Chapter 29: Deadly Infection 14
A few minutes later, everyone gathered in Lu Qingyuan’s room.
Chu Yian had been his neighbor for so long, yet this was her first time entering his room, which was… empty.
Besides the bed, a table, the kitchen, and the bathroom, there were only cardboard boxes on the floor. They were covered in a language she couldn’t understand, and apart from one or two, the rest of the boxes hadn’t been opened.
It seemed Teacher Lu wasn’t doing so well in this world either; outwardly respectable, but inwardly struggling.
Chu Yian felt a pang of sympathy for him, then brought out four self-heating hotpots.
Two boxes of duck intestines and spicy blood curd, and two boxes of beef hotpot. In these special times, when some people couldn’t eat well and others couldn’t even get enough food, the four self-heating hotpots emitted an enticing aroma.
Such a strong sense of happiness.
Chu Yian was slurping and gasping from the spiciness several times.
Lu Qingyuan glanced at her and casually handed her a bottle of water.
“Teacher Lu, I’ve noticed you can handle a lot of spice.”
Chu Yian was panting from the spice, but he showed no reaction at all.
She took the mineral water and began to gulp it down. Her eyes suddenly caught sight of the monitor behind Lu Qingyuan.
“Teacher Lu, outside!”
Chu Yian sat up abruptly, pointing at the scene on the monitor. Outside the door, eight or nine burly men had gathered. They had just arrived and were all clustered at the entrance.
This late-night snack was definitely not going to happen.
“Grab your weapons, prepare to leave.”
Lu Qingyuan stood up and turned to pick up an iron rod about the length of his forearm.
This rod… she seemed to have seen three others like it before, propping open the main door to this floor.
Chu Yian looked at the rod, then suddenly noticed the metal stool she was sitting on.
She looked at the rod, then at the stool… no wonder there were four rods; these were the four legs he had removed from the stools.
“Teacher Lu, I have weapons at my place.”
Chu Yian looked at him, her words and eyes extending an invitation.
And then, Teacher Lu received the divine weapon that only the God of War, Lü Bu, could possess—
The Fangtian Halberd!
Lu Qingyuan looked at the weapon, which was taller than him, and fell silent for a second.
“Teacher Lu, don’t just stand there, quickly put on a protective suit!”
When they went out later, they would be exposed.
In a raging pandemic, nothing offered more effective protection than a protective suit.
Lu Qingyuan took the protective suit, fell silent again for a moment, “Where did you get these?”
“Oh, don’t worry about the details.”
Chu Yian put on her protective suit, slung her backpack over her shoulders, gripped a baseball bat in her hand, and then pushed a large suitcase towards him.
Perhaps shocked by Chu Yian’s thorough preparations, Lu Qingyuan was momentarily distracted.
At the same time, the rustling metallic sounds from the east door became more distinct. Chu Yian knew they were running out of time.
“Teacher Lu, I have an electric scooter downstairs. If it hasn’t been taken, it should still be there.”
If they ran now, they should make it, but she didn’t know if the scooter’s battery would be enough, or where they should go after leaving. “Teacher Lu, do you have a good place to go? If not, should we go… to the school first?”
The first few days of the epidemic meant work, production, and school were suspended.
At this time, the schools in the city should be empty. Hiding in a school classroom for a couple of days seemed like a very good option.
“We’re going to the underground parking lot.”
Lu Qingyuan, pulling the suitcase with one hand and gripping the Fangtian Halberd with the other, quickly left the room. “Follow me.”
He didn’t choose the door further away from the approaching intruders, but rather the elevator, which was only separated from them by a single door. He removed the elevator’s stop device, then crouched down and tinkered with it for a while.
The people behind the door, unable to open the lock, had already started trying to remove the door frame.
The distance was so close that Chu Yian could even hear their whispered conversations.
“Old Li, we’re putting in all this effort; if there’s nothing, it’ll be a huge loss.”
“Don’t worry, there’s definitely a fat sheep in there. That girl on this floor bought a lot of stuff before the epidemic, big bags and small bags, all in her room. I’ve run into her in the elevator several times.”
“Right! The personal shopper even said she bought 5L of disinfectant.”
“Looking at how she’s locked the door, it would be strange if it wasn’t because she had too much stuff and was worried about it being stolen. This time, we definitely won’t lose out.”
…Hearing the conversation outside, Chu Yian felt a chill down her spine.
So these people had noticed her so early; no wonder they were already planning to rob this floor, even with so many other households in the residential area.
Her wealth had been exposed.
Now it was just a matter of whether Lu Qingyuan could fix the elevator faster, or if the people outside could dismantle the door faster.
Chu Yian gripped her baseball bat, guarding the door, her heart pounding.
Ding—
The elevator suddenly chimed, indicating Lu Qingyuan was faster.
The elevator quickly ascended, stopping directly on their floor.
“What was that sound?”
“The elevator seems to be moving.”
“Not good, hurry!”
The crisp sound of the elevator also reached their ears. The right side of the main door had already been removed, and Chu Yian could even see black and gray sneakers through the gap.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Lu Qingyuan’s voice came, and Chu Yian immediately followed. The moment the elevator completely closed, she heard a loud bang.
The burly men outside had broken in.
Although they arrived quickly, the place was now empty. The group stood by the pried-open elevator door and looked down, seeing the elevator car rapidly descending.
“Damn it, they got away.”
“They must have taken a lot of stuff, hell!”
“How much can two people carry? First, let’s see what’s left in the room, and also notify the people downstairs to get ready to block them.”
The leader finished speaking and walked inside with a large club, completely unaware of the red light flashing on top of a black box above them, until they reached the middle of the corridor… A sharp, indescribable sound suddenly rang out without warning. The sound was like a blunt object striking their brains, and the group uncontrollably vomited and spewed. Unidentified matter, accompanied by a sickening odor, spewed from their stomachs and intestines, followed by blood.
A few strong men who were full of life a second ago all fell in the 12th-floor corridor the next, their fates unknown.
Chu Yian had now followed Lu Qingyuan to the underground parking garage on the first basement level. She thought they were safe, but then she suddenly saw several corpses in the garage, each with a different gruesome death… “Be careful, stay close to me.”
Lu Qingyuan said, turning his head, then quickly moved, pulling the suitcase. In the quiet space, the rattling sound of the poor-quality suitcase wheels was amplified infinitely.
At a turn, they were blocked.
Several young and middle-aged men, armed with weapons, blocked Lu Qingyuan’s path, their eyes fixed on their protective suits and the suitcase in his hand.
“It wasn’t in vain that I guarded this place every day; there really is a big fish.”
