Chapter 87: He Mocked Auntie—He’s a Bad Person

Captain Qiao put Xu Xuejiao in charge of digging the trench.

He did a headcount of the people left in his group—aside from those seven misfits.

All the able-bodied men had left.

Some had joined the muscle team next door, others had gone to teams farther away.

Out of a sense of responsibility, Captain Qiao asked around about where those men had gone.

If he found out, he’d make a note of it. If not, he just let it go.

When he looked at the seven misfits, Captain Qiao couldn’t even bear to look.

There used to be eight, but last night, the only one who was physically sound and seemed halfway normal had run off.

The ones left were all skin and bones as a baseline.

A few were a bit slow-witted.

Some were slow to react.

A couple had mental issues—sometimes they’d just grin foolishly at nothing.

One had a limp, with one leg longer than the other.

Not a single normal one among them.

Captain Qiao pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced back at the trench.

Maybe it was just the early morning light, but from a distance, it looked like a faint layer of mist was floating inside the “Tong” character frame.

His two daughters were holding hands, spinning in circles inside that mist.

They were very quiet. To avoid attracting attention, Xu Xuejiao had trained them for years not to make a sound.

When they were in the tent, they’d only play quiet games.

So even if they were hungry, they’d just look at Xu Xuejiao with pleading eyes, never crying or fussing.

That was probably why Shi Yuebai could tolerate the two girls.

Captain Qiao turned back to the seven misfits lined up in front of him and said,

“This is all we’ve got. Let’s head out.”

Captain Qiao was different from Pang Zhenggong—he didn’t have a knack for finding supplies, and with so few people left, he didn’t plan to go far.

He set his sights on the visitor center behind the “Tong” character frame.

One of the misfits asked curiously,

“Captain, we’ve searched this area countless times. There can’t be any food left back there.”

Another nodded,

“We should go farther. I heard the team next door is heading toward the perimeter today—why don’t we follow behind them?”

“Unless we don’t get caught—otherwise, we’ll get beaten to death.”

Captain Qiao shook his head. His team was weak now.

The muscle team had been swallowing them up bit by bit. Last time, because of Pang Zhenggong, there’d even been some friction.

The only reason the muscle team hadn’t pursued it further was because they didn’t even see the bridge team as worth their time.

So it was best to steer clear.

After he explained, the men could only nod.

No other team would take them in anyway.

And besides Captain Qiao, no one else would organize them to go scavenging.

So be it.

Captain Qiao led the seven misfits around the “Tong” frame and started scavenging in the ruins.

“Try to find anything useful for daily life,” he told the men.

Seeing their puzzled looks, Captain Qiao explained,

“If it’s useful, we can take it to the big city and trade for points.”

Points weren’t worth much.

Even if you hauled tons of useful goods, you’d only get a few points.

And the city people would lowball you.

But if you traded daily necessities directly with Shi Yuebai for food, it was much more worthwhile.

Captain Qiao didn’t say more. He just reminded the seven men, and everyone buried themselves in the trash.

When Captain Qiao stood behind the “Tong” frame and looked down, he couldn’t see it at all.

He wondered if he’d gone the wrong way, or if you just couldn’t see where Shi Yuebai lived from above.

All he saw ahead were rocks and wisps of white smoke drifting among the rubble.

A few days ago, when Captain Qiao had eaten with the Shi and Pang families, he’d heard there was a public restroom behind the “Tong” frame.

But after climbing up, he hadn’t seen it.

Oh well, maybe he’d gone the wrong way.

Captain Qiao kept digging through the rubble, when the limping man called out,

“Captain, there’s a printer here—looks brand new!”

Captain Qiao craned his neck and saw that, sure enough, there was a brand new inkjet printer buried in the ruins.

The kind you’d see in a print shop—one of those big ones.

Then another misfit dug up several boxes of A4 and A3 paper.

Captain Qiao said, “Get it out—be careful not to bang it up on the rocks.”

Someone muttered, “What’s the use? You can’t eat it or drink it.”

Captain Qiao chuckled, “You never know. Let’s get it out first.”

The printer was heavy—it took all the men working together to move it.

They cleared away the rubble around it, then slowly hauled it out.

Luckily, the printer was still in its original packaging.

They’d only found it because one of the misfits had spotted the writing on the box while digging.

Once the printer was out, Captain Qiao quickly had them dig out the remaining dozen or so boxes of paper.

He got a few men to carry the printer back to the “Tong” frame.

As soon as the two girls saw men approaching, they quickly hid behind a pile of rocks, just as their mother had taught them.

Pang Ziyuan was sitting in front of the rocks. He glanced back at the two girls.

“Yuebai, do you want this printer?”

Captain Qiao still had a big smile plastered on his face, trying his best to please.

Just when he thought Shi Yuebai was going to ignore him again—

Shi Yuebai’s massive figure rolled out of the Shi family courtyard in her wheelchair.

After a few days of treatment, Shi Yuebai still couldn’t feel pain, but her hands and neck could move.

That meant the meridians in her hands and neck had fused back together.

But the rest of her body’s meridians were still severed.

The fused ones were fragile—good for moving her hands and neck, but not much else.

Fortunately, Shi Yuebai had figured out a way to circulate her fat energy.

She could bypass her damaged meridians and send energy straight out through the new ones in her right hand.

At the gate, a fool stared at Shi Yuebai’s massive body and burst out laughing,

“Hahaha, hahaha, so fat!”

Captain Qiao and everyone else working in the “Tong” frame turned to look at the fool.

Everyone was silent and expressionless.

He really was a fool.

The fool seemed to realize that laughing at a time like this was a bit out of place.

He stopped laughing, rubbed his nose, and muttered under his breath,

“It really is funny, though.”

At the gate, Shi Yuebai’s gaze shifted from the printer to the fool’s face.

She gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You’re pretty funny yourself.”

Behind the rocks, the two girls peeked out, confused.

Pang Ziyuan turned and whispered,

“He mocked Auntie. He’s a bad person.”

The two girls immediately grabbed handfuls of small stones and threw them at the fool who had laughed at Shi Yuebai.

It had poured rain today."