Exchange & Browbeaters at the Door

Three days later, the authorities called on a rally by sending invitations to all superfunction squads and good individual superfunction possessors. They didn't specify the purpose but just asked all the captains to attend a meeting at the military department of Section A. Everybody who got the invitation didn't know what it was for but what they knew was they didn't have the right to say no. The army was sustaining the base, providing the folks with a relatively safe shelter. The superfunction possessors got to keep their family by doing quests that the army distributed, so once they were called upon, they were obliged to respond.

"Captain Yun, I heard you looted quite a lot today."

It was about time for all squads to turn in their quests at Superfunction Association. Loser Squad had kept a friendly relationship with Peak, the captain of Loser Lei Dashan hollered at Yun Che who was leading the squad back from a distance. They just came back from the industrial area of Wanan. A number of plants and factories were located there in Lingjiang City. It was the suburbs but they did have looted a good amount of supplies. Peak Squad, who always drew the most attention wherever they went, got the most booty. Word of them sweeping a deli factory had spread among squads. People were envious of them for all the sausages and vacuum-sealed meat that they'd plundered. All squads wished they could rob them.

Peak would have been robbed by those who hadn't had any meat for ages if they were an average squad. But they were Peak, the Peak which no one had the balls to mess with. Everybody, squads and individuals, in Southwest knew that Peak kept the highest success rate of quests with the minimum but the best team members. And they were flagrantly arrogant. If you offended them, you could forget about the meat, it was even lucky for you to just keep alive.

"Not bad for you, too, Captain Lei. Was it a brewery that you raided? So? How about we do a little exchange?"

Yun Che wasn't a condescending guy, he walked straight up to Lei Dashan to start a chat with him. Lei Dashan laughed, "Ha, my man. I was wondering if I should ask. See? My boys are salivating over the meat."

Although they just got sausages and meat in vacuum packages, those were still meat. Fresh meat was hard to come by at these days, even frozen meat had spoiled because of the power outage.

"Heehee."

Being glanced by Yun Che, You Dong, Xu Yifan and the others who did quests with him scratched their heads in embarrassment. But what their captain said was true, they did crave for meat. All the meat that they got in Tongyang City had already been eaten up.

"Both squads want the same, that's why we're close. Our chief doesn't allow us to drink strong wine, but some beer should be fine, right, Che?

Arms around You Dong's shoulder, Zhou Zeyu dispelled the embarrassment for them in a natural manner. Much as Peak and Chaoyang had been leading other squads to quests, they kept a certain distance from other squads. The only exception was Loser. Lei Dashan was a straightforward fellow, so were his mates and they commended Peak and Chaoyang a lot, which went a long way toward the establishment of their reputation and standing. Hence, they were close for sure.

"Hell yeah. You know what, Captain Lei, forget about sausages, I've got some frozen meat here. Is it good enough for your beer?"

Out of courtesy, Yun Che offered something better. Right after he finished talking, a chunk of frozen pork fell on the table.

"Shit, please tell me I'm not delusional! Is this pork?"

"I haven't seen pork in ages! Where do they get the pork?"

"How about we trade something for the pork?"

"I'll die a happy man even with a tiny piece of pork. I haven't had any pork in the goddamn doomsday."

The commotion went on.

The crowded Superfunction Association went into chaos. Everybody watched the chunk of meat with their covetous eyes, slurping their own saliva loudly. The space superfunction possessor of Loser Squad He Yongyi immediately put the pork away. "Whoa, Captain Yun, let's keep it under the table, shall we? See those ravenous wolves? They are going to pounce on the meat if no one stops them."

"Haha!"

"Screw you, He Yongyi."

"Hell, I can't put up with this. Captain, allow me to challenge He Yongyi."

"You're wood, I'm space. Have some decency, okay?"

"Haha!"

As soon as He Yongyi said the words, Peak and Loser burst into laughter. Other teams cursed and then laughed along. The captains of several squads that once did quests with Yun Che requested for some meat, Yun Che didn't say no but since the frozen pork was given away, all he had left was sausages and vacuum-sealed meat.

"OK. It's better than no meat."

They still took the deal. When the trades with other captains were done, Lei Dashan asked He Yongyi to take the beer out. There were at least 100 crates of beer which took up fairly large room. Yun Che chuckled, "That's too much. 50 crates will be enough."

Knowing that Lei Dashan would be insistent, Yun Che said 50 or else he would have said 20. He wasn't a fan of alcohol, the reason he exchanged meat for beer was he liked Lei Dashan's character.

"OK, I won't push then. Yongyi, put the rest away."

