Wasteland Border Inspector - Chapter 772

Chapter 772: Chapter 256: Yongxing Community, Hou Genbao!_3

“Second, establish a brotherly alliance, face hardships together, share glory and endure disgrace; there’s no ideology of self-preservation.”

“Third, profits must be obtained through righteous means, development should be pursued with courage; anyone who embezzles public property or harms the collective… shall be expelled according to district rules, clean out the door, never forgiven!”

By the time he reached the last sentence, Zhuangwa’s voice was already involuntarily trembling, his head lowered even more, daring not to meet Hou Genbao’s eyes.

“Now tell me, how should I deal with you?”

“According to the law… cut off hands and feet, throw into the Wilderness to fend for oneself.”

Zhuangwa gritted his teeth and finished speaking, suddenly raising his head, his eyes full of pleading, “But my father is gone, living holds no meaning for me! I only ask Uncle Hou to let me atone with my life, if the community faces any difficult task, I’ll be the first to charge in! Just let my death cleanse my sins, spare my father from being disgraced in his grave because of me!”

“Alas…” Hou Genbao sighed gently, slowly standing up.

He walked up to Zhuangwa, slowly placing his hand on Zhuangwa’s neck, fingertips icy cold, his tone like a whisper, “Zhuangwa, now is indeed a turbulent time; we cannot allow you, this troublemaker, to go out and bring trouble to Yongxing.”

“Hou… Uncle Hou!” Zhuangwa began to tremble violently; he could clearly feel the hand on his neck gradually tightening, making it hard to breathe.

He continually pleaded, tears welled up in his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, but the tears contained little regret; more were filled with dissatisfaction, with his father’s death, with his own fate.

Snap.

A light yet clear sound of bone breaking echoed in the cramped tin room.

Hou Genbao squeezed out a tear from the corner of his eye, but quickly wiped it away.

He turned and walked back to his chair, again taking out a cloth to meticulously wipe the marks on his hands, as if nothing had happened.

“Zhuangwa’s account, and the trap set by those people in the shantytown to harm him, will be noted down for Yongxing, to be settled later.” He said without lifting his head.

“Yes.” The middle-aged man on the left hurried forward, skillfully took Zhuangwa’s body down from the column, wrapped it in a sack prepared earlier.

The middle-aged man on the right hesitated for a moment but still softly advised, “Uncle Hou, actually keeping Zhuangwa alive would be fine, perhaps future…”

“Not even a chance.”

Hou Genbao interrupted him directly, with a resolute tone, “The current situation is chaotic, policies change daily not just Celestial Essence watching us, but other communities outside also covet our territory. If his old father were still alive, I could give him a chance to redeem himself out of respect for the elder. But now, he has no ties, releasing him is like a ticking bomb, the first one to bite may well be us, Yongxing.”

After saying this, he looked at the two men, adding, “Old Xu, recently tell the old ones in the community to stay alert, don’t cause trouble everywhere. Any matters… wait for us to negotiate with Celestial Essence and handle it then.”

“Yes, Uncle Hou.” Old Xu quickly nodded in agreement, daring not to have any more objections.

Only Hou Genbao remained in the tin room, he sat on the chair, staring at the sack on the ground, his fingers unconsciously rubbed the corner of his clothes.

In this chaotic world, wanting to keep one’s plot of land has always relied on an iron fist, even if under this iron fist lies countless untold helplessness.

Just then, two hurried footsteps came from outside; they slowed quickly when reaching the door, evidently worried about disturbing those inside.

Following this, a gentle knock sounded.

“Uncle Hou?”

“What’s up?”

“Long from Celestial Essence is here, says Celestial Essence wants to discuss further with Yongxing.”

“Alright, direct Long to the reception area, I’ll be right there.” Hou Genbao responded, couldn’t help but glance at the sack on the ground when he got up, lightly shaking his head.

Restless hearts.

Zhuangwa’s incident seems isolated but is actually a reflection of Yongxing’s decline.

Back in the day, at its peak, Yongxing’s medical quota was 400 Happiness Coins per person; but in recent years it keeps being cut, now only 80 coins, just enough to buy some common medicine; truly faced with major illness or pain, one can only watch helplessly as life fades.

Today Zhuangwa was driven to take desperate measures; who can guarantee others won’t follow tomorrow?

He washed his hands carefully under the faucet in the corner, forced a hint of a calm smile in the blurry mirror on the wall, then turned and headed towards the reception area on the other side of the warehouse.

From afar, he saw Long sitting on a wooden chair, rubbing two shiny iron balls, behind him stood Huang Yong and four serious-looking militiamen, he hurried his steps.

“Long, sorry to keep you waiting.” Hou Genbao had a smile plastered on his face, actively greeting.

“Houzi, sit.” Long glanced at him, despite being a guest, assumed a host’s posture, skillfully inviting Hou Genbao to sit on the nearby wooden stool.

Hou Genbao hurriedly sat down, only half of his seat touching the stool; got up again to pick up the tin kettle from the ground, diligently poured Long a cup of water, flatteringly said while pouring, “Long, your blue work uniform is truly sharp! Looks like it’s made from premium material.”

“Is that so?” Long chuckled, raising a hand to touch the “Celestial Essence Construction Team” red emblem on his chest, abruptly shifting topics, “Giving you a chance, letting you and your people wear this uniform too, how about it?”

Hou Genbao felt a jolt inside, but his face continued to smile, shaking his head repeatedly, “Long, you’re joking. My people can’t handle Celestial Essence’s heavy work; just manageable doing some patch-up odd jobs, truly making them do construction like you, they’d surely turn against me.”