LWDC Chapter 97

Chapter 97 – Setting Off to Be a Spy

Chapter 97 – Setting Off to Be a Spy

Chapter 97 – Setting Off to Be a Spy

Ning Fei stayed at the Tianyue base for a few days before hitching a ride on a convoy transporting supplies and leaving the base.

If he didn’t leave soon, he feared he’d be dragged out for morning exercises before the sun even rose. Morning exercises had become a popular trend at the Tianyue base, with everyone focusing on strengthening their bodies. Even young children were woken up early to run, still half-asleep. Not to mention Yue Fengping, who came from a special forces background, and his comrades and subordinates, who would always start their day with a few kilometers of running before breakfast. Even Yu Zhou was dragged out by Yue Fengping for morning exercises, although his training was only half or a third of Yue Fengping’s, and basically Yue Fengping and the others would pick him up on their way back.

Of course, it wasn’t that Yu Zhou couldn’t handle a few kilometers of running, but being lazy was more cost-effective. Yue Fengping wasn’t training him like one of his soldiers, but was worried that his physical condition would decline and he wouldn’t be able to escape in case of danger, so he coaxed and half-forced him to train. The first time Ning Fei was woken up by the noise of the morning exercises, he got up to watch the fun and saw Yu Zhou wandering around after being left behind. So Ning Fei asked him from upstairs, “They’ve all run far away, why don’t you just go home? Who are you putting on a show for?”

Yu Zhou waved his hand: “The base is full of his ‘eyes and ears’, and they’ll tell him if they see me being lazy. It’s not a matter of training volume, it’s a matter of attitude.”

The latter sentence was obviously mimicking Yue Fengping’s tone. Ning Fei mocked upon hearing this, “You still say you’re not love-struck?”

Yu Zhou pointed at him, “I’ll get someone to forcibly drag you out for morning exercises, believe it or not?”

Ning Fei scoffed, retreated, and closed the window. Yu Zhou chuckled and turned to jog away slowly.

Later, Yue Fengping actually brought up the matter of morning exercises with Ning Fei, and even thoughtfully mentioned that his comrade’s room was next to Ning Fei’s dormitory, so he could have his comrade call Ning Fei when he went out for exercises in the morning. Ning Fei immediately waved his hand, “No need, thank you,” rejecting him three times in a row.

Yue Fengping still wanted to persuade him: “Although you’re a level three ability user, basic physical training is still necessary, otherwise you’ll have problems with your stamina at critical moments. I’m a level four ability user, but sometimes abilities aren’t everything. Health is your own, it can’t hurt to exercise more.”

Ning Fei, out of respect for Yu Zhou, was still somewhat patient in continuing to politely decline: “No need, I know my limits, I’m responsible for my own health.”

Yue Fengping then said: “Then when you don’t have other work, would you like to participate in ability user training in the afternoon? I’m level four, and I still go often. On the one hand, it’s to train myself, and on the other hand, it’s to practice coordination.”

Ning Fei: “Also no need. I’m preparing to leave the base, and I probably won’t be back for quite some time, so don’t worry about my training.”

Yue Fengping was puzzled: “Where are you going? Didn’t Yu Zhou say that you’ve already joined our base? Is there anything we haven’t taken care of properly?”

Ning Fei: “There’s nothing we haven’t taken care of properly. I came to join Yu Zhou, and Yu Zhou threw me out, that’s all.”

Yue Fengping: “… Huh?”

After this, Ning Fei complained to Yu Zhou: “Why is he so long-winded? I don’t think you like this kind of style, do you?”

Yu Zhou chuckled: “He’s trying to persuade you with words out of consideration for me. If it were anyone else, he would have just thrown them onto the training ground and beat them up. Then he’d ask, ‘Can you beat me? If not, go train!’ What did you think?”

Ning Fei said, “I might not be able to beat him.”

Yu Zhou said, “That’s true, but why waste the effort? Are you bored?”

Meanwhile, Yue Fengping also talked to Yu Zhou about the content of this conversation. It was at this time that the base commander learned that Yu Zhou was planning to send Ning Fei to other bases as a “spy.”

He wanted to poach people from other bases to Tianyue, but a direct confrontation would be troublesome, so he decided to send Ning Fei, whose name hadn’t spread yet, to secretly contact and persuade them. Ning Fei was a level three wind-type, a relatively high-level ability user, and he was also smart, so he could move around easily in any base. Once he contacted the target and negotiated the terms, with internal and external cooperation, it would be easy to move people.

Yue Fengping wouldn’t question Yu Zhou’s decision, but asked: “Who do you want to poach? That biomedical research team you investigated a while ago?”

“Yes. Mainly them.” Yu Zhou smiled, “Chen Yikun said that the team had great insights into vaccine research before the zombie outbreak, but unfortunately they hadn’t officially achieved results at the time, so their reputation wasn’t great. Now their situation isn’t very good either, so if we poach them, we might be able to support them in developing a vaccine sooner, so that the threat of the mutated organisms to humans can be greatly reduced.”

“If that can really be achieved, then restoring normal social order is just around the corner.” Yue Fengping sighed, “I didn’t even consider the affairs of other bases, you’ve really thought it through thoroughly, you’ve worked hard. If you need any support, just tell me, and I’ll cooperate as much as possible.”

Yu Zhou said, “There’s no need for your cooperation at the moment, Ning Fei alone is enough, let’s wait for him to send back good news.”

