Chapter 41

"A permanent stall, priority hiring rights, what else?"

These were all empty promises; Yang Shuo thought Liu Mu should still want some more practical benefits.

The girl opposite him shook her head, "I have over half a truck of rain gear outside. You can find someone to unload it; it should be enough for you to repair the shopping mall."

Yang Shuo did not agree immediately, "Nothing else?" But in his heart, he thought, this girl isn't really just looking shrewd but actually a bit of a simpleton, is she?

"That's it?" Liu Mu, on the contrary, felt it was strange. These two conditions seemed useless now, but in the future, after the base was built into a doomsday barrier, their value would be immense.

Seeing her so firm, Yang Shuo immediately had her drive the truck to the mall's loading dock. After seeing for himself the well-preserved tarps, raincoats, rain boots, and umbrellas, Yang Shuo was even more satisfied with Liu Mu.

Although some items had stains on them, it was clear they had been carefully selected. Yang Shuo could even imagine Liu Mu rummaging through a warehouse where the plastic had melted, struggling to find things that were still decent, and then selecting the best batch to send to the base.

She was a solid, good child!

Watching the items being moved in, Yang Shuo immediately decided he had to give Liu Mu some more tangible benefits; he couldn't mistreat a motivated young person who still thought about helping during such difficult times.

Thus, he personally wrote a note, not only writing down the two items Liu Mu requested but also noting that the base would not charge any fees for Liu Mu's future storefront and labor. The note was signed at the end and stamped with an official seal.

When Liu Mu received the note, she truly couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth. One had to know that in the future doomsday barrier, taxes would be like scraping oil off the bones of merchants and consumers. If this note really counted, what a huge profit that would be—she didn't dare to think about it; the more she thought, the more she hoped the natural disaster would descend.

She had originally intended to go find Li Gang to give him some things and then leave after unloading the cargo, but just as she got the note, Liu Mu was blocked by Xing Tianyang, who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

"Oh my, Doctor Xing, long time no see," she greeted him with a smile, but the other party grabbed her wrist directly and walked toward the basement level.

Liu Mu knew what the other party wanted to do. She waved goodbye to Yang Shuo, and as soon as she left the office, she swung her arm and threw Xing Tianyang off by a few steps.

"What are you doing? I don't mind, Doctor Xing, but if you're this impatient, others will misunderstand that you've taken a fancy to me."

Xing Tianyang, who had been anxious to check on Liu Mu's condition, was stunned after being shaken off. When he belatedly heard clearly what Liu Mu said, his somewhat pale face turned completely red in a flash.

The speed of the color change was so fast that even Liu Mu felt amazed, "You, don't tell me this is your first time?"... voluntarily making physical contact with a woman.

"It is not!"

Xing Tianyang, having been guessed correctly, immediately put on a stern face, "I am a researcher. You still haven't explained clearly what happened the day before yesterday, and I need to conduct a comprehensive examination on you!"

"What happened the day before yesterday," Liu Mu slowly hugged herself and said with an embarrassed look, "Doctor Xing, are you for real?"

Xing Tianyang didn't understand why she said that and was just about to explain, but the nearby soldiers who were watching the drama whistled without fear of making things worse.

"Hey, Doctor Xing, so you like Boss Liu?"

"The iron tree has blossomed? Incredible, I have to say, our Boss Liu really has charm!"

"Boss Liu is so tall; if I didn't have a wife..." Tan Ziyan didn't finish before a female soldier grabbed his ear, "Wife, I was wrong, wife, I was joking, really..."

Xing Tianyang understood, his face burning, but his tone was deliberately stiff, "I am talking about the operation the day before yesterday, you all misunderstood!"

"Oh, is that so," Liu Mu lowered her arms, put her hands in her pockets, and said disappointedly, "You saw it too, I can't explain it clearly either. Anyway, it's just like that, think whatever you want."

This vague and ambiguous meaning made other bystanders who didn't know the inside story look over one after another, whispering to the people beside them, "Is Boss Liu eating and running without wanting to take responsibility?"

