan said, raising the handkerchief in her hand, which was already soaked through, to wipe her tears. “I have nothing now. If you really left me behind, how would I survive?”
“You have hands and feet, and you’re a smooth talker. Unless a mutated beast shows up, you really won’t die,” Chai Yuening said, pointing to the daily necessities on the floor. “We went to buy things. We couldn’t let you sleep on a bare bedframe again tonight, could we?”
“Captain Chai!” You Lan opened her arms and took two small running steps forward, as if wanting to give Chai Yuening a big hug. But in the instant her peripheral vision caught a flash of displeasure in Chu Ci’s eyes, she braked midway, like a butterfly folding its wings.
She sniffled, then nonchalantly reached out, pulled open one of the large black bags to take a look, and muttered under her breath, “What did you all buy…”
Before she could finish, she saw Chai Yuening hand her a stack of bills wrapped in a plastic bag.
You Lan: “This is…”
Chai Yuening: “You stay here for now. Buy whatever you need. It’s not a lot of money, but if you’re frugal, it should be enough to last you a while.”
You Lan: “You… you all… are still leaving?”
Chai Yuening: “The Base is in this state. We mercenaries, who are used to risking our lives, can’t just do nothing, can we?”
You Lan was silent for a moment. She didn’t say anything more, only stepped back to make way, quietly watching as Chai Yuening directed everyone to help place the purchased items around the room.
After all the commotion, the empty little room finally started to look a bit like a home.
Lao Xiang: “Boss You, see you later.”
Lu Qi: “We’re off, we’re off.”
“See you,” You Lan said with a faint smile, waving a small hand at them.
Chu Ci placed the room card in You Lan’s palm, then followed the others downstairs.
Counting from the day the chaos began, the team members had only been separated for five days. When they all sat around together again, they stared at each other, wide-eyed, the words “as if a lifetime has passed” seemingly written on each of their faces.
An incredibly plain vegetable hot pot was the first meal they shared after their reunion, and everyone ate with great satisfaction.
The moment Chai Yuening put down her bowl and chopsticks, she let out a long, heavy sigh.
Her gaze swept over everyone, and then she asked, seemingly casually, “Does anyone have any plans for what’s next?”
Silence. Amidst the silence, Chu Ci looked at Chai Yuening earnestly, while the other three looked at me, and I looked at you, and for a long while, no one said a word.
Chai Yuening looked at Lao Xiang.
Lao Xiang scratched his head. “I’m good with anything. Anywhere is fine, anything is fine.”
Lu Qi raised his hand. “Didn’t Boss You give us a good car? We can drive and look for Du Xia?”
Ren Dong: “If you want to die.”
Lu Qi: “…Then, we just wait around like this?”
“First, the car was lent to us. If we break it, we have to pay for it,” Chai Yuening said. “Second, we can’t pass through the districts that have raised their isolation walls. Without a clear route, we’d have to keep trying and failing in the risk zones… The Base has probably announced the mutation rate from being injured by those mutated beasts, right?”
“The military and the public security office executed a lot of people at the city gates,” Ren Dong said in a low voice, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the armrest of her wheelchair.
“Let’s cooperate with the military,” Chai Yuening said, then looked up at Lu Qi. “The main city’s military.”
Lu Qi: “…”
Chai Yuening said in a heavy voice, “If your communicator is still working, give your brother-in-law a call.”
Lu Qi: “…”
After a long silence, Lu Qi took the communicator from his waist and tossed it to Chai Yuening. “I’m not talking to him.”
“I’ll talk,” Chai Yuening said. As she lowered her head, she saw two unread voice messages from “..”
Chai Yuening opened the messages, and a not-unfamiliar voice came from the communicator.
“Lu Qi, have you left the Sixth District? If you’re still alive, no matter which district you’re in, contact the City Defense Center immediately and have them send you back to the main city!”
“Lu Qi! Reply if you hear this!”
Lao Xiang glanced at Lu Qi. “You really know how to make people worry.”
Lu Qi rolled his eyes. “Since when is it his business whether I live or die?”
Chai Yuening stood up and walked to a corner of the room, responding to the unnamed channel: “Major General Xue, Lu Qi is fine. This is Chai Yuening, captain of the Thirteenth Mercenary Team. Our squad’s combat strength is relatively intact. We are willing to fight for the Base and hope to receive instructions from the military if needed.”
After the message was sent, a silent wait ensued.
After an unknown amount of time, a new message arrived.
Xue Zhou: “The Base needs every talented individual with experience fighting mutated beasts. Captain Chai, it is the military’s honor to receive your assistance.”
Chai Yuening: “We are temporarily staying in the Ninth District. Is there anything we can do for the Base?”
Xue Zhou: “Please move your entire team to the main city within three days.”
The major general’s voice was as steady as she remembered.
But for some reason, Chai Yuening felt that this seemingly calm instruction was laden with an indescribable sense of oppression.
For a moment, a bad premonition rose in her heart.
She unconsciously lowered her voice and said seriously, “Please tell me the reason!”
Silence seemed to engulf her in that instant.
Every pair of eyes behind her was fixed quietly on the spot where she stood.
After more than ten seconds of silence, a reply finally came from the other end of the communicator once more.
Xue Zhou: “In three days at most, all troops will withdraw from the outer districts and fall back to the main city.”
Chai Yuening’s voice couldn’t help but tremble slightly. “Then what about the Ninth and Second Districts?”
Xue Zhou: “The Base will use a suitable pretext to transfer the quality population to the main city without causing mass panic.”
—Even if all the outer districts fall, the main city can absolutely withstand the attacks of the mutated beasts.
—But just how many people can the main city accommodate? With a limited number of spots, which group of people will be abandoned?
You Lan’s voice seemed to echo in Chai Yuening’s ears.
She opened her mouth, stunned, only to find she couldn’t speak at all.
On the other end of the communicator, the major general’s voice was calm yet incredibly weary.
“This all happened too suddenly. The military has suffered heavy losses and can no longer retake the outer districts.”
“The silver lining is that when each outer district was built, it was equipped with a self-destruct system. The activation switch is in the main city.”
“Captain Chai, the Base has already prepared for the worst, unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless… the Base can retake the surface signal tower and request support from the Floating City.”
In the dead silence, Chu Ci lowered her lashes, staring quietly at the tips of her own feet, her thoughts drifting far away.
Author’s Notes:
Well, isn’t hope just around the corner?
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