Lei Dashan didn't want to make it cheesy because he knew Yun Che wasn't in a strong need for this stuff. After a quick thought, Yun Che took out some sausages. "I know you have kids in your squad. Here, take these. The snacks from Uncle Yun. Bring the kids to our community some other day, Chenchen needs mates at the moment."

Since Yun Che mentioned the kids again, Lei Dashan had to accept the sausages. He asked He Yongyi to store those in Space as well. He would keep the kindness in mind.

"Captain Yun, the army has called upon us for a conference. What do you make of it?"

When the members of two squads were talking to each other, Lei Dashan stealthily took Yun Che to a corner. They were called to a conference today. Even idiots could tell that the army needed reinforcement in a major operation and when there was a major operation, there was danger and death. Peak and Chaoyang were less concerned because they were lean yet strong squads whereas Loser had less than 20 fighters but more than 100 mouths to feed. The old, the young, and women wouldn't survive if things went wrong.

"No worries. The military operation usually is army-civilian joint operation. If you're too weak, they might not even count you in. Let's just wait and see."

Having discerned his concern, Yun Che patted on his shoulder.

"Hopefully. I got arrangements to make tonight. Captain Yun, if my entire squad has to join the operation, please look after us."

Lei Dashan forced a smile. He could only show his concern to Yun Che. It'd unsettle the entire squad if he showed any of his concern to his mates.

"Ha, don't worry. I will."

Yun Che smiled. Afterward, they chatted a little. After turning in the quest, Yun Che took his squad home but a nasty scene was waiting for him back at his house.

Chaoyang Community, Yun's house.

"What are you doing? This is our house. Please show some respect."

"You, a woman, tell us what to do? If it wasn't for my nephew, you wouldn't get such a nice house to live."

"Mom, don't argue with them, just chuck them out. This is my cousin's house, so it's our house, too."

"Shit, who the hell are you? Your cousin's house? If it wasn't for my master, your cousin would still be a nobody. Get the hell out of here if you don't want any trouble. When my master's back, you'll be dead bodies!"

"Please stop. Please."

In the living room of Yun Che's house, a bunch of people that came out of nowhere sat on the couch, stuffing fruits and snacks on the tea table into their mouths. The litter was all over the floor, and the house was in an utter mess. Yun Yao bravely stood up against them with Chenchen in her arms but she was just a woman who was looking after a kid and two pets, she was no match for this crowd. Yun Yao was outnumbered.

"Piss off!"

"Aaaahh!"

A 30-year-old-ish tall, big guy pushed aside the middle-aged woman who was trying to stop the wrangle. Her head hit the corner of the table as she fell, the wound started bleeding instantly. Yun Yao put her son down at once and rushed to hold her up. "Aunt, are you OK? I'll get the first-aid kit for you."

Yun Yao put her on the couch and saw half of her face was covered in blood, she then stood up and ran to the foyer.

"What are you doing? Let me go! Can't you see she's bleeding? You want her dead or what?"

Before she could take a step, the tall, big guy had grabbed her by the arm. Yun Yao was furious and tried to wiggle out of his control. The man fondled her face with his lewd fingers. "Boohoo, little girl! Drop the act! You're just my nephew's bitch!"

"You…"

"Enough!"

"Hands off my sister!"

Thud!

Several sudden sounds shocked the crowd. A white shadow fell from the sky and grabbed the man's hand and pushed him. Maybe the shadow was too strong or the guy was just a paper tiger, his feet were off the ground when he got pushed back. He flopped onto the ground after his big body hit the wall.

"Aaaah!"

"Bro, my bro."

"Uncle."

The crowd howled. Apart from an old man, all the other people stood up from the couch and ran over to the man.

"Cheng, why are you here? Where is Aunt Wang?"

Yun Yao looked back. It was her little brother. She flurriedly tried to turn him around, preventing those people from seeing his red eyes but Yun Cheng didn't move. His gaze was dead-locked on one spot. Yun Yao looked back again, Oh, no! She exclaimed inside. Yun Cheng was gazing at the woman whose head was bleeding. It was a zombie's nature to crave for fresh meat and blood. Yun Yao pulled and dragged his little brother hard. She was so disconcerted that she was about to cry.

"Goddammit! How dare you hurt my uncle! I'm gonna kill you!"

Still, someone was looking for more trouble. An 18-ish young girl, who was shouting about kicking them out a moment ago, glared at them even though the look on her face was slightly pale. Two fireballs emerged on her palms.

"I'd like to see who has the nerve to kill people in my house."

There came Yun Che's voice. In a flash, his slim body shielded Yun Cheng and Yun Yao. At the moment, his thirst for killing overwhelmed his whole body.