Chapter 48: Li Zitong
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was definitely a burglary.
But it seemed that the thieves lacked the means, as they only took a small amount of things—if the door lock had not been broken, Zhang Chcngcheng would not have realized that there had been a burglary.
Lu Ming and Wang Xiong walked into the cellar one after the other. Under the light of their flashlights, they saw a large amount of grain, canned food, and compressed food piled up in the cellar.
The cellar was huge, far larger than the basement in Lu Ming’s house.
After all, Lu Ming’s house could not be compared to the ancestral home of the Zhang family in terms of size.
The amount of supplies in the cellar was surprisingly large. According to Zhang Chengcheng, after Zhang Ye became an Awakened, he led his men to empty the surrounding shops, including rice, flour and oil stores. In addition, they had already stored a considerable amount of supplies before the apocalypse, resulting in the current situation.
“Looks like we really have to mobilize all four vehicles and make two or three trips to transport everything back.”
Wang Xiong sighed and continued, “Chengcheng, you keep an eye on the cars outside. Brother Lu and I will handle the goods.”
Zhang Chengcheng was about to say something, but when she saw that Lu Ming had already started to take action, she decided not to say anything.
The joy of the harvest filled his chest.
Seeing the food, Lu Ming felt as if he had seen his loved ones – because the amount of food determined how far Lu Ming could go and how strong he could become.
He moved 10 bags of flour in one go—if not for the small exit of the cellar, Lu Ming could have carried more.
In short, his expression was one of delight, and he moved with ease.
This time, the military vehicle that Lu Ming and the others drove was not specifically designed for cargo transportation. It was a fully enclosed armored vehicle with limited cargo capacity.
Lu Ming and Wang Xiong worked tirelessly for five or six trips until the military vehicle was fully loaded.
“We’ll move these first on the first trip. After we transport them back, we’ll drive all four vehicles over.”
Wang Xiong clapped his hands and said.
Then, the three of them boarded the vehicle, ready to head home.
Just as the engine started, Lu Ming acutely heard something.
“Stop the car first.”
Wang Xiong turned off the engine, and the sound that Lu Ming heard became clearer.
“There’s someone over there.”
He pointed in the direction away from the house.
Not long after Lu Ming spoke, he saw several people pedaling tricycles coming around the street corner, making creaking sounds.
When Zhang Chengcheng saw one of them, she was immediately stunned.
“Li Zitong? He’s not dead?”
Originally, there were three Awakened individuals in the Zhang family’s gathering place.
Zhang Ye, Zhang Chengcheng, and Li Zitong.
Zhang Ye and Zhang Chengcheng were siblings. It could also be said that they were the owners of the Zhang family’s gathering place.
As for Li Zitong, he had joined the Zhang family’s gathering place later on.
He joined only about a week before Wang Xiong joined.
On that night when the zombie horde attacked, Zhang Ye led Wang Xiong, Zhang Chengcheng, and the others to fight their way out, while Li Zitong had already disappeared before the outbreak of the zombie horde.
Zhang Chengcheng thought that Li Zitong was already dead.
However, she did not expect to see Li Zitong again today, in this familiar place today.
The five tricycles on the opposite side stopped about ten meters in front of the military vehicle.
The five of them got out of the tricycles and gathered together, whispering while looking at the military vehicle.
Seeing this, Wang Xiong thought for a moment and said, “Let’s get out of the car too.”
With that, he got out of the car.
It was only at this moment that Li Zitong realized that the persons sitting in the car were old acquaintances.
There was no joy of reunion with an old friend.
Li Zitong opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but before he could say anything, he shut it. He just looked at Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng with a complicated expression, then vaguely glanced at the tall and thin man standing in the middle of their group of five.
There were five people on the other side and three people on this side.
The eight pairs of eyes stared at each other, and for a while, no one spoke first.
After a while, Wang Xiong was the first to speak. “Zitong?”
Li Zitong took a deep breath. “It’s me.”
The tall and thin man beside him turned to look at Li Zitong.
“You know them?”
Li Zitong thought for a moment and nodded hesitantly. “Yes, Brother Shen. That man and woman are Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng, whom I mentioned to Brother Shen before. I don’t know the man standing at the back.”
The man called Brother Shen pursed his lips and glanced disdainfully at Li Zitong before turning to look at Lu Ming and the other two.
He raised his chin towards Lu Ming. “Hey, kid, what’s your name?”
Lu Ming frowned. This person was a little rude.
But if others were rude, that was their business. Lu Ming still adhered to basic politeness.
He had always set high standards for himself.
“My name is Lu Ming. And you?”
Brother Shen did not respond. He squinted his eyes at Lu Ming and thought for a moment before saying, ‘Tve heard of your name. My two slaves once mentioned that there’s an Awakened named Lu Ming in Guangping Street. That’s you, right?”
Lu Ming was startled again… Two little slaves?
How could there still be slaves these days?
When Li Zitong heard this, his expression froze and he lowered his head deeply.
Brother Shen continued, “They also said that you and Wang Xiong are quite similar but you’re slightly weaker than him… Hmm, with that in mind, I have a rough idea now.”
Lu Ming felt that there was something wrong with this person.
Not only was he rude, but he also did not answer other people’s questions.
He was immersed in his own world and could not extricate himself…
There was no way to communicate with such a person.
Just as he was about to get on the vehicle with Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng, Brother Shen spoke again.
“You guys arc here to take the food, right?”
“Let me make it clear first. I was the one who found this place first, and naturally, all the food belongs to me. You have food loaded in your vehicle, right? Unload it and put it here for me.”
Lu Ming:”???”
What’s wrong with this person? Is he seriously ill?!
Of course, pointing out someone’s flaws face-to-face was impolite.
Lu Ming remained silent.
But to his surprise, Brother Shen continued, “Also, that vehicle and that woman named Zhang Chengcheng should stay. Consider it compensation for touching my belongings.”
After saying that, Brother Shen rubbed his chin and said with a profound, “I’m a reasonable person. I don’t go around killing people’s families for every little thing they take from me, but there should be compensation, right, brothers?”
“Yes!”
“Our Brother Shen is the most reasonable.”
“What Brother Shen says is always right. If I don’t listen to Brother Shen’s reasoning for a day, I feel uncomfortable all over.”
Li Zitong did not say anything.
His expression became uglier and uglier. When he saw that Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng looked reluctant, Li Zitong gritted his teeth and said, “Brother Shen, we saw it this morning. There’s really a lot of food inside. Let them take a cart. Let’s not have any conflicts over such a small matter.”
Brother Shen immediately turned around and glared at him, but before he could say anything, one of his henchmen next to Li Zitong kicked Li Zitong to the ground.
“What right do you have to speak?!”
Initially, Lu Ming and the other two were ready to leave.
But witnessing the scene of bullying right in front of them, all three of them stopped in their tracks.
Especially Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng.
Li Zitong was their acquaintance. Although their interactions in the Zhang family gathering place were not frequent, they still crossed paths several times a day.
They did not have a deep relationship between them, but there was no resentment or conflict either.
Seeing their former comrade being bullied, Zhang Chengcheng and Wang Xiong could not bear it..