Yue walked close to uncle Wen. "How are my parents? Have they been well?
"They are fine.. Your dad is being himself."
Yue chuckled loudly. "Prickly as usual huh? Oh, I forgot to ask, but do you have any convenient housing situation near our house. Our house is kind of overcrowded with seven of us there..."
"for the girls or for a special someone you want to keep close?"' uncle Wen winked in the direction of Fan Xui.
His cheeks suddenly heated up. "he.... he already has a place nearby. I was asking for the girls and Hary,"
"I can arrange it.... after I settle thing here..." he glanced around at the soldiers who were looking at Tian and Hary in fear. "Fear is a good thing but fear is not enough to lead.... what do you suggest we do Yue."
"What do I think? I don't know...." Yue glanced up in shock. He genuinely looked like he needed answers. "Maybe.... you can talk to them.."
"Address them about what? Give them false hope? Tell them that the zombies are going to grow in power and even plants and animals will join in on the hunt? .... I have no fucking clue what I'm doing here...." he grumbled, tapping his cane on the ground.
Yue stammered visibly. He too, did not have a definitive answer. "There is no way to reassure people saying that everything was alright. Because we know we are all fucked.....But..... we can give them hope for the future..."
"There is hope in the future?" uncle Wen paused and glanced up at him with a hopeful gaze. "is there hope Yue?..."
Yue bit his lips, unable to answer. "I did not live that long enough....so... I can't give you that answer."
A loud sigh was the old man's reply. "I guess... you suffered a lot. what about Tian... did you ever get the chance to meet her in your past?"
"Yes... she seemed healthy and well put together." Yue glanced at his sister, who was happily chatting with Hary and Fan Xui. "She seemed happy...."
"That's good... what about Qian? Did he achieve something? He calls himself an amazing scientist, but he rarely shows any progress,"
"No! He achieved so much! He figured out a way to identify the infected. He created a new way to cleanse our water supply.. he.... even found mutated wheat! He has contributed a lot uncle. That's why I was willing to risk my life for him. His one life can save a few thousand...."
Yue glanced up to see a proud smile on his face. "so what do you plan to do now? you know you have to burn the farms right?"
"Yes... have a small doubt. Can a chopped-up vegetable mutate?"
"No, only those in contact with the soil and the virus-infected air will mutate. You can harvest it...." he glanced up. The small shimmering dots had grown in size, heading directly towards them. "But I don't think you have the time for that..."
"Oh, we have enough time. I'm not waiting for that much crop for nothing," uncle Wen briskly walked into the barracks with a slight hop in his step.
He rushed into the cafeteria where everyone where having their dinner. "Here goes nothing..." he handed the cane to him and climbed over a table with his back straight. "Everyone to gather around!"
The men who were busy chatting and eating all rose and stood around in a messy order.
"Deng Li and his gang have been apprehended!" Wen peered at each of them with a very serious look on his face. "This is a military barracks, not a fucking pub. There will be no mutiny or any kind of discord amongst us, agreed!"
The men softly murmured amongst themselves.
One of them hesitantly raised his hand. "What will happen to Deng Li..... will he be killed?"
"He will be sent out of the safe zone. I don't need anyone who would cause discord in this place. Anyone with such thoughts shall take their leave right now!"
The men looked somewhat relieved.
"There is a giant meteor hurtling towards us as we speak..."
The crowd chatter became too loud that uncle Wen's voice got drowned in it.
"Silence!!!" Wen glanced around with a deep glare. "We have conclusive proof to suspect that this meteor is also carrying a deadly virus..... Before you all shout and scream like little girls, let me tell you, this virus will not affect humans. It will only affect plants and animals."
Everyone sort of settled down after that.
"Organise yourself into four teams quickly!"
The men hustled about and soon got into four messy groups.
"You all will be named team A, B, C, and D respectively. I'll give you ten minutes to select a leader for yourself,"
The teams hesitantly send forward four men.
"Team A-arm yourself with any knives you can get, harvest the ripe wheat, rice, vegetables, and any other seeds you can, and chop them up into small pieces. Team B, get the gasoline ready, we are going to burn down the farms. Get a move on!"
The teams addressed, saluted to him and rushed out.
"Team C and D Fan out and make sure to burn all and any kind of vegetation you find in our protected area,"
Uncle Wen climbed down with difficulty and took the cane from his hands. "Did I do well?"
"You did well..." he smiled at him widely.
"How did you know about the plant mutation?" Fan Xui curiously looked at them both.
"Well... it's that book I told you about. Don't worry, I have a copy at home..." Yue awkwardly smiled, patting Fan's hands. "Why... why don't you and Hary help uncle Wen.... I'll go and check in on my family."
With a small smile, Fan Xui and Hary followed after uncle Wen, leaving Tian and him alone in the cafeteria.
Tian silently looked at him. "You did not tell him? Why? Don't you trust him?"
"I do... I do... I will tell him eventually." Yue whispered, fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt.
"Prolonging the inevitable is not going to help...." she subtly glanced down to see her brother's hands slightly trembling. "You are afraid to tell him the truth..."
"Not afraid.. Just nervous. You know, coming back in time rebirth and stuff seems like a fairy tale..... no one will believe that nonsense,"
"I did... your family did... hell even Hary did..."
"Hary knows?" Yue raised a brow.
"You made us sit on the sofa and told us all..."
"Oh, I completely forgot about that..." Yue let go of his wrinkled shirt. "I... I just need more time with him before I reveal everything about my past and the future. Until then, all the future information I know is based upon that book."
Tian just nodded, taking his hand in hers. "Take your time.... and you did a good job publishing that book. It probably saved a lot of lives,"
"I hope so..."
Talking their hearts out, they happily left the military barracks towards uncle Wen's villa which was right behind.
The whole mansion was super crowded with a lot of soldiers swarming the fields. Some were harvested and placed the corns and crops in huge mesh bags. The part of the fields that were cleared was easily burned off with gasoline.
Some men gave them leering stares as they walked past.
Yue growled loudly, pulling his sword out of its sheath. The men just chuckled, looking at him with even more intensity.
Tian just raised a flaming middle finger their way, showing off that they were not to be messed with.
"I wish I had showy abilities like that... somehow no one seems to feel threatened when I raise a sword,"
"Your baby face is anything but threatening and that growl was adorable." Tian chuckled. "you can carry a brick though. Next time someone catcalls you or leers at you, take that brick out of your pocket and smash it with your fist and shout 'that will the state of your balls if you mess with me.'"
Yue laughed out loud. "I can do that... very practical and useful trick,"
They climbed up the stairs to uncle Wen's mansion and knocked on the door. It was instantly opened by uncle's assistant and secretary. "I'm looking for my father Zou Wei."
"This way, please. They are staying in the first floor second room to the right,"
"Thank you."
The thought of meeting his parents excited him to the core. He could not hold back any longer. he bolted up the stairs towards the said room.
Standing in front of the door, he hesitantly raised his fists.
"Why do you always do that? Hesitate when you are about to knock?"
"PTSD I guess, somewhere in my heart I still fear that I might lose my parents any time....." he cleared his throat loudly. "It's not a big issue," he knocked loudly. "Dad, mum, it's us. We are back."
Thudding footsteps rushed towards them and the door opened wide.
A pair of warm hands embraced them right as they passed the threshold. "My babies! You are home!" mum cried, hugging them tightly.
"Yes, we are... we are finally home."
Sniffing, she let go of them both. "You both better not leave this place again. No more rescue missions and no more going out got it."