Almost three hours had passed since they left for the shopping center. The others back at the house were bound to be worried.
Xie Ning walked up to the large truck loaded with supplies and greeted Xiao Qi Zi and the few others left to guard it. She politely declined their request to wait for Captain Zuo’s return.
"We still have teammates waiting back at the highway entrance. Don’t worry, we’ll see you later at the Golden City Base."
Xiao Qi Zi’s and the others’ eyes lit up. They immediately understood that the young woman and her group were planning to head for their Golden City Base.
"That’s fantastic!" said Zhou Tong, the Fire Ability User who had been injured by Rob. He had several bandages stuck to his face.
Beaming, he extended a hand to Xie Ning. "Thank you for your help. In that case, we’ll be waiting to welcome you and your group at the Golden City Base."
"Alright. See you then." Xie Ning gave his hand a light shake before turning and leading Yu Tianfeng and Cres away.
"Ningning, where do you think those three went?" Yu Tianfeng asked, full of curiosity.
They had spent at least an hour searching the supermarket section, even checking the produce and cold storage areas in the back. They had circled back and forth two or three times but saw no sign of Li Dawei, Zheng Heng, or Zha Peng.
"Holy crap, you don’t think they got chewed to bits by zombies, do you?"
Xie Ning shook her head. "Impossible. While there are a lot of zombies at the shopping center, most of them are Initial-stage zombies."
With the abilities of Zheng Heng, Li Dawei, and the other guy, there’s no way they’d be taken out by those things.
Even if they were outnumbered, as mid-to-late stage First-stage Superpower Users, they were more than capable of escaping if they couldn’t win a fight.
Cres snorted. "So, are we going to keep looking for them?"
Xie Ning shook her head coldly. "We agreed before we came here to search for supplies separately."
We have no way to communicate now, so searching for them would be a waste of time. The best course of action is to return to the house as soon as possible.
Without another word, Yu Tianfeng pulled out a black Hyundai. Xie Ning gave him a silent look.
The three of them quickly got in the car and drove toward the highway entrance they had come from.
They didn’t stop and kill the engine until they were near the house.
Yu Tianfeng promptly stored the car back in his Space.
The three of them, shouldering their overstuffed backpacks, ran toward the house.
At the sudden sound of footsteps, the group that had been quietly lying low in the house instantly grew alert, and everyone got to their feet.
He Zhi, holding an iron bar, moved toward the door. She gave a look to the nervous Xu Ling, signaling for her to slowly reach out and open it.
Xu Ling’s hand was trembling as she went to open the door.
She yanked the door open. He Zhi raised her iron bar high, only to find herself staring wide-eyed at the expressionless Xie Ning on the other side.
"Xie... Xie Ning." He Zhi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly lowered the iron bar. "You scared us to death. We thought those people had come back."
Xie Ning frowned and strode into the house. "What people?"
"Ningning." Song You’ai hurried over. "What took you so long? Is everything okay?"
"Sis."
"I’m fine." Xie Ning blinked, her gaze falling on the crates of supplies piled up on both sides of the room.
The room was now filled with boxes of all sizes.
Zhuang Xinyi and Zhao Yanran from Zheng Heng’s team, along with Zhong Yaying and Chen Man’er from Li Dawei’s team, were standing guard over two separate rows of boxes.
Xie Ning raised an eyebrow.
’Looks like Zheng Heng, Li Dawei, and Zha Peng are all safe.’
"Oh, you worried us sick." Grandma exhaled, patting her chest. "You three have no idea how anxious we were, waiting for you."
Song Kexin giggled, covering her mouth. "Twenty minutes, twenty minutes."
Xie Ning silently turned to glance at her gloating little sister.
"Li Dawei and his team have already made three trips, bringing back a lot of supplies," Song Youzhi said with a sigh. "They mentioned you’d split up and that they hadn’t seen you since. Your grandparents were worried sick."
Yu Tianfeng hurried forward. "Grandpa, Grandma, don’t worry. Hengyue Shopping Center is huge. They were going back and forth, so we probably just kept missing each other."
"Did some strangers come by earlier?"
"Oh, it was a real party," He Shuping said, looking exasperated. "Three different groups came by, one after another. They all saw Li Dawei’s supplies and wanted to steal them."
"Luckily, Zheng Heng’s group happened to return during two of the attempts. It was a close call, but nothing was lost. All the supplies are safe."
Just then, Jin Mingzhu from Li Dawei’s team suddenly spoke up. "Captain Xie, could you please pause your little reunion? Earlier, our captain and Captain Zheng asked your teammate with the Space Ability for the cars. He fobbed them off, using the excuse that you weren’t here and he had no authority to make such a decision."
"Well, you’re back now. You can get our cars out, can’t you?"
Xie Ning glanced at the woman who had spoken.
The woman wore a figure-hugging qipao and a Butterfly Gauze Shawl. She had a glamorous, seductive look, with a beauty mark just under one eye.
"Xie Ning, we don’t want to cause any conflict with your teammate, but... but the cars are really important to us. You should just have him bring them out," Zhuang Xinyi added, biting her lip and looking pitiful.
"Xinyi," He Zhi said, looking extremely embarrassed.
’The way her teammate put it,’ she thought, ’made it sound like Xie Ning’s friend with the Space Ability was refusing to give their cars back.’
’Words like that could really sour their relationship.’
"It’s okay, Xie Ning," He Zhi hastily tried to smooth things over. "Um, Zheng Heng and the others found an abandoned van over at the highway entrance, so it’s been convenient for hauling supplies back and forth."
Xie Ning nodded and looked at the aggrieved-looking Ji Erhuo. "Tai Xian, come on."
Song Kexin shot Jin Mingzhu a fierce glare and stormed out after them. "And next time, please don’t ask Tai Xian to store your things for you, alright? If anything goes missing, we can’t afford to replace it!"
"You okay?" Xie Ning gave the dork a light punch on the arm. "You didn’t cry, did you?"
Ji Taixian gave her a speechless look. "Ms. Ning."
"Alright, alright." Xie Ning led the dork downstairs, glancing up at Jin Mingzhu, Zhao Yanran, and Zhuang Xinyi, who were watching them from a second-floor window.
Ji Taixian glanced at Xie Ning.
She gave a subtle nod. Ji Taixian then made a show of raising his hand and waving it with a flourish.
Zheng Heng’s van and the two cars belonging to Li Dawei’s team appeared simultaneously in front of the house.
Xie Ning went back upstairs and swept a cool gaze over He Zhi and the others. "Before I let Tai Xian store the cars, I warned your captains not to bother us with this kind of messy nonsense. I trust you won’t try to pull a scam on us later, claiming something is now missing from your vehicles, will you?"
"Of course not, of course not," He Zhi said, quickly waving her hands. "Xie Ning, please, don’t be angry. Xinyi and the others... they just speak their minds a little too freely."
Xie Ning gave an indifferent shrug and turned to Song You’ai and the others. "Mom, Uncle Yong, let’s go."
"Alright." Song You’ai and her group had already been resting here for three hours; they were more than ready to leave.
At Xie Ning’s words, everyone immediately shouldered their backpacks, got up, and followed her toward the door.
"Xie Ning," He Zhi said, her expression awkward.
"What do you think you’re doing?" Zhao Yanran jumped to her feet, staring at Xie Ning’s group in disbelief. "You’re leaving now? Zheng Heng and the others aren’t even back yet!"
"Is Captain Xie trying to dissolve our partnership?"