Chapter 398: Highly Adaptable
Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Highly Adaptable
Zhuang Lei felt like he had been struck by lightning.
He glanced behind him. It was empty. His teammates had actually all left!
Meanwhile, his sister had all the members of the Swift Leopard Team with her.
This was the biggest joke in the world.
"We’ll go find the base registration staff later and change the team name," Zhuang Jia said, rubbing her face and looking exhausted.
"We’ll just call it Peace."
"Yes, yes, Peace is good. We’re all peaceful people; we don’t want to be enemies with anyone," a former member of the Swift Leopard Team hurriedly nodded in agreement, his words directed at Xie Ning’s group.
Zhuang Lei’s expression was so dark that he could barely hide the murderous intent in his eyes.
’So in the end, I’m the one who’s been left all alone?’
’Oh, no, that’s not right. I still have Xu Yu and Lin Yiyi with me.’
’But what good are these two?’
’Could he really count on these two women to make a comeback?’
Zhuang Jia pulled Luo Yanan along and walked forward, never looking back at Zhuang Lei.
Xu Yu’s makeup was completely ruined by her tears. "Brother Lei, what are we going to do now?"
Zhuang Lei was filled with hatred. He gritted his teeth and shot her a vicious glare. "You’re the one who causes all the trouble! Look at this mess! How are we supposed to clean this up?"
"I didn’t want it to turn out like this! I was just so worried about Yiyi," Xu Yu cried out, her voice choked with sobs.
"Yiyi, Yiyi! Couldn’t you have waited until we were in the underground shelter to deal with Yiyi’s problems? Did you have to cause trouble right now?!"
"Alright, let’s head down first. We’ll talk later. I’ll find a chance to talk to my sister and the others again," Zhuang Lei said, his gaze fixed ahead with a sinister glint.
’Impossible. He had worked hard for over a year to build the Swift Leopard Team, which had just started to take shape. There was no way he’d let Zhuang Jia and her husband just steal it away.’
’What right did they have?’
’That sister of his had been completely led astray by that scheming brother-in-law. He, her older brother, wasn’t even dead yet, and his sister and brother-in-law were already trying to seize power and inherit his assets. What a fool’s dream!’
Zhuang Lei radiated a dark aura, trailing at the very back of the group as they moved forward.
As for Xu Yu, carrying Lin Yiyi, she didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly, thinking over and over that things had gone terribly wrong.
’She never imagined things would escalate to this point. How were they going to resolve this?’
’It was all that damned Xie Ning’s fault.’
’If she hadn’t declared that she’d make an enemy of the entire Swift Leopard Team, would the members have gotten so scared and abandoned Zhuang Lei’s group all at once?’
’I’m so pissed!’ Xu Yu’s arms ached from holding Lin Yiyi, but she didn’t dare ask Zhuang Lei for help.
She hurried to catch up, stamping her foot furiously while her heart seethed with resentment.
The group lined up and filed through an iron gate, heading down a flight of stairs.
"The underground shelter in Zone A was newly built a year ago, so its facilities are more complete," Gu Chen said in a low voice. "Most of the other shelters were converted from subway stations and temporarily requisitioned."
"Zone A can hold about twenty to forty thousand people, but given the current situation..." Gu Chen sighed softly and shook his head. "It’s probably not going to smell very pleasant down there. Ningning, you’ll have to bear with it."
Xie Ning’s expression was indifferent and impassive. "Do you think I’m going to cause trouble?"
Gu Chen: ...
"No, not at all." The quick-reacting young Gu Chen shook his head frantically, cleared his throat, and said, "This must be hard on you, Ningning."
Xie Ning huffed. "There’s nothing to be hard on me about. If other people can do it, so can I. And even if other people can’t do it, I still can."
"Right, right. Ningning is the best," Gu Chen quickly praised his girlfriend.
He had thought his girlfriend might not be able to adapt to the chaotic and noisy environment of the underground shelter.
But he never expected that when she passed through a noisy, jostling crowd, she didn’t even bat an eyelid.
How could Gu Chen know that Xie Ning had survived far harsher environments? To her, this brand-new underground shelter was actually quite decent.
A group of people were crowded in the rest area up ahead, clamoring about something. The team cast a few curious glances before continuing to follow Gu Chen and Xie Ning forward.
"Do they serve food here?" Xie Ning suddenly asked.
Gu Chen shook his head. "We haven’t received any notice about that. For tonight at least, they probably won’t be serving food."
Xie Ning nodded.
Li Dawei and the others looked over at the clamoring crowd again and had a sudden realization.
"Oh, so those people are making a fuss because they want food."
Uncle Ge Liang, who was behind them, suddenly commented, "Over a year ago, you and your sister were just like them, begging for food in the group chat all day long."
Li Dawei: ...
"Uncle, can we not bring that up? Look, my son is about to be born!"
Ge Yan burst out laughing, feeling a sudden wave of nostalgia for the peaceful days at the Song Family Pavilion.
Fortunately, although they were constantly on the move now, they were at least, for the time being, still able to get by.
Gu Chen led them through seven or eight electronic security gates, and everyone truly felt like they were entering a high-security prison.
Of course, compared to a prison, the environment might have been even worse...
After passing through the fourth security gate, the environment seemed slightly better than it was outside.
At least here there were small cubicles, offering more privacy.
And the people coming and going in the central hall were all well-dressed, not as chaotic and rowdy as the ones outside.
Gu Chen called over a few staff members to take Li Dawei’s group to get settled, while he led Xie Ning away himself.
Li Xiang, who had woken up in his wheelchair, watched with longing eyes as Xie Ning and Gu Chen left. He suddenly asked, "Should we follow them and see?"
"Follow them? Are you nuts? Did the wind blow your brains out? If we follow, we’ll get a beating." Li Dawei waved a hand dismissively. "This place is way better than that chaotic mess of people back there. Let’s get settled first and wait for their arrangements."
"Captain, you’re really becoming more and more wise," Xu Bailiang couldn’t help but say with a smile.
"Heh heh, of course. And you, you pretty boy, you’re growing on me too."
"Bro, don’t you talk about my Brother Bai Liang like that." Li Xiang glared at Li Dawei. "Come on, where am I staying?"
Xie Ning followed Gu Chen down another level, entering the underground laboratory area.
Many people in white lab coats were bustling about. When they saw the two, they hurriedly nodded in greeting.
"Carry on," Gu Chen said with a wave of his hand, signaling that they didn’t need to be formal. He then led Xie Ning further inside.
After several retinal scans, Xie Ning followed Gu Chen into a lounge area.
There was a circular sofa, glass display cases, and all sorts of unusually shaped bookshelves—floating ones, wall-mounted ones—interspersed with various light-screen projections.
The lounge lobby was decorated like a museum, and walking in immediately immersed you in a sense of advanced technology.
Several people on the sofa saw them enter and quickly stood up, waving at them.
"Sister!" Su Xiyue waved enthusiastically and came running toward them.
The little girl bounded over and was caught by Xie Ning, who casually ruffled her hair.
"We’ve been waiting for you." Song Yaoguo stood up with a smile. "What’s the situation like outside the base? When we first arrived, the wind was howling and the sandstorm was intense."