Chapter 167: It's Over, We've Been Discovered
"Let me give you a massage."
Shen Que had been following Meng Ci closely, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings.
Seeing him turning his head, Shen Que hurriedly stepped forward to help with the massage.
Meng Ci was quite satisfied with Shen Que's technique; the pressure was just right and the effect was good.
Once the soreness disappeared, Meng Ci stopped Shen Que from continuing the massage and was about to leave.
However, Meng Ci was afraid that if the authorities saw these items, they would investigate who had placed them. If someone with ill intentions claimed responsibility and profited from it, that would be problematic.
So, Meng Ci took out paper and pen from his spatial pocket and deliberately wrote in a messy scrawl:
Charitable donation, no need to find me.
He stuffed the pen casually into his pocket and looked around, planning to place the note in the most conspicuous spot.
But due to the darkness of the night, Meng Ci didn't notice his feet and tripped over a cardboard box, causing him to fall toward the stack of medicine boxes in front of him.
Seeing Meng Ci in trouble, Shen Que quickly reached out to grab his arm.
However, it was a bit too late.
Bang.
The neatly stacked medicine boxes tumbled to the ground in a chaotic heap, making a loud noise.
Only Meng Ci, whose arm Shen Que had grabbed, did not fall to the ground.
"What was that sound?"
"Someone must be dismantling bricks from the houses."
Since the bricks near the base had long been picked clean, people had to go further away to find them.
But as the weather got hotter, some opportunists began to take advantage of the night to dismantle bricks from already constructed houses.
Or they would directly take bricks that had already been registered by the authorities.
To prevent this from happening again, the authorities sent a group of soldiers to patrol the area.
The patrolling soldiers had unknowingly arrived at this location.
Upon hearing the noise from the hospital, they rushed over immediately.
Realizing the situation was wrong, Meng Ci and Shen Que quickly jumped down from the second floor.
Since they jumped from the back door of the hospital, they did not encounter the group of patrolling soldiers.
The two of them didn't dare to waste any time and ran outside.
For a moment, Meng Ci considered hiding in his spatial pocket, but he thought that if the people discovered the extra items in the hospital, they might send someone to guard the place.
Moreover, staying in the spatial pocket had a time limit. If they were forced out and encountered those people, the existence of the spatial pocket would be exposed, leading to unimaginable consequences.
Therefore, the two of them could only run.
And just a minute after Meng Ci and Shen Que jumped down from the second floor, the patrolling group had already arrived at the hospital.
Two of them ran to the back door of the hospital and looked around.
Fortunately, the footprints on the ground were already disordered and showed no signs of anything unusual.
Meng Ci and Shen Que ran for about ten minutes, confirming that no one was chasing them, before they slowed down.
They could hear cicadas chirping, frogs croaking, and the warm wind blowing past their ears.
After running for a while, both of them were drenched in sweat.
Meng Ci took several deep breaths, holding his chest to calm his ragged breathing.
"Why is it that we're running so desperately when we're doing something good?"
Afraid of being heard and discovered, Meng Ci kept his voice low.
While running, Shen Que had been holding Meng Ci's hand. Hearing this, he shook their clasped hands vigorously.
"Because you want to be mine alone, and you don't want others to discover your kindness!"
Taking advantage of the darkness, Shen Que boldly said this, knowing Meng Ci couldn't see his blushing face.
Hearing this, Meng Ci shivered from the corniness.
"Shen Que, are you possessed by a ghost?" Meng Ci couldn't help but look down at Shen Que's feet.
He had heard that when someone was possessed by a ghost, their heels would lift up.
But it was too dark to see anything.
Meng Ci considered taking the risk of exposing himself to use a flashlight to check.
"Watch your step."
Shen Que tightened his grip on Meng Ci's hand, not daring to respond further, hoping his impulsive words would be carried away by the wind.
If it were daytime, Meng Ci would have noticed Shen Que's ears, red enough to bleed.
The two men left the base and found no one around, but they still didn't dare to drive the off-road vehicle, fearing they might be spotted on the main road. Therefore, they chose to slip into the dense forest and head up the mountain.
The journey felt like a leisurely outing.
They wore headlamps and held the ice creams they had made earlier, along with various snacks.
To conceal their tracks, all garbage was stored in their spatial rings.
Around three in the morning, the two men wound their way out of the forest and reached the highway.
After confirming that no one was around, Meng Ci took out the off-road vehicle and waited for a while before driving back to Villa No. 8.
Upon opening the door and returning home, Eggplant immediately climbed out of his nest, circling around their feet, purring affectionately.
Since Eggplant's fur had been shaved, it felt uncomfortable to touch.
So Meng Ci only patted Eggplant's head and then took out a sausage to feed him.
Eggplant, satisfied, carried the sausage back to his nest.
Meng Ci and Shen Que took turns showering and then climbed into bed, exhausted.
With the car, they no longer needed to walk when going out. After such a long walk today, their legs naturally ached.
Meng Ci sat on the bed, rubbing his legs.
Shen Que, with a towel draped over his shoulder and water still dripping from his hair, ignored himself and focused on drying Meng Ci's hair.
Once Meng Ci's hair was dry, Shen Que began massaging his legs.
Meng Ci was very pleased with Shen Que's attentiveness, kissed him, and then lay down, contentedly enjoying his service.
Before long, Meng Ci fell asleep.
Shen Que continued to massage for another ten minutes, ensuring Meng Ci's legs wouldn't swell or ache the next day, before he started to take care of himself.
When they woke up, it was already past one in the afternoon.
Seeing that there was still food left in Eggplant's bowl, they assumed Liang Xiu must have come back and fed him.
So Meng Ci went into the bedroom and took out a spicy crayfish dish and some other dishes from his spatial ring.
Of course, a chilled watermelon was also a must.
He also grabbed a large bottle of cola, added some ice cubes to a glass, filled it with cola, and drank more than half of it at once.
"Burp~"
"Refreshing!"
Shen Que locked the door and came over, seeing how quickly Meng Ci was drinking. He advised, "Drink less cold stuff."
"Okay, okay," Meng Ci nodded casually, his attention entirely on the crayfish in his hands.
Shen Que sighed softly, sat down at the table, and began peeling the shrimp for Meng Ci.
For many days after that, Meng Ci and Shen Que didn't go out again.
When the soldiers saw the medicine and various instruments in the hospital, filling more than one floor, they were all amazed.
The leader instructed them not to spread the news and sent people to find Lu Chen and the relevant leaders.
After reading the note on the ground, Lu Chen ordered everyone present not to disclose what happened today.
In a previous letter, Shen Que mentioned that people would develop special abilities during the zombie era.
Therefore, Lu Chen and the others suspected that the medical equipment was left by the person who sent the message.
Perhaps this person, like in novels, had a spatial ability and had been reborn.
And before the apocalypse, they had deliberately stockpiled these medical supplies.
This far-fetched idea was initially hard to accept.
But as the heavy rain, extreme cold, and other events described in the letter came true one by one, it gradually convinced them of this absurd speculation.