NOVPUB
Chapter 654: Chapter 654: Qian Peng
Lu Hao knew that Qian Peng’s words were already a kind gesture of advice. Qian Peng had been here since the establishment of the base, so he was quite familiar with the situation. After Lu Hao took out another space chicken, Qian Peng completely took their side and started sharing everything.
"Our Base Leader, well, he’s a really just person, with impressive Metal Element Ability and martial skills. It’s just that, constrained by reality, he seemed to have taken a hit after the death of his brother and ended up letting go of many things. However, the security check at the entrance of the base is still as strict as before. That’s his bottom line,"
Qian Peng’s words seemed to be filled with respect for the current Base Leader but also hinted at regret.
"How did his brother die?"
Lu Hao asked, feeling that this was the key point.
Qian Peng touched the roast chicken in his arms, which was wrapped so tightly that no smell escaped, but the familiar texture made his mouth water. He thought that even if he starved to death someday, having eaten this chicken would leave him with no regrets.
"I’m not too sure about the specifics, it’s said that he died trying to save someone,"
Qian Peng answered. He didn’t have a Special Ability, so he rarely went out; what he knew was simply what he had heard from others.
Lu Hao nodded in understanding, asked a few more questions about the base, and then signaled that Qian Peng could go.
"I have some maps of the base’s layout that I drew myself at my place. I’ll bring them to you later. I live in an empty convenience store not far from this courtyard,"
Qian Peng said before leaving.
"Then we’ll be troubling you,"
Su Xiangzhe thanked Qian Peng as he sent him off and secured the door before coming back.
"Xiao Jin, come out. No one’s here,"
Su Xiangzhe said.
Next to Lin Tianhui, Su Jin, who was holding Local Tyrant Gold, let Local Tyrant Gold cancel the Invisibility Ability and appeared before everyone.
"I’ve never heard of this base before,"
Su Jin recalled that she had never heard of the H Province base in her previous life, so she could not offer any helpful information.
"If it’s as Qian Peng described, we better not sell any supplies for now,"
Lu Hao felt that they should follow Qian Peng’s advice, not out of fear, but because they did not want to conflict with the locals.
"So what should we do? Should we keep moving on?"
Lin Xiuyuan asked, wondering what the point was in staying if they weren’t going to sell supplies.
"Let’s go find the Base Leader here first. If possible, we’ll only trade with the base this time,"
Lu Hao shared his thoughts, feeling that this base was different from the others they had visited before.
"I agree,"
Su Xiangzhe nodded, thinking it better to be cautious, as the "guides’" looks had made him uncomfortable.
Even the usually fearless Lin Xiuyuan did not object and was, in fact, somewhat interested in the Base Leader Qian Peng had mentioned.
"But how do we find the Base Leader? We don’t even know where he is,"
Lin Xiuyuan asked.
"Wait for Qian Peng, didn’t he say he would bring the map later?"
Lu Guanhai sat down on the folding chair Su Jin had taken out, noting the lack of even a stool in this place. If they really were to stay here, it looked like they’d be sleeping on the ground.
So the family tidied up the place a bit, taking out some cushions and folding beds and arranging them in the rooms next to the main hall. Even if they planned to rest in their space at night, they still had to maintain the appearance on the outside.
However, as nightfall approached, they hadn’t yet received Qian Peng’s map. Su Jin suddenly had a bad feeling. She asked Su Xiangzhe, "Dad, did you see which direction Qian Peng went?"
"Yes, I saw him leave before I came in. What’s up?"
Su Xiangzhe asked.
"Xiao Jin suspects someone here?"
Lu Hao seemed to have guessed Su Jin’s meaning.
Su Jin nodded, "He took some food and left."
The family suddenly thought of something, and Huang Yunxiang exclaimed in surprise, "It can’t be, right? It can’t be what I’m thinking, can it?"
"Dad and I will go take a look; the rest of you stay here,"
Lu Hao said, even if Qian Peng was fine, they could still take the map directly from him and come back.
Following the direction in which Qian Peng had left, Su Xiangzhe remembered him mentioning that he lived in a convenience store up ahead, and indeed, they quickly found a convenience store.
Lu Guanhai and Lin Xiuyuan, who had come out with them, also thought it was probably here since there didn’t seem to be any other convenience stores nearby.
The door to the convenience store was open, and upon entering, they found Qian Peng already dead inside.
"Damn it, who could be so cruel?"
Lu Guanhai turned his head away, not wanting to look at Qian Peng’s tragic state anymore.
Qian Peng had clearly struggled fiercely before he died; his face was swollen from being beaten, and the angle of his arms indicated that they had been broken.
"He died of suffocation,"
Lu Hao said as he squatted down to look at the body on the ground, the bruises and finger marks on Qian Peng’s neck also indicated that he had been strangled to death.
"Who’s there!"
Lin Xiuyuan shouted, this convenience store was divided into two rooms, and he had just heard a noise coming from the other room.
Nie Qing, who was at the door, was quick to catch a man trying to rush out. The man was in tattered clothes with hair past his shoulders. When he realized he’d been captured, he immediately started shouting his innocence.
"I didn’t kill him, I was just following him to see if there was anything left to eat on his body. When I came in, he had already been killed by those people," he professed.
"Those people? Do you know who killed him?"
Su Xiangzhe asked.
"Yes, it was Zhang Wenbin and his group, I saw it with my own eyes. Let me go, and I’ll tell you where he is,"
the man confessed immediately.
"If you came looking for food, why do you have weapons and such a large bag with you?"
Lu Hao questioned after taking the items from the man’s hands.
The long-haired man bowed his head deeply, muttering a sentence. Although he spoke softly, everyone present heard it. n𝚘𝚟𝚙u𝚋.co𝚖
He said, "Dead people, their flesh can still be eaten."
Lu Hao recalled what he had learned during his time at the D city base from Yao Rui, and it became clear why people said there were no limits here.
"I understand, now get out of here,"
Lu Hao told the man on the ground, his tone may have been calm, but the family could all tell that Lu Hao was very angry.
Reluctantly, the man took one more look at Qian Peng on the ground before picking up his things and running out without looking back.
"This Qian Peng, what a shame,"
Su Xiangzhe sighed, realizing that now, even the corpses weren’t spared by those people.
Knowing that some were still after Qian Peng’s body, they found an abandoned bathtub nearby, placed Qian Peng inside it, and then Lu Hao turned his body into ashes.
Nie Qing then collected the ashes using the Wind Element Ability, put them in a wooden box, and buried it behind the convenience store. After all this, they finally walked back.
