Twenty-five

Residence 25

The Fang Special Forces Unit—calling it a unit is a bit of an exaggeration; the entire team consists of barely more than twenty people. If not for their uniforms, no one would recognize them as soldiers; they looked more like a band of outlaws. The five newcomers received an enthusiastic welcome from the leader, Zhou Zhi. When he spotted a woman among them, his eyes nearly glimmered green with desire. Zhu Anfu and Yuchi Ankang couldn't help but twitch at the corners of their mouths. Zhu Anfu even suspected that Wang Fei had tricked them. Fortunately, Zhu Anfu didn't sense any malice from these soldiers; otherwise, he would have turned around and left without hesitation.

The base appeared simple at first glance, but it was impressively well-equipped. Wang Fei seemed to have a good rapport with Zhou Zhi and explained the situation outside. Zhou Zhi's face darkened immediately. Had the country forgotten them? Such a major incident had occurred, and there hadn’t been a single word from above—were they just to be left to their own fate? Zhou Zhi was incensed. Regardless, he decided to contact his family first and ordered his men to make some calls, only to be met with mostly bad news. As the soldiers returned, their faces grim, Zhou Zhi’s own expression grew even darker.

“Damn it! We risk our lives for them, and now this happens, and not so much as a word from higher up. What the hell does that mean?”

Zhu Anfu didn’t find this surprising. After all, the military existed as the nation’s weapon; the fact that they weren’t tasked with protecting some privileged class was already a stroke of luck. Wang Fei and Zhao Long also looked uneasy. The Fang Special Forces were supposed to protect Aerospace City—did the government underestimate this disaster, or had it abandoned the city altogether? Wang Fei pulled Zhou Zhi aside for a private conversation.

He detailed the situation outside and the unexpected journey he and Zhao Long had taken. Wang Fei trusted Zhou Zhi deeply and explained everything carefully, laying out the future as plainly as he could. By now, higher-ups must have had some inkling of what was happening. Surely they would try to prevent such changes! After all, if the future became more democratic, enjoying special privileges would become far more difficult.

Zhou Zhi was an exceptionally clever man—he wouldn’t have become the leader of such a group of tough characters otherwise. After a long silence, he quickly grasped the situation. “Wang Fei, the mecha you mentioned—is it really as described in those novels?”

“Yes, I brought one back. And the tall man, Yuchi Ankang, who came with us, studied mecha design in the future. Assembly won’t be a problem as long as we have materials. Now that people have started attacking each other, we have to prepare something to survive the coming catastrophe—not for the country, not for the people, but simply to survive.” Wang Fei pulled a transparent sphere from his pocket. Inside lay a miniature mechanical armor. He handed it to Zhou Zhi. “Zhao Long and I served in the mecha corps in the future—and we earned distinctions.”

“If I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes, I’d have thought you were lying. What’s the principle behind its size-changing ability?” Zhou Zhi examined the sphere with great interest before handing it back.

“You’d have to ask Yuchi Ankang. Zhao Long and I don’t know much. This model is specifically for mecha soldiers. The mecha training centers we saw in the future had full-sized mecha for practice. Whether they could shrink or not is unclear.” Wang Fei explained as much as he could. “Even if we can only build one that doesn’t shrink, it’ll still give us a fighting chance.”

“What do you need? I’ll help. We have to act before chaos breaks out.” Zhou Zhi agreed without hesitation.

Wang Fei saluted Zhou Zhi and hurried to find Yuchi Ankang, asking him for a list of tools and machinery required to assemble a mecha. Yuchi Ankang rattled off a string of items. Zhou Zhi, following behind, fell silent. With the supplies Yuchi Ankang requested, they’d need nothing less than a whole armory.

Returning to his room, Zhou Zhi pulled out a military map to locate the nearest armory. Meanwhile, Wang Fei led the group of four to rest.

“Boss, I went to Aerospace City. The place is under strict lockdown, and something must have happened inside—I could smell blood in the air.” The man Zhou Zhi had sent to the base returned and reported immediately. “I saw mutated animals on my way back—their eyes glowed, and they were several times larger than before. The heavy noises we’ve been hearing lately must be from these creatures moving around. I saw a single camel that was bigger than a wild elephant, standing as tall as one and a half stories.”

Zhou Zhi raised his eyebrows. He believed Wang Fei, but the present reality was even more terrifying than he’d been told. In the desert, camels were the dominant animal; if they turned on humans, could they really fend them off? Clearly, they needed to seize some high ground to survive. First, they had to relocate.

