Chapter 44 Pipe

Pipe was still alive; that much was certain.

It was not like Gao Yuan encountering an old friend in a foreign land, but in the apocalypse, he heard the voice of his friend.

Now, Gao Yuan's sense of happiness was much stronger than the joy of meeting an old friend abroad.

"He's alive, he's still alive, Pipe is still alive!"

Gao Yuan could only repeat this one sentence over and over, prompting Xiang Weiguo to raise his voice, "I know he's alive, but where is he!"

After taking a deep breath and forcing himself to calm down, Gao Yuan shook his head, "I don't know where he is, but he must be close! Oh no, he's in his hometown, about a hundred kilometers from here, I guess."

Having just said he was nearby, Gao Yuan suddenly realized that the concept of distance now was different from before.

In the past, a distance within five hundred kilometers wasn't considered far; one could definitely arrive within half a day by train or bus. Even if it was a thousand kilometers away, a plane would make it a matter of two hours.

But now, now that most of the time one could only rely on walking, and the more prosperous the area had been before, the more this was the case. So even if the straight-line distance to Pipe was only a hundred kilometers, walking there without two or three days of travel was probably impossible.

Gao Yuan recounted his conversation with Pipe again. After he finished, Xiang Weiguo frowned and said, "He has a radio and can contact the outside world, but he's trapped ..."

At this, Luo Xingyu spoke up anxiously, "Is it possible that the bad guys have taken control?"

Gao Yuan said helplessly, "Definitely, he made it very clear. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said he was in a very dangerous situation and emphasized not to keep calling him."

The situation was indeed quite complicated. If they could get in touch with Pipe again and ask for clarification, many things might be easily resolved. But Pipe specifically emphasized not to keep calling him.

After pondering for a moment, Xiang Weiguo said, "His last words were obviously spoken to someone else. That means there are other people around him. With that, it's pretty clear that he's been controlled, but who could have taken control of him? Xiao Yuan, who exactly is your friend?"

After thinking for a moment, Gao Yuan said embarrassingly, "He's a scoundrel..."

"Hm?"

"Ah?"

Both Xiang Weiguo and Luo Xingyu were puzzled. Gao Yuan spread his hands and said, "He's mouthy, likes to play around, and overall, just not a good thing, but still, he's a decent person."

Xiang Weiguo frowned and asked, "What do you mean by a 'decent person'?"

"It means that although he's quite a bastard, he doesn't commit fundamentally wrong things; he just has a bit of a temper."

Xiang Weiguo was still frowning, "Your description ... still doesn't let me make an accurate judgment. I'm wondering if he did something wrong and got himself caught."

Gao Yuan quickly said with firm conviction, "That's impossible. Like I said, this guy, although a scoundrel, would definitely not do bad things. I'm quite sure of that."

Luo Xingyu immediately said, "Then shall we go and rescue him?"

To Gao Yuan, regardless of what had happened to Pipe, he was absolutely determined to see him. If Pipe truly was under the control of the villains, then he would undoubtedly rescue him.

Pipe was the only friend Gao Yuan had left in this world, and the two of them had always been inseparable buddies. This relationship had become especially precious in the post-apocalyptic world.

As for whether to involve Xiang Weiguo and Luo Xingyu on the mission to save Pipe, Gao Yuan only pondered briefly before making his decision.

Given the relationship between Gao Yuan, Luo Xingyu, and Xiang Weiguo, it would come off as too contrived and hypocritical to tell them to mind their own business and that he would handle Pipe's matter alone. With the way things were between them now, there was no chance they would separate.

Without any hesitation, Gao Yuan said, "That's right, I have to save him."

Xiang Weiguo spoke in a grave tone, "Saving him is a must, but we need to find out where Pipe is. Without a clear idea of his exact location, we can't proceed. He said he's at his hometown, so where is his hometown?"

"Nangang County, but I only know that he's from Nangang County. I'm really not sure about the exact location."

"That's a huge area. Have you never been to his house?"

"Never been there. We met online, and even though we are very close and always together, I've never visited his home. I only know the name of the residential complex, but that's it. I'm not aware of the specific location, and, besides, I feel he's unlikely to still be in the town center now."

Xiang Weiguo let out a sigh and said, "We can't say that for certain. Even if it's more dangerous in the town center, it doesn't mean there are no survivors there."

Gao Yuan shook his head and said, "No, I know him. As a survivalist, he would definitely try to leave densely populated areas. He said he wanted to go home to check on things and then head to this camp. But after we parted ways, I lost contact with him. I think it's more likely that he got trapped on his way here."

"How certain are you? You know what he planned to do, but do you know what situation he encountered? What if he's trapped in his residential complex and can't get out? As a survivalist, would he have stored ample amounts of food and water at home so that, several months after the disaster occurred, he could still be surviving there?"

Gao Yuan frowned and said, "You make a valid point. However, if he was at home, it is quite unlikely that he would be under someone else's control. He would keep trying to reach me."

"You previously didn't go into detail about the friends you partnered with to build this camp. I don't know much about them. So now I have a question, where did he get his radio?"

Gao Yuan fell silent for a moment and then spoke softly, "Right after the disaster, the three of us ran from Ji City back to our hometown. Halfway there, Ham fell ill, and I killed him. Ham was into ham radio, and his bug-out bag had a portable radio."

After taking a breath, Gao Yuan continued in a somber tone, "At that time, I was carrying too much, and couldn't take another bug-out bag. Since Pipe was carrying less, and Ham was well-off, his bug-out bag had very good supplies. It would have been a waste to discard them, so Pipe took Ham's bug-out bag. Therefore, he has a radio, and Pipe taught us how to use it, so both of us knew the basics of operating a radio."

Xiang Weiguo nodded and said, "That means, you had agreed to meet here, but he hasn't shown up. This confuses me. If he was under someone's control, how could he still have the chance to use the radio? It seems that even if he was controlled, it was to some extent."

"Exactly, and although Pipe often has a loose tongue, he's not the kind of fool who offends people just by talking. He's the sort of guy who's simply cheeky. So I think, even if his situation is bad, it's not too terrible. There's definitely a chance he can use the radio again to contact me."

Xiang Weiguo spread his hands and said, "Then what's there to talk about? Just stay by the radio and wait for his next call to ask for details."

At this moment, Luo Xingyu asked with a curious expression, "Brother Yuan, what's Pipe's real name?"

Gao Yuan laughed and said, "His name is Yu Shunzhou, from the phrase 'going along smoothly like a boat with the current.' He's a very strong and agile big guy, a real big fella."