"Why do these... look like the backpacks we provided to the company's search team?"
The most burly man spoke as he stepped forward and picked up one of the backpacks.
After taking a closer look, he exclaimed in astonishment, "No! This is the backpack we provided to the company's search team! Why is it being sold by scavengers? The search team has been able to return before dark every day for the past month, and there haven't been any casualties. The backpack is a very important piece of equipment for them. They can't just throw it away or sell it without the company's permission, right?"
Qiu Huidong said in a deep voice, "These backpacks were indeed provided by the company, but the company didn't just provide them to the search team. Have you forgotten? A week ago, I arranged for Vulture Li Hao to recruit people in the camp and form a temporary team to leave the camp and go out to search for people.
To make Li Hao's recruitment process smoother, I allowed him to use the company's name. After the temporary team was formed, the company also provided them with these backpacks and distributed some of the wheat cakes that were circulating within the company to them on a per-person basis.
The burly man frowned and said, "Brother, are you saying that these backpacks belong to that temporary team? In other words, something happened to that temporary team?"
Qiu Huidong nodded and said, "After our company's supervisor discovered that a scavenger was selling these backpacks, he brought the scavenger back to the company and conducted a detailed questioning. However, in order to prevent similar situations in the future, which would make scavengers afraid to set up stalls at the market, they did not give the scavenger any trouble.
After inquiring about the entire situation, he gave the scavenger a few wheat cakes as a way of buying the backpacks, and then sent the scavenger back. According to the scavenger, he had found these backpacks on the edge of Qindao City in the south. When he found them, only the backpacks were left, with nothing inside.
"That scavenger is obviously lying!"
The burly man snorted coldly and continued, "If there really was nothing in the backpack when he picked it up, then he shouldn't have mentioned it at all! He must have been scared after being taken back to the company, worried that if he told the truth, we would take away his things!"
Qiu Huidong gave the burly man an admiring look and said, "That's right, our supervisor made the same judgment, so he simply cut off the scavenger's little finger and threatened him with death. The scavenger then told the truth that all the backpacks he picked up contained wheat cakes.
However, the scavenger had already hidden the wheat cakes in his shack, and he only had one of the backpacks left. The rest were useless, so he simply set up a stall to exchange for other supplies. Our supervisor said he wouldn't take the wheat cakes back, and the scavenger finally became completely honest and explained everything clearly.
According to the scavenger's explanation, there were too many scavengers going to the edge of the county town ruins on the east and west sides of our camp, and the competition was very fierce, so it was difficult to find valuable supplies. So he made up his mind and decided to try his luck at the edge of Qindao's main urban area in the south.
What he didn't expect was that the route south, along the street, was surprisingly safe. He encountered no mutants or zombies along the way. When he reached the southern edge of the city, he didn't dare go any further, but instead planned to scavenge for scraps along the edge. He discovered a pile of backpacks.
The burly man frowned and said, "Just the backpack? Where's the body? Since the scavenger was able to retrieve the backpack, I guess the team must have met with an accident, right?"
Qiu Huidong sighed and said, "That's right, but the scavenger had just settled in our camp and couldn't identify the bodies. The only thing he could confirm was that there were nine bodies at the scene, all located within a short distance of each other. And judging by the fatal wounds, it was clear that they were all killed by a single person using a high-frequency sword."
Upon hearing this, the burly man's eyes widened in surprise. "Did a Level 3 Awakener take action? Otherwise, with two Level 2 Awakeners in the makeshift team, it's impossible for them to be killed so instantly without a single survivor!"
Qiu Huidong agreed, "I think so too. Moreover, after killing all the temporary team members, the people who took action ignored the wheat cakes in the temporary team's backpacks. This shows that the people who took action not only had no shortage of food, but also that the food they could obtain must be very abundant!
Otherwise, even if there was no shortage of food, how much effort would it take to pack the wheat cakes in a backpack and bring them back? Even if I didn't want to eat them, I could save them for trading supplies, right? No matter how I thought about it, it didn't make sense to just throw them away like garbage.
Since the temporary team suddenly appeared on the edge of the core urban area of Qindao in the south after searching for such a long time, I have reason to believe that they must have found clear clues about the target person, otherwise it would make no sense for them to run to such a dangerous location.
Based on this, the disappearance of all members of the temporary team is likely related to the target person. The Level 3 Awakener who attacked them is very likely in cahoots with the target person! What do you think this means?
The handsome man standing to the right of the burly man narrowed his eyes and continued, "This means that there is likely a large food storage area south of our camp, near the edge of Qindao's core urban area! There are no survivors gathering there. Because it is so close to Qindao's core urban area, even scavengers rarely go there to try their luck!
Given this situation, it's clear there are Awakened individuals active and surviving in that area, and there's more than one! Where does the food come from to feed them? No wonder... Brother, do you remember the military canned food we occasionally buy in our camp? Since the quantity was always small, I never paid much attention to it before, but now it seems there's something wrong with the cans!
We've always overlooked the southern edge of Qindao's core urban area due to the level of danger! This seems to be a big mistake... If there are so many cans, the only reasonable explanation is that someone found the underground air-raid shelters before the catastrophe! In the air-raid shelters, there are a lot of cans stored!"
At this point, the expressions of the three people all became excited, and even their breathing became much heavier than normal!
Seeing the three people's emotions were aroused, Qiu Huidong spoke directly, "I think so too. So, I need the three of you to go together and find out what's going on! If you can handle it, that would be great. If you can't, remember not to alarm them and come back to call me!"
"Yes! Big brother!"
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