“Thank you for taking care of Xiao Yun all the way. I am Bai Yang, the commander of the 108th Regiment of the 703rd Division of the X Military Region.” Bai Yang comforted his daughter in his arms and walked up to Han Ya, saluting him.
Han Ya stepped aside and pointed to Xiao Wen.
“That’s our leader.”
Xiao Wen, who was pointed out, took a step forward and shook hands with Bai Yang.
“Hello, I am Xiao Wen. Bai Yun is a strong girl, and I am glad to travel with her.”
“Since we are on the same team, there is no need to hand over anything. Let’s go. I will take you to the dormitory. Kunzi, I remember our building still has vacant rooms, right?” Bai Yang waved his hand and waived the special items that Wen Le and the others were supposed to turn in.
Liu Yikun’s expression twisted.
Boss, you always oppose taking the back door! Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been hanging around as the commander for so many years! Besides, they don’t lack those things, but we do…
But when he met his boss’s narrowed eyes, Liu Yikun could only nod his head.
“We still have three vacant rooms in our building. We can arrange for you to stay there with a word.”
Bai Yang nodded in satisfaction, holding his precious daughter in his arms, and walked out of the door shoulder to shoulder with Xiao Wen.
After they went downstairs, Wen Le pulled Liu Yikun into the car, and Chen Ye and Mo Gang helped Li Yunsheng onto the car. The others followed Bai Yang to the back of the building.
“Here, take this.” Wen Le took out the bag of medicine from under the seat and handed it to Liu Yikun, who had a sour face. The latter’s expression immediately turned from cloudy to sunny, revealing a big smile.
Bai Yang’s 108th Regiment was located in the building behind the one they had just registered. The three vacant rooms were all on the sixth floor. Under Liu Yikun’s guidance, Wen Le and his team moved into Rooms 616, 617, and 618.
Bai Yang did not stay long, telling them to settle in first and saying, “If you need anything, find me in Room 304.” He then took Bai Yun and left.
There were a total of twelve beds in the three rooms. Li Yan and Huang Yao slept together, while Bai Yun stayed in her father’s small suite. There were only two people without beds, so Xiao Wen pulled Wen Le over and sat on a lower bunk. The others understood and collectively looked at Qi Rui and Zhao Xiaogang. The two of them were scared by the attention and nodded obediently.
Since they were the smallest, it was natural for them to share a bed.
They had brought everything up from the car, but there were no beddings on the beds. Wen Le had to take out some necessary items from his space and put them in each room, emphasizing that outsiders were not allowed in.
After a morning of running around, everyone was hungry and crowded into Xiao Wen’s room, waiting for Wen Le to distribute the rations.
Looking at the expectant eyes, a row of black lines slid down Wen Le’s head. He felt like a pet caretaker…
Once the dormitory door was locked, Wen Le didn’t hold back anymore. He brought out two large pots of hot porridge, two bowls of steamed buns, and three dishes, just like a kindergarten teacher, distributing utensils to each person.
Having many people eating together makes for a lively atmosphere. The young people consciously separated Li Yunsheng and Mo Gang as well as Huang Yao and Li Yan’s dishes. The rest was snatched up in less than ten minutes.
After finishing the meal, Xiao Wen asked Yin Chengyang to stay with Han Yifeng and the three boys in the dormitory, taking care of and protecting Li Yunsheng and Mo Gang. The others split into two groups. Xiao Wen took Mo Yan and Chen Ye to the place where the rescue team signed up, and Wen Le followed Han Ya and a few others to the trading market.
The trading market was set up in the middle of the open space in the dormitory building. It made sense that only those who could live in the dormitory had surplus food to exchange for other things. Wen Le looked at his watch. It was already past 8 o’clock after all the running around. The trading market was deserted, with few stalls and even fewer people.
There were less than twenty scattered stalls on both sides of the open space. Some had clothes, some had snacks and candy, and there were also some drugs, guns, and other items, but very few. Every time they stopped at a stall, Han Ya would ask in detail about the exchange price. By the end, they had a rough estimate of the general price of things here.
One pound of food could be exchanged for a thicker jacket, two pounds of food could be exchanged for half a pound of candy or chocolate, and the price of chocolate was a bit higher. Half a pound of food could be exchanged for a piece of Dove chocolate. As for the price of drugs and weapons, it varied from person to person, and the type of drug determined the amount of food exchanged. So far, they hadn’t encountered any stalls that accepted gold for exchange.
“Look at that one in front,” Huang Tao suddenly pointed to a stall near the corner in front of them. From where they were, they could only see a cardboard box on the stall.
“Let’s go take a look.” After scanning the other stalls, which were more or less the same as what they had seen before, Wen Le went straight to the place Huang Tao pointed to.
“Special items for exchange, exchange method to be discussed in detail.”
That was all that was written on the cardboard box.
Han Ya looked up at the stall owner sitting behind the box. The person was almost completely hidden in a large coat, making it hard to see their appearance.
“How do we exchange?” Han Ya asked.
The person inside the coat moved a little but still didn’t raise their head, and said in a muffled voice, “What do you want?”
Han Ya raised an eyebrow. “What do you have?”
The person paused for a moment. “What do you want to trade?”
“We have a lot of things we want to trade. If you have everything we need, we can discuss the price directly,” Han Ya said with a smile.
The person in the coat seemed to be choked, and it took a while before they spoke again. “Food?”
Wen Le blinked and looked at Han Ya, who nodded at him.
“Food is fine. What do you want in exchange?”
“I’ll take anything except for food,” the person in the coat moved a little but still didn’t raise their head.
Wen Le frowned, and Han Ya’s expression wasn’t good either. If they guessed correctly, this person should be from the military. Only the military wouldn’t worry about food. But the phrase “anything except for food,” coupled with Liu Yikun’s words when they first entered the relief station, could it be that the military was in such a difficult situation now?
