Chapter 78: If You Keep Crying, I’ll Kill You

Song Yucheng led the search and excavation team, along with the rest of the new group, hurrying toward the spot where they’d dumped Pang Zhenggong’s body.

None of them really believed that, with just Ah Hong and Captain Qiao’s abilities, they’d be able to find Pang Zhenggong.

This wasteland was nothing but ruins, without a single distinctive landmark.

Even Song Yucheng’s own excavation team members could barely remember where exactly they’d tossed Pang Zhenggong’s body after killing him.

So after wandering around the general area for ages, Song Yucheng and the others still hadn’t seen any sign of Ah Hong or Captain Qiao.

“They probably didn’t even search in this direction,”

one teammate said, his tone dripping with disdain.

“That Qiao guy’s team is nothing but a bunch of losers and dead weight. They can’t even find food or water—how could they possibly find Zheng’s body?”

Song Yucheng frowned and looked at the teammate.

“But we haven’t found Zheng’s body, either, have we?”

They used to be a professional search and rescue excavation team.

They’d found things in ruins, in the open sea—you name it, they’d done it.

But now, even with a clear idea of where they’d dumped the body, they couldn’t find Pang Zhenggong.

A sense of unease gnawed at Song Yucheng.

A teammate patted Song Yucheng on the shoulder.

“So what? Maybe a mutant beast dragged Zheng’s body away.”

“It’s getting late. It’s dangerous to be out here. We should get back.”

Song Yucheng’s eyes were red as he stared at his teammate, gritting his teeth to hold back his emotions.

“How can you talk about it so lightly?”

Pang Zhenggong was their brother!

They were a team—sworn brothers with bonds forged in iron.

They’d traveled all over, at home and abroad, facing countless dangers together for the sake of search and rescue.

It had taken so much to build their team into one of the most cohesive, top-performing groups in the field.

But now, they’d all ganged up and killed Pang Zhenggong.

All because he’d been reluctant to join the new group, the others had grown resentful of him.

A teammate said coldly, “It was Zheng’s own fault. He abandoned us.”

“Every time we went out to scavenge, we let him come along, no hard feelings.”

“So why did he think he had the right to demand a share of our search and rescue tools?”

Pang Zhenggong had been their team leader.

Without him, the team would never have existed.

He’d seen their potential, recruited them from all walks of life.

He’d taught them everything about search and rescue, step by step.

He’d led them all over the world for training and courses, absorbing and improving on every bit of knowledge they could find.

“Didn’t Zheng always say? Our team has to keep up with the times.”

The teammate looked especially innocent.

“But now it’s the wasteland. If he can’t adapt to the rules of survival here, he’s bound to be eliminated.”

“Our team has to be united. Anyone who undermines that unity can’t be tolerated.”

The team had long been dissatisfied with Pang Zhenggong’s lack of commitment.

This time, he’d finally crossed their line.

No one could say for sure who threw the first punch at Pang Zhenggong.

Then came the second, the third.

In the end, everyone was venting their anger and frustration, beating and kicking him together.

“No one meant to kill Zheng. He just couldn’t take a beating.”

“Yucheng, we can’t allow traitors!”

They all spoke self-righteously.

“Yucheng, you hit him too, didn’t you?”

Song Yucheng’s lips moved. He took a deep breath, bloodshot eyes lifting to the sky.

In the darkness, a few scattered stars hung far out of reach.

“Let’s go back. We’re done searching.”

Song Yucheng could easily imagine what would happen to Ah Hong, with so many men out here looking for her.

Anyway, searching these ruins was a waste of time. They hadn’t found a single soul.

He lowered his head and led the way back.

“Even if we find Zheng’s body, so what?”

“Who in this wasteland is going to fight to the end over a single life?”

So they’d beaten him, and now he was dead. Pang Zhenggong was gone.

There were no laws to restrain them, and there would be no punishment.

Meanwhile, Captain Qiao, Ah Hong, Pang Ziyuan, and seven or eight other rough-looking men

had already carried Pang Zhenggong’s blood-soaked body back to the camp under the bridge.

From a distance, he looked no different from a corpse.

Along the way, someone muttered,

“After all that effort, we’re just bringing back a corpse. Might as well have buried him out there.”

Tears streaming down her face, Ah Hong turned and glared fiercely at the speaker.

Captain Qiao snapped, “Enough with the useless talk. Save your strength for the work.”

Only when they’d set Pang Zhenggong down in front of the Shi family’s wall

did Pang Ziyuan bow expressionlessly to the group.

“Thank you, uncles, for your help. Please wait here—I’ll get you some food.”

He brought out a box of instant noodles and a case of bottled water from the Pang family’s yard,

setting them on the ground for the seven or eight men to take as they pleased.

Pang Ziyuan and Ah Hong exchanged a glance, then together lifted Pang Zhenggong and carried him inside the Shi family’s walls.

Captain Qiao didn’t join the others in scrambling for the food and water.

Instead, he stepped forward to help Ah Hong and her son lift Pang Zhenggong’s legs.

In this way, he slipped inside the Shi family compound with them.

Dawn had not yet broken. Shi Yuebai sat hunched in her wheelchair,

as if she’d been waiting there all along for them to return.

“Auntie, can you save my dad?”

Pang Ziyuan knelt in front of Shi Yuebai, reaching out to touch her leg.

“No time.”

A white paper airplane landed on Shi Yuebai’s knee.

It wasn’t Shi Yuebai speaking; the voice came from the paper airplane.

Just as despair was settling in for Ah Hong and Pang Ziyuan, the paper airplane spoke again:

“Just leave him there. Don’t touch him.”

Shi Yuebai really didn’t have time to save Pang Zhenggong.

Right now, aside from one hand and one arm, her whole body was numb.

She couldn’t feel a thing.

She couldn’t even make facial expressions, let alone speak.

A drop of blood fell onto Pang Ziyuan’s hand, and only then did he look up at Shi Yuebai.

“Auntie… what’s wrong?”

Frightened, Pang Ziyuan burst into tears, hugging Shi Yuebai.

Only then did Ah Hong and Captain Qiao, in the dim light, see that Shi Yuebai’s head was bowed, blood seeping from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Especially the blood trickling from her lips, staining her shirt a deep red.

“So noisy! If you keep crying, I’ll kill you!”

Almost forgot winter’s here. That’s the worst part—hands and feet are always cold."