Chapter 146: Whatever Brother Cockroach says, goes!
“You’re not bad, what’s your name? What did you do previously?” Zhang Xiao Qiang finally thought to ask for his name.
Hearing Zhang Xiao Qiang ask for his name, Common-face became slightly emotional, his voice wavering: “My surname is Lu, full name Lu Ren Yi! I used to help transport coal, in the future, I’ll do whatever Brother Cockroach requests of me!”
While his name represented loyalty, somehow, the pronunciation just sounds off. Lu Ren Yi? Passer-by? Even his name wasn’t higher than ‘Passerby-1’.
(This part is a bit hard to translate. Basically, the Chinese name is made up of the characters 仁义 Ren Yi, meaning righteousness. However, with the surname, it sounds like 路人 Lu Ren, meaning passerby, with the 乙 yi, meaning 2nd)
“What happened today? Aren’t they usually obedient and docile? How come there’s a revolt?” Zhang Xiao Qiang asked Frank, who couldn’t answer properly, his face red. Even after muttering for a long while, nothing coherent came out. The older sister behind him became anxious and grabbed Old Frank’s clothes. He noticed and pointed to Three, saying: “He..he..he was there, it’s better for him to explain.”
Seeing Frank selling him out, Three also had a complicated expression. He glared at the pitiful Frank, before revealing a smile that was uglier than crying as he started to explain.
Three had brought 5 women as they drove to the chicken farm. He had settled them in, arranging for them to wait at the 2nd story for Brother Long to distribute, when he came down and saw Su Qian using a gun to point at Frank. In the end, Three and Frank were tied up and Su Qian took Frank’s gun, before releasing all the women upstairs. They then disarmed Drunkard and went to wipe clean the firearms and ammo in Brother Long’s and Chen Yi’s rooms. Su Qian wanted to take all the women away, but 3 of them didn’t believe her and chose to stay, and the women from the granary were unwilling to leave as well. Su Qian thus brought 3 of Chen Yi’s women and one of Brother Long’s women away.
The men who were eating chicken feed saw that Drunkard had been disarmed, furthermore, before Su Qian left, she had announced that Brother Long and Chen Yi had died. As a result, 3 stepped out saying they should revolt and wanted to eat rice and meat, to enjoy women, and like this, all the men were riled up. They had gotten sick of the chicken feed already.
Wang Le saw that things were not right and went to the small garage to notify Three and Frank who were left there. After all, he was living slightly better since Zhang Xiao Qiang gave him the 7 or 8 bags of rice, plus there was the possibility of being gifted with a woman if he continued to work for Zhang Xiao Qiang. Zhang Xiao Qiang had given him some rewards just for making some weapons. If he worked hard, he might even have some kids. Now, this bunch of cowards was threatening to smash his hopes and dreams, he would not allow it. He didn’t want to watch the world burn.
By the time he released Frank and Three, the mob was nearing the garage area. The three of them didn’t have any weapons, hence they started to seal the door and windows shut, staying with the women in it. By then, the mob outside had killed Hairy and Drunkard, and when the cowards saw blood, they lost all their rationality. They wanted to move a ladder to climb into the garage through the 2nd story. Three and Frank were forced to guard. The mob thus started to fling stones at them, injuring them.
At the critical juncture, Wang Le and a few women transported a huge pail of boiling water over, which had been prepared by the chef, and they held their positions like that. It was until Lu Ren Yi and the rest arrived, and Cannon had ended up in the hands of the rabid cowards, and Zhang Xiao Qiang slaughtered a few of them, did the chaos start to die down.
Hearing up to this point, Zhang Xiao Qiang did not become angry, instead, he marveled at Su Qian’s intelligence, sweeping away Brother Long’s hard work in one fell swoop, and even brought a few women away as her trump card. Furthermore, she had seen the different types of zombies and knew which to avoid. She was now confident that women can do what men could do.
Should she somehow find a place with low populations to establish her base, and discover additional survivors if her luck allows it, who knows, she could erect a stronghold of her own, and she would be the queen.
Zhang Xiao Qiang realized that he truly did not understand women. At the very least, he had been hoodwinked by Su Qian. She, who had always presented herself as this meek girl, had somehow staked her all with this move and made away with a bountiful harvest. Compared to her, Yuan Yi could not even be considered a strong woman. Yuan Yi was the small flower in the garden, Su Qian was the true strong-willed one. She had endured for so long and masked her intentions, yet she knew when was the right time to strike.
Su Qian could be considered the most outstanding woman by Zhang Xiao Qiang’s side, and the first who left him of her own free will. There was no animosity towards her, instead, he admired her guts and appreciated her decisiveness. One must, after all, grasp one’s own fate. The weak will not always be weak, as long as one doesn’t give up, there was always the chance to become the strong one.
Three saw that Zhang Xiao Qiang did not lose his temper and heaved a sigh of relief, before pointing to the old man kneeling on the ground: “Brother Cockroach, he is one of the masterminds, one was his son that had already been beaten to death, the other was a man that Brother Bin had sent over.”
Seeing the scar on the head of the old man, Zhang Xiao Qiang recognized him as the father who had begged for his son, the one who would rather suffer the punishment in place of his son. He had no reaction to everything around him right now, his countenance grim and ash-pale. His eyes were blank and numb, as he stared at the ground. His body wasn’t even trembling, which was like Heaven and Earth when compared to the rest of the mob.
Zhang Xiao Qiang found the entire scene distasteful. He didn’t understand why they would choose to revolt. The opportunity had been given to them long ago. If they didn’t want the chicken feed, and want to enjoy rice and meat and women, they had to fight for it. It was not possible for others to risk their lives just so they could sit safely. This was the rule of the apocalypse, even the head of some government officials would have to find his own meals. They still wanted to enjoy themselves in this world? What a joke, having chicken feed in exchange for their safety was already a form of grace.
He turned to face He Wen Bin, who was sitting there and looking exhausted. When he saw Zhang Xiao Qiang looking at him, he immediately shook himself awake and waited for instructions.
“What do you think?” Out of all these people, Zhang Xiao Qiang trusted He Wen Bin the most. He could be considered one of his, at the very least, He Wen Bin had been saved by him, and he was saved by He Wen Bin as well. He Wen Bin had even sacrificed his own arm for him, and this debt, Zhang Xiao Qiang would bear for life. He wanted to establish He Wen Bin’s authority, so when he leaves, He Wen Bin would still live on well, and wouldn’t be stepped on.
“Whatever Brother Cockroach says, we will all listen to you. Whatever you say, goes.” He Wen Bin took this opportunity to express his loyalty and subservience instead. Even Frank and Three, as well as Lu Ren Yi and some others nodded. These were all people Zhang Xiao Qiang had affected somehow. Furthermore, they recognized Zhang Xiao Qiang’s strength, he was much stronger than Brother Long and Chen Yi and the rest combined. They had faith in following him.
He hesitated before nodding. Right now, the women needed to recuperate. He wouldn’t be able to move much for the time being as well. He had to ensure they were all tucked in first, it wouldn’t be too late to leave then. In any case, WH City would not move, nor would it grow legs to run.
“Those whose hands have been stained with blood, those who led the revolt, those who had taken off their pants in order to rape, kill them all. The rest will have their meals reduced by half, let them go hungry for half a month. That’s all!” Zhang Xiao Qiang finished, and walked towards his car, leaving the rest of the matters to Three and the others.