It took Shen Qing and his team three days and two nights to travel from the Hongcheng base to the service area outside Zizhou City. Now, even if they ignore the danger and travel at night, the time can only be shortened slightly, but it will still take at least two days and one night.
The external injuries of Li Aiguo, Zhang Sujuan and Song Kaiji were bandaged soon after they got on the car. Thanks to his special ability, the metal on Song Kaiji's shoulder blade did not need to be directly pulled out or cut open. Tang Wenjie only slowly controlled the metal to become thinner and longer, and then cut off the two ends when it grew to a certain length. He repeated this until the metal became as thick as a toothpick, and then Tang Wenjie broke it in the middle and pulled it out from both ends.
Ge Bingbing also provided some ice cubes to cool the wound and slow down the blood flow. In this way, although the wound was still large, Song Kaiji suffered less pain and the risk of treating the wound was much smaller.
However, the situation of Zhang Sujuan and Li Aiguo was not so optimistic. Zhang Sujuan was stabbed twice in the back, both in bad locations and with deep wounds, so she could only lie prone on the back seat. Although Li Aiguo was only stabbed once in the shoulder, he was kicked hard by the bald man several times, fearing that his internal organs would be damaged.
Occasionally, we would encounter some special ability teams or smaller gathering places of survivors along the way. Song Kaiji asked twice, but there were no healing special ability users. It made sense, since healing special ability users were so rare and precious, any special ability team he met would be willing to take them to the Hongcheng base, so why would they stay in such a small place.
After two disappointments, Song Kaiji made a decisive decision: "Don't stop along the way, speed up towards the base." Instead of wasting time staying in these small outposts again and again, it is better to hurry back to the base.
However, before they returned to Hongcheng, Li Aiguo became unwell that afternoon.
It seemed that his internal organs were ruptured. Li Aiguo vomited several times while he was unconscious. At first, it was the food he had eaten, but later there was some blood in the food, and in the end he was vomiting mouthfuls of blood.
Before the sun set, Li Aiguo finally woke up. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the sunset reflected through the car window, and then Song Kaiji's tearful face.
"Dad... Dad." Song Kaiji felt that he had never shed so many tears in his life. His eyes were swollen like two small peaches. He wanted to ask Li Aiguo how he felt, but he thought it was nonsense: he knew very well what Li Aiguo was feeling at the moment.
"Don't cry, Kaiji, you are a big boy now." Li Aiguo raised his hand and wanted to touch Song Kaiji's head, but he had no strength and had to give up. "You will be an adult in the future, and Daddy can't protect you anymore."
He scanned the surroundings again, but couldn't see Zhang Sujuan. Li Aiguo still remembered the scene before he fainted, and he was a little worried: "Where's your mother?"
"My mom is in another car." Song Kaiji sniffed and struggled to hold back tears. "She...she was injured too, but the bleeding has stopped. It's okay, and you'll be okay too." Song Kaiji took Li Aiguo's hand and put his face on his hand. "We'll be able to return to Hongcheng Base soon. There's a hospital and healing psychics in the base. They can cure any disease or injury. Sister Weiwei's hand was completely broken before, and the healing psychics can make her grow a new one. You and mom will definitely be fine."
"Really? That's great." Li Aiguo smiled, not exposing Song Kaiji's white lie. Or maybe it wasn't a lie, but Song Kaiji's own false hope. "How can you separate your mom and dad? Dad is fine. I want to go see your mom."
As he spoke, he didn't even have the strength to touch Song Kaiji's head just now, but now he suddenly propped up his body and wanted to sit up. Song Kaiji hurriedly said: "Okay, I'll ask them to stop the car, Dad, don't move, I'll let Sister Weiwei use the vines to take you over."
Sun Cheng pulled over to the side of the road when he heard this. The car behind him also stopped when he saw this. Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei got out of the car first and cleared a wave of zombies before they circled out a clearing and sent Li Aiguo to the car behind.
