Chapter 82

The sharp whistle blew into the morning light and carried to the opposite bank dozens of meters away. Before anyone could react, Wang Jie shouted, "Leg kick!"

With a "thud," the rabbit, which had been struggling on the rope, fell to the ground.

A child rushed forward to pick it up, but an adult beside him snatched it away. When the adult realized what was happening, the relaxed expression on the child's face was gone. With trembling hands, the child handed the dying rabbit to Tian Zhaozhao, who was standing on a high place, her voice shaking: "...The leg, the rabbit's leg is broken."

Wang Jie didn't give them much time to react. He whistled again and said coldly, "Attack the first one."

There wasn't even a whooshing sound; the rabbit in the middle suddenly went still. The girl with excellent eyesight saw the rabbit's condition again, covered her mouth, and froze in fear. Those standing nearby, using the camping lamplight, could also see the rabbit clearly: a small hole in its skull, from which blood was trickling.

The park, where hundreds of people had gathered, fell silent for a moment. Tian Zhaozhao stood on a high place, her whole body sweating profusely.

With the final whistle, Wang Jie didn't need to raise his voice; everyone could hear him: "Heart."

The last rabbit stopped struggling.

Unlike the first rabbit, the two rabbits with their feet tied didn't fall into the crowd; they remained hanging boldly on the tree. Drops of bright red blood dripped onto the ground, making those below dizzy.

Tian Zhaozhao could no longer stand steadily. He could see the two mysteriously dead rabbits just by looking up from the platform. He really wanted to climb down from the stone seat as soon as possible. Who knew if he would be the fourth rabbit, dying a few seconds later, clutching some unknown part of his body, at Wang Jie's whistle.

Wang Jie sat on a tree branch. It was still dark, and he carefully observed the expressions on the faces of the people below by the light of his camping lamp, feeling quite satisfied. He took out a megaphone from his bag, turned it on, and said unhurriedly, "We have had a very pleasant time cooperating with you. Our boss likes people who follow the rules, and she is very grateful to you for collecting so much material for us, working so hard from dawn till dusk."

"Considering that everyone's been trading mostly vegetables and grains lately, our boss felt bad about it, so he specially sent me alone today to bring you some meat," Wang Jie said with a smile. "Rabbits are wild and cunning, always running into our fields to burrow and gnaw on our crops. Afraid of catching them alive and hurting you, our boss specifically had someone keep an eye on them from the other side. They almost escaped just now, but luckily my brother has a steady hand and good aim. I hope he didn't scare you."

"That's enough. You can take it down from the tree yourselves. We're busy over there, so I'll head back now." Seeing that he had intimidated him enough, Wang Jie clapped his hands and slid down from the tree. The people nearby retreated like a tide, not daring to come within three meters of him.

Watching the man row the small boat away into the distance, Tian Zhaozhao finally sat down, feeling weak all over.

The younger children finally came to their senses and burst into tears. One of them cautiously approached Tian Zhaozhao, his voice filled with terror: "Boss, they...they have guns!"

Tian Zhaozhao, still shaken, looked at the rabbit in the tree and nodded haphazardly.

They not only had guns, but also guns that killed silently, and a sharpshooter who could hit the bullseye every time.

...

On the other side, Wang Jie, panting heavily, went ashore. Before he could catch his breath, he immediately rushed into the woods and dragged Tong Shu out of the woods.

"...You, you better tell me the truth!" Wang Jie's suppressed panic resurfaced: "Do you...have a gun?"

Tong Shu had prepared her explanation for today's performance long ago, and she nodded without batting an eye: "Yes."

"...Where did it come from?" Wang Jie asked in a low voice.

"A special mission from the island lord," Tong Shu said succinctly.

"Fine, fine!" Wang Jie gritted his teeth and pointed at Tong Shu, "You've had it for a long time, haven't you? You've been keeping it from us for a long time, haven't you?"

Tong Shu remained silent, which Wang Jie took as a tacit agreement. His chest heaved a few times as he finally calmed down, then he leaned closer and whispered, "Before, those people before, weren't they all killed by slingshots?"

Tong Shu glanced at Wang Jie and understood that he must have had suspicions for a long time. However, he was her cousin who had grown up with her, and even if he had suspicions, he had never told anyone. She felt a little guilty and nodded.

"Don't tell anyone," Tong Shu instructed.

"I know." Wang Jie was exhausted after his performance and lay lazily on the small boat. "You're getting more and more resourceful and bolder. You can even kill someone with a gun without batting an eye."

Tong Shu frowned and glanced at Wang Jie: "Are you scared?"

Wang Jie shook his head: "Have you forgotten what I do?" Wang Jie has many alumni who are forensic doctors, and he has met more than Tong Shu. Moreover, he knows his cousin well. Just by looking at how much she loves the chicks, she wouldn't have the thought of killing them indiscriminately.

