Chapter 123: The Mountain and the Base

Long Cong’an was sitting with his back to the car window, turning his head to report the situation to Gu Zhiyu, so he didn’t see what was happening outside.

When he heard his boss’s sudden request, he was momentarily stunned.

He’d just been talking about their benefactor—how did President Gu’s train of thought switch so quickly? Suddenly he was being told to follow some van...

But as a seasoned assistant, he reacted quickly and did as he was told.

He started the car, turned off the headlights, and followed the vehicle ahead from a distance.

An Nan planned to sneak into the base where Er Kui’s older brother was, so today she’d deliberately chosen a low-profile car.

Her usual habit was to turn on the air conditioning as soon as she got in.

But Fugui hadn’t been out breathing fresh air for a long time. The moment the dog hopped into the passenger seat, it started pawing excitedly at the window, so much so that even the seatbelt couldn’t restrain it.

An Nan had no choice but to roll down the window.

The dog immediately stuck its nose out and sniffed the air with delight.

Dogs perceive the world through their noses, which is why so many of them love feeling the rush of wind and the flood of new scents when a car is moving.

The wind carries all sorts of smells and information. For a dog, it’s like humans scrolling through short videos—novel and exciting.

Fugui panted happily, sniffing all around.

After just a few sniffs, it tilted its head in confusion.

Huh? Why does it smell something familiar...?

It stuck its head out further, sniffing the air hard, tail wagging uncontrollably.

This scent... it’s Handsome Big Brother!

Where is he??

In the car behind, Long Cong’an could see the dog’s head sticking out of the passenger window perfectly clearly.

He couldn’t help but feel a little exasperated.

Isn’t that the lovestruck little mutt belonging to their benefactor?

No wonder President Gu wanted him to follow this car—so Miss An Nan was inside.

He glanced at his boss’s expression in the rearview mirror, unable to guess his intentions, and silently continued tailing the car.

But the dog kept turning its head, stretching toward their direction.

Long Cong’an’s palms began to sweat.

Are dog noses really that sensitive?

He couldn’t help but fall back a little farther.

Luckily, there was no electricity now, so the streetlights on either side of the road were off. The only light on the street came from Miss An Nan’s headlights.

Their car was successfully hidden in the darkness.

He couldn’t turn on the headlights or get too close, so he could only rely on the faint light from the car ahead, feeling his way forward in the dark.

As he drove, he couldn’t help but marvel.

Tailing someone is a real skill!

An Nan noticed how excited the dog was, practically hanging out the window. Afraid it would fall, she hurriedly pulled it back in and rolled up the window.

“Fugui, you’ve had enough fresh air. I’m closing the window and turning on the AC.”

Fugui immediately grumbled in protest.

An Nan ignored it and turned on the air conditioning.

The air inside the car quickly cooled.

She let out a comfortable sigh.

Even with the window open and the car moving fast, the wind had been hot because of the high temperature outside.

The dog, seeing that protesting was useless, curled up on the seat in dejection.

An Nan glanced at its sulky posture and flicked its head with a laugh.

“Silly dog! I’m just closing the window, why are you acting like you’ve had your heart broken...”

After two hours of driving, the car finally arrived at Jing’an District.

Jing’an District was at the southernmost edge of Linbei City, well landscaped and far from the bustle of downtown, so there were many villa communities here.

The city’s wealthiest elite lived in the hillside villas, while other rich families were mostly concentrated here in Jing’an.

But the rich here weren’t as lucky as those in the hillside villas.

In just a few days, their homes had been completely flooded. They’d had to abandon their houses and seek refuge in high-rise buildings elsewhere.

At this point, their situation was probably no different from the other residents in those high-rises.

As for these now-vacant villas, even though everything inside had been ruined by the flood, there were still people willing to clean up and move in.

Like the base she was heading to.

Er Kui’s older brother’s base was in one of the villa communities in Jing’an District.

The area had a wide view and was easy to defend but hard to attack—an ideal location for a base.

An Nan drove straight toward the base.

By now, two long lines had formed outside the villa community’s main gate—one for people, one for cars.

Above the gate hung a sign with four big characters: “Mountain and Base.”

A loudspeaker was looping the message: “Anyone wanting to join the base must hand over ten jin of grain per person.”

An Nan raised her eyebrows at the sight. Was this base really that popular?

She remembered in her previous life, joining an official base only required five jin of grain, and even then, many people—including her at the time—couldn’t come up with it.

Yet this private base was asking for ten jin, and there was still a huge line?

But it made sense.

Joining a base meant a better chance of survival.

Outside, if you couldn’t find supplies, you’d starve to death for sure.

But as long as you got into a base, you could work for the base and receive basic rations. It was a minimum guarantee.

Even if your “salary” was just a bowl of thin porridge with sand in it, it was enough to keep you alive.

An Nan took some basic supplies out of her space and put them in the van ahead of time.

There were too many people and eyes in the base—unlike at home, where she could use her space freely—so she had to get everything ready in advance.

Long Cong’an, who had been following her all the way, was surprised to see An Nan’s car join the queue.

“President Gu, that’s the Mountain and Base I mentioned up ahead.”

Why would Miss An Nan come here?

Wasn’t she already “ruling the roost” in her own neighborhood?

Surely she wasn’t here to join up with the Gu Group, was she?

That didn’t make sense...

Things were getting more and more complicated.

He turned and asked, “President Gu, what should we do next?”

“Follow them in.”

Long Cong’an was momentarily confused and blurted out, “President Gu, didn’t you say only an idiot would go in there?”

Gu Zhiyu’s phoenix eyes slanted as he glanced at him.

Long Cong’an immediately caught on and gave an awkward laugh.

“Only a fool gets scammed—we’re going in to investigate, that’s smart!”

Gu Zhiyu couldn’t be bothered to respond, only instructing, “You don’t need to come in. Bring more grain over, then you can go home.”

Long Cong’an said, “President Gu, they’re asking for ten jin of grain each. We have a hundred jin in the trunk...”

Gu Zhiyu replied, “Money makes things easier. Better safe than sorry.”

Long Cong’an nodded.

It looked like President Gu was planning to stay here for a while, so he’d better get everything ready.

Meanwhile, An Nan waited in line for quite a while before it was finally her turn.

The man in charge of registration was all muscle, but his face was full of the resentment of an office worker.

As soon as she rolled down her window, he impatiently stuck out his hand. “Hand over your grain!”

An Nan gave him ten jin of mixed grains.

All of it had been confiscated from Er Kui—she’d picked out the dirtiest, lowest-quality stuff to hand over.

The man weighed it skillfully, then handed her a registration form to fill out with basic information.

He looked annoyed the whole time, never meeting her eyes. “Hurry up and fill it out!”

An Nan took the form and saw it only asked for basic info: name, gender, age, occupation, skills, and so on.

She filled it out carelessly and handed it back."