Chapter 60 A Cunning Plan (Revised)
At 7:30 in the morning, the temperature began to soar, and usually by this time the market would be almost over. People who are sensitive to the heat would leave and go home to enjoy the air conditioning.
But today, the activity center's doors were wide open, and dozens of soldiers carrying guns were pacing back and forth in front of them. Inside the plaza, hundreds of villagers were squatting with their hands behind their heads. Every twenty meters along the edge of the plaza stood a soldier in camouflage, holding a loaded gun, scanning the entire area with menacing intent.
The villagers dared not raise their heads or whisper to each other, remaining crouched like quails, too afraid to move. Just then, several soldiers escorted a few villagers in. Some in the crowd glanced up, then quickly lowered their heads again.
"Captain, all the villagers from Fishery Village No. 3 are here."
The team leader, his face grim, glanced at the villagers and asked, "Where are Chu Qiang's parents and Jiang Rong's son?"
The soldier shouted, "Reporting, Captain! No one is home at Chu Qiang's house. They should be at Jiang Rong's old house. The Falcon Squad has already set off."
The captain nodded slowly. "Return to the team."
Uncle Li and Aunt Li squatted on the ground, their backs hunched over. The elderly couple still couldn't understand what had happened. They were picking fruit in the orchard when suddenly more than a dozen soldiers appeared and, without a word, tied up everyone working in the orchard. The young man who had helped them simply asked what was going on, and was struck twice on the head with rifle butts, leaving him bleeding profusely.
Seeing this situation, what could Uncle Li and the others possibly say? Now, seeing so many people being detained in the activity center, everyone felt a sense of foreboding.
While the villagers were still wondering what was going on, a group of students walked in through the gate.
Lin Meng frowned in disgust and said, "Dou Zhang? How did he end up with this group of soldiers?" As the student council president of D University, Lin Meng had automatically taken on the task of managing students since entering the base. The students from D University and several other surrounding universities were quite cooperative with Lin Meng's work.
Only Dou Zhang and his gang of brothers always shirked their responsibilities, never properly completing the tasks Lin Meng assigned them. Dou Zhang, relying on his superpowered status, completely disregarded Lin Meng.
Dou Zhang swaggered in, immediately pulling out several sheets of A4 paper from his folder. A classmate eagerly handed him a megaphone. Dou Zhang cleared his throat and turned on the megaphone. After a burst of ear-piercing noise, his voice echoed throughout the activity center: "Residents of Xinghuo Base, hello! The main reason we've gathered here today is to denounce the numerous crimes committed by our current leader, Jiang Rong, and his superhuman squad."
The proclamation of condemnation finally found its purpose, and Dou Zhang read it aloud with great passion: "Jiang Rong's first crime: Nepotism. The crime is as follows: Li, a villager from Fishery Village 3, was assigned to work in the orchard because of his close relationship with Jiang Rong's squad. During his work, Li embezzled funds and used inferior materials..."
Upon hearing this, Uncle Li and Aunt Li exchanged bewildered glances, both stunned. When the two elders came to their senses, their faces flushed with anger. Uncle Li stood up shakily, his voice trembling as he spoke through the dark muzzle of the gun: "Child, wait a moment."
Dou Zhang was initially annoyed that someone had interrupted him. However, upon seeing that it was an elderly man with gray hair who had interrupted him, his displeasure lessened somewhat. This was precisely the time for him to cultivate relationships with the masses, so he put down the paper in his hand and put on a gentle smile: "Sir, is there anything I can help you with?"
Uncle Li's lips moved, his eyes welling up with tears: "I want to ask you, when did I ever line my own pockets and pass off inferior goods as superior ones?"
Dou Zhang was taken aback. He looked Li Shu up and down and asked, "Who are you?"
Uncle Li's voice trembled as he said, "I am the Li you mentioned who contracted the orchard! Child, you have to have a conscience! I'm sixty years old this year, which means I'm your grandfather's age. I've never amounted to anything in my life; the only thing I know how to do is grow fruit trees. I swear to God, I never sell any inferior fruit from the orchard at the market. You're accusing me of passing off inferior fruit as superior? Tell me!"
Dou Zhang's face paled. He had indeed written the manifesto, but the people and events described were all hearsay. He never expected to be contradicted by the very person who wrote it the first time he read it aloud in front of everyone. It was all because the Spark Base was too small and the activity center was too close to Jiang Rong's house.
Uncle Li, still indignant, explained to the villagers, "Fellow villagers, I, Old Li, have been growing fruit trees for most of my life. You all know what kind of person I am. Regardless of whether the orchard is mine or not, one must act with conscience. When have you ever bought inferior fruit from me?"
