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墨書 Inktalez
"What's going on?" The leading sergeant looked at the young man, who had a righteous expression, clearly someone who took his duties seriously. "Who killed these people?"
Although the villagers wished nothing more than for these bandits to be dead, when it came to taking responsibility, none of them dared to step forward. Besides, it was Li Yan and Zhou Miao who had killed these people; they had nothing to do with it.
The villagers exchanged glances and chose to remain silent. After all, Li Yan and Zhou Miao had saved the villagers by killing those bandits; they couldn't be seen as heroes nor could they betray their own.
Zhang Liang was anxious as he watched from the side. He had mentioned to the bandits that the Li Family had food, but he never expected that Li Yan and Zhou Miao would not only survive but also kill. Zhang Liang was scared—truly scared—especially recalling how cold-blooded and brutal Li Yan and Zhou Miao had been during the killing; it felt etched in his mind. They would definitely seek revenge. "Sir, we saw it with our own eyes; they killed people! You need to arrest them quickly! If you leave them in the village, who knows when they might turn on us too?"
Zhang Liang's words shocked everyone present. Yes, Li Yan and Zhou Miao could kill without a second thought. If one day they felt displeased, would they not kill again? Although everyone knew that today's incident couldn't be entirely blamed on Li Yan and Zhou Miao, killing was as easy for them as slicing a watermelon. Who would dare keep such people close?
After thinking for a while, Zhang Zhong, suppressing his anxiety, finally spoke up. "Sir, here's what happened. These bandits came to our village to rob food. They started killing right away. Thanks to Zhou Miao and Li Yan, or else our village would have suffered greatly. Sir, while killing is wrong, in this world where bandits dare to come openly into our village, if it weren't for them, today it wouldn't be them who died but us defenseless common folks..."
Zhang Zhong's words reminded those villagers whose resolve was wavering. Yes, keeping Li Yan and Zhou Miao around was far better than being without them. In this world where bandits could show up any day, how could they possibly stand against those desperate criminals? Keeping Li Yan and Zhou Miao, though frightening, at least provided some protection.
With this thought in mind, most people began to speak up in support of Li Yan and Zhou Miao. This infuriated Zhang Liang, whose eyes turned green with anger. Did these fools want to see him dead? "Aren't you afraid they'll kill you too?!"
"Zhang Liang, you're the worst! If anyone should die first, it's you!" Zhang Hong couldn't hold back any longer. How could their village have such a shameless person? "You disgraceful thing! If it weren't for you stirring things up, those bandits wouldn't have gone after Li Yan and Zhou Miao. We're all from the same village; your heart is truly wicked! If we need to drive someone out, it should be you first! Keeping someone like you around makes me worry about being sold off myself!"
He continued angrily, recalling how Zhang Liang had urged others to sell their houses before. "You think life is good in the city? If life were so good there, why would rich people come flooding into our village? Those who went to the city might be suffering right now! You'd be skinned alive and no one would care!"
After finishing his tirade, Zhang Hong remained furious. His two younger sisters and brother had gone to the city; they used to call regularly but now their phone lines were dead. He was genuinely worried but felt helpless.
As soon as Zhang Hong spoke up, others began cursing too. Indeed, at one point, Zhang Liang had been adamant about getting everyone to sell their houses. Many here had been tempted by that idea; now hearing that conditions in the city were poor made them realize that at least they still had land here while those in the city had nothing at all. With relatives having gone to the city, everyone was concerned—if life were so good there, why did towns become Safe Zones? Why were rich people flocking into their village? It only indicated one thing: life in the city was no longer sustainable.
Did Zhang Liang know about this all along? Did he intentionally let everyone sell their houses so he could resell them to the wealthy and profit from it? If that's the case... then Zhang Liang is truly ruthless. The crowd began to whisper among themselves, and the more they thought about it, the more convinced they became that something was indeed off, especially with Zhang Zhong involved...
Seeing that the flames of suspicion were about to engulf him, Zhang Zhong hurriedly stepped forward to speak on behalf of Li Yan and Zhou Miao. "Commander, you see, they were forced into this situation. It's not easy for anyone to survive these days. If they don't resist now, they'll be dead. Our Zhangjia Village owes them a lot, Commander. Please don't believe this nonsense." He shot a fierce glare at Zhang Liang as he spoke.
"How am I spreading nonsense? Commander, murder is a crime! You can't just let these two murderers go free. Besides, they just said they wanted to kill me! Commander, I'm an innocent person; you have to save me!" Zhang Liang exclaimed, genuinely crying out of fear.
The officer looked at the people from Zhangjia Village as they exchanged glances and words, finding it all quite chaotic. He shone his flashlight around and saw several long knives still lying next to the bodies. These people clearly weren't ordinary starving villagers; they were dressed in thick down jackets and even in death, their faces didn't look like those who had gone without food.
Recently, they had received reports about a group of bandits specifically targeting various villages. It was said that these bandits were well-trained; if they didn't get food, they would kill and rob instead. Several villages had already suffered significant losses. Looking at the bodies on the ground, Yin Le could basically conclude that these were the bandits. In this current situation, he certainly wouldn't arrest the two murderers; after all, they weren't entirely wrong in their actions. Moreover, he believed having one or two such individuals in a village could help the common folk survive a little longer.
