Chapter 463

Cai Zhichao turned to look at the men, feeling very depressed. He knew very well what kind of people his subordinates were. It was one thing to have sticky fingers within the Alliance where no one dared to report them—it was a case of "the people don't complain, the officials don't investigate"—but to not be able to control their hands in someone else's territory was too much!

However, since they were the people he brought, he had to defend them somewhat, so he said with an apologetic smile: "King Yama, this matter... I wonder if there is any evidence?"

"Of course there is evidence, but my intention is to let them take the things out themselves and apologize to our girl, and this matter will be over. However, looking at them, they don't seem to have that intention. Why don't you try persuading them again?"

Zhang Su spoke politely, but in his heart, he was already calculating, because he saw very clearly that those guys had no intention of admitting it. He would take this opportunity to send a signal to everyone! "Did you guys take things or not? If you did, hurry up and admit your mistake, otherwise you won't have a good ending if you're exposed!"

Cai Zhichao sternly reprimanded them. If he could, he really didn't want to deal with this mess. Unfortunately, regardless of whether the Survivor Alliance was merged into Tianmayu's jurisdiction, as long as there were no personnel changes, he was still the captain of Vanguard Team Two...

"We didn't, Captain Cai, we really didn't."

"I just ate a piece of meat, who knew it would blow up this big? How about I spit it out..."

The men still denied it desperately, and the one who ate the meat even started acting aggrieved, which made Mo Qianlan grit her teeth on the side.

"Dachao, Zhang... King Yama definitely wouldn't frame good people. These subordinates of yours definitely have a problem. I advise you to investigate and punish them strictly!"

Zhang Xin stood on the side, observing the situation. How could he not know what kind of person Zhang Su was?

Daring to bring his men to seek justice meant he must have absolute certainty. Being this polite was already showing mercy—he was probably doing it for the sake of the crowd today. If they didn't know what was good for them, things would get ugly!

Hindered by the rules within the Survivor Alliance, the men of Team Two didn't dare to give Zhang Xin a hard time, so they just stood there and kept expressing their grievances.

"Dakun, come help them remember."

Zhang Su was too lazy to drag it out. He could smell the aroma of the stewed meat and wanted to finish dealing with this so they could eat.

"Heh, daring to steal in front of Master Kun? You guys, wait for death!"

Pang Dakun rolled his eyes and saw Su Xiaoya watching from a stone platform in the distance. He sniffed his nose with a flourish, not caring if Su Xiaoya was watching him, and stepped forward.

"What are you doing? You..."

The gaunt man looked at Pang Dakun walking up to him, feeling a bit restless.

Pang Dakun spread his ten fingers toward the crowd, just like proving his innocence before a magic trick, and said: "Everyone watch closely. In my hands, in my sleeves, there is nothing. Next, here we go..."

As his voice fell, Pang Dakun reached into the gaunt man's chest.

The gaunt man had no idea what the other party intended to do. His eyes followed the movement of the hand, then his vision blurred, and he subconsciously tried to block it. Then he felt a lightness where he had hidden the things, and by the time he reacted, the zipper of his down jacket had already burst open.

"Come, everyone look!"

Pang Dakun held up a bottle of Lao Gan Ma spicy chicken sauce.

The sudden action and the skillful, precise technique made cold sweat break out on the gaunt man. He had hidden the Lao Gan Ma in his ribs, and there wasn't a single flaw visible from the outside. It had been plucked away by the other party so easily? Suddenly, the remaining three hurriedly handed over the things they had stolen. No, no, they couldn't take it—this guy was directly reaching in to pluck out evidence. This wasn't the old legal society anymore; it was better not to resist.

When Cai Zhichao saw those things, his brain felt dizzy: chili sauce, luncheon meat, canned fish, leek flower, fermented bean curd...

They were all things of little value. In the Survivor Alliance, these things weren't exactly everywhere, but their combat personnel basically had enough. It wasn't that they should steal because of scarce supplies, but were these things really worth the risk? Whoosh...

The scene was in an uproar. The dozens of onlookers all had strange expressions, and the people from the Survivor Alliance were particularly embarrassed. Some simply chose to leave. What kind of bullshit was this? It was shameful—shameful to the point of no return! Zhang Su spread his hands toward Cai Zhichao, signaled with his eyes at the things in the thieves' hands, and said faintly: "If a situation like this were caught in the Survivor Alliance, how would it be handled?"

