"Ah, so fragile?"

Zheng Xinyu was astonished. It was the first time she saw someone faint from fear in the real world. Even she and Zhong Xiaoshan hadn’t been this scared during the disaster.

"Oh no, Brother Lu, did we scare the little girl to death?"

Zhao Dezhu spread his arms with a quirky expression.

"Can’t be..." Lu Yubo waved his hands exaggeratedly, although he himself wasn’t sure.

"Hey, stop playing dead, do it any longer and I’ll really hurt you!"

Zhang Su knew for sure Su Xiaoya wasn’t dead, not even fainted. She was acting, trying to bluff her way out.

Bang bang.

He walked up and kicked Su Xiaoya. Her soft body bounced on the ground.

"Damn... really quite the performance!"

Zhang Su frowned, flicked open a self-sealing plastic bag, and sniffed gently. A peculiar scent wafted toward him, neither unpleasant nor pleasant, uncertain of its ingredients.

"If you don’t get up, I’ll make you eat the green powder!"

Zhang Su threatened.

Su Xiaoya lay motionless on the ground.

"Won’t shed a tear until she sees the coffin!"

With that, Zhang Su pinched a bit of green powder from the plastic bag, crouched down, pinched Su Xiaoya’s cheek to open her mouth, and without hesitation, stuffed it in. Unexpectedly, the powder clumped slightly due to moisture, so he simply smeared it on her tongue and oral cavity.

"Shit, that’s disgusting..."

Afterward, Zhang Su felt his fingers sticky, looked for a leaf on the ground to wipe his hands but finding the camp spotless, ended up wiping them on his pants leg.

The crowd around them all winced.

"Wow, doing it for real..."

Zheng Xinyu had a "so terrifying" expression, even retched a little.

"Big Brother, she really seems to have fainted, maybe we should stop for now."

Zhao Dezhu, who’s had a heart of stone after three years of gutting fish, felt a little sorry.

Zhang Su frowned at the limp Su Xiaoya on the ground, stood and said, "Lock her up somewhere first, we’ll interrogate her when she wakes! Most likely she’s here from the Cyan Dragon Corps to sabotage us, damn it, carrying laxatives. Probably planning to incapacitate us completely, so when the Grain Collection Team arrives, we’ll be defenseless!"

Despite getting no answers from observation, it didn’t stop Zhang Su from making a reasonable judgement.

The crowd all nodded, finding this assumption very plausible.

Later, Zheng Xinyu and Yang Wenjie took Su Xiaoya into a room and locked her up. To save manpower on guarding, they specially tied her hands and feet to the bed, forming a "big" character.

For humanitarian reasons, they thoughtfully covered her with a blanket to prevent her from freezing in the cold.

After dealing with Su Xiaoya, Zhang Su asked Wang Longzhong about skinning livestock, only for Zhao Dezhu, standing by, to immediately raise his hand.

"Big Brother, why didn’t you ask me about this? I’m good at it!"

Zhao Dezhu, eager to show off, feared his skills would go unnoticed.

Zhang Su curiously asked, "You’re a fish cutter, and you can skin large livestock? Pigs or cows, can you handle it?"

Zhao Dezhu patted his chest confidently, "As long as I have a good knife, it’s not a problem!"

Seeing Zhao Dezhu’s confidence, Zhang Su believed him and said, "Alright, I’ll arrange a good job for you later."

"Luckily, Boss Zhang’s crew has plenty of skilled people. We didn’t even have a butcher for skinning..."

Wang Longzhong said, originally there was a pig killer, but unfortunately, he died during the last village massacre.

"Each has their expertise, it’s fine. By the way, Old Wang, among the people you brought, is there a tailor?"

Zhang Su suddenly thought of Fu Weijun’s crude handiwork. Even with the petrified zombie skin, it might be hard to make decent equipment!

"A tailor?" Wang Longzhong scratched his head, "Those few ladies can sew, not high-level, but it’ll do in these times."