Chen Jiaqian had been driving the car, Shen Qing was sitting in the passenger seat, and Yu Le was curled up at the footrest to take care of Zhang Sujuan. Song Kaiji ran back and forth, but since Li Aiguo started vomiting blood, Song Kaiji spent most of his time with Li Aiguo.
At this moment, Yu Le gave up her seat, and Li Aiguo leaned against the footrest, looking at his wife's pale face tenderly and lingeringly for a long time. Song Kaiji hesitated for a moment, let Yu Le go to another car, and huddled in a corner, "Dad, let's go first, the faster we go, the sooner we can get to the Hongcheng base, and treat you and my mother's injuries earlier."
Li Aiguo did not answer. Perhaps in his heart, it was no longer important whether he could drive or not. He knew that he could not reach the Hongcheng base, and Zhang Sujuan... Of course he hoped that Zhang Sujuan could make it, but he just smiled as he touched Zhang Sujuan's hand, which was as cold as his.
After a long while, Li Aiguo finally said, "Kaiji, Dad is sorry for you. Dad has always regretted it... It would have been better if we could have set off to Hongcheng Base earlier."
If we could set off immediately after receiving the news from Song Kaiji, if we could not wait and not care about anyone.
At the end of his life, Li Aiguo seemed to see everything more clearly. He loved Zhang Sujuan and Song Kaiji very much. These two were the ones he loved the most. But he seemed to only regard them as a little more important than others, not much more.
He was willing to give Song Kaiji and Zhang Sujuan 100 yuan, but when others came to borrow money, he was also willing to lend them 60 or 80 yuan. He would never give more than what he gave to Song Kaiji and Zhang Sujuan, but he also had no way to completely refuse others.
He gave them a lot of love in his heart, but not that much in reality.
At the end of his life, Li Aiguo felt regretful. Life is so short. He wanted to see Song Kaiji grow up, get married, and have children... He had thought about how to take care of Song Kaiji's children after retirement, but now he can't do that anymore. Li Aiguo looked at Shen Qing's back and comforted her a little, but he still regretted it. Why did he spend so much time and energy on so many unimportant people in the past? He could have refused to lend the money and given Song Kaiji two hundred, or even more.
When he thought back at this moment, the figures and faces of those people had become blurred, and the only clear ones were his wife and son in front of him.
But it was too late. Before Song Kaiji could say "It's okay", he saw Li Aiguo vomiting blood and even spurting blood. The blood splattered all over Song Kaiji and Zhang Sujuan. Li Aiguo's body slowly slid down, and finally his head leaned against Zhang Sujuan's head, and he slowly died.
Song Kaiji stood there in a daze. He had been mentally prepared for this, but when it really happened before his eyes, he still found it hard to accept it - the pain of losing a loved one, perhaps no matter how prepared he was, it would be impossible to accept it.
He wanted to cry out loud and call out to Li Aiguo not to leave him, but he remembered that Li Aiguo told him not to cry and to be an adult, and he was afraid of waking up Zhang Sujuan who was still in a coma.
His body was curled up like a shrimp, and he was trembling as he suppressed his emotions.
Shen Qing sat in the front. He never looked back, but he didn't know when he started crying. He didn't know why. He obviously didn't know what fatherly love was. If it was Shen Zhigao who died in front of him, would he cry?
Probably not. Shen Qing touched the tears on his face. Where did these tears come from?
Chen Jiaqian, who was driving beside him, had no expression on her face, as cold and hard as a stone. She handed a pack of tissues to Shen Qing and nudged him with her arm.
Shen Qing sniffed, then turned around and patted Song Kaiji soothingly: "Cry if you want to, just this time, uncle won't blame you." Song Kaiji's condition was really bad. He was enduring in such a twisted and hidden way, and Shen Qing was afraid that he would get sick.
After a long while, Song Kaiji finally uttered a deep and hoarse cry. This cry pierced Shen Qing's heart and made her cry.
They put Li Aiguo's body into Song Kaiji's space and waited until they arrived at Hongcheng Base to either cremate or bury it. When it was night, no matter how anxious Song Kaiji was, they had to stop and rest.