“I’m being accused of embezzling funds, but I’m even more wronged. The orchard doesn’t belong to me; every single fruit on the tree belongs to the base. When we go up the mountain to work, we report how much fruit we pick, and the fruit sold each day and the money we make have to match up. All of this can be checked with the accountant; it’s unacceptable to be short even a single penny.”
Dou Zhang gritted his teeth and asked, "Then what about all those supplies in your house?"
Old Li slapped his thigh in frustration: "My goodness! Those things were temporarily stored at my house by the superhuman team because they had nowhere else to put them. Strictly speaking, that's no longer my house; it's a house at the base. Jiang Rong took pity on us old folks and let us continue living in our familiar house. How can you say those are my supplies?!"
A chorus of agreement rose from among the villagers: "That's right, I'm not familiar with Jiang Rong, and my old house was requisitioned to be used as a temporary warehouse. Does that mean I'm Jiang Rong's relative now?"
"If they were really family, I wouldn't be so busy every day."
"Don't even mention it. Aren't Old Chu and his wife also incredibly busy every day? And they're Chu Qiang's own parents."
Dou Zhang's face flushed and paled in turns, and his voice became softer. Fortunately, the soldier beside him pointed his rifle butt at Uncle Li: "Squat down! Who told you to move?!"
Uncle Li and Aunt Li helped each other to squat down indignantly. Behind them came supportive voices: "Old Li, don't take it to heart. We all know what kind of person you are."
Most of the people present were villagers from the surrounding area, and they had dealt with each other before. How could a mere young man slander them with just a few words?
Dou Zhang continued reading Jiang Rong's "crimes," but as he read, the murmurs in the square grew louder and louder.
Dou Zhang said that staff members at the activity center had risen through nepotism. This infuriated Lin Meng and the others; even though Lin Meng has a good temper, she couldn't tolerate it anymore.
Ignoring her companions' attempts to pull her up, Lin Meng stood up and stared directly at Dou Zhang, shouting, "Dou Zhang, are you saying we got promoted through nepotism? If I remember correctly, all the students received evaluation forms. Only the top fifty in the written exam had a chance to be hired by the base. Didn't you see the exam questions?"
The people working in each office were all carefully selected by Jiang Rong. Their academic performance had to be up to standard, and they had to be meticulous and thorough in their work. Before officially starting their jobs, they also had to undergo rigorous training.
How come in Dou Zhang's mouth, the jobs they worked so hard to get became something that could be achieved by pulling strings?
Unlike the villagers, Lin Meng knew Dou Zhang's background. The usually gentle girl blushed with anger: "If I remember correctly, you also took the exam. But unfortunately, you didn't even finish the questions, and you didn't even get a chance to go to the interview."
Dou Zhang was furious: "Lin Meng! Don't think I'm afraid of you!"
Lin Meng glanced at Dou Zhang from head to toe: "I should be the one saying that. Don't think I'm afraid of you! Do you know why the base doesn't assign you any important missions even though you're a superhuman?"
Before Dou Zhang could speak, Lin Meng stunned him with a single sentence: "Because you're no good. You're impatient, you're stubborn, you're heartless, you're not human."
"Have you forgotten what kind of life we had in the university town? It was Jiang Rong who led the team of superhumans to bring the students from the university town to the base. Without him, we students might have been dead long ago. After entering the base, he provided food and lodging and did everything he could to improve our conditions. Even crows know how to repay kindness, but what have you done? You never properly complete the tasks assigned to you. You're not good at being hardworking and conscientious, but you're number one at shirking your responsibilities."
Lin Meng went all out, pointing her finger at Dou Zhang and yelling, "You keep saying Jiang Rong is guilty? In my opinion, Jiang Rong's biggest crime is bringing someone like you to the base. You put your own interests above all else and even colluded with corrupt elements in the military to try to seize power. I'm heartbroken that such scum could emerge from among the students."
"While everyone else was building the base, what were you doing? You were trying every possible way to gain personal benefits. I didn't see any contribution from you, only your greed and selfishness!"
Lin Meng kept hurling insults, and Dou Zhang couldn't take it anymore. He snatched a gun from a soldier and fired a shot in Lin Meng's direction: "Shut up!"
Gunshots rang out, followed by terrified screams from the crowd. Lin Meng's body jerked violently, and she covered her head with her hands.
Fortunately, Dou Zhang's marksmanship was poor, and the shot didn't hit her. Lin Meng's classmates quickly pulled her down, saying, "Mengmeng, quickly squat down!"