Times are tough; nothing can be guaranteed anymore. Thinking about the differences between life inside and outside the Safe Zone made Yin Le's expression darken considerably. "Alright, I've understood your concerns. Your village will be responsible for burying these bandits' bodies. Today’s resistance is commendable, but murder is never acceptable. Given that this situation was sudden and you acted in self-defense, we'll leave it at that. Here's what we'll do: the involved parties will be fined three hundred pounds of grain. In the future, if any bandits come again, you can notify the town, understood? Yes, it's a crisis; you can take appropriate defensive measures."
"Yes, yes," Zhang Zhong replied. "But we just didn't have time." He took out a cigarette for Yin Le, who accepted it but carefully placed it in his jacket pocket instead of smoking it, recalling how someone craved cigarettes made him chuckle. "Commander, how did you know our village was attacked by bandits?"
"Someone from your village called; their name was Min Qing. Where are they?" Yin Le needed to maintain appearances and praise that person a bit.
Recently, the outsiders in Zhangjia Village were those wealthy individuals. The villagers' faces turned pale upon hearing this; it wasn't that they didn't know their village had been robbed—they were just protecting themselves. They even knew to call the town for help; how did they manage to get that phone number? Those families had hired thugs yet no one was willing to step up and help out. Today was only possible because Li Yan and Zhou Miao were present; otherwise... there was a thorn in everyone's heart that would be hard to remove.
Now they'd have to pay three hundred pounds of grain; Li Yan and Zhou Miao accepted their "guilt." Li Yan truly didn’t care much about this amount of grain; although there was only about a thousand pounds in the kitchen, there were at least four or five thousand pounds stored away elsewhere. They hadn't been planting crops lately since there was too much food to consume anyway. Being fined might actually be a good thing for him; due to his space's circumstances, he indeed viewed supplies and food with less urgency than most people did—something others noticed and turned into his "crime." After all, he had to live among people; it would be better for him to keep a low profile moving forward. This fine could silence some mouths since he had indeed been penalized.
The yard remained cold as Li Yan led them closer to the kitchen where it felt significantly warmer. Yin Le had been wearing a hat all along but took it off now; Zhou Miao couldn't help but laugh upon seeing him—it was that little guy who used to be by Liu Tao's side in Snow Wolf Team! Who would have thought that just over a year later, his entire demeanor had changed dramatically? He seemed much steadier now but carried more of an edge than before. Indeed, his eyes no longer held that innocence seen previously; this world truly shapes people.
Earlier outside in the pitch-black darkness illuminated only by moonlight and a few flashlights, Yin Le finally recognized them now. The captain occasionally mentioned Zhou Miao these days—saying he was clever enough to realize early on that being a special forces soldier wasn't reliable and that returning home to farm was better. During summer, many from their unit went out for flood relief efforts—most returned less frequently than expected...
"By the way, how is your captain?" Zhou Miao was helping to weigh the food, and it was all rice. "Are you also in town?"
"Yes, we came here to protect the leader and decided to stay afterward. The captain often mentions you. Hey, don't be so honest about just taking rice," Yin Le said. When he mentioned three hundred pounds of food, he meant that other types of food could be substituted as well; rice is quite precious now.
Well, this person is calling others honest, Li Yan couldn't help but chuckle. He patted Yin Le on the shoulder and said, "It's fine, it's fine. We farmers still have some food; if we really didn't have any, we wouldn't let you take it. You should have your captain come by our house sometime to get acquainted." Li Yan's plan was naturally not just that; since Li Tao could come as part of the team protecting the leader, he probably had considerable power now. Having someone like him visit more often could ensure that their family wouldn't be disturbed by those troublesome people.
When Yu Tian and Li Ming walked into the kitchen, Yin Le had already weighed the rice. Li Yan also gave him a bag of Sweet Potatoes. Yin Le looked at Li Ming's rosy little face and finally believed that they weren't lacking in food, so he smiled and accepted the Sweet Potatoes. Although there was plenty of food in the Safe Zone, most of it was for those in power; what was distributed to them was just some mixed grains.
After the others left, Yu Tian noticed that both of them had blood on them and hurriedly asked what happened. Zhou Miao exaggerated a bit, saying that someone had died during the riot; it was a gruesome scene, with blood all over everyone. Fortunately, they had the People's Liberation Army comrades; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Now they were thanking the police for their help with rice.
Li Ming believed this one hundred percent; Yu Tian didn't say anything because he didn't believe it. He was no longer a graduate student still in school; he had gradually come to understand that some things required appropriate changes. Even if Li Yan and Zhou Miao had killed someone, he would choose to support them unconditionally; they were family, weren't they?
After Li Yan and Zhou Miao took a shower, they planned to find that scoundrel Zhang Liang. They were already skilled in lightness techniques, but when they went to Zhang Liang's house, they found him hiding under the bed while his wife was cursing beside him. Li Yan killed one of the chickens from his Chicken Coop and wrote a large character for "death" with its blood on the ground outside. It would be too easy for this person to die directly; it needed to be drawn out slowly—this was worse than death.
The author has something to say: Yesterday's update was delayed due to a draw, so I could only update this morning.
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