Chapter 95: Seems Like a Lot of Men Have Arrived

Uncle Chen brought ten men from the Muscle Gang.

None of them thought this job would be difficult.

Wei Lingxia and Zhang Xueyao had failed, but only because they were useless.

So, ten men were more than enough.

All they needed was one or two to hold off Captain Qiao, and another couple to carry off the two Qiao girls and Xu Xuejiao.

The rest of the men had tagged along because they’d heard that the Shi family had a few decent-looking women—pretty, respectable types.

They figured they might get lucky in the chaos, so they followed Uncle Chen.

Wei Lingxia, her body covered in bruises from a beating, led the way up front.

As she walked, Uncle Chen kept kicking her from behind.

“You useless thing, can’t even handle a small matter like this. Now you’ve made me come out here myself.”

“My brother found you, and not only are you no help, you keep dragging our Chen family down.”

Uncle Chen hadn’t always been like this.

Before the wasteland, whenever he saw Wei Lingxia, he’d greet her cheerfully and respectfully call her “Sister-in-law.”

Back then, Uncle Chen was still in school, and the Chen family didn’t have much money.

Wei Lingxia worked outside the home, and besides raising her two sons, she’d send Uncle Chen a little pocket money every month.

Life was decent.

Chen Huaihai worked at a bar, and every month he’d hand his wages to Wei Lingxia.

She’d save it in the bank.

Sometimes Chen Huaihai would complain that Uncle Chen’s allowance was too generous.

But Wei Lingxia would always defend him, smiling and saying,

“He’s a young man—of course he needs money to date. What’s wrong with giving him a few hundred extra?”

They weren’t rich, but they got by—better than some, worse than others.

Life was simple and ordinary.

But after the wasteland, everything changed.

Everyone she’d ever known, or not known, seemed to become ugly and hateful.

Wei Lingxia, dazed and battered, led the way, only to be kicked in the lower back by Uncle Chen.

She stumbled forward, falling to the ground and struggling to get up.

But Uncle Chen and his nine men had already reached the team under the bridge.

They didn’t need Wei Lingxia to guide them anymore.

As Uncle Chen and the others crossed the desolate, messy riverbank, their faces were full of disdain.

No wonder this “under the bridge” team had fallen so low.

There were just too many old, weak, sick, and disabled people here.

As they walked, all they saw were hollow-eyed, emaciated burdens.

Those people’s eyes held no pain, no joy, not even curiosity.

They stood in front of their tarps like walking corpses.

Someone spat on the ground and said with disgust,

“No wonder Captain Qiao managed to run a big team into the ground like this.”

Some of them had survived the apocalypse with Captain Qiao and knew the team’s history well.

Back then, when the disaster struck, Captain Qiao’s team had brought people together.

Other teams hadn’t even formed yet—survivors were scattered and disorganized.

Captain Qiao was probably the first to react.

No one doubted he’d become a major leader.

But look at them now—this “under the bridge” team had fallen so far, there wasn’t a single able-bodied man left.

“If I were Captain Qiao, I’d marry off my two daughters as soon as possible, latch onto someone powerful.”

One man looked around and said, following Uncle Chen,

“There aren’t many men here. I saw a tent with a few idiots inside—probably about to starve to death.”

While checking out the area, he caught a faint whiff of mushrooms from the tent.

But that couldn’t be right.

Inside that tent were a few half-dead, ugly wretches.

If they were starving, where would the smell of mushrooms come from?

The rest laughed at him,

“Those ugly freaks from the bridge team are definitely going to starve.”

“If they don’t starve, what, are they going to be stuffed to death with mushrooms?”

Everyone burst out laughing, making crude jokes as they went.

They were completely at ease.

They searched around the bridge team’s camp.

In the darkness, they finally found the ditch that Wei Lingxia and Zhang Xueyao had mentioned.

There was no moon or stars tonight, and visibility was low.

Uncle Chen and the others could only make out a wall behind the ditch.

They didn’t care what was behind the wall.

All they could think about was getting their hands on the Qiao girls and Xu Xuejiao.

They couldn’t touch the Qiao girls, but Xu Xuejiao was fair game.

The Muscle Gang leader wasn’t planning to trade Xu Xuejiao for a spot in the big city.

“Isn’t there a celebrity from before the apocalypse living nearby?”

A man behind Uncle Chen asked excitedly.

Uncle Chen nodded. He knew the pre-apocalypse celebrity was Shi’s second sister-in-law.

“When we find her, we’ll take her back to our team too.”

Everyone nodded, getting even more excited.

They climbed up to the top of the ditch.

Sleeping in a pit in the ditch, Captain Qiao suddenly woke up. He nudged Xu Xuejiao beside him,

“Wife, someone’s here!”

The two of them crawled out of their sleeping bags, one grabbing a shovel, the other a hoe.

These were old tools left behind after the other survivors took the newer digging tools when they left the bridge team.

Xu Xuejiao and Captain Qiao listened warily at the edge of the pit.

Xu Xuejiao’s face was pale.

“They seem to be looking for us.”

The night in the wasteland was too quiet.

Even the slightest sound stood out.

The men above the pit, overconfident, didn’t bother to keep their voices down.

Captain Qiao quietly buried the fire at the edge of the pit.

He mouthed to Xu Xuejiao: [Don’t hesitate. Kill!]

Xu Xuejiao nodded. She had two beautiful daughters to protect.

At a time like this, any strange man approaching their home was a threat.

If she wasn’t ruthless, those men would be ruthless to her daughters.

Captain Qiao listened intently to the sounds above, his brow furrowed.

[It sounds like a lot of men!]

Xu Xuejiao nodded, gripping her hoe tightly.

Above them, Uncle Chen peered down into the darkness.

“Damn, why is it so dark tonight?”

