Chapter 131: Expansion

"How did you get in again?" Dong Junwei looked at the girl sitting in the iron cage, her heart feeling as if it had been stabbed.

"I..."

Gu Yinglong obviously looked a bit at a loss.

"You're not allowed to stay in there anymore," Dong Junwei said, somewhat angry, went up and pulled her out.

Gu Yinglong stood in the crowd, slightly dazed, and asked, "Where should I stay then?"

"I'll arrange a room for you shortly; we all live together."

"Oh." Gu Yinglong lowered her head.

Chen Mu stepped forward and melted the iron cage directly, then asked, "Did you used to live in the cage all the time?"

"Yeah, only come out when working."

"The so-called work means making you constantly split food."

"Yes."

"Are the things in those boxes all made by you alone?"

"Yeah."

"Anything else?"

"There's some in the cafeteria, but not much." Gu Yinglong said.

"Did the people who had you work before ever eat the food you made?" Chen Mu asked the main question.

"Some have eaten it."

"Didn't any problems occur?"

"No, I've eaten it too."

After hearing that, everyone's faces lit up with joy.

Although we initially thought the food should be edible, we couldn't feel completely at ease without confirmation.

Of course, we can't say it's absolutely safe, but given the current situation, there's no reason to abandon so much food just because of unlikely doubts.

Chen Mu thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know what the cafeteria is?"

"The place at school where you eat."

"Which school did you used to attend?"

"I don't know." Gu Yinglong shook her head.

"You don't remember anything from before?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know that humans have shrunk?"

"I know."

"How did you end up with those people from before?"

"I don't know."

It's obvious that Gu Yinglong's understanding of the world is fine; she knows the cafeteria, school, animals and plants, her knowledge remains, but she lacks her former memories, leaving her mind a blank slate, making her seem a bit slow.

In social interactions, she neither trusts others nor guards against them, behaving almost like an animal.

Chen Mu sighed and said to her, "This is Ziwei High School; you study here, in your first year of high school."

"Oh, I see." Gu Yinglong nodded.

"Do you believe it?"

"Yeah." The girl nodded again.

Chen Mu momentarily didn't know how to communicate with her, glanced at Tang Jing, but saw she had no intention to speak.

Everyone else was also at a loss.

In the end, Dong Junwei said, "Just stay here from now on, like us—we eat together, sleep together, work together, okay?"

"Okay." Gu Yinglong clasped her hands in front of her and nodded obediently.

The matter was settled thus, and the Qiming Organization gained a new member in name and substance.

Today happened to be the regular all-hands meeting.

The meeting's content naturally revolved around the newly joined Gu Yinglong.

Naturally, Dong Junwei, Tang Jing, and the others began discussing the matter of Lu Shanshan and the three others.

These four people had not yet officially joined Qiming, although their daily lives were no different from everyone's, and they were assigned work and treatment according to the standards of official members, but they still lacked the formal title.

After the meeting, Dong Junwei found Lu Shanshan and the three others.

"Actually, you all know the situation now; our organization is called Qiming. Outside, Qingbei is the biggest force, with the most people and the strongest foundation, while over at the cafeteria there's Yi Zhong, which currently seems to be hostile toward us for unknown reasons, and Qingbei, the few people we've met there have still been friendly."

"I didn't mention it earlier because I was afraid you weren't familiar, but now that so much time has passed, I want to formally invite you to join Qiming on behalf of the organization—I don't know what you think."

"We don't want to force anyone; honestly, Qingbei probably offers better protection, so if you'd rather go there..."

Lu Shanshan didn't let Dong Junwei finish, directly declaring, "I want to join Qiming."

Following that, Cao Zishan, Lu Liangliang, and Xue Xu also immediately expressed their desire to stay.

This result was also as expected.

Qingbei might be better, but in an unfamiliar place you can't find your way, whereas here we're already familiar and life is going well.

Moreover, in this situation, even if someone had other thoughts, they wouldn't voice them.

Qiming's membership instantly rose to seventeen people.

Although still not many, the growth is encouraging, every aspect of the organization is developing in an orderly manner, everyone has hope and can see a future.

This is what matters most.

To celebrate the new member's addition, lunch was especially abundant.

After obtaining a large amount of food, everyone's mental state stabilized considerably.

Of course, the cooking method remained very simple.

After slicing the potatoes, they were placed on the iron plate to bake.

And it smells quite good.

Tomatoes and carrots can be eaten raw, and after pan-frying the green peppers on the iron plate, their flavor is also quite good.

For everyone in Qiming, after more than a month of struggling to survive, they finally got to eat food from before the disaster again today.

The food in those 36 wooden crates was likely Yi Zhong's rations for a long period; losing it all at once, one can imagine how furious they must be now.

No wonder they arranged for guards in the vehicle.

One can imagine that on this vehicle, whether those wooden crates or Gu Yinglong, both are very important to Yi Zhong.

Dong Junwei even worried whether the other side would retaliate.

Fortunately, this location is somewhat remote; Yi Zhong also has only a few dozen people, so finding this storage room without being discovered by Qingbei is indeed unlikely.

Afternoon.

Tang Jing went again to the birdcage of the two prisoners.

Chen Mu had something to do, so he didn't follow along; instead, he watched from afar as Tang Jing spoke with the two people again, then got up and left.

As usual, the two of them would finish all the food Tang Jing brought them.

But they still didn't speak,

They didn't speak, and Tang Jing didn't ask; it seemed that bringing these two back was simply to keep them alive.