Unfortunately, Wang Chao only made it halfway before the handcuffs yanked him short. The one howling was the bespectacled Shi Lei. What a voice. If he did not sing, it would be a waste. Quiet as a shadow on normal days, when he wailed it was terrifying.
Jing Shu covered her ears again. That cry dragged every eye in the warehouse their way. The moment people sensed a possible savior, if not for the fact that they were chained in groups of ten to iron posts along the wall, the crowd would have surged over.
Shouts tumbled out, begging to be released.
"Comrade, could we move somewhere quieter? It is too noisy here to hear anything," she said.
"I will ask Squad Leader Li," Xia Liu replied.
When Xia Liu left, hope finally flickered in the classmates' eyes as they stared at her. Liang Xin blurted, "Jing Shu, you came to save us, right? You can get us out, right? We are really being wronged!"
Nima whispered to Zhang Lingling, who had stayed silent, "What is Su Mali thinking, sending her? Does she even have the ability to save us?"
"Did you not hear? She is only here to check the situation. Su Mali will come to rescue us," Zhang Lingling muttered. Joy drained from her face. She and Jing Shu had bad blood. Being seen by Jing Shu in this state was mortifying. She edged back, scraping grime from her face. She bit her lip. She really did not want Jing Shu to see her like this.
Before long, Xia Liu returned with keys. "Squad Leader says we can move to the office next door." He dragged the skewer string of detainees outside one by one, prompting an uproar around them as others demanded to know why some people were being taken out.
"Really? We can leave?" Shi Lei wept with relief. "My newborn son is waiting at home."
"Shut it," Jing Shu said. "Keep your voice down. You are only changing rooms to talk."
That one sentence sparked more anger from the warehouse. They tumbled out in a mess and shifted into a lit office area. The group stood in a line, filthy beyond belief. The last reunion had been rough, but nothing like this. The stench wrapped around them so thick that even after Jing Shu took several steps back, it still clung to her.
"While the officer is here, why do you not say how you were wronged?" she asked. If there had not been special circumstances, she would not have bothered with them. There was no deep friendship to speak of, and she was not magnanimous enough to save people who had insulted her.
She looked over the familiar faces. Zhang Lingling fussed with the grime on her clothes. Nima kept her head down, fidgeting, unwilling to speak because of their past grudge. Only Wang Chao and Shi Lei were worked up.
Shi Lei said, "Last month the red nematodes went extinct. Zhang Lingling posted in the group saying she would make up for the loss we took last year because of the so-called 'water collector.' She said there was a money-making project, swore she would eat shit if it did not pay, and promised we would not have to put in a single coin."
Jing Shu glanced at Zhang Lingling. So it was her again. "And then?"
Wang Chao added, "Then a few of us from high school took stock from her. One virtual coin for six patties. We sold them at five patties per virtual coin. A neat twenty percent profit. We even took the patties first and only settled later. We did the math and it was guaranteed profit, so we sold together."
Shi Lei sniffled and sobbed. "Yes, we were just patty sellers. We knew nothing. Zhang Lingling said they were leftovers from the cafeteria, sold cheap. We did not think too much about it. Who knew the zombie disease everyone is talking about came from those bug patties. We went to restock this morning and got arrested. If I had known, I would never have sold them. My son was just born. I only wanted to earn more so he could have something nutritious."
Twenty-four and already a father, in the apocalypse no less. Time was flying. No, wait. She was twenty-four this year, but counting her past life she was thirty-five. Horrifying.
"That is all?"
"That is all," Wang Chao said, baffled. "Is that not unjust enough?"
Xia Liu's mouth twisted. "The patties stank. You were not afraid people would die eating them?"
Nima rolled her eyes. "People are starving. What is death compared to hunger? We even ate them ourselves sometimes."
Jing Shu nodded once. "In this whole affair, your role was only to sell the patties, yes?" She had thought the so-called money-making scheme was something else. So this was it.
Shi Lei pointed at Zhang Lingling. "She handled procurement. The rest of us sold."
"What was your procurement price per virtual coin?" Jing Shu asked.
Head down, Zhang Lingling muttered, "Not much. I barely made anything. We are classmates. I only took a handling fee."
Xia Liu could not help it. He pulled up the Big Data records on his phone and tapped the list. "Zhang Lingling, middleman. Eight patties per virtual coin. Second-tier wholesalers got seven patties per virtual coin. You charged your classmates six. After costs, you cleared three thousand virtual coins this month. The other four made five hundred each."
Zhang Lingling gaped and pointed at Xia Liu. "How is it so clear? You did not even ask us anything."
Xia Liu snorted. "With chat logs and virtual coin flows, reverse inference on Big Data is easy. No interrogation required. Understand?"
"You!" Shi Lei jabbed a finger at Zhang Lingling's nose. "I knew you had a snake's heart last year. Your vicious vow came true again. Should never have trusted you. Make money if you want, but do not pretend it is all for compensating classmates. I despise you."
Liang Xin shook his head. "Zhang Lingling, I am very disappointed in you."
Nima shook off Zhang Lingling's hand. "We were close, and you still showed no mercy. Hah."
"Jing Shu, make sure you expose what she did in the class group. People like this do not deserve to stay in there."
Grinding her teeth, Zhang Lingling said resentfully, "I know I was wrong. I am sorry, everyone. But should we not first figure out how to get out of this? Confiscation is happening anyway. Whether I made more or less, it will all be gone."
"I don't want to talk to you," Shi Lei snapped, then turned to plead with Jing Shu. "Jing Shu, what do we do? The government is reclaiming the related virtual coins. I don't want a single coin back. I just want to go home."
"I understand how you feel, but the higher-ups have not decided yet. Your lives are not in immediate danger. Wait for Su Mali and hear what she says. She asked me to come and assess first and to make sure no one gets killed by mistake."
Nima rolled her eyes. "So in the end you are here to save us, but look at you, interrogating us like a cop. Who do you think you are? After all that, we still have to wait for Su Mali."
"Exactly. I thought you had great ability. Turns out this is all?" Zhang Lingling chimed in, inching closer to Nima. She needed an ally in the same camp.
===
Wow… we've reached Chapter 300 already! ＼(＾▽＾)／
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