"Wake up, Mingpeng, the food is ready."
As Mingpeng slowly opened his eyes, Yueyue and Xiaoyun were both sitting beside him on the sofa.
"Let's try to walk to the kitchen, okay?"
Mingpeng nodded as Xiaoyun gently held onto his hand. Slowly, the three of them headed to the kitchen, step by step.
With only a few occasional trips, Mingpeng quickly got used to walking with his brand-new foot.
"This is the boy you're talking about?" Leyan curiously asked.
"Yeah. We found him at 304... You probably don't want to hear the rest, but he's here now."
Leyan nodded in agreement, but Xiaoyun's answer only triggered Nami's curiosity even more.
"Come on, just tell us what happened at 304. There's nothing to do besides sitting at home all day."
Xiaoyun and Yueyue looked at each other for a second before he gave her the signal to speak first.
"I'll explain it. So me and Xiaoyun today went to 304, and we found this boy who was being... eaten by man."
As soon as Yueyue finished her sentence, all four of their jaws dropped in disbelief. It was just something that they never thought of
"Man? You mean like a cannibal?" Lily nervously asked.
"Yeah, like a cannibal. But we were able to save Mingpeng just in time," Yueyue explained, choosing to hide some of the details.
"We also interrogated the man, and he told us that Mingpeng was captured by people in 309..."
Xiaoyun paused for a second, then continued.
"Mingpeng, can you introduce yourself?"
Mingpeng nodded as his face looked a little nervous in front of the new people he had never met before at the dining table.
"H-Hello, my name is Mingpeng, and I am ten years old. I go to Pinglin Elementary School, and I used to live in Louping community No 309."
Mingpeng went back to silence, resuming his attention back on the food as Xiaoyun signaled him to stop.
"Besides the info on Mingpeng, we also were able to learn that the boss of the gang at 309 has a gun and used to work for the triad."
Xiaoyun paused for a second to chew his food, then continued.
"They had been clearing the mansions one by one, and considering the man we interrogated was at 304, that means they had cleared the houses from 310 to 305. "
As the table fell into silence for a short second, Yuqi, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up.
"What happened to the man you guys interrogated? You guys didn't just send him back, did you?"
"We——"
"He won't be able to travel back. You don't have to worry about it."
Xiaoyun ended the conversation before Yueyue could say anything, which made Yuqi let out a sigh of relief as Yueyue's face turned dark.
"What should we do next? Are they going to come to us at some point?" Leyan asked, her eyes solely focused on Xiaoyun.
"They are definitely going to get to here... It's only a matter of time."
Hearing the answer, the atmosphere on the table suddenly got a lot heavier. Everyone knew trouble was coming sooner or later.
"How many people do they have?" Yuqi asked.
"The man said around nine gang members... Mingpeng, do you know how many people are in there exactly?"
Everyone at the table turned their attention to Mingpeng, who suddenly started shaking as if it had triggered something awful in his head.
"It's okay Mingpeng... You don't have to force yourself——"
Before Yueyue could comfort Mingpeng, his eyes suddenly looked much more determined than before.
"I'm fine, Sister Yueyue... They have six people who do manual labor. My mom is also a part of it. But they won't fight back."
Mingpeng quickly added the last part, not wanting them to be targeted as enemies.
"So, there are sixteen people total... Mingpeng, do you know what kind of weapon they use besides the boss?" Yuqi continued asking.
"They use mostly metal pipes and knives. They also all have empty guns or fake guns since the boss only gives them bullets when they go search for supplies in the cities."
"Shit. That man was really hiding that info when he was about to die," Xiaoyun murmured to himself.
"So the boss of this gang doesn't trust his crew. That's a good thing we can manipulate when we attack them," Leyan added.
"Do we really need to attack them? It seems very risky... why don't we try to negotiate first?"
Nami's proposal was instantly met, everyone looking at her dead in the eyes, almost as if she had just suggested the worst idea ever.
"Nami, we can't do that. They are gang members. We can't negotiate with them when they run their base like medieval kings." Leyan pointed out.
"We need to get a map of their house layout and know their patrol timing before we attack them. We can't go in blind." Yuqi advised.
