#35 - Chapter 35 Firefly Project

The roads in the city center were impassable, so everyone returned to the suburbs and found a parking lot.

After parking the cars, it was already afternoon when the group returned to the base on foot.

"Cuicui!" Niu Xingwang shouted, choking with emotion.

Niu Xingwang's wife was called Liu Cuiqin, and at this time she was in the kitchen with several other women, busily preparing food.

Hearing this familiar voice, Liu Cuiqin's hand froze, and she hurriedly looked towards the source of the sound.

What came into view was a dirty, ragged, disheveled middle-aged man.

Half a minute later, Liu Cuiqin finally recognized that this was her husband, whom she had been thinking about day and night.

She put down the spoon and slowly, step by step, walked up to Niu Xingwang. Seeing his current appearance, she couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Cuiqin… I'm back!" Niu Xingwang said excitedly, with tears in his eyes.

"Waa…" Liu Cuiqin finally confirmed that this was real! Unable to control herself, she began to sob.

Niu Xingwang hurriedly stepped forward, patted his wife on the back, and comforted her:

"Alright, alright, I'm back now, what are you crying for!"

Dongfang Chen and Brother Zhang, who were standing aside watching, joked:

"Hahaha. Big sister, the brothers haven't eaten anything all day. If you keep crying, we'll starve to death."

The big sister smiled through her tears, and didn't say anything. She glanced sideways at Old Niu, and quickly turned her head to cook.

"Brother Niu, don't just stand here. Hurry up and take a shower, change your clothes. You stink so bad, I was almost suffocated by you all the way!" Dongfang Chen said with a smile.

Niu Xingwang nodded, wiped away his tears with his sleeve, and hurriedly walked out of the kitchen.

The food was quickly prepared, and Boss Niu had also taken a shower and changed his clothes.

To welcome Boss Niu home, today's meal was very sumptuous, with a large pot of stewed cabbage with pork and vermicelli, a plate of sauced beef, a plate of sausage, a plate of peanuts, bowls of glistening rice, and even a few bottles of 30-year-old Fen liquor were opened as an exception.

Everyone sat down at several tables, but no one touched their chopsticks.

Niu Xingwang looked at the table full of dishes, feeling very emotional.

This kind of food, half a year ago, he wouldn't have even looked at it. It just wasn't worthy of a formal occasion.

But now it was different.

For the past six months since the virus outbreak, he had basically stayed on the construction site.

Later, Binjiang City was under martial law, and he was transferred to various counties to build temporary resettlement centers.

Supplies slowly became more and more scarce, and the workers had no idea where their next meal was coming from, and they had no heart to work. No one wanted wages anymore, they all wanted food. Where would Niu Xingwang get food for them? He used the machinery, equipment, and vehicles in his hands… to exchange for supplies.

Later, the construction site also stopped work, and the resources in Niu Xingwang's hands were basically plundered by people from various departments. In the end, he couldn't even get a full meal.

Perhaps everyone has a natural hatred for capitalists. After he was left with no way out, everyone couldn't wait to step on him and bite him. Niu Xingwang's situation was even more dire.

Today, he dug out two car batteries that had been hidden for a long time from the waste materials of the construction site, and barely managed to exchange them for 1 minute of phone time from a middleman.

This kind of phone was a satellite phone. The base stations were all scrapped, and ordinary mobile phones had no signal long ago.

He originally only planned to call Dongfang Chen to entrust him with his affairs, and he didn't have any hope of leaving Qinghe Resettlement Center. He didn't think that Dongfang Chen had the ability to bring him out of Qinghe Ridge.

As long as Dongfang Chen could remember a little bit of their past relationship and treat his wife kindly, he would already be grateful.

What kind of world is this now? A world where people eat people.

Sentimentality is worthless long ago.

But he didn't expect that Dongfang Chen would actually come to save him!

Only when people are truly in despair do they know who is real and who is fake!

"Brother Niu, our conditions are limited now, we don't have anything good. Just make do with it." Dongfang Chen said with a smile, sitting next to him.

Niu Xingwang wiped his tears and said gratefully:

"Mr. Dongfang, what are you saying? In this world now, even if I sell all my possessions, I can't exchange for this table of dishes!"

