Scum Gong Walks the Career Line in the Crematorium

TL: Moonlit

The women brought back were taken care of by the female members of the team, while Lin Hanchuan personally took care of Cheng Jizhou.

Having escaped in a sorry state from the city, it was the first night that everyone could rest peacefully. The expressions on their faces relaxed a bit, no longer as tense as before.

The team’s supplies were managed by Wei Zheng, and each person lined up to receive their evening meal from him. Some people complained.

“Why is there so little food today?”

“We used to have instant noodles, but now we only have one loaf of bread and half a bottle of water. Did you guys secretly keep the food for yourselves?”

“All of this is nutritionally deficient junk food. How can our bodies tolerate eating these things…”

Listening to these complaints, Lu Mao, who was distributing the rations, became angry. “If you don’t want to eat, give it back to me, eat sh*t!”

Lin Hanchuan glanced at him. “Deduct his food.”

Lu Mao, who had cursed, became even more angry.

He angrily threw the food to those ungrateful people who were eating for free, then turned around to distribute food to another companion and sulked in a corner.

“What contributions have they made to the team?” Cheng Jizhou sat upright on a small stool, drinking milk, curious.

“It’s precisely because they haven’t done anything that I’m angry.” Lu Mao, who somehow ended up next to Cheng Jizhou, grumbled. He was young, with round and bright eyes, making his angry appearance not detestable. “A bunch of freeloaders, and they dare to be picky.”

If any of these people had a little initiative, they would grab weapons and fight outside or help the team with something within their capabilities. But they did nothing, only trailing behind the fighting team and screaming incessantly whenever they encountered zombies.

Waste, a bunch of useless people. I don’t know why the leader keeps them around. Lu Mao glared at Rong Ziping, who was steady as a rock not far away. If it weren’t for this person’s misguided kindness, they wouldn’t have so many burdens.

“How dare you speak like that!” Lu Mao’s voice was loud, and many people heard it. Although he spoke the truth, some people still got angry.

“We are just ordinary people, and you guys are mutants or police. You should be protecting us,” someone retorted.

Lu Mao leaped up from his crouched position on the ground, trembling with anger but unable to speak.

Cheng Jizhou finished the last sip of milk, and then flattened the four corners of the milk carton, pressing it into a sheet of paper. “People these days have no shame. When I was little, my mom taught me to be grateful and self-reliant.”

Cheng Jizhou had a pretty appearance and was young, and when he spoke, he still had a childish tone. Even though his words might hurt others a little, the other adults present only changed their expressions, not wanting to lash out at a child.

“Young boy, that’s not how you should say it. It’s the apocalypse now, and we should help each other and face difficulties together,” Rong Ziping spoke up. He didn’t go to get food because his meals were prepared separately, and someone would directly give it to him.

His gaze lingered on the milk in Cheng Jizhou’s hand for a few seconds. Rong Ziping’s face showed no expression. The milk was originally brought by Tu Ji specifically to supplement his nutrition, but now it was drunk by someone else.

If it were an adult, he could still get angry, but with a child like this… Rong Ziping felt angry but couldn’t show it. If he really started arguing with a child, it would make him seem cruel and heartless.

“Help each other, huh…” Cheng Jizhou suddenly understood. He nodded and asked again, “Then, what have you done to help?”

Rong Ziping’s heart tightened. He almost thought that this young boy was mocking him. Everyone knew that he would pay a physical price — although now he only enjoyed the benefits, not yet paying the price, it was just a matter of time.

Cheng Jizhou shifted his gaze and looked at the others in the room. “What have they done to help?”

No one spoke.

Cheng Jizhou sighed heavily. “It’s brother who unilaterally helps all of you. You really are useless.”

Cheng Jizhou was just telling the truth. There wouldn’t be any waste in his laboratory. If someone couldn’t keep up with the pace, he would mercilessly drive them away. All the researchers in M country knew that the genius virologist Chow was cold-blooded and ruthless, caring only about interests.

If it were up to him, these wastes would never be in his team. Cheng Jizhou was genuinely curious. In this post-apocalyptic world, were there still people preserving such foolish “kindness”?

He looked at Lin Hanchuan, who had been silent all along, with a thoughtful and scrutinizing gaze, revealing a hint of research desire in his eyes.

Rong Ziping felt as if he had been scolded in a strange and mysterious manner. But the person who spoke made it impossible for him to retort back. He was so angry that his face turned bright red, and the others were left speechless. Unfortunately, they couldn’t argue with a child.

Lin Hanchuan witnessed everything with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He rubbed Cheng Jizhou’s head and said, “This is the last time we provide food for free. Starting tomorrow, everyone will exchange labor for food.”

The crowd began to murmur, about to protest, but they quieted down under Lin Hanchuan’s icy gaze.

“If you don’t agree with this decision, you can leave on your own, and we won’t stop you.”

Rong Ziping protested discontentedly, “They are all ordinary people. How can you let them fight zombies?”