Lin Meng didn't want to lose her life at this time. She glanced at Dou Zhang and silently squatted down.
After Lin Meng's outburst, Dou Zhang's proclamation of condemnation became completely unreadable. At this moment, the soldier whose gun had been taken from him stepped forward and said unhappily, "Young man, bullets don't have eyes, be careful."
The villagers' discussions grew louder. If Jiang Rong's team wanted to run the show, why did he have to do everything himself? The temperature made everyone's emotions particularly volatile, and curses rang out from the crowd: "Damn it, where did this brat come from, spouting nonsense!"
Dou Zhang was too ashamed to stay in the activity center, so he slipped away without looking back, clutching the proclamation he hadn't finished reading.
*
Every morning around 7 a.m., Jiang Xiaoheng has an important task to do: he and his older brother take care of the chili peppers their father grows.
Jiang Rong had cultivated a batch of vegetable seedlings before the black rain fell, but the rain washed them away, leaving only one chili pepper plant. Fortunately, that mutated chili pepper seedling grew rapidly and is now over two meters tall. Half a month ago, it bloomed with small white flowers, and now it is laden with small chili peppers.
Jiang Xiaoheng waters the chili peppers every morning. His father says that in a few days, the peppers will be ready to be picked and stir-fried with meat. Although he doesn't particularly like stir-fried meat with chili peppers, just thinking about the fact that the peppers were grown by his own hands makes Jiang Xiaoheng feel like he can eat a few more bites of meat.
The two children skillfully pulled a small cart half-filled with water to the vegetable patch, watering the chili peppers spoonful by spoonful, slowly moistening the ground around their roots. Jiang Xiaoheng whispered, "Little chili peppers, the more water you drink, the more chili peppers you'll grow. Keep it up!"
Aunt Chu's voice came from the courtyard: "Xiao Hao, Xiao Heng, Grandma made you sweet glutinous rice cakes, come back and eat them!"
The two young men poured the remaining water from the bucket onto the ground, and Jiang Xiaoheng replied in a drawn-out voice, "We'll be back soon~"
Suddenly, Junjun and Lele, who were lying next to the two boys, stood up. At the same time, the two children heard a series of firecrackers. Jiang Xiaoheng, holding a small water ladle, looked around in confusion: "Big brother, someone is setting off firecrackers."
The fairy's spikes trembled: "Something's wrong~"
Uncle Chu rushed out of the courtyard, shouting, "Xiao Heng, Xiao Hao! Come back quickly!" He wasn't an ignorant child; the sound coming from outside wasn't firecrackers, but gunshots.
Seeing the two children still happily laughing under the chili pepper tree, Uncle Chu rushed over and picked one up in each hand, saying, "Forget about the chili peppers, let's go home first!"
Jiang Xiaoheng raised his little head in confusion. "Grandpa, did you hear that? The sound of firecrackers seems to be getting closer and closer." Could it be some good news? But the sound of firecrackers today is a bit strange. Usually, the sound of firecrackers is continuous and rhythmic, but today's is different.
Uncle Chu forced a smile: "Really? Forget about the firecrackers, let's hurry home and eat glutinous rice cakes." After all, he was getting on in years, and after running only a few steps, his face turned pale and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Early this morning, Chu Qiang asked his son and his wife to come to Xiao Rong's house, saying that he wanted to help take care of the child, but his son's eyes were full of anxiety and tension.
Uncle Chu didn't know what had happened, but he knew his son too well. Chu Qiang couldn't hide anything; his emotions were always written on his face. Seeing the look in his eyes, Uncle Chu realized that something extraordinary was about to happen.
Now that guns are being fired right at Xiao Rong's doorstep, Uncle Chu would be too slow to understand what's going on: someone inside the base is trying to seize power!
I remember Xiao Rong saying before that the Xinghuo Base was taking on too many people at once, which might cause problems. Now it seems that those problems have already surfaced.
When they finally reached the courtyard, Uncle Chu breathed a sigh of relief. He put the two children down and urged them to go back inside: "Go back quickly."
Jiang Xiaoheng took two steps toward the courtyard, feeling that something was missing. He looked around: "Grandpa, where's Lele?" Where was Lele, who was always around them?
Lele was summoned by the superhuman and was running eastward. They ran onto the vine-covered path, where dozens of rebels appeared at the other end, firing guns at the forest on both sides.
Junjun crouched low, using the kudzu vines as cover, and stealthily crawled towards the rebels. Just as it was about to reach them, it suddenly realized that it wasn't the only dog that had been summoned. Mutant dogs from within a five or six-mile radius had arrived, and dozens of large dogs were slowly approaching the rebels from their concealed positions.
