Chapter 282: Just One Sentence Could Steal His Soul
Afraid that Su Tao hadn’t noticed them, Lei Xing told Fire Snake, who was driving, to turn up some high-profile music, causing the surrounding convoys to roll down their windows to look.
From the back seat, Xu Chang coughed twice. “Captain Lei, this is too attention-grabbing.”
Lei Xing was smug. “Of course.”
How else could he make sure Su Tao saw him?
Now, Su Tao had no choice but to notice them. That energetic music practically turned the road into a stage.
Chen Yang, who had been staying close to Ma Dapao, was the most excited. He stuck his head out the window and shouted across the distance:
“Big Brother Lei—”
Lei Xing didn’t hold back. He leaned half his body out of the window, whistled, and waved, signaling them to speed up.
Then, he instructed Fire Snake to slow down, hoping to get a chance to exchange a few words with Su Tao when they met up.
However, Su Tao’s driver was Cen Tianjiao. Seeing Shi Zijin’s expression, he wisely chose to maintain a steady speed, pretending not to understand Lei Xing’s signals.
Fire Snake spat in annoyance. “Their driver is one of Shi Zijin’s people.”
Lei Xing was irritated. “Then get ahead of them. I have to talk to Su Tao today—he can’t possibly stop me.”
Fire Snake let out a loud “Hey!” and swerved the steering wheel, slowing down and changing lanes to block their path.
Cen Tianjiao, feeling rebellious, switched lanes again to evade them.
The two convoys weaved back and forth like snakes, never quite catching up to each other.
The commotion didn’t go unnoticed. People in nearby convoys started recognizing Leopard Path, with many greeting Lei Xing.
Lei Xing responded heartily to each greeting while continuing his game of cat and mouse with Cen Tianjiao.
The members of Leopard Path, always playful, turned the whole thing into a high-speed game of chase, completely forgetting about the esteemed Changjing big shot sitting in the back seat.
Xu Chang, puzzled, asked, “What are you all doing?”
Big Mouth, the only one concerned about the leader’s displeasure, scratched his head and replied, “We ran into an old acquaintance.”
Xu Chang gave him a deep, skeptical look.
Big Mouth had no choice but to lower his voice and explain, “The girl in the car behind us is the one our boss likes.”
Xu Chang suddenly felt old. Was blocking her car their way of pursuing a girl?
He bluntly pointed out, “That girl doesn’t seem interested in your boss.”
If she were, she would’ve come over and talked by now.
Big Mouth refused to accept this. “You can’t say that! The driver doesn’t get along with our boss, so of course, he doesn’t want Boss Su to meet him. Ah, but please don’t say this in front of our boss—he’ll explode.”
Xu Chang chuckled and shook his head, saying no more. Youth had its advantages.
He was old now and wasn’t sure if he’d ever find his daughter again—let alone see her being pursued by a boy who liked her.
*
Su Tao was getting dizzy from all the swerving. “Cen Er, what the hell are you doing? I’m about to throw up.”
Shi Zijin casually steadied her.
“No idea. Leopard Path’s cars keep blocking us, so Cen Er is dodging them.”
Su Tao was baffled. What the hell was Lei Xing up to?
The game of chase lasted until the last supply station, where both convoys finally stopped.
Lei Xing hadn’t managed to say a single word to Su Tao, and he was absolutely fuming.
He stormed out of the car, flames practically bursting from his body, and strode over to Cen Tianjiao. Without hesitation, he shoved him. “You did that on purpose?”
Dang Xingyan immediately shoved him back. “What, you wanna fight?!”
Fire Snake, who couldn’t stand seeing his boss suffer even a little, cursed and lunged forward to throw a punch—only to be held back by Lei Xing.
The rest of the group rushed forward, tension high.
Zhou Hai and Zhou Yang tensed their muscles, taking on combat stances. The air grew thick with hostility, ready to explode at any moment.
Sensing the situation spiraling out of control, Su Tao sprinted over, glaring at both sides.
“Do you really want to fight? Is the heat frying your brains?!”
Lei Xing froze the moment he saw her and heard her voice. His mind went completely blank.
