"I must be controllable." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi still looked at him. He didn't know how to understand Xing Bi's answer.
But at this moment, there might be people monitoring him everywhere, and there might be some devices implanted in his body that have not been discovered, so Qiu Shi did not continue to ask.
He just said: "This time when we go out, the lives of my brothers are in our hands. As long as they are not dead, we have to come back."
"I know." Xing Bi said.
"Is there anything else you like among these things?" Qiu Shi asked, "I can give it to you."
"Will the old man come to me and ask me to go back?" Xing Bi asked.
"Probably not," Qiu Shi smiled, but the smile disappeared after a moment's thought. "He packed these things up specifically, probably intending to leave them to me. Now it's uncertain whether he's dead or alive."
"I still want these paintings." said Xing Bi.
"Take it." said Qiu Shi.
Xing Bi took out a few old pictures from the box, stacked them neatly, and put them in his pocket.
The old man said that these were all illustrations from old magazines, and they were basically all kinds of buildings, complete buildings with walls, roofs, colors, doors and windows.
The old man also said that there were such buildings in other places, but Qiu Shi had never left the rugged black rocks outside Yuncheng since he could remember, and he had only seen a few of them in pictures.
"Okay." Xing Bi said.
"Let's go back and have a drink." Qiu Shi said, "Can you really drink?"
"Although it is not necessary, you can drink it," Xing Bi said, "as long as the amount does not exceed a certain level, it can be metabolized."
"Then you can just say you can't drink much, and after drinking a little you can just lie aside and pretend to be dead," Qiu Shi said, "Zhao Lu can't drink much either, two glasses is enough, you see he's passed out, and you can just follow suit."
Xing Bi smiled and said, "Okay."
There were people outside to help defend. The corpse collectors were not out on patrol, and Qiu Shi would be picked up again early tomorrow morning. So all the people gathered in the bunker, squatting or sitting on the floor in two circles around the low table.
Only Xiao Lei, who had struggled to integrate into the corpse collection team but still remembered his identity as an outpost of the Security Bureau, remained at his post and stayed in the communication bunker to prevent any sudden contact from the auxiliary defense side.
"Did you leave anything for Captain Xiao?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Give it to him," Zhao Lu said, "He doesn't want the wine yet. I'm afraid it will cause trouble."
There were a lot of food on the table, or to be more precise, canned food, including various canned meats and canned vegetables. There was a barrel in the middle that was full of wine, and the wine was poured out using a large spoon.
"You're not celebrating after today, right? These cans are for you to keep for the winter." Qiu Shi sat cross-legged in the seat vacated for him by the crowd and waved to Xing Bi.
Xing Bi also sat cross-legged next to him.
"I don't usually have the opportunity to eat and drink so much," Zhao Lu said, "This time..."
Zhao Lu stopped talking here. Although he didn't say it explicitly, everyone knew that Qiu Shi was going to Donglin to find Hu Xiaoling this time.
The kidnapping of Hu Xiaoling was already depressing enough. After knowing that the people who kidnapped Hu Xiaoling wanted to force Qiu Shi to go to Donglin, everyone felt a little sensitive towards Qiu Shi who was leaving tomorrow.
"Brother Shi," He Jiang picked up the wine glass in front of him, "You said before that you should save yourself first and then save others, and don't risk your life for others..."
"None of those who were infected by Hu Xiaoling can speak," Brigade Zhao said with a click of the tongue, "Who the hell is going to risk their life for his own?"
"Although we don't know how serious this is, we all hope you won't go," He Jiang didn't get choked by Zhao Lu and still raised the cup, "But... we also know that you never keep your word on this kind of thing, you will definitely go..."
Qiu Shi didn't say anything, just held the cup and waited for him to speak.
"We can only ask you to be very careful and save yourself first before saving others," said He Jiang.
"I see." Qiu Shi took a sip of wine, "A bunch of idiots."
The whole group drank the wine in one gulp, and then hurriedly scooped up a second glass.
"Is there anything else?" Qiu Shi asked Zhao Lu in a low voice.
"They won't feel at ease until you finish talking." Zhao Lu glanced at Xing Bi over him.
"Brother Xing Bi," He Jiang raised his glass again, and everyone raised their glasses. He Jiang looked at Xing Bi, "Since you are a bodyguard, you must be better than our Brother Shi..."
"Bullshit." Qiu Shi said.
