Chapter 898 - 883
From top to bottom, the skinny kid carefully searched Xu and Lei’s bodies.
After confirming there was nothing, he glanced sideways at Derek, then his short eyebrows furrowed: "Where’s your backpack?"
"Lost it!"
"Lost it!" The skinny kid’s face instantly darkened at that: "Fuck, the bag’s gone, what about the supplies?"
"Didn’t—didn’t get any!" Derek replied cautiously, but even so he still couldn’t avoid getting a hard slap to the face from the skinny kid.
"Smack!" The crisp sound was jarringly loud in the silent corridor. Seeing this, Xu Renjie couldn’t help cursing in his heart: This idiot, if you’re gonna lose your shit, at least pick a better place. You start something here, you think the Zombies are just gonna ignore it?
Worried the Zombies would notice, Xu Feng hurried forward and stepped in front of Derek.
When the skinny kid saw Xu Renjie step up to block him, he thought Xu was trying to challenge him, and his anger flared even hotter.
But before the skinny kid could make a move, Xu Renjie first showed a hint of an extremely disgusting, fawning smile, then bowed and pleaded: "Bro, this is all on us, we’re the ones who got Little Derek’s supplies lost. Thing is, uh... this isn’t a place to talk it out. We ran into Zombies on the way here. If we make too much noise standing around, I’m afraid, I’m afraid we’ll attract the Zombies."
As soon as he heard they might attract Zombies, the skinny kid immediately calmed down.
So he did still have some "IQ" left. Seeing the skinny kid cool off, Xu Renjie quickly backed away to the rear again, putting on his good-citizen act, waiting for the skinny kid to hand down his judgment.
Even though he was pissed about Derek losing the supplies, considering the threat of Zombies, the skinny kid still forced himself to suppress his rage.
But being cooped up in a sealed space for so long, that kind of psychological distortion isn’t something you can just push down at will.
"Fine! This isn’t the place to teach you a lesson! Move, we’ll talk inside!"
With a swing of the Steel Blade, the skinny guy pointed ahead, signaling Derek to lead the way.
Under the threat of the Steel Blade, Derek had no choice. He couldn’t help worrying about what he was going to face next.
Xu Renjie caught all of this. He understood the young man’s fear.
At this moment, Xu Renjie no longer held the same hostility toward the young man as he had at the beginning; the kid had already proven his stance with his actions.
So...
Without changing his expression, Xu Renjie edged over to Derek’s side and used ventriloquism to quickly say a few words: "No matter what happens later, remember to say it exactly like I told you before!"
Derek’s expression froze when he heard that, and right then, Xu Renjie tactfully slowed his pace, opening up some distance again.
The whole process lasted barely two seconds; the skinny kid didn’t notice any exchange between Xu and Derek.
Under the skinny kid’s escort, Xu Renjie and the others were brought into a classroom.
The wooden desks and benches had all been cleared out, and the empty room felt silent and suffocating.
"Stand in the middle! All of you, on your knees!"
A man kneels only to gold and his parents; on a normal day, you’d have to kill Old Xu before he’d kneel.
But times change. To save people, some sacrifices are necessary.
"Thump!" Old Xu was the first to drop to his knees. Seeing this, Derek couldn’t help feeling a faint sense of contempt.
He had actually held some respect for the man in front of him, but he hadn’t expected... he was just another spineless coward!
Once Old Xu knelt, Lei Tong naturally had nothing more to say. He had it all thought through: once the hostages were rescued, every bit of humiliation he was swallowing now, he would make that Japanese punk pay back double!
"Yamada-kun, you’d better have a good reason for calling all of us over here!"
"Yeah! I was in the middle of ’playing a game’ with that Huaxia chick, things were just heating up when you interrupted me. What the hell do you want?"
Their Chinese was stiff and broken. Xu Renjie looked over and saw about a dozen young students filing in through the classroom door.
Just from those sleazy faces, he didn’t even need to ask to know these were those damn "Japan" students.
"Oh? What’s with these Huaxia pieces of trash? I don’t think I’ve seen them before?" A guy with a bulbous, red-veined nose stuck his face in front of Xu Renjie, then turned to the skinny kid for an answer.
But the skinny kid ignored the drunkard nose and instead waved toward the middle of the crowd: "Boss Watanabe!!"
Boss!? Hearing that word, Xu Renjie’s interest immediately spiked.
On a battlefield, to capture the thieves, you take the king first. If you can take down the enemy leader, their morale will tank. Might even end the fight before it starts.
Following the skinny kid’s gaze, Xuan Zhanxiao’s eyes locked onto a big bruiser in the crowd.
The bruiser’s build was on par with Lei Tong’s, only where Lei Tong was solid and compact, this guy’s muscles were looser and bulkier.
That had a lot to do with his sport; judo required a solid "base," otherwise you’d get thrown too easily.
The bruiser’s chest was bare, his nipples exposed, a few tufts of black hair on his chest showing off his overflowing energy.
From his position in the center of everyone’s attention, Xu Renjie figured this had to be the "Boss Watanabe" the skinny kid was talking about.
With an imposing air, Watanabe strode up to Xu and Lei, gave them a sweeping glance, then asked, "What’s with these two?"
His voice was low; just from his tone you could hear Watanabe’s annoyance.
He’d been dealing with "biological needs" just now too, but the skinny kid’s emergency call had cut off his final "sprint."
That pissed Watanabe off badly, and the female student he’d been abusing caught a stray in the process—he’d vented his anger by slapping her across the face.
Seeing Watanabe’s displeasure, the skinny kid realized he’d overstepped. Sure, he was also one of the "Japan" students, but his status in the group wasn’t that high; he was nowhere near Watanabe’s level.
And in the country of "Japan," they took hierarchy very seriously.
Especially strength—those with more strength tended to get more respect.
Right now, Watanabe was clearly the strongest fighter in the group, which was why everyone clustered around him and why he sat in the boss’s seat.
Now that the boss was pissed, if he decided to take it out on someone, the skinny kid might not be able to handle it.
After all, the apocalypse wasn’t like the old days; punishments were unpredictable, and it wasn’t rare for them to cost you your life.
So... shifting his gaze to Derek, the skinny kid redirected the "anger": "It’s him! It’s this guy who brought them in!"
At that, Watanabe’s thick brows instantly bristled. He stepped right up in front of Derek, and just as everyone was wondering how he’d interrogate the kid, something unexpected happened.
Without a word, Watanabe snapped a kick straight into Derek’s face. Blood sprayed, and Derek, like a kite with its string cut, flew backward with no resistance at all! (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)