The tense atmosphere shifted. Fire Snake whispered to Big Mouth beside him,
“Is it just me, or does Boss Su’s voice…”
He wanted to say it was strangely captivating, but he was afraid Lei Xing would hear, so he swallowed the words and gave Big Mouth a meaningful look.
Big Mouth, understanding exactly what he meant, nodded in agreement.
Lei Xing wasn’t thinking about any of that.
He just felt that after all this time apart, Su Tao’s voice alone was enough to steal his soul away. It didn’t even matter what she said. He was beginning to think he truly wanted to spend the rest of his life with this person.
Su Tao, exasperated, called out, “Fangzhi! Come over here and cool them down.”
Lin Fangzhi didn’t care who was fighting whom. He simply handed out bottles of ice-cold mineral water, his voice flat and emotionless:
“If you want to cool off, there’s a water hose behind the RV. Go take a cold shower.”
Fire Snake and the others, quick to forget grudges, instantly abandoned thoughts of fighting and eagerly ran off to find the water hose.
Lei Xing, on the other hand, felt his anger dissipate the moment he saw Su Tao. He didn’t need any physical cooling down.
He wanted to approach her and say a few words, but Su Tao ignored him.
Rejected, Lei Xing didn’t dare press his luck, afraid of making her more upset—but his eyes remained glued to her.
Shi Zijin subtly positioned himself behind her, blocking Lei Xing’s line of sight.
Su Tao turned to Big Mouth, the most straightforward one, to ask what exactly had happened.
Big Mouth spilled everything, then added,
“Boss Lei just wanted to talk to you for a bit, that’s all. It’s just that Major Shi’s men didn’t give him any face, so he got anxious.”
Su Tao asked, “What was so urgent that he had to tell me in person? He could’ve just messaged me.”
Big Mouth was instantly stumped.
Texting and talking face-to-face were completely different things!
“Cough, cough.”
Hearing the cough, Big Mouth suddenly remembered that their leader was still present. He quickly introduced them:
“Minister Xu, this is Boss Su from Taoyang. Boss Su, this is Minister Xu from Changjing—uh, from the… Development and Oversight Department.”
Xu Chang didn’t mind that Big Mouth couldn’t remember his department’s full name. He looked at Su Tao with some surprise.
“How old are you?”
Su Tao could tell from his aura that he wasn’t just some minor official. He looked about forty-five, so she played the role of a respectful junior and obediently answered,
“Nineteen.”
Technically, she still had three months until she turned nineteen, but when dealing with people outside, she usually reported her age as twenty. This time, she answered truthfully because she could tell Xu Chang wasn’t easy to fool.
Xu Chang nodded. “Which Taoyang?”
It wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t heard of it—Taoyang had only recently gained some recognition in the south, but there wasn’t any news about it in the north yet.
The post-apocalyptic communication network was unstable and regionally restricted. Unlike the pre-apocalypse, news didn’t spread as quickly anymore.
Su Tao humbly replied, “Just a small place near the Dongyang Base.”
Dongyang—Xu Chang had heard of it. It was said that a retired high-ranking officer had voluntarily moved there, and Changjing had been keeping tabs on it over the years.
He assumed Taoyang was just a small settlement next to Dongyang.
Even so, he was still quite curious. “Are you the leader of Taoyang?”
A young girl, barely past childhood, managing to establish a foothold in the apocalypse—that was rare and impressive.
Su Tao hesitated, not answering immediately.
Before leaving for this trip, she had already planned to push Ma Dapao or Zhuang Wan into the spotlight as Taoyang’s official leader.
She had two reasons for staying in the background.
First, she was too young. Anyone who met her would instinctively doubt her reliability and competence.
Second, her system was a secret that made her a target. Staying behind the scenes was simply safer.
Shi Zijin, who had walked over, seemed to understand her thoughts. He gestured toward Ma Dapao, who was off in the distance enthusiastically networking with people, and told Xu Chang,
“That’s Manager Ma from Taoyang.”
The statement wasn’t false, but to Xu Chang, it sounded like Ma Dapao was the real leader.
Xu Chang nodded in understanding. That made sense—Ma Dapao did look like someone good at socializing and running things.
Then, Xu Chang suddenly turned to Shi Zijin and studied him. “And you are? You look familiar. Have we met before?”
