When he arrived at Cheng Xuze’s residence, Ye Jinyu, Li Jiajia, and Sheng Lin had already arrived. Shi Qingyang had met these people in Anhang City, and today, he invited them to have barbecue and celebrate his marriage with Cheng Ran.
Both Li Jiajia and Ye Jinyu had prepared gifts. They were familiar with Shi Qingyang and weren’t very shy at this time. However, Sheng Lin and the others were relatively restrained, especially Fu Xiaohua. Everyone else had brought some kind of gift, but he didn’t remember to bring anything. At this moment, he looked embarrassed, and didn’t know where to put his hands.
In the past, Shi Qingyang could have livened up the atmosphere with a few words at a time like this, but now he wasn’t in the mood. On the way, Wang Qing had explained to Cheng Hong about what was going on and stated Cheng Xuze’s plan, and Cheng Hong had also promised not to make a fuss. Yet even so, once he knew that Cheng Xuze wasn’t there, Cheng Hong’s arrogance shone through. He no longer put the others in his eyes, treating them as lesser, and Shi Qingyang was the first to be targeted by him.
Just now, Shi Qingyang, an 18-year-old boy, had unexpectedly dragged him into the car, and had thrown the radiation energy in his body into disorder… Cheng Hong’s discomfort toward Shi Qingyang became deeper and deeper.
Shi Qingyang was very talented. He also knew that, as his wife had told him, the best course of action was to win over Shi Qingyang. But he was incapable of doing this. “These are the friends you’ve trained? So cowardly, not up to standard at all!”
“Dad, don’t you and grandpa have something to talk about?” Shi Qingyang frowned. If he could, he didn’t want to call the person in front of him “Dad”. Unfortunately, in front of outsiders…
“It’s just a matter of discussing something, I’m not in a hurry. But you, are you so reluctant to call me?” Cheng Hong looked at Shi Qingyang and suddenly thought that since Shi Qingyang had married his son, he would always be his younger generation. Even if Shi Qingyang had more promising prospects in the future, he would always have to be respectful to him…
“Cheng Hong, you come in with me. Do you still want to make trouble?” Wang Qing asked.
Cheng Hong’s face changed. He was very dissatisfied with Wang Qing daring to shout at him. But he also knew that if he really destroyed Cheng Xuze’s plan, he would be in great trouble in the future. He followed Wang Qing inside.
Seeing this, Shi Qingyang was relieved. He moved the prepared barbecue materials to the yard. Zheng Gaoyuan looked at them eagerly and sat listlessly to the side. After eating only some vegetables and leaves at noon, he had no more extravagant expectations.
Unlike him, the others were full of enthusiasm and soon started roasting the meat.
Cheng Ran used to be a vegetarian for most of his life and couldn’t eat much meat at all. But now he had no such issue, and even his appetite became much better.
Even though he ate a lot not long ago, he could still eat more now.
“Ranran, don’t eat too much. Be careful not to hurt your stomach,” Seeing this, Shi Qingyang advised.
Cheng Ran nodded. Who knew what he was thinking, but suddenly his face turned red. “I know. I won’t eat any more.”
“There’s no need not to eat. Just eat less.” Shi Qingyang kissed him on the face, feeling proud–this was the first time he had done such a move in front of others, filling him with a feeling of pride.
“Eating too much will cause diarrhea, and constipation isn’t good, either,” Cheng Ran spoke in a voice that only Shi Qingyang could hear.
Shi Qingyang didn’t understand at first, but he suddenly figured out the reason–he and Cheng Ran were both married and would surely do something at night. It was normal for Cheng Ran to have such scruples.
However, he didn’t even know what the act of climbing the bed was before, but now he was thinking of things like this… really lewd!
Of course, he liked this very much.
Although Shi Qingyang was worried about Li Rong’s affairs, he also understood that in the current situation, he didn’t have to worry or think too much. Anyway, at most, Li Rong wouldn’t be tricked.
However, he soon realized that he had been thinking too simply.
Just when everyone finished eating a lot of food and Fu Xiaohua, who had originally been the most restrained, finally relaxed, everyone’s contact terminals made a “didi” sound of failure, signalling that they could no longer connect to the Internet.
