Chapter Fifty-One: Prisoners

"Sister, let's go in and take a look," Mu Qingrong urged excitedly.

“Something’s not right about this village.” Mu Qingyu then shared her findings and thoughts with Mu Qingrong.

Mu Qingrong tilted her head and thought for a moment before saying, "Although, sister, fortune favors the bold. I'm afraid this opportunity might be lost forever. Perhaps the villagers have organized a defense and cleared out the zombies? Let's go in carefully and see what's going on. If things don't look good, we'll run away immediately."

Mu Qingyu thought about it and agreed. Since they were already there, they should go and see what was going on. If no one was there, they wouldn't take anything; if someone was, they could just leave it at that—they couldn't very well just rob someone of their things. But if someone was there, they could try to negotiate a barter deal.

With that in mind, the siblings rode their bikes over.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the gate to the courtyard was actually open and not locked at all.

Pushing open the door, all that could be heard was the creaking of the old iron gate.

Upon entering the courtyard, they found the parts piled up in the corner scattered in disarray. Many steel balls that had been packed in boxes were lying on the ground. There were no zombies or people here, but there were several pools of dark, hardened blood on the ground, and it was unclear whether they were human or zombie blood.

“Someone has been here and cleaned it up,” Mu Qingyu said. But if it was just a passerby, no one would collect the zombies' bodies, so it was very likely done by the villagers.

If it's someone from the village, then it might confirm Mu Qingrong's conjecture that the village itself has built up its own defenses, which would make the current quietness of the village less surprising.

At this moment, Mu Qingrong's attention was entirely focused on the steel balls and parts piled up by the courtyard wall.

Since these things are neither edible nor drinkable, and are not precious metals like gold, naturally no one took them away.

"Sister, let's go inside the factory and see if anyone's there. If we don't see anyone, we can take all of this. There might be some useful machinery inside," Mu Qingrong said excitedly. With Mu Qingyu's spatial artifact, taking these bulky things away was no problem at all—spatial abilities are truly amazing!

Just as Mu Qingyu was about to nod, she suddenly sensed something was wrong. There was a slight noise outside the courtyard. She gestured for Mu Qingrong to be quiet and quickly moved to the courtyard gate. However, before Mu Qingrong could peek out, a dark gun barrel was thrust in from outside the gate, pointed directly at Mu Qingyu's forehead.

Mu Qingyu took a few steps back and stood still.

A group of people, about seven or eight in total, all young and middle-aged men, quickly rushed in through the door.

This group of people had all sorts of weapons, some carrying iron bars, some carrying axes, and some carrying watermelon knives. The only one with a hunting rifle was pointing it at Mu Qingyu's head.

"Why is it a woman? And a young boy too." The man with the gun looked to be only about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and he looked at Mu Qingyu with disdain and contempt.

That disdain was like the disappointment and disdain of a hunter who sets a trap, discovers prey has fallen into it, and goes over to check, only to find it's just a rabbit.

"Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing here?" asked an older man nearby.

With guns pointed at them, Mu Qingyu could only obediently answer the questions. Including Mu Qingrong, none of them dared to make any rash moves, for fear that the young man might accidentally discharge the gun in a moment of excitement.

"We escaped from the city and saw a village. We wanted to find something to eat, and if possible, a safe place to rest for a day." Mu Qingyu lied without even blinking.

At this moment, someone on the periphery chimed in, "They came on motorcycles, so they must have come from the city."

Mu Qingyu and Mu Qingrong had killed many zombies on the way, and their brand-new down jackets from the morning had become worn and dusty, so they did not doubt what Mu Qingyu said.

After all, starting a few days ago, quite a few people who had run away from the city had broken into this village and been caught by them.

"Hand over your backpacks," said the young man with the gun. He looked young, but seemed to have a lot of influence in the group.

Mu Qingyu obediently handed over her backpack. These people did look at them like they were looking at prey, but they didn't seem to have any lewdness when they looked at her, so they probably weren't the kind of people who had committed evil deeds before the apocalypse. There was no need to confront them head-on; she should observe the situation first.

Mu Qingrong quickly walked over to Mu Qingyu's side and handed over her backpack as well.

The backpack wasn't empty; it contained several packets of biscuits, several packets of instant noodles, two loaves of bread, two bottles of water, and an emergency flashlight. There were also a few candies and two pieces of chocolate scattered inside.

Those people were clearly satisfied after getting the two's backpacks. They had arrested several groups of people in the past few days. The siblings had decent stuff, but there were also penniless and destitute people who were left behind and had to be supported by them.

"Hand over your weapons as well." The young man then looked at Mu Qingyu's waist, where she wore her military dagger, and at Mu Qingrong, whose folding axe was also hanging from her waist.

Mu Qingyu gave a helpless look, took off her military dagger and threw it over, and Mu Qingrong followed suit and threw her folding axe over as well.

In fact, the siblings knew that each of them had a small, concealed crossbow hidden in the cuff of their right sleeve, strapped to their arms and hidden inside their sleeves.

Mu Qingyu wasn't worried about being disarmed; she had over a dozen more military daggers in her storage space. The fact that they didn't make them take off their clothes for inspection showed they weren't particularly malicious.

"Kid, are you interested in those steel pipes?" After taking the items, the young man tentatively asked Mu Qingrong.

Mu Qingrong gave a helpless wry smile: "I thought there was food inside, but it turned out to be a pair of steel balls..."

Mu Qingyu inwardly cheered for her younger brother. Having experienced the apocalypse, lying was no difficult task for her. She had always thought Mu Qingrong was innocent and kind, but she hadn't expected her brother to put on such a convincing performance at this crucial moment.

That's not hard to believe; most people who break into other people's houses these days are mostly looking for food. Especially those who have escaped, they're likely to run out of food halfway through their journey.

"Let's go. Since we're here, let's go see our boss." The young man slightly lowered his gun, but it was still pointed at Mu Qingyu. He simply turned his head and gestured for Mu Qingyu to leave with him.

"Wait a minute." Mu Qingyu finally spoke up: "Brother, we were just passing by, and we didn't take anything from you. We even gave you our backpacks. Can you let us leave?"

As soon as Mu Qingyu finished speaking, those people laughed, as if mocking Mu Qingyu's naivety.