Chapter 373 – Hard Times Don’t Break Bonds

After Ling Mo finished speaking, he shifted his gaze to the body of the experimental subject at his feet. “I think I’ll take a closer look at this thing once we’re out of the city.”

At that moment, Ronnie and Wu Pengfei emerged from inside the house. The sight of Yuwen Xuan’s getup immediately prompted them to struggle to suppress their laughter.

However, their attention was quickly drawn to the body bag at Ling Mo’s feet.

“What’s that?” Ronnie asked, her curiosity piqued.

Ling Mo didn’t answer but walked over to Wu Pengfei, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, “There’s been a bit of a situation, so… I need to leave earlier. Yuwen Xuan will escort us out of the city and then return, so don’t worry…”

Wu Pengfei’s expression turned odd, and after a long silence, he suddenly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Ling Mo in a hug. “Brother, you’ve given me a new lease on life… Thank you!”

“Can we not get all sappy now? Alright, alright.” Ling Mo gently pushed Wu Pengfei away, slightly embarrassed, but his eyes betrayed a touch of emotion.

Despite their falling out years ago due to a misunderstanding, the fact that they had survived long enough in this ravaged world to reunite was fate in itself. Unfortunately, no gathering lasts forever, especially in such turbulent times. Their paths diverged, and perhaps so too would their destinies…

“Ling Mo, I’ll never make the same mistakes I did in the past. No matter where we are in the future, you’ll always be my only brother, Wu Pengfei. I can’t promise anything now… but next time we meet, I won’t be like a dog that has lost its home,” Wu Pengfei said, his voice filled with emotion. He raised his arm again but ultimately just placed it on Ling Mo’s shoulder. “Believe me.”

Ling Mo looked at him for a while and then nodded. “With your talent for stirring emotions, you’re sure to make a name for yourself in this human settlement. Even that annoying security guard didn’t kill you…”

Wiping away tears in resignation, Wu Pengfei said, “Hard times don’t break bonds…”

After bidding farewell, Ling Mo noticed Ronnie standing to the side, her face showing a tangled mix of feelings.

Although Ling Mo wasn’t the best at expressing himself, he wasn’t emotionally clueless. The look in someone’s eyes like that was unmistakable.

Yet, at this moment, Ye Lian and the other two women who should have been jealous chose to ignore… No, they simply didn’t understand the meaning behind that look.

Realizing he couldn’t count on them for help, Ling Mo braced himself and said, “Ronnie, although we’re not close…”

“Don’t,” Ronnie interrupted, her face changing. She quickly added, “Take care,” before turning and running back into the house.

“What’s with her… Does she need to pee?” Ye Lian asked naively.

Yuwen Xuan, with the air of a detective, said, “Maybe she’s just overwhelmed…”

“Go change your clothes already! Didn’t I say we’re pressed for time?” Ling Mo growled, cutting him off.

Yuwen Xuan responded with a hint of grievance, “I only said one sentence. You were all hugs and tears during your goodbye just now…”

“Shut up!”

“Nobody thinks you’re mute if you don’t talk…”

Wu Pengfei and Ling Mo said in unison.

Meanwhile, at the front lines of City A.

The crisscrossing beams of searchlights fully illuminated the crossroads, with the dark muzzles of guns visible in the windows of the surrounding buildings.

Armed patrol personnel were pacing back and forth, stationed every few steps, with a vigilance that was almost palpable.

On the road leading to the urban district, some of the elderly, women, and children were wandering, occasionally glancing at the human wall formed by the patrolling soldiers.

A truck was undergoing inspection near the site of a former traffic police booth, apparently intending to head towards City X.

“What have you got?” An officer, sitting on the edge of a central flowerbed and biting on a piece of straw, asked.

The inspecting officer promptly handed over the notebook with due respect, adding, “They say they couldn’t find suitable winter clothes over there; many in the shops have rotted away. This is for the newly joined survivors.”

