When Xiaoyun woke up, it was already noon.
"Did Leyan forget to wake me up?"
As he yawned out loud and tried to get up from the bed, it instantly woke up the person on top of him.
"Hm! Stop it, Xiaoyun. Let me just sleep for a bit longer..."
Seeing Yueyue showing zero signs of getting off, he decided to remind her about the time.
"It's twelve already."
Within seconds, Yueyue sat back up from his chest, getting ready to leave as she remembered she still had work today.
But with their bodies still connected, she couldn't muster enough strength to push herself and force Xiaoyun out of her body.
"Can you pull out already?" Yueyue complained as her private area was starting to feel sore after how much they had done last night.
Not to mention him putting his cock inside for the entire night made it extremely hard for her to retract her muscle together.
"Come on, just one more time... We're late anyway. Does it really make a difference now? I know you want to do it, too."
Xiaoyun whispered as his morning wood was too hard for him to go to work with. More importantly, he could feel her getting wet down below.
"Fine... Just once."
---
When Xiaoyun got to the security room, it was already two in the afternoon.
"Xiaoyun, what took you so long today?" Yezi curiously asked.
"Just got tied up with something. Anything new today?"
"Well, the wall is about to be finished tomorrow, and I think Yiming wanted to talk to you later——Speak of the devil. Here he is."
Before Yezi finished talking, Yiming opened the security door as he took a seat next to Xiaoyun.
"Yiming, you want to talk to me?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Yeah, I was planning to ask if we can chop all the trees behind the walls. Like all of it." Yiming suggested.
"Sure... We can do that after the wall. But why?"
"I am planning to build a road to connect the two entrances behind the wall. Someone shouldn't need to drive an entire circle around the town just to get to the back entrance.
We can cut the time by fivefold. Then, in the future, when we get strong enough, we can also chop more trees in the front to see where our enemy is coming from.
But for now, we can keep it as a natural defense to hide us from the city and reduce our combat width," Yiming explained.
Xiaoyun thought for a second, then nodded in agreement.
"You have my full approval. You can go call Jingming to tell him which part to chop down later."
"Thank you. I will go tell Jingming about that tomorrow——"
"Woah, not so fast. After the wall, I'm going to need half of the construction crew." Yezi objected.
"Why?"
As Xiaoyun asked the question, Yiming looked a little confused as well, as he couldn't think of a reason Yezi would want them.
"Because we let so many people in. What do you think people are supposed to live? We are reaching forty people in total now.
Remember our plans to build houses for people to live in? And the whole charging rents?" Yezi pointed out.
"Fine, fine. You two can split up the crew in half." Xiaoyun backed down.
Just as the three went to chatter miscellaneous things until the mandatory training, the door was suddenly opened.
Lingang, the militia on duty today, walked right in with his rifle wrapped behind his back.
"Boss! There are five cars outside! Some of them are even holding guns!" Lingang delivered.
"What!"
Yiming immediately took out his walkie-talkie and then called for all units to meet up at the training field.
---
While Yiming and Yezi went over to gather everyone, Xiaoyun headed over to the wall with one militia and Lingang.
"What business do you guys have here?" Xiaoyun asked through a megaphone he got from the trade.
"We just wanted to make sure if our friend was here. He told us that he was checking if there was any trading partner here," one of the men yelled back.
"Is he wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts?"
"Yes! Do you guys know where he is?" The man yelled back.
"Just wait for a few minutes. He's our honored guest, right?" Xiaoyun replied again, stalling for time.
"We will wait just here."
After waiting for ten minutes, Yezi and Yiming finally came to the wall with the other six militia and ten civilians armed with rifles.
"Everyone ready? The moment everyone walks up the wall, open fire immediately. Do not hesitate." Xiaoyun warned.
All of them nodded in agreement, as they already knew about the newcomers of the town being rescued from human trafficking.
"They would have gotten a death sentence in court. Imagine if they are kidnaping your family." Yiming added after noticing some of the civilians looking a little hesitant.
"Yes, sir!"
All of them ready their rifle as they walked behind the stairs, just enough where the outside can't see them yet.
This time, Xiaoyun dunked behind the cover as he turned on the megaphone again before speaking back at them.