Nowadays, people’s communication was completely dependent on the internet, and life was also inseparable from the internet. Once there was no network, many things could no longer be done. Normally, if a contact terminal couldn’t connect to the network, it was absolutely because the contact terminal was broken, but now all of their contact terminals couldn’t connect to the internet…
The radios installed throughout various areas of Anhang City suddenly sounded: “All residents, please pay attention. All residents, please pay attention. An issue has occurred with the city network. We have sent someone to repair it. Please do not panic…”
The loudspeaker repeated words to appease the populace again and again, but even so, the people in the city couldn’t calm down.
Shi Qingyang was even more surprised. He had participated in urban construction, and he was very clear about the city network. Because signal couldn’t be transmitted in the wilds, there were huge optical fibers connected between cities. These optical fibers were deeply buried in the ground, and very thick. In addition to the ordinary ones, there were also spare ones.
The optical fibers were buried in the ground, and were also wrapped with materials that deterred beasts. Even if there was a mutant beast digging a hole, it would pass over the fiber. Generally, it would never be damaged. Even if it did get damaged, it could be quickly replaced with another spare one. But now…
The normal and backup optical fibers had both been rendered unusable, which was absolutely artificial sabotage! And few people even knew where the optical fiber was located…
A name suddenly appeared in Shi Qingyang’s mind–Li Rong.
Li Rong had been the mayor of Anhang City and had controlled many people through the mobile town. It was not difficult for him to find the location where the optical fiber was buried. As a level-6 rad-energy warrior, he had many subordinates. It was even easier for him to cut off the optical fiber and paralyze the network of the entire city.
However, Shi Qingyang was shocked that he made a decision like this just because of a personal matter. One should know that the optical fiber of Anhang City was connected to the Yangtze City, and the three tertiary cities around Anhang City were all established in a shorter time than Anhang City, the optical fiber was only connected to Anhang City. This meant that the internet connections of all three cities should now be down.
In history, something like this had only happened at the start of the establishment of various cities, and no one could have expected it would happen now.
“Hurry and get inside!” Shi Qingyang reacted and shouted directly.
The others were stunned. Although they didn’t know the seriousness of the matter, they were used to following what Shi Qingyang said and ran into the house immediately.
“This house has a basement connected to the city underground. You should leave quickly…” Shi Qingyang was about to say something, but suddenly he felt something thrown at them. He subconsciously threw down Cheng Ran beside him, and then saw that thing explode instantly.
This was just an ordinary grenade, and its power wasn’t strong. But now, after all, they were inside the city, not in the wild. No one was wearing a combat suit. How could they defend themselves against it?
When Shi Qingyang felt the pain in his back, he immediately realized that he had been injured. Fortunately, he had used the radiation energy in his body, so the injury wasn’t too serious.
If they had been in the wild, at this time, they could have completely manipulated the radiation energy around them to build a protective shield. But now they were inside the city, with no radiation energy around them at all. Under such circumstances, the amount of radiation energy in their bodies was very small.
What’s more, their opponents had explosives in their hands.
Explosives that were forbidden in residential areas, except for Li Rong, had also appeared here. “Run!” Shi Qingyang dared not be careless and spoke sternly. But just at this time, the second grenade exploded.
Shi Qingyang rolled with Cheng Ran in his arms and avoided the grenade. However, he hadn’t yet escaped when he heard a scream: “Help!”
The person who called for help was Zheng Gaoyuan, who had been sleeping beside him, smelling the scent of meat.
Because the target of the grenades was them, Sheng Lin and the others ran fast, so they didn’t suffer any misfortune at this time. But Zheng Gaoyuan was different. He was bulky and had no time to hide. Now his clothes had been cut by shrapnel, and blood spilled from his wounds, turning him bloody.
Shi Qingyang was startled, and was trying to help him when suddenly, several people came out of the corner. They were all wearing battle suits and protective helmets. They had guns in their hands and grenades at their waist. The person in front of them directly pointed the gun at Shi Qingyang: “Shi Qingyang, Cheng Ran, you’d better not move. If you move again, I can’t guarantee that only grenades will be thrown next time.”
If there were only one person now, Shi Qingyang would certainly try to escape, but there was more than just one in front of him…
He had also been besieged in the mobile town before. At that time, those people had underestimated the two invaders, and Shi Qingyang had taken a hostage, which had made it easy to maneuver. But now, he had nothing.
“I’ve always been cruel and ruthless. If you don’t act obediently, you’ll be arrested. The people here and everyone around will be buried alongside you!”
Just as Shi Qingyang hesitated, there were gunshots and explosions in the room. Not long after, Wang Qing and Cheng Hong were pushed out. The bodyguards hired by Gu Changjin and Cheng Xuze were all under pressure.
