Chapter 191: Struggle for the Medical Station

In the cafeteria of the Iron Hand Group stronghold, members sat scattered with their lunch boxes,

but no one was chatting as usual—ever since the rumor that "Lin Guodong's family are jinxes" spread,

members who had previously had contact with Lin Guodong became objects of side-eye from others.

A member named Sun Qiang had just sat down when the person beside him immediately moved away,

and whispered: "Stay away from him, he walked so close to Lin Guodong before, don't get contaminated by the jinx energy."

Sun Qiang's chopsticks paused, his face flushed, but he didn't dare to refute—ever since the rumors spread,

he had been treated like this more than once. He had previously performed tasks with Lin Guodong,

but now he had become an object that everyone avoided. "I only had work dealings with him,

I didn't do anything bad." Sun Qiang defended in a low voice, but no one paid attention, instead attracting more strange looks.

Such scenes could be seen everywhere in the stronghold. When the members responsible for guarding supplies counted the inventory,

they found a few packs of compressed biscuits missing, and their first reaction was "Did it have something to do with people related to Lin Guodong?"; when someone accidentally fell during training,

others would also say "It must have been affected by the jinx energy of the jinxes." Once the seeds of suspicion were planted, they quickly spread within the Iron Hand Group.

Zhou Bao watched it all, but didn't stop it—he felt that this "suspicion" could make the members more vigilant,

and could also divert their dissatisfaction with the destruction of the weapon depot and the interception of the supply team. Until one day, the generator in the stronghold suddenly malfunctioned, the entire stronghold fell into darkness, and the members completely exploded.

"It must be Lin Guodong's ghost!

Although he was caught by the Starfire Mercenary Group, he must still have accomplices here!

A member shouted, and others echoed one after another, and some even proposed to catch everyone who had had contact with Lin Guodong for interrogation.

Zhou Bao frowned, but still ordered: "Bring Sun Qiang and the others over, I want to ask them myself."

Sun Qiang and three other members were brought to Zhou Bao, their faces pale,

defending non-stop: "Leader, we really have nothing to do with the generator malfunction!

We didn't even go to the generator room!"

Zhou Bao didn't believe it, pointed at Sun Qiang and said: "You were closest to Lin Guodong before,

didn't he say anything to you? Or have you seen him have contact with others?"

Sun Qiang shook his head: "No! I only went on two tasks with him,

we didn't have any contact at other times!" Zhou Bao sneered and suddenly raised his hand to slap Sun Qiang: "Still daring to argue! If it wasn't your ghost, why would the generator suddenly break?" This slap was full of force, and blood immediately seeped from the corner of Sun Qiang's mouth.

"Speak!

Was it you who were instructed by Lin Guodong

to deliberately sabotage the generator?"

Zhou Bao raised his hand again, slapping Sun Qiang four times in succession, each slap making Sun Qiang's body sway,

and his cheeks quickly turned red and swollen. After the five slaps, Sun Qiang covered his face,

tears swirling in his eye sockets, but he still gritted his teeth and said: "I didn't! Leader, you can't wrong us because of rumors!"

The other three members were scared into shivering, but no one dared to speak for Sun Qiang.

Zhou Bao looked at Sun Qiang, his eyes cold: "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it now,

lock them up, and when you think it through, you can come out." After speaking, he turned and left, leaving Sun Qiang and the others to be taken away by guards.

After this incident, the suspicion among the Iron Hand Group members became heavier.

Someone started secretly monitoring the people around them, for fear that the other party was related to Lin Guodong; others deliberately distanced themselves from former companions, for fear of being labeled

"accomplices of the jinxes." No one wanted to team up during training, everyone sat alone while eating, and the entire stronghold became dead silent.

An old member said privately to his companion: "If this continues, we won't need the Starfire Mercenary Group to act,

we will fall apart ourselves first." The companion sighed: "But now no one dares to say anything,

the leader is convinced that Lin Guodong is a jinx, and if we refute, we might also be locked up." The old member shook his head, said no more, and silently shoveled the rice in his bowl.

Lin Guodong, who was locked in the temporary safe house, learned about the situation in the stronghold through the guards' chatting,

feeling angry and anxious—he didn't expect the rumors to have such a big impact,

and even more didn't expect to implicate former companions. "It's all the Starfire Mercenary Group's ghost! They just want the Iron Hand Group to fall into chaos!" Lin Guodong said to Liu Mei, his eyes full of hatred, but helpless.

Liu Mei held Lin Xiaoxiao and whispered: "It's useless to say this now, let's just stay here properly and not cause trouble for others." Lin Xiaoxiao looked at her parents and asked in a low voice: "Mom and Dad, when can we go home? I want to go back to the previous safe zone and play with Tuan Tuan." Lin Guodong and Liu Mei looked at each other and fell silent—they didn't know how long such days would last. ===== CHAPTER 192 =====