104: Chapter 104 Han Xue's Enforcement: You can leave if you want, but spit out your food first.

Liu Qing projected the footage onto the main screen.

It was drone playback.

In the footage, a man around fifty years old, while bending over to dig out a crystal core, first glanced at Qin Yumo's back.

Confirming no one was paying attention, he stuffed the crystal core into his waistband.

"He didn't just do this on a whim; he's been stealing since the very first one."

Liu Qing pushed up her thick glasses.

"Twelve of them are on Liu Degui and his two sons."

"The other three were buried by them near the drainage ditch; the coordinates have already been marked."

The living room fell silent.

Tang Qiqi was poking at a piece of pudding on the dining table.

She had originally wanted to ask Lin Motong if she wanted to eat it.

Looking up and seeing those blood-red eyes, she swallowed her words.

She turned around, stared at the screen, and couldn't help but complain.

"Eating our food, taking our crystal cores, and then wanting to go to the South Suburb Military District to trade for a position."

"This is an ingrate with a GPS."

Lin Yuan sat on the sofa, holding a teacup in his hand.

"Where is Captain Han Xue?"

Liu Qing switched the screen.

Beside the registration desk at the main entrance of Cloud Top Palace, Captain Han Xue was checking the list of wounded.

Her old police uniform had been washed once, but the bloodstains remained.

Hearing the command in her earpiece, she looked up.

Lin Yuan's voice finished.

"You handle it."

The pen in Captain Han Xue's hand stopped.

...

On the edge of the shantytown.

Liu Degui's family of three was hiding in a tent.

He licked the last bit of porridge from the bottom of his bowl, his cursing never stopping.

"Someone like Lin Yuan will be executed by the authorities sooner or later."

"We leave tonight."

He looked up at his two sons.

"Dayong, Eryong, remember to dig out those three from the drainage ditch."

Liu Dayong grinned.

"Dad, if we bring fifteen of them over, wouldn't the South Suburb Military District have to make us Major Generals?"

Liu Eryong sneered.

"Killing a zombie and still having to turn in the crystal core, who does he think he is?"

Liu Degui snorted.

"No matter how bad the authorities are, they represent the country."

"What is Lin Yuan? Just a local tyrant."

As soon as he finished speaking.

The tent flap was pulled open.

The pots and pans blocking the door were kicked away.

Fat Dragon stood outside, a cigarette hanging from his mouth, followed by four lackeys.

"Yo."

"Is the porridge from the local tyrant's house tasty?"

Liu Degui's expression changed.

Liu Dayong wanted to reach for his spear.

Fat Dragon rushed in and kicked him over.

"Don't move."

"I just finished hotpot and I'm in a good mood; I don't want to turn your head into a beef ball to boil."

Two lackeys stepped forward to search them.

Soon.

Twelve gray crystal cores were laid out on the muddy ground.

Liu Degui immediately started shouting.

"We got these from killing zombies!"

"By what right are you searching us!"

Fat Dragon slapped him across the face.

"Don't talk to me about rights."

"Do you deserve it?"

...

The main square of Cloud Top Palace.

The passage between the outer perimeter and the shantytown had been cleared to make it easier for Fat Dragon to manage them uniformly.

Temporary floodlights were on, illuminating the muddy ground until it looked pale.

In the middle of the night, the survivors were all called out, standing around the isolation line in a daze.

Liu Degui and his two sons knelt on the muddy ground.

Twelve gray crystal cores were placed on the table.

Three more were dug up from the side of the drainage ditch.

A total of fifteen.

Captain Han Xue stood behind the registration desk.

Fat Dragon stood to the side with his arms crossed, chili oil still staining the corner of his mouth.

Liu Degui looked up and shouted.

"Officer Han!"

"You're a police officer!"

"We killed the zombies and got the crystal cores, why should we hand them over?"

"I just want to keep them as a collection, what's the problem with that?"

Someone in the crowd chimed in softly.

"They really were the ones who killed them..."

"Captain Han can't just side with thugs, right?"

"Regardless, they're just trying to survive."

Captain Han Xue opened the temporary regulations.

"Liu Degui."

"Liu Dayong."

"Liu Eryong."

"When you signed up for the Zombie Hunting Team, you signed the regulations."

"All kills must be turned in, and then rations are exchanged based on contribution."

Liu Degui stiffened his neck.

"You forced us to sign that!"

Captain Han Xue raised her eyes.

"No one forced you to take up spears."

"No one forced you to go out with Qin Yumo."

"And no one forced you to eat tonight's porridge."

Liu Dayong got anxious.

"We just want to go to the official shelter!"

"Is that wrong?"

Liu Eryong also shouted.

"Captain Han Xue, you are a police officer! You also belong to the official forces!"

"Aren't you afraid of being held accountable later for acting as Lin Yuan's dog now?"

The outer circle went silent.

Many people stared at Captain Han Xue.

They wanted to see if she would be dragged back to the old world by the word "police."

Captain Han Xue was silent for two seconds, her fingers lightly touching the edge of her pocket.

"If you want to leave, you can."

Liu Degui's eyes lit up.

Liu Dayong also breathed a sigh of relief.

Someone nearby muttered softly.

