Book 5 Chapter 10.2 - Want and Obtained
On a hill just a few kilometers north of the Alloy Brotherhood's camp, Li sat there in a somewhat listless manner. In her left hand was a letter that she was slowly reading, in her right a dagger that cut at the roasted meat on the plate in front of her before sending pieces into her mouth with the dagger's tip. There were only a few lines of words on the letter, yet Li stared at it for close to twenty minutes. Across from her, Li Gaolei sat with his legs crossed, his spacious back leaning against the chair's support, his eyes currently closed in rest. His face was quite a bit thinner, his skin also a bit more tanned, but the wide and thick body wrapped under the leather jacket gave one a sense of security. Compared to his past self a year ago, he seemed to have gone through quite a bit, to the extent where there was even a bit of white hair. However, he was just as imposing, as if there wasn't much that could move him.
With a pa sound, Li finally ended the long letter reading process, throwing the letter at Li Gaolei. Li Gaolei accepted the letter, opened his eyes to give it a look, and after scanning it two times, already read the contents. In reality, the paper only had three or four sentences in total, so no matter how one looked at it, it wouldn't take more than half a minute to read through it.
"Fuck! What is this?! Left without saying anything again!" Li cursed angrily a few times, and then forcefully stabbed at the roasted meat with her dagger. However, contrary to what she expected, the dagger didn't stab anything, instead striking on the steel military meal plate, releasing a ding sound. The roasted meat in the plate had long been finished, and Li's strike was unexpectedly fierce, the dagger directly stabbing through the steel meal plate.
Li breathed heavily a few times, and then under Li Gaolei's calm gaze, finally said with some difficulty, "Alright, at least he left a letter for me this time. But it's just a few lines, and then he left without even saying anything to us! Still brought… brought that little girl!"
Li Gaolei laughed and said, "Miss Madeline isn't that much younger than you."
Li forcefully grabbed her maroon colored short hair, and then said in a somewhat hysterical rage, "Even if she isn't little… fine! I admit that she doesn't look that bad, her figure also better than mine. However, so what? Can't he bring me with him too?"
Li Gaolei folded the letter neatly and returned it to Li. "I believe leader definitely has a reason for doing this. Miss Madeline possesses inconceivable combat strength, and the Cirvanas leader brought back this time possesses similarly astonishing potential. The two of them will be able to help leader, while me and you are only normal people. If we follow leader, we will likely only become leader's burden."
"But!..." Li scratched at her hair in a distressed manner, almost tearing her hair off. She knew that what Li Gaolei said was correct, but it was hard for her to accept Su's action of leaving her behind, disappearing off into who knew where. However, she couldn't find any reason to retort, and as such, her anger was forced to remain pent-up in her chest.
"Also, it isn't like leader didn't contact us at all. The letter clearly states that Kelan City, Midnight City, and Steel Gate were all left in the hands of the two of us. My understanding is that before leader returns, we have to properly manage this territory in his place. In reality, with our current abilities, holding onto such a large amount of territory is extremely difficult. This is definitely not an easy task." Li Gaolei spoke in a calm and even-tempered manner.
"Take care of it in his place? Didn't he state in the letter that the three cities were all given to us? We can just manage it as we wish. Heng, what a big move, this is definitely not a small amount of money! We're rich!" Li said through clenched teeth. She grabbed the letter from Li Gaolei's hands and then tore it into pieces with a few movements. She then grabbed at the bottle of alcohol next to her, directly smashed apart the bottleneck, and with a few gulps, emptied a large half of the strong alcohol into her stomach. She then smashed the bottle of alcohol heavily on the ground!
Li was quite good at drinking, but she drank too much too fast, so her face immediately flushed with a layer of redness. A thick alcohol smell began to emanate from her fine skin. Li suddenly smiled, laughing while saying, "Three cities! Haha, you men, all of you think you know what I want!"
Li suddenly removed her jacket, stared directly at Li Gaolei, and then while pausing between each word, said, "Do you want women? If you want me, then I'll give it to you right now!"
Li Gaolei laughed somewhat bitterly, saying, "This isn't want you want. If I really take your offer, I'll regret it afterwards, and you will too. Leader is a good person, a rare good person. I believe that unless it was absolutely essential, he wouldn't suddenly leave."
Unknown when, Li's eyes already became full of tears. While sobbing and cursing, she said, "But I want a man, what do I do, what do I do?"
Li Gaolei sighed, but he didn't know how to console her. Li was extremely stubborn, but she was also extremely brittle. This Li who was full of vulgar language was, in reality, still a child.
Li suddenly wiped away her tears and stood up, saying fiercely, "Since this old lady can't find men, then I have to find a way to vent right? Fuck, someone get their ass over here!"
A tall and sturdy soldier with a fierce-looking face entered the tent in response, but when he saw Li who was like a lioness, he immediately shuddered in fear.
"Go open up boxes labeled one through seven, and then distribute all of the medications inside, one for each person. I want everyone to complete battle preparations in ten minutes!" When bossing people around, Li was cool-headed and reserved, becoming a completely different person.
The snow outside became greater and greater, the radiation already reaching a dangerous level. Apart from elites with robust builds like this messenger soldier, ordinary soldiers wouldn't be able to move under this type of environment at all. Once they left their tents, in just an hour, ordinary soldiers would receive fatal injuries.
The messenger soldier's face was a bit pale, but he didn't dare defy Li's order. He could only leave the tent and issue the command.
Li Gaolei was the only one who knew that those seven boxes were full of radiation resistance medication, enough for all of the soldiers to use! Li brought them with her the moment they set out, yet after fighting for almost a month, they still never touched any of it.