allonlinenovel Chapter 261 Promise
Chapter 261 Promise
the next morning.
The room, devoid of light and sunlight, appeared dark and gloomy, and everything was quiet.
Suddenly, a pair of eyes lit up in the darkness, like laser eyes in the night.
It moved with graceful cat-like steps, stopping under the bed and then effortlessly leaping onto it.
Jiang Li was sound asleep, and her serene and beautiful sleeping face made it hard to disturb her.
Cats just don't have that kind of appreciation. Jelly unceremoniously stretched out its chubby paw and slapped Jiang Li's fair face, but without leaving a single red mark.
Meow meow meow~
Human, it's so late, time to get up.
"...It's so noisy."
Jiang Li muttered something under her breath, then silently turned around and snuggled into the arms of the person next to her, burying her face deep inside, trying to escape the noise that might disturb her sleep.
Jelly's kitten was speechless. Sigh, is it really okay to just ignore a cat like this?
Don't humans know that the early bird catches the worm?
And most importantly, the cat was hungry.
Jelly then stretched out its paw, wanting to pat Jiang Li's back again, but instead met a pair of cold, threatening eyes.
Jelly's tail stood up instantly, and it scurried to its cat bed, its head tucked in, leaving only its round bottom sticking out.
Ye Jingmo glanced at his watch; it was just past six in the morning.
He looked down at Jiang Li in his arms. Her long eyelashes trembled, her red lips were slightly parted, and when he leaned down to smell her, he could smell her faint body fragrance.
He reached out and put his arm around Jiang Li's waist, wanting to go back to sleep, when there was a knock at the door.
Why would anyone come to our door at this hour?
Ye Jingmo instantly became alert, his eyes sharply fixed on the doorway, as if he had sensed a dangerous murderer.
A question flashed through his mind, his brows furrowed slightly, and he leaned close to Jiang Li's ear and whispered:
"Ah Li, wake up."
The girl softly waved her hand, trying to drive away the annoying voice in her ear, muttering in a soft voice:
"Brother Mo... let me... sleep a little longer."
The girl seemed to be drifting off to sleep again, so Ye Jingmo picked her up and sat her down on the edge of the bed.
"Someone is knocking on the door."
Just then, there was another knocking sound at the door, a rhythmic knocking that sounded eerie in the quiet environment.
The sudden change in position woke Jiang Li up groggily. She subconsciously glanced at her watch and saw that it was only around six o'clock.
No!! It's so early, Qin Yu and Liang Zi wouldn't be coming over, Jiang Li's dazed mind suddenly cleared up.
"Brother Mo, should we open the door?"
Hearing the knock on the door, Jiang Li couldn't help but ask.
"Change your clothes first, then take the jelly and pudding to the bathroom."
Ye Jingmo then took out a dagger from under the bed and tucked it into his waistband.
Jiang Li quickly changed into sportswear, grabbed Jelly and Pudding, and went to the bathroom, closing the door behind them.
Jelly and Pudding also sensed the change in their two owners' emotions, and they obediently stayed in the bathroom without making a sound.
Ye Jingmo stood behind the door, one hand gripping the handle, the other reaching for the dagger at his waist.
Jiang Li followed behind Ye Jingmo, her eyes fixed on the doorway, holding a bottle of pepper spray in her hand, her heart pounding like a drum.
Who's outside?
"Jiang Li, Jing Mo, this is Zhou Tian."
The person outside the door seemed to sense the coldness in Ye Jingmo's voice and immediately spoke up to identify himself.
Ye Jingmo paused in drawing the dagger, then put it back at his waist.
Jiang Li heard that the person outside the door was Zhou Tian and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
Ye Jingmo opened the door, and the person outside was Zhou Tian.
However, this time he was accompanied by another person, who was wearing a military uniform and looked upright and energetic, but his face showed obvious fatigue.
"Battalion Commander Zhou?!"
Jiang Li pondered for a moment before remembering this person: Zhou Tian's younger brother.
"Come inside and let's talk."
Ye Jingmo welcomed the two inside.
The four of them sat down around the table, and Zhou Tian said somewhat embarrassedly:
"I'm so sorry to bother you so early."
I brought some food for breakfast, and we ate and chatted.
As he spoke, he put the bag he was carrying on the table and took out a box of luncheon meat and four tortillas.