“There are two A-license plate cars downstairs at the 108th unit. Let’s meet there at 1 pm this afternoon. How about that?” Han Ya thought for a moment and felt that it would be better to go back and ask about the situation from Bai Yun’s father before deciding how to trade.
“Okay, I’ll come find you at exactly 1 pm.” After the man in the coat finished speaking, he stooped down, picked up the cardboard box on the ground, still with his head down, and quickly walked away.
“Let’s talk about it later.” Han Ya said to Huang Tao, who had a puzzled expression, then turned and walked towards the dormitory. Wen Le wanted to take another look, but he followed along.
When they returned to the dormitory, Xiao Wen and the others had not yet returned.
“Has Bai Yun been here?” Han Ya asked Han Yifeng.
Han Yifeng shook his head.
“Wait here. When the boss comes back, we’ll tell him we’re looking for Captain Bai. Wen and I will go,” Han Ya pulled Wen Le and told the others before heading downstairs to find Bai Yang.
Knock, knock.
Han Ya and Wen Le stood in front of room 304 and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Upon hearing Bai Yang’s voice, the two walked in.
“Dad, I’ll go up and check on the professor and the others first.” Bai Yun stood up when she saw the two enter.
Bai Yang nodded and just before Bai Yun left, he said, “If he dares to seduce my daughter, that boy better clean his neck and wait.”
In his heart, Wen Le couldn’t help but mourn for Han Yifeng. This old father-in-law didn’t seem like an easy person to get along with. Little Feng Feng, you have to hang in there!
Bai Yun rolled her eyes.
“Please have a seat.” After Bai Yun left, Bai Yang stood up and led Han Ya and Wen Le to sit in front of the sofa.
“Captain Bai, we came to inquire about the rules here. We’re new here and don’t really understand the situation. We need to have some sense of proportion when we do things.” Han Ya took the tea that Bai Yang handed over and took a sip before speaking.
Bai Yang narrowed his eyes and took a sip of his tea, leaning back on the sofa.
“There aren’t many rules here yet. In general, it’s similar to before, no killing, arson, theft or robbery.”
Han Ya smiled.
“Captain Bai, that’s too vague. Besides killing, arson, theft, and robbery, there are many things that we may do, but you definitely don’t want to see.”
Bai Yang paused and said, “Yun’er told me that you are all honest and kind people who respect the elderly and love the young. Why would you do things that we don’t want to see?!”
“Hehe, we can’t exactly say that we are honest and kind. We brought Bai Yun and her students along on this journey because they are innocent. But now the situation is different, and these are not just innocent children anymore.”
Bai Yang stared at Han Ya, who smiled back without flinching, and then looked at Wen Le next to him. Wen Le responded with an innocent look.
He sighed, “At least I’m grateful that your intelligence is enough to protect Yun’er and those children.”
Upon hearing this, Han Ya’s smile faded a little, and he narrowed his eyes.
“Captain Bai, what do you mean by that?”
Upon hearing this, Han Ya unconsciously put on a smile and narrowed his eyes.
Bai Yang waved his hand. “You don’t have to call me Captain or anything like that. If you don’t mind, just call me Big Brother. Yun’er told me that you’re only staying here for a short time and leaving. The Tibetan area is a good choice, but I hope you can take Yun’er with you when you go. It’s too dangerous for her to stay here.”
“Dangerous? Why?”
Bai Yang did not answer directly. He got up, opened the door, and shouted. Two soldiers quickly came over.
“Boss.”
“You two stay at the door and don’t let anyone approach,” Bai Yang ordered before closing the door again and sitting back in front of Han Ya and Wen Le.
“Since I have decided to entrust Yun to you, I will be frank with you. Currently, there is a conflict between the military and the government, but it has not escalated to the point of tearing each other apart. The people consider the government as the highest ruling power of the country, and the military also recognizes that their lives are valuable. However, some old foxes are scheming behind the scenes, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the recent mutation to gain power. They want to control the military to confront others, and the key to their success lies in military force and public support. They plan to use the soldiers to search for survivors and gather resources to gain people’s support. But this will only result in more soldiers dying quickly. Therefore, our leader is holding onto the control of the relief station, but it won’t last long.
You may not see those bastards trying to persuade survivors to support them on the other side of the warehouse, but they are planning to push the troops towards X City for clean up. People want to go back to the city, and the government says the army will clear the way. However, soldiers also worry about their families, so if we don’t advance, they will think their families are not being rescued. This will only lead to the soldiers losing morale. We have to rescue them, but we cannot be like those bastards who are impatient and only create more harm than good. However, now not only the civilians but also the soldiers are being swayed. When the snow melts, we have no choice but to charge ahead.”
Even Han Ya and Wen Le have no solution to this situation. The military has its own considerations, the government has its own agenda, and the people have their own desires. When two sides reach an agreement, the remaining party has no choice. They are too honest and kind to ignore the people who are still struggling.
“I hope you can take Yun with you when you leave.”
“Bai Yun won’t want to separate from you. It’s not easy to find family in the apocalypse, and she won’t leave you alone after finally meeting you,” Wen Le said sensibly. “Besides, even if we advance to X City, it’s not necessarily you who will lead the way, Brother Bai, right?”
Bai Yang smiled helplessly. “There are three regiments stationed in the X City military district, one is the commander’s own son, and the other is the commander’s nephew by marriage. Our regimental commander is just someone who is neither loved nor cared for by his parents. If we don’t go, who else will?”
Han Ya and Wen Le were speechless.
This is really unfortunate…
Thanks for the update!! 😩😩
Thanks for the chapter!