Chapter 97: No Fire
Li Yunlong ultimately did not take the gun. Instead, he put it back into the crate.
He said nothing, only listened in silence to the conversation between Guo Jing and Wang Lang.
As he listened closely, he gradually pieced together what had happened.
"So this guy, Wang Lang, is one of the government people. Looks like he has quite a bit of power..."
"So these things are exchanged for other goods. So that is how game currency is used..."
When he looked at Wang Lang again, his eyes had grown hot with interest.
It took quite a while before Wang Lang finished handing things over to Guo Jing.
"How about a meal together?" Wang Lang suggested.
"I have to get back to work right away. Another day," Guo Jing said with a smile.
Gripping a large crate, Guo Jing vanished from where he stood.
An instant later, he appeared again and took away another crate.
He repeated this four times in all, until all four large crates had been carried off.
The dark-faced young man had already run off to do his work.
Wang Lang turned his gaze back to Li Yunlong. "What are your plans next, Regimental Commander Li?"
Li Yunlong thought for a moment. Since there was probably nothing pressing to do if he returned for the moment, he said, "Nothing much."
"I've had people prepare a meal outside. Shall we go have a bite?" Wang Lang asked.
Li Yunlong's stomach rumbled on instinct.
The self-heating hot pot he had eaten earlier had long since been fully digested.
"Sure," he said. "I'll treat you next time."
Stopping a passing Transformers robot, Wang Lang had it carry the two of them down the mountain.
The distance was not short, but the ride was extremely fast, and before long they had left the park.
The moment they stepped out of the park, Li Yunlong felt something strange.
He discovered that many of the "abilities" he had possessed before were gone.
But when he looked at the sprawling construction site before him, the half-finished high-rises, the towering cranes, and the rows upon rows of excavators and dump trucks moving earth, Li Yunlong could not help but be震撼ed.
The park could be the immortal realm, but this place was the human world.
"These things..." he said, pointing at the crane in the distance.
Wang Lang smiled and explained it to him in detail.
The two of them got into a military vehicle.
Li Yunlong ran his hands over the seat back and forth, thinking: This thing looks far more imposing than the Japanese cars!
Seeing Li Yunlong touching everything in the vehicle, Wang Lang laughed. "If you like them, Regimental Commander Li, I'll give you a few later."
"Then I'll gladly accept," Li Yunlong said with a hearty laugh, adopting the way others addressed him. "Director Wang really is a straightforward man."
"Don't, don't. I've said it so many times already, just call me Xiao Wang," Wang Lang said hurriedly.
"Why don't we go into the city and look around first?" he asked next.
He had already informed the higher-ups of Li Yunlong's arrival.
Although the man was not from this world, everyone regarded him as a representative of their forebears.
Their blood had not been shed in vain.
Quite a few well-informed retired cadres in the area had also said they wanted to come in person.
"Anything's fine," Li Yunlong said, glancing at the time. "Just send me back before noon."
"No problem." Wang Lang smiled. "Oh, right, what would you like to eat, Regimental Commander Li?"
"Don't call me Regimental Commander Li either. Just call me Old Li," Li Yunlong said.
"Then I'll call you Brother Li," Wang Lang said. "If you don't mind, let's treat each other as brothers."
He was a little pleased with himself.
In the past, the old leaders would lecture them at every turn about the spirit of drawing a sword once it is unsheathed, saying that people like them did not have the same ferocity as the old Eighth Route Army soldiers of those days.
The old leader liked Li Yunlong the most. If he knew that Wang Lang was so close to his idol, who knew whether he might curse in envy until he was hoarse.
"Haha, Brother Wang," Li Yunlong said, putting an arm over Wang Lang's shoulder.
Truth be told, he felt a tiny bit awkward inside.
He was only in his thirties, so why should he be calling a man in his forties "brother"?
Still, come to think of it, the two of them really did seem about the same age.
He himself did seem a little older, damn it all!
"Brother Li, is there anything you feel like eating? I'll have people prepare it in advance," Wang Lang asked.
"Anything's fine," Li Yunlong said carelessly. "I'm not picky. As long as there's liquor and cigarettes, that's enough."
"Oh, right, I'd forgotten," Wang Lang said. He did not smoke, and had nearly forgotten about that.
He called out to the driver. "Xiao Liu, are there any cigarettes in the car?"
Xiao Liu had been driving with full concentration, but his ears had been pricked the whole time, listening to the two of them talk.
Hearing this, he hurriedly said, "Yes, in the trunk."
Wang Lang climbed up, bent over the seat with his backside sticking out, rummaged around for a bit, and soon pulled out two cartons of cigarettes.
"These are special supply for the army. Brother Li, want to try one?" He opened a pack and personally lit one for Li Yunlong.
Li Yunlong took a satisfying drag and praised, "Not bad. Your cigarettes look classy at a glance."
His eyes had been fixed on the remaining half-carton in the other's hands.
Wang Lang noticed his little gesture and laughed. "All of these can go to Brother Li later. From now on, your cigarettes will be on me."
"Heh heh, that would be too embarrassing," Li Yunlong said, taking the half-pack from Wang Lang's hand and stuffing it into his pocket.
Seeing that Li Yunlong was still looking at his hand, Wang Lang glanced down, then handed over the lighter in his own hand. "I don't smoke. This lighter will be just right for Brother Li."
Li Yunlong did not stand on ceremony either. He slipped it into his pocket and said, "Not smoking is a good habit. I only learned to smoke from the old leaders. There was one time when we had just taken down the Japanese and got ourselves a pack of fine cigarettes, but we had no fire."
He stopped and said nothing more.
"And then?" Wang Lang asked curiously.
"No fire," Li Yunlong said. "The locally made matches in the border region were hard to come by, and once they got a little water or blood on them, they wouldn't work anymore."
Wang Lang suddenly understood.
He wanted another lighter.
No wonder even a good-tempered person like Zhao Gang called him a bandit.
But Wang Lang did not find it unpleasant at all.
That was exactly like Li Yunlong!
"Later I'll give you a whole box of lighters," he said with a smile. "I also collected a few volumes of the Selected Works of Mao... Oh, right, you know Political Commissar Zhao, don't you?"
"Political Commissar Zhao?" Li Yunlong froze.
"Zhao Gang," Wang Lang said. "Has Brother Li not met him yet?"
"All of you keep talking about Zhao Gang. Just who is this immortal, really?" Li Yunlong asked with a cigarette between his fingers.
Earlier, Qiao Mian had already told him to make sure he brought Zhao Gang in.
"You haven't reached the Independent Regiment yet?" Wang Lang asked.
"I just received the notice. I haven't gone over yet," Li Yunlong said, taking another satisfying drag.
"No wonder. He should be heading over soon as well," Wang Lang said with a slight nod.
"Tell me, how do you know that?" Li Yunlong asked.
Only then did Li Yunlong learn that he was, in fact, a character from a television drama.
As he listened to Wang Lang recount the deeds he would accomplish after entering the Independent Regiment, his heart trembled.
"A gifted scholar from Yan University actually became sworn brothers with me, Li Yunlong, and even learned how to drink? I have to see such a man for myself."
"Brother Monk Wei... fought life and death alongside me, only to die at the hands of those damned bandits!"
"To think I, damn it all, even had a wife, and she was killed by artillery fire I had my own men unleash on her! Those cursed little Japanese!"
"That traitorous bastard, I'll go back and butcher him myself!"
...