Chapter 226: Bar
At the edge of the building, thick steel beams extended outward.
That was preparation for future expansion.
At this time, steel beams were hung with big fish of varying lengths, split in half, the shortest being one meter long, the longer ones three meters, and a few that looked extremely ferocious.
Someone on the steel frame spotted Old Man Tie and immediately shouted, “Brother Jianguo, Uncle Tie is here!”
As soon as the words fell, there were several loud thuds, and a man as burly as Liang Kuan walked to this end of the steel frame. He squatted down, revealing ink-green scale armor under his broad short sleeve, extending from his neck all the way to his chest.
Old Man Tie hurriedly shouted, “You get down here properly—”
Before he could finish speaking, there was a loud bang in front of him.
The man had already jumped down from the steel frame seven or eight meters high. His knees bent, dissipating the force as he stood up.
Swinging his over two-meter-long tail, he curiously asked, “Dad, why are you here?”
Old Man Tie glared at him fiercely, and seeing the scales on his son’s face, a flash of heartache passed through his eyes, but it quickly faded. He angrily pointed at the big fish drying nearby and questioned.
“When did you catch these fish behind my back?”
Qi Jianguo hurriedly grabbed his father’s hand, wanting to talk aside.
But Old Man Tie shook him off.
“These have all eaten corpses. Who are you planning to feed this stuff to? The people in the settlement or your old man?”
Qi Jianguo looked at his stubborn father helplessly and said, “We can’t just starve to death, right?”
Old Man Tie was stunned. “Not enough grain?”
“Hasn’t been enough for a while. That woman brought a lot of food recently, which held us over for a bit. These past two days, no choice but to catch some fish tomorrow and mix them in…”
“Then I see the tavern downstairs is still open, with roasted meat and roasted bread, all fancy stuff.”
Qi Jianguo said in a low voice, “Zhenbang said everyone is watching that tavern now. If the tavern is open for business, it proves the settlement is stable. If the tavern suddenly closes, people’s hearts will be in chaos.”
Old Man Tie immediately grew anxious. “But grain was already short, and you’re wasting it like that…”
“But the tavern’s food was brought by them. We’re just scraping by on that processing fee.”
Bean-sized raindrops impatiently fell. The water downstairs, which had only submerged the fifth floor, rose to the sixth floor, crashing against the walls with a splash.
Old Man Tie fell silent upon hearing this and looked up at the sky. “Anything to keep the settlement going is fine. You guys come down early; it’s going to rain.”
Qi Jianguo acknowledged and watched his father stride angrily downstairs.
He overlapped with the man in his memory, always appearing in photographs, wearing a military uniform, standing tall with chest out.
Though the apocalypse was tough, it suited these old guys who were used to hard days perfectly.
Torrential rain slid down his collar, hanging on his scales.
Qi Jianguo shook his head and called to the brothers behind him to come down.
After simply packing up their things, they headed forward.
Along the road, under the eaves of the tin houses on both sides, water buckets were hung, or basins placed on the ground, rain smacking into them with crackling sounds.
This was the settlement’s only way to obtain purified water.
Fortunately, the flood zone had abundant rainwater without acid rain. As long as there were enough containers, purified water was not an issue.
Arriving at the building ahead, after descending three levels of tin houses, they entered the building.
Compared to the rooftop, downstairs was even more congested and unbearable. Due to the sense of security from the old cement walls, more survivors were willing to squeeze here.
Every step through the corridor was a family.
Body odor, foot odor, and the smell of fermenting food mixed together, brewing an indelible foul odor that even opening windows couldn’t fully dispel.
Seeing the scales on Qi Jianguo’s neck and the tail on his back, people along the way cast gazes of awe.
But more were fear and envy.
That was the most direct proof of strength.
After a few steps, a skinny young man followed up and said in a low voice, “Brother Jianguo, our guys are guarding the stairs; no one’s passed.”
Qi Jianguo nodded but still went to check with his own eyes.
Only after confirming the partition blocking the corridor to the lowest level was securely welded did he relax and come back up.
The young man flattered, “Brother Jianguo, you’re really cautious.”
Qi Jianguo chuckled, “This isn’t caution; it’s just necessary procedure for doing things. Doing it isn’t worth praising, but not doing it is stupid.”
He greeted several men guarding along the way, then headed to the middle household on the top floor.
Other houses were divided into tiny rooms to accommodate more people.
This house had the original partitions knocked out and windows sealed, just to look more spacious.
The security door was open, with a cardboard box made into a sign hanging at the doorway, crookedly written with the words “Bar.”
Men and women of all kinds came and went inside, blocking the entire corridor impenetrably.
They barely made way upon seeing Qi Jianguo approach.
The room had no colorful bar lights; it wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but there weren’t enough LED lights.
Only a few dim candelabras.
But this suited the atmosphere perfectly.
Apocalypse, flood, dim room, faint and precious light, strangers from all walks of life crammed in a narrow space, drowning their sorrows, talking of past glories and unreachable good life, talking until parched, until sweat-soaked backs surged with emotion, finding a compatible opposite sex to go to a dark corner for a wild romp.