Studying the military map, Zhou Zhi set aside any trace of levity, becoming more serious than ever before.

~~~

The four men shared a room, while Jin She, the lone woman, felt immense pressure. Sitting in the crowded space, with everyone too anxious to rest, she felt particularly miserable—especially since her period had arrived during their escape. Already on edge, she now felt even more depressed and in pain.

The four men watched Jin She curled up on the bed, clutching her blanket and trembling. What should they do?

Zhu Anfu asked Wang Fei to fetch some painkillers, but Jin She refused; she’d rather have a shot of hard liquor with brown sugar than take those pills. Wang Fei immediately went to Zhou Zhi for liquor and brown sugar. To his surprise, he actually found some. He came running back with the supplies, then doubled back to grab a bowl before returning.

Jin She took a large swig and soon felt the burning warmth spread through her body. Before long, she was back to her old self. “I need to go to Aerospace City. At least I can buy some sanitary pads there—no way a military base would have those.”

The four men looked at each other, suddenly realizing the unique needs of women and gazed speechlessly at the ceiling. Well, it seemed they really did need to make another trip. Wang Fei went to inform Zhou Zhi, only to learn that Aerospace City was under lockdown. The group was dumbfounded. Jin She rolled her eyes. “Just give me a few white sheets. Is there a laundry room?” When necessary, women are always resourceful. In any case, Jin She’s problem was handled, and Zhou Zhi had also found the best position to occupy.

The five followed the troops onto military transport trucks. Zhu Anfu quietly stowed Wang Fei’s car away. The two trucks were loaded with supplies from the kitchen, bedding, pillows, and, of course, first aid kits and ammunition. Zhu Anfu and Yuchi Ankang also managed to sneak some training equipment into their own storage spaces—just in case.

The two trucks sped off and, before nightfall, reached the armory Zhou Zhi had picked out. From a distance, everything seemed orderly. After flashing their very privileged identification, the gates opened. The person in charge was nowhere to be found; only a handful of honest, straightforward soldiers remained to guard the place. Zhou Zhi shook his head—one really needed to be shrewd. Clearly, the main force had abandoned the armory. No supposed mission would leave only armory guards. Still, this made things easier. Zhou Zhi announced he was taking over.

The guileless soldiers didn’t question him, cooperating with the handover—after all, his rank far surpassed theirs. Zhu Anfu, Yuchi Ankang, and Jin She entered as technical staff. Yuchi Ankang surveyed the equipment; though much of it was outdated, given the circumstances, it was more than adequate.

Zhou Zhi paced restlessly through the armory, unable to suppress his anger. Even the armory personnel had been evacuated, and they’d received no notice. Back in his office, he drummed his fingers on the desk, deep in thought. They’d already lost their families; their comrades were now their closest kin. He had to provide for them. They’d brought plenty of food, but it wouldn’t last—soldiers eat a lot, and no one knew how long they’d be staying. Much of the armory’s provisions had been taken; what remained would barely feed the few loyal defenders for ten days.

Shelter wasn’t a concern, but food was a pressing problem, and it wasn’t likely that anyone would deliver supplies under these circumstances. Zhou Zhi pondered for a long time but couldn’t come up with a solution. He summoned Zhu Anfu and the others, explaining his dilemma.

Zhu Anfu thought for a long while. “Is there a granary near Aerospace City?”

Zhou Zhi burst out laughing—of course! How had he forgotten? There was a secret granary near Aerospace City. As long as the city stood, that reserve remained untouched. “Tonight, we’ll go fetch as much grain as we can.”

With grain secured, vegetables were the next problem—they couldn’t eat plain rice every day. Zhu Anfu and Yuchi Ankang exchanged a glance. Yuchi Ankang understood immediately—his storage space was overflowing with supplies from the last two years, the land inside producing crop after crop, automatically renewing itself.

“As for vegetables, Zhou—” Yuchi Ankang hesitated, unsure of Zhou Zhi’s rank.

“Seems I’m a couple of years your senior—I was born in 1980, you?”

“1982. Brother Zhou, as for vegetables, let us handle it. All we ask is that you don’t inquire too closely. We have our own methods,” Yuchi Ankang replied, stepping in for Zhu Anfu. If anything happened, he’d do his best to protect Zhu Anfu.