Both Cheng Hong and Wang Qing were injured, especially Cheng Hong. He had a big wound on his thigh and his face was full of fear.
“Li Rong?” Shi Qingyang looked at the person who was walking in front. Although he couldn’t see the other person’s face, his figure should belong to Li Rong.
Li Rong didn’t look at Shi Qingyang: “Give them injections to paralyze their mobility, kill the others, and take them with you!”
Those people quickly surrounded them. Their guns were always pointing toward Shi Qingyang and Cheng Ran.
Shi Qingyang had a lot of fighting experience, but all of it belonged to outside the city, facing mutant beasts. Against people with hot weapons, there were still obstacles around…
There were about 20 people in total. They were well-trained. Shi Qingyang was quickly put into the backseat of a van. After a while, Wang Qing and Gu Changjin were also thrown in, but Cheng Ran, Cheng Hong, and Zheng Gaoyuan were taken to another van.
The compartment of the van was very spacious, but it felt terrible as a prisoner. At this time, Shi Qingyang also heard Li Rong’s voice from outside: “I’ll let you go you because I don’t want things to get out of hand. You can ask for help, but it’s best not to talk about what happened today. If this matter spreads too much, the people in my hands will die.”
Hearing this, Shi Qingyang was relieved. If Li Jiajia and the bodyguards were killed, he would feel guilty. Fortunately, Li Rong still thought about his power and did not do so.
Li Rong didn’t kill anyone. He caught them alive. Most likely, he wanted to use them to reverse the stakes. Maybe he would take them to find Cheng Xuze…
Shi Qingyang thought this as he watched Li Rong climb in. He didn’t take off his combat helmet or even talk to them. He just sat down beside them.
“Li Rong, if you let us go, don’t hesitate to mention any conditions!” Finally, Wang Qing opened his mouth. He was not afraid of death, but was afraid that Li Rong might hurt others.
“Let you go? Can you let my mother go?” Li Rong asked, suddenly calming his voice: “As long as you kill those witnesses and sign an agreement to release me, I can naturally release you. Now, I’m going to take you to find Cheng Xuze.” It was impossible for him by himself to kill Ao Zhi and the others who were under Cheng Xuze’s watch. Now he needed to find another way.
When Shi Qingyang saw Li Rong gnashing his teeth, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Cheng Xuze’s plan was half successful. At least Li Rong didn’t know that Ao Zhi had drunk the medicine before he recruited him. What’s more, he didn’t know that Ao Zhi was too confused to testify against him. Therefore, he finally decided to take a risk.
It was a pity… Cheng Hong’s appearance had thrown everything for a loop. Li Rong should have found out that Cheng Xuze was following the prisoners, so he made such a big move just to hunt them down and let others know that he did it.
After Li Rong said those words, he stopped talking. Shi Qingyang wanted to find more information about the matter, but did not want to irritate him. He simply closed his eyes, and then began to try to use radiation to dissolve the injected medicine in his body.
This kind of practice was absolutely impossible for others, but it was different for him. His radiation energy was far stabler than others, though not as stable as Cheng Ran’s.
However, while it was easy to plan, it was very troublesome to do. While the radiant energy dissolved the toxin, the violent energy also hurt his body…
Shi Qingyang was trying to dissolve all the toxins, but Li Rong suddenly reached out and grabbed him, taking him away from the armored vehicle.
“You’d better be obedient. If I have no way to live, your Cheng Ran will die with me right away.”
The radiation energy injured his internal organs while removing the toxin. Shi Qingyang felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He swallowed his saliva and smiled: “I will cooperate.”
Now they were at the exit of the city. A man beside Li Rong had just finished negotiating with the watch team, carrying the instructions of the city mayor. The reason he was leaving the city was to repair the optical fiber. When he left, he repeatedly assured the patrol team at the gate of the city: “Don’t worry, the network will be unblocked soon.”
“Your mobile fortress is parked at the gate of the city. Now that the city is in danger, you naturally want to lend it out to make it easier for us to repair the optical fiber,” Li Rong whispered. It was inappropriate for him to drive an armored vehicle and use other mobile fortresses this time. Only Shi Qingyang’s was the most suitable one.
How to hunt them down, how to get out of the city, how to find Cheng Xuze, it seemed that Li Rong had everything planned… Shi Qingyang nodded and did not resist.
T/N
A week break to catch up on some of my other stuff, see you then!