Cai Zhichao looked troubled. Looking at his few uneasy subordinates, he licked his lips and said: "Stealing within the camp—cut off the hand!"

"Oh..." Zhang Su nodded, raised a hand, and said: "I think that's good. Come, Captain Cai, trouble you to execute it yourself."

"Don't, don't, Captain Cai, no, no, King Yama, spare me this once."

"I just had an itchy hand for a moment, I really wasn't intentionally targeting Tianmayu."

"I won't dare again, I won't dare again in the future."

When the four heard that their hands were to be cut off, they panicked immediately and began swearing oaths.

There were certainly rules within the Survivor Alliance, but they didn't have strong binding power on the Vanguard Team's combat personnel, especially when they were facing ordinary members. They didn't take the rules seriously at all, so they didn't think there was a problem.

In a chaotic environment, the difficulty of catching thieves is very high, and it's even harder when it involves class issues.

Cai Zhichao was also in a difficult position and cast a look of help toward Zhang Xin. He had already seen that the Third Team Captain had an unusual relationship with King Yama.

How would Zhang Xin care about this mess? His eyes didn't meet Cai Zhichao's at all, and he stared at the pleading men with a serious expression.

"Tianmayu does not allow stealing!"

Zhang Su shook his head, not intending to spare them at all. When he ran a convenience store before, the thing he hated most was pickpockets, which had caused unpleasantness between him, his suppliers, and his employees over inventory issues.

With his hearing fully open, he took this opportunity to listen carefully to see what the attitude of the people around him was toward this matter, so he could better formulate plans based on the situation.

So far, there was no problem. Everyone was condemning the behavior of the four. Regardless of whether they were morally noble themselves, when they could criticize others, they could at least act sanctimonious, which felt good.

"King Yama, look at this matter..."

"Is there anything else to say? A few shameful things. If you don't want to do it, Xiao Cai, I'll do it myself."

Wu Baokang walked out of the crowd, holding a fruit knife that looked decent—he had asked Luo Yong for it, as his own weapons had been confiscated...

"We already joined Tianmayu before. Captain Cai knows this too. I apply to accept punishment according to Tianmayu's rules. Tianmayu must have specific punishments for stealing, right?"

The gaunt man rolled his eyes and continued to be clever.

"Right, right, me too. I'm willing to accept Tianmayu's punishment for stealing. If there are no relevant clauses, can this be an exception?"

"I promise I will correct it, never to commit it again..."

The guys were very cunning. They had learned some information from the people working in the kitchen before, knowing that Tianmayu actually only housed the Yama Legion and a few special people, and the environment was very loose. They guessed there probably wouldn't be any systematic rules and regulations, and they wanted to muddle through.

"Haha." Zhang Su laughed when he heard their words and looked at Cai Zhichao: "Captain Cai, is this your intention?"

Cai Zhichao squeezed his palms and sighed inwardly, thinking he would help his subordinates one last time as their captain—after this, they would probably be on equal footing. He nodded and acknowledged the matter.

"Teacher Yu, tell these brothers from the Survivor Alliance our camp's method of punishing wrongdoers."

Zhang Su waved at Yu Wen, who was standing in the crowd watching the fun.

Yu Wen helplessly curled the corners of his mouth and shook his head slightly. His helpless emotion was directed at those thieves—a simple hand-cutting punishment was fine, but they had to complicate things and end up in a position where they couldn't step down. Why bother?

"Our camp's punishment for subjective wrongdoing like stealing is to 'fight ten'."

?? The scene was quiet for a moment, and then a burst of discussion broke out. Many people knew the origin of "fight ten," and couldn't help but flash the classic scene of Ip Man in their minds, but they soon went quiet because this punishment would also become a shackle binding them in the future.

"Fight ten... damn, wouldn't that beat the shit out of you?"

Liu Yao in the crowd muttered in astonishment; he thought it meant fighting ten people from the Yama Legion.

However, when those thieves asked specifically what "fight ten" meant, everyone learned that it was fighting ten zombies with bare hands within a limited area! The scene went completely quiet...

"Haha! You guys deserve it!"

The first to make a sound was Wu Baokang, mercilessly mocking the guys whose faces were as pale as vegetables.

He used to earn money by licking blood off the blade, and he was very dissatisfied with the frequent petty theft in the camp. Hindered by the special status of the Guard Team, he couldn't manage those trivial matters. He didn't expect to see those pickpockets get their comeuppance in someone else's camp, and he felt a sense of relief in his heart.

