Chapter 267: Time For Some Shopping
Commander Li’s voice cut through before the situation turned into something much, much worse... like a body count. "Stand down," he hollered, and his voice echoed around them.
For a second, the soldier looked like he might refuse, and that single second mattered more than anyone wanted to admit.
Zhenlan saw Commander Li notice it too as the commander’s body became tense like he was just waiting for someone else to make the first move. Then the soldier lowered the rifle.
Lingyun sighed. "So disappointing. I really thought he was going to give us a bit of entertainment before he died."
"No," Zhenlan said. "Don’t even think about it."
"That’s not fair!! I didn’t even do anything yet. You can’t blame me for the thoughts in my head. That’s just... not fair!"
"Fair or not... the answer is no. I don’t need to know what is going on in your head to know that it is a bad idea."
Lingyun looked offended. "So what?!? You just assume the worst of me?!"
"I have met you."
"Rouxi likes me."
"Rouxi has questionable taste in men."
Chenghai glanced at them. "Time’s a tickin’."
And that ended the discussion fast.
They moved.
The outer section watched them go, and Zhenlan felt the weight of every stare on their backs. Hope. Fear. Anger. Calculation. Some people wanted to follow. Some wanted to know why those people had been chosen. Some wanted to believe this meant there was another way out, while others had already lived long enough to distrust anything that looked like rescue.
But Zhenlan did not slow down.
At the gate, the next problem became obvious.
They had arrived with enough vehicles for the original group, not a civilian extraction. Commander Li’s convoy was too small, and several trucks had already been pulled away from the checkpoint earlier. The remaining soldiers near the gate looked too young, too tired, and too uncertain to decide whether they were witnessing a transfer, a kidnapping, or the beginning of a mutiny.
"There’s not enough room," Chenghai said, pointing out the obvious.
"I can walk," Fang Lihua replied.
"No, you can’t," Qin Fen said immediately. "Not outside. Not if we are being watched."
Gao Shun snorted. "I definitely can’t."
Lingyun had already stopped listening.
And that was never comforting.
Zhenlan turned just in time to see him stroll toward one of the military trucks parked near the side of the gate. A soldier standing beside it straightened, but he did not raise his rifle, which meant he had at least one useful instinct.
"You can’t take that," the soldier said.
Lingyun smiled at him. "I disagree."
"That is a military vehicle."
"Yes. Very useful. Thank you for explaining."
The soldier looked toward Commander Li. "Sir?"
Commander Li closed his eyes for a second.
Lingyun opened the driver’s door.
"Lingyun," Zhenlan warned.
Lingyun leaned one arm against the door and looked back, expression bright and entirely unrepentant. "It’s payment."
Commander Li opened his eyes. "For what?"
"For Rouxi saving your ass in the basement of that hotel." Lingyun climbed into the driver’s seat with a smirk on his face. "Honestly, you should be grateful. She was almost eaten, stabbed, crushed, and emotionally inconvenienced. A truck is a very small price."
Commander Li stared at him as Chenghai rubbed a hand over his face.
Zhenlan considered objecting, but unfortunately, Lingyun was right about the practical side. They needed the vehicle, Commander Li needed them gone before this turned into an open confrontation, and the soldiers were too confused to stop anything that happened quickly enough.
"Load the truck," Zhenlan said.
The recruits moved before anyone else could argue.
Fang Lihua climbed in first, then turned and hauled Qin Fen up after her. Luo Qing helped Gao Shun into the back, ignoring his complaints with the calm brutality of someone who had already decided that pride was less important than speed. The older woman passed up two bundles and climbed after them. The thin young man hesitated until Fang Lihua snapped his name, and then he scrambled in like his bones remembered obedience before his fear could catch up.
Commander Li stepped close enough that only Zhenlan and Chenghai could hear him. "Take them and get out. Do not come back through the main gate."
Zhenlan studied him. "You are not coming."
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Commander Li’s eyes moved toward the inner compound, then back again. It was a brief glance, but Zhenlan had built a life on brief glances. The sealed sections, the missing gate teams, the reassignment orders, the hesitation in soldiers who should have obeyed without thinking, all of it pointed inward.
The rot was not only in the refugee section.
Commander Li had finally smelled it.
"There are things I need to handle here," Commander Li said.
Zhenlan did not ask what things, not in front of witnesses. "Do not get buried under your own command structure. When you are out, come find us. You’ll always have a home with us."
Commander Li’s mouth tightened even as he gave a jerky nod. "Do not bring that man back with stolen military property."
Lingyun leaned out the truck window. "Too late."
Chenghai opened the passenger door and looked at Zhenlan. "We need supplies."
"Yes," Zhenlan replied, climbing in. "And now we need enough for nine extra people."
"Ten," Fang Lihua called from the back.
Zhenlan looked over his shoulder.
She stared back. "My nephew is coming if I find him."
"Of course he is."
Qin Fen lifted one hand. "Also batteries."
Gao Shun grunted. "And pipe."
Luo Qing added, "And metal that isn’t garbage."
The stolen truck started with a rough mechanical cough that made everyone in the back tense. Lingyun patted the steering wheel like it was a living thing that had chosen violence and pleased him greatly.
Zhenlan exhaled slowly.
What had begun as a trip to find workers had become an unauthorized civilian extraction, theft of military property, and the beginning of a supply run large enough to empty several warehouses.
Rouxi’s ceiling was still cracked, her front entrance was still damaged, and her house needed to become a fortress before the world outside got worse.
Unfortunately, the world seemed determined to get worse quickly.
Lingyun drove toward the open road beyond the gate.
"Hardware stores first," Zhenlan said.
Lingyun’s smile widened.
"Finally," he replied. "Time for some shopping."
