Gu Mingwei

"Do you know me, young man?" Seeing the impatience on his face, Gu Mingwei could only force a smile.

Others had always been the ones trying to curry favor with him. Today, the tables had turned.

Lu Chengchuan looked the man over from head to toe, speechless. He asked in return, "Do you know me?"

"Uh... this is the first time I've met you, young man."

"What a coincidence. This is my first time seeing you too." Lu Chengchuan replied irritably.

Gu Mingwei could tell he was being mocked. Once he realized it, even the thick skin he had cultivated in the business world flushed a little. He had thought he was somewhat famous, but the other party did not recognize him at all.

"My name is Gu Mingwei. They're my wife and daughter. Are you an Esper, young man?"

"More or less. If you have something to say, hurry up. I don't have time to chat here." Lu Chengchuan did not want to say much and urged him to get to the point.

Lu Chengchuan did not care who he was. If he kept wasting time, Lu Chengchuan would leave.

"Wait. It's dangerous here. I want to pay you to protect us."

Seeing that he was about to leave, Gu Mingwei no longer cared about appearances and quickly spoke up.

The gunfire ahead had not stopped, nor had the monsters' roars. Gu Mingwei was terrified just listening to them. If another monster appeared, they would not even know where to run.

"Pay me to protect you? What price are you offering?"

"Name your price. As long as it's reasonable, I won't haggle."

Gu Mingwei told him to name a price and claimed he would not bargain, but Lu Chengchuan knew that if he made an outrageous demand, the other man would not agree.

He happened to need money as well. Since the man was paying for peace of mind, he held up three fingers.

"Three people, three million. How about it?"

"No problem! Three million it is!"

Seeing the three fingers he held up, Gu Mingwei did not hesitate and immediately nodded in agreement. Three million was not expensive. As long as he survived safely, he would have plenty of chances to earn that three million back.

"Then where are you going? Are you leaving this car behind?"

The wreckage of the luxury sedan lay in the road. Both doors had been violently torn open, and much of the glass had shattered. From the outside, the car looked completely wrecked.

"Forget about it. I'll have someone deal with it. We'll go over there..."

Before Gu Mingwei could finish, a group of low-level zombies suddenly sprang out from the shadows. Seeing the monsters leap out, Gu Mingwei, his wife, and his daughter staggered backward in fright.

Lu Chengchuan stepped forward and tore open several zombies' throats with a wave of his hand.

Tainted Qi leaked from their throats. Lu Chengchuan struck with his palm, knocking them to the ground.

"Follow me!"

Seeing more zombies closing in, he hurriedly told them to head forward. He was not afraid of these low-level zombies, but Gu Mingwei and his family were. They were ordinary people; if the zombies caught them, they would die.

The three did not dare say a word and hurriedly followed Lu Chengchuan.

As the zombies attacked, many people abandoned their cars and fled. Lu Chengchuan ignored them. He was only protecting the three people behind him.

Gu Mingwei and his family sprinted ahead, but they had not exercised for years. After only a few minutes of running, they were gasping for breath and had no choice but to stop and rest.

"No, we can't run anymore." Gu Mingwei felt as though his body was on fire and his lungs were about to burst.

The three of them panted heavily. They had never imagined they would end up in such a sorry state. Those damn monsters!

"Boss, look behind you. If you don't run, there's nothing I can do to protect you."

Lu Chengchuan was speechless. These people were only slightly fitter than he had been when he was seriously ill. Compared to ordinary people, they were utterly unfit. Even those who had started running later had already passed them.

But he had taken their money, and three million was enough to pay off his debts with some left over. So he still moved behind the three of them.

Zombies leaped at them one after another. Lu Chengchuan used Eagle Claw to kill them one by one, but he only had two hands and could not kill them as quickly as they gathered.

The three looked back and discovered that the zombies really were closing in. Lu Chengchuan fought like a war god, but he was alone. If they did not run now, they truly would not be able to escape.

"Run, hurry..." Gu Mingwei had to use every ounce of strength in his body just to say those words.

After speaking, he squeezed out the last bit of strength he had and ran forward with his family.

Thank goodness.

Lu Chengchuan thought to himself that this money was truly not easy to earn. The big boss and his family looked like they never exercised at all; now they could not even manage a run.

They ran ahead while Lu Chengchuan killed zombies behind them.

More and more zombies leaped toward them. Fortunately, the disturbance here caught the soldiers' attention, and some soldiers quickly returned to cover the residents' escape.

With the soldiers' help, Lu Chengchuan's pressure eased considerably. After killing several zombies around him, he took a few quick steps back to Gu Mingwei's side.

"Move!"

Lu Chengchuan covered their escape, and Gu Mingwei and his family did not dare stop.

After running for several more minutes, they finally stopped to catch their breath once there were no zombies in sight behind them.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

The three stopped, unable to say a word as they sat on the ground and panted. Once the others confirmed that no monsters were chasing them, they also stopped to rest. Soon, a squad of soldiers ran over.

"Don't be afraid. We've already brought the monsters under control."

The soldiers came over to reassure everyone. Seeing soldiers there to protect them, the crowd felt slightly more at ease.

The gunfire was still going. Lu Chengchuan was curious about what kind of powerful monster it was that had not been dealt with after so long.

Unfortunately, he could not go take a look. They waited there for ten minutes before the gunfire finally stopped. Everyone stood and looked behind them, hoping the military had dealt with the monster.

Just then, a soldier's radio crackled.

The monster has been eliminated. All squads, report your status.

After cultivating Inner Energy, Lu Chengchuan's hearing had become extremely sharp. He clearly heard the words from the radio. The soldier quickly came to his senses, turned off the radio, and walked into the crowd.

"The monster up ahead is dead. Please wait a few minutes. Once we've cleared the bodies, everyone can go back."

The soldier told everyone to wait. Most of the people present were car owners who had abandoned their vehicles to flee. Naturally, they wanted to go back and drive them away; after all, they had worked hard to buy those cars. How could they simply leave them behind?

"Hello? I'm on Tianxiang Avenue. Come pick me up. Bring two cars, and call a tow truck too. My car is damaged."

Once they were safe, Gu Mingwei immediately called someone to pick him up.

"Young man, please wait a moment. Once my people arrive, I'll transfer the money to you right away." After hanging up, Gu Mingwei turned and assured him.

After running all the way here, Gu Mingwei had seen with his own eyes how Lu Chengchuan killed more than a dozen monsters barehanded. He was shocked, but also somewhat afraid. The man before him could take his life with a casual gesture. Even though he knew Lu Chengchuan would not do that, he could not help being afraid.

"All right. I'll wait a little longer."

Lu Chengchuan found a place to sit. He was not worried that Gu Mingwei would default on the payment.

Half an hour later, the bodies ahead had been cleared away, and the soldiers informed everyone that they could return.

The car owners who had fled went back to drive away their vehicles. Before long, the clogged road became clear. Lu Chengchuan waited another ten-odd minutes before two luxury sedans and a tow truck slowly pulled over to the roadside.