Chapter 664: The Deterrence of Severe Punishment

“Chief, Chief Lord.”

Yang Dongxin watched the retreating backs of Liu Yao and Huang Langcai and asked timidly, “J-Just now, was Huang Langcai truly apologizing? Will he come after me later—retaliate?”

“Retaliation? Definitely not. Old Yang, you showed courage stepping forward today—that’s commendable. But be careful with your methods going forward. Everyone just arrived here; each former camp had different management styles. Some folks are wild, reckless, no sense of restraint!”

Zhang Su lectured Yang Dongxin: “Hey hey, I was just anxious a moment ago. Uh… Chief Lord, could I apply for one… a camera? A surveillance camera?”

Yang Dongxin rubbed his hands and asked.

“We do have some, but wiring’s a problem…” Zhang Su frowned, then suddenly brightened and chuckled, “I get it—heh heh heh—you old rascal, you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve.”

Yang Dongxin scratched his head: “These are just small clever tricks, nothing much. It’s your great leadership that’ll make the camp grow strong.”

His idea was simple: hang a surveillance camera, plug it in, let the light glow. Most people wouldn’t know how storage worked—they’d assume it was real. Then stick on a sign: “Surveillance Linked to Tianma Island”—in red ink, big letters—guaranteed to intimidate!

Zhang Su didn’t chat long with Yang Dongxin. He had someone take him to collect the cameras. A group of core members gathered around, curious. After Zhang Su gave a brief explanation, he returned with Yu Wen to Xiao Xingyun—important matters still awaited.

On the mountain, Zhang Su and Yu Wen lit lamps to sort out personnel appointments, while below, in the satellite village, things were lively.

Liu Yao’s punishment of Du Shi and Huang Langcai had caused a huge stir. Many knew the three had gone to Tianma Island and eagerly awaited the outcome. Now that the outcome arrived, it terrified many.

Liu Yao revealed everything without concealment. With Huang Langcai appearing in person to confirm, the onlookers fell silent.

“Big Brother Zhang really killed him—my god, so harsh!”

A woman in the crowd muttered. Around her were women from Kuangzhuang.

Su Xiaoya’s expression was odd. She gazed across at the direction of Tianma Island, lost in thought.

Liu Lan stared at Du Shi’s cold corpse, frowning. Some of her beliefs began to waver. She thought perhaps some things shouldn’t be clung to—let them fade with time, that’d be better.

Yang Xin, Wu Baokang, Li Zongkai, and others with even minor responsibilities felt a wave of pressure.

Though none held official posts, they all managed things to some degree. None wanted to see their brothers or friends become like Du Shi!

Some were tense, but more were relieved. When survival meant wandering without basic necessities, humanity lost all its bottom lines. But now, living in a civilized survivor camp, more people were willing to lead by example to protect this rare order! Strict law enforcement was the greatest comfort and protection for law-abiding survivors.

Those without evil intentions didn’t care if punishment was too harsh! One Village and Two Village were adjacent. After announcing the verdict, Liu Yao didn’t pause—he went straight to Three Village and repeated the story. This stirred Three Village, which had just quieted down, back into commotion.

Compared to One Village and Two Village, Three Village’s combatants mainly came from Daqiao Township and Niuyazi. These two groups’ overall quality was clearly superior to the Little Hawk Gang, Survivor Alliance, and Tianqi Group.

Upon hearing about Du Shi and Huang Langcai, they merely rekindled their vigilance internally, without much worry—instead, they quietly approved of Zhang Su’s actions.

In a group of over seven hundred, dark-hearted thugs were inevitable. The Du Shi and Huang Langcai incident was like a potent medicine, rapidly clearing the “inflammation” within Tianma Island. Time bought space; a stable environment could soothe hot-tempered individuals.

Once people felt the benefits of order, they’d all try to play the part of good citizens.

…

Dozens of kilometers away, near Yunlong Valley, a village cluster. Due to proximity to the Shanhai Zone, most houses suffered varying degrees of damage—worse even than the most severely damaged Three Satellite Village.

About thirty percent of houses had collapsed; more were cracked or broken. Walking by foot to find intact houses was nearly impossible, but under drone night footage, the undamaged homes stood out clearly.

In one relatively intact farmhouse, smoke billowed from the chimney. Seven people sat around the stove, chatting, warming themselves.

The walls of adjacent courtyards on either side had collapsed, but the houses themselves were intact. On each roof sat a lookout.

For safety, vehicles were parked in the two separate courtyards.

First shift: Lu Yu was on watch for Shanhai; Shen Lin was personally on guard at Longtou Camp.

“So, Xiao Wu, you’re the one who’s been with Yanluo Wang the longest?”

The speaker was Zhou Haiquan, the oldest of the five in Longtou Camp. He’d taken off his shoes to warm his feet. The freezing cold meant no sweat—barely any odor.

Wu Lue grinned proudly at this, nodding: “Of course! No one in camp’s known Brother Zhang longer—wait, actually, not me. It’s Sister Xue. No, wait… maybe Brother Zhu? The new blacksmith—didn’t he know Brother Zhang longer?”

Zhao Dezhu lit a cigarette, poked the fire, and nodded: “Right. He said he’d been in business with Master Ding for seven or eight years. Damn, this place always feels creepy—where’s the draft? Aren’t you cold?”

As he spoke, he stood, picked up a piece of corpse, and tossed it into the stove to make the fire burn hotter.

Originally, Longtou Camp planned to build a bonfire in the courtyard, but Duan Wuhu vetoed it! Logically, no survivors should exist within twenty kilometers—only Tianma Island and Longtou’s dispatched personnel, maybe a couple of end-of-the-world fanatics. But what if others were hiding?

The land’s vast—someone might’ve been holed up in some village all this time. If they had ill intent, trouble would follow.

But the real issue isn’t people—it’s the zombies. Fire’s heat and light attract zombies. The nine-man team’s combat power isn’t weak, but who wants to become a zombie’s target?

Luckily, every rural household had a stove connected to a chimney. Lighting it was like a Western fireplace—warmed the whole room. Spread bedboards and palm mats on the floor, add a blanket, and sleeping on the ground was no problem.

“Let me cast a divination and see how the feng shui is here.”

A middle-aged man from Longtou Camp pulled out several copper coins from his pocket. As he spoke, he cupped them in his palms and shook them vigorously. The coins clinked sharply.

“Again with the divination… What was that thing you cast last night? Some kind of ‘loss’ thing? Did it come true?”

The man casting the coins was Yuan Huotu. A fortune-teller once said he was born lacking fire and earth, so he directly took this name. Back then, he was ignorant—he didn’t know about the character Yi (four fires) or Situ (four earths). Later, he learned but Landegaile —didn’t bother changing it.

The man scolding Yuan Huotu was Pu Canyong, the youngest of Longtou Camp’s five.

“How isn’t it accurate?!”

Yuan Huotu clutched the coins tightly, glaring at Pu Canyong: “The Mountain-Ze Loss hexagram said we’d suffer loss—did we or didn’t we? And it told us to recover with a positive attitude—aren’t things slowly proving it right? We helped many survivors with Tianma Island’s cleanup. Yanluo Wang sent several brothers to Shanhai to assist us. Don’t care if they had other missions—did they help us or not? Tell me!”

With this retort, Yuan Huotu pressed on, refusing to back down.

Pu Canyong’s face twisted into silence. Finally, he waved his hand: “Fine, fine, go ahead, keep divining—who could outdo you anyway…”

Park Chan-yong’s face contorted in silence; finally he waved his hand: “Alright, alright, you calculate, go ahead and calculate as much as you want—who could ever out-calculate you…”

(End of chapter)