Chapter 38

“Hey, you’re back!”

Through the window glass, Lin Zao smiled warmly and waved at The Tri-Colored Trio.

Although he had seen them return home early that morning, Lin Zao still made a point of asking.

This way, it didn’t seem too deliberate, and it wouldn’t make The Tri-Colored Trio think he had been watching them, just waiting for them to come over and return the items.

Lin Xiaobao dragged over a small stool, climbed onto it, and leaned against the window, calling out obediently, “Grandpa Zhang, Brother Red Hair, Brother Yellow Hair…”

Lin Zao ruffled his hair and slid the window open a bit more.

Across from them, Grandpa Zhang pushed his window open too.

Lin Zao smiled and asked, “Grandpa Zhang, how have you been lately?”

“The Tri-Colored Trio, you didn’t get hurt on your trip out, did you?”

The question was deliberate too.

He only asked if they were okay, not what they had brought back from outside.

If he asked about that, they wouldn’t know how to answer.

Telling the truth would flaunt their newfound wealth and make them look foolish.

Lying and getting caught would hurt feelings.

So Lin Zao laid his attitude out plainly and honestly.

He didn’t care, and he wasn’t coveting anything. They could relax.

Sure enough, as soon as he said it, The Tri-Colored Trio visibly relaxed.

“Brother Lin, we’re all fine. No injuries.”

“That’s good.”

“We actually got back this morning. But we’d been out running around for two days, half-starved and barely sleeping. We were exhausted, so we just unloaded a bit when we got home and crashed for some shut-eye.”

“That’s why we’re only reporting in now.”

“No worries at all.” Lin Zao waved it off. “I thought I heard a car this morning. So it was you three.”

Speaking of the car, The Tri-Colored Trio had driven it into their own yard that morning. Now that they had probably unloaded everything, they had brought it back and parked it in front of Grandpa Zhang’s house, right where it had been before.

After all, the minivan was basically communal property on Happiness Street now.

The Tri-Colored Trio hefted a ten-pound bag of flour and set it on the windowsill.

“Brother Lin, as agreed before—you lent us weapons, so we’re paying you back with five pounds of flour.”

“This is ten pounds. The wrench and steering wheel lock were really handy. We’d like to borrow them again.”

“What do you think?”

The three of them looked at him expectantly, a little nervous.

“Of course.” Lin Zao smiled and agreed. “Take them and use them.”

“You got it. We’ll take good care of them.”

Lin Zao patted Lin Xiaobao’s shoulder. “Little Bao, go upstairs and get the holy paper that Dad asked you to keep safe.”

It was the IOU note.

Since The Tri-Colored Trio had settled the debt, the note had to be destroyed.

But Lin Xiaobao looked up at his dad with a blank expression.

“‘Holy paper’? Dad, what’s ‘holy paper’? Did you ever give me anything like that?”

“Huh?”

Lin Zao couldn’t believe it.

“You forgot? The holy decree—the paper Dad gave you to hold right by this window. You took it so seriously and promised you’d keep it safe!”

“Did I?” Lin Xiaobao rubbed his chubby chin, thinking hard. “Hmm…”

Lin Zao felt a bit helpless. “Little Bao, you’re like a goldfish with a seven-second memory.”

Lin Xiaobao puffed out his cheeks cooperatively, pretending to blow bubbles in the water. “Glub glub—”

“You little rascal…” Lin Zao chuckled despite himself, half exasperated, half amused. “Little fishy, swim upstairs and grab the little bag where you stashed your treasure.”

“Got it.”

Lin Xiaobao turned and headed upstairs to carry out the mission.

Lin Zao turned back to the others with a smile. “Sorry about that. The IOU note’s coming right down.”

“No rush. We’re all neighbors, and with Grandpa Zhang as witness, that note got eaten by a zombie ages ago.”

The Tri-Colored Trio waved it off and exchanged glances.

Then Red Hair spoke up. “Brother Lin, we went to the Auto Factory this time.”

Lin Zao asked, “Oh? How was it in there?”

He could guess.

They were employees there, after all, so they knew the layout and equipment best. Heading straight to the factory on their first outing made sense.

“It was okay.”

“When it all went down, it was New Year’s, so not many people were at the factory.”

“The gate was wide open when we got there. Probably the security guard opened it on New Year’s Eve for people to come and go.”

“Yeah.” Lin Zao nodded. “I’ve seen zombies in your factory uniforms before.”

“Someone must have been in there ahead of us. A lot of the workshop equipment and half-finished cars waiting for inspection were already taken.”

“But the Auto Factory’s huge. Other folks wouldn’t know it as well, and there were still plenty of spots we hadn’t searched. We just picked up the scraps for two days.”

“Really?” Little flames of interest sparked in Lin Zao’s eyes.

Since The Tri-Colored Trio were volunteering the info about picking up scraps, they clearly meant to share with him.

“Yeah.” Red Hair nodded.

Green Hair leaned in, lowering his voice. “Our factory has a cafeteria, right? Behind it, there’s a row of flat-roofed buildings. A few are dorms for the kitchen aunties, and the rest store grain.”

“Seriously?” Lin Zao whispered back. “No one else found it?”

“Nope. When we got there, the Big Black Dog that guards the gate was chained up by the warehouse.”

“Big Black Dog?” Lin Zao frowned, something clicking. “How big was it… roughly?”

“About this tall.” Green Hair gestured. “The kitchen staff kept it for guarding.”

“It’s usually free-roaming, but with New Year’s, the cook went home, so they chained it up.”

“The cook left it a big bowl of food, but that was ages ago. It was long gone.”

“Little Black was starving. When we showed up, it had eaten every blade of grass on the ground.”

Lin Zao’s heart sank. He pressed, “And then?”

