When Gu Jin woke up again, it was already evening. He only woke up because of the smell of food. The sky outside had already dimmed, and in the middle of the sofas, a fire had been lit at some point. Jiang Li was standing near a table not far from the fire.
Seeing that Gu Jin had gotten up, Jiang Li called him over to sit down. Then she poured the noodles she had cooked into a bowl, added a marinated egg and some ham, and placed it in front of him. After that, she went to the other side and opened a self-heating hotpot that was already ready.
The hotpot smelled especially good. Jiang Li was eating the spicy beef flavor, with lotus root, potatoes, beef, and more, it was extremely satisfying.
“This one is spicy. You’re injured, so you can’t eat it. I added marinated egg and ham for you instead. It tastes pretty good too,” she explained before he started eating, worried he might misunderstand.
“Mm, thank you,” Gu Jin said, taking the noodles and eating them. To be honest, they tasted quite good. He finished quickly.
Jiang Li also ate happily. The spicy, numbing flavor was very satisfying, and after eating, her mood improved noticeably.
“You’re injured. What are your plans next? Are you still going to keep looking for people?” Jiang Li asked casually, feeling in a good mood.
“I plan to continue to Z City. My companions should be waiting for me there. If I still can’t find them, I’ll go to the H City base to take a look,” Gu Jin replied. He still had things he needed to do in Z City.
Z City was on the other side of H City, in the opposite direction from the base. To reach Z City, one would naturally pass through H City. No wonder Gu Jin had appeared there.
“What about your injury…” Jiang Li had assumed he would go to the base to recover.
“Today was just an accident, I ran into the tigers. My injury just means I can’t make large movements for a short period of time, but I can still travel. And I have a gun. As long as I don’t run into situations like today, most people can’t do anything to me,” Gu Jin said. He had managed to dodge in time, so the injury wasn’t serious. Besides, he was already used to getting injured.
“What do the people you’re looking for look like? If I run into them at the base, I can tell them where you are,” Jiang Li said, no longer trying to persuade him. Everyone had their own plans.
“I’m looking for a pair of twins… and there’s one who’s very recognizable, he has silver-white hair and is over 1.8 meters tall…” Gu Jin hadn’t finished speaking when Jiang Li interrupted him.
Jiang Li had actually just asked casually, there was no way she would coincidentally run into them. But as she listened to Gu Jin’s description, the person sounded increasingly familiar, and she couldn’t help but doubt herself. Was silver-white hair really such a common trait?
“You’re not talking about someone with silver-white hair, slightly mixed-race features, and a bit narcissistic, are you…” Jiang Li asked uncertainly.
“You’ve seen Qingxun? Where did you meet him? Was he with anyone else?” Gu Jin asked, clearly surprised that she had actually encountered him.
Well, that lined up even with the name. Jiang Li truly didn’t know what kind of luck she had, she really had run into him.
“I met him two days ago in D City. When I saw him, he was alone,” Jiang Li said, telling him everything she knew.
“Looks like he was going to look for me. We must have just missed each other,” Gu Jin said after a pause.
Then he added, “Jiang Li, although this is a bit abrupt, could you take me to the place where you met him? He should have left some marks behind, so I need to know exactly where he appeared.”
They had their own coded signals. Fang Qingxun would definitely have left traces, and as long as he followed them, he would be able to find him. Afraid she might refuse, he quickly added,
“I can pay you. I can give you weapons. As long as you take me back to where you met him, I can find him.”
“How much can you offer?” Jiang Li was actually a little tempted. She had bought some weapons before, but they were limited. And since they were consumables, stockpiling more would give her greater security. She just didn’t know how much he could actually provide.
Seeing her reaction, Gu Jin immediately knew there was hope and said quickly,
“Pistols, submachine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, they’re all available. You can choose within a certain range later. However…”
He suddenly trailed off, a bit embarrassed.
“However what?”
“However, I can only give them to you after I return to the base. I don’t have them with me right now. But trust me, I…”
He couldn’t even continue speaking properly himself. To anyone hearing it, it really did sound like empty promises.
“Alright, I agree.” After thinking it over, Jiang Li still accepted. She trusted her instincts. After spending this much time with him, she felt that Gu Jin wasn’t someone who would deceive her. Even if she were fooled, at most she would just lose a few days, it wasn’t a real loss.
“Really? You agreed?” Gu Jin asked again, still unable to believe it.
“Yes, I’m sure. But I can take you there, and I’ll only stay for ten days. If you still haven’t found him after ten days, I will leave. However, the compensation remains the same. If you agree, I’ll take you.”
Jiang Li estimated that the earthquakes were about to end, the frequency was getting lower and lower. It should only take another day or two. She needed to find a place to stay at the base before the extreme cold arrived.
“Alright, I agree.” This condition was completely acceptable to Gu Jin. The distance from here to D City wasn’t far anyway, and ten days would also give his injuries time to recover.
“It’s a bit late today. Tomorrow I’ll go find a car first, and then we’ll set off.”
“Okay.” Now that Jiang Li had agreed, Gu Jin finally felt relieved.
The two of them chatted a bit more. By the time the fire was almost burned out, Jiang Li added some wood, and only then did they both sleep.
Fortunately, Gu Jin’s physical condition was quite good, and the bandaging had been done in time. He didn’t develop a fever or infection that night, otherwise it would have been troublesome.
The next morning, Jiang Li and Gu Jin woke up early. Jiang Li cooked some porridge, ate with Gu Jin, and then went out to look for a car.
Cars were everywhere on the streets, some in good condition, others damaged by collapsed buildings. Jiang Li siphoned fuel from nearby vehicles into her space. Once that was done, she took out the Hummer she had stored earlier and put her motorcycle away.
She also took out a small barrel of gasoline and placed it in the car as backup.
When she returned to the office building, Gu Jin had already packed everything. The two of them carried their belongings and headed out. As they were leaving, they saw someone emerging from the corner across the street, likely someone searching for food.
That person probably didn’t expect to see others and immediately ran away upon spotting them.
Jiang Li didn’t pay it any mind. She opened the car door and helped load their things into the back seat.
“This car is good, much more practical than ordinary ones,” Gu Jin said. He had assumed she had just picked any random vehicle, but it turned out to be a Hummer.
“I was lucky. I found it in a corner. I also filled it up with fuel siphoned from roadside cars,” Jiang Li replied. Of course it was good, she had had her eye on this vehicle for a long time. It was the most suitable for situations like this.
They got into the car. Since Gu Jin was injured, Jiang Li drove while he sat in the passenger seat.
When Jiang Li came here before, she had been riding a small donkey and stopping frequently along the way, so it took several days.
Now that they were driving, even though they had to detour around some obstacles, their speed was still much faster than the donkey.