"They don't have night patrol. They always fall asleep, and the boss has complained many times, but they all group up to go against his wish." Mingpeng added.
"That's even better... Now we need to decide when to attack them."
Xiaoyun paused for a second to think, then continued.
"The longer we wait, the more people will suffer under them. Also, it's only a matter of time before they notice one of their men went missing.
So if we want to keep the element of surprise, we should attack as soon as possible, which is tonight."
Xiaoyun's proposal instantly faced some pushback, as Nami and Yuqi both disagreed with it.
"But we don't even know what 309 looks like. Shouldn't we at least scout it for a day first? Then we can attack the day after or something."
Nami argued back, feeling the plan was a little bit too rushed. In her mind, it made more sense to scout first.
"Nami is right. We can't just rush in. What if they changed and actually had night patrol tomorrow? What if they have hidden scouting units that hide in the dark?" Yuqi added.
Both Leyan and Yueyue eventually nodded in agreement with Nami and Yuqi's point, as they both felt Xiaoyun's plan was just too rushed.
However, Mingpeng's face was fully in support of Xiaoyun's plan, as the longer it took, the longer his mother had to suffer under the gang members.
"How about I go scouting it tonight to make sure? Then we attack tomorrow night." Xiaoyun offered a compromise as the conversation stalled.
"No!"
All four of them said at the same time, surprising Xiaoyun a little as he immediately backed down from the idea.
"Fine, fine. Then let's just go with Nami's plan——"
Just as Xiaoyun was about to make the final decision, a loud door-knocking sound suddenly traveled from the living room to the kitchen.
"Who the hell comes to someone's house at seven? You guys stay back. I'll go check it," Xiaoyun murmured, reaching over to his jacket for his pistol.
"I'll go with you."
As Xiaoyun and Yueyue headed toward the door, the four of them hid behind the kitchen's half-wall that faces the living room.
"Wait, Yueyue, catch."
Xiaoyun throws his gun into Yueyue's hand, then quickly tries to create a pistol right on the spot.
A painful headache hit him right in the head, almost making him fall onto the ground if it wasn't for Yueyue's quick reaction.
"Whew."
With a brand new gun in hand, the two started heading towards the door again. Stopping right at the doorway as he took a peek at the peephole.
To his surprise, Yezi and Huayi were standing outside with a tray in hand. With a bunch of food still steaming hot.
Xiaoyun quickly signaled Yueyue to put away her gun before reaching for the door handle and turning it.
"Oh, hello, Mister Yezi and Miss Huayi. What brings you here tonight?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"We just found a big grocery store a few streets down, and we want to thank you by sharing some of the food we found."
As Yezi tried to hand the tray over, Xiaoyun quickly pushed it back, rejecting the food.
"No, no, sir, this is too much. We can't accept this. You guys can keep it. I already have enough food at home."
Seeing Xiaoyun refusing the gift, Yezi didn't try to do it again. But his face clearly indicated he wanted to say something.
After a short silence between the two, Huayi suddenly chimed in to break it.
"We actually have a request... We need your guy's help again. It's regarding to the people at 309."
Yezi awkwardly looked to the side as if he were a little embarrassed by his inability to say it directly.
"Oh, 309? Come on in." Xiaoyun quickly changes his attitude as he welcomes the two of them inside.
As Yezi and Huayi stepped inside the house, a sudden vibe hit them right in the face with the modern yet simple decorations.
"Nice house, very homely vibes." Huayi complimented them as Xiaoyun brought them to the sofa.
"Thank you... Let's be frank with each other. What issue are you guys facing at 309?" Xiaoyun asked curiously, choosing not to reveal his hand right away.
"We wanted to invite you two to a rescue mission... You remember how I was injured, right?" Yezi asked.
Xiaoyun and Yueyue both nodded in agreement as they thought back to yesterday when Yezi's car drove from the direction of the city.
"Well, I was trying to save my cousin who was trapped inside the city, but as you can see, they almost killed me if it wasn't Huayi who dragged my body to the car——"
Just as Yezi was about to finish explaining, a small figure suddenly ran out into the living room.