Xing Bi smiled, picked up the cup, and looked at the circle of cups in front of him.
"Of course Brother Shi is also very good, but probably not as good as you," said He Jiang.
"Don't beat around the bush," Zhao Lu couldn't help but remind him, "Just move forward."
"Please take good care of Brother Shi," He Jiang slammed the cup onto the table, and with a clang, "Thank you!"
"Thank you!" A group of people suddenly shouted at the same time, and then slammed their cups onto the table.
The youngest brother, whom they called Flea, even cracked the cup. He was holding the cup, hesitating between catching the wine with his mouth or watching the wine leak out.
"You're stupid." Qiu Shi sighed.
The flea quickly put the broken edge of the cup to his lips.
"Thank you." Zhao Lu held the cup and tapped it against Xing Bi's cup.
"I will." Xing Bi said.
The group of people raised their heads and drank the wine again.
Then Zhao Lu pulled a bag of clothes from the back that had not been unpacked, leaned back, and closed his eyes: "You guys continue, eat and drink, you'll have enough for today."
It was impossible for everyone to have so many kinds of canned food in one meal. As soon as Zhao Lu opened his mouth, he temporarily put aside the matters of Qiu Shi and Hu Xiaoling, and started eating and drinking with a heavy mood but a good appetite.
Xing Bi drank the glass of wine in his hand, put it down, looked at Zhao Lu, and then looked at Qiu Shi.
"What?" Qiu Shi asked.
"It's falling down now?" Xing Bi asked.
Qiu Shi laughed and took a piece of meat from the can and put it in his mouth: "Hold on a little longer, it's too fast, you don't look like a bodyguard."
"Yeah." When Xing Bi turned back to look at the cup, it was already filled up again. "Very... enthusiastic."
"It seems like you used to play high-end games," Qiu Shi pinched another piece of meat and put it in his mouth, wiped his hands on Zhao Lu's pants, took the cup and clinked it with Xing Bi, "How should I act naturally in a scene like this? I don't have it in my memory, is your little cube brain about to burn out?"
"It's true that I've never eaten without using cutlery," said Xing Bi.
"We have tableware, but we don't use it when we're drinking," Qiu said. "These idiots get into fights when they drink, so it's not safe to put tableware here."
This was not an exaggeration. Before Xing Bi had finished his second glass of wine, a group of people over there, who had already had several glasses of wine and had almost finished their canned food, started fighting for no reason.
The beating was very intense, mixed with various insults.
Qiu Shi watched them huddled together without any surprise, and dragged the table towards him to make room.
In fact, he didn't have many opportunities to vent. In the past, it was mostly when he was relaxing in Dayan Tavern. He had lost several tables in Dayan. It was rare for him to go crazy like this in the bunker. The last time was during the City Day in Yuncheng last year. The company humanely gave two cans of food to every refugee in the outer city, and the whole city celebrated together.
"You've never seen anything like this..." Qiu Shi turned his head and didn't finish his words.
Xing Bi had chosen the right time to lie down and pretend to be drunk.
"Hey," Qiu Shi patted his face, "Is it installed already?"
Xing Bi lay quietly with his eyes closed, without any reaction.
"Who drank this half cup!" Qiu Shi took Xing Bi's glass and raised it up. Someone in the crowd of people fighting reached out and took the cup.
"Okay, let's go." Qiu Shi stood up, grabbed Zhao Lu's collar with one hand and Xing Bi's collar with the other, and dragged them out of the shelter.
The temperature has dropped a bit in the past two days. When I got out of the shelter, the wind blew and it was much cooler than usual.
"Fuck," he dragged the two people for a few steps and stopped, "The one pretending to be drunk, you are just pretending, at least try harder."
Xing Bi didn't move, and naturally didn't use any strength.
Qiu Shi could only abandon him and drag Zhao Lu into his own room first, then came out again. Just when he was about to kick Xing Bi to tell him to stop pretending, Xiao Lei, who had been guarding his post, left his post at some point and walked over from the darkness: "Let me help you drag it."
"Get lost," Qiu Shi could only continue to drag Xing Bi to his room, "You only have three and a half ounces of strength."
"Qiu Shi," Xiao Lei still insisted on grabbing one of Xing Bi's legs and following him, "I know things are not as simple as they seem. I'm afraid you're in danger this time..."
"Fuck you," Qiu Shi said helplessly, looking back at him, "If I don't die, I'll be sorry for all of you who are hoping for my death every day."
