Chapter 152: The General’s Glory
“Brother, brother eat candy…”
A little girl with two pigtails, no more than two years old, came to He Xiaoguang’s side, speaking in a childish voice, and held out the lollipop in her hand.
Looking at the saliva on it, He Xiaoguang grimaced in disgust.
“Brother doesn’t eat it, brother has this.”
He pulled out a pack of spicy strips, tore it open, put one in his mouth, sucked in air with a hiss while grinning, “Little sister, want one?”
The little girl’s face was full of terror: “No, no…”
She backed up a few steps and plopped down on her butt on the ground.
“Get up quickly, the ground is dirty.”
Helping the little girl up, He Xiaoguang’s gaze swept over the small playground like a hawk or falcon, like a great general inspecting his territory: “Er Niu! No bullying Xiao Pang!
Xiao Qi! No running outside!”
……
The sun rose and set, set and rose again.
Several heavy trucks with Apocalypse Project Command-issued passes rumbled into the factory building and soon rumbled away again.
Nearly a thousand workers, their faces weary yet mixed with excitement, eyes full of red bloodshot veins, collectively saw off these heavy trucks under the lead of Lin Xing and Manager Zhu.
Until those heavy trucks completely disappeared from sight, the equally weary Lin Xing and Manager Zhu came together before the head chefs of Honghe Restaurant.
“Esteemed head chefs, thank you. I’ll have finance settle the meal expenses with your restaurant as soon as possible.”
The two general managers thanked them solemnly at the same time.
The lead head chef immediately took offense: “General Manager Lin, you can’t do this, right? Just because your factory contributes to the apocalypse, does that mean us chefs can only make money?
Can’t we make a contribution too? Are we all just money-grubbers? General Manager Lin, are you looking down on us?”
One big hat after another came down, making Lin Xing and Manager Zhu instantly break out in cold sweat: “Everyone, you misunderstood, we didn’t mean that…”
“Alright, brothers, job’s done, let’s withdraw!”
Watching the chef team efficiently pack up, the two general managers exchanged wry smiles.
Looking again at the villagers who had been guarding the factory gate these past few days, now that the mission was over, they didn’t wait for Lin Xing and the other to thank them and dispersed on their own.
“Well… Old Zhu, no more words on that, in the future, for association matters, I guarantee my support. Technology exchange, supplies borrowing, all good to go.
These few days’ overtime pay…”
“Stop, stop, this bit of money I, Old Zhu, can afford. Alright, I’m off.”
Manager Zhu, whose eyes were equally bloodshot from staying up, called out: “Brothers, head home!”
Several more buses left, and the once bustling factory area gradually quieted down.
Seeing off Manager Zhu and his group, Lin Xing finally turned around to face the employees before him.
“No more words, everyone go home and rest well, three days’ holiday after, come to the factory to settle bonuses and overtime pay!”
“Good!”
The group set off joyfully on their journey home, full of pride and a sense of accomplishment.
What the future situation would become, whether this apocalypse could be survived, and the ultimate fate of human civilization, no one knew at this moment.
But everyone knew they were not mere observers of this war, but real participants.
As long as each of us can take action, unite, the apocalypse can certainly be overcome!
Like the others, He Dashu and Sun Xiaoxue were equally eager to get home, and even more urgently so.
Other people’s kids aren’t as mischievous as their own Xiaoguang. These continuous days off at home without parents watching… who knows what the home has turned into!
Returning home and opening the door, their hearts sank first thing.
He Xiaoguang wasn’t home.
Looking downstairs, their Xiaoguang was actually mixed in with a bunch of little toddlers, his clothes torn with holes, dirty like a little beggar.
A nameless fire could no longer be contained.
The couple didn’t care about resting, faces dark as they went downstairs.
Ahead, Grandma Zhao from the neighborhood walked over.
Seeing the couple, Grandma Zhao’s face immediately lit up with smiles: “Little He couple back? Oh, these past few days were all thanks to your Xiaoguang, you’ve really raised a good kid…”
Uh…
He Dashu and Sun Xiaoxue looked at each other.
This couldn’t be sarcasm, right?
Ahead, another old man with shuffling steps, seeming somewhat hemiplegic, slowly walked over.
“Yo, is this the Little He couple? Your Xiaoguang is really a good kid…”
The two grew even more puzzled.
Arriving at the residential community’s small playground, the two didn’t rush over but observed for a bit.
“Er Niu! Don’t climb so high, too dangerous!”
“Grandma Sun, you’re heading home? Xiao Pang, carry little Xiao Pang, send Grandma Sun home!”
“Xiao Hu! Get back here, no running around! Dad and Mom are busy fighting aliens, us kids have to stay put and behave!”
Watching He Xiaoguang commanding decisively like a great general, the couple’s eyes gradually reddened.
At this moment, the hole-torn, filth-covered clothes on He Xiaoguang were no longer evidence of mischief to ignite their anger, but the general’s glory.
“Xiaoguang!”
He Xiaoguang turned his head, face full of surprise: “Dad, Mom, you’re back?”
He quickly ran toward them. But halfway, he abruptly stopped, looked at his clothes, face full of bitterness: “Dad, Mom, can you hit lighter later? And don’t hit here, my brothers are watching, can we do it at home? Please!”
Sun Xiaoxue hurried forward and hugged her filthy son: “Mom and Dad are happy, how could we hit you? Xiaoguang, you’ve grown up, really grown up…
Xiaoguang is right, we’ll fight the aliens together, fight together…”
“Son, well done, didn’t disgrace Dad! What do you want to eat tonight, Dad’ll take you!”
……
“After preliminary exploration, the 2.59 million sites for the global helium isotope monitoring network have been selected.
The first batch of raw materials and parts have entered the manufacturer, expected first batch of standardized monitoring stations to be produced in 5 hours.
Engineer Liu, Engineer Sun, is the logistics network ready? Is the installation personnel training done?”
Behind this head was a huge screen densely displaying countless little red dots.
Those little red dots were some on high mountains and rivers, some on vast plains, some in endless wilderness, and some in deep ocean bottoms.
Even the ocean bottom might have helium isotope infiltration.
“Report to General Manager Li, all preparations complete!”
“Good, prepare to set off!”
With his command, installation personnel from emergency conscription and emergency training worldwide began converging on the monitoring station assembly points.