“It was the right thing not to tell our families.” Wang Jie looked at the sunlight overhead and smiled with relief. “The changes you and I made were all so that they could continue living as ordinary people once their lives settled down.”

Upon hearing this, Tong Shu's heart, which had been pounding, slowly relaxed. She leaned back on the edge of the small boat, feeling the gentle morning breeze on her face: "You're right."

______

The rabble on Tian Zhaozhao's side finally behaved themselves.

They initially thought the people on the other side were at most wealthy individuals who had been quite well-off before the disaster, but it turned out that the other side had sharpshooters who could cross the river more than ten meters wide to take lives, which gave them a sense of crisis, as if their lives were hanging by a thread.

Originally, carrying materials to the riverside park with Tian Zhaozhao was the most sought-after job, because everyone who came could take the opportunity to skim some extra money. But after this incident, Tian Zhaozhao had to take attendance every time she carried materials, and eventually they had to take turns carrying them in shifts.

However, this wasn't without its advantages. At least those who were initially defiant towards Tian Zhaozhao are now much more obedient. Anyone who can deal with such a hot-tempered organization leader for so long must be no ordinary person. Offending Tian Zhaozhao could mean that one day, while you're on duty carrying supplies, she might whistle at you and break your arms or legs, or even kill you and drown in the river.

"Boss, this new deal includes 500 bottles of 'Lala Teng Juice,' 2,000 catties of lettuce, 500 bags of flour, and two baskets of wild fruit." Thanks to Wang Jie, Tian Zhaozhao's former subordinates have changed how they address her. Both sides now call the person in charge "Boss." Although Tong Shu and Tian Zhaozhao are not in the same place, she feels both helpless and amused when she thinks about how her own people call her during the deal.

However, Tong Shu was slightly better off; Wang Jie only called her that when there were outsiders around, while Tian Zhaozhao was already the leader of hundreds of people.

"Wild fruit? Can we grow it here? Let's give one to each child first, and plant the rest in our own land." In addition to organizing people to collect materials to exchange for supplies with Tong Shu, Tian Zhaozhao also secretly asked the elderly and women to help cultivate the land. He also had his own considerations. In case Tong Shu and the others were unhappy and stopped cooperating with them one day, they could also make a living by farming.

Although the farmland was scarce, their efforts cleared out many collapsed houses and created a lot of open space. Tian Zhaozhao and Tong Shu also exchanged many farming tools, and after a few months, their farmland had grown to a considerable size.

Tong Shu's family was also busy. After the Tong family's big house was built, they immediately started building houses for Wang Jianye and Qin Jiaqiang. Even though both uncles said that the houses didn't need to be as big as theirs, Tong Shu had a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder and insisted that the three houses be built exactly the same. The two uncles and aunts couldn't refuse, so after calculating the distance for sunlight, they set aside two new plots of land to build new houses.

Grandpa Tong is no longer satisfied with just farming. At first, he transplanted a few fruit trees from the island next to the log cabin. Later, after the new house was built, he picked out and planted pomelos, tangerines, and peaches around the new house.

However, the space around the house was limited, so Grandpa Tong went all out and quietly planted a row of orange trees next to the cornfield, and the number was growing rapidly every day.

"You know, this land is quite strange. If you leave it empty and nothing grows, other trees will sprout up in a couple of days. But once you plant something, those trees, grass, and things stop growing." At dinner, Grandma Tong held a bowl of porridge and looked out the window at the fruit trees and crops, feeling a lot of emotions.

"That's right, and my tree just started bearing fruit not long after I planted it, and it's almost the same as the one inside!" Grandpa Tong was overjoyed. The two old people had never seen a mutated plant harm people before, and they only thought that this mutation had made their crops grow better.

"I reckon they're probably growing things on the other side too. They must have noticed that what they've planted is growing much faster than before. Luckily, that's why they won't suspect anything no matter how much stuff we send over," Shu Hua said casually.

The amount of grain demanded by the other side remained stable. However, according to Tong Shu's guess, the number of people on that side would only increase. Instead of trading more grain with her, they requested different varieties of vegetables, which indicated that they must have grown a considerable amount of grain themselves, just as Shu Hua had guessed.

Tong Shu didn't care about that. As long as they continued to trade steadily every day, her mission progress would not stagnate. During this time, Tong Shu also found two new NPCs, which made her very happy. The two sides kept to themselves and she enjoyed her life.

Only occasionally, when lying in bed at night and looking at the stars in the night sky outside the window, Tong Shu would sometimes think of that man with a resolute and unwavering spirit.

I wonder where Wen Shaocheng is now, whether he is safe, and whether he has found a new place to stay like them.