Chapter 32
You could hurt others, but not me.
"Boss, do you think that bitch's gun might be fake?" the lackey beside Zhao Zhu whispered.
Zhao Zhu rolled his eyes at him. He also suspected that Jun Shutong's gun was fake, but the problem was that he didn't dare gamble on it.
"Then why don't you pretend to resist in a minute?" Zhao Zhu urged.
The lackey immediately shut his mouth.
Like Zhao Zhu, he was afraid that Jun Shutong's gun was real.
"So we're just giving up without a fight? We finally found a woman this gorgeous, and it's the apocalypse now, too," another lackey muttered, clearly unwilling to let the opportunity slip away.
Seeing his two lackeys getting more carried away by the second, Zhao Zhu could barely keep his composure.
If anyone else in the camp had been willing to follow him, he would have kicked these two idiots out without hesitation.
Grumbling under his breath was one thing, but Zhao Zhu still valued his life.
They hurriedly dropped their machetes and clubs. All four lay flat against the base of the wall and inched toward Jun Shutong, barely daring to breathe, terrified that moving even a little too quickly would make her pull the trigger.
Just then, Huang Jiafei hurried over with several burly men.
Seeing that Jun Shutong had already subdued the four thugs, Huang Jiafei borrowed her authority to issue an order. "Tie these four up first."
With Jun Shutong's gun trained on them the whole time, Zhao Zhu and his men didn't dare resist.
A minute later.
Zhao Zhu and the others, now securely restrained, were brought before Jun Shutong.
"Put these four in the Emergency Exit for now. Once we've finished moving the supplies, I'll question them myself." Jun Shutong was also worried about mistakenly hurting innocent people, so her tone wasn't particularly harsh.
Only after everyone had carried the water back did Jun Shutong remember Zhao Zhu and the others in the Emergency Exit.
Jun Shutong brought them back to the camp and cleared out a shop specifically to serve as a temporary interrogation room. Then she sat behind a desk, looking expressionlessly at Zhao Zhu, who was tied to a chair.
"Tell me why you came to the Shopping Mall, and what things are like at your camp," Jun Shutong asked.
"Also, I'll question all four of you separately. If your answers don't match, I'll throw whoever lied outside to feed the Magical Beasts," Jun Shutong added.
As a Public Security Officer, Jun Shutong naturally knew a few interrogation techniques.
Hearing this, Zhao Zhu began wrestling with himself.
He knew what his camp was like, and he knew what he had done there as one of its minor leaders.
Zhao Zhu didn't dare lie, either, because he knew just how little integrity his lackeys had.
Given those three men's character, the slightest threat would make them spill everything about the camp and all the bad things he had done.
So Zhao Zhu simply spoke frankly. "Our boss runs the Anke Residential Community Building B Survivor Camp. I'm one of the minor leaders there."
"How many people are in your camp now? What are the living conditions and atmosphere like?" Jun Shutong continued.
"The conditions are awful. Supplies are desperately scarce. It's practically hell on earth," Zhao Zhu said, choosing a restrained description.
In truth, he had left plenty out. For instance, the camp's food was almost gone. If they couldn't find more to bring back, their boss might even start eating people.
And when they had left that morning, they had discovered that someone had already starved to death.
Of course, he would conceal things like that whenever he could. Jun Shutong hadn't specifically asked, after all.
"Conditions at your camp are that harsh?" Jun Shutong asked thoughtfully.
"Extremely harsh." Zhao Zhu nodded emphatically.
Anke Residential Community Building A had originally been heavily occupied. When the apocalypse first began, some people had considered banding together, but most had cared only about their own households and looked out for themselves.
Later, when food ran short, Wang Dazhuang had started taking men from door to door to rob people. Those who dared resist usually met a terrible end.
Some people, however, had stubbornly stayed inside their homes and refused to surrender. The gang had considered breaking in, but forcing doors made too much noise and could easily attract Magical Beasts.
After suffering for it once or twice, they no longer dared break down doors lightly.
For that very reason, anyone who still had food at home now stayed holed up inside, afraid to leave. Those without food joined the camp. Anyone capable of working could barely stay alive, while those deemed worthless could only starve to death.
People had tried looking for food at the Shopping Mall before, but most had never returned. If Wang Dazhuang hadn't forced him into a corner this time, he would never have brought his lackeys here to search for food.
He had even worked out a plan in advance: once they found food, he would fill his own stomach first. If there was plenty, he would secretly hide some away; if there wasn't much, he would take it back to camp.
What he had never expected was to run into a beauty like Jun Shutong as soon as he arrived at the Shopping Mall. He had thought she was an unexpected bonus, only for her to turn out to be unexpected retribution.
Jun Shutong had already established that the young man named Zhao Zhu before her was no innocent, so she began asking detailed questions about Anke Camp.
After questioning Zhao Zhu, Jun Shutong interrogated his three lackeys.
