Chapter 127: My Surname is Li, My Given Name is Tian

The officer frowned and waved his hand. “Alright, take a team and distribute them. Gather all the supplies from the houses of the deceased and the criminals, load them onto the trucks. I’ll stay here to conduct an investigation.”

“Yes, sir!”

Shi Zi was forcibly taken away by two people. Meanwhile, a squad of police led four rows of criminals to assign addresses from a list, and finally, they split into groups of five to carry things away.

Jing Shu explained to Grandpa Jing and Grandma Jing, “These criminals were brought here for ‘reform through labor.’ Basically, they’re moving everything out of the houses of the dead and those who committed crimes.”

Grandpa Jing had just pulled out a cigarette, but after thinking for a moment, he put it back. “Those people’s homes don’t have any food left, no knives, even the bedsheets, cloth, and bowls that could be used have all been taken. What valuable things could be left?”

“There are still beds, sofas, cabinets, even doors and tables—anything that can be taken, they’ll take. Think about it, there’s no sun now, it’s drought and water shortage, lots of forest fires, the trees are gone, and there’s no other materials left. For the next few years, we won’t be able to produce any of these things, so of course the government needs to stockpile them in advance.”

Jing Shu figured the government had finished stockpiling food and was now moving on to cotton, linen, cloth, and wood. No matter what, these things are still useful. At the very least, they’ll provide fuel for the heavy snow in the future and save a lot of people.

On the ground, Zhou Xiang started convulsing, blood pooling beneath him. Soon, he stopped moving altogether, life leaving his body completely.

Within minutes, more and more corpse-eating insects swarmed over the body to lay eggs. After a while, a swarm of flies came and laid eggs in the blood as well.

For the first time, the residents of the compound witnessed the process of a human corpse being devoured. They were so terrified, no one dared utter a word.

The officer gave a military salute. “My surname is Li, my given name is Tian—Tian as in the ‘said’ from Confucius’ Analects. You can call me Officer Li. I’m also responsible for the security of your neighborhood.”

He then explained the new laws, emphasizing the severe punishment for criminals: anyone caught robbing or killing would be executed on the spot.

He also promoted the various benefits of being a civil servant, establishing a hierarchy that made the residents envious.

Finally, Li Yutian summed it up: as long as you behave, respond actively to the nation’s calls, and have no criminal record, you might have a chance to join the system in the future. Don’t cause trouble, or the consequences will be dire.

Next, every household was registered and investigated.

When it was Jing Shu’s family’s turn, Li Yutian did take notice—not because they were clean and didn’t smell, but because of Grandpa and Grandma Jing’s advanced age. They were already in their eighties, and in such sweltering weather, they were only sweating a little and looked quite healthy.

In the apocalypse, the hardest to survive are the elderly, followed by children.

“You have high blood pressure. Are you still taking your medication?” Li Yutian asked, looking at Grandma Jing’s records.

“How could I not? Luckily, my granddaughter bought a lot of blood pressure medicine not long ago.”

Li Yutian quickly took notes. This family was truly lucky. This girl named Jing Shu was a food livestreamer before the Dark Days, so she had a lot of purchase records. She even sold some food and made quite a bit of money, which is why they’ve managed to live so well these past six months.

“What a lucky girl,” Li Yutian thought, not dwelling on it. He’d seen over a dozen people who’d gone on a food-buying spree during that time. There was even a boy who believed in doomsday prophecies, sold his house, and bought over two million yuan worth of food. Unfortunately, most of it spoiled due to the heat and corpse-eating insects. What a pity.

Jing Shu’s attention, however, was drawn to a man who kept sneaking glances at her. When she looked over, the man immediately dropped to his knees in terror, begging for mercy. Jing Shu was speechless—she didn’t even know who he was.

Chou Chou felt like he was about to die, but thankfully, Li Yutian spoke up just then.

“Which one is Zhang Bingbing?”

Wang Qiqi brought Zhang Bingbing forward. She was finally wearing a dirty, colorless dress, her head lowered as she touched her slightly swollen belly, clutching the hand of a man in his fifties, with a young man in his twenties standing beside him.

Reading Wu You’ai’s report, Li Yutian frowned deeply. He knew about the depraved things happening in this compound. If it were up to him, he’d have killed the two men outright. The woman had already been tortured into insanity—what was the point of keeping her alive?

But, she was pregnant. The child was innocent.

Li Yutian forced a smile onto his tense face—a smile so frightening it could make a child cry. He pulled a piece of candy from his pocket. “Here, have some candy.”

Zhang Bingbing took the candy with a blank expression and handed it straight to the old man.

The old man looked smug. He’d trained Zhang Bingbing well. He’d even taught her that if anyone dared bully them, she should threaten to kill herself.

Li Yutian gritted his teeth. “To hell with this, I can’t stand it. Cuff these two right now.” With a wave of his hand, two police officers rushed over and restrained the father and son, pulling Zhang Bingbing aside.

“Zhang Bingbing, they’re going to kill your husband. Your child will have no father!”

Zhang Bingbing went berserk, yanking her own hair, slapping her face, struggling desperately to break free from the police. “I want my child’s father! I want my big husband and my little husband! Ahhh! Without them, I can’t live! I don’t want to live! I want to die! I want to die!”

Jing Shu never expected that the former white-collar worker Zhang Bingbing would end up like this, her mental state so shattered it was as if she’d been brainwashed.

The police had no choice but to knock Zhang Bingbing out.

Seeing the murderous look in Li Yutian’s eyes, the old man didn’t dare risk his and his son’s lives anymore.

“Officer, officer, Zhang Bingbing and we are in a consensual relationship. We get along very well. Without us, she’d definitely try to kill herself. Are you going to keep her tied up for life to stop her? And if you separate us, who’ll take care of her?”

Li Yutian stared at the old man with a chilling gaze, then waved his hand yet again. “You, come here.”

Wang Qiqi hurried over.

Li Yutian whispered a few words in his ear. Wang Qiqi nodded vigorously. Li Yutian waved his hand one more time. “That’s it then. Dismissed!”

Though Jing Shu was far away, she still heard him say, “Keep an eye on them. Whether or not the child is born, let me know. I won’t be satisfied until that scum is dead.”

Jing Shu sighed. In the years after the apocalypse, there were many cases like this—strange and twisted in every way. People’s moral bottom line had sunk to a new low.

Grandma Jing kept muttering “What a sin, what a sin” as they returned to their comfortable villa. Jing Shu got busy making her vegetable chips. The first batch of daylilies and radishes had been harvested and processed, safely stored in her space.

The second batch—eggplants and cucumbers—had been planted, and she’d also grown some in the villa’s yard. From now on, these dried vegetables would have a legitimate source.

Today, Jing Shu harvested fresh cucumbers and eggplants.

Dried eggplant is super tasty. Just slice it and dry it until there’s no moisture left, then you can cook it however you like.

There are many ways to eat dried cucumber too. Scoop out the seeds, dry the rest for a day, then you can pickle it in a jar or soak it in water when you want to eat it."