In the past, this would have been considered extremely shabby; people would have been turned away if they had come to visit.
Nowadays, corn tortillas alone are a delicacy, and adding luncheon meat makes them a super feast. You can't get a taste without some skill.
Jiang Li smiled and waved her hand in refusal, "It's alright, you don't need to spend money, take it back to eat."
"Let's eat together, it's nothing. After all, we were the ones who bothered you first, and we were the ones who benefited from your previous deal with us."
Battalion Commander Zhou forced a smile onto his masculine face, trying to make himself appear more gentle.
But to Jiang Li, that smile looked utterly strange. It would have been better if he hadn't smiled at all.
Zhou Tian deftly opened the lid of the luncheon meat container, pulled out a pair of chopsticks from the box next to him, and put a piece of luncheon meat on each pancake.
"Don't be shy, have some food. They say you can chat while you eat, so just treat it like a normal meal and conversation."
Zhou Tian stuffed the cornbread filled with meat into Ye Jingmo and Jiang Li's hands, and took a bite of his own without any hesitation.
"Oh, thank you so much."
Jiang Li couldn't refuse, so she could only take small bites of the cornbread.
I must say, it actually has a unique flavor.
The corn tortillas were piping hot, with a rich corn aroma, and filled with luncheon meat, adding a meaty and savory flavor.
"You didn't come here just to deliver breakfast, did you? What's the matter?"
Ye Jingmo fixed his gaze on Battalion Commander Zhou and Zhou Tian, asking in a tone that was neither too loud nor too soft.
Jiang Li still had half a cornbread in her hand, but when she looked up, there was no cornbread left in the hands of the three men.
No, do you all eat this fast?
Jiang Li looked at the pancake in her hand, then at the three men beside her, and felt as if they were from different dimensions.
She silently sped up her eating, her mouth bulging, feeling a bit dry.
A glass of water was placed in front of her.
Out of the corner of Ye Jingmo's eye, he noticed Jiang Li's chubby mouth, which looked like a little guinea pig's, and a hint of a smile occasionally flashed in his eyes.
Jiang Li picked up her water glass, gulped down the water, and only breathed a sigh of relief after swallowing the pancake.
Jiang Li looked at the empty table, stood up, went to the kitchen to get two cups, poured warm water into them, placed them in front of Zhou Tian and Battalion Commander Zhou, and then slowly sat down.
"Then I'll be frank, we've come here with a request."
Battalion Commander Zhou held the water glass, his fingers tracing the surface, and slowly began to speak.
Did you come here with a request?
Is there anything else the base can do to help them with?
But they had no money, no supplies, and at most, only one person was left.
Could it be?!
Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo exchanged a glance, both seeing the same answer in each other's eyes.
They must have come for the outreach team organized by the base, but Jiang Li still had some doubts. Their abilities weren't enough to warrant the base coming to them to ask them to participate.
Zhou Tian seemed to sense Jiang Li's confusion and continued:
"As you probably know, the base wants to form a team to explore the outside world."
Jiang Li nodded.
"However, what we haven't announced is the team's purpose. It's to go to Guangyan Mountain to collect a certain plant."
Jiang Li seemed to be deep in thought. This plant must have a great use, otherwise the base wouldn't have bothered to harvest it.
What do you need these plants for?
Ye Jingmo's deep voice reached the ears of everyone present.
"It's for the flocks of birds outside. Experts have discovered that after those birds die, the bacteria inside their bodies combine with a certain substance in the dense fog, and then infect humans."
Battalion Commander Zhou's face was full of worry.
“Patients infected with this disease have already appeared in the underground base in Area B, and even though we have taken protective measures, the bacteria can still slowly seep in.”
"In other words, even if we don't go out, infected patients will appear in the underground base of Area A sooner or later; it's just a matter of time."
Zhou Tian's face also showed distress.
Flocks of birds in the thick fog outside were relentlessly attacking the base. To protect the base, the only option was to fire and reduce their numbers. However, once they were killed, the bacteria inside their bodies would combine with substances in the fog and infect humans.
It's like a vicious cycle.
"How do you know that the plants you're picking can be used to treat this disease?"
Jiang Li frowned in thought, his gaze sweeping over Battalion Commander Zhou.
Guangyan Mountain is more than 400 kilometers away from here, and the base personnel generally wouldn't go there.
What used to take four or five hours to travel now would probably take a week.
