Chapter 33 Chapter 33 What did I do?
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"Run, why don't you keep running?"
Just out of the wolf's den and into the tiger's den, Gu Mengran, Liang Zhao and Zheng Yiji stood at the entrance of the underground parking lot, looking at the busy streets in front of them, their expressions were extremely solemn.
The crowd on the street was instantly petrified, and they all stopped what they were doing and stared at them without blinking. It seemed that if one person took action, the others would follow suit.
At the same time, two strong men holding steel pipes walked up the anti-slip ramp.
The two men, one tall and one short, looked fierce, with muscular bodies, carrying steel pipes and showing off their power. They looked exactly like the thugs who used to roam the streets and collect protection fees.
When they were almost at the entrance, the tall man threw the flashlight to the person next to him, repeatedly hit the palm of his left hand with the steel pipe in his right hand, and walked slowly to the three people.
The cold eyes were like a venomous snake, looking at the three people one by one, and then the man stood in the middle, like a dominant superior, with his chin raised arrogantly, "Where did you come from? Tell the truth, what are you doing secretly down there?"
The Ninth Street was exaggerated by Zheng Yijie to be too terrifying. Gu Mengran's brain was working rapidly, trying to think of a countermeasure. Zheng Yijie was already scared silly, staring at the ground tremblingly, not daring to say a word.
Only Liang Zhao remained calm as always. He looked up and confronted the burly man who was almost as tall as him. His dark eyes contained coldness, like a wolf ready to pounce in the next second.
Three against two is enough to fight, three against a group...
Forget it, I have to be cowardly. It is even more impossible to use the space in public. Gu Mengran squeezed Liang Zhao's hand calmly and slowly raised his head to meet the sturdy man's gaze.
"I--"
"We were just enjoying the cool air." Liang Zhao spoke before Gu Mengran, drawing the man's attention to himself, and then explained, "It was too hot, and we didn't mean to pass by here, so we just hid in the garage to enjoy the cool air."
"Just passing by?" The tall man laughed as if he had heard a joke. He raised his chin and asked Liang Zhao, "If you have done nothing wrong, you are not afraid of ghosts knocking on your door in the middle of the night. You are just passing by to enjoy the cool air. Why are you running?"
Liang Zhao replied without changing his expression, "I don't know who you are, so I dare not show up rashly. From the sound of your voice, you sound malicious."
"Malice? You sneak around in my territory and you say we have bad intentions? Are you looking for death, kid?" The man was so angry and embarrassed by Liang Zhao's serious accusation that he raised the steel pipe high in the air.
Although he didn't really fight, Gu Mengran was still frightened. He quickly pulled Liang Zhao back half a step and explained to the man in a gentle voice: "Brother, we didn't mean any harm. We were just scared and didn't dare to come out at that time."
If it was true as Zheng Yijie said, that this group of people were irrational and committed all kinds of evil, then it would be useless to say more. But when they were unable to escape, this group of people did not arrest them directly, but instead kept questioning their intentions...
Gu Mengran vaguely guessed something, and without waiting for the man to continue asking, he simply and clearly explained the situation: "Brother, we are not from Shancheng, we came from Linhuai. We thought the earthquake in Shancheng was not that serious, so we wanted to take shelter here, but the result... well, it's all the same."
"The weather was getting hotter and hotter, and we had no choice but to find a car to go to another city. But as you know, the cars on the road could not drive, so we looked for underground parking lots everywhere."
The tone is sincere, the attitude is honest, and there is no flaw in the half-true and half-false words.
Hearing this, the man put down the steel pipe he had raised high, and his anger slowly subsided. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Gu Mengran for a few seconds, then asked, "Linhuai, how did you get here from so far away? When did you come? Are there only three of you?"
"There is another old man." Gu Mengran answered truthfully: "We drove the bus here yesterday, but the tire of the bus burst and we left it on the way into the city. We can still find it if we look for it now."
This sentence seemed to completely dispel the man's doubts. He casually tucked the steel pipe under his armpit, looked at the three people with a scrutinizing gaze, and took out the walkie-talkie on his waist.
"Boss, boss, three outsiders were spotted near Exit B of the Holiday Inn."