Causing the entire space to be filled with a thick hormonal scent.
When Qi Jianguo squeezed in, he couldn’t help frowning.
But he didn’t care about their thoughts.
Better to vent than suppress; same for people.
Consuming energy on these meaningless things was pretty good.
Seeing Qi Jianguo, the men acting as bartenders came over. “Brother Jianguo.”
“Nothing happened, right?”
“Very quiet.”
Qi Jianguo said seriously, “That’s good. As long as she provides food, serve her well and don’t provoke her.”
The men shook their heads repeatedly, awkwardly saying, “Who dares provoke her? We don’t want our heads twisted off and thrown down to feed the fish.”
“Mm.”
Qi Jianguo looked toward the front of the room.
That used to be a bedroom, the only place in the entire bar where the window wasn’t sealed.
It was also the bar’s only booth.
Compared to the crowding here, it was eerily quiet there, with only one figure sitting with their back to the window side.
Though her face wasn’t shown, that alluring figure alone made throats dry and backs hunch.
Half the people here were for fun, the other half specifically to see this woman.
Qi Jianguo chuckled lightly. “What a seductress.”
With that, he turned and left.
He had a wife and child, no interest in that nonsense.
Once his figure disappeared from the bar, a young man reeking of alcohol emerged from the crowd, relieved. “My dad left?”
Those nearby immediately laughed. “Just left. Young Master Qi, you can still catch up now.”
“Get lost!”
Qi Zhiyuan cursed, boldly squeezing to the front desk and saying to the bartender, “Give me that bottle of red wine.”
The bartender said awkwardly, “There’s only one case of red wine in the entire settlement…”
Qi Zhiyuan sneered. “The entire settlement belongs to the Qi Family. Don’t you want to stay here?”
The bartender choked and could only obediently take out the red wine.
Taking the red wine, Qi Zhiyuan warned, “Keep your mouths shut tight. If my dad hears anything, I’ll kill you!”
The bartender lowered his head with an ugly complexion.
Only after Qi Zhiyuan walked toward the booth did he mutter under his breath.
“Lucky bastard. Without your dad, what are you?”
Qi Zhiyuan naturally didn’t know the bartender was cursing him.
At this moment, his attention was fully on the woman before him.
“Miss Zhang, I have a bottle produced from…”
Qi Zhiyuan glanced at the bottle, covered in fancy text. After searching, he couldn’t find the origin or year, so he simply said, “Interested in tasting it together?”
But the woman showed no intention of responding.
She just stared dazedly out the window at the churning waves and storm.
As if trying to see something in it.
After a long while, she drew a slim cigarette from the cigarette pack by the cup, placing it against her alluring red lips.
The burly man at the door, acting as bodyguard, tensely unzipped his waterproof crossbody bag at his waist, carefully took out a white handkerchief, unfolded it layer by layer, revealing the metal lighter inside. He lit it through the handkerchief with his fingers, then cautiously handed it to the woman.
He said in a low voice, “Boss, Young Master Qi wants to invite you for a drink.”
The woman elegantly lit the cigarette, took a shallow puff at her lips, and said indifferently, “Don’t spout such boring nonsense. Next time, jump down yourself.”
The man’s fine hair stood on end. He put away the lighter and tiptoed out of the booth, pretending not to see Qi Zhiyuan’s ugly expression.
Smoke swirled, blurring her beautiful face in the glass into a hazy silhouette.
Leaving only her alluring red lips and a strand of deep red hair.
Just as Qi Zhiyuan’s expression fluctuated.
The woman suddenly turned her face sideways, raising an eyebrow. “You want to buy me a drink?”
Her charming voice instantly made Qi Zhiyuan’s heart tingle.
His blood felt like it was infused with red wine, cheeks flushing red.
(Review rejected, apologies)
“So, the actual controllers of the park settlement are Qi Tieshan and his three sons?”
Su Huan sat on his exclusive sofa and asked indifferently.
The thin man squatting beside added, “Old Man Tie also has a daughter, one big and one small grandson. His two sons and one grandson are all evolvers, so they have a lot of say in the settlement. Brother Lei… Chen Lei made a fuss several times but was suppressed.”
“And they looted a small military base?”
“Yes, lots of firearms.”
“Total how many people?”
“Five thousand.”
“Hm?”
Su Huan raised his eyebrows in surprise.
A settlement of five thousand could already be called a base.
He wasn’t surprised by such a large-scale base in the acid rain area—purified water was scarce there, but open space was plentiful.
The flood zone didn’t have those conditions.
Not to mention occasional high tides and storms—even on calm sunny days, the ground had over ten meters of standing water.
Unless humans mutated into water ghost zombies, normal survival in water was impossible.
“Theoretically feasible.”
Shu Wei walked over from the front of the train holding a tablet, somehow wearing glasses on her face.