Compared to the cautious mutant dog, Junjun appeared exceptionally domineering. It swooped down from the mountain, its two front paws pressing down on the backs of two rebels, its gaping maw gripping the neck of another. Three clear sounds of bones breaking rang out, and in the blink of an eye, three men were dead.
After landing a successful blow, Junjun spun around and lunged at another rebel. A commotion broke out among the rebels; having never seen anything like this before, they panicked and raised their guns to aim at Junjun.
Before they could pull the trigger, Lele and the others leaped out, dozens of mutated dogs swarming forward and tearing at the rebels' hands and feet. Soon, the gunfire from the eastern foothills ceased. The rebels, utterly defenseless against the mutated animals' attacks, lay on the ground, their faces and heads covered in blood. They had lost all ability to resist and could only lie there helplessly as they were captured.
Wang Chenggang kicked a rebel soldier who was rolling on the ground hard. "Why don't you live a good life? With your strength, you still want to betray us? I'll teach you to betray us!" He waved his hand and said, "Tie him up. He'll be left for Jiang to deal with later."
Zheng Zhanqing was surrounded by a dozen blood-stained mutated pet dogs. After confirming that the dogs were alright, he patted each of their heads and said, "Well done, thank you!"
Actually, the person we should thank the most is Junjun. Junjun's fighting power far surpasses that of a pet dog; it alone took down more than a dozen rebels. It's just a pity that Zheng Zhanqing has yet to receive Junjun's favor. After helping out, Junjun kept its merits hidden and went home with its tail wagging.
Sporadic gunshots rang out from the west. Zheng Zhanqing asked, "Gangzi, should we go help Lao Jiang and the others?"
Wang Chenggang chuckled, hands tucked into his pockets, "Help Chiang Kai-shek? Do you think he'll just set your hair on fire? Does he really think he's been wasting all these years in the military?"
Zheng Zhanqing nodded thoughtfully: "That's true. With Chiang Kai-shek's terrible temper, those who ran into his clutches are probably crying for their parents right now..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zheng Zhanqing's mouth was covered. Wang Chenggang's face turned ugly: "You'd better shut up, you jinx."
Zheng Zhanqing has possessed a certain mystical ability since childhood: if he predicts something will succeed, it will absolutely fail. This skill is infallible, which is why his teammates affectionately nicknamed him "the poison milk."
Seeing that the "poisonous milk" was cursing his own teammate, Wang Chenggang quickly shut him up, saying, "I'm going to tell Lao Jiang later that you're cursing him to win!"
Zheng Zhanqing tried to salvage the situation: "No, no, I misspoke. Right now, Chiang Kai-shek is crying and begging for mercy."
Wang Chenggang said slyly, "I'm going to tell Chiang Kai-shek that he was beaten so badly by the rebels that he cried for his parents."
Zheng Zhanqing turned his head and met Wang Chenggang's eyes. The next moment, he commanded his mutated dogs to charge at Wang Chenggang: "Go! Bite him!" How dare they make fun of him!
Zheng Zhanqing's "poisonous milk" skill is taking effect, and Jiang Jinhu and his group are in a very bad situation.
Two earth-elemental ability users among the rebels built a high earthen wall, behind which the rebel squad hid. The curved earthen wall was incredibly sturdy, blocking bullets and attacks from supernatural abilities. Jiang Jinhu was furious, but no matter how big a fireball he threw, it didn't even leave a spark when it hit the earthen wall.
As the earthen wall drew closer, Jiang Jinhu's expression changed: "Damn it! You bastard, come out and fight me one-on-one if you dare!"
The rebels weren't stupid; why would they come out of their bunkers to fight Jiang Jinhu one-on-one? Everyone knew that Jiang Jinhu was the most powerful fire-type ability user in the entire base. Using the earthen walls as cover, the rebels slowly approached Jiang Rong's house.
Seeing himself forced to retreat step by step, Jiang Jinhu unleashed a string of profanities. He was going to die! Guan Tou'er and Jiang Tou'er trusted him enough to entrust him with the task of guarding the headquarters; was he going to mess it up?
Just then, he suddenly heard a cheerful laugh: "Jiang Gong~" It was... the voice of Jiang Rong's little fairy!
Jiang Jinhu looked back and saw a huge cactus rolling towards him on the mountain path behind him. The cactus was nearly three meters in diameter and made a sturdy thumping sound as it rolled.
Everyone looked up and saw that the fairy outside the courtyard wall had turned into a bare sphere, and the sphere to the west had fallen down and was rolling along the mountain path.