Only Sun Cheng and Chen Jiaqian knew how to drive. They had been driving for nearly 20 hours. In addition to the previous battle with the people in the factory, they had not slept for even longer. They could not hold on any longer. Everyone in the car would be in danger. Chen Jiaqian adjusted the seat and closed her eyes: "Two hours, I just need to sleep for two hours, and then find me a cup of coffee - you should have it in your space." She asked Song Kaiji, "After that, no matter whether Sun Cheng can leave or not, we can go first and send Auntie back to the base."
She used to work so hard, relying on coffee to keep her going. Sometimes she couldn't sleep for two hours, and would lie down for half an hour at noon, and then fight all afternoon.
Chen Jiaqian's voice became smaller and smaller: "Or you can go outside and look for a bigger car, so that Sun Cheng can sleep in the car, and we can take turns..."
By the end, only the sound of long breathing was left.
They had thought about changing cars along the way. However, most of the cars parked on the road were abandoned, having been damaged at the beginning of the apocalypse. Occasionally there were one or two good, small private cars. The three cars of Shen Qing's team were originally found in the parking lot of Yucai Middle School.
There was no village or store nearby, so where could they find a parking lot to park their car? But Song Kaiji was still unwilling to give up and got out of the car immediately. Shen Qing was worried about his injury and quickly followed him down: "I'll go find it, you stay in the car." He quickly pulled Song Kaiji: "I'll let Sister Weiwei or Xiao Tang go with me, you stay and take care of Auntie."
As they were talking, they suddenly heard a loud quarrel breaking out in the car in front. The noise was so loud that Chen Jiaqian frowned in her sleep and turned over impatiently.
Shen Qing stuffed Song Kaiji back into the car without saying anything, and got into the car in front: "What's wrong? Doesn't Sun Cheng want to rest? Go to sleep, we will be in a hurry to travel soon."
The couple Sun Cheng and Ge Bingbing were quarreling. Shen Qing felt it was a bit strange. He had seen it all along the way. Sun Cheng and Ge Bingbing had a good relationship and had never quarreled. Why did they quarrel now? "Whatever the reason, wait until we get back to Hongcheng Base to quarrel. Forget quarreling. I won't care if you two fight. But human lives are at stake right now. Let Sun Cheng go to sleep first."
The big boss spoke, Ge Bingbing's lips moved a few times, and she got out of the car with a dark face, and bumped into Shen Qing when she passed by. Sun Cheng was helpless when he saw it, and rubbed his temple tiredly. He really didn't have the energy to argue after driving for a whole day, but Ge Bingbing didn't let him go, and now she was giving Shen Qing the cold shoulder.
Although Shen Qing is a good-tempered boss, he is still a boss! Sun Cheng hurriedly said: "I'm sorry to trouble you, boss. I just need to sleep for three or four hours. I'll let my wife get some ice later..." Thinking of Ge Bingbing's appearance just now, he didn't know if he could get some ice to wake him up. Sun Cheng shook his head helplessly: "Let's talk about it later."
As he said this, he lay down in the back seat and soon began to snore.
Shen Qing glanced outside and saw Ge Bingbing walking to the edge of the metal net set up by Tang Wenjie, pulling apart some vines, and frantically firing ice blades to attack the zombies outside the net. However, she only killed them, but did not ask Tang Wenjie to dig out the crystal cores. It was obvious that she was just taking out her anger on the zombies.
Shen Qing asked Tang Wenjie to find Ge Bingbing. He could vent his anger, but what if he didn't pick up the crystal core and fed it to a mutant zombie? At other times, he might have hoped for a mutant zombie. After all, Qu Weiwei's evolution was very powerful. They could even go out and hunt mutant zombies in the future.
But they were in a hurry to get on the road, so how could they afford to waste time? Seeing Tang Wenjie remove a hole in the metal net and pull Ge Bingbing out, Shen Qing pulled Qu Weiwei to hide behind the car and asked in a low voice: "What happened to the two of them?"
