Chapter 33 Chapter 33 What did I do?

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"Run, why don't you keep running?"

Having just escaped from the wolf's den, they fell into the tiger's den again. Gu Mengran, Liang Zhao and Zheng Yijie stood at the entrance of the underground parking lot, looking at the busy streets in front of them with extremely solemn expressions.

The crowd on the street was instantly petrified. They 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, and were holding steel pipes to show 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 exit, the tall man threw the flashlight to the man next to him, repeatedly tapped 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?"

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, trembling and staring at the ground, not daring to say a word.

Only Liang Zhao remained calm as always. He raised his head to confront the burly man of almost the same height as him. His dark eyes were filled with coldness, like a vicious wolf ready to pounce in the next second.

Three against two is enough to fight, three against a group...

Forget it, he had to be scared. It was even more impractical to use the space in public. Gu Mengran squeezed Liang Zhao's hand calmly and slowly raised his head to meet the strong man's gaze.

"I--"

"We were just taking a break from the heat." Liang Zhao spoke before Gu Mengran did, drawing the man's attention to himself, and then explained, "It was too hot, and we just happened to pass by here and hid in the garage to take a break from the heat."

"Passing by?" The tall man seemed to have heard a joke. He grinned and laughed twice, raised his chin and asked Liang Zhao: "Don't do bad things, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night. Just passing by to cool off, then why are you running?"

Liang Zhao replied calmly, "I don't know who you are, so I dare not show up. I hear you sound malicious."

"Malice? You're sneaking around in my territory, and you still say we're malicious? 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 his hand.

Although he didn't really do anything, Gu Mengran was still startled. 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 the time."

If it is true as Zheng Yijie said, that this group of people are unreasonable and do all kinds of evil, then no matter how much we say, it will be useless. But when they were in a situation where they couldn't escape, this group of people didn't just arrest them, but 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. We had no choice but to find a car to go to other cities. But as you know, the cars on the road could not drive, so we looked for underground parking lots everywhere."

The tone is genuine, the attitude is sincere, and there is no flaw in the half-true and half-false words.

Hearing this, the man put down the steel pipe he had held high, and his anger slowly subsided. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Gu Mengran for a few seconds, then asked, "Lin Huai, how did you get here from such a long distance? When did you get here? Just the three of you?"

"There is another old man." Gu Mengran answered truthfully: "We drove the bus here yesterday. The tire of the bus was flat and we left him on the way into the city. We can still find him if we look for him now."

These words seemed to completely dispel the man's doubts. He casually put 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 at Exit B of the Holiday Inn."

The other party responded quickly. The man did not hide his true feelings. A thick, hoarse male voice came from the intercom: "Wait, I'll be right there."

After saying this, the strong man turned his head and looked at the men and women on the street. He waved his big hand and said loudly: "Don't just stand there and watch the excitement. Keep working!"

The streets that had been paused started moving again, and people continued to clean the streets in the scorching heat. They lifted stones and swept up 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 not right. Why did it differ from what Zheng Yijie said?

Although the other party was defensive and not friendly, he raised a steel pipe when he disagreed with me, which made him look a bit like an angry old man. But he never really took action, so it seems that he can't reason with me?

Before Gu Mengran could sort out his thoughts, a buzzing noise suddenly sounded. Everyone looked up and saw a small excavator driving at a very fast speed from the left/front street, 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 came to a stop, the crowd on the street suddenly became agitated, shouting and welcoming the car.

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 driver's seat.

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 someone who was not to be trifled with. It was obvious at first glance that he was not a good person.

He did not get out of the car immediately. He stood at the door and looked around. He shouted angrily, "What are you looking at? You don't have to work, do you? Are you looking for food?"

The crowd of onlookers had no awareness of being scolded; they laughed for a while before dispersing and continuing to work.

"Bang!"

The big man jumped down from the excavator which was more than one meter high and landed on the ground steadily. 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? Where are you from?"

As usual, he looked at the three people and fixed his eyes on the trembling Zheng Yijie. His eyes were intimidating, 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 desperately to recall what Gu Mengran had said. After a long while, he stammered, "Lin, Lin Huai."

"Linhuai? What a coincidence!"

The man with tattooed arms 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 spoke in a gentle tone, but his hand on Zheng Yijie'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 Yijie.

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 guy 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 over 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 suddenly pushed his brother with both hands, causing him to 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 the saying that it is better to kill than to torture?!"

As soon as this shout came out, two strong men next to him immediately raised their steel pipes.

The boss, who had steadied himself, waved his hands and laughed at Zheng Yijie, "Hahahaha... you are quite good at talking, you don't torture people, you are killing people! 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 road like? 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 said the word "Linhuai", the flower-armed brother's face suddenly 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, so after careful consideration, Gu Mengran decided to tell the truth.

He just concealed the fact that the teacher, the children, the Feng Yihao, and the fact that the family was traveling in Shaozhou when the earthquake occurred. Hmm... is this honest?

Unable to figure out what the other party was trying to do, Gu Mengran could only tell half lies and half truth. He did not hide the situation on the road and the terrible situation of the surrounding city, and told his eldest brother one by one.

After listening to this, the brother with tattoos was silent for a long time, his brows tightly knitted together, 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 they 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 guys in the south of the city have been trying to steal the food processing factory's supplies from us. They often come to our place and make trouble like rats. I thought you were also from that side, so your attitude was a little rude."

"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 nowhere 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 because of his preconceived notion. Even though the other party offered relatively tempting conditions, he did not dare to accept it easily.

The man with the tattooed arms paused deliberately, waiting for someone to ask further questions.

But he waited and waited, and 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 the mountain city, 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 provide help? He just made such a request that was not even a request?

Could it be that the boss of Ninth Street has changed?

Zheng Yijie was 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 Jiujie. 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 he changed his mind halfway through his words, and suddenly became furious: "What on earth do you want to do! Can you stop playing tricks on us?"

I was confused by what he said, "What's wrong with me? I misunderstood you and apologized to you, how could I be playing tricks on you?"

Zheng Yijie is a very strange person. He is very timid and very strong to the end.

Gang Ge's words fell on deaf ears. He pretended not to hear them and retorted with a gloomy face: "Stop 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, and it seemed as if he was about to rush forward and punch Zheng Yijie twice in the next second.

But a few seconds later, the sturdy, 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!?"