"See, Captain Han is still reasonable."

"She is a police officer after all, she won't be like Fat Dragon."

Fat Dragon raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, who are you talking about? If you have the guts, come out and say it, don't hide in the back!"

Captain Han Xue raised her muzzle.

The muzzle was not aimed at anyone.

Instead, it pointed at the crystal cores on the table.

"Leave the crystal cores."

Liu Degui's expression changed immediately.

"That won't do!"

"That's our offering to join the authorities!"

Captain Han Xue interrupted him.

"I haven't finished speaking, please don't interrupt me."

She looked down at the regulations.

"According to the temporary material management regulations, those who withdraw may not consume the day's public combat supplies."

"You just ate the hot porridge and steamed buns provided by Tiangong No. 1."

She looked at the three of them.

"Since you want to leave, return this meal."

The square was so quiet that only the sound of the wind remained.

Liu Degui was stunned.

Liu Dayong's mouth hung open.

The ferocity on Liu Eryong's face vanished.

Fat Dragon let out a burp that smelled of hotpot.

"Captain Han, you mean..."

"Make them spit it out?"

Captain Han Xue closed the regulations.

"Yes."

Liu Degui panicked instantly.

"Officer Han, we admit our mistake!"

"We'll give you the crystal cores!"

"Can we forget about the meal?"

Liu Dayong also shouted along.

"We won't leave anymore!"

"We'll continue killing zombies tomorrow!"

"We're really good at it."

Liu Eryong hung his head, no longer mentioning "being held accountable."

Captain Han Xue looked at them.

"Didn't you just say you wanted to defect to the authorities?"

"The road is over there."

"No one is stopping you."

She paused for a moment.

"But Tiangong No. 1 is not a free cafeteria."

"And it's certainly not a place for you to get fed and then stab us in the back."

In the crowd, a few people quietly reached toward their pockets.

Fat Dragon scanned the crowd and laughed.

"Who else has the Boss's food in their stomach and the Boss's crystal cores in their pocket?"

No one dared to answer.

Liu Degui started crying and shouting again.

"Officer Han!"

"You used to be a people's police officer!"

"You can't do that!"

Captain Han Xue looked at him.

"I used to protect those who followed the rules."

"It's the same now."

She turned to look at Fat Dragon.

Fat Dragon looked disgusted.

"Why is it always me for this kind of dirty work?"

He waved his hand.

Several lackeys walked out, still smelling of hotpot base.

Tang Qiqi added from the surveillance monitor.

"The hotpot-scented enforcement squad, move out."

Fat Dragon kicked Liu Dayong behind the knees.

"Hold them down."

The three men were pressed into the mud.

Fat Dragon didn't go for the kill.

He only had his men punch them in the stomach.

One punch.

Two punches.

Three punches.

Liu Degui cursed at first.

"Lin Yuan will die a horrible death!"

"Captain Han Xue, you've betrayed the people!"

Later, he could only dry heave.

White bits of steamed bun mixed with yellow bile and smeared into the mud pit where Liu Degui had just been kneeling.

He tried to block it with his hands, but Fat Dragon's lackey pressed down on the back of his neck, forcing him to watch the "owed meal" being vomited up bit by bit.

Liu Dayong vomited until his eyes rolled back.

Liu Eryong lay there shivering, his pant legs covered in mud and water.

The expressions of the surrounding survivors changed.

Captain Han Xue looked up at everyone.

"If you want to go to the authorities, you can."

"First, pay back what you owe here."

Fat Dragon kicked the three of them past the isolation line of the earthen wall that Lu Yan had temporarily put up.

"Get lost."

Liu Degui clutched his stomach and crawled down the mountain.

Liu Dayong wanted to look back.

But the survivors in the shantytown had already pushed the simple wooden gate shut.

The roars of zombies came from the distance down the mountain.

The three men stopped in the darkness.

This time, no one opened the door for them.

...

In front of the registration desk.

A man hesitated for a long time, then walked out.

He pulled two gray crystal cores from his waistband and placed them on the table.

"Captain Han."

"I... I hid some too."

"I'm not leaving."

"Deduct my meals according to the rules."

Captain Han Xue glanced at him.

"Name."

"Zhao Ming, Group 6."

Captain Han Xue wrote it down.

"Privately hiding two, deduct all rations for tomorrow."

"If there is a next time, you will be expelled."

Zhao Ming nodded quickly.

"Understood."

A second person walked out.

A third person also walked out.

Soon, there were nine more gray crystal cores on the registration desk.

Fat Dragon was amused and secretly gave Captain Han Xue a thumbs-up.

Captain Han Xue did not smile.

She registered them one by one.

No scolding.

No humiliation.

The rules were clear.

The accounts were clear too.

This was more terrifying than indiscriminate killing.

Lin Yuan watched Captain Han Xue on the screen.

She stood under the floodlights, her old police uniform blowing in the wind.

She didn't take out her police badge.

Yet she still looked like a true law enforcer.

[Ding! Target Captain Han Xue (Beauty 88), Favorability +3%, Current Favorability: 4%.]

Lin Yuan put down his teacup and turned on the broadcast.

"Captain Han Xue, do you want to move into Tiangong No. 1?"