"It looks like that's the case. Sigh, you heard Boss Liu say Doctor Xing is a first-timer. It's a pity for such a handsome guy to be deceived."

"Wrongly entrusted, it was wrongly entrusted after all!"

Everyone else was whispering and muttering, but a simpleton from somewhere actually said disdainfully and loudly, "Come on, what era is this? There are still people who want others to take responsibility just because it's their first time? One look and you can tell Boss Liu is just playing around. Doctor Xing, don't be so stubborn, look on the bright side!"

"You, you all, I..." Xing Tianyang was originally a research-oriented social phobic. He could calmly give reports in front of a group of old scholars, but at this moment, being watched by ordinary people and with the topic inexplicably veering in a strange direction, he was at a loss for a moment and even stuttered when speaking.

Liu Mu took the opportunity to say with a heavy expression, "You heard it too. In that situation at the time, I had no choice. Anyway, I didn't feel anything in my body either, so let's just pretend it never happened. If there's anything you can't get over, I'm very sorry. I have other things to do, I'm leaving first!"

While the onlookers were making Xing Tianyang embarrassed, Liu Mu had already naturally blended into the crowd, and now that she had finished speaking, she simply greased her feet and slipped away.

By the time Xing Tianyang reacted and called out loudly, it was too late; Liu Mu had already disappeared into the sea of people.

Yang Shuo, who had come out to see the commotion outside, saw through Liu Mu's tactics at a glance. At the same time, a heavy doubt rose in his heart. It seemed this girl wasn't simple either; she really was a motivated young person with a sense of justice. This probably had a lot to do with her growing up in an orphanage and donating money for many years afterward. Such a child was rare, and Yang Shuo decided to take proper care of Liu Mu's business in the future.

Liu Mu, who did not know that her nonsense had actually succeeded in making Yang Shuo's impression of her even better, left the mall, walked around half a circle, took a backpack from the truck, and then knocked on a certain window on the first floor.

Li Gang, who was chatting with a few people, turned his head and saw the blurry face at the window, and immediately had the person beside him open the window, "Boss, you really can't be talked about; we were just talking about you, and you arrived."

"Is that so? Then I came at the right time." Liu Mu put the backpack into the net pocket under Li Gang's bed. The conditions here were simple; it was good enough to have a bed, so bedside tables and the like were unrealistic.

"Who are these people?" Seeing that Liu Gang didn't chase the people chatting away like last time, Liu Mu curiously looked them over—a few men in their thirties or forties, all with some worry on their faces.

"Oh, it just so happens I'll introduce you. This is Gao Tian, a technician from the Steel Rolling Mill, Master Gao..."

After a round of introductions, it turned out all five were survivors from the Steel Rolling Mill. Liu Mu asked about their current situation and learned that their families had all lost some people; the five families now added up to only fifteen people.

Talking about the disaster, everyone felt heavy-hearted. Liu Mu took advantage of the early hour to open her backpack and give each of them a pack of compressed biscuits, the 500-gram kind.

"You take these. Live well in the future; you will always be able to survive."

Liu Mu didn't have many words to encourage others, nor did she have any impassioned lines, but such simple words spoken now made them feel secure instead.

They did not refuse; everyone had a family waiting to be fed and did not have the capital to maintain excessive dignity.

The reason they gathered here early in the morning was also because, under Li Gang's organization, they decided to form a team to go out and search for supplies together. With more people, everyone could look out for each other and wouldn't be afraid of being bullied or ostracized by others in the base.

Liu Mu expressed her full support for this and said that in the future, when they came to trade for things, they could prioritize trading with them.

The few of them were all thinking about going out to search for supplies, so after thanking her again, they left the wounded area.

Liu Mu caught up with Li Gang about the situation in the base over the past two days and learned that the military had posted an announcement about expanding the base, where everyone could work to earn rewards.

