Chapter 13: Ding Qiao’s warning

19 June, Afternoon, before 17:00hrs

As Xiao Mo started descending from the staircase, he saw a few officers pressing the doorbell of Floor 1.

They noticed him, so Xiao Mo simply nodded to them.

Xue Li Hong spoke softly, “Did you notice? The armed policemen are holding on to a thermal detector, it can detect if he people inside are still alive.”

“They are able to detect even by standing outside the door?”

Xue Li Hong nodded his head.

“Then why did the other policemen need to go into our house and inspect each room?” Xiao Mo asked curiously.

“They were holding onto a different apparatus.”

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“Xb? Mbld vbl sdl vbyv oyp oyzjkdt yaswde swa assxp, obyv oyp bl vlpvkdt qsa?”

“R sdzu xydytle vs vyjl sdl zssj yv vbl elhknl; kv zssjle zkjl y xlvyzzkn vlpvla.” Dwl Nk Tsdt ydpolale.

Ylvyzzkn vlpvla? Mlpvkdt vbl yka iwyzkvu oyp dsv ldswtb? Dkys Ys alxlxclale vbyv sdl sq vbl rszknl sqqknlap oldv yaswde srldkdt bkp nyckdlv. Vlabyrp vblu olal dsv sdzu nblnjkdt qsa vbl yxswdv sq qsse bl sodle.

Dkys Ys pweeldzu alxlxclale vbl Jzst’p lmyttlayvkdt ekyau rytl.

Qszeld dwttlvp?

Elal vblu plyanbkdt qsa vbspl?

Mbl tszeld dwttlvp yde vbl Uyacsd Ylvyzzkn hkawp, obyv oyp vbl alzyvksdpbkr clvolld vblpl vos?

“Fupvlx, vbspl Uyacsd Ylvyzzkn hkawp ryvkldvp, yqvla alnshlakdt, okzz vblu okzz byhl y pkel lqqlnv, qsa lmyxrzl vblu nyd rasewnl tszeld dwttlvp qasx vblka cseklp? Ps vbl tszeld dwttlvp byhl ydu wpl? Ebu kp vblal pwnb y olkae hkawp?” Dkys Ys ypjle vbl pupvlx psqvzu.

“Non-mission related…”

“You can shut up!”

There was another issue, if it was a metal detector, then when the police officer passed by Xue Li Hong, why didn’t the apparatus sound? Xue Li Hong had all kinds of tools and parts which were made of metal in his backpack.

Xiao Mo was suddenly tempted to snatch the kid’s backpack and check. It seemed like only two days have passed (according to his assumption), yet there were so much weird events that happened. Was the system in his mind related to the kid? Who knows, perhaps the system was injected into his body by the kid. If no, how could there be such coincidences?

The small neighbourhood only had the two of them in the vicinity, so the area was extremely quiet.

Xiao Mo stopped himself from thinking weird thoughts. He proceeded to drive out his sedan from the carpark with Xue Li Hong sitting at the passenger seat beside him. The both of them drove till the entrance before realising the security gaurds were surprisingly still there.

“Brother Xiao, heading out?” The young security guard walked out of the guard house and started a conversation.

Even though Xiao Mo urgently wanted to find Li Xiao Shuang, he was forced to stop and take a look. Ah, it was even a familiar person. He was the one that managed to procure some food stock because of Xiao Mo’s reminder. He was wearing a huge mask on his face today.

Xiao Mo rolled down his window, “Yes, I am going to collect the rations that is distributed by the government.” Just as he was about to leave the place, the gaud shouted at him.

“Brother Xiao, make sure to be careful, especially if you are bringing the kid. These past few days, there have been a lot of people who are mentally unsound roaming on the streets.”

Xiao Mo heard it but he did not put it to heart. Such a widespread virus, having an unwell mental state right now was considered normal. He just had to be careful.

The guard saw that he didn’t take his word to heart. He pressed on Xiao Mo’s car window and emphasised heavily, “Brother Xiao, you have to be careful.”

Xiao Mo switched off his car engine, “Be careful of what?” No wonder the guard was suddenly so talkative today, what he really wanted to say was the sentence “be careful” right?

The guard bit his lips, before glancing towards the main gate, “There have been people spreading bad rumours.”

“What rumours?”

“End of the world rumours.”

Xiao Mo became surprised, “You believe in this kind of rumours?”

Only an area had been locked down and such rumours have already started spreading; this was way too exaggerating. This was not the first time the country had a widespread virus and several places had been under lockdown too. At that time during lockdown, there was no rumour about the end of the world, at most vinegar and indigowood root were sold out in all places.

“I don’t believe, but I feel that the virus spread this time round is really quite scary.”

 “Even if it’s true, we also shouldn’t cause chaos. If not, even if it isn’t true, it will become the truth.” Xiao Mo chuckled, he was also comforting himself.

“This I know.” The guard puffed out his chest, “In times like this we must be united, only being united can we be powerful. The more dangerous it is ahead, the more we need to have a clear mind. We must not believe in rumours and panic, we also need to listen to the instructions from above.”

“Brother, what’s your name.”

“I am Ding Qiao.”

Xiao Mo also asked about the situation outside the past few days. He finally restarted the car after making sure of the situation.

When the car moved towards the main gates, he noticed that there were a few hooligans lingering around the main gate.

They saw that there was a kid next to Xiao Mo and their eyes sparkled.

“Next time, if I don’t come along, don’t go out.” Xiao Mo reminded Xue Li Hong.

Xue Li Hong obediently nodded his head and said ok.

When they reached the Lian Gou Le supermarket, there could finally spot more people.

Right at the front, there was a square which got converted into a grocer distribution centre. There were several policemen patrolling the place. Xiao Mo drove his car into the carpark and parked his car before approaching the square with the kid.

After he came out, he brought up the map in his mind to search for Xi Xiao Shuang, before realising that she was nearby.

Where was she?

When people passed by Xue Li Hong and Xiao Mo, they would take a second glance at him. Even the policemen patrolling also kept peering at them.

Xiao Mo felt weird. What were they looking at? Was there anything different about Xue Li Hong and him?

The target started moving according to the map. Xiao Mo turned to view the queue for the ration collection.

The peak period might have been over, so those queueing for the collection station were not that much. Xiao Mo observed the queue and found a young woman with long hair.

She looked normal; not really pretty but had a clear complexion. However, she looked really anxious.

Together with the kid, Xiao Mo approached to the end of the queue.

In such a situation, he could not just walk towards the girl and kill her, he didn’t even want to kill anyone.

If he called the police, what about the evidence? What about the source of information?

The queue slowly crawled forward while Xiao Mo’s mind was thinking how to approach the other party without scaring her.

Li Xiao Shuang had finished collecting her rations, but instead of heading home, she held her rations and went into the supermarket.

Xiao Mo quickly left the queue and followed her all while trying to avoid the police’s attention. He briskly approached the supermarket. Once he reached the entrance, he was about to take out the metal pole from his shopping bag, but the kid suddenly said, “This is for you, it is much better than the metal rod.”

The kid took down his backpack, and took out an object for Xiao Mo, and proceeded to tell him how to use it.