Shen Qing had been in the car all day and didn't know what happened, but Qu Weiwei had heard the whole thing. She was tired now, but she couldn't resist the gossip: "They have been arguing for the whole afternoon... At first, Sun Cheng said something? It was probably about what they would do when they returned to the Hongcheng base. Sister Bingbing suddenly got angry and started scolding Sun Cheng's brother, saying that he was so old, but he didn't do any work at home and just relied on his parents. It's fine if he relied on his parents, but now it's the end of the world and he's relying on his eldest brother, and he's also relying on his sister-in-law... The more he talked, the angrier he got. Sun Cheng might have been embarrassed, and we were all listening to him, so we said a few words to ask her to stop talking. As a result, Sister Bingbing became even angrier and didn't talk to Sun Cheng the whole afternoon."
Qu Weiwei was very emotional. She knew that Sun Cheng had a younger brother who was an ordinary person. After all, it was she who recruited Sun Cheng and Ge Bingbing, so she naturally knew their details. Originally, Sun Cheng wanted to let his parents, younger brother, Ge Bingbing's father and their children live in their house during the mission, and let Mother Tang take care of them. Now it seems fortunate that she didn't agree: "It seems that his brother has a bad personality, at least he is a giant baby, and it will tire our Aunt Tang again."
However, Qu Weiwei also felt a little strange: "But Sister Bingbing didn't mention it during the whole journey. I used to think that she had a very good relationship with Sun Cheng. I didn't expect that she would suddenly get so angry when we were about to return to Hongcheng. Didn't she think of this during the whole journey? Isn't she angry? And when she bumped into you just now, I didn't realize that she had such a bad temper before." Qu Weiwei joked: "She seemed quite resentful. I guess she thought you were taking the opportunity to take sides and protect each other."
Shen Qing felt a little uncomfortable: "What do you mean by men protecting each other? I'm not protecting Sun Cheng. I just want to leave early." He is different from Sun Cheng...
"But she's angry and probably thinks you're taking sides," said Qu Weiwei.
"Forget it, let's not think about it. It's hard for a judge to judge family affairs." This kind of thing is the most difficult to explain. Shen Qing has lived in the village and has always had a deep understanding of it. "Chen Jiaqian said that it would be better for us to find a big car. She and Sun Cheng can take turns driving, which will save time. Although we may not be able to find it, we have nothing to do anyway, so let's go and look for it."
Although Qu Weiwei was a little sleepy, she could catch up on her sleep on the way, so she agreed. After instructing Yu Le to look after the house and to shout loudly if anything happened, Shen Qing and Qu Weiwei were about to set off when they suddenly heard a strange sound, as if a bell was ringing somewhere.
Looking over, he found Ge Bingbing attacking Tang Wenjie. Tang Wenjie formed a metal shield and hid behind it. The ice cones hit it again and again, making a sound similar to that of a bell. Tang Wenjie squatted behind the shield and felt very aggrieved: "Sister Bingbing, I really didn't mean that. I swear I don't have any intention of favoring Sun Cheng. I am doing this for the good of our entire team!"
"You want me to consider the overall situation again!" Ge Bingbing suddenly became even angrier. Shen Qing watched helplessly as the ice cone she condensed instantly became thicker.
It seems that the more you talk, the more mistakes you make. Tang Wenjie deeply realized this point and shut up, silently making his shield bigger and thicker. He was just losing his temper, so he wouldn't really hurt himself...
Qu Weiwei stepped forward quickly: "Hey, all of you men, get out of here. Don't show up in front of us and make us hate you." She quickly winked at Shen Qing: "You two go find a car, Sister Bingbing and I will go kill the zombies." What's the use of reasoning at this time? Let her accompany Ge Bingbing to scold Sun Cheng and get some gossip by the way - anyway, they are also a temporary team, even if Ge Bingbing and Sun Cheng reconcile in the future, they may not have the chance to cause trouble for her.
Tang Wenjie ran away, Qu Weiwei had already pulled Ge Bingbing to comfort her. Shen Qing looked back and heard from afar that Ge Bingbing's voice was getting louder and louder, and her anger seemed uncontrollable, which made him feel even weirder.
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