Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 373 - 253: Better Wronged Than Let Go

For the convenience of Qu Jianlei’s perception, Captain Mu specially built a row of wooden houses, occupying one himself and Black Heaven another.

Fortunately, with warriors of various attributes around, dealing with this wasn’t a troublesome task.

Then Qu Jianlei witnessed Mu Guoguo’s questioning skills—extremely direct and straightforward.

The Captain openly said, with a big battle imminent, what’s on your mind; do you have confidence in Blazing Fire?

However, the questioning was indeed effective. A few admitted some anxiety, while more expressed confidence in victory.

So... is it an open strategy? Qu Jianlei couldn’t help but admire Mu Guoguo’s methods.

Thinking about it, as the leader of an Earth Level Pioneer Team and an organizer recognized by the authorities, how could he not have some tricks?

Qu Jianlei felt that he was far behind in this aspect; he really wasn’t good at gauging human minds.

But upon reflection, he was relieved—I now have decent methods myself, no need to strive for perfection.

No one can utterly surpass others in every aspect; pushing too hard would only invite self-humiliation.

Through this screening, he was astonished to find that, just in the core camp, there were over twenty people considered suspect.

This was after the environment at the Blazing Fire Camp had vastly improved with his arrival, yet suspicions remained.

He couldn’t imagine how lost or even... desperate the team’s members felt before his arrival.

Among those twenty-plus people were Sedifei and Gordo, but it’s not that all the others were necessarily traitors.

Some frankly admitted to lacking confidence, with highly stable emotions when speaking... how should that be accounted for?

Conversely, the two persons he paid close attention to both expressed absolute confidence in victory, yet their emotions were unstable.

Qu Jianlei was at a loss, so he could only hand the list of over twenty people to Mu Guoguo, letting him decide for himself.

He believed that with Captain Mu’s management skills, there should be enough wisdom to resolve this, so he didn’t need to worry.

However, he was surprised again, as the Captain quietly stared at the list for a long time before saying, "Fewer than I imagined."

Qu Jianlei was completely speechless; even you are so pessimistic?

Next up were the team members from other camps.

To keep the core camp’s location secret, the Captain had reliable people build wooden houses about ten kilometers away.

There were over thirteen hundred team members from other camps, with more than two hundred considered suspect.

Among them, one was even the leader of their camp, which was quite...

But Mu Guoguo demonstrated decisiveness again.

The leader of that camp was kept, and the camp’s management was assigned to the third B-level Warrior of the Pioneer Team.

Then the Captain tossed the list to the relevant leaders: These people might be suspect, you deal with it yourselves.

In his amazement, Qu Jianlei couldn’t help but reflect: It seems I’m truly not suited to be a manager!

If he were willing to put in the effort, he believed he wouldn’t be too bad, but... why bother? He didn’t like managing people.

The leaders who received the list didn’t show much surprise either.

It was clear similar internal investigations had occurred more than once within Blazing Fire; otherwise, how could everyone be so calm?

The leader who was left behind was assigned to Mu Guoguo’s sister, under the pretense that "the core camp needs support."

The other twenty-some were divided into eight groups, with each group assigned one or two reliable team members.

Mu’s arrangements no longer surprised Qu Jianlei; he believed he wasn’t cut out for this.

However, he roughly noted the procedures in case he might need them in the future.

The entire sorting of the Pioneer Team took twelve days.

The main reason was some camps were quite far away, requiring batch arrivals, which truly consumed a lot of time.

During this period, more and more wanderers appeared in the surroundings, and the atmosphere grew increasingly tense.

Everyone could feel that an unprecedented ferocity of encirclement was gradually approaching.

What was more frustrating was that some wanderers were familiar faces, ordinary people the Pioneer Team members knew well.

When stopped for a search, these Indigenous People offered various reasons to justify their presence.

This felt quite absurd, as no one with any sense would believe these were mere coincidences.

A few such incidents might be genuine, but this frequency was certainly abnormal.

But unfortunately, Blazing Fire could not resort to violence against the Indigenous People, or it would violate the consensus reached by the Pioneer Team.

Some Indigenous People were also inclined towards the Pioneer Team, with a few even serving as undercover agents for the team.

Thus, the Pioneer Team received the message: these people were sent by the Star Thieves to investigate the Blazing Fire Camp.

Some of them were coerced, but indeed some were genuinely enticed by the Star Thieves’ bounties.

It’s bewildering that the Pioneer Team, who treated the Indigenous People relatively kindly, was seen by some as a chance to profit.

The mix of grateful and malevolent people left the Pioneer Team increasingly frustrated—it was too difficult to distinguish between them.

However, someone thought of it, that Black Heaven seems to have some discernment ability.

