Chapter 938 - 650: The Forgotten Ones (Part 3)

The entire Extra Staff team has three teams made up entirely of men, like Zhu Xiao’s team. Two teams are composed entirely of women, like Zuo Ruxue and Li Qi’s team.

The remaining teams are mixed with both men and women.

Zuo Ruxue likes cleanliness. Even in this filthy greenhouse, she habitually leveled the ground and cleaned the cement area in the middle.

The space is large, but it lacks privacy.

However, in this place, in the Big Camphor Tree Base, no one dares to cause trouble. The last person who tried to cause trouble during the natural disaster to take advantage of the dark ended up in a miserable state.

These people only saw Li Yu take them away and never saw them again. Clearly, they are dead.

No one dares to make trouble on the Big Camphor Tree Base’s territory. If you do, there’s no punishment, only execution.

So, everyone behaves very obediently here.

After setting up her small tent, Zuo Ruxue placed her more valuable items in her backpack to carry with her.

......

Li Yu returned to the Inner City and was eating at the dining table when he saw Li Tie approaching.

"Brother, there’s something I need to talk to you about," Li Tie said.

"What’s the matter?" Li Yu looked up at him, pausing his chopsticks.

"Hai Chao and Gao Ru—why don’t we just kill them? Keeping them is a waste of food," Li Tie suggested, having just visited the interrogation room as usual.

Uh....

Without Li Tie mentioning it, Li Yu almost forgot about their existence.

Didn’t realize they were still being kept alive.

After Dapao conducted a thorough interrogation back then, they revealed everything about the Western Alliance, including Gao Ru’s suspicion that Gan Long and Xiao Zhuang were having an affair.

They’ve confessed all critical information about the Western Alliance.

Keeping them doesn’t serve much purpose anymore.

As hostages, they seem unable to force Gan Xiong and the others into anything.

Using them as free labor—what can just two people really do?

Li Yu pondered for a long time but still couldn’t think of a reason for keeping them alive.

Lately, they’ve been fed some pig slops once a day.

Raising these two basically consumes the food supply for half of a small suckling pig.

The original thought was to keep them until the time of a counterattack on the Western Alliance, hoping they could guide the way and possibly provide more detailed information about the Western Alliance.

But now they’ve been squeezed dry of almost everything.

Li Yu hesitated and finally said, "Forget it, just keep them hanging on. As long as they don’t die, it doesn’t matter, since it’s just half a pig’s worth of food. They might come in handy if we ever encounter the Western Alliance again."

The investment is minimal; it’s just about keeping them barely alive.

Hearing this, Li Tie didn’t say anything further.

He had just seen the two, and they looked pretty pitiful.

"Skin and bones" is indeed an apt description for them.

Those two are tough, hanging onto life without dying; it’s quite impressive.

.....

It’s not just Li Yu and his people who forgot about Hai Chao and Gao Ru.

Gan Xiong and his group from the Western Alliance also forgot about them.

Back when Gao Ru and the others came over, the base was busy handling a food theft by the Qian, Liu, and Zhou families, leaving them no time to deal with them.

Gao Ru waited several days just to get Gan Xiong to speak with him.

During those days, they managed to wipe out the Qian family group.

Afterward, Gan Xiong gave Gao Ru and his group the scorched rice husks burned by the Qian family and told them to return to Orange Continent and back to the Western Alliance.

But after Gao Ru left, Zhou and Liu’s families handed over their industries, cutting off limbs to survive.

Gan Xiong was busy reallocating personnel to take over the industries and sent people to track down the Zhou and Liu families.

With the weather turning cold and many issues at the base to manage, he forgot again.

In fact, the contact between Orange Continent and the Western Alliance wasn’t particularly frequent.

In the past, Orange Continent would only send someone over to request support when there was a food shortage.

As a result, more than ten days passed, and Gan Xiong didn’t even think about Gao Ru returning to bring back Gan Shang and the others.

Yesterday.

Snow fell from the sky.

Gan Xiong suddenly remembered that since Gao Ru and the others left, they hadn’t returned.

Considering his knowledge of his youngest son’s temperament, if he knew he could return, he would have done so immediately. So why hadn’t he come back yet?

He then asked Tian Sheng, who was standing by with hands in front, ready for orders, "How long has it been since Gao Ru and the others left?"

This Tian Sheng, unlike Old Zhuang, served more as a manager of the Gan Family, whereas he was similar to Wayne, having been an important figure in the Gan Family Group.

After the Doomsday, he continued to help the Gan Family manage the Western Alliance, being a specific executor.

Tian Sheng recalled in his mind and answered almost without hesitation, "13 days, boss."

Gan Xiong nodded, watching the snow fall outside the glass window.

He asked, "Haven’t your teams searching for supplies encountered them on their trips?"

"No," Tian Sheng replied succinctly, knowing from years of experience that when the boss’s intentions were unclear, saying more could lead to mistakes.

Gan Xiong frowned, asking, "Why haven’t they returned yet? According to the journey, they should have been back within a week!"

Upon hearing the boss’s question, Tian Sheng didn’t respond immediately.

Making assumptions at that moment and answering arbitrarily might incur the boss’s displeasure.

So, he initiated his thought process from the point of the boss’s inquiry, determining that the question stemmed from the boss’s concern for his son.

Noting that Gan Xiong continually watched the snow outside, Tian Sheng inferred the boss’s thoughts.

He then suggested, "Could it be that because of the cold and the snow, the roads are difficult, so they haven’t traveled?"

This response likely echoed the boss’s conjecture.

When a boss questions you, they’re not looking for your answer; they want you to affirm their thoughts, so don’t foolishly offer your own ideas.

If your thoughts don’t align with the boss’s or reality, you might find yourself unjustly responsible.

But if you verbalize the boss’s thoughts, the worst-case scenario means no significant blame, and the boss will appreciate your understanding.

This is Tian Sheng’s long-standing workplace philosophy.

.....

Sure enough, upon Tian Sheng’s response, Gan Xiong nodded slightly, saying, "Hmm, maybe. Let’s wait and see. Perhaps once the snow stops, they’ll arrive."

Tian Sheng, hearing Gan Xiong’s words, said nothing.

He realized that he had guessed correctly.

Currently, the boss’s spoken words weren’t meant for him, but a reflective conversation with himself.

Hence, there’s no need to reply senselessly.

Remaining silent is best.

.....

.....

However, Gan Xiong was unaware.

At Orange Continent.

Snowflakes blanketed the entire ground.

The river, due to its flow, hadn’t frozen yet.

But soon, ice chunks floated on the water.

In what used to be a ruinous area, the body of Gan Shang, impaled on rebar embedded in the wall, was now merely a skeleton covered in snow.

The skeleton wasn’t even complete.

.....