Expanding so quickly was something Liu Mu hadn't expected, but with more and more survivors arriving every day, quite a few people were already living in the houses on the street outside the mall in just these two days, so there was indeed an urgent need to improve the base's facilities.

It's just that expanding the base required building materials; where did they plan to get them? The high temperature had destroyed the old buildings, and relying on tearing down these structures to expand was not realistic.

The two chatted for a while, and when no one in the ward was paying attention to them, Liu Mu took out her phone's night video recording to show Li Gang.

There were three video clips in total, plus an icon of a triangle with a circle inside that she had drawn herself.

At first, Li Gang wasn't very surprised when he saw the weapons in the video, only saying they were all standard configurations for regular troops, but when he saw the final icon, his face turned very ugly—it was a complex expression between anger and fear.

Liu Mu was just about to ask, but who knew Li Gang would directly delete that picture and even clear the items in the deleted folder.

"This is the logo of Tiankuishe," Li Gang looked around vigilantly, and only after putting the phone down did he say in a low, grave voice, "It's a transnational terrorist criminal organization. I... we have faced them head-on before. Boss, don't get involved in this matter, don't go to that place again, and don't even mention to anyone that you've seen them."

Liu Mu secretly regretted going to see Yang Shuo first and revealing her whereabouts. After pondering for a while, she also asked in a low voice, "They are transporting these things to Haicheng, could it be that they want to carry out some kind of attack?"

Indiscriminate terrorist attacks were probably the most anti-human thing in this world. Since she knew the other party was transporting weapons on such a large scale, she had to connect it to the safety of the various bases in Haicheng.

Liu Gang shook his head; his arm was ruined during the border encirclement of the Tiankuishe Base. That time, their company of over a hundred people was left with only thirteen, ten of whom retired due to injuries just like him. However, physical injuries were only temporary, while the impact of psychological trauma was long-term; the surviving teammates were all receiving long-term psychological counseling, and among them, a few... had simply gone insane.

Li Gang didn't want to bring up these things; he didn't want to scare Liu Mu, and even less did he want to reopen the scars in his memories.

"I'll find an opportunity to talk to Captain Tan," Li Gang didn't want Liu Mu to step forward, but he was more worried about another matter, "Boss, according to their habits, appearing here means they have long since developed influence. You must not mention this to anyone, I'm just afraid..."

He looked around pointedly, "that there are their people here."

"Cockroaches in the room," if Liu Mu were single like before, she naturally wouldn't fear how many 'cockroaches' had bred in the shadows, but she was now responsible for others and could not risk the lives of Xu Xiaofeng, her younger brother, and Li Gang.

She shook her head slightly, "Since that's the case, it's better if I go find Yang Shuo directly; after all... the military isn't a wall that doesn't let wind through."

Li Gang did not agree with going directly to Yang Shuo; personally, he still trusted the soldiers on the front lines more. The two did not see eye to eye, and after discussing it, they decided not to spread the word about this matter for now.

Li Gang planned to find an opportunity to drop hints to Tan Ziyan and the others; since they also came from special forces, bringing up his own past experiences during a chat would not alert the enemy.

Of course, he would not tell Liu Mu this, and he certainly wouldn't mention Liu Mu during his probing.

Thinking of this, Liu Gang said his leg was healing very slowly and he might need to stay at the Base for a while longer; Liu Mu did not suspect anything, agreed immediately, and said she would send over nutritional supplements on time.

Regarding the supplies, Liu Gang did not refuse; on one hand, he had no capital to refuse, and on the other, he wanted to recover quickly, especially after learning about the movements of the Sky Viper Snake.

As for staying longer, he was afraid that if he happened to come into contact with people from the Sky Viper Snake while investigating at the Base, not returning to the Scrap Station would also be a form of protection for Liu Mu and the others.

If he had to die, he would just die alone.

After that operation, and after his grandmother passed away, he actually had no more attachments. In the dead of night, dreaming of the battlefield, he had countless times wanted to sacrifice himself alongside his comrades; for those with trauma, living was just an endless cycle of painful memories.