“Hmph.” The officer snorted disdainfully and said, “They haven’t contributed anything to us yet, and they’re already asking for things? If the store’s stock is rotten, go to a clothing factory! Tell them, no passage!”

“But…” The inspector looked troubled, “Several well-known clothing factories are in another district… And those people, they do have winter clothes, it’s just that they’re too dirty, so…”

“They’re a bunch of filthy scum…” The officer showed a flicker of disgust and was about to say more when he suddenly turned his head towards the direction of the urban area.

An SUV was approaching from a distance, eventually stopping in front of the human wall.

As soon as Su Qianrou and Li Wei hopped out of the vehicle, the elderly, women, and children immediately swarmed around them, clamoring.

“How is my son doing?”

“Is XX still alive?”

Li Wei quickly stepped in front of Su Qianrou, but she found the situation overwhelming to handle, and although she nervously called out “Everyone,” her voice was completely drowned out.

The soldiers, however, immediately rushed over and pulled all the survivors away.

“What’s going on…” Li Wei asked fearfully, watching the survivors who were still shouting loudly.

Su Qianrou, however, seemed indifferent, “I heard they wait here every day until midnight, and it seems it’s true. Haven’t you figured it out yet? They’re the relatives of the frontline soldiers, wanting to know if their loved ones are still alive. But they don’t dare to cause a commotion at headquarters, so they just wait here, hoping that someone returning from City X might bring them some news.”

“Ah… the battle at City X…” Li Wei’s face grew even paler, and she worriedly looked back at the relatives, then asked, “Then why not tell them?”

“Do you know how fierce the fighting is?” Su Qianrou glanced at Li Wei, “We’re still in the investment phase, no benefits have been seen yet. If we rashly make the situation public, we don’t have any good news to boost morale.”

“Ooh…”

“Where exactly is your threshold for tears?” Su Qianrou was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at an officer who was approaching her.

Upon laying eyes on the individual for the first time, Su Qianrou’s brows furrowed.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Chief of Staff Su,” the officer jeered with a blade of grass between his teeth, his tone mocking.

“Isn’t this the candidate for Deputy Leader of the intelligence group, Zhu Xuejun?” Su Qianrou responded, her face expressionless.

“Wow, news sure travels fast, huh? I haven’t even officially taken the position yet… hahaha…”

Though Zhu Xuejun’s words were modest, his expression was anything but. It wasn’t just the look of someone about to become a Deputy Leader; he had the air of someone ready to take over as the Leader at any moment.

A cold smirk appeared on Su Qianrou’s lips: The more arrogant, the better. I’m just waiting for you to stir up trouble…

“Shouldn’t you have been notified about the lab incident? Why don’t I see any response here?” Su Qianrou remarked as she glanced around.

Zhu Xuejun laughed it off: “A mishap in the lab is due to inadequate defense, but that’s not the case here. Just watch, Chief of Staff Su—if an attacker dares come, I’ll make sure they won’t leave!”

“Hmm. One more thing, let that truck through,” Su Qianrou said with a frosty smile, then climbed back into her car.

As the mascot, her presence was merely for show—to be seen by others, to let them know she was working hard on this issue. But, in reality, she had no hope that the attackers would come here.

“I’ve already alerted the other defensive lines in advance; hopefully, they’ll catch something.”

A look of annoyance flickered across Zhu Xuejun’s face as he waved dismissively at the checkpoint personnel: “Damn it!”

More than ten minutes later, observing the still quiet intersection, Zhu Xuejun glanced in the direction of the SUV with amusement: “Silly woman, playing Chief of Staff without any real power, daring to come here and throw her weight around. Which attacker would be so blind as to target a place like this…”

With that, he hitched up his trousers and strode towards a building by the roadside.

“Deputy Leader Zhu, may I ask where you are going?” a soldier inquired as he crossed the caution line.

Though slightly annoyed, the title “Deputy Leader Zhu” clearly pleased him: “I’m off to take a leak! Do I need to report that to the Chief of Staff too?”