Chapter 189

Are you An Ruosuo?

Hmm.

After the girl entered the room, her emotions seemed to stabilize a bit, and she was no longer speaking incoherently as before.

Letting these two in still carries some risk, especially after knowing they are from Qingbei, after all, the two sides are now more enemies than friends.

But Dong Junwei, Chen Mu, and others have similar thoughts; Qiming can't keep isolating itself forever—if it wants to develop, it must engage with others, and in this process, necessary risks must be borne.

In other words, even if these two are spies and undercover agents sent by Qingbei, we can at least hear what they have to say for now.

"You say the two of you escaped from Qingbei?"

"Yes." Her name is An Ruosuo.

Why?

Well... it's a long story.

Then take your time saying it.

Chen Mu called a few people over, and together they moved many chairs to the doorway, forming a circle, letting An Ruosuo and the other person sit down as well.

This attitude clearly means that if you don't explain yourself clearly, they might try to drive you away.

An Ruosuo and Yang Li both seem to be mentally prepared for this.

"Actually, besides us not wanting to stay in Qingbei ourselves, the other biggest reason is that someone summoned us here."

Oh? Who is it?

"Her name is Xia Qing, also a senior in her third year; you should know Senior Dong, right?"

Chen Mu had no impression of that name, and turned his head to look at Dong Junwei.

However, Dong Junwei also shook her head: "I've never heard of that name."

Afterwards, she asked the others around as well.

The result was that nobody knew either.

"That's strange—Senior Xia seems to know quite a bit about you and Senior Chen; I thought you knew each other." An Ruosuo wondered.

What happened to Xia Qing?

"It was she who asked us to come seek refuge here, but at first we weren't sure about the others; we only knew there was Senior Chen Mu and Senior He Ying."

Chen Mu was a bit curious; given how low his presence had been at school, it surprised him that someone knew him, and he asked: "Xia Qing, are you the person in charge of Qingbei?"

"One could say she is one of the persons in charge."

Hmm?

"If we must say, the highest responsible person of Qingbei is the principal."

"Principal?" Chen Mu exclaimed in surprise: "Principal Shi Yuanjun?"

"Hmm." An Ruosuo nodded.

Chen Mu couldn't help but glance at He Ying; this girl's earlier prediction actually came true?

He Ying gave him a smug glance, as if saying, "See, I told you so."

An Ruosuo continued: "At that time, everyone suddenly shrank, and it's said that the principal gathered everyone together."

Can you describe what happened back then in more detail? Chen Mu had always been curious about what occurred on the playground.

After everyone shrank, walking on the grass became a hassle; the only paved area near the playground was the flag-raising platform, and the flagpole was the most conspicuous thing. In the grass, we couldn't see anything else, so we walked toward the flagpole, and upon arriving there we found quite a few people already gathered.

Was Yi Zhong there too?

Yes, the three supervising teachers from Yi Zhong also helped us maintain order, whereas our own school, aside from the principal, we didn't see any teachers. It's said there were over 400 people on the playground at that time; Yi Zhong's group, being close to the flag-raising platform, didn't lose many, while we were more scattered, and in the end, even counting them, we only had a little over 200 left.

How many people did Yi Zhong have?

They took about five students from each first- and second-year class to join the exchange activity, roughly over a hundred.

"So you're saying the over 200 people lost were all from our Ziwei High School?" Chen Mu asked.

Actually, that makes sense—Yi Zhong were the guests, and on the playground their personnel were relatively concentrated, so it was easier for them to gather. He Ying interjected.

An Ruosuo nodded: "Senior Xia Qing said the same thing later, and although we lost 200 people, they aren't necessarily all dead—some might have left the playground and gone elsewhere; judging from the survivors we later found, that's indeed the case."

Actually, although there were some grasshoppers and earthworms on the playground at the time, most of them don't eat people, and with hundreds of people trampling around during the activity, any living creatures were scared away, so at least the danger in the first few days wasn't great—it was just that the terrain was hard to walk on.

So you're saying Qingbei initially only had around a hundred people?

Yeah, about the same as Yi Zhong; after gradually searching for survivors, it grew to over 250, but due to several clashes with Yi Zhong and other mishaps, it's now back to around 200.

That many died? Chen Mu frowned.

Yi Zhong isn't much better off—Senior Xia Qing estimates they now have at most 50 people.

Chen Mu nodded.

If that's the case, then Qingbei indeed holds an advantage in the confrontation, because its larger population base, plus the need to continually go out looking for survivors, means it can sustain greater losses, which is understandable.

But on Yi Zhong's side, it seems they only need to hold the cafeteria, yet they've still lost half their people, which is indeed a heavy loss.

As for Qiming, reaching this point has involved a large amount of luck; besides Luo Hui and Gu Ping, no one has died.

"So you mean that initially there was no conflict between Yi Zhong and you?" Chen Mu asked again.

No, in that situation everyone was terrified and just wanted to survive; of course, the more people the better—there wouldn't be any conflict.

Then why did it become like this later?

Actually, we're not entirely sure either; that night everyone slept around the flagpole, and the next morning Yi Zhong's people went berserk and attacked us. With so many people around, I didn't even know what was happening. Later, Yi Zhong's group fled en masse, and it's said we lost a dozen or so people at that time.

Didn't the principal explain?

He also said he didn't know, but we often speculate that perhaps the leaders of the two sides had some disagreement that night, leading to the clash—we don't know who was right or wrong, but it doesn't matter now; Yi Zhong attacks our people on sight, lethal force, without a word, so we naturally can only retaliate.

You said Xia Qing is just one of the persons in charge? Who else is there?

Although the principal is the supreme leader, he usually stays out of the spotlight; normally three people handle affairs: Senior Xia Qing is one, another is Tong Bin, and the third is Senior Song Yu—but the three of them don't seem to be entirely united.

Let three people jointly manage affairs; this model seems a bit like what Qiming is like now.

Dong Junwei is the supreme leader.

Below are Chen Mu, Tang Jing, and He Ying, three people.

However, within Qiming, everyone is very harmonious.