Chapter 92 The Feast at Hongmen

If she could live in peace with everyone and go about her own business, she certainly wouldn't object to participating in a patrol every few days. However, she also knew that once she participated, she would be seen by outsiders as having effectively joined this faction.

But as long as one lived here, it was difficult to remain uninvolved. This was less troublesome than agreeing to go out and participate in inter-regional struggles. Furthermore, what she said was true; patrolling was indeed a way to protect the safety of her own base.

Seeing her agree, Mrs. Rao smiled pleasantly and said, "Since Miss Bai is unwilling to intervene directly, we won't force you. However, there is one more thing I'd like to ask. Tonight, still at my house, Manager Wen from the Hotel and I would like to host a banquet for you. We haven't been down the mountain for a long time and want to know the current situation down there. Could you please tell us about it in detail?"

Speaking of the situation down the mountain, Bai Xiao remembered that they didn't yet know about the Disaster Relief Department organizing people to come here for refuge. Now was really not a good time to strike at the people from the Food Street. Even if they seized supplies, once the Disaster Relief Department arrived, there was a high probability they would be confiscated for uniform use and redistributed.

It would be good if that group from the Hotel came as well; she could tell them all at once to save them from being persistent and coming to her door later. Thus, she nodded in agreement.

The two were silent for a moment, and Bai Xiao took the opportunity to take her leave.

After she left, Mrs. Rao called over a Bodyguard and simply told him to keep a close eye on the Young Master in his room tonight and not to come downstairs regardless of any noise they might hear.

When she stepped out, the crowd outside hadn't dispersed yet. Bai Xiao saw another similarly dressed Bodyguard holding an umbrella behind a young man. The young man was angry for some reason; he swatted the umbrella away, turned to say something, glanced toward her, and then walked off.

The spokesperson for the Villa Area was the woman in the room just now, and this person was her son. She also had two professional Bodyguards. This was no secret on the mountain, and Bai Xiao easily teased this information out of someone in a couple of sentences.

When evening came, she arrived on time, only to find three people in the Rao Family dining room. Two of them were Mrs. Rao and her Bodyguard whom she had seen during the day, and the other was a middle-aged man. Barring any surprises, he was Manager Wen from the Hotel.

The woman's son and her other Bodyguard were not present.

By the time Bai Xiao arrived, the meal was already prepared: four dishes and a soup, including both meat and vegetables. In the current state of the world, this was quite a feast. One had to realize how many people hadn't eaten a proper hot meal in a month.

Once she was seated, Mrs. Rao had already finished introducing both parties. After a few simple greetings, the two men got straight to the point.

When Bai Xiao mentioned that the City Rescue Department was already organizing rescues when she left and claimed they would be moving the main force outside the city in two days, Mrs. Rao and Manager Wen were clearly stunned.

They both knew the terrain of Yunzhou. Where could they go if they moved outside the city? It was either Mian Mountain or West Mountain; only these two mountains had enough buildings to accommodate a large number of survivors.

The two exchanged a subtle look, and their expressions quickly returned to normal.

Wen Jianhua raised his wine glass and said, "Thank you, Miss Bai, for telling us this important news. Come, let us toast you."

Bai Xiao didn't want to eat food from outside, but the two had been respectful and hadn't made things difficult since her arrival. Claiming she couldn't handle her alcohol, she raised her teacup to indicate she would use water instead of wine.

She had loosened the cuffs of her jacket, and using the motion of raising the cup, she imperceptibly poured the water along the edge of her lips and into her sleeve.

Seeing her 'drink,' the two considered it a gesture of sincerity and temporarily set aside their reservations to ask how she had come from the city.

Bai Xiao told a lie, saying she had arrived after rowing a rubber boat for two days, but unfortunately encountered a whirlpool just as she was getting close. The rubber boat was destroyed, and she finally swam for a long time to get here.

As she spoke, she somehow began to feel a bit dizzy, a sensation she had never experienced since drinking the enhancement potion.

Her vision grew increasingly blurred, and she vaguely heard the woman saying something about why the drug's effect was starting so slowly.

She lowered her head and pressed the black butterfly on her wrist. The game panel expanded over her lap, and following her memory, she quickly purchased a recovery potion.

Her body grew softer and softer. Before sliding under the dining table, she pressed her hand to her mouth to drink the potion and then tightly gripped the potion bottle in her palm.

As she completely lost consciousness, she only hoped that the recovery potion's description of restoring negative physical statuses meant more than just healing injuries, but also neutralizing drugs.

After an unknown number of seconds, her consciousness gradually returned as she lay half-sprawled on the floor.

In that instant, her mind raced through many thoughts.

She had grown up in a simple environment; due to family reasons, she had a slow-to-warm personality and didn't like socializing. After graduating from university, she had only worked for a year. In terms of social experience, dirty tricks, and the speed of changing faces, she really couldn't compare to these cunning old-timers who had been crawling through the world for years.

With the changes in the world and the arrival of the game, she had to admit she was being changed. However, a person's character isn't formed in a day. For someone who grew up in an era of peace, even if the environment changed, it was impossible to completely change oneself in a short time; human growth has inertia.

But she also understood that perhaps her inner resistance allowed her to always retain a sense of kindness. This kindness often made her hesitate to strike a heavy blow and caused her subconsciously not to think the worst of others first.

If she weren't naturally cautious enough, able to endure the loneliness of training, willing to lie low, and possessed the ability accumulated through a willingness to risk her life and a bit of talent for the game, she couldn't imagine how she would have survived until now.

Today's events told her that being cautious and lying low was far from enough. In the current environment, if you hold so-called trust and kindness toward others, they might not treat you the same way.

Just like now, having a gun can indeed deter others, but if you don't actually do something with it and only show that you have such a thing, it is completely useless; instead, it will only invite greed.

She was resisting the game while also accepting the benefits it brought. These benefits allowed her body to evolve, leading her to always have a trace of tolerance and contempt for ordinary people, while forgetting that this bit of evolution was not yet enough to make her a true powerhouse.

Bai Xiao mocked herself silently; she hadn't even become a true superior yet, but she already had the mercy and pride unique to one.

This lesson came at a good time.

"Go take a look. Search her to see if the gun is on her. If not, send someone to her room to find it."

"Manager Wen is still the cautious one. But why waste a meal? My Bodyguard has a gun too. If we faced off, we have more people. She's just a little girl; how much of a splash could she make? Why go to such great lengths?"

Wen Jianhua shook his head. "Leaving aside how she came dozens of kilometers from the city alone—I sent people down the mountain to look, and the roadblocks were cleared by her alone. Take those piles of stones, for instance; we had dozens of people working together to set those up. Even though she only cleared a path for one person, let alone a woman, even a man wouldn't find it that easy. She is by no means simple. If we don't use some means, we don't know what kind of loss we'll suffer. Careful sailing keeps the ship afloat for ten thousand years."