Chapter 103: Snake Eye Detector

Liang Yimo’s words weren’t meant for Xiao Lingye.

He simply gathered his team and told them in detail everything he’d seen and heard at the Shi family’s place.

Lately, the members of their search-and-rescue excavation team had a lot of complaints about Xiao Lingye.

After all, they were crucial to the group—most of the food the team had was found by them.

Yet, they only got the same share of food as everyone else.

Why?

They contributed so much, but the survival resources they received weren’t any more generous.

Xiao Lingye’s attitude toward them was also much colder than before.

Every member of the search-and-rescue excavation team felt a deep sense of disappointment.

They’d given up so much, even betrayed old loyalties—

All to join Xiao Lingye’s team and be treated as valuable assets.

Not to be bossed around by Xiao Lingye.

Liang Yimo had discovered a big fish in the Shi family, and he wasn’t about to tell Xiao Lingye. Otherwise, he’d have to split the spoils with the rest of the team.

Only a fool would let that happen.

Song Yucheng had already woken up.

His head was wrapped in yellowed gauze—no one knew where he’d gotten it from.

He was weak, leaning against a pile of clothes inside the tent.

“I think there’s something off about the Shi family too. If they didn’t have a large stockpile of food, there’s no way they’d have the time or energy to build walls and dig trenches.”

“And that Shi Yuebai—she looks fat, dumb, and disgusting, but she’s not stupid at all.”

A lot of people said Shi Yuebai was an idiot, especially since she’d once traded food for a bunch of useless junk.

But those clothes she’d traded for back then meant everyone in her group was now neatly and cleanly dressed.

Those bricks she’d collected had become the walls around the Shi family’s compound.

And the doctor she’d gotten in exchange for a small loaf of bread had helped Shi’s mother give birth to Shi Xiangrui safely.

How was that stupid?

Song Yucheng could see that Shi Yuebai was actually very shrewd.

Liang Yimo nodded. “We need to check this place out thoroughly.”

Everyone in the team agreed.

That night, Liang Yimo took the Snake Eye Life Detector and snuck up to the Shi family’s compound.

He and another team member quietly maneuvered the Snake Eye detector toward the trench.

“I can’t see anything,” the team member whispered anxiously beside Liang Yimo. “Isn’t the fog here a bit too thick?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird?”

If this kind of mist was in some scenic spot before the apocalypse, it would’ve been beautiful.

Tourists would’ve flocked to take photos and post them online.

But in the wasteland, thick white fog boiling in a trench just felt eerie.

Liang Yimo didn’t care. “It’s just a bunch of women trying to play tricks, pretending to be mysterious.”

“How else are they going to scare us off? Hmph.”

Because the trench was filled with thick fog, they couldn’t see how deep it was.

And it’s the unknown that’s most frightening.

That’s why Shi Yuebai and her group had found a machine to generate smoke.

Such machines were easy to find—before the apocalypse, they were everywhere.

After Liang Yimo explained this, the team member accepted it and kept watching the screen.

Liang Yimo operated the Snake Eye detector.

According to their plan, they’d use the detector to cross the trench and enter the Shi family’s walls.

This time, they were mainly interested in the Shi family.

The other families weren’t on their radar.

They wanted to know just how much food the Shi family had hidden behind those walls.

Liang Yimo switched on the infrared function of the Snake Eye detector.

Visibility improved a little, but the image turned black and white.

The Snake Eye detector crawled through the thick fog to the bottom of the trench, then slowly climbed up.

Just as it reached the top and was about to enter the Shi family’s compound—

An old-fashioned embroidered shoe stomped down on the Snake Eye detector.

Liang Yimo and his teammate’s efforts were for nothing.

They exchanged glances. The teammate holding the monitor shook his head at Liang Yimo.

“The screen’s gone blank.”

Their Snake Eye detector had been caught by someone inside the Shi compound.

The other side simply shoved the probe into the dirt.

Clearly, Liang Yimo and his teammate had been discovered.

The teammate asked, “What do we do now?”

He couldn’t figure it out. How had they been found?

It was two or three in the morning.

Didn’t the Shi family ever sleep?

The Snake Eye detector was just a thin wire—how had the Shi family spotted and caught it in the dead of night?

Liang Yimo wiped his face, looking grim. “You can’t even buy this kind of equipment anymore, even if you have the money. We have to get it back.”

Back when Pang Zhenggong wanted to split from the team, everyone was furious. One reason was that if he left, he’d take a share of the search-and-rescue equipment.

Even in the big city, such equipment was rare and expensive.

Only large teams could afford it—small groups couldn’t dream of buying it.

If you had enough points to buy this kind of gear, wouldn’t you rather spend them on food?

After saying this, Liang Yimo raised his voice and shouted toward the Shi compound,

“Sis-in-law? Sis-in-law?”

No one answered, so he shouted again,

“Pang Ziyuan? Ah Hong? We accidentally lost something over there!”

In the middle of the night, Liang Yimo’s voice was especially jarring.

In their tent, Ah Hong and Pang Ziyuan woke up quickly.

Ah Hong looked at Pang Zhenggong lying beside her.

“That sounds like Liang Yimo.”

Pang Zhenggong sat up, frowning and panting.

He couldn’t help it—he was so fat now that even moving a little was hard on his heart and lungs.

“Go back to sleep, don’t bother with him,” he told his wife and son, then threw on some clothes and walked out of their compound toward the Shi family’s place.

The night and the white fog hid Pang Zhenggong’s figure.

But before he reached the Shi family’s wall, Shi Yuebai rolled out in her wheelchair, face cold.

On her lap was a flowerpot, with the Snake Eye detector stuck upside down in it.

“This is what you wanted to split up last time?” she asked.

Pang Zhenggong was stunned, then nodded.

He felt complicated as Shi Yuebai handed him the flowerpot with the detector.

“Yuebai?” Pang Zhenggong’s throat felt choked.

He didn’t know what to say.

“It’s not some magical thing. Don’t risk your life for stuff like this next time,” Shi Yuebai said calmly.

She rolled her wheelchair toward the trench.

“There are two more parts to this thing, right?”

“Alright. Wait here.”

Yesterday I bought some aromatherapy sachets, and Xiaomiemie hung them all over the room.

Not sure if they’re supposed to be invigorating, but I didn’t sleep well all night."