Similar to Wan Xing’s tech glasses, but slimmer. If not for the green glow on the temples, Su Huan would have thought they were plain lenses.
Su Huan shook his head. “What I’m curious about is where so many people came from.”
“It’s the clustering effect caused by the flood zone. With large areas covered by floodwater, people can only concentrate in a few high-rise buildings and shelters.”
“Oh… but when did you change into a new outfit?”
Su Huan asked suspiciously.
The woman wore a black vertical-stripe knitwear on top, a pencil skirt below, black over-the-knee stockings at the bottom, and a trench coat over it.
Visually, just those legs were longer than the 1.86-meter-tall train conductor!
(Glasses effect reference ‘Zhang Liangying 90,000 characters’)
Yes, after multiple evolutions, especially the fighter’s several ability upgrades.
Su Huan’s height had increased a bit.
The secretary pushed up her glasses casually. “This makes me look more professional.”
The silver glasses made her face even colder and fairer.
Su Huan said speechlessly, “How much of your ability can you exert in high heels?”
“My close-combat ability is basically nil, so no impact.”
Su Huan thought about it—seemed right.
Her vacuum manipulation ability was decent, but control strength was less than Xiao Ba’s, lethality less than Lin Jin’s; it only supplemented special combat methods.
Though a Tier 1 Evolver, she couldn’t play a big role against same-level enemies.
In the previous battle with the armored train, her biggest role was silencing ordinary soldiers.
Quickly broken by Xiao Ba and the others.
Currently, she seemed mediocre, without any decisive effect.
Positioning similar to Yu Yue.
“Then wear it. By the way, how long until we reach the information industry park?”
“About two kilometers left. Tide is rising, speed is actually faster. But why not just storm in?”
“Don’t you think building a shelter at sea is romantic?”
“Creative architecture regrowing in this world scoured clean by heavenly calamity…”
Shu Wei said coldly, “The shelter hasn’t formed a complete system. Kill the Qi family, and this creative architecture belongs to the armored train.”
Su Huan looked at her in shock, exaggerating his expression. “How do you have such cruel and cold ideas?”
“Get rid of that big-company crap in your head ASAP. Always resorting to robbery like a barbarian—humans took hundreds of thousands of years to develop propriety, justice, integrity, and shame to restrain ourselves and form social systems, and you toss it all in a day. Terrifying.”
Shu Wei’s eyes widened in disbelief, biting her lower lip.
Who was it that unflinchingly led a million-zombie tide to drown a large city?
This lunatic…
Now calling her cold, barbaric, lacking propriety?
“Are you cursing me?”
Su Huan’s narrow eyes flashed with cold light.
Shu Wei calmly said, “It’s the way to minimize losses. There might be bloodshed, but it’s absolutely the fastest method.”
Su Huan was noncommittal.
This might be the best method at the start of chaos, like on the sealed train.
No one knew anyone; all regional and blood ties were cut—everyone strangers.
Killing one does deter a hundred.
When order collapses, no one sheds blood for strangers.
But the settlement was another matter.
From Qi Tieshan and his sons, the shelter’s social structure was shifting from chaos to stability.
The armored train forcing in now was like outsiders barging into a small county town.
He’d face everyone’s counterattack.
Though with the armored train’s current strength, it could crush the entire shelter without cost.
But that had nothing to do with his goal.
Bustling for nothing worthwhile—what’s the point?
He had no irreconcilable conflict with the Qi Family or the shelter.
Time wasn’t that pressing now; he was interested in the shelter—better to make contact first.
See if transaction was possible.
……
Half an hour later.
A quarter of the shelter stirred restlessly.
A group actually rowed a small boat through the storm to downstairs. People arriving during high tide—it was a first.
In the seventh-floor corridor, Qi Zhenbang vigilantly peered through the small window of the iron door at the group outside.
He’d seen many seeking shelter: once-wealthy big bosses, small internet celebrities, families, old men, young men.
But they all shared a wretched look of disaster survivors.
Even he, long living in the shelter, carried an inescapable air of dejection.
But these six seemed like they’d wandered in from pre-apocalypse.
Handsome men and beautiful women, bright clothes.
If not for it not being dark yet, Qi Zhenbang would suspect ghosts.
Total six people: four men, two women. Leading was a black-clad long-haired young man with smiling eyes. Torrential rain outside, but not a drop on him.
Beside him, a woman in loose knitwear with sunscreen sleeves on her arms, a lazy side braid draped over her chest, gaze always on the young man ahead, tenderness nearly spilling from her almond eyes.
Another even more outrageous—still wearing black stockings and pencil skirt at a time like this.
Compared to these three, the oddities of the remaining three rough guys were nothing.
Just a few extra weapons on their backs—who doesn’t carry a couple guns these days?
Perhaps seeing the hesitation in his eyes, the young man stepped forward with a smile.
“Hello, I’m Su Huan, a lost survivor.”
(Forgot to mention yesterday: read “I Am Not a Literary Master” and “Warm Season Wind”)