Usually, there’d be some moon or starlight, but tonight there was barely any.

And for some reason, the bottom of the ditch looked covered in a layer of white mist.

Uncle Chen signaled to the man beside him,

“Jump down!”

The man hesitated, “Who knows how deep it is?”

Visibility was poor, and the bottom looked foggy.

Who knew how far down it was?

Uncle Chen snapped, “Didn’t they say it was just over a meter?”

That was what Wei Lingxia and Zhang Xueyao had estimated.

In reality, Captain Qiao and Xu Xuejiao had never told anyone how deep the Qiao family had dug the ditch.

The man behind Uncle Chen figured it was just over a meter and jumped down.

“Ah, fuck!”

The man who landed in the ditch let out a scream.

Uncle Chen, still above, called down,

“What are you yelling for?”

“I twisted my ankle!”

He’d only jumped as if it were a meter, but—

“There’s a layer of white mist down here, you can’t see a thing. It’s got to be over two meters deep!”

He cursed loudly.

His voice was so loud that A-Hong and Nong Yasi behind the Shi family wall heard it.

A-Hong rushed inside, “Yuebai, did you hear something?”

Shi Yuebai was sitting in the courtyard, Second Sister-in-law Shi standing behind her.

Second Sister-in-law said, “There are ten men. Wei Lingxia was left behind halfway.”

“One of them is Uncle Chen.”

Maybe thinking of Chen Huaihai and his two sons, who had died at their hands, Second Sister-in-law Shi asked worriedly,

“Do you think the Chen family knows something?”

Shi Yuebai’s face was expressionless. “Even if they know we killed three of their men, it doesn’t matter.”

“Tonight, we’ll kill the fourth.”

A-Hong looked at Second Sister-in-law Shi.

She, too, was expressionless, holding a gun in her hand.

Shi Yuebai maneuvered her wheelchair toward the wall.

Second Sister-in-law Shi followed with her gun.

A-Hong glanced at Pang Zhenggong, lying on the ground, then gritted her teeth and pulled out a sharp knife.

It was the same knife Shi Yuebai had given her to kill Chen Huaihai.

Back then, A-Hong had been so nervous she hadn’t managed to kill him with several stabs.

It was Nong Yasi who finally finished the job.

Nong Yasi had tossed the knife away, but A-Hong later picked it up.

Every day after work, she’d look at that knife in her tent.

This time, she was determined to hold it tight.

Shi Yuebai’s wheelchair rolled to the edge of the ditch.

Uncle Chen and his men on the other side couldn’t see what was happening on this side.

Because of the spirit-gathering array, the whole area was shrouded in white mist.

Especially at night, with no sunlight, visibility was even worse.

A-Hong couldn’t see how many people were on the other side.

But Second Sister-in-law Shi, whether day or night, whether her view was blocked by mist or not, was unaffected.

Shi Yuebai said nothing, so Second Sister-in-law Shi didn’t raise her gun.

They waited quietly on their side of the ditch.

Shi Yuebai watched with clear vision as Uncle Chen and his men jumped down one by one.

Two more twisted their ankles as they landed.

“This is definitely more than a meter deep.”

One man jumped and disappeared into the white mist, not making a sound.

He probably landed in the deepest pit.

This ditch was about three meters deep at its deepest point.

That was where Da Jiao had dug, not knowing how to plan, just digging deeper and deeper in one spot.

So there were pits within pits.

If someone jumped down carelessly, they could easily knock themselves out.

Uncle Chen cursed, “It’s the apocalypse, and they’re still digging ditches like this?”

“Damn, must be out of their minds!”

Screams echoed.

Besides the man who landed silently, others broke legs or arms jumping down.

In the pit, Xu Xuejiao and Captain Qiao exchanged glances.

At that moment, they truly admired Shi Yuebai’s foresight.

They didn’t even have to lift a finger—several men were already out of commission.

Who else in the wasteland would bother digging such a deep ditch?

But for anyone coming to cause trouble, this ditch was the first line of defense.

And with all the white mist, it was even harder to see the pits below.

The mist wasn’t actually that thick.

But at night, with low visibility, it perfectly concealed the uneven ground.

When Uncle Chen jumped down, he was lucky enough to land safely.

But after a few steps, he stumbled and fell.

He was furious.

But what angered him more was that the ditch was so deep and long.

With the mist as cover, he couldn’t spot where Xu Xuejiao and the Qiao girls were hiding.

Captain Qiao and Xu Xuejiao quietly crept out of their pit, armed with hoe and shovel.

Captain Qiao caught a man who’d gotten separated and smashed him in the back of the head with the shovel.

With a muffled grunt, the man collapsed into the mist.

A few men ahead turned, but Captain Qiao quickly pulled Xu Xuejiao down to the ground.

Luckily, their pit was deep, and the mist hid them.

The men kept searching for their hiding place.

Captain Qiao and Xu Xuejiao got up again and kept attacking with their tools.

Uncle Chen, having jumped into the middle of the ditch, walked to the end but found no sign of the Qiao girls or Xu Xuejiao.

He turned around and started searching the other way.

“These people are so dumb, digging such a huge ditch just to make trouble for themselves?”

The men with him cursed along.

As they grumbled, they realized that of the ten men they’d brought, only six were left.

Uncle Chen said, “What’s going on? Where are the other four?”

They’d been stumbling and falling, some breaking legs, everyone getting frustrated.

Someone shouted, “Captain Qiao, stop playing tricks!”

“Come out here!”

“We’re here to take your wife and daughters to a better life!”

But at this point, it was clear that Captain Qiao and Xu Xuejiao had the upper hand—why would they come out?

(Today, two chapters were combined into one. If you spot any typos, just correct them for me—I can edit them in the backend. Thanks, everyone!)"