“We weren’t gonna mess with it at first—afraid it’d go berserk and bite. But…”

“It recognized us and kept wagging its tail, so we…”

“Gave it some food and used bolt cutters to snip the chain.”

“The dog went a bit nuts. As soon as it was free, it bolted. We couldn’t stop it.”

“We didn’t see until later that while it was chained, it had a litter of little dog pups—but they all starved to death.”

Lin Zao pressed his lips together. “I don’t think it went mad.”

He turned, went back inside, picked up the dog bed, and showed it to them through the window.

“Whoa!”

The Tri-Colored Trio’ eyes went wide in shock.

“Brother Lin, where’d you get that pup?”

“That Big Black Dog was carrying a little dog around everywhere, running wild nearby.”

Now, the little dog they had taken in was doing pretty well.

So that’s how it was.

The Tri-Colored Trio set out at night and entered the Auto Factory.

At noon, they searched the cafeteria and cut the chain holding Little Black.

Little Black grabbed the one surviving little dog pup in its mouth and fled in panic.

Finally, Lin Zao found it and rescued the pup.

It all connected now.

And Lin Zao had gone to the Auto Factory with Fu Cheng before to scavenge parts. Not only had they seen Little Black, but they’d played with it, petted its head, and fed it.

No wonder Little Black recognized him. No wonder it had looked familiar.

All things had spirits, and fate worked in mysterious ways.

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Just then, Lin Xiaobao came back downstairs with his little bag.

“Dad, I remember now. Is this the paper?”

“Yes.”

Lin Zao set down the dog bed, took the IOU note, and tore it to shreds.

“There. All settled.”

The Tri-Colored Trio steadied themselves and continued. “There’s still a ton of stuff in the factory now—not just food, but all kinds of useful things, odds and ends. We loaded up for a day, but the minivan was stuffed full, so we rushed back.”

“We figured we’d drop the haul, rest up, and head back tonight before someone else grabs it all.”

“Brother Lin, you and Brother Fu want to come with us tonight?”

They didn’t even need to ask—Lin Zao was tempted.

His family had enough food for now, but more supplies were always better.

With a cafeteria, they wouldn’t use electric stoves for cooking. There had to be gas canisters and liquefied gas canisters.

And since it was an auto plant, tools and metal goods would be plentiful.

Fu Cheng had gloves now, but he still needed a muzzle.

Lin Zao thought it over seriously.

But…

He definitely couldn’t bring Fu Cheng along with The Tri-Colored Trio.

Fu Cheng couldn’t even control himself around Lin Zao. What if he bit one of them?

They were being so generous, thinking of him with the good news. He couldn’t repay kindness with betrayal.

And Little Bao—if both he and Brother Cheng were out, what about the kid?

Leaving Little Bao alone at home, with no telling when they’d return, was too risky.

What to do? What to do?

“We’ll take the minivan. You’ve got the pickup truck—loads more space. We can haul way more together.”

“I…”

As if sensing Lin Zao’s hesitation, Grandpa Zhang—who had been standing quietly off to the side without a word—suddenly spoke up.

“Little Lin.”

“Yeah!”

“Didn’t Little Fu get hurt a while back? Is he better?”

“A lot better…” Lin Zao started to say, then caught himself and changed tack. “Still not quite.”

He had to answer like a normal human would. An average person wouldn’t recover from such a serious injury this fast.

“In that case, he definitely can’t handle heavy labor.”

“Yeah…” Lin Zao nodded hesitantly.

“I think you all shouldn’t go together. Better to stagger your outings.”

“Why?” The Tri-Colored Trio didn’t get it. “Wouldn’t that be less safe?”

“Two vehicles rolling out together draws too much attention. And with no one home to watch the place, you’re just begging for bandits.”

It made sense.

The three of them, plus Lin Zao and Fu Cheng—that was five able-bodied young men leaving Happiness Street empty.

If robbers showed up again, the old, weak, sick, and injured left behind wouldn’t stand a chance.

At that point, forget supplies—they’d lose their homes.

Lin Zao mulled it over and finally made up his mind.

“Grandpa Zhang’s right. Let’s stagger it.

“Our place isn’t short on food right now, so we’ll pass on sharing this time.

“Honestly, what I want are the machines from your factory. Those aren’t quick to dismantle, and one night won’t cut it.

“If you go tonight, Brother Cheng and I will stay back, keep watch over the whole street.

“We’ll head out once you’re back—tomorrow or the next night. Sound good?”

The Tri-Colored Trio exchanged looks and nodded. “Sure.”

Lin Zao shot Grandpa Zhang a grateful glance.

Without Grandpa Zhang saying that, he wouldn’t have known what to do.

Grandpa Zhang met his eyes, stroked his scraggly goatee, and gave a knowing, enigmatic smile.

And so it was settled.

The Tri-Colored Trio would go back, rest, and hit the Auto Factory again that night to grab what they wanted.

Lin Zao would wait until tomorrow or the next night, once they returned, then take Fu Cheng over.

It was their discovery first, and sharing with him was already generous.

Lin Zao didn’t mind following behind to pick up the scraps.

As for Little Bao…

Lin Zao considered handing him off to Grandpa Zhang for the night.

But the old man was getting on, and he wasn’t entirely comfortable with that.

Worst case, just bring Little Bao along, bundle him up tight, and lock him in the car.

But no danger was safe if Fu Cheng was the biggest threat. What if Fu Cheng bit Little Bao in the car?

Tough call.

Lin Zao looked at Lin Xiaobao, his expression serious, his gaze stern.

Lin Xiaobao suddenly felt a chill and shrank his neck.

“Dad, what’s wrong? I… I remembered what the holy paper is. I already gave it to you.”