But Black Heaven has always stayed in the camp and rarely goes out. Bringing all these Indigenous People over for assessment is somewhat unsafe.

Yet, to have him wander around to help with identification is also a bit unrealistic—a B-level Warrior isn’t that cheap.

Moreover, Black Heaven’s discernment ability in this regard hasn’t been proven, so it ended unresolved.

Therefore, the Blazing Fire people could only tell the others: No matter what, don’t enter this area for now, a war is about to start!

Some were willing to heed the warning, and indeed some were not: I really have something to do, aren’t we supposed to be one family?

Finally, one day, that Wind Attribute warrior, Gordo, couldn’t hold back and severely injured an Indigenous Person.

Fortunately, they were a group of four, and someone stopped him, "Enough, don’t cause a death."

The Indigenous Person stumbled away, shouting, "Turns out the Pioneer Team and the Star Thieves are birds of a feather, I understand now!"

"You’re courting death!" Gordo, upon hearing this, wanted to strike again, "Today, I will fulfill your wish!"

"Come on," another group member also spoke up, "Don’t make it unresolvable, that would be terrible!"

The ones who blocked him before and after, some were genuinely stopping him, others weren’t, but which was which didn’t matter.

What mattered was that after the Indigenous Person struggled back, they spread the word that they were beaten by the Blazing Fire people.

The next night, he was found dead in his own house, his entire family of five was all killed by throat-slitting.

Whether he was truly innocent or took benefits and then became a scapegoat, that cannot be verified now.

In any case, this matter fermented overnight, and public opinion generally believed this was retaliation from the Blazing Fire.

It’s not that no one was thinking, guessing it could be the Star Thieves framing them on purpose, but without evidence, who would believe it?

This issue quickly reached the ears of the Blazing Fire spies, who reported it to the top—it had something to do with Gordo.

However, by then, Gordo had already been taken into custody, and his unusual behavior had been reported that very day.

The group of four, including Gordo, was isolated, and the Pioneer Team launched an investigation.

The sentinels dispatched by the group leader are obvious, but Gordo was personally questioned by Mu Guoguo.

He looked at Gordo silently for a long time and finally sighed, "Why?"

"There’s no why," Gordo answered righteously, "If they don’t listen to advice, a slight punishment is in order."

The deputy commander silently watched him for a long time and then sighed softly, "You are a survivor of Qingyun."

In Gordo’s eyes, a deeply hidden panic flashed.

He forced himself to remain calm, nodding, "Yes, these rebels... are originally scouts for the Star Thieves, hardly any are innocent."

The commander shook his head, his expression a bit strange, and he slowly said, "Then why... are you helping the Star Thieves?"

"Helping the Star Thieves... No way!" Gordo denied without hesitation, "I have deep-seated hatred for them, cannot coexist under the same sky."

Mu Guoguo looked at him with a look of pity, his expression becoming even more strange, "Do you think no one knows what you’ve done...?"

In that instant, Gordo’s heart sank. He had joined Blazing Fire for almost a year and knew well the leader’s style.

The commander is strict in doing things, but that’s a necessity for management.

In fact, this person is crude on the surface but meticulous at heart, usually loud in management, but when something is decided, there is a reason.

However, he surely chose to die stubbornly, "What did I do? I have been seriously identifying traitors, better to mistake than to let go."

Mu Guoguo shook his head, completely ignoring his words, and asked questions on his own.

"With such deep hatred between Qingyun and the Star Thieves, how could you take their side?"

"I didn’t," Gordo insisted, "Otherwise, why would I strike so hard?"

Mu Guoguo deeply looked at him, after a while stood up shaking his head, "I have already given you the chance."

"Since you do not cherish it, then the Patriotism Team can only handle it."

Gordo’s face instantly turned white upon hearing the words "Patriotism Team," the most mysterious organization in the Blazing Fire Pioneer Team.

Patriotism team members, when they appear, are usually dressed in black from head to toe, tightly covered, you can’t tell who they are.

The members of the Patriotism Team are a mystery, their numbers are a mystery, other than the two deputies, no one knows their true identities.

The cultivation level of the Patriotism Team members may not be high, but they are ruthless and excel in various tortures.

Those subjected to their interrogation end up battered, the key is... they usually don’t escape death.

That is to say, Gordo was already regarded by the commander as a traitor and essentially sentenced to death.

How much information they could extract from him depended on the Patriotism Team’s ability.

He gathered himself, trembling as he spoke, "Leader, aren’t you being too arbitrary?"

Mu Guoguo turned his head to look at him, speaking solemnly, "In extraordinary times, I cannot afford to be soft-hearted."

You just told me "better to mistake than to let go," and now you forgot?

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