Lu Li was even given a bottle of red wine from the Romanée-Conti Grand Cru vineyard. Supposedly, the stuff cost as much as 210,000 Federation currency.
Before the apocalypse, he had only ever seen this kind of wine online, and he was not even sure whether the bottles in those online videos were real.
But in Lu Li’s view, now that it was the apocalypse, there was not really much difference between famous-brand red wine and ordinary red wine.
Lu Li did not think too much about it. He simply opened the bottle, poured himself some, and took a drink. To him, it did not taste much different from ordinary red wine.
Fatty Lei, drawn over by the smell, carried his tray over and sat opposite Lu Li. Then he asked with a fawning expression, “Brother Lu, can I have a taste? This is…”
Lu Li directly handed the bottle over to him. “Drink it if you want. I think it tastes pretty average.”
Fatty Lei did not believe him at all. He hurriedly and carefully pulled a spotless wineglass from inside his clothes and poured some wine into it.
The dark-red wine gently swirled inside the crystal-clear glass, admittedly making it look exceptionally high-class. Fatty Lei took a small sip, then deliberately drew in a deep breath with an intoxicated expression.
“As expected of one of the world’s finest wines. This taste…”
Lu Li looked speechlessly at Fatty Lei, who was completely lost in his own intoxication.
Lu Li felt that this was probably what people called the luxury-goods effect. The taste of this wine might be somewhat different from ordinary red wine, but the difference probably was not that large. Most of it was likely psychological.
Of course, it was also possible that he, Lu Li, was simply a boar incapable of appreciating fine grain and could not taste what made this top-tier wine so special.
Naturally, Lu Li preferred to believe there was something wrong with the wine rather than with himself.
“If you want it, I’ll give you the bottle,” Lu Li said.
Hearing that, Fatty Lei hurriedly waved his chubby hands and repeatedly refused. “How could I do that? You have to understand, there are only two bottles of this wine in total. One is with you, and the other is with Sister Jun. Sister Jun hasn’t even been willing to drink hers herself.”
Seeing that the other man was still playing this polite-refusal game with him, Lu Li asked speechlessly, “Just tell me whether you want it or not. I’m not used to drinking this stuff anyway.”
“Of course I want it. Thank you, Brother Lu.” Fatty Lei hurriedly nodded over and over, afraid that Lu Li might change his mind halfway through and decide not to give him the wine after all.
Fatty Lei savored the wine by himself for a while longer before slowly asking, “Brother Lu, I heard Old Ma was killed by people from Anke Camp?”
“Old Ma was unlucky. Those animals hit him with a dumbbell,” Lu Li said calmly.
In the apocalypse, human lives were already as cheap as weeds. Even in Dawn Camp, where order was relatively stable, people died almost every day. The group with the highest death rate in the camp was the team that went out to search for supplies.
“Can you tell me what happened in detail?” Fatty Lei asked curiously.
“It went like this…”
Lu Li only gave a simple account of the mishap they had encountered on the way back.
It really had been quite dangerous at the time. He had almost been unable to resist letting Weedle make a move.
But under those circumstances, it would not have mattered whether Weedle and Feebas acted or not, because neither of them had any defensive-type moves.
After hearing the whole story, Fatty Lei felt his stomach churn and could not help complaining, “No wonder everyone calls Anke Camp the Demon Camp. Those animals really are worse than demons.”
Using human blood and severed limbs as weapons was not something a normal person could even think of.
“With such an evil neighbor nearby, life is going to be hard for everyone.” Fatty Lei sighed, while also feeling fortunate that Dawn Camp’s leader was Jun Shutong.
Putting himself in their shoes, Fatty Lei felt that if he were in the Demon Camp, he would most likely be the one killed and eaten for meat.
Thinking about what the Demon Camp had done, then remembering how he had previously complained that Lu Li had used him as bait, Fatty Lei felt like slapping himself.
“I really didn’t know what was good for me before. I actually cursed Brother Lu in my heart.” Fatty Lei’s conscience harshly condemned him.
Lu Li had no idea what Fatty Lei was thinking. He was feeling fortunate as well.
If he had gone to Anke Residential Complex instead of the shopping mall back then, he would either already be dead now, or he would have become one of those animals.
Lu Li did not think he was particularly noble. If it was necessary to stay alive, he really might do things that violated his morals or even crossed his bottom line.
“Alright, we still have a meeting later. Hurry up and finish eating,” Lu Li urged.
When it came to food, Fatty Lei had always been serious.
Even in the apocalypse, Fatty Lei still felt that eating properly was the most important thing.
The two of them quickly shoveled down their dinner, then headed toward the meeting room with full stomachs.
Almost everyone who came to the meeting was carrying half a small bottle of red wine in their hands. It was obvious that they had been reluctant to finish it during dinner and had deliberately saved some to slowly enjoy after the meeting.
Once everyone had arrived, Jun Shutong finally announced the start of the meeting.
The core topic of the entire meeting revolved around the Demon Camp. Among those present were two new faces who had come over from Anke.
They understood the Demon Camp’s methods better than anyone and also despised them the most. After all, if they had not been repulsed by them, they would have joined the Demon Camp long ago.
The meeting itself was dull because no one had any good ideas. All they could do was place their hopes on the big thing Lu Li had mentioned earlier.
After all, they did not want to risk their lives fighting the people from the Demon Camp, especially since the Demon Camp had the advantage in numbers. After all, there were no elderly, weak, sick, or disabled people over there.
Jun Shutong asked seriously, “Lu Li, how long will you need before you’re ready on your end?”
Hearing this, everyone looked curiously at Lu Li, wondering what exactly Jun Shutong was referring to.
Lu Li also knew that Jun Shutong needed him to step forward and boost everyone’s confidence, so he did not deliberately decline. Instead, he said with complete confidence, “Conservatively speaking, I need ten days. If it were only about dealing with the people from the Demon Camp, we could actually make a move right now, but I still have to guard against demon beasts.”
Jun Shutong did not pressure Lu Li any further and merely nodded. “Then we’ll wait another ten days.”
Since Jun Shutong had already made the decision, the others in the meeting room naturally did not dare object.
The main purpose of this meeting was still to restore everyone’s confidence. Lu Li knew that as well, which was why he had specifically come to attend it.
After the meeting ended, Lu Li was the first to excuse himself and leave, not giving anyone even the slightest chance to pry for information.
Just like that, three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Weedle finally accumulated enough energy to evolve. When it came to evolution, unlike other Pokémon, Weedle, as a Bug-type Pokémon, had a natural advantage.
They could evolve faster and more easily, unlike other Pokémon, whose evolution still required effort, luck, or other conditions.
Lu Li watched Weedle intently. He had even deliberately turned on the cameras beside him, trying to record the moment of Weedle’s evolution.
After adjusting the angles of the two cameras, Lu Li asked, “Weedle, are you ready to start?”
Weedle nodded seriously.
“Then let’s begin. I believe you can do it,” Lu Li encouraged.
The moment Lu Li finished speaking, dazzling white light suddenly burst out from within Weedle. It first completely enveloped its body, then the sphere of light continuously expanded and spread, quickly filling the entire room.
At first, the white light had no temperature at all, but Lu Li soon sensed that, somehow, there seemed to be an almost imperceptibly thin thread quietly connecting him and Weedle.
As that thread formed the connection, Lu Li was astonished to discover that he could actually feel the temperature of the white light, as though something was being transmitted to him through the light and that “nonexistent thread.”
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