The NO.1 Food Stall in the Wasteland

Fu Cheng refused without a second thought and sent Shen Lu a message.

Fu Cheng: No need. It’s fine if I don’t do the remaining checks.

’He didn’t want to stay in the hospital alone.’

Shen Lu was confused. "What do you mean, no? We agreed you’d get a full check-up. If you don’t do it, this whole trip was for nothing."

Fu Cheng: I don’t want to stay in the hospital.

Left with no choice, Fu Cheng could only state his feelings plainly.

Although Shen Lu didn’t understand what he was being so difficult about, she respected his wishes.

’Besides, wasn’t there still another able-bodied laborer around?’

Waiting outside, bored, Ye Fan suddenly felt a chill wind brush against his skin, making the hairs on his arms stand on end.

Shen Lu leaned out halfway. "Ye Fan."

"Here." Ye Fan walked over. "Are we heading back?"

"Yeah. I’ll have to trouble you to push Fu Cheng back home, and then bring him back first thing tomorrow morning."

The corner of Ye Fan’s mouth twitched. "Then why not just stay in the hospital overnight?"

’Why go through all the trouble of going back and forth? And besides, he really didn’t want to parade through the streets pushing that flatbed cart again.’

The main group chat for their Gale Mercenary Corps was already filled with several photos of him pushing the cart today. The way they were roasting him was relentless.

Shen Lu shrugged. "He’s not willing."

’Unwilling?’

’What does it matter if a guy who can’t even move is unwilling?!’

Ye Fan really wanted to say, ’Just force him to stay here and pay the bill, wouldn’t that solve it?’

But who was he to argue? Shen Lu was the boss, and a boss he wanted to stay on the good side of. Ye Fan gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Fine. I’ll go carry him to the cart."

Shen Lu still took a rickshaw back. As she passed the entrance to the Sixteen District, she saw Wang Daguo chatting with several men.

They seemed quite familiar with each other, talking and laughing.

"Where’ve you been hanging out these days, kid?" a man asked, slapping Wang Daguo’s arm. "You’ve even put on some weight. Looks like you’re doing well."

Wang Daguo scratched the back of his head and laughed foolishly. "Just getting by."

"Still not telling? We all know already. You’re working at a small restaurant. A couple of mornings when I was heading to work, I saw you go into that Little Deer Cuisine."

The man who used to partner with Wang Daguo often let out a sound of realization. "That can’t be the boss you used to do part-time work for, can it? I remember that was just a street stall, wasn’t it?"

"Yeah, the boss opened a shop." Since someone had seen him, Wang Daguo couldn’t hide it anymore. "I’m doing odd jobs for her there."

"You really will do any kind of work."

"Can’t be helped. I don’t have any special skills, so I can only do manual labor."

A hand suddenly reached out from the side and pressed on the spot where Wang Daguo had been injured before.

Wang Daguo found it strange. He followed the arm that was pinching him and saw it was Ma Dao.

Ma Dao was one of Brother Wu’s underlings. In private, some called him Brother Wu’s most loyal lapdog.

But that was just gossip behind his back. To his face, people still had to respectfully call him Brother Ma Dao, since he was the most favored in Brother Wu’s presence.

"Ma Dao, what are you pinching me for?" Wang Daguo asked.

"Oh, this spot is all healed?" Ma Dao asked. He tried to roll up Wang Daguo’s sleeve to get a better look, but Wang Daguo dodged him.

"It’s fine, it healed up a while ago." After Shen Lu treated it, a scab formed in less than two days, and now it was completely healed.

"Don’t dodge." Ma Dao was small, but his strength was considerable. His fingers clamped onto Wang Daguo’s wrist like steel claws as he forcibly pushed up his sleeve.

It wasn’t that Wang Daguo couldn’t push Ma Dao away; he just didn’t want to start a conflict, so he obediently let him push up his sleeve.

Other than the pale new skin that had grown in after the scab fell off, there was nothing wrong with Wang Daguo’s arm.

