Chapter 306: Gu Han Wants A meeting
I placed the hoop on the table and followed my four men downstairs, wondering who the hell decided to come knock on my door... willingly.
By the time we reached the foyer, several more vines had gathered near the windows, shifting restlessly as they watched the road beyond the gate.
The thing that got my attack vines cranky?
The three men standing outside of the defensive perimeter.
Each of them wore a strip of red cloth tied around one arm, matching the men from the craft store like some preschool teacher sent his students out into the public and needed to remind everyone where to send them back to. But unlike the first group, these three had enough sense to remain well beyond the reach of the nearest flowers.
The man in front raised both empty hands when he saw us approaching. "We’re here on behalf of Gu Han."
I stopped as soon as I walked out onto the porch and looked at the red cloth around his arm. They were down by the gate, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t see them... and that they couldn’t see me.
On a side note. I was impressed. Gu Han had found my house much faster than I would have preferred.
Behind me, Lingyun sighed. "I knew we should’ve charged them for the tour."
The messenger ignored him. "Gu Han wants to speak with the woman who attacked his men."
"I didn’t attack them," I replied. "They tried to steal my thread." Seriously, couldn’t they even deliver my message properly? When did I attack them?
The man hesitated, clearly unprepared for me to argue with him. What did he expect? For me to roll over and take it? Yeah. That wasn’t happening. "What does he want?" I asked with a sigh, already done with the conversation.
"He wants to discuss the boundary between your property and his territory."
I looked at the plants covering the walls before glancing back at the mansion behind me. The boundary seemed obvious enough that even someone wearing a red strip of fabric should have understood it.
"Tell him my property ends where my plants stop." The vines nearest the gate lifted their heads as though agreeing with me.
The messenger looked at them before returning his attention to me. "Gu Han won’t accept that."
I thought about the six crooked stitches waiting upstairs and felt my patience disappear.
Apparently, my new hobby was already being interrupted by idiots. But that was fine. Stabbing people was probably the same as stabbing fabric. "If he won’t accept that, he can always come and test my boundaries himself."
The messenger’s gaze shifted toward the plants surrounding the wall. Several of the larger flowers had turned in his direction, their petals slowly opening to reveal the rows of teeth hidden inside.
He stepped back. "That isn’t what Gu Han wants," he replied carefully. "He sent us to arrange a meeting."
"Then he should have sent a calendar, or called me to make an appointment," I replied, not impressed.
Lingyun made a strangled sound behind me, but I ignored him.
The messenger took a slow breath, as though reminding himself that he had been sent to negotiate rather than start another fight. "Gu Han controls the surrounding neighborhoods. He wants to establish clear boundaries before there are any more misunderstandings."
"There wasn’t a misunderstanding. His men understood that my supplies belonged to me. They just thought they could take them anyway."
"They were enforcing the rules of our settlement."
"But I don’t live in your settlement."
"No, but you travelled through territory under Gu Han’s protection."
I looked past him toward the empty road, where several abandoned vehicles remained half buried beneath weeds and old blood. A body had collapsed against one of the sidewalks weeks ago, and no one wearing red had bothered to remove it.
"Protected from what?"
The messenger glanced toward the road as if noticing it for the first time. "We keep the streets clear and prevent hostile groups from moving into the area."
"You didn’t prevent us from moving through it."
"That’s different."
"Because you failed?"
His jaw tightened, but he managed not to reach for the weapon hanging at his side. The two men behind him were having more difficulty controlling themselves. One stared openly at Lingyun and the others, while the second kept watching the vines nearest his feet.
At least one of them had learned something from the first group.
The messenger straightened his shoulders. "Gu Han is offering you an opportunity to cooperate. Your people would be allowed to travel freely through his territory, and his settlement would provide support if your property came under attack."
I looked around at the plants covering the wall. "From what?"
"Other survivor groups. Zombies. Mutated creatures."
The nearest flower snapped at a fly passing too close to its mouth.
"I think we’re fine," I deadpanned.
"No settlement can survive alone forever," said the messenger. He really seemed to be sure about what he was saying. But did he really understand? After all, didn’t Gu Han just control a bigger settlement?
I didn’t bother to reply, because what was the point. There was no point in arguing with an idiot.
Gu Han might not know exactly what we had inside the mansion, but he knew we had to have something. People who were starving didn’t leave their homes for embroidery thread, and people who were desperate didn’t crush radios after humiliating armed patrols.
The messenger tried to recover. "Cooperation benefits everyone."
"And just what does Gu Han want in return?"
"A formal agreement recognizing his control over the surrounding roads and neighborhoods. You would contribute a portion of any supplies collected inside his territory, and your fighters would assist if the settlement came under attack."
Lingyun leaned toward Yuche. "That sounds a lot like he wants half the thread again."
"I heard that," I replied over my shoulder.
The messenger continued as though neither of us had spoken. "In exchange, your group would receive the protection of Gu Han’s people."
I turned toward the four men standing behind me.
Lingyun had fire. Yuche could pull every weapon away from Gu Han’s soldiers before they managed to fire. Zhou Chenghai couldn’t be injured by ordinary weapons and fought like a berserker, and Xu Zhenlan could probably destroy half the neighborhood if he became annoyed enough.
Then there were my plants.
I looked back at the messenger. "I already have enough protection. Nothing is coming here to bother me."
His eyes moved across the men before settling on the vines wrapped around the wall.
"Gu Han has more than four fighters. We out number you."
"I have more than four plants."