"Hey! Look at what you're saying, this is only worth a few bucks. Alright, let's not be so polite. Brothers, raise your glasses, let's welcome Boss Niu home!" Dongfang Chen stood up and raised his glass.

The crowd "swish, swish, swish" stood up one after another, raised their glasses towards Niu Xingwang, and shouted in unison:

"Welcome Boss Niu home!"

Niu Xingwang also stood up, raised his glass, and repeatedly said "Thank you."

"Big sister, today is a good day, you should have a glass too." Dongfang Chen said to Liu Cuiqin on the other side of Niu Xingwang.

Liu Cuiqin wiped away her tears, nodded, and also raised the glass in her hand.

"Come on, bottoms up!" Dongfang Chen said loudly to everyone.

Everyone drank it all in one gulp and sat down.

This meal lasted until the evening.

For several months, the members of the guard team had been prohibited from drinking, so they all drank a little too much today. After the meal, everyone was allowed to go back to rest.

Boss Niu and his wife had been separated for a long time, so they must have a lot to say, and Dongfang Chen didn't bother them anymore.

The next day came in the blink of an eye.

Dongfang Chen woke up early and came to the office.

"Xiaolin, is the plan ready?" Dongfang Chen asked.

"Commander, it has been sent to your computer panel, please check it." Xiaolin replied.

Dongfang Chen nodded and turned on the computer.

2 hours later…

"Xiaolin, is the plan so complicated?" Dongfang Chen frowned.

"Commander, this is the method with the highest success rate." Xiaolin replied.

"Alright!" Dongfang Chen didn't say anything more.

After thinking for a long time, Dongfang Chen continued:

"Xiaolin, break the plan down into a task progress chart and track it at any time."

"Okay, Commander."

Dongfang Chen repeatedly thought about the plan, thinking about the difficult journey ahead, he sat for half an hour…

"Huff…"

After thinking for a long time, Dongfang Chen took a deep breath and walked out of the office.

…

Underground base training area.

Except for the wounded and some people who were told in advance not to come, everyone else had gathered.

"Comrades, the night before yesterday, everyone watched the video and understood how terrible the crisis we are about to face is. This is an unprecedented ecological crisis. In this crisis, no one is an observer, and no one is qualified to be an observer! I won't hide it from you, I already have a very complete and feasible plan. However, this plan requires everyone to complete it with me," Dongfang Chen said.

"Boss, just tell us! We will execute it unconditionally." Several veterans said firmly.

"Yes, boss. We will listen to you!" Zhang Yuankui said.

"Okay! I named this plan: Firefly Plan. It means that even if we only have the light of a firefly, we must compete with the sun and the moon!" Dongfang Chen continued, and after saying this, he loudly ordered:

"Everyone, attention!"

Upon hearing the order, everyone stood at attention, their voices uniform.

"First task: From today onwards, the guard team is disbanded!"

As soon as they heard this sentence, everyone was stunned.

What? Disband?

Why?

Everyone became uneasy, looking at each other.

"What? Didn't you just say that you would listen to me? Are you not listening now?" Dongfang Chen deliberately paused here, just to instill this contrast in everyone's minds.

It was implying to everyone: You may not understand, you may not understand. But you have to learn to resolutely execute orders even when you don't understand.

Everyone stopped talking.

"After the guard team is disbanded, the original members of the guard team will be reorganized to form a new task sequence. From now on, you will have a brand new identity: Lurkers!"

"As lurkers, you will leave the base and go to all parts of the country. Even if you are willing, you can go to all parts of the world. Your main tasks are three:"

"First: You are free to join any organization. Remember what I said, any organization! Whether legal or illegal is fine. After joining, go into hiding."

"Second: You need to send talents to the base from time to time. Anyone you trust can be secretly sent to the base. Here, they will receive antigens for free and receive training for free. After passing the training, they will become new lurkers."

"Third: Also your most important task, is to obtain intelligence."

"As an identity marker, each of you will receive a black metal tag before leaving."

As he said that, Dongfang Chen took out a tag from his pocket and held it up high.

The shape of the tag was very similar to the tag that Dongfang Chen threw into the car yesterday to start the car, but the color was different.