Once she confirmed that Zhao Zhu and the others hadn't lied, Jun Shutong returned to her office with a conflicted expression.
Jun Shutong picked up the walkie-talkie on her desk and spoke into it. "Lu Li, come to my office. There's something I want to ask you."
Lu Li had been pondering how to make that seed sprout. Hearing Jun Shutong's summons, he immediately set his work aside and went to her office.
As soon as he pushed open the office door, Lu Li saw Jun Shutong's gloomy expression.
After sitting down in front of her desk, Lu Li asked, "What is it? Has the camp run into another problem?"
"It's not about our camp." Jun Shutong shook her head.
"We just caught a few survivors from another camp," Jun Shutong said.
Hearing Jun Shutong use the word "caught," Lu Li immediately guessed roughly what had happened.
He had seen for himself how well Jun Shutong treated ordinary survivors. If she had forcibly detained these people, that alone said plenty about what sort of men they were.
"And then?" Lu Li asked.
Jun Shutong continued, "They're not good people. I learned about another camp from them."
Hearing this, Lu Li had a bad feeling.
He could already vaguely sense that Jun Shutong might have learned about the situation at Anke.
Jun Shutong said, "That
camp is in a terrible state. A bunch of thugs are running it."
That settled it. Jun Shutong was talking about the very camp An Kang had mentioned.
Lu Li sighed inwardly.
"So what are you thinking?" Lu Li asked cautiously.
"I'm wondering whether I should go over there and deal with those scumbags," Jun Shutong said, brimming with conviction.
The good news.
Jun Shutong wasn't a bleeding heart who refused to kill.
The bad news.
This woman wanted to play savior.
Lu Li looked helplessly at Jun Shutong, his mind racing as he tried to work out how to talk her out of it.
"First... leaving aside whether it's safe for you to go there, suppose you go and kill them. Then what?"
"Can you guarantee that whoever takes over will be a good person? And if there are a lot of people there, how is leading that many people across the road any different from sending them to their deaths?"
"So my advice is to act like you don't know. Your top priority right now is protecting the people in this camp." Lu Li didn't forget to use her sense of responsibility to rein her in.
Jun Shutong pouted, looking aggrieved. "But I already know. How am I supposed to pretend I don't know about something like this?"
"Your pistol only has a few bullets. What happens when you run out? And are you sure they won't fight back? If more than five people end up deserving death, how will you handle that?"
"I could take people with me," Jun Shutong argued weakly.
Lu Li said, "Out in the open, the more people gather together, the easier it is for Flying Magical Beasts to spot them."
"I... I..."
Jun Shutong couldn't find an argument against that, either.
Seeing that she had nothing left to say, Lu Li quickly pressed his advantage. "The situation now is that all the good people over there might already be dead. You could end up going there to rescue a bunch of thugs."
"Besides, you can simply leave those thugs to their own devices. They're already out of food, so they're bound to turn to the Shopping Mall. When that happens, you can bring people and lie in wait for them."
In the end, Jun Shutong abandoned the idea of going to Anke Camp to uphold justice. Seeing this, Lu Li let out a relieved breath.
He had genuinely feared that this woman, overflowing with righteous zeal, would get carried away and charge off to fight the people at Anke Camp to the death, heedless of everything else.
"By the way, those four thugs you caught don't seem to be good people, either?" Lu Li suddenly asked.
Jun Shutong nodded.
"I have a suggestion," Lu Li said.
"Go ahead." Jun Shutong looked at Lu Li.
Lu Li asked, "First, tell me what you're planning to do with those thugs."
Jun Shutong said, "Lock them up for two days to teach them a lesson. If they behave themselves, let them join Dawn Camp."
Lu Li said, "..."
That's just like you, Jun Shutong!
Lu Li was speechless. Of those thugs, Zhao Zhu had already killed someone. What was the point of keeping a man like that around?
And the other little thugs who had helped him commit his crimes were no better. Although they hadn't killed anyone, they had at least taken turns raping women.
"Letting them join the camp would be unfair to the people who contribute to the other camps." Lu Li looked at Jun Shutong with utmost seriousness.
He had to persuade Jun Shutong to abandon that idea. People could be kind, even bleeding hearts, but their kindness absolutely had to have limits.
Jun Shutong had always been receptive to advice. She also understood her own temperament, so she was always willing to listen to her subordinates' opinions.
"Then what do you suggest?" Jun Shutong asked.
"Keep them locked up normally and give them three meals a day. Then divide the four into two groups and have them take turns offering sacrifices to that Ghost Magical Beast."
"As for how long... base it on their crimes. Give the worse offenders a year. If they're still alive after that year, we can consider their sins atoned for."
Jun Shutong said, "..."
That's just like you, Lu Li!
Lu Li's ideas and proposal fit her stereotypical image of him as a "Magical Beast Scholar" perfectly.