The other party responded quickly. The man did not cover up. A deep and hoarse male voice came from the intercom: "Wait, I'll be there soon."
After saying this, the sturdy man turned his head and looked at the men and women on the street. He waved his hand and said loudly: "Don't just stand there and watch the fun. Keep working!"
The streets that had been paused started moving again, and people continued to clean the streets despite the high temperatures. They carried stones and swept the debris, with clear division of labor and tacit cooperation. It was a scene of peace and tranquility, and no one showed reluctance.
The more Gu Mengran looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong. Why was it different from what Zheng Yijie said?
Although the other party was defensive and not friendly, he raised the steel pipe when he disagreed with something, which made him look a bit like an angry old man. But the other party never really took action, as if he couldn't be reasonable?
Before Gu Mengran could sort out his thoughts, a buzzing noise suddenly sounded. Everyone looked up and saw a small excavator coming from the left/front street at a very fast speed, and then it braked suddenly and stopped steadily in front of the garage entrance.
"Boss, the boss is coming!"
"Have you eaten yet, Boss?"
“Looking for a new excavator?”
…
As soon as the car stopped, the crowd on the street became agitated, shouting and lining the streets to welcome it.
Under the gaze of dozens of eyes, the excavator stopped steadily, the glass door slowly opened, and a burly man with tattoos all over his body walked out of the cab.
The man was casually dressed in flip-flops and an old man's vest. He had a resolute face and exuded a fierce aura that made him look like he was not someone to be trifled with. It was obvious at first glance that he was not a good person.
He didn't get out of the car right away. He stood at the door and looked around, then shouted angrily, "What are you looking at? You don't have to work, do you? Do you think you can get food just by looking at it?"
The onlookers didn't feel like they were being scolded at all. They laughed for a while, then dispersed and continued to work.
"Bang!"
The big man jumped down from the excavator which was more than one meter high and landed steadily on the ground. His flip-flops seemed to be broken. He looked down at his heels after getting off the car and walked slowly to the three people in his slippers.
"Just you guys? Where are you from?"
As usual, he looked at the three people and locked his eyes on the trembling Zheng Yijie. That look was intimidating in itself, and Zheng Yijie trembled like a sieve with just a casual glance.
Gu Mengran opened his lips slightly and was about to answer his question, but the tattooed man raised his chin and said to Zheng Yijie, "You, you answer it."
"Me?" Zheng Yijie was startled and tried hard to recall what Gu Mengran had said. After a long while, he stammered, "Lin, Linhuai."
"Linhuai? What a coincidence!"
The flower-armed elder brother laughed and patted Zheng Yijie on the shoulder, "Then we are half fellow villagers. My wife is also from Linhuai. Where are you from Linhuai? Maybe my wife knows you guys."
The man had a smile on his face and a gentle tone, but his hand on Zheng Yiji's shoulder kept tightening.
His bones were almost crushed, and Zheng Yijie couldn't answer. He didn't dare to lie casually, and he had never been to Linhuai. He gritted his teeth and turned his eyes to Gu Mengran.
"Binjiang Road Garden Community." Gu Mengran answered for Zheng Yiji.
He was betting that this big brother's wife was not from Linhuai.
Even if the bet is wrong, there is a high probability that Linhuai also has place names and community names with a very high duplication rate.
But this old man didn't play by the rules. He didn't even look at Gu Mengran. He raised his hand and patted Zheng Yijie's face. He leaned closer and said, "You don't even know where you live. Why are you looking at others? I'm asking you a question. Can't you hear me or are you dumb?"
The injury was not serious but the insult was great. Zheng Yijie could no longer bear it. He didn't know where he got the strength from, but he pushed his brother with both hands and made him stagger. He stiffened his neck and yelled, "Can't you just say what you want to do? Why are you beating around the bush? Don't you know there's a saying that goes, 'It's better to kill than to torture?'"
As soon as this shout was uttered, the two strong men next to him immediately raised their steel pipes.
The boss who had steadied himself quickly waved his hands and looked at Zheng Yijie and laughed, "Hahahaha... you are quite eloquent, kid! Okay, okay, I'm asking seriously, you answer seriously, and don't lie!"