Jiang Jinhu was overjoyed and gave his teammates a wink. His teammates intensified their attack, raining bullets and supernatural abilities upon the earthen wall. Although the rebels inside the wall continued their slow advance, their vision was blurred by the flames and smoke, making it impossible to see what lay ahead.
The little fairy rolled faster and faster, and when it was about to reach Jiang Jinhu and his teammates, they all retreated to the side of the road at the same time.
The giant cactus rolled away, leaving a trail of afterimages, before crashing solidly into the earthen wall with a muffled thud. Fueled by its speed, the impact was comparable to a heavy truck lurching at full speed. How could an earth-type ability user withstand such a devastating blow? The sturdy earthen wall shattered, and the rebels who couldn't dodge were crushed beneath it.
The rebels who were lucky enough to escape being suppressed were completely bewildered, not knowing what had happened. In a flash, they saw a huge, dark green mass of something "roaring" past them.
Jiang Jinhu finally seized the opportunity, shouting, "Give them a good beating!"
Bullets and flames rained down on the rebels, who were quickly routed. Jiang Jinhu, his revenge complete, felt a surge of exhilaration. "That was awesome! So damn awesome! Thank you, little fairy!"
But where was the fairy maiden? The giant ball, unable to stop, rolled tumbling down the mountain path. The fairy maiden cried out in a drawn-out voice, "There's a problem!"
Jiang Jinhu: ...
*
Several vehicles in the convoy were blown into the air, burning and emitting blue smoke and a pungent smell. The vehicles that weren't blown away were also affected by the blast wave, and the people inside were motionless.
Xu Kaitai was overjoyed: "Let's go check it out." He needed to see Jiang Rong and the others' bodies with his own eyes to feel at ease.
Several groups of men quickly arrived at the convoy, guns at the ready. Before even getting close, they fired several shots at the people inside the vehicles. Only after confirming that the people inside were still did they dare to approach.
A moment later, a panicked voice came through the walkie-talkie next to Xu Kaitai: "General, it's not them! It's not Jiang Rong and the others!"
Xu Kaitai's heart tightened, and he quickly raised his binoculars to look: "Who is it?! Who's in the car?!"
The team member stammered, "Yes, it's a human model."
Xu Kaitai felt as if a stick had struck his skull, his ears rang with a sharp, deafening sound, and his soul seemed to float away into the sky.
Xu Kaitai divided his men into four battalions, named Fierce Tiger, Falcon, Flood Dragon, and Mighty Wolf. The Fierce Tiger battalion was responsible for raiding the armory, the Falcon and Flood Dragon battalions were responsible for controlling the other soldiers and the three fishing villages in the base, and the most valiant Wolf battalion would accompany him to ambush Jiang Rong and his group.
After the Tiger Squad raided the armory, they deployed hundreds of military vehicles, allowing them to split into two groups to control the base and ambush Jiang Rong and his group. Weren't all the squads' plans successful? Why were there mannequins on the military vehicles?
Xu Kaitai's hands went numb. He couldn't think of any other reason besides the fact that his plan had been exposed.
The team members on the walkie-talkie kept asking, "General, what should we do now?" It was just too hot, and the thermal imaging function was malfunctioning, otherwise it would have been easy to tell whether it was a person or a model.
Xu Kaitai took a few deep breaths and grabbed the walkie-talkie: "Withdraw, withdraw immediately! Withdraw from Xinghuo Base!"
Although he didn't know when his plan had been leaked, his priority now was to protect himself. Fortunately, he had the Wolf Warriors with him; with these men, they could find another place and start over.
Even though Xu Kaitai was filled with regret, it wouldn't stop him from leaving. He got up and walked down the mountain, constantly pondering where things had gone wrong.
When Xu Kaitai reached the halfway point of the mountain, he felt someone gently pat his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Guan Shao's cold, handsome face. Guan Shao asked, enunciating each word clearly, "Where are you going?"
Xu Kaitai's pupils contracted sharply, and a layer of cold sweat seeped into his back. When did Guan Shao get behind him? He was clearly a superhuman, so why hadn't he sensed Guan Shao approaching? And where were all his personal guards?
Jiang Rong's voice came from the side: "Are you looking for your teammates? Don't worry, they're over there."
Following the direction Jiang Rong pointed, they saw hundreds of soldiers struggling and hanging from the trees in the woods. Red, bloodthirsty vines had bound their legs, hanging them from the trees like silkworm cocoons.
Jiang Rong gave a half-smile: "Battalion Commander Xu, that's not fair of you. How could you only care about running away yourself and leave the brothers who risked their lives for you behind at the base?"
Author's Note:
I changed the part where the fairy was injured.
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