Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Revisiting Qingyuan
The next day...
As Xiaoyun arrived at the training field, the whole field was already full of soldiers, all waiting for Xiaoyun to speak.
Wuli quickly went over to her brigades as Xiaoyun, along with his two bodyguards, went up the stage.
"Good morning, comrades. I assume most of you already know what we're here for today..."
Xiaoyun paused for a second to observe the soldiers' reactions. But the only thing he could see was a firm face from the soldiers as they all stood still on the cold, windy day.
"I'll be going with Wuli's brigades to assist our brothers in Qingyuan... The town's defense will be up to you all. Can I trust my trust in you all?"
The whole field fell into silence as Xiaoyun waited for someone to speak up, but this didn't last long, as a single soldier broke the silence.
"Yes, sir! I'll defend Luoping with my life!"
All of the soldiers flinched for a second as they realized Xiaoyun was waiting for them to respond.
"Good! But can I trust all of you?"
Xiaoyun asked again, but this time, it was much louder and directed at everyone in the field.
"Yes, sir! I'll defend Luoping with my life!"
Every single soldier yelled out in unison as Xiaoyun held up a smile on his face.
"Good! Very well, comrades. Then I'll put my full trust in all of you."
As Xiaoyun saluted towards the soldiers, they immediately saluted back at Xiaoyun.
"Yezi, can you lead the town's defense as the command-in-chief while I'm gone?" Xiaoyun asked out loud on the microphone in front of everyone.
Yezi looked a little surprised and caught off guard by the question, but he didn't hesitate to step up and reply out loud.
"Yes, sir! I'll lead everyone to my best ability!"
"Good. Everyone, you're now dismissed."
As Xiaoyun began getting off the stage, several of the majors started leading their troops to the other side of the training field to continue training.
Meanwhile, Wuli's brigade began heading towards their assigned vehicles as Wuli herself got onto a bus herself.
"Xiaoyun, what was that for?" Yezi curiously asked just as Xiaoyun was about to go inside his car.
"I'm just making everyone aware... You're the only one I can trust in this position."
Yezi didn't ask any more questions, but his face indicated that he was thankful for what Xiaoyun had just done and said.
"I won't disappoint you... I'll defend the town until I die——"
"Geez, I'm just leaving for the town for less than a week... We're brothers, you know." Xiaoyun quickly interrupted Yezi as he patted him on the shoulder.
"Yes, we are brothers..."
As an awkward silence appeared between them, Xiaoyun decided to head inside the car, where his two bodyguards had been waiting.
"Ahem, I'm going to go now."
"Stay safe! Don't take any unnecessary risk!"
Yezi waved goodbye as Xiaoyun's car followed behind all the vehicles, which were now full of soldiers.
---
After a three-hour trip, Xiaoyun, along with his troops, finally arrived at Qingyuan.
"That road was so bumpy..." Tianci complained as everyone began getting out of their vehicles.
"Nobody is repairing the roads. So it's going to be like this until someone spends the resource doing all that." Kate explained.
"At least there were no zombies, or else it would have taken at least five hours." Xiaoyun pointed out as he could see Han Bang's soldiers in the distance, all wearing the same uniform and badges.
As Han Bang's soldier approached closer, the two instantly fell into silence, and Wuli's soldiers began forming a defensive position.
"Where's Commander Xiaoyun?"
A soldier with a Major badge asked out loud as he stepped forward before Han Bang's soldiers, but Xiaoyun couldn't recognize the Major's face at all.
"I am. Where's Han Bang?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
The Major immediately saluted towards Xiaoyun, then replied.
"The Lieutenant Colonel is in the city center talking to a few of the faction leaders. He has been waiting for you to come."
"Very well, can you bring me to him?"
"Of course, command Xiaoyun."
Before leaving, Xiaoyun directed Wuli to set up camp near the outskirts of the city as he followed Han Bang's soldiers toward the inner part of the city.
Ten-minute walk later...
"Are there always so many people begging in the street? What is Han Bang doing not helping them?"
Xiaoyun curiously asked as he approached the mayor's hall, which was full of people with signs.
Some were just begging for food, but he was repulsed by some who were selling their daughters for food.
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"Lieutenant Colonel Han Bang can't do much... As much as we want to help, we don't have food to spare."
"I thought you guys still had a week's worth of food. How come you can't give them some?"
Xiaoyun quickly pointed out as he remembered that the food resupply truck would arrive tomorrow to replenish the food supply, so it made no sense to hold back food from being distributed.
"I'm not sure about that... But I believe Lieutenant Colonel isn't doing this on purpose. I'm sure he has his reasons."
Xiaoyun could feel the Major was holding something back, but he didn't pressure him to speak as they finally arrived at the mayor's building.
Two minutes later...
As Xiaoyun stepped inside the office room, Han Bang was sitting in front of a desk writing something.
"What are you working on?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"I'm drafting a plan on how to distribute food to people living in the city... Commander Xiaoyun, what do you think of this?"
Han Bang handed the paper over to Xiaoyun and waited patiently for feedback.
"It's good. I can't find any flaw in this... Han Bang, what is your major again?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked.
"I majored in marketing and economics."
Han Bang looked a little confused but replied nonetheless.
"I can offer you a civilian position if you want. This is probably the best plan I have seen for this kind of situation."
Han Bang seriously considered it for a second but shook his head in the end.
"Sir, I signed up to be a soldier. I don't want to abandon my comrades."
"It's okay. Anyway, you can implement this right now. There's certainly a lot of people that need food right now."
Xiaoyun handed the paper back to Han Bang as he moved on to the more important part.
"Han Bang, where's Zhen Ti right now?"
"He's in the hospital right now. I can bring you to——"
"No need. You need to implement that plan first. I'll just ask a soldier to lead me there... Also, if you need anything else, just send a message to Wuli. She's on the outskirts with all the supplies."
"Thank you, sir..."
Han Bang bowed down in gratitude as he didn't expect Xiaoyun to fulfill his food request.
"I don't want to see people selling their kids for food... I give you the right to enforce Luoping's law here."
"Thank you, sir!"
---
When Xiaoyun arrived outside, he asked one of the soldiers to take him to the hospital.
On the way, several groups of people armed with weapons stood in the street as if they were looking for easy prey to target.
But as soon as they saw the soldier guiding Xiaoyun, they immediately lowered their weapon and started looking up to the sky.
"You guys have a good reputation here?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he looked over to the soldier on the side.
"Yes, commander. Most of the people here treat us similarly to the police... At least that's what we had done most of the time being here."
"Do people always walk around with their weapons?"
"Yeah... It's more of a free-for-all out here. If it wasn't for us, they would probably have already started forcing everybody into their groups and started fighting each other again."
Hearing the soldier's answer, Xiaoyun felt a little tempted to take the city over to restore law and order. But still, he didn't say anything back as his rational mind told him it was not the right time yet.
"We're here now."
The soldier stopped right before a hotel, with a small sign on top writing 'hospital.'
"Thank you very much."
As the soldier headed back toward the mayor's building, Kate and Tianci followed Xiaoyun inside the hotel, their hands in their pockets as several groups of people began eyeing their direction.
"Hello, do you know where I can see Mr.Zhen Ti?" Xiaoyun asked as he approached the receptionist at the front desk.
"Mr.Mayor? He's in room 209 on the second floor, but I have to warn you... Unless you get permission, the soldiers stationed there won't let you in."
"Thank you for the heads up."
As Xiaoyun headed towards the stairs, all of the people sitting in the common area of the hotel stared at each other for a second.
The groups silently nodded as they all quickly sent one person up the stairs despite seeming to be enemies.
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