Chapter 170: Uncle Liang, How Do You Know Him?
"Why have they been out for so long?"
The bodyguards inside the room sensed something was wrong outside and became alert.
This time, instead of sending one or two people out, six went out together.
Shen Que and Liang Xiu had already led the hostage to the side earlier, while Meng Ci stayed by the window on the other side. When he saw the group come out, Meng Ci waved at them.
Seeing Meng Ci's gesture, the two bodyguards were immediately slashed across the throat with a knife.
The baseball bats in their hands quickly fell to the ground, and they could only clutch their necks in disbelief before collapsing.
At that moment, the six bodyguards from inside the house came out and, hearing the noise, turned around together.
They saw their brothers lying on the ground with their throats slit, and their eyes widened in anger.
"Damn it, who dares to break into my villa at night? Are they tired of living?"
"Exactly, since they're here, they can stay forever."
...
The six people tightly gripped their baseball bats, ready to rush forward.
Swish!
"You…"
The person standing at the back suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, grunted, and turned around to see Meng Ci holding a compound bow by the window.
However, this shot wasn't precise; it only hit his shoulder and wasn't fatal.
"Damn it, you dare to shoot me? You're courting death!"
The man spat on the ground and charged toward Meng Ci without a second thought.
The other five naturally saw what happened to their companion and became even more cautious.
Shen Que and Liang Xiu didn't wait any longer, rushing forward with their knives.
Initially, Meng Ci had the compound bow to guard against anyone outside the house, planning for long-range engagement.
But now, with close combat, the bow became useless.
So after shooting the arrow, Meng Ci threw the compound bow to the ground and drew the long knife from his waist, engaging in a fight with the two bodyguards charging at him.
Compared to ordinary people, these bodyguards were indeed more skilled.
But against Meng Ci and the others, they were nothing.
In less than ten minutes, all six were knocked down.
Five of them had their throats slit.
"Tell me, where is Zhao Jingyu?" Liang Xiu pressed the knife against the neck of the lead bodyguard, holding him down on the ground.
"He's on the third floor, on the third floor."
"Spare my life, please, spare my life." The lead bodyguard, with his eyes downcast, stared at the long knife, not daring to make any sudden moves.
He hadn't expected that these people would be so ruthless as to kill in this villa district.
The bodyguard swallowed hard, regretting that if he had known Zhao Jingyu knew such formidable individuals, he wouldn't have captured him in the first place.
Now, not only had he failed to secure the food, but he was also going to lose his life.
Mercy was out of the question because letting them go might lead to them reporting to the authorities, leaving Meng Ci and the others in a difficult position.
Thus, without hesitation, Liang Xiu slit his throat.
Standing by the side, Meng Ci was shocked to see Liang Xiu's ruthlessness.
After all, the image Liang Xiu had shown these past few days was that of a gentle, scholarly man who always had a book in hand.
This night's battle truly made Meng Ci see him in a new light.
But what Meng Ci didn't know was that Liang Xiu had killed quite a few people here as well.
Especially during the heavy rain period, when the officials had brought many refugees up to the West Mountain.
Even with official restrictions, there were too many people, and the policies were inadequate, leading to a lot of petty theft.
Liang Xiu had killed several people to protect himself and guard Meng Ci's villa; it was normal.
After confirming that all the bodyguards had stopped breathing, Meng Ci and the others entered the villa and headed upstairs. Eventually, on the third floor, in a storeroom, they found Zhao Jingyu.
Zhao Jingyu was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, with many wounds on his exposed skin.
He was lying on the ground, barely breathing.
"Zhao Jingyu, Zhao Jingyu!" Liang Xiu crouched beside him, slapping Zhao Jingyu's face, calling his name.
"No, don't hit me anymore, don't hit me!"
"I, I don't know the password, I don't know it."
...
Zhao Jingyu instinctively covered his head with both hands, his voice hoarse.
Liang Xiu frowned and said, "Zhao Jingyu, snap out of it!"
"It's me, Liang Xiu."
Liang Xiu reached out and pressed down on one of Zhao Jingyu's hands. Upon hearing the voice, Zhao Jingyu gradually calmed down.
He lowered his arm from his head and, upon seeing Liang Xiu, tears began to fall.
"Liang Xiu!"
Zhao Jingyu grabbed Liang Xiu's arm with his other hand, extremely aggrieved.
"Those people were too much. Wasn't it good enough that they treated me well at my house?"
"Waaa, why did they imprison me!"
Meng Ci and Shen Que listened in silence, this guy can still say so much, it seems he isn't seriously injured.
"Stop talking, calm down, I'll take you to the hospital."
"Okay, okay." Zhao Jingyu obediently shut up.
Shen Que went to start the jeep and brought it over, loading everyone in, and drove all the way to the base's hospital.
By this time, the hospital at the base had set up various instruments and began receiving patients.
After stopping at the hospital entrance, Liang Xiu carried Zhao Jingyu inside, not resting until he saw him being sent into the operating room.
Meng Ci and the other two crossed their arms and leaned against the wall.
"Uncle Liang, now can we ask how you knew Zhao Jingyu was in trouble?" Meng Ci tilted his head and asked curiously.
Liang Xiu explained, "When I went out today, someone rushed over, handed me a note, and left without saying anything."
Liang Xiu rummaged through his pocket and took out a note, handing it to Meng Ci.
Meng Ci unfolded it and saw the words "Young Master Zhao is in danger."
"At first, I didn't believe it, but then something felt off, so I went to take a look at the Zhao house."
"I found that the outside of the house wasn't pitch black, so I climbed over and looked inside, only to see a group of guards in the house, but no sign of Zhao Jingyu."
"That's when I went to find Young Master and Son-in-Law."
Liang Xiu explained the sequence of events, and aside from Zhao Ting's passing, there were times when Liang Xiu would invariably see Zhao Jingyu on his way to work.
So, after not seeing Zhao Jingyu for two days and receiving the note, he believed it.
Meng Ci nodded, thinking about how emotional Zhao Jingyu had been upon seeing Liang Xiu.
Quite strangely, Meng Ci asked how Liang Xiu and Zhao Jingyu had become familiar.
Liang Xiu didn't hide anything and explained directly.
"Before the apocalypse, the Meng and Zhao families had collaborations."
"Before Grandfather Zhao passed away, he entrusted Zhao Jingyu to me."
"That's how we became familiar."
Meng Ci nodded.
He just didn't know what Liang Xiu planned to do with Zhao Jingyu. If he intended for him to live with them, Meng Ci would definitely refuse.
It was Liang Xiu's business to help take care of Zhao Jingyu, but Meng Ci didn't want to take on an extra person.
Zhao Jingyu's injuries were mostly external, so he was out of the operating room fairly quickly.
Seeing that Zhao Jingyu was fine, just needing a few days of observation, Liang Xiu stayed to take care of him and asked Meng Ci and Shen Que to help request leave on his behalf.
Meng Ci and Shen Que drove back.
"Shen Que, what if Uncle Liang wants Zhao Jingyu to live with us?" Meng Ci rested his head on one hand and leaned the other on the car window.
"Uncle Liang probably won't."
Though he hadn't interacted much with Liang Xiu, Shen Que's intuition told him that Liang Xiu wasn't the type to do that.
"I hope not." Meng Ci sighed.