Rural women, unlike city ladies, still possess some traditional skills.

"Good, as long as they can. Ask them if they can make simple clothes or vests, pick two out, I need them!"

Even if petrified skin can’t be mass-produced, some will certainly be, so the demand for equipment production must be considered.

By noon, over ten people were dining in the restaurant.

"I’ve been vigilant all along, thought the week’s notice from the other side was a ruse, in case of a sudden attack, but now it seems different. They only sent a little girl to spy!"

Zhang Su ate while discussing with those around him about handling the Cyan Dragon Corps.

"Those in the Cyan Dragon Corps are meticulous, probably not easy to deal with!"

Tan Huajun, rarely voicing opinions, said thoughtfully.

"Prepare for confrontation, but if they’re too strong, we shouldn’t force it. There’s hope as long as we live! Old Yu, is everything ready?"

Momentary bravery isn’t true courage; striking with certainty is!

"Rest assured, Mr. Zhang. Just in case, I’ve prepped food stock proportionately, so if things go south, we can surrender the grain to save lives, no problem. That little girl Zhao Xue marked the grain bags with fluorescent powder along the way, allowing us to track the Cyan Dragon Corps!"

Yuwen responded earnestly, then added, "Also, the weapon stash disguise is set, no matter the plan, there’ll be no oversight!"

"Brother Su, I checked out that bugging device. It’s a pretty basic model, only thirty meters max, like a toy. I thought they might’ve come up with something high-tech, what a letdown."

Wu Lue pouted, having dismantled the hair clip and quickly figured out its components. Besides the disguise, there was little to commend.

"What, are you unhappy the enemies aren’t strong?" Lu Yubo looked puzzled at Wu Lue.

Wu Lue shook his head, "No, I meant if the listening receiver is in the Cyan Dragon Corps, we could plant false information to mislead them."

"Luezi’s idea isn’t bad, but it’s unfeasible. This afternoon, you all continue practicing..."

"Ah..."

Before Zhang Su finished, everyone in the restaurant heard a long scream from a house nearby.

"What’s that?"

"Isn’t it the voice of that girl we caught before?"

"Seems like it, looks like she’s awake!"

Everyone discussed curiously, wondering what’s going on, waking up and shouting like that, don’t they know to stay calm in enemy territory?

"I’ll go re-interrogate, see if I can extract useful information!"

Zhang Su quickly shoveled down his food and just as he stood, saw Zheng Xinyu walking in with an odd expression, heading straight for him.

"Well, there’s a problem."

Zheng Xinyu frowned, looking hesitant to speak.

"Could it be..."

Zhang Su seemed to realize something, his face freezing as he briskly walked out of the restaurant.

He and Zheng Xinyu arrived outside Su Xiaoya’s room, already catching a whiff of something not right.

When they pushed the door open, Zhang Su’s breathing hitched.

"Let me go, let me go, I need to use the bathroom! You’re bad people, demons, boo hoo..."

Su Xiaoya, lying in a "big" shape on the bed, began crying again upon seeing the door open, heartbrokenly so, never having been this upset in her life.

Su Xiaoya didn’t know why she fainted earlier, probably out of anger, urgency, and fear, but never expected to be woken up by a...

A mess in her pants!

"Honey, what should we do?"

Zheng Xinyu pinched her nose, at a loss, looking at Zhang Su.

"What do we do?" Zhang Su’s face turned cold, "It’s not me who needs the bathroom in a rush, wanting to go is fine, even bathing’s fine. Just tell us honestly who sent you!"

The stench might be repugnant, but if the other side is more anxious, it’s a good interrogation chance.

"I... I, I’m from Kuanzhuang, Kuanzhuang to the north. Our village chief sent me to check on, check on your situation, see, see if you’re surrendering grain to Cyan Dragon Corps or resisting..."

"Boo hoo... I’ve told you everything, let me go!"

After speaking, Su Xiaoya cried more heartbrokenly.