"Let's go, I'll have my brothers prepare the venue for you. There are spare power-generating zombies locked up in the scenic area—they're ready-made, no need to go out and catch them!"

Zhang Su made a gesture of invitation to the four. He was in a good mood today, and with people from various factions present, he had to take care of his image, otherwise, he would encounter resistance when recruiting personnel later.

If it were in the past, the four guys opposite would already be lying on the ground...

"Yes, are the four of us going together?"

A slightly chubby young man asked.

"One by one, don't worry, there are plenty of zombies!"

Lu Yubo's cold words shattered their last illusions.

"I, I apply to change back to the Survivor Alliance's punishment method, I... I..."

The gaunt man was the first to regret it, waving his hands repeatedly, his lips dry. He was able to enter Vanguard Team Two, so his combat power was certainly not bad, but to kill ten zombies with bare hands in a limited area, the best odds were three to seven.

Bitten to death within three minutes, eaten clean after seven minutes...

The others also changed their tune one after another, their faces full of fear, requesting to change back to the previous punishment. They didn't think about denying it or resisting, because they knew that doing so would definitely be seeking their own death.

"You think this is buying vegetables from an old lady on the side of the road in the past? No bargaining allowed!"

Zhao Dezhu appeared from nowhere and scolded the fickle petty thieves.

"You... you are disregarding human life. Ten zombies, and we have to be bare-handed? No human can do that. We only stole a few things, how can the crime not be worth death?"

It was indeed not worth death, and Zhang Su knew it in his heart. It was just a pity that today was a special day, with five factions gathered here, and a few idiots actually dared to commit crimes against the wind. Most importantly, they didn't know the times. If he didn't show some means, what would he use to deter others in the future?

In fact, he was also conflicted about how to deal with it. A light punishment certainly wouldn't work and wouldn't have a deterrent effect, but too heavy would seem overly cruel. It was fine for enemies to know the reputation of King Yama as a tyrant, but if those who hadn't yet been willing to join Tianmayu from the bottom of their hearts knew, it might cause obstacles.

The Survivor Alliance's hand-cutting punishment was quite good, but a few fools had to make a scene.

Zhang Su listened to the discussions around him. Some questioned that Tianmayu's punishment method was too rough, but others agreed that chaotic times require heavy codes. Just as he was about to speak, the other party started shouting again.

"High crime costs can prevent problems well, but let's just say it can't be this ridiculously high..."

"King Yama, what is the difference between this kind of terrifying punishment and murder? You might as well just execute us."

"Fight ten... who among you can do it? King Yama, if any of you can defeat ten zombies with bare hands, I, Wang Yu, will die today to atone for my sins!"

After a bout of noise, when the guy named Wang Yu shouted about dying to atone for his sins, the atmosphere at the scene became a bit strange.

Zhang Su had been in a good mood, but now his good mood was almost gone...

The other three heard Wang Yu's words, rolled their eyes, and immediately followed suit.

"Me too, I'm the same as Wang Yu. If any of you can single-handedly fight ten zombies and win, I'll die here today!"

"Count me in..."

"And me!"

Cai Zhichao's face was livid. He knew his subordinates were a bit of bastards, but he didn't expect them to be bastards to this extent. He said extremely gloomily: "How long are you guys going to make a scene? You were caught red-handed stealing and still don't know how to repent. What do you want to do?"

The behavior of the four didn't just represent them as individuals, but to a certain extent represented the Survivor Alliance. The merger of northern Qincheng and Tianmayu was already an inevitable trend. Cai Zhichao didn't want the other people of the Survivor Alliance to suffer unfair treatment in the future because of these four black sheep.

"You four things, I've truly seen it all today. Working in the supermarket for so many years, I've never seen anything more shameless than you. 'Fight ten' was prepared for you—why should we try it? If your brains are broken, let me pull them out for you!"

Zhao Dezhu had evil fire on his face. A happy day had been ruined by a few idiots, which was very annoying.

On the side, Liu Yao, Yang Xinyi, and a group of companions remained silent. At this moment, their psychological activities were very complex. Standing from different angles, their attitudes toward this matter were different, but one thing was certain: they all hated having thieves around them.

The disorderly period after the apocalypse had passed, and the process of rebuilding order was destined to be difficult, but an environment that followed rules was definitely much better than one that didn't. No matter how difficult, they had to move in an orderly direction.

This world was already chaotic enough. A safe camp should be a pure land; why create disharmony artificially?

(End of this chapter)