"Uncle!" Mingpeng yelled as he ran up to Yezi, his face full of excitement as the girls behind the kitchen wall looked a little shocked.
"Oh my god, you are still alive!"
The two of them warmly embraced each other, overjoyed at seeing each other alive before separating.
"Uncle Yezi! Sister Yueyue and Brother Xiaoyun saved me." Mingpeng pointed.
"Thank you so much for saving my nephew. I sincerely can't thank you enough for what you have done for me."
Yezi bowed down all the way, with even a small bit of tears coming out from his face, which surprised Xiaoyun and Yueyue a little.
"No need, no need, I'm just helping people in need."
As Xiaoyun supported Yezi back up, the other four in the kitchen finally came out to the living room.
"Anyway, let's get back to that rescue mission of yours. You have been inside it and know its layout, right?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Yeah... Sorry to ask this, but how many people live in this house?" Yezi asked, his face a little shocked by the beauty before his eyes.
"Just my family and another survivor we found at one of the mansions," Xiaoyun answered.
---
The coffee table was all clear, with only a large piece of paper on top.
The paper was a hand-drawn map created by Yezi, who had previously visited the house. Information was also combined with Mingpeng's past information about living there.
"We should introduce each other since not everyone knows each other yet. My name is Xiaoyun."
"My name is Xiaoyue. But everyone calls me Yueyue."
"My name is Leyan. I'm Xiaoyun's wife——ahem, mom."
Leyan quickly changed her answer as she remembered the two of them knew her as Xiaoyun's mom.
"My name is Yuqi. I'm Xiaoyun's older sister... and wife."
Yuqi's voice got quieter and quieter until no one on the sofa could hear what she said at the very end.
"Hello. My name is Nami. I'm Xiaoyun's younger sister... This is Lily. She is a survivor we found at 302."
With everyone on Xiaoyun's side done, their attention all turned towards Yezi.
"Well, my name is Yezi. I'm about forty years old. You guys probably probably already know I'm an arms smuggler, but I gave up the old business ten years ago."
Seeing him admitting it out loud, everyone was a little surprised. More so for Mingpeng, whose jaw dropped in disbelief.
"I'm Huayi, Yezi's wife."
Huayi blushed as if she were a little embarrassed to say it out loud for the first time. But she didn't take back her words.
"Well, okay then, now we know each other, I'll explain what we got from an interrogation from one of the gang members..."
A few minutes later...
"So, do you guys agree with our plan?"
Xiaoyun curiously asked after explaining all the previous details and plans they had envisioned from the information they had gathered.
Yezi and Huayi both nodded in agreement, showing their support for the plan they had just heard right now.
"What about your guy's plan?" Leyan curiously asked, remembering what Yezi had said earlier at the start.
"Um... I was just thinking of gunning in. I already know a lot of that building before since I visited there," Yezi awkwardly answered as he scratched his head.
"Oh..."
As everyone sat in silence, all of the girls' faces were a little disappointed by Yezi's plan. Still, they are more than happy to have a detailed map of 309 in front of them.
"I have a plan... Actually, two plans." Yuqi murmured as she stared at the map on the coffee table.
"What is it, Miss Yuqi?" Yezi curiously asked.
"Well, assuming they don't have night patrol outside as Mingpeng described, we can just completely sneak inside through the back entrance.
Then we walk upstairs through this floor to this hallway and then to the master bedroom that the boss should be in."
Everyone watched as Yuqi pointed to the path she had just described before suddenly moving all the way to the hill near the building.
"Alternatively, we can stand at this hill right here and try to assassinate their leader straight up... You have a rifle, right?"
Everyone considered Yuqi's plan in their head for a second until Yezi shook his head, much to everyone's disappointment.
"Your first plan makes sense... But your second plan is way too impractical. Shooting at night is extremely hard.
Not to mention the wind and everything. Even the best sharpshooters can't shoot that far at night unless they have night vision or a heat detector."
Yezi's professional shooting experience prompted Yuqi to nod in agreement, as everyone automatically abandoned the second plan in their minds.
