The First Order

Chapter 218 Yan Liuyuan

Li Qingzheng was a little puzzled as he drove the truck towards town based on the directions given by Yan Liuyuan. How could this group of refugees from another town gain a foothold in this town so quickly? They managed to buy a brick townhouse nearest to the stronghold gate? 1

And they even bought two of them!

But he remembered when Wang Fugui bribed him, he was offered a 100 antibiotics and several watches in one go. These things were still in Li Qingzheng’s bag, and he had not sold them for cash yet. How could a normal person possibly afford to fork out such a large sum of money as bribery?

Li Qingzheng was thinking that since he and Ren Xiaosu were now friends, and that they were also leading a legitimately good life at the outpost, maybe he should return the bribes he collected from them back to Ren Xiaosu? However, Li Qingzheng still felt a little reluctant upon realizing he would have to give up such a large sum of money at once….

Along the way, a woman saw Yan Liuyuan through the truck’s window and said cheerfully, “Liuyuan, is that boy next to you your brother that you’ve always been talking about? You haven’t waited in vain by crouching at the entrance of town for so many days. He’s finally back. Here are three eggs for you. You can cook them for your brother when you get back home this evening.”

Yan Liuyuan accepted the eggs with a smile. However, he handed one egg back to her and only kept two of them. “Yes, this is my brother, but the one driving is not, so there’s no need to give him an egg.” Li Qingzheng was speechless. “Am I not a person? Why am I the only one who doesn’t get an egg!’

Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, “You seem to be quite popular in this town.”

In truth, Yan Liuyuan was especially popular with the women when they were living back in the town of Stronghold 113. Now that his face was always clean, he looked handsome and smart. It became natural that he would become a friend of the women.

Yan Liuyuan smiled and said, “I’ve asked around with the townspeople and found out a lot of information lately. After getting here, Uncle Fugui has done a lot of small favors for many people and gained a foothold in town. That’s why we are quite popular around here. Of course, there are still many ungrateful people around as well.”

The “small favors” were things like helping others repair their furniture, giving away snacks and sweets, and paying a slightly higher price when receiving goods. Wang Fugui did all of those in moderation and never went beyond doing small favors.

In Wang Fugui’s opinion, doing big favors would not only make it hard to make friends, but it would also offend people easily. Furthermore, it was pointless to do big favors for others. If he were really in danger, most would not return the favor. Instead, they would more likely kick him while he was down.

Wang Fugui was only doing so for the sake of getting things easily accomplished in town and was not expecting anyone to give him any assistance when he got into trouble. It was better to rely on oneself than on others… no, it was better to rely on Ren Xiaosu than on others.

When Ren Xiaosu heard that Yan Liuyuan had gathered a lot of information, he asked curiously, “What have you found out?”

Currently, there were military camps stationed all around the area not far outside of town as different troops continually rotated shifts between themselves.

Yan Liuyuan said, “I heard that the Li Consortium’s combat troops that went to Stronghold 109 to eliminate the Experimentals had failed in their mission. The initial batch of troops has been recalled and at least half of them had died.”

“How did you know about that?” Ren Xiaosu frowned.

“The soldiers stationed near town can’t help themselves from seeking thrills, and those single women were also happy to have a soldier from the organization as their backer.” Yan Liuyuan said, “They would sometimes share with their women these matters and said that their assault went very smoothly at the beginning. However, they were immediately defeated once the Experimentals dragged it out into urban warfare. Furthermore, the forward operating base was destroyed by the Experimentals. Now they plan to continue sending troops over there and resort to using heavy weapons in battle. Even if they destroy the stronghold, they have to eliminate the Experimentals.”

This outcome was quite in line with Ren Xiaosu’s prediction. When he saw the combat troops deployed to Stronghold 109 in a hurry had not brought any heavy weapons with them. It seemed like they wanted to keep the buildings in the stronghold as intact as possible so they could avoid spending too much on rebuilding.

But if they engaged something like the Experimentals in urban warfare, it would be as good as digging their own graves. Their speed and strength, several times that of the average person, gave them a huge advantage when fighting in built-up areas. Unless the organization fought against the Experimentals with troops consisting of supernatural beings, using automatic rifles at close range would not be effective. It resulted in the combat troops made up of normal humans suffering a devastating defeat.

But now that the Li Consortium was extremely determined to eliminate the Experimentals, Ren Xiaosu felt those creatures were likely going to face a tough battle soon. As a human, Ren Xiaosu certainly hoped the Li Consortium could wipe out a tumor like the Experimentals.

No matter how evil a person was, they would still have some humanity in them. The Experimentals had none left.

“There’s something else.” Yan Liuyuan said, “When the school in town learned of Ms. Jiang’s identity, they wanted to ask her to be a substitute teacher at the school. However, she rejected the offer because she said that as the only supernatural being at home, she had to take care of the family.”

“Mhm.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. From this point alone, it seemed Jiang Wu was still worthy of their trust. “Any other news?”

Yan Liuyuan thought for a moment and said, “Oh yes, it seems like there are also members of the Pyro Company lurking around here. Although I don’t know where they are, there’s usually leaflets scattered around town overnight. They’re the same ones we saw in Stronghold 109.”

The Pyro Company? Ren Xiaosu frowned. They could not get into too much detail as Li Qingzheng was around.

But he had witnessed the Pyro Company’s behavior before, and if they knew there was a supernatural being nearby, they would definitely spare no effort in catching them.

However, he wasn’t too afraid of that. After all, he felt the Pyro Company was really quite weak after crossing swords with them… but it would be dangerous if Jiang Wu exposed her identity.

“Here we are,” Yan Liuyuan shouted cheerfully while pointing at two stone courtyards. “This is the place.”

When the truck came to a stop, Yan Liuyuan jumped out and rushed off. “Big Sister Xiaoyu, Ms. Jiang, look who’s back.”

With this shout from Yan Liuyuan, everyone came rushing out into the courtyard, including Xiaoyu, Jiang Wu, and the female students before Ren Xiaosu could even get out of the truck.

Li Qingzheng stared at the sight of this. He felt that Ren Xiaosu was a blessed man and a role model for other men!

Ren Xiaosu said to Wang Fugui with a smile, “We brought some game down from the mountains. They’re loaded in the back of the truck. Calculate the prices and settle the bill with Platoon Commander Li. A portion of it is free as I brought it as a gift to y’all for the New Year.”

Wang Fugui and the others froze for a moment. As expected of Ren Xiaosu. Although he was now a sentry at a faraway outpost, he still managed to bring back meat for them on his return.

Wang Fugui smiled and said, “It happens that there are many troops stationed nearby and they have a shortage of meat as well. I can definitely sell this meat for a good price.” Wang Fugui then walked to the back of the military transport truck and looked inside. When he saw everything, he was stunned. “There’s this much meat?”

Ren Xiaosu handed him a list. “These are the items that we need. Help us get them, as well as salt, seasonings, and clothes!”

“OK, you can count on me. Go inside and rest up.” Wang Fugui said with a smile, “You don’t have to personally worry yourself over such things.”

Li Qingzheng, who was beside them, was watching the entire conversation. He had thought that Wang Fugui was the backbone of this group. But now it seemed like everyone was under the command of Ren Xiaosu.

How old was this young man? Why would a shrewd businessman like Wang Fugui even listen to him?