"These brothers are hostages, right?" Xiao Lei said.
Qiu Shi was stunned for a moment. He hadn't told Zhao Luming about this, but Zhao Lu was able to guess it himself. He didn't expect that Xiao Lei, a fool, could also guess it.
"I will take good care of them," Xiao Lei said, "No matter what happens, I won't let them touch these people. At worst, I can take them away..."
"Wow!" Qiu Shi couldn't help but exclaim, "You're awesome."
Xiao Lei looked at him without saying anything, with some hurt in his eyes.
"Protect yourself," Qiu Shi looked at him, "Li Feng didn't put you here to die for the corpse collector, get out."
Xiao Lei still didn't say anything.
Qiu Shi could only say it again gently: "Go back to sleep."
After carrying Xing Bi's legs and following Qiu Shi into the house, Xiao Lei turned around and left silently.
Qiu Shi closed the door and made sure that Xiao Lei's footsteps had faded away before turning around. He found that Xing Bi, who had been thrown to the ground, was still lying there without moving.
"You are not..." Qiu Shi bent down and stared at him, "If you really have a short circuit, I won't be able to fix it."
"Do you admit that you really don't understand?" Xing Bi opened his eyes.
"I know why you were blocked," Qiu Shi pointed at him, "You owed it."
Xing Bi smiled, still lying on the ground, but raised his arm to rest his head: "I know why you must go find Hu Xiaoling."
"Well? Of course we have to find him. Do I need to figure this out? He's my brother." Qiu Shi took off his coat, sat on a chair and looked at him. "Are you just going to lie on the ground like this?"
"Lie down for a while." Xing Bi said.
"When you are in the lab...how do you usually rest?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Sit down." Xing Bi said.
"In that glass cover?" Qiu Shi frowned, thought about it, got up from the chair and sat on the ground.
"No," Xing Bi said, "That's only used when communication is needed."
"What about when we're not communicating?" Qiu Shi asked.
Xing Bi did not answer immediately. After a long while, he said, "Hibernation capsule."
"Hibernate? Sleep all the time?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Awake most of the time." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi was silent for a long time, then he took out a cigarette and lit it.
After finishing his cigarette, he stood up, kicked Xing Bi, opened the door and walked out: "Come on, Brother Shi will take you out for a walk."
Because the temperature is lower than before, the air is filled with a faint chill and a hint of sadness. In another month, many refugees will not be able to reach Yuncheng and will be frozen to death on the road.
Qiu Shi looked up at the sky. There was no moon or stars today, only a faint light on the horizon.
He led Xing Bi up a narrow ridge. The first short section was a rocky path, and then there were jagged stones and sharp peaks. Usually, few people would come up here.
Qiu Shi often came here. This was the highest place in their activity area outside the city, higher than the tunnel entrance that could be seen from afar on the opposite side.
It was very easy for Xing Bi to walk this way. Qiu Shi could not hear his breathing. If it were Zhao Lu, he would be able to walk two miles in a breathtaking manner behind him.
"Is your breath just for show?" Qiu Shi asked as they walked.
"No," Xing Bi said, "It may also be related to physical exercise."
Having said that, Qiu Shi still stopped and moved closer to him.
The distance was finally close enough. Although the breathing was very light, there was a breath that swept past his ears. He rubbed his ears and said, "It's true."
The wind became stronger as they went higher. Qiu Shi wrapped his scarf around his neck twice more and looked back at Xing Bi.
"We have temperature perception," Xing Bi said, "and our bodies will react accordingly to the temperature."
"I don't understand," Qiu Shi said, "I just want to ask if you are cold."
"What it means is that I'm not cold but I know it's cold now," Xing Bi said, "and my body can feel the cold."
Qiu Shi looked at him for a long time before he said, "You've been asking me to stop. I just want to ask you if you want me to give you a coat to wear."
"No need." Xing Bi said.
"Let's go," Qiu Shi continued walking, "We'll be there soon."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
In fact, you don’t necessarily have to go to the highest point of the ridge. Now you can see everything around here, but Qiu Shi always has to go to the highest point, like a ritual, as if only by standing at the highest place will he not miss any scenery.
"We're here," Qiu Shi stopped, stood on the sharpest rock, and raised his arms. "This is the highest point of the corpse collector's territory outside the city."
