Chapter 300: Chapter 300

Unfortunately, the excited Wang Chao had only run halfway when he was yanked back by the handcuffs. It was the bespectacled Shi Lei who was sobbing loudly; with such a high-pitched wail, it was a shame he wasn’t singing. The usually silent and inconspicuous Shi Lei was also frightening when he howled.

Jing Shu covered her ears again. That scream instantly drew everyone’s attention; hearing it, they acted as if a savior had appeared. If it weren’t for the fact that groups of ten were handcuffed to the iron posts along the warehouse wall, they would have swarmed her by now.

They all shouted, demanding to be let out.

"Look, Officer, can we move to a quieter place? It’s too noisy here; I can’t hear anything."

"I’ll go ask Class Leader Li."

Xia Liu left, and the classmates around Jing Shu finally saw a glimmer of hope. Liang Xin said excitedly, "Jing Shu, you’re here to save us, right? Can you get us out? We are really innocent!"

Ni Ma whispered to the silent Zhang Lingling, "I don’t know what Su Malie means by sending her. Does she have the ability to save us?"

"Didn’t you hear she’s just here to check on the situation? Su Malie will come to save us." Zhang Lingling’s joy vanished. She had a grudge against Jing Shu, and being seen by her in this state was humiliating. Zhang Lingling stepped back a little and wiped the grime from her face. Biting her lip, she really didn’t want Jing Shu to see her .

Soon after, Xia Liu returned with the key. "The squad leader said we can take them to the office area next door." He then began dragging the individuals from Jing Shu’s group out one by one, causing an uproar as the others demanded to know why some people were allowed to leave.

"Really? That’s great! We can get out now, right?!" Shi Lei cried tears of joy. "My newborn son is still waiting for me at home."

Jing Shu said dispassionately, "Shut up. Keep it down. You’re just being moved to another place to talk." Orıginal content can be found at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⁂𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⁂𝓷𝓮𝓽

That remark from Shi Lei certainly ignited the others’ anger, and Jing Shu’s group left in a fluster, arriving at a well-lit office area. They stood there in disarray, a wretched sight. Although their last gathering had been terrible, it was nothing compared to the mess they were in today, stained with unknown filth. Jing Shu stepped back several paces but still couldn’t escape the stench that clung to them.

"Why don’t you take the opportunity while the officer is here to explain how you’ve been wronged?" Jing Shu asked. Without a special reason, she wouldn’t bother bailing these people out; after all, there was no real friendship between them, and she wasn’t generous enough to save those who had once insulted her.

Jing Shu observed her former classmates. Zhang Lingling was busy trying to clean the filth from her clothes. Ni Ma, knowing she had past issues with Jing Shu, kept her head down, fidgeting with her hands and staying silent. Wang Chao and Shi Lei, however, were uncontrollably excited.

Shi Lei said, "Last month, the red earthworm went extinct, and Zhang Lingling started promoting a project in our group chat to compensate for the losses caused by the ’Water Collector’ last year. She said it was a profitable project, claiming if it didn’t make money, she’d eat shit, and assured us we wouldn’t need to spend a cent."

Jing Shu glanced at Zhang Lingling. Her again, huh? "And then?"

Wang Chao added, "Then a few of us high school classmates got our supply from her: 6 Insect Cakes for 1 Virtual Coin. We sold them at 5 Insect Cakes for 1 Virtual Coin, making a 20% profit. Moreover, we’d get the cakes first without paying and settle the cash after selling. We calculated and saw it was a sure win, so we all sold them together."

Shi Lei, snot and tears streaming down his face, exclaimed, "That’s right! We were just selling cakes; we didn’t know anything! Zhang Lingling said they were leftovers from the cafeteria, sold cheap. We didn’t think much of it. Who knew that the Zombie disease spreading like wildfire recently came from these Insect Cakes? We were arrested this morning when we went to get more stock. If I’d known, I definitely wouldn’t have sold them! My son was just born, and I just wanted to earn more money to get him some nutritious food!"

Only 24 years old and already a father... and in the apocalypse, no less. Jing Shu suddenly felt that time was passing too quickly. Pah! No, that’s not right. Although I’m 24 this year, if I count my past life, I’d be 35 now. How scary.

"That’s all," Wang Chao said, surprised. "Isn’t that unjust enough?"

Xia Liu’s expression was mocking. "The cakes you were selling had gone bad. Weren’t you afraid people would die from eating them?"

Ni Ma rolled her eyes. "We can barely get enough to eat, so why would we care if someone dies? We even eat those cakes ourselves sometimes."

Jing Shu nodded, then asked, "So, in this incident, were all of you just selling the cakes?" I thought it was some kind of lucrative role, but it was just this?

Shi Lei pointed at Zhang Lingling. "She was responsible for supplying us with the stock; the rest of us were sellers."

Jing Shu asked Zhang Lingling again, "When you source the cakes, how many do you get for 1 Virtual Coin?"

Zhang Lingling looked down and said softly, "It wasn’t many, and I didn’t make much profit. We’re all classmates, after all. I just handled them to earn a little for my trouble."

Standing to the side, Xia Liu couldn’t help but pull out his phone. Pointing to a list on its screen, he said, "Zhang Lingling, acting as the middleman, sourced them at 8 cakes per 1 Virtual Coin. Even second-level distributors get them at 7 cakes per Virtual Coin. Yet, you sold them to your classmates at 6 cakes per Virtual Coin. This month, after deducting costs, you’ve made 3,000 Virtual Coins, while the other four only made 500 Virtual Coins each."

Zhang Lingling’s mouth fell open as she pointed at Xia Liu. "...How do you know all this? You didn’t ask anything."

Xia Liu sneered, "With chat records and Virtual Coin transactions, reverse engineering it with big data is simple; we don’t need to interrogate you, get it?"

"You! Zhang Lingling!" Shi Lei pointed at Zhang Lingling’s nose and cursed. "I knew last year you had a venomous heart! You made a vicious vow that already came true, yet I still trusted you! It’s one thing for you to make money, but you kept pretending it was all to compensate us old classmates. I despise you!"

Liang Xin shook his head. "Zhang Lingling, I’m so disappointed in you."

Ni Ma pushed Zhang Lingling’s hand away. "Even to someone you were so close with, you showed no mercy. Hah."

One of the others added, "Jing Shu, you must expose Zhang Lingling’s deeds in the class group. A person doesn’t deserve to be in our group."

Zhang Lingling bit her lip and said, sounding aggrieved, "I know I was wrong, I’m sorry, everyone. But shouldn’t we be trying to figure out how to solve this now? Anyway, all the money has been confiscated; whether it was a lot or a little, it’s all gone now, right?"

"I don’t want to talk to you anymore!" Shi Lei glared at Zhang Lingling and turned to beg Jing Shu, "Jing Shu, what should we do? The government is recalling all related Virtual Coins. I don’t want any money; I just want to go home."

"I understand how you feel right now," Jing Shu said. "But the decision from higher-ups hasn’t come down yet. Your lives aren’t in immediate danger, so let’s wait for Su Malie and see what she says. After all, she asked me to come here first to understand the situation and, most importantly, to make sure you weren’t killed."

"Psh, after all that talk, aren’t you here to save us anyway? So why do you act like you’re questioning criminals? Who do you think you are? After all this, we still have to wait for Su Malie," Ni Ma rolled her eyes.

"Exactly! I thought you were so capable, but this is all you can do?" Zhang Lingling chimed in, agreeing with Ni Ma. She subtly tried to draw Ni Ma closer; she desperately needed an ally.