The Chef Rules the Last Days
Chapter 261 - 259: Blockade

Chapter 261: Chapter 259: Blockade

"What is it?"

The soldier looked back at his younger brother, deliberated for a moment, and finally said, "There’s a problem with your body related to secrecy, come with me for now. I need to probe the higher-ups about it."

...

Jiang Residence.

Hu Ding led a soldier straight to the study.

At that time, Jiang Hai was at the desk, scheduling the deployment times and headcounts for the second dose of the medicine.

"Report."

Hu Ding knocked on the door and gave a loud report.

Jiang Hai, without looking up and flipping through the documents, said, "Speak."

Hu Ding gave a glance to the soldier beside him, who, wiping the sweat from his forehead and standing fearfully in front of the desk, said, "Commander Jiang, the first batch of medicine issued has problems!"

Jiang Hai’s hands paused while turning the files, and he sharply looked up, "What did you say?!"

The soldier, frightened by his glare, unconsciously tightened his grip on his trousers, his voice beginning to quiver, "There’s a problem with the medicine. Today, while I was out with the new Evolvers, we encountered an accident."

His words were rushed and panicked.

The information made both Jiang Hai’s and Hu Ding’s hearts sink to the bottom.

"You said Lu Chen was there too?" Jiang Hai stood up and walked over to him.

"Yes, we watched as the blood turned into worms and ate... ate a whole cow!"

Jiang Hai’s heart was overwhelmed with immense panic, and he turned to Hu Ding, speaking gravely, "Recall the first batch of testers, bring back those 10 from the Second Ring immediately. Seal off the Outer Ring tonight, no one is allowed in, and bring Lu Chen to me!"

Hu Ding was commanded and quickly left.

Only the soldier remained in the room, not daring to look around, he took a step back, preparing to follow Hu Ding out.

"Does anyone else know about this, apart from the team that went out this time and a second wave of people?"

Jiang Hai walked around the desk and opened a drawer on one side, which contained a handgun.

The soldier stopped, his gaze trembling as he turned to answer, "Report, no."

Jiang Hai nodded, "Go back."

The soldier let out a sigh of relief and took steps to leave.

Behind him, Jiang Hai, holding the gun, pulled the trigger.

Although equipped with a silencer, the sound made Hu Ding, still near the staircase, stiffen his steps, he gripped his hand and hurried down the stairs.

When a body was carried out from the Inner Ring to be taken outside the base, even though the face was covered, the physique and slightly dirty military uniform made a man hiding in the shadows, with a bushy beard, bloodshot in his eyes.

Big brother is dead!

...

After handing over part of the beef, they returned to the apartment.

In the elevator, Li Qian gently said from behind, "Could Commander Jiang’s researchers be this unreliable, missing such a big risk?"

A cold light flashed in Lu Chen’s eyes, "Someone tampered with it."

The atmosphere was still.

Exiting the elevator, Su Mo invited Li Qian and Zhao Changsheng to stay for dinner.

She made scallion crispy pumpkin, stir-fried bok choy, braised crucian carp, plus a beef soup.

Four people, four dishes, the pork in the beef soup was replaced with the freshly brought-back beef, Su Mo successfully enhanced the soup’s attribute to basic resistance against the cold for ten hours.

A series of statuses echoed in the minds of the four people.

Su Mo took a sip of the soup and said, "When you return tonight, remember to bring Ling Ye back. It’s temporarily unsafe at Su Niang’s."

"Understood," Zhao Changsheng nodded.

Li Qian had a look of worry in his eyes. Lu Chen gave him a glance and indifferently served Su Mo some beef. "Find an excuse and bring both back."

Li Qian looked up at him and said warmly, "Okay."

After dinner, Su Mo processed the beef she had brought back, cut off a slice, and set out with the three men.

They headed straight for the Outer Ring.

Not long after they left, Lu Yuan, wearing a hat, looked up at the tall apartment building and stepped inside.

A despondent Xiaoqiao staggered from the street corner, "Let’s go beg them one last time."

...

Hu Ding had just come to call someone but found nobody home; he knocked on the door but received no response, then turned and said to the soldier following him, "Have people been taken to the Outer Ring?"

"Yes."

"Let’s go," Hu Ding lowered his hand and touched the gun in his hand, then hurried downstairs.

The night was deepening.

A large number of soldiers swarmed into the Outer Ring, blocking it completely.

Su Mo and her group of four were lost in the crowd, watching as the entrance and exits of the Outer Ring were sealed tightly.

A soldier with a megaphone was continuously broadcasting, "All new-type Evolvers please gather at the Second Ring entrance area for an important notification, all new-type Evolvers..."

"He’s very fast," Su Mo said as she walked, observing the puzzled pedestrians passing by.

Lu Chen kept her close by his side without speaking, yet his eyes carried a chill.

The four of them reached Jian Chunhua’s tent, which was unlit and quiet compared to the noise outside.

Su Mo touched the curtain, and Jian Qing, seeing the shadow on the curtain, became immediately alert. His trembling hand held a kitchen knife, staring intently at the opening.

"I’ve brought beef," Su Mo said softly.

Jian Qing turned back, glanced at Jian Chunhua tied to the small bed, and shouted angrily, "Go away! I don’t need the meat! Get out!"

Su Mo frowned and looked at Li Qian, mouthing: What’s going on?

Li Qian spread out his spiritual power, his eyes strange under his glasses; he silently replied, "Zombie."

This answer tightened Su Mo’s heart. After all, Jian Qing and his mother Jian Chunhua depended solely on each other. Had Jian Chunhua suddenly turned into a zombie?

Su Mo drew out her Tang Blade, her face calm as she spoke softly towards the inside, "Did you get your blood on your mother?"

Inside the tent, Jian Qing’s grip on the knife trembled even more fiercely, his voice carrying a layer of despair, "You lied to me! I’ve become a monster! The worm came out of my blood!"

Small crystals started to gather around Lu Chen, who emitted a cold light from his pupils without much talk, and took two steps forward.

With immense pressure, Jian Qing in the tent almost suffocated; the oppressive feeling made him release his grip on the knife, and he half-knelt on the ground.

Zhao Changsheng, already impatient, marched forward and pulled back the curtain.

With her night vision, Su Mo saw clearly inside: Jian Qing kneeling on the ground, with a bloody knife beside him. Jian Chunhua was tied on the bed with a sheet torn into strips, her body swollen.

The worms, constantly bulging out of her facial skin, were rampant, even having eaten her eyeballs and replacing them with their bodies.

Su Mo shivered, stepping inside, "You were fine when you came back. How did you get the blood on your mother?"

Lu Chen slightly reduced the pressure. Jian Qing focused on the kitchen knife, his eyes brimming with tears and his nose running, "My Healing superpower is so strong; I just wanted to show off in front of her. But she felt sorry for me and immediately reached out to stop my bleeding..."