"The information was shared with us by City X. They had a similar situation there. Their researchers happened to find that plant in Guangyan Mountain and their experiments confirmed its effectiveness."
"And people who have been injected with this plant extract seem to be able to adapt to dense fog environments and coexist with them without developing diseases."
Therefore, for the sake of the base and for the future, we must go and harvest that plant no matter what.
Ye Jingmo picked up his water glass and took a sip. "Then there's no need to invite us over. I don't believe there aren't any soldiers in the army who can complete the mission."
Zhou Tian gave a wry smile. "Yes, we do have some, but we can't mobilize most of them. The base also needs to be protected."
That's why we're recruiting from everyone within the base, hoping to find talented individuals like Jingmo and Jiang Li.
"And most importantly, we would like to ask you to bring Pudding with you."
Jiang Li's hand hung limply on the chair, unconsciously gripping the seat, as she asked in confusion, "What's Pudding doing? It doesn't recognize plants."
"That plant is called fragrant grass. It has a unique fragrance that we humans may not be able to smell, but a dog's sense of smell can definitely find it."
"But we have to wear protective suits when we go out, so how could Pudding possibly smell anything?"
Jiang Li felt somewhat helpless, thinking that Zhou Tian and the other person had forgotten the most crucial issue.
"You don't need to wear protective suits when you go out."
Commander Zhou's words drew the attention of both Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo.
"There are ten injections sent from City X in the base. Everyone in the team going out will get an injection to help them adapt to the dense fog outside."
"Then why not just get the injections directly from City X? That way, we wouldn't need to send anyone out."
Jiang Li is a bit messy. Why not use what's readily available?
"There was no other way, was there? These ten doses of medicine were delivered to us by people from X City with great difficulty, and the entire team involved was killed in the process."
Speaking of this, Battalion Commander Zhou's eyes were filled with grief, and his fingertips were white.
"Let's leave everything else aside. To ensure the plan goes perfectly, on behalf of the base, I invite you and Pudding to participate in this plan."
Battalion Commander Zhou's voice was solemn and dignified, and his expression was very serious.
After listening to Battalion Commander Zhou's words, Jiang Li's eyes darted around, unsure of what to do.
Ye Jingmo lowered his eyes in thought, his fingers idly tracing patterns on the table. "This is something we need to discuss."
"Of course there's no problem with that. We also know that going out is extremely dangerous."
Therefore, in addition to fulfilling the one condition we previously promised, we will also provide you with an extra batch of supplies.
When Battalion Commander Zhou saw that Ye Jingmo did not agree on the spot, a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes, but he quickly adjusted his expression.
"However, I hope you can give us an answer by the day after tomorrow at the latest, because we can't delay any longer."
Battalion Commander Zhou sighed softly.
"How many people have been identified at the base so far?"
Jiang Li scratched his face, thinking that he should learn more about the situation so that he could make a better plan later.
"We've tentatively decided on five people. After all, we'll be going out on missions, so both ability and courage are essential."
Zhou Tian felt a headache coming on just thinking about the scene of the conscription.
“Okay, once we’ve made our decision, we’ll contact Zhou Tian directly.”
Ye Jingmo nodded, got up and saw Battalion Commander Zhou and Zhou Tian out the door.
Hearing the door slam shut, Jiang Li's tense body immediately relaxed, and she slumped onto the table without any regard for her image, her face pressed against the cold surface.
"Brother Mo, what are your thoughts?"
Jiang Li asked Ye Jingmo for his opinion.
"If what they say is true, and the base will eventually fall, then leaving the base this time will probably be inevitable."
Otherwise, you'll only face certain death in the end. Taking a gamble beforehand increases your chances of survival.
Ye Jingmo touched Jiang Li's face and casually tucked the stray hairs behind her ears.
“That makes sense. So, Brother Mo, why didn’t you just agree to Battalion Commander Zhou’s request?”
Jiang Li's big, bright eyes darted around in their sockets.
"In this way, we won't appear too eager. From a psychological perspective, this is also a kind of game."
And we really need to discuss our next steps, and prepare supplies for our trip.
Ye Jingmo raised his eyebrows and told Jiang Li his thoughts.
"Brother Mo, should we tell Liang Zi and Qin Yu about this?"
Jiang Li was unsure whether she should tell them, her fingers twisting together in confusion.