Ke Bei was about to answer when a phone rang abruptly in the room.
Cheng Qian picked up the phone.
Seeing the caller ID, he straightened instinctively and quickly answered.
“Uncle Liang, this is Cheng Qian.”
“Cheng Qian, where are you now?”
As soon as the call connected, the person on the other end didn’t exchange any pleasantries and asked directly.
“At the shop.”
“Alone?”
Cheng Qian glanced at Ke Bei and the child beside him, but didn’t answer immediately.
“Find a place with no one around, immediately.” The tone on the other end was serious and commanding.
“Yes!” Without hesitation, Cheng Qian turned and left the room.
Ke Bei glanced at her husband’s back and then continued packing up the room.
This room had originally been a temporary resting place, so there weren’t many items, and packing them up took almost no time.
Books, notebooks, a desk lamp, a fan, a laptop…
The desk, chair, bed, bedding…
A few sets of clothes, toiletries, towels, slippers…
Except for taking a little time to remove the air conditioner from the wall, putting everything into her space took only a few minutes.
After scanning the room to make sure there was nothing left, Ke Bei took her son and walked out.
She glanced at the locked storage door, then at Cheng Qian standing in the backyard with a serious expression, and decided to head to the front hall.
The front hall, being the area open to customers, was naturally decorated much more carefully.
One entire wall was lined with display cabinets, holding all kinds of car accessories, windshield washer fluid, cleaning supplies, and other items.
Ke Bei didn’t inspect them closely; she lightly ran her hand over the cabinets, and both the items and the cabinets disappeared.
She then walked behind the counter. This time, she didn’t rush to collect things but opened a drawer and rummaged inside.
Sure enough, in the corner of the drawer, she found a few chocolate wafers and an unopened pack of soda crackers.
Ke Bei quickly handed the wafers to Cheng Tian, and tore open the crackers, stuffing a large piece into her own mouth.
The long-missed salty, fragrant, and crispy taste made her close her eyes in happiness.
“Mom, so good!” Cheng Tian exclaimed with delight.
He had already unwrapped the wafer but had only taken a tiny bite.
From birth until now, he had hardly ever eaten anything sweet, let alone this fragrant and sweet chocolate.
He leapt into Ke Bei’s arms, shoving the nearly untouched wafer into her mouth with all his might, saying, “Mom, eat! So good!”
His big eyes blinked rapidly, shining with pure joy.
Seeing her son’s happiness, Ke Bei felt an indescribable ache in her heart.
She knew she couldn’t refuse; she took a bite herself, then patted Cheng Tian’s head and said, “Sweetheart, go over there and wait a bit. After I finish tidying up, I’ll take you to eat something even more delicious!”
Cheng Tian couldn’t imagine anything could be better than what he already had in his hands, but he was still very happy hearing his mother’s words.
He nodded vigorously, said “Mm-hm,” and ran to the sofa in the rest area to sit obediently and wait.
These snacks were probably left by the previous helper. Ke Bei searched the drawer again but couldn’t find anything else.
She found a bag and put the loose change from the drawer inside, then gathered all the miscellaneous items and stored them into her space.
Time was limited, so she didn’t have the luxury to sort or organize anything.
Afterwards, she also gathered the sofa and coffee table in the rest area, the water dispenser, buckets, and even the upright air conditioner that was running nearby, storing them all into her space.
The shop, which had been packed and somewhat cramped, was suddenly emptied completely.
Once finished, Ke Bei glanced back and saw Cheng Qian still on the phone.
She couldn’t tell what was being said on the other end; he stood straight and rigid, giving off the appearance of someone following orders to the letter.
Ke Bei didn’t dare disturb him and instead moved to the passage connecting the back yard and the front hall. She dismantled the outdoor units of all the air conditioners in the shop and stored them in her space as well.
Although Ke Bei’s combat ability in the apocalypse was only average, at this stage she was still stronger than ordinary people.
Even though the wound on her leg seemed to have reopened, with blood flowing again, small tasks like climbing walls and dismantling air conditioners were still trivial for her.
It just took a little longer than it would have before.
She knew that for a long time, electricity would be extremely scarce and air conditioners would hardly be useful.
But after experiencing the scarcity of resources during the apocalypse, every bit of supplies she could possess now was precious.
Since they couldn’t leave immediately anyway, she didn’t mind spending the effort to secure everything.
“Cheng Qian, here’s the situation: the helicopter picking you up will arrive at the Zhoujia Town military airport at 4 PM tomorrow. The roads aren’t great, so you must depart early and arrive on time. Can you manage that?”
“Yes!” Cheng Qian replied loudly without hesitation.
“Good.” The person on the other end chuckled, his tone softening a bit.
“This time, our garrison has decided to form a special operations team. Deputy Commander Lu’s first nomination is you; he has very high hopes for you. He will personally meet you tomorrow. Cheng Qian, see you tomorrow!”
“Uncle Liang, I have a favor to ask!” Cheng Qian quickly interrupted, sensing the call was about to end.
“Oh? Go ahead,” the person replied, clearly surprised that Cheng Qian would make a request at this moment.
“I want to request two extra seats.”
Cheng Qian pressed his lips together and said boldly, “I need to take my wife and son with me to the capital.”
