Chapter 101: What the Hell Is This Place?

Liang Yimo’s eyes went blank for a moment.

He flew into a rage, turned around, and growled at Shi Yuebai in a low voice:

“Where’s my ladder?”

Shi Yuebai was sitting in her wheelchair, only able to move her arms and neck.

But she still looked at Liang Yimo as if he were an idiot and said,

“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?”

“I’m a cripple, I’ve been sitting here the whole time. You think I could suddenly get super strength and run off with your ladder?”

At that moment, the walkie-talkie hanging from Liang Yimo’s waist crackled to life.

“Liang Yimo, Liang Yimo, our ladder was carried off by a bunch of old geezers.”

It was a member of the search and rescue excavation team on the other end.

He was supposed to be guarding the ladder on the other side of the ditch.

But he let his guard down, and a group of skin-and-bones old folks rushed up.

Two of them acted as a distraction, grabbing his attention.

The rest moved fast, yanking the ladder off the ditch.

And just ran off with it.

Liang Yimo’s chest heaved with anger. He pointed at Shi Yuebai,

“Did you tell them to do this?”

Shi Yuebai looked at him, baffled.

“You really think I’m that capable?”

“You give me way too much credit. Anyone in this world can bully or insult me.”

“I told them to steal your ladder? What power do I have?”

The more she spoke, the more wronged and defeated she sounded.

Liang Yimo still eyed her with suspicion.

Even though Shi Yuebai was telling the truth, Liang Yimo looked down on her—this fat pig.

But his gut told him that without Shi Yuebai’s permission, those old geezers would never have dared to take the ladder.

Now, without the ladder, how was he supposed to get out?

He swept a cold gaze over everyone in the room.

Shi Yaoyao stood up, holding a brick in her hand.

Seeing the brick, Liang Yimo thought of Song Yucheng.

He couldn’t understand how this kid could be so ruthless—and so strong.

When she smashed Song Yucheng over a dozen times, she didn’t hold back at all.

Song Yucheng was still lying unconscious in Xiao Lingye’s team.

If even a child could be this fierce, not to mention the adults like Nong Yasi and Shi Ersao.

Liang Yimo suddenly felt this was no place to linger.

He sneered, turned, and headed for the ditch.

He didn’t believe that just because he lost the ladder, he couldn’t cross a little ditch.

In fact, he and Song Yucheng had just been to the Shi family yesterday.

No matter how fast Xu Xuejiao worked, she couldn’t have dug the section connecting the ditch and the wall that deep.

Liang Yimo checked out the corner of the wall, grabbed onto it, and stepped onto a small patch of ground at the base, inching his way along.

He was about to climb up the garbage heap.

As long as he avoided the exposed rebar, he could jump down to flat ground.

A-Hong anxiously asked Shi Yuebai, “Are we just going to let him go?”

Before Shi Yuebai could answer, Pang Zhenggong came out from behind a pile of rubble, face cold.

“Let him go. He’ll be back.”

Then Shi Yuebai said, “Watch the route he’s taking to leave. That’s our weak spot.”

“As long as you’re careful, it’s not that hard to get out of here.”

Anyone agile enough could leave safely.

How could that be acceptable?

Shi Yuebai’s words made everyone fall silent.

If people could just come and go as they pleased, without paying any price—

Then what was the point of all the walls and ditches they’d built?

Xu Xuejiao, down in the ditch, was especially frustrated.

Just as Liang Yimo was inching along the garbage heap, trying to get to the ditch—

Xu Xuejiao suddenly burst out of the white mist below and grabbed his backpack.

She shrieked fiercely,

“What are you doing here? Sneaking around trying to find out something?”

Liang Yimo never expected a woman to leap out of the swirling mist in the ditch.

“Let go! Bitch, let go!”

He clung desperately to the rebar in the garbage heap.

But Xu Xuejiao had a hold of his backpack.

“Shi Yuebai, tell her to let go!!”

Liang Yimo shouted at Shi Yuebai.

Shi Yuebai shrugged helplessly. “Nothing to do with me. I’m just a fat passerby.”

“There’s still stuff in his backpack.”

A group of ragged, skin-and-bones old people blocked the only way Liang Yimo could get down.

He had no choice but to shrug off his backpack, letting Xu Xuejiao fall back into the thick mist with it.

“Damn it, what the hell is this place?!”

Liang Yimo cursed loudly, climbed a bit higher, picked his way through the jagged trash, and took a long detour.

He finally got out.

As soon as he left, the teammates under the bridge who were looking for the ladder slipped away too.

Meanwhile, the group of old folks, carrying the ladder, ran eagerly to the corner and looked at Team Leader Qiao with hopeful eyes.

“Team Leader, we did what you said.”

“Team Leader…”

Team Leader Qiao was lighting a fire and setting up a pot, simmering a big batch of mushrooms and potatoes.

He had no choice—Shi Yuebai had given them too many mushrooms.

Even after days in the white mist, the mushrooms still looked fresh and plump, not a sign of spoilage.

But Team Leader Qiao was always anxious. If they didn’t eat them soon, they’d go bad.

In the wasteland, wasting food was a sin.

So, since he needed people today, he made a huge pot for the old folks he’d sent out.

There were plenty of ingredients.

The old people’s cloudy eyes lit up, and they dropped the ladder and crowded over.

Team Leader Qiao still had some authority in their eyes.

He tapped a stone.

“Line up, everyone. Here are disposable bowls and chopsticks—one set per person. Don’t worry, there’s enough for all.”

In his team, aside from those seven useless ones, the rest were mostly old people.

There weren’t many women—after all, women were still useful in the wasteland.

There were so many old people because their children and grandchildren had abandoned them.

As for kids, any boy who could move had been taken away, and there wasn’t a single girl left.

The rest were mostly like Shi Yaoyao had been—deformed, unable to work.

Anyone without value was considered a burden in the wasteland.

Their families abandoned them, leaving them to Team Leader Qiao, with the attitude: if they can survive, let them.

If not, then it was Team Leader Qiao who starved them, not their own families.

As relatives, they didn’t have to carry any moral burden.

No need to take on the responsibility of care.

Why not?

Team Leader Qiao looked at the line of old folks and sighed gloomily.

He served them mushrooms and potatoes, one by one.

The old people, having lived a lifetime, were mostly sensible.

Once they got their food, they quietly squatted in the corner, cradling their full bowls, eating slowly, savoring every bite.

After making sure every old person who had “helped recover the ladder”—ahem, who had “found and returned” the ladder—got their share,

Team Leader Qiao got up and took the newly acquired ladder back to the ditch.

—Today I went out and bought some oatmeal and milk.

—From today on, I’m going to start eating breakfast properly."