"Yeah." Xing Bi stood beside him and slowly turned his head to look around.
"You stand here." Qiu Shi jumped off the rock and gave him his seat.
Xing Bi stood up.
"In fact, the field of view shouldn't change much," Qiu Shi looked at him, "but this is the highest point."
Xing Bi didn't say anything, just looked quietly into the distance.
"You can see very far, right?" Qiu Shi said. "It's huge, and the sky is high."
"Thank you." Xing Bi said.
"You're welcome." said Qiu Shi.
Xing Bi smiled.
"You're being so polite to me, I don't know what to say," said Qiu Shi.
"You are a very good person." Xing Bi said.
"It doesn't sound like a good thing to say," Qiu Shi said. "I feel like I can go die after saying it. These past few days, everyone thinks I'm going to die."
"Don't empathize with biochemical entities easily." Xing Bi suddenly said.
"Huh?" Qiu Shi was stunned.
"It will affect your judgment of them," Xing Bi said, "Emotions are weaknesses."
"What do you mean?" Qiu Shi asked.
"We are infinitely close to humans, which means that we could be Zhao Lu, Xiao Lei," Xing Bi looked at him, "or Zhang Qifeng, Mr. Long, or the general."
Qiu Shi was silent for a while, then sighed softly: "Is there nothing like mine?"
Xing Bi paused, laughed, and said after a while: "You are very rare."
"Xing Bi," Qiu Shi squatted down and pulled his scarf over his face, "How do you judge right from wrong?"
"When it comes to survival, no one can make the right judgment," Xing Bi said, "Some people rely on emotions, some rely on reason." Early in the morning, the security bureau's car was parked far away at the entrance of the tunnel. When Zhao Lu entered the room to wake Qiu Shi up, Qiu Shi found that Xing Bi was not in the room.
"Fuck," he said, his legs going weak with fear, "Where's Xing Biren?"
"It's on the top of the mountain," Zhao Lu said. "I got up in the middle of the night to pee, and when I turned around I saw a guy standing there. I was so scared that I almost peed my pants. In the morning I came out and was about to sneeze, but when I turned around I saw he was still standing there."
Although Qiu Shi couldn't understand it, he still breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to put on his clothes: "Did you sneeze?"
"I'm exhausted," Zhao Lu said, "There's no rush. I'll fight you later after you leave."
"No one has gotten up yet, right?" Qiu Shi walked out of the door, turned around and looked up. Sure enough, he saw a figure on the top of the mountain, which was the place where he and Xing Bi stood last night.
"Should we wake them up?" asked Zhao Lu.
"No need," Qiu Shi said, "They will think this is the last time they see me."
"Same, if they don't see you now, they will feel that last night was the last time they saw you," Zhao Lu said, "Xiao Lei has been squatting at the foot of the mountain since early morning, waiting to say goodbye to you."
"Take care of yourself." Qiu Shichong waved towards the top of the mountain.
The figure above moved and began to walk down along the ridge, very quickly and steadily.
"What level of bodyguard is this guy?" Zhao Lu raised his head and half opened his mouth. "Isn't this Mr. Long's personal bodyguard?"
"Isn't it the same when I come down from upstairs?" Qiu Shi said.
"You are coming down like this now, but you fell down the first time and broke your arm," Zhao Lu said, "The most he did was show your territory once you brought him up yesterday."
"How old was I when I fell!" said Qiu Shi.
"I'm just sighing casually," Zhao Lu said, "Brother Shi, don't be jealous."
"Get lost." Qiu Shi said.
Zhao Lu stared at him, then suddenly reached out and hugged him, patting him hard on the back. After a round of patting, he turned around and walked away quickly: "Let's go. I won't see you off."
Xing Bi returned to the bunker quickly. Qiu Shi didn't ask him why he ran up there again. He just handed him a coat and led him through the quiet bunker in the early morning.
His motorcycle was parked at the foot of the mountain, and Xiao Lei squatted next to the motorcycle.
"We'll drive over there," Qiu Shi lifted the camouflage net, stepped into the car, and motioned Xing Bi to sit in the back. "Brigade Zhao will come over and drive the car back in a while."
Xing Bi sat behind him.
"Let's go." Qiu Shi supported himself on the ground with his legs and reached out to pat the squatting Xiao Lei on the head twice.
Xiao Lei didn't say anything.