"Wait, I got a plan."
Nami pointed towards the front gate, then further inside the house.
"We can overwhelm them from the front. We have rifles and pistols to shoot right through their defense, even if they have two people standing in front.
Since they don't have bullets, they can't fire back. All we need to do is get all of them before they can get to their boss and give them the bullet they need."
"That's way too risky."
Leyan and Yuqi both instantly at the same time, with everyone else looking doubtful about the plan other than Yezi, who seemed to have had the same idea earlier.
"Whatever..."
Nami backed down as she began to realize how naive her idea was. With everyone on board with Yuqi's idea, there was now one last question to the plan.
"How are you guys going to get there? Are we walking over several miles at night? Or are we driving there?" Leyan questioned.
"I think we should walk there. Driving is too much noise." Yueyue suggested.
"No, that's too far. We should definitely drive there—at least halfway. Perhaps we can park our car at 308." Yuqi argued.
"Wait, Mingpeng. All of them stay inside 309 when they sleep, right? Not outside the building?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Yeah, everyone stays at 309 to ensure nobody gets attacked by a wandering zombie or something weird since it's still close to the city."
"Okay, then we can drive to 308 and walk up to 309. They won't be able to see us at night, and the windy leaves will fully cover the car noises anyway."
With Xiaoyun's reasoning, no one could find any flaw, so they all nodded in agreement with the plan.
But another question suddenly arose that everyone had completely forgotten about.
Who's going?" Lily curiously asked.
"Me, Yueyue... Yezi, is your leg good?" Xiaoyun asked in a concerned tone.
"My leg? I mean, I can't run, but I still can walk. I am a good shot, so don't worry."
Despite saying it out loud, Xiaoyun noticed Huayi looked a little concerned for Yezi's health.
"Okay, just Yueyue and me then——"
"What? I'm a better shot than all of you. Why can't I go?" Yezi asked, despite knowing what Xiaoyun's response would be.
"If the plan goes wrong and we need to run, your leg injury will drag us behind." Xiaoyun pointed out.
After a short standoff, Yezi backed down.
"Fine, how about letting me be the getaway driver?"
"Sure."
"Wait, I want to help, too," Yuqi added.
"Yuqi, do you remember the last time you ran with us? Your planning here is already enough of a help, okay?"
Xiaoyun patted Yuqi's head in front of everyone, unaware of how weird it looked to both Yezi and Huayi.
Yuqi's face quickly started to blush, noticed the look on their face, and pushed Xiaoyun's hand away, who also realized it as well.
"Ahem, Anyway, Yueyue, Yezi, and I are going tonight... How about we go at one o'clock? It's the best time to strike, the exact time when people fall deep asleep."
"Sure, Huayi and I will come back later here then... Thank you guys so much."
The two bowed in gratitude before leaving the house and getting into their car. But Xiaoyun stopped them before they drove off.
"Wait! Mingpeng, do you want to stay in your uncle's house?"
Mingpeng nodded in agreement, running over to the car as they all stood by the porch and watched him enter inside.
"Thank you, mister Xiaoyun and Miss Yueyue! Thank you everyone!"
Mingpeng waved goodbye inside the car as Xiaoyun and Yueyue waved back, watching them drive off into the distance.
"Well, everyone can go to sleep now. Yueyue, can you set an alarm and wake me up later?"
"Sure." Yueyue nodded.
As Xiaoyun and Yueyue headed back inside the house, the three of them were all looking at the two with a weird look.
"Well, I am going to go take a nap——"
Suddenly, both Yuqi and Leyan ran up to Xiaoyun and kissed him on the cheek right in front of Lily, Nami, and Yueyue.
"Stay safe, honey/babe, okay?" The two said at the same time.
"Don't worry, I will stay safe."
Xiaoyun hugged the two and kissed them back, but before he could go upstairs to sleep, Lily and Nami both ran up to him.
"Okay, okay. That's enough."
After hugging the two of them, Xiaoyun finally headed upstairs to his room.
"So many death flags today... Surely it's just a coincidence, right?" Xiaoyun thought to himself as he quickly fell asleep on the bed.