Chapter 59: Vote

The way back was surprisingly smooth, especially at the beginning; we didn't even encounter an ant, but occasionally we saw the corpses of a few crawling creatures.

Chen Mu approached and observed; he found the corpses covered in scale wounds, the head having suffered multiple blunt-force injuries, and many small stones scattered around—apparently they were killed from a distance by being struck with stones.

"Is it from Yi Zhong?"

He Ying immediately thought of that arch-enemy from Yi Zhong and became tense.

And Sun Yuan also activated his ability, beginning to listen to the surroundings.

"No movement."

"It might not be them either." Chen Mu said: "It looks like they died not long ago; it's very likely… it's Song Yu and his group."

"Moving objects…"

"In that case, this person is indeed strong."

Chen Mu said while carefully observing the scattered stones around and the worm's corpse.

This is a small green worm, about the length of a person and as thick as a thigh, considered a relatively small type of worm, entirely green—clearly a herbivore.

The stones scattered around are all very small, much smaller than the stones Dong Junwei uses to make hand grenades; to present-day humans they look more like glass beads, and if they weren't almost evenly scattered all around, Chen Mu might not have noticed anything.

"Can he control that many at once?" He Ying also turned a little pale.

"Not necessarily all at once." Chen Mu observed for a long time, then said: "Judging by the size of the stones, our earlier guess was correct—he temporarily cannot control larger objects, so he can only rely on continually using small stones to attack the worm; but from the wounds, the speed at which he moves objects is indeed not slow."

"Is Song Yu really that strong?"

"He's definitely strong; otherwise he wouldn't dare wander around outside." Chen Mu shook his head: "But what I find strange isn't this."

"What is it?"

"All along our journey, the dead worms have mostly been small, like this one, obviously not a threat to humans; I don't know why they insist on killing these worms, wasting mental energy for no reason—this is clearly unreasonable."

"Indeed…"

"Maybe it's to… vent anger?" Feng Xiao Yu, after listening for a while, interjected: "Because they failed to recruit Senior He Ying, so they're angry?"

"Song Yu doesn't seem like that kind of person." Chen Mu shook his head: "Perhaps there are some things we don't know; after all, they have more people and understand abilities better than we do, which is normal."

"Then what should we…"

"Let's go back first and discuss today's events with everyone."

……

The journey passed in silence.

By the time we returned to the storeroom, it was about noon.

Dong Junwei and the others came to meet us; seeing only one extra person, their expressions were a bit unnatural.

"What happened?"

"We were intercepted midway."

Seeing Chen Mu's expression not grave, Dong Junwei knew the two hadn't met disaster and asked: "Intercepted?"

"It's those people He Ying mentioned last time."

Chen Mu gave a rough account of what happened today.

He Ying added: "The ones sent from Qingbei are Song Yu."

"Song Yu?"

Dong Junwei didn't show much reaction, but after a moment's thought she nodded: "This person was already excellent before; now it seems he has awakened a powerful ability."

Chen Mu then repeated his speculation.

When they heard the other side possessed these two miraculous abilities, everyone tensed up a bit.

Chen Mu laughed: "No need to worry too much; we're not enemies, and their greater strength might perhaps restrain the Yi Zhong group."

Tang Jing said: "I suspect something special happened on the sports field when the disaster struck."

"Special? What?"

"Not clear, but it's obvious that the survival rate there far exceeds that of other places; moreover, Yi Zhong and Qingbei likely experienced a large-scale conflict, leading to the current situation."

"Yi Zhong is in the cafeteria, Qingbei on the sports field, and our current position is exactly in between."

"Sounds terrifying…"

"Actually…" Chen Mu said: "Joining Qingbei isn't necessarily bad, but I can't decide for everyone, so I dare not agree to Song Yu; however, I think we should formally discuss this matter."

Chen Mu had previously discussed this with Dong Junwei and Tang Jing; overall, the three of them aren't particularly inclined to rely on others.

That's also normal.

Not to mention Dong Junwei's strong-willed nature, even Chen Mu wouldn't like feeling dependent; as things stand, the team is still decided by the three of them, and if we truly went elsewhere we might lose our autonomy.

But in the end, this still depends on each person's willingness.

"I think we're doing fine now; there's no need to go to Qingbei or anything." Wei Dalei was the first to voice his opinion.

"The main reason is their name is too stupid." Chang Junyan said while scratching his arm.

Dong Junwei thought for a moment: "How about we take a show of hands?"

"Such a vote would be meaningless." Tang Jing said: "Even if someone wanted to go to Qingbei, under the majority's opinion they wouldn't speak up; besides, you just said they left no contact point, so how could we find them?"

Chen Mu pondered for a moment, then said: "I have an idea."

"Go on."

"Let's hold an anonymous vote to at least know how many have this idea; if more than half want to go to Qingbei, we'll proactively seek them out, and once found, those who want to go can go, those who want to stay can stay; but if not more than half, we'll maintain the status quo, following the independent plan, and if we happen to meet them later, it's still up to each person whether to go or stay—let's see what everyone thinks."

"Okay."

"I agree."

……

"But how do we do an anonymous vote?" Du Jia Jia asked.

"I'll make each person a thin wire; then everyone will put their wire into an iron box one by one—if they want to go to Qingbei, they'll bend the wire when placing it in; if not, they'll leave it straight."

When there were no pen and paper, they could only vote in this primitive way.

There were twelve people in total.

Chen Mu quickly made twelve thin iron wires each only as long as a finger.

Then he also made an iron box.

The iron box had only a round hole left on top, big enough to insert a hand.

Like this.

Each person, when putting the wire in, could freely decide whether to bend it, without others knowing.

The voting ceremony soon began.

The atmosphere once felt a bit heavy.

Wei Dalei several times wanted to discuss with Zhao Xiao Yan, but dared not speak up, and also didn't know what to say.

He Ying and Feng Xiao Yu did exchange glances, but didn't know what final choice to make.

Dong Junwei was the first to step forward.

She extended the hand holding the wire into the round hole of the iron box.

After holding it for about three seconds.

She then withdrew her hand and opened her palm, indicating she had already placed the wire inside.

With her setting the example, everyone naturally lined up to vote.

No one spoke.

The scene was very quiet.

But everyone's movements were without hesitation, merely imitating Dong Junwei's manner, keeping the hand inside the iron box for three seconds when reaching in.

After everyone had finished voting.

Dong Junwei said: "Chen Mu, come open the box."

Chen Mu nodded, stepped forward, without any pretense, directly opened the iron box, then turned over and dumped everything inside onto the ground.

Clang clang clang...

A series of sounds of the iron wires hitting the ground.

Everyone's gazes gathered together.

On the ground.

Several dozen iron wires lay scattered haphazardly.

The number could not be counted at once.

But it was immediately clear that all the iron wires remained in their original straight shape.

Not a single one was bent.