Chapter 1011 - 996
"No, Xiao Wen ran into me while I was out getting fuel. In fact, we hadn’t gone far after leaving the police station."
Hearing that, Old Xu’s brows knit slightly. "Hadn’t gone far?"
Obviously, Luo Baochun’s answer had rattled him.
"Yeah. You know what it was like back then. We’d been locked up for about a week, and all of us were prisoners—there was no way we’d go into the city, especially since we didn’t know the whole situation had already spread nationwide. The boss at the time was afraid of going back to the city and getting hunted down, so he found a spot on a nearby hill by the police station to settle."
"How far is it from here?" Old Xu had no interest in hearing about their experiences; he went straight to the point and asked what mattered most.
"Uh..." Luo Baochun paused, scratched his head and thought carefully before replying, "I figure it’s about three to four hours by car. Not that close."
Old Xu nodded silently, rubbing his chin, lost in thought.
Three to four hours...
"What’s your gear like? How many guns did you take from the police station, and what’s your total headcount now?"
"When I left, we had about fifteen people at one point. As for guns, we had two Type 95 automatic rifles, three shotguns, and plenty of standard issue pistols—around six or seven, I’d say."
"What about ammunition?"
"Not bad. All stuff the SWAT guys left behind. But if you want specific numbers, uh... I don’t really know."
Judging from Luo Baochun’s look, he clearly wasn’t someone who’d have access to those kinds of details, so Old Xu didn’t press further.
"Alright, I don’t have anything else to ask. Later I’ll hold a meeting and tell everyone about what’s going on over there. We might have to make a trip—can you guide us?"
No matter how far that gang of thugs was from the base, and no matter whether they knew about the base or not...
The saying ’a dog can’t stop itself from eating shit’ had always held true. Old Xu was certain those murderers and robbers weren’t suddenly going to grow a conscience and turn into good people.
If they learned there was a small settlement three to four hours’ drive away, they’d definitely come over to try their luck. So Old Xu had to be prepared before they made a move.
Hearing what Old Xu said, Luo Baochun’s face instantly turned strained. His speech, which had just returned to normal, became halting again. "O-Old Xu, y-you... what are you saying? Y-you’re planning to go to them?"
"Mm, yeah. So? Can you show us the way?"
"I..." His voice stretched out, and Luo Baochun looked extremely hesitant.
Seeing that, Old Xu figured the guy was worried his own business would be exposed and he wouldn’t be able to survive in the base afterward. He waved a hand to reassure him. "Xiao Luo, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not going to tell everyone what happened today. When I gather the folks later, I’ll only bring up the situation with the gang. As for the source of the intel, I have my own story. You can relax. And even if we go over there, we’re only going to scout out their situation. Under normal circumstances there won’t be a direct clash, and we definitely won’t make you show your face to them. So don’t burden yourself with this, alright?"
Hearing that, Luo Baochun got even more anxious and rushed to explain, "Oh man, Old Xu, y-you... I-I didn’t mean it like that. Honestly, now that I’m with you guys, not to mention guiding you to them—even if you told me to go fight it out with them, I wouldn’t complain. It’s just, on our side... sigh, I’ve said it already, they’re all violent psychos with murder cases on their backs. If we go, I’m afraid..."
Old Xu understood what Luo Baochun was worried about and nodded. Then a faint smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "Brother Luo, you’re worried this trip will be dangerous for us, right? Heh, you’re not wrong. In terms of weapons and gear, we’re a bit inferior to them. In terms of ways to do bad things, they’re more ruthless than we are. But don’t forget what I used to do. And every brother in this base has clawed his way back from the brink of death. I won’t say anything else, I’ll just ask you one thing—if they set their sights on our base, what would you do?"
"What the hell do you think I’d do!? If those bastards dare come here, I’ll fight them to the death!"
"Good!" Old Xu slammed the table hard and sprang up from the stool. "Well said. I didn’t misjudge you—this is exactly the kind of spirit we need! If anyone dares to come for our base, we’ll make sure they never go back!"
"Alright! Old Xu, I get what you mean. You just want me to take you to their place, right? I’m in!"
With just a couple of lines to fire him up, Luo Baochun instantly looked like he’d been injected with chicken blood, itching for action.
Old Xu was quite satisfied with Luo Baochun’s decisive answer. "Good! That’s all, you can head back. Remember, what happened today is between you and me, heaven and earth. I won’t tell anyone else, so don’t weigh yourself down over it."
After seeing Luo Baochun off, Old Xu picked up the notebook on the table again, flipped to the last page, tore out the list with the prisoners’ names on it, stuffed it into his bag, and walked out the door.
That afternoon, Old Xu didn’t go out on any operations. Apart from a few people busy with other tasks, almost everyone at the base was working on the big project of building the brick perimeter wall.
Li Zhong and Li Guo, the two brothers, were among the few exceptions.
Old Xu had given the two of them special privileges.
Especially after seeing what their "bizarre inventions" did during the relocation, Old Xu had come to deeply appreciate the power of tech-minded people.
Maybe the combat power of Li Zhong and Li Guo wasn’t the highest, but their knowledge base was something no one else in the base could match.
As the saying goes, each craft has its master. Old Xu figured that instead of wasting two talents on low-skill wall-building, he might as well let them play to their strengths and keep developing reliable devices.
After all, in the long run, once they got through the initial phase of basic construction, the base’s future would definitely require more complete "high-end" systems.
And that was exactly where the strengths of the two brothers, Li Zhong and Li Guo, lay.
Grateful for Old Xu’s trust, the "Zhong" and "Guo" brothers had used the few free days to tinker and came up with some new "gadgets."
"This... what is it?" Old Xu looked at the hemp-rod-like long object Li Zhong handed him and asked, puzzled.
Li Zhong didn’t rush to answer. Instead, he turned on the tablet in his hand, tapped around a bit, and some images appeared on the screen.
Old Xu took one look and both brows lifted. "This is our place?"
Li Zhong nodded with a smile.
"Then this thing is..."
"A surveillance camera." This time, Li Zhong didn’t keep him in suspense. He gave a straight explanation: "I mounted a pinhole camera at the top end of this rod. Stick this thing into the ground and it can start working. There’s a lot of weeds around us, right? We can stick these into the brush, and then from inside the base we can monitor things at a distance."
Hearing that, Old Xu understood what Li Zhong meant, and understanding it made him even more fond of the simple gadget in his hand. "Nice. With this thing, we can get early warning for situations like what happened to Xiao De that night. Oh right, Xiao Li, since you can make something like this, make more kinds of surveillance units. Try to get them installed all around the perimeter of our base." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)