“He’s that capable?” Yue Fengping confirmed, “Is he really 100% reliable? You haven’t seen him for so long, do you really know what happened to him before? He’s only been here for a few days before leaving, will there be any problems?”

Yu Zhou said, “Don’t worry, 100% reliable, 100% capable.”

Yue Fengping raised an eyebrow: “… You trust him that much?”

“Haha, are you jealous, Commander Yue?” Yu Zhou chuckled and stepped forward to straighten the man’s collar, “Don’t worry, there’s nothing between him and me, it’s impossible.”

*

The night before Ning Fei left the Tianyue base, he had a “farewell dinner” at Yu Zhou and Yue Fengping’s house, and then went to Yu Zhou to get coffee, cigarettes, and other small items to relieve boredom. The next day, he really left the Tianyue base.

Of course, Yu Zhou had also given him a lot of points and useful supplies to help him along the way east. Although the convoy was traveling on a cleared and regularly maintained main road, they would occasionally encounter mutated animals or zombies. Ning Fei would then work with the convoy’s guards and ability users to clear them out. He usually looked lazy and scattered, but once he started fighting, he was fast, ruthless, and accurate. In addition, he was easy to accommodate on the road, never picky about food or sleep, so he got along fairly well with the convoy.

The leader of the convoy was a burly man in his thirties, a level two fire ability user, a big truck driver, who had also driven special vehicles before. He looked like a rough man who had weathered many storms. To make the road smoother, Ning Fei had secretly given him two packs of cigarettes. As a result, when they were about to reach the Huichuan base, the leader asked Ning Fei for a private chat.

He wanted to keep Ning Fei in the convoy.

Ning Fei naturally refused. The leader didn’t give up immediately and said, “I’m not just inviting you to strengthen the convoy, there’s also a bit of a personal reason. I’ve actually noticed that you’re also… my kind.”

This “kind” was somewhat ambiguous, but Ning Fei immediately understood what the other person meant. He hadn’t flirted with anyone on the road, and he wasn’t curious about how the other person had found out. He directly refused again: “I’m not interested in you either.”

“It’s times like these, trying something new isn’t bad, right?” The leader made another effort, trying to get closer to Ning Fei, “Or, we don’t have to define any relationship first, we can try and see if we’re compatible in bed first?”

Ning Fei took two steps back: “No thanks, I’m not interested.”

“… Alright, we’ll be staying in Huichuan for a while anyway, and you have my phone number.” The leader shrugged, “If you change your mind, give me a call.”

He was obviously still a little unwilling, but pretended to understand and took a step back first. But he was soon completely dissuaded, because on the last night of waiting to enter the Huichuan base, Ning Fei discovered that two packs of his cigarettes had been stolen.

The reason he checked was because after going to take care of personal matters, he happened to run into a convoy member leaving in a hurry. He felt that the person’s expression was wrong, and immediately checked his bag. He didn’t usually keep track of snacks, so he wasn’t sure if any were missing; the amount of dry food was correct; the coffee was a whole box of instant coffee, unopened, still there; it was just that two packs were missing from the opened carton of cigarettes.

Frankly speaking, this wasn’t a big deal for him, but it was a good excuse to say goodbye completely. So he told the leader about this, and the leader questioned everyone together, but no one admitted to it.

Even the member that Ning Fei ran into stood hunched over in the back row, not saying a word, even though Ning Fei was staring at him the whole time.

The leader was a little embarrassed by this situation and said to Ning Fei: “How about this, I’ll check on everyone individually, and I’ll tell you if I find anything. How many points were your cigarettes worth? I’ll personally compensate you first, okay?”

Someone in the team said: “It’s not like you stole them, you don’t have to compensate him, right? We should catch the thief first. Besides, who knows if they were really stolen…”

This was questioning the truthfulness of Ning Fei’s claim that he was stolen from. The leader looked at Ning Fei and said, “Why don’t you avoid this for now? I’ll talk to them, they’ll be a little pressured if you’re here. We’ll sort it out ourselves first, maybe someone just had a momentary lapse in judgment…”

“No need.”

With such blatant expressions of exclusion, Ning Fei found it amusing. They actually wanted to keep him in a team like this, how humorous.

So he laughed as he walked straight to the member hiding in the back row, suddenly attacking and slamming the other person to the ground with a punch!

Everyone in the transport team: !!!

“Is it fun stealing my cigarettes?” Ning Fei stepped on the person’s hand and sneered, “It’s just that I don’t have a gun, but if I did, you’d know what it means to ‘reach out and get caught’.”

“Ugh…!” The person’s hand was in excruciating pain, and he couldn’t pull it out, and he couldn’t get up either, so he could only let out a miserable cry. The leader frowned and strode over, reaching out to pull Ning Fei away: “Stop it, don’t do this!”

However, he grabbed at empty air. Ning Fei’s wind ability quickly circulated, and in the blink of an eye, he had flashed two or three meters away.

“This is the atmosphere of your convoy, petty theft, harboring criminals, questioning victims. And you still want to absorb new talents, ha, how ridiculous.” Ning Fei said as he walked to the side and picked up his packed bag, scoffing, “Consider those two packs of cigarettes as medical expenses, I’ll give them to you. Oh, right—”

He carried his bag and said a final “goodbye” to the group of people: “I’ll find a way to report to all the major bases that your convoy steals from clients.”