The man with tattoos cleared his throat and asked more than ten questions in a row, as if he was checking the household registration.
Where did you come from and where did you go? What was the situation on the road? Did you see any rescue?
The other party seemed to finally believe that they were outsiders, but as soon as Gu Mengran opened his mouth and mentioned the word Linhuai, the flower-armed brother's face instantly turned cold and he looked at him seriously.
"Your accent doesn't sound like a local, but you're definitely not from Linhuai."
Well, it seems that my eldest brother’s wife is really from Linhuai.
There was really no need to lie about where he came from. After careful consideration, Gu Mengran chose to tell the truth.
They just hid the fact that they were traveling in Shaozhou when the earthquake happened. Hmm... is this considered honest?
Unable to figure out what the other party was trying to do, Gu Mengran could only tell his brother half lies and half truth. He did not hide the situation on the road and the dire situation in the surrounding city, and told him everything.
After listening to this, the brother with flower arms remained silent for a long time, his brows tightly knitted, as if he was worried about this crumbling world.
But he quickly calmed down, pinched his chin and looked up at Gu Mengran again, "Since the situation is so bad, why don't you find a place to settle down? Why did you travel thousands of miles to Yinan?"
In order to get out of this situation, Gu Mengran could only continue to lie: "My parents are in Yinan."
"Oh, no wonder."
After saying that, the man with tattoos winked at the two men beside him inconspicuously, and the two big men immediately put away their steel pipes and turned around to join the team cleaning the street.
What does this mean? Let them go?
Gu Mengran was still guessing the other party's intentions. The flower-armed elder brother turned to look at them and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, recently the group in the south of the city has been trying to snatch the materials from our food processing plant. They often come to our side and make trouble everywhere like rats. I thought you were also from that side, so my attitude was a little bad."
"But let me be clear, this area in the north of the city is our Nine Streets territory, you can't just wander around here and collect supplies. We have many mouths to feed, and resources are very scarce.
Since you are new here and have no place to stay, you can stay with us for a few days, but only for a few days. When you leave, I can provide you with a car and a small amount of food, provided you agree to one request of mine. "
The development of the matter to this point was completely unexpected. Gu Mengran had always been suspicious of Jiujie, and even though the other party offered relatively attractive conditions, he did not dare to accept it easily.
The man with the flowery arms paused deliberately, waiting for someone to ask further questions.
But he waited and waited, but no one paid attention to him. He pursed his lips in boredom and continued, "Aren't you going to Yinan? If you encounter rescue or military personnel on the way, please tell them for us. There are still many people in Shancheng, don't forget us."
Now not only Gu Mengran, Zheng Yijie also began to doubt himself. The other party took the initiative to apologize and offer help? Just made such a request that was not really a request?
Could it be that the boss of Jiujie has changed?
Zheng Yijie looked shocked and asked tentatively, "Are you Gang Ge from Jiujie?"
Brother Gang was not surprised that Zheng Yijie knew him. He smiled and raised his eyebrows at him, "Yes, I am Wang Gang from Ninth Street. Have you figured it out? Don't you want to pretend to be an outsider with them?"
"How do you know I—" Zheng Yijie looked at him in disbelief, and changed his mind halfway through his words, suddenly becoming furious: "What on earth do you want to do! Can you please stop playing tricks on us?"
I was confused by what he said, "What's wrong with me? I misunderstood you and apologized to you, so why did I play tricks on you?"
Zheng Yijie is a weird person. He is a coward to the end and a tough guy to the end.
Gang Ge's words were like wind passing by his ears. He pretended not to hear them and directly retorted with a gloomy face: "Stop crying over the rat and pretending to be sympathetic. Do you think others don't know what you did? We are not going to Jiujie and we don't need your help. Let us leave!"
Brother Gang was completely confused, his brows were tightly knitted, his eyes were as big as bells, as if he was going to rush forward and punch Zheng Yiji twice in the next second.
But after a few seconds, the sturdy and fierce-looking man stared at Zheng Yijie blankly, with a look of grievance on his face, "Explain it to me clearly! What did I do? "
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