Chapter 97: We're Sorry About Ah Zheng

Xiao Lingye looked at Song Yucheng, a malicious glint in his eyes.

“If you care so much about women, why don’t you go find Chen Lao’er and the others?”

“See what they’re up to?”

He knew Song Yucheng was reluctant to go to the team under the bridge.

Maybe it was because of a guilty conscience.

Ever since Song Yucheng’s search and excavation team caused Pang Zhenggong’s death, Song Yucheng had deliberately avoided mentioning the team under the bridge, or Ah Hong and Pang Ziyuan.

Whenever someone brought up Ah Hong, Song Yucheng would fall into an unusual silence.

That made him stand out.

It was as if everyone else had lost their conscience, and anyone who showed a shred of it became an outcast.

Xiao Lingye stepped forward, placing a hand on Song Yucheng’s shoulder and whispered in his ear,

“I know you’re feeling guilty. How about this: while you’re at it, go check on Ah Hong. She used to be your sister-in-law, after all. You can’t just watch her and her kid fend for themselves, can you?”

Song Yucheng suddenly looked at Xiao Lingye.

What Xiao Lingye meant was clear—he wanted Song Yucheng to bring Ah Hong over to the muscle gang.

What would happen next would depend on Song Yucheng’s actions.

A man with a conscience, who had killed someone as close as a brother—

How would he treat that brother’s family?

Would he do everything to protect them, or finish the job and wipe them out?

Song Yucheng’s eyes were dark and clouded.

But still, he took a member of the search and excavation team and obediently went to look for the people under the bridge.

“There are so many of them. So what if Chen Lao’er and the others haven’t come back for one night?” Liang Yimo complained, following behind Song Yucheng.

“I’m telling you, no matter how much we contribute, we’re still outsiders in Xiao Lingye’s team.”

Their search and excavation squad had always been highly sought after by every group.

They’d chosen to join Xiao Lingye’s team because it was the strongest around.

At least, outside this big city, Xiao Lingye’s was the only truly powerful group.

But once they’d all switched over and settled in, many in their squad started to feel dissatisfied again.

After all, they were important—so why should they be ordered around by Xiao Lingye?

Captain Qiao had been a good leader.

But Xiao Lingye, aside from his brute strength and muscles, had nothing else going for him.

The only reason he was the leader was because he was so much stronger than an ordinary person.

Other than that, Xiao Lingye was jealous, violent, paranoid, and couldn’t control his temper.

He often made people feel uneasy.

There were plenty of women in his group, but the death rate among them was the highest of any group nearby.

As they walked, Liang Yimo muttered to Song Yucheng,

“I really don’t think Xiao Lingye is fit to be a leader. He just can’t win people over.”

Song Yucheng said nothing.

For such a tight-knit team, integrating into a larger group wasn’t easy.

Especially with someone like Xiao Lingye, who was always so sarcastic and two-faced.

Liang Yimo kept complaining all the way—from the unfair distribution of supplies after their last dig, all the way until they reached the team under the bridge. There, both men stopped in their tracks.

The team under the bridge used to camp beneath a collapsed bridge, everyone living on the riverbed.

Now the place was desolate—a gathering spot for the old, weak, sick, and pregnant outside the city.

A handful of people, dull-eyed and listless, stood or sat beside ragged tarps.

Liang Yimo frowned and asked a skinny, white-haired old man,

“Have you seen Uncle Chen?”

The old man just stared blankly at him, as if he didn’t understand a word.

“Forget it, what an idiot,” Liang Yimo muttered, leaving the old man behind. The further they walked, the more off things felt.

“This place is huge. How are we supposed to find them?”

“Maybe Uncle Chen took the two girls and sold them to the city for a reward?”

Song Yucheng said nothing. Liang Yimo spat on the ground.

“If we’d known, we should’ve done that ourselves.”

“Twenty spots—that’d be enough for everyone in our squad to live in the city. Maybe even have some left over.”

Song Yucheng stayed silent. Since they couldn’t find Uncle Chen or the two girls, he decided to look for Ah Hong.

Inside the Shi family’s walled compound, Ah Hong was holding a bowl of mushroom soup, full of mashed and boiled potatoes.

She was spoon-feeding Pang Zhenggong, who was lying on the ground.

Yuebai had said he couldn’t be moved, so Pang Zhenggong had been lying there for days.

Other than getting fatter, his vitality was slowly returning.

As Ah Hong was feeding him, Pang Zhenggong’s eyelids suddenly fluttered.

“Ah Zheng?”

Ah Hong thought she was seeing things and froze for a moment.

Just then, outside the wall, Song Yucheng and Liang Yimo’s voices rang out.

Song Yucheng called, “Sister-in-law, are you there?”

As soon as Ah Hong heard the voice, she rushed out, still holding a knife.

“What are you doing here?”

“Haven’t you done enough to ruin my family?”

Liang Yimo pulled Song Yucheng back a step, his face angry.

“Sister-in-law, we were just passing by, wanted to check in on you and the kid. Why are you like this?”

He glanced at the courtyard, where white smoke curled into the air.

“Tsk tsk, what happened to this place?”

“Haven’t been back in months, and it’s completely changed.”

They hadn’t planned to show up in front of Ah Hong like this.

But it seemed like Ah Hong and Pang Ziyuan were up to something big.

On their way over, they’d seen a wide trench, filled with white smoke.

Zhang Xueyao and Wei Lingxia had said the trench was over a meter deep.

But neither Liang Yimo nor Song Yucheng dared to jump into the thick smoke.

They circled around, carefully entering the compound at the junction between the trench and the wall.

Now, only a tiny part of the compound was accessible.

Still, Song Yucheng and Liang Yimo had managed to find it.

It showed their skills.

Song Yucheng was irritated, but forced himself to stay patient.

“Sister-in-law, we’re really sorry about Ah Zheng, but what happened to him had nothing to do with us.”

From the beginning, Song Yucheng and the others had never admitted what they’d done to Pang Zhenggong.

Now that he was dead and couldn’t testify, they could say whatever they wanted.

Song Yucheng continued, “Sister-in-law, what happened here? This place is completely transformed. Are you building a little fortress or something?”

His tone was probing.

His shamelessness almost made Ah Hong laugh.

They thought they were living the good life, only to turn around and find the team under the bridge had it even better.

Pang Ziyuan rushed over, brick in hand, and hurled it at Song Yucheng.

“Before we could come for revenge, you came here looking for death!”"