“You are no different,” Lin Hanchuan said calmly. “Since you didn’t collect your food today, I assume you don’t need it.”

Wei Zheng had finished distributing the food and had hidden everything neatly away.

Rong Ziping was stunned. He didn’t collect the food because his own meals are prepared separately every day, which was a privilege he had in the team. But now that his private kitchen was gone, there was no food for dinner either. What about the other privileges?

Feeling flustered, Rong Ziping couldn’t believe he would be treated like this. He didn’t care about being angry anymore and tried to soften his stance, taking a step forward and stiffly attempting to apologize, “Tu Ji, I know you’re angry with me, and I… I did do something wrong. But you can’t take your anger out on innocent people just because you’re in a fight with me…”

Lin Hanchuan stepped back quickly. “I’m sorry, we’re not close.”

He was actually trying to distance himself from the situation. Rong Ziping hadn’t expected that his effort to apologize would be met with such a response. Everyone around had witnessed the scene, and his face was burning with humiliation. He couldn’t pretend to be cute anymore. He could only give up.

As time passed, everyone was nibbling on bread. Rong Ziping could only watch from the side, having spilled most of his porridge when he tried to cook lunch. He had barely eaten anything, and now his stomach was rumbling with hunger. He licked his lips, and even the cheap and unpleasant taste of the bread had become enticing.

A while later, Rong Ziping swallowed and said to the person beside him, “Can you… lend me some bread? I’ll give it back to you tomorrow.”

Previously, Rong Ziping often shared his food with ordinary people in the team. He thought he could borrow some food from others without losing too much face, but the other person firmly shook their head.

“Nowadays, food is more precious than gold. How can I lend it to you?” the person blurted out, then remembered that Rong Ziping used to share his food with them. “I can’t even fill my own stomach. You should ask someone else.”

Rong Ziping’s expression changed, but he endured it and asked a few more people. Without exception, no one was willing to lend him food.

Feeling both angry and aggrieved, Rong Ziping’s emotions were complicated and hard to understand. He had contributed so much to these people, but they showed no gratitude. No matter how nice they sounded with their words, when it came to practical benefits, they became stingy.

He couldn’t sleep at all that night.

The next morning, Lin Hanchuan got up early. He was going with his subordinates to search for supplies in the imperial capital.

Before departure, Lin Hanchuan asked the ordinary people if they wanted to join the team to search for resources. About twenty to thirty men and women were there, but only three or four of them stepped forward, and two of them were among those they rescued yesterday.

“You are not allowed to go,” Lin Hanchuan refused the weak woman they saved yesterday and Cheng Jizhou, taking only a healthy middle-aged couple with him.

Cheng Jizhou grumbled unhappily and was forced to stay behind.

The group of people left behind in the house watched Lin Hanchuan’s team leave with mixed feelings. They looked at each other, trying to encourage and console one another.

“He was just scaring us yesterday.”

“He can’t really let us go and die, or watch us starve to death, right…”

“He’s serious,” Cheng Jizhou suddenly turned around and said, “If you don’t adapt to this apocalyptic world, you’ll die.”

The eerie and terrifying words from this child, who looked almost unreal in his beauty, startled and shocked the others.

“What nonsense are you talking about, kid…” Someone retorted, feeling uneasy.

Cheng Jizhou withdrew his gaze. These listless rodents had no experimental value and would eventually be collectively dealt with in the laboratory.

Lin Hanchuan’s group was fully equipped as they searched through various shops in the town. To everyone’s surprise, there were surprisingly few zombies in this small town, and they were easily defeated. In just two to three hours, everyone’s suitcases and backpacks were filled with supplies.

“Where did all the zombies go?” Lu Mao chewed on the gum he found in the convenience store, puzzled. “There were quite a lot of them when we came here yesterday. Uncle, where did you lead the zombies to?”

Even though Wei Zheng was only in his twenties, Lu Mao called him “uncle” as if he were twice his age. Wei Zheng flicked Lu Mao’s head playfully, “I led them to a sparsely populated mountain road using a car, but that’s only a small portion. There are definitely more zombies in the entire town.”

While everyone was still hesitating, Lin Hanchuan had already located where those zombies were through 001.

On the other side of the town, two green heavy trucks were surrounded by a sea of zombies, making it impossible for the vehicles to move. They didn’t know when the car windows would be scratched and broken, becoming the zombies’ meal.

People inside the trucks were throwing various superpowers into the zombie pile, but it was like a drop of water falling into a lake, causing no ripples.

Those were two military trucks, Lin Hanchuan guessed. They probably ran out of ammunition during a mission and were left stranded without any supplies.

001 was concerned, [“Chuan Chuan, are you going to rescue them?”]

[“With just a few of us, going to the zombie pile would be like serving ourselves as a meal for the zombies,”] Lin Hanchuan replied, frowning.

TL’s note: Wow… the series suddenly turned dark ‘-‘