208 Dont believe in superstitions (1/2)
”Platoon Commander, what should we do with the goat?” someone asked.
Li Qingzheng cut in, ”Don't address me as Platoon Commander, call me the Lord of Wolves! What is the name of the mountain we're at? Oh yes, it's Mount Kun! I shall be known as the Lord of Wolves of Mount Kun from now on!”
Off to the side, Chen Wudi asked, ”Master, should I subdue this demon?”
”Not for now, no,” Ren Xiaosu replied.
Chen Wudi understood that Ren Xiaosu meant that Li Qingzheng might have to be subdued at some later point. ”Master, when can we eat some goat?” He slurped.
”How about now?” When Ren Xiaosu heard Chen Wudi slurping, his expression nearly turned dark.
As the group prepared to cut the goat up and make the campfire, the male student named Wang Yuchi looked at Ren Xiaosu curiously. He lowered his voice and asked, ”Monitor, when the wolves last appeared, you brought back such a large rabbit so quickly in the heavy snow. When the wolves appeared this time, they took the initiative and gave us a goat. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?”
Chen Wudi and the students all looked at Ren Xiaosu. Wang Yuchi had spoken quietly enough that only their group heard it.
Ren Xiaosu could only look at them and say with a laugh, ”Haha, it truly is a coincidence.” Since the situation had come to this, he could only claim it was a coincidence.
Wang Yuchi wondered, ”Monitor, did the wolves present you with the rabbit as well? Was that why you said we didn't have to worry about them?”
Ren Xiaosu thought to himself that these students were indeed smart. They could figure out the truth with so few details. He whispered, ”Don't say that to anyone else.”
After all, it would cause somewhat of a sensation if there were any mention of his interaction with the wolves. Since Li Qingzheng was willing to be the scapegoat, Ren Xiaosu was more than happy to let him do it.
But Wang Yuchi said, ”Do we need to give anything in return?”
”I don't think so.” Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, ”We don't really have anything that we can give them anyway.”
On the same night, the entire platoon sat down beside the campfire at the entrance of the outpost. With the aroma of the roasted goat attacking their nostrils, the escapees started tearing up as they bit into the meat. These people had been starving for many days, and no one gave them any food even after they were conscripted into the military.
Li Qingzheng and his soldiers were refugees who had been recruited during the expansion of the private troops and were also unable to afford meat for their past meals. He lamented, ”Actually, I felt terrible when I first learned I had been assigned to the outpost. After all, this is such a nowhere place that it feels like we're being exiled. If we encounter any danger out here, we'll just end up becoming cannon fodder.”
Ren Xiaosu gave him a look. He didn't expect Li Qingzheng to understand their situation so well, and that he was actually just not showing it.
Li Qingzheng continued to lament, ”But thinking about it now, it's really quite nice if we could have meat for all of our meals. The smell of goat meat is really great!”
”We can go out and hunt since we have guns,” Ren Xiaosu suggested.
”But we'll need our guns to fight against the enemy.” Li Qingzheng rejected his suggestion.
Ren Xiaosu analyzed, ”Look, we only have a dozen guns or so. What can we do with a dozen guns when the enemy arrives?”
”That really seems to be the case,” Li Qingzheng replied after some thought.
The students next to them realized Ren Xiaosu seemed to have a unique flair in persuading others.
Li Qingzheng was gnawing on goat leg and said with a smile, ”I heard that the big shots in the stronghold can have barbecue for every meal. They even prepare lemons and onions before barbecuing the meat, only cooking it to medium rare so that the original juices are retained!”
Although lemons were uncommon these days, everyone had heard of this type of fruit. They never ate it before, but they heard that lemons were extremely sour. Onions, on the other hand, were still commonly seen.
Chen Wudi asked in a soft whisper, ”Master, why do you need lemons and onions for a barbecue?”
Ren Xiaosu pondered it before saying, ”So that you can squirt the lemon juice or rub the onions into other people's eyes to get dibs on the meat?”
Chen Wudi was confused.
The people around him looked over with expressionless faces. Li Qingzheng said, sounding rather surprised, ”Are you serious…”
But all of a sudden, Li Qingzheng noticed the light from a vehicle heading up the mountain. He stood up immediately. ”Why would anyone come to this remote place at this hour of the night?”
A lone off-road vehicle was approaching them. Venturing out in this current wilderness with so few people was usually not too confidence inspiring. Under normal circumstances, most people would choose to travel in convoys. So the appearance of this lone off-road vehicle made the situation seem even stranger.
Everyone at the outpost stood at the entrance. Li Qingzheng and other soldiers who were issued with guns were even carrying them on their backs.
When the off-road vehicle arrived at the entrance of the outpost, the dazzling headlights of the vehicle shone directly in the faces of Ren Xiaosu and the others. It was as though they did not care about how they felt.
When two people jumped out of the vehicle, Ren Xiaosu saw they were both wearing the Li Consortium's military uniforms. But from the looks of it, the fabric was much more exquisite than the ones he had come across in the past.
No. Actually, he had seen it once before. The commander of the combat brigade was dressed just like the two of them.
But when Li Qingzheng saw the colonel epaulets on their shoulders, he saluted. ”Sirs, we welcome you to our outpost for inspection.”
The two officers had fair complexions and looked dignified. When they stepped onto the snow in their leather boots, they made crunching sounds. They were even wearing black leather gloves. However, the two men looked exceptionally young.
When one of them saw the roasted goat, he said with a smile, ”I didn't expect you all to be enjoying this so much. After inspecting several dozen outposts, we noticed all of them were having difficulties just getting by. It's only you guys here who are living so comfortably. Bring two chairs over for us.”
After he said that, he walked into the outpost with the other officer. Li Qingzheng got someone to bring out two chairs for these two officers while he prepared to sit on the ground.