Qiu Shi started the car and suddenly stepped on the accelerator. The engine roared, and the moment the car rushed out, a cloud of dust flew behind it.
Xing Bi put his arm around his waist to prevent him from being thrown out of the car.
Xiao Lei finally made a sound. Even after the car had run far away, one could still hear him spitting out sand.
Qiu Shi laughed.
"I reacted quickly," he said, "and I didn't fall."
"There is some reaction," said Xing Bi.
Li Feng was sitting in the car. When he saw the two of them get in, he kicked the two large backpacks beside his legs in front of them and said, "I'll give you equipment and clothes. The clothes are all selected according to Qiu Shi's taste. There are also medicines, some miscellaneous things you need, and weapons. I'll give them to you before you set off."
"Do you have a car?" Qiu Shi asked, "I'll be exhausted before I even get to the destination if I carry this thing on my back."
"Yes," Li Feng said, "but it may not be possible to drive to the right place."
"Are there any mountains?" Qiu Shi frowned. "We can just get one of those vehicles that the army has that can climb mountains."
"There is a river." Xing Bi said.
"Can the car be transformed into a boat?" Qiu Shi asked.
"No." Li Feng said, "Once we get there, our information will not be complete. It will depend on Xing Bi how to proceed."
"How do we cross the river?" Qiu Shi turned to ask Xing Bi, "Is there a bridge?"
"No, swim over there." Xing Bi said.
"Fuck." Qiu Shi frowned and turned his head away.
"Will you get a short circuit if you soak in water?" Xing Bi asked.
Li Feng couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Your ancestors," Qiu Shi said, "I can't swim."
"There are life jackets." Li Feng smiled and pointed to the bag.
"Your stomach doesn't hurt anymore?" Qiu Shi looked at him.
"It's OK," Li Feng said, "It's getting better faster than my nose."
In the laboratory, Director Wu and a group of technicians were already waiting. They wanted to set a time for Xing Bi, which, according to Qiu Shi's understanding, was a countdown to shut down.
"Twenty-eight days," said Director Wu. "No matter whether the mission can be completed, whether the people can be brought back, how much information can be obtained, or even whether we have reached the destination, we must return within this time."
"What if they don't come back?" Qiu Shi asked, "What if we have been arrested for more than 28 days?"
"It won't cause any harm if you come back within three months," said Director Wu.
"Got it." Qiu Shi glanced at Xing Bi who was standing in the glass case and undergoing examination.
A technician came over, grabbed Qiu Shi's arm, and hit him on the arm with something that looked like a gun.
Small sharp short pains in the arm.
"What the hell is this?" Qiu Shi looked at his arm which was bleeding slightly and rubbed it on his clothes.
"Controller, communicator, a master control device," Li Feng said, "You can now control the retinal map independently and communicate directly with the headquarters..."
"Who is in the command center?" Qiu Shi asked, "You?"
"You can change it to Director Zhang if you want," Li Feng said, "or Colonel Xu."
"It's you." said Qiu Shi.
The preparation work was long and boring. Although it was not complicated, Director Wu kept repeating the simple process, the task principles, and the partner handling principles like brainwashing, which made people upset.
"It's almost done," Qiu said. "My head is about to explode."
"Have you remembered everything?" asked Director Wu.
"I remember," Qiu Shi said, "I can't remember Xing Bi."
Xing Bi stood aside without saying anything.
"You must remember this." Director Wu emphasized.
"Understood." Qiu Shi understood what Director Wu meant by this sentence. Half of those procedures and principles were constraints on Xing Bi.
"Go get weapons and ammunition." Li Feng said.
The weapons this time are much more advanced than those used in previous missions, mainly because they are much smaller and can be easily hidden in clothes and boots.
"You're willing to give it up," Qiu Shi glanced at Li Feng, "You must have worked hard to get it, right?"
"Don't get into a fight," Li Feng whispered to him, "Make sure you're both safe."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded.
"We should have as many encounters as possible to find out their purpose," Li Feng said, "there can't be any more war in Yuncheng."
The author has something to say:
To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.
The update time from now on will basically be 5:20 if it’s early, and 7:40 in the evening if it’s too late. If it’s later than 7:40, I’ll say it on Weibo. I love you guys.
Also, thank you to the kid who helped me find bugs. I usually fix the typos in the previous chapter before updating, and I won’t do anything else at other times, for fear that someone will think the update is in vain⊙▽⊙.
What!