There was no festering or pus like Brother Wu had described. Wang Daguo’s demeanor was also normal; he didn’t look like there was anything wrong with him at all.

"Ma Dao, what’s really going on?" Wang Daguo asked.

Ma Dao squinted at Wang Daguo. He had been following Brother Wu’s orders to keep an eye on Wang Daguo from time to time these past few days. For all this time, Wang Daguo’s routine had been fixed.

He would get up early in the morning and head to Little Deer Cuisine, working until he went home after dinner.

Brother Wu had asked him several times, "Hasn’t anything happened to Wang Daguo yet?"

Ma Dao had shaken his head every time. Today, Brother Wu seemed to be in a very bad mood. After smoking half a pack of cigarettes, he had asked about Wang Daguo again in a hostile tone.

"How is that possible? He was bitten by a mutant beast. There’s no way he’s completely fine."

"Should I go make contact with him today, then?" Ma Dao had asked, uncertain.

"Fine."

That was why Ma Dao had brought people to find Wang Daguo. Otherwise, everyone was usually dead tired from their job of collecting corpses. Who would have the energy to meet up with Wang Daguo? It wasn’t like they were close, and he was just a fired temp.

"These past few days, you haven’t felt unwell at all?" Ma Dao asked him.

"Nope, been feeling great," Wang Daguo said blankly.

"Did you get it treated at a hospital?"

"No way. A trip to the hospital would cost me an arm and a leg." Wang Daguo was also faintly sensing that something was off. "Ma Dao, does this have something to do with my injury?"

Ma Dao gave a perfunctory reply, "Brother Wu is very considerate of his employees. Even though you’re a fired temp, Brother Wu still subsidized your medical expenses. A bite from a mutant beast is no small matter. Be careful you don’t get infected with some poison."

"Thanks for Brother Wu’s concern. I guess I was just lucky and didn’t get poisoned, hehe." Wang Daguo chuckled, radiating simple-mindedness.

Ma Dao asked a few more questions. Wang Daguo answered them one by one. He was honest about the unimportant details, but became evasive when it came to anything private.

Ma Dao narrowed his eyes. ’This honest-looking guy isn’t as honest as I thought.’

"Alright, as long as you’re okay. We just came to check on you." Ma Dao’s patience had run out, and he was the first to leave.

After Ma Dao left, the others also dispersed in twos and threes. Only the colleague who had partnered with Wang Daguo for a long time was stopped.

"Brother Peng, has work been as busy as ever lately?"

Brother Peng turned his head and seemed to complain, "About the same. I don’t know where all these dead people in the Lower City District are coming from."

"You haven’t run into a situation like the one I had again, have you?"

"Don’t know. I haven’t, anyway."

"Oh, okay."

"Alright, I’m heading back." Brother Peng seemed impatient. He rubbed his sore shoulders and walked away without looking back.

Wang Daguo stood outside by himself for a while before turning to head home. At his doorway, he ran into a boy who came rushing over.

"Brother Wang!" Without another word, the boy grabbed his arm. It was sticky, and Wang Daguo immediately thought of blood. "Brother Wang, please, save my mom! My dad’s gone crazy, he’s trying to kill my mom!"

Wang Daguo recognized the boy. He was a neighbor from the same street named Fang Ming. He lived with his parents in a tenement building less than a hundred meters from his own home.

"Let’s go." Wang Daguo immediately grabbed Fang Ming and ran towards the Fang family’s home.

Fang Ming lived on the second floor of the tenement building. As they climbed the narrow stairs, the sounds of a struggle and screams could be heard through the walls.

By the time Wang Daguo burst into the living room, Fang Ming’s father already had his hands around Fang Ming’s mother’s neck. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked ferocious, as if he intended to kill her.

Fang Ming let out a cry and rushed forward to push his father.

Fang Ming’s father showed no mercy, slapping his son and sending him flying.

Fang Ming slammed heavily against the wall, and the flimsy plaster crumbled and showered down.