CIATB Chapter 386 - 371: Grain in Hand, Mind at Ease
Chapter 386 - 371: Grain in Hand, Mind at Ease
Wei Heng was on his feet all night, busy without a moment to spare.
Just as they had expected, the moment Mr. Zhou "unintentionally" let slip the news that Gu Xi was injured and there was a problem with her powers, the entire farm erupted with activity.
That night, an unknown number of people began to make their moves under the cover of darkness.
Many even approached Wei Heng directly, trying to probe for information about Gu Xi.
They even tried using a pretty boy as a honey trap.
Wei Heng: "..."
Although the process was... difficult to put into words, Wei Heng also took the opportunity that night to root out many of the spies others had planted.
And this was only the beginning.
The next morning, Wei Heng, having finally escaped the persistent pretty boy, arrived at the medical wing. He had just stepped out of the elevator and rounded a corner when he saw Yang Chi and the other two squatting furtively by Gu Xi’s door.
Wei Heng snorted. When he was being pestered by the pretty boy earlier, he had planned to ask Qi Xiang for help chasing the guy away. But to his surprise... not only did Qi Xiang refuse to help, she even called Yang Chi and Qin Yi over to watch the show!
The memory of the three of them practically rolling on the floor with schadenfreude made Wei Heng grind his teeth in frustration.
’So much for team spirit.’
’Hmph. I’m never cooking for them again.’
Meanwhile, when Qi Xiang and the other two saw the expressionless Wei Heng walking over, their smiles were especially... punchable.
"Hey, Wei Heng," Yang Chi greeted him with a grin. He deliberately peeked behind him, then a look of disappointment crossed his face. He turned back to Qi Xiang and Qin Yi and shrugged, as if to say the show was over.
Wei Heng: "..." ’Oh, I’m just so grateful to you all.’
He took a deep breath, his face taut. "What are you all doing, just standing around here?"
Qi Xiang leaned against the wall, raising an eyebrow slightly. "So grumpy this early in the morning? Could it be you’re... unsatisfied?" No wonder people were trying to send a pretty boy his way.
Wei Heng: "..."
Wei Heng shot the gloating woman an expressionless glance.
But then Qin Yi chimed in, cupping her chin with a puzzled look as she asked Qi Xiang, "What were those people thinking? Why did they send... a man?" She’d never heard that Mr. Wei was into men.
’So strange.’
Regarding this question, Qi Xiang thought for a moment before saying, "How could a firefly dare to compete with the bright moon? With a peerless beauty like me around..."
Wei Heng: "..."
He really couldn’t listen to this anymore. Expressionless, he walked past the three of them. Just as he was about to raise his hand to knock, the door opened from the inside.
"Come in, all of you," Gu Xi said, standing behind the door.
’Was it his imagination, or was the way she looked at him a little... strange?’ Wei Heng wondered.
The group entered the room.
As the door closed, Qi Xiang walked straight to the sofa and sat down, cupping her chin and tilting her head slightly. "Gu Xiaoxi, you have no idea how lively it was in the planting area last night..."
Afraid she was about to say something she shouldn’t, Wei Heng quickly cut her off. "After Mr. Zhou released the news last night, a lot of people started making moves. Especially those in the farm’s management, the ones Huo Changzhou left behind..."
Wei Heng gave a brief summary of the previous night’s events.
In just one night, he had caught more than ten spies who were passing on information.
And who knew how many others were still watching Gu Xi from the shadows.
Gu Xi wasn’t worried. As long as she continued to appear weak, more and more spies would expose themselves. After a few more days, once Wei Heng had rooted out most of them, the farm would be back on track.
Of course, neither Gu Xi nor Wei Heng ever thought they could completely eliminate all the spies.
That would be unrealistic.
After all, the farm already had several hundred employees, and thousands of refugees had flooded in over the past few days. With so many people, wasn’t it perfectly normal for one or two to be bribed?
But it came back to the same point: in the apocalypse, human nature is selfish.
Setting aside those who had just been bribed, even the spies planted long ago would be unwilling to remain pawns with no control over their own lives, especially when faced with the hope of a stable existence.
Li Ming had once taught Gu Xi that whether in times of peace and prosperity or in times of chaos, what most ordinary people seek can be summed up in a few words: to live and work in peace.
And right now, living and working in peace was exactly what Gu Xi could offer them.
That was enough.
...If they could live a good, stable life, who would be willing to throw it all away for someone else?
Food is the first necessity of the people. Farm 0101 was the largest official farm of A City Base, with tens of thousands of acres of fertile fields and vast surrounding wastelands that could be reclaimed. As long as they could mobilize the refugees to clear the land, plant crops, and develop production, feeding all of City A wouldn’t be a problem at all.
And in the apocalypse, food was the foundation of everything.
As the old saying goes, with grain in hand, there’s no need to panic. As long as the refugees could see hope and believe that working on the farm would secure them a stable future, then all of City A would be stabilized.
Then, even if someone wanted to stir up trouble, it wouldn’t be so easy.
And what Gu Xi wanted was a stable City A. After all, you wouldn’t throw out a whole pot of soup just because of a few bad apples, would you?
"But the situation in the wilderness is grim," Qin Yi said, a hint of worry in her voice. "The refugees might not be willing to stay and work on the farm indefinitely."
Especially after Huo Changzhou deliberately spread the news that large numbers of mutated beasts were appearing in the deep mountains bordering the farm.
Qi Xiang frowned slightly. "That is indeed a problem. Farm 0101 is too large, and the planting area is close to the mountain forests. The farm’s original security force is nowhere near enough to handle sudden incidents."
It wasn’t just Qin Yi; she and Yang Chi had also clearly sensed that morale in the planting area was wavering last night.
Wei Heng felt it even more keenly.
The vast majority of the refugees had lived their entire lives inside the safe zone, never taking a single step outside. Getting them to come out and reclaim the wilderness was already difficult enough. Now, with mutated beasts appearing in the very lands they were supposed to be clearing...
The situation was not looking good.
"So, our next step," Gu Xi said, looking at the four worried faces with a calm expression, "is to let everyone know that their safety will be guaranteed while they work here."
This shouldn’t have been difficult. All it would take was for the military to dispatch a sufficient garrison force.
But City A was the Liu Family’s stronghold. Even though Shen Yue had now taken over the city’s defenses, it would be difficult for him to spare enough personnel to set up a defense here on such short notice.
Ye Junhan’s Special Service Team could hold the line for a while, but they couldn’t be stationed here permanently.
’We still have to cultivate our own talent.’
Fortunately, City A was now home to many civilian reclamation teams, and there was no shortage of civilian ability users among them.
If this force could be utilized... perhaps the problem could be solved.
"But right now, all those ability users have run off to the Land of Death to hunt for treasure. Even if we announce that Gu Xi is willing to give pointers to any ability users who come here, they might not be willing to come," Qin Yi said with a slight frown.
"Then we tempt them with huge rewards?" Qi Xiang casually tossed her a tangerine. "In any case, there are always more solutions than problems. We can hash this out. Besides, it’s not like they can spend their whole lives hunting for treasure in the Land of Death, right?"
"I’ll go talk to Mr. Zhou about this," Wei Heng added from the side. "Mr. Zhou is well-connected and has considerable influence among the civilian ability users..."
The group huddled together to discuss for a while and quickly came up with a rough plan.
After they finished their business, Wei Heng glanced at Qi Xiang, who was still sitting comfortably on the sofa with no intention of getting up, then pulled Qin Yi and Yang Chi out of the room with him.
In the end, only Gu Xi and Qi Xiang were left in the hospital room.