Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Boomerang
Zhao Bohan hesitated, but ultimately remained silent.
His suspicions stemmed more from the fact that Qi An was such an incredible person, constantly surprising people.
Given Qi An's current strength, the base's long-distance teams would fight tooth and nail for her, but she actually ended up with them, which makes people feel incredibly anxious!
Anxiety, unease, and the constant pressure to reflect on whether he deserves it are the root of his doubts.
He didn't say it, and Qi An didn't ask. The two walked silently along the sun-drenched but sparsely populated street.
However, someone was waiting for them ahead.
It was Yu Shuang. Seeing that the two seemed to have finished their conversation, she rushed over and put her arm around Qi An's shoulder. "He said bad things about you, we can't let him get away with it so easily! What do you think, should we treat him to another meal tomorrow?"
Qi An: "Sure. But I'd prefer that the two captains could spare some time to instruct me on shooting, uh... all sorts of battlefield techniques."
Yu Shuang was taken aback, then sighed, "This is too much! How are we supposed to handle this?"
She patted her chest again: "But no problem, leave it to us. We'll train you into a well-rounded warrior!"
Qi An couldn't help but smile. Actually, she preferred being with the captain. It was like standing under the bright and warm sunshine, where all her gloomy thoughts would melt away in front of her.
After the three of them walked a few steps, Qi An mentioned the damaged spy drone.
When returning the equipment to the base, Zhao Bohan directly stated that the drone was damaged and lost.
“Completely inspecting the drone and finding evidence that the equipment has been tampered with requires a high level of technical expertise. Do we have anyone we can trust?” Qi An asked.
“We’re planning to ask one of Zhou’s older sister, or both of them together, to dismantle the base, and also ask Su to find a senior engineer from the base’s logistics department yesterday,” Yu Shuang said.
Qi An was surprised, thinking of his chance encounter with Su Qingran yesterday.
Is she busy with this matter?
Qi An also said, "I also know an engineer surnamed Xu in the research department. If needed, I can ask him for help."
Yu Shuang laughed.
Everyone is concerned about the team's affairs!
Unfortunately, the deputy captain was as disappointing as ever: "Even if we find the problem, at most we can catch one or two technicians from the logistics department. It's basically impossible to trace it further up the chain of command."
"Who doesn't know that? Evidence must be collected, but the timing for presenting it is crucial!" Yu Shuang rolled her eyes, repeating what he had said before, then clenched her fist and said:
"There will definitely be a chance! We can't let ourselves be bullied forever, can we?"
Qi An nodded emphatically.
Zhao Bohan looked at Yu Shuang and smiled slightly. This smile was even more beautiful than before, as if a hundred flowers were in full bloom, and its gentle warmth surpassed even the spring sun!
......
Ever since the vice-captain gave that captivating smile, Qi An inexplicably felt that she was a bit superfluous, and couldn't help but quicken his pace.
But when she passed a clothing fabric store, she stopped.
I want to buy a new bed sheet. As the weather gets warmer, I also want to buy a thinner thermal underwear set.
Two bodies are fine too, since I'm getting a bonus anyway.
But in the short time she paused, a man in tattered clothes bumped into her!
To be precise, he fell over. Qi An dodged and was not caught, but Yu Shuang came like the wind and grabbed the man.
They grabbed him and helped him up, preventing him from falling to the ground. He looked up, saw Yu Shuang, and hurriedly thanked her, "Thank you! Thank you, comrade!"
The man was around 40 years old, with a weathered face, stubble, and a long scar on his left cheek, it was unclear whether it was a claw mark or something else.
After thanking him, he apologized to Qi An: "I'm sorry, my leg is bad, I twisted it just now, I'm so sorry."
He murmured to himself, but his eyes remained fixed on Qi An's face.
Zhao Bohan stepped forward and pulled Qi An behind him, but the man still peered at Qi An and asked, "Are you a purifier?"
The question was quite abrupt, and Qi An and the other two were taken aback.
Zhao Bohan realized what was happening, grabbed Qi An and Yu Shuang's sleeves, and turned to leave.
In this post-apocalyptic world, there are almost no people who haven't been exposed to the source of pollution, so everyone needs purification, but purification resources are very limited.
People who work in government, military, hospitals, or factories have medical insurance, but others have to earn contribution points to go to the hospital for purification, which is very expensive and involves long waiting times.
If Qi An were to admit that he was a purifier, probably half the people on this street would rush out, and the shameless ones would kneel down and beg for purification on the spot.
In full view of everyone, they were in military uniforms; it wouldn't be good to refuse or not.
They strode away, and the man didn't follow, but just stared at their backs for a long time.
A young man in his early twenties, with fairly handsome features but thin and sunken cheekbones, walked up to the scarred man with some lingering fear. "Brother Xiang, what happened to you just now? You didn't really fall, did you?"
If he faked the fall, was he trying to take advantage of his brother? Was he trying to stage an accident?
How dare he attack someone in military uniform?!
The submissive look on Xiang Shiyang's face had disappeared. His gaze shifted, filled with doubt, yet also a hint of excitement.
“I know that person,” he said.
"Huh? Who?" the young man asked, puzzled.
“That woman…the little girl in the lab back then, that must be her!” Xiang Shiyang said with certainty, the scar on the side of his face twitching with laughter.
......
After that accident, all three of them were in a bad mood.
"How did he guess that you're a Purifier?" Zhao Bohan frowned in confusion.
Qi An didn't answer. She was also puzzled and felt that the man looked somewhat familiar.
She had a heavy, ominous feeling in her heart.
Yu Shuang said to Zhao Bohan, "After we get our bonuses tomorrow, let's go visit Xiao Zhou and the others. If any of them are having difficulties, let's lend a hand."
Zhao Bohan had no objection. "Okay."
The group headed to the training ground with a slightly gloomy mood, and reached their peak when they ran into Team 1 again!
"I'm so fed up! How come I see these things everywhere? Don't they have any missions?" Yu Shuang was extremely annoyed.
However, this time Zhou Yang, Liu Wei, and that tall guy with a face full of acne scars had very strange expressions.
Zhou Yang still looked at Zhao and Yu with disgust, but his gaze toward Qi An was complicated.
Was it also disgust? Disgust mixed with embarrassment and discomfort? Qi An didn't understand at first glance, but he understood on the second.
“Dr. Qi, may we speak to Dr. Qi alone for a few minutes?” Liu Wei asked first, with a very warm smile.
Upon hearing this, Yu Shuang and Zhao Bohan understood, and their expressions turned even worse!
This is because they know Qi An's strength has greatly increased, and they're trying to poach him!
Yu Shuang snapped her knuckles with a crisp "crack," Zhou Yang tensed up, and Qi An said calmly, "No, thank you."
As she approached, she asked again, "Are you here to apologize?"
Zhou Yang's face stiffened even more. Liu Wei paused for a second, then immediately said, "Yes! Our team's Xiao Qu is too talkative. She had a little unpleasantness with Dr. Qi before, so she came here specifically to apologize to Dr. Qi!"
The tall, short man hunched his shoulders and bowed his head. At Liu Wei's prompting, he bowed deeply to Qi An, his face flushed, and apologized in a low voice.
Yu Shuang was stunned, because she was waiting to see Zhou Yang also bow and apologize, but Zhou Yang just stood there without moving.
Qi An was also surprised and asked directly, "Are you here to invite me to join Team 1?"
She spoke softly and gently, and Zhou Yang's eyes lit up slightly as she nodded, "Yes."
"Oh, what pot has what lid? I'm not in good health, and I have an eye problem. I'm afraid I won't get along with your team." Qi An said gently, "I refuse."
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