“…”
There was a long silence on the other end.
After a while, a voice came through again: “You… got married? And you have a son?”
The tone was almost unsteady, no longer the calm and composed voice from before.
“When did this happen? You little rascal, you got married without even letting us know?! And now you even have a son? Fine, fine! You really don’t care about us uncles at all!
I’ve arranged a position for you; when you arrive tomorrow, explain it to the commander yourself!” The voice grew louder and louder, and in the end, it hung up in anger.
Cheng Qian put down his phone, wiped the sweat from his forehead, still carrying a trace of awkwardness he hadn’t had time to shake off.
He stood there for a moment, then turned and walked toward the rest area.
Standing at the entrance of the rest area, looking at the empty room, completely cleared down to the last screw—Cheng Qian was stunned!
Although he already knew his wife was capable, and that she had a mysterious space of her own—
The scene before him was still shocking.
She even dismantled the air conditioners…
How could a woman, injured no less, manage all of this?
Thinking of Ke Bei’s wound, Cheng Qian’s expression darkened. He turned and headed toward the front hall to grab the medical kit at the counter.
But he had barely taken two steps before Cheng Tian leapt into his arms.
“Dad, eat! It’s good!” Cheng Tian hugged his father’s leg and held out the chocolate wafer tightly clenched in his hand.
Cheng Qian lowered his head, looking at his son’s eager little eyes, then at the wafer that had been crushed and melted all over his hands, and felt a wave of indescribable pain.
He bent down, lifted his son, and kissed his little messy face, speaking gently: “Dad isn’t going to eat it; you eat it yourself. Don’t eat too much, later I’ll take you to something even better.”
With that, he carried his son toward the front hall. “Dad will get you some water; don’t eat it dry like that.”
“Don’t bother. There’s nothing left up front; everything’s been packed. Give me the warehouse key.”
Ke Bei jumped down naturally from the courtyard wall and reached out her hand to him.
Cheng Qian stopped in shock.
He looked up at the courtyard wall, now full of holes, with even the tripod that held the outdoor units removed, and then at Ke Bei, who had changed clothes and was neatly dressed…
His mouth moved, but he said nothing, silently taking the keys from his pocket and handing them over.
Ke Bei took them, swiftly opened the storage room door, and ran her fingers along the shelves.
In an instant, every shelf in the room, along with all the items on them, vanished right before Cheng Qian’s eyes!
The warehouse had been stocked with various car accessories, seat covers, sheepskin cushions, and other related merchandise.
Although the inventory wasn’t huge, it filled six large shelves, each two and a half meters high, plus a dozen or so cardboard boxes over a meter tall.
Normally, clearing all of this would take two or three people half a day.
But now, it simply disappeared.
“How big is your space?” Cheng Qian asked, trying to sound calm.
“Thirty meters long, sixty meters wide, six meters high, about the size of two basketball courts,” Ke Bei said.
She glanced at the empty room with a hint of regret, then added meaningfully, “It’s all empty. I hadn’t found suitable supplies to store in it before.”
Cheng Qian: “……”
Alright, he understood. The task of stocking the supplies had been handed to him.
Another room held the repair tools.
What made Ke Bei happiest was that inside, she even found six 50-liter plastic gasoline cans!
“Next time we pass a gas station, fill them up as much as possible. Otherwise, we’ll run into trouble on the road later,” she said.
Cheng Qian didn’t respond immediately.
After a moment of hesitation, he finally said, “The person who called me earlier was Deputy Chief of Staff Liang from the Beijing Garrison. The army is summoning me back. Tomorrow at four in the afternoon, the plane leaves, and you and Cheng Tian will go with me.”
Ke Bei was momentarily stunned, then asked, “The government already knows this early? Are they going to take action?”
“Yes,” Cheng Qian nodded. “They’re forming a special operations team.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “You know I used to be in the special forces, right? Now the country needs me. Even though I’ve retired, as a soldier, I must answer the call and fight to win. I have to return to the unit immediately.
We absolutely have to find Cheng Tian’s lifesaver, and that medicine you mentioned—I’ll make sure we find it too! Once we get to Beijing, I’ll handle all of this. Please trust me.”
Cheng Qian’s tone was sincere, though his eyes held deep regret.
He knew that both of the matters Ke Bei mentioned were extremely important, but military orders are unbreakable. Right now, all he could do was obey and return to Beijing immediately.
Other matters would have to wait until they arrived.
Fortunately, once back with the unit, he’d have more resources at his disposal, increasing the chances of completing these two tasks.
Cheng Qian feared Ke Bei might not trust his promise and refuse to accompany him to Beijing, so he patiently tried to explain.
Ke Bei thought for a moment, then waved him off, interrupting his words. “You don’t need to explain. Tomorrow, Cheng Tian and I will definitely go with you. Now that we’ve found you, our family can never be separated again. It’s just…”
She paused, looking at Cheng Qian with hesitation. “If nothing changes, I actually think the plane tomorrow won’t land on time, and you won’t make it to Beijing as scheduled.”
Seeing Cheng Qian’s pupils contract in disbelief, Ke Bei helplessly shrugged. “Otherwise, how could we have met in our past life?”