"Are you all accomplices of our honored guest?"
"Accomplices? We already told you we're his friend. We work with him," one of them replied.
Just as Xiaoyun was about to signal the soldiers to pull up, he gave out one last order.
"Leave the two on the right that don't have any weapon... OPEN FIRE NOW!"
With gunshots firing from all directions, the human traffickers instantly fell onto the floor without a fight.
In less than a minute, all of the people outside were filled with bullet holes, except the two that Xiaoyun had called for earlier.
"Thank god we got these rifles. Can't imagine what it would be like if they had the chance to fire back." Yezi commented as the gunshot ended.
"It feels weird seeing a group of militia with M16 in this city. No, I shouldn't even call them militia.
They felt more like some resistance group being sponsored by a foreign government..." Yiming commented as the three of them headed downstairs.
"All of them are neutralized, sir! We left the two as you asked." Yueyue reported after she, along with the other seven militia members, went out to check.
"Good. Everyone else drags the dead body and burns it. People on the wall, you're free to go." Yiming yelled.
The civilians on the wall began to walk down as the militia immediately went to work. By the time the three of them walked outside, the two survivors were already tied up.
"Now we can question these scum where they put the rest of them... Stop pretending to be dead. We all can see you."
Xiaoyun yelled as he kicked one of them, who lay down flat on the ground with barely any blood.
Seeing no reaction, he kicked the other survivor, only to find both of them pretending to be dead still.
"Bring them to the security room. We'll interrogate them there." Xiaoyun coldly ordered.
---
"Yueyue, you can leave if you don't want to see this..." Xiaoyun suggested as he noticed her standing by the door after carrying the two 'bodies.'
"No, as the leader of the militia. I will stay with my comrade." Yueyue hesitated for a second but refused Xiaoyun's suggest the last second.
Xiaoyun looked a little surprised as he turned over to Yiming for an explanation. Only for him to shrug his arm.
"She's the strongest and best sharpshooter. Obviously, she's going to be selected as the leader of the militia." Yiming explained.
Xiaoyun didn't think much of it further, but he directed the rest of the militia to head back up to the wall.
But seeing him looking a little hesitant to say the same to Yueyue, Yiming stepped in and ordered her to guard the wall like everyone else.
Yueyue didn't hesitate a single bit as she left the security room, but Xiaoyun looked much more relieved now that she was gone.
"Thanks for saving me." Xiaoyun awkwardly scratched his head.
"You know, if you don't want her to see you do this, you probably shouldn't have made her sign up to be in the militia in the first place," Yiming commented.
"You right... but what right do I have to stop her?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Aren't you her husband? She may be the best fighter in the militia, but she's still a woman——"
"Woah, let's not get sexist or anything. Time has changed, Yiming. Women weren't caged into being housewives.
Yueyue should be allowed to do whatever she wants. Let's not regress in time." Yezi chimed in.
Yiming wanted to argue, but Xiaoyun held him back, shifting their attention back to the two survivors who were tied up to the chair.
"Wake up, or else I'm going to kill you right now," Xiaoyun warned.
The two immediately opened their eyes, their faces full of fear toward all three of them, especially Xiaoyun.
"So, can you tell us where did you hide the rest of the people you had trafficked?" Xiaoyun asked.
"I-I don't want to die! Please! Don't kill me, please!" The one on the left just kept screaming and refused to answer the question.
Xiaoyun turned over to Yezi, who pulled out a knife from the side before suddenly stabbing the man's hand right in the middle.
"Well, I have ways to make someone talk. You don't want to end up in my hands." Yezi coldly warned as he turned to the second person.
"Fuck! It hurts! Please stop!" The man on the left screamed in pain, looking at Xiaoyun for hope as he didn't stab him.
But Xiaoyun remained next to Yiming, watching Yezi take control of the interrogation.
"You don't want to be crippled like him, right? Now tell me, where did you hide the victims?"
Yezi moved the knife directly on top of the second man's hand, poking a small hole to make him bleed a little.
"I-I can't tell you. Boss is going to kill me! Please just let me leave! I have grandparents and kids to take care of." The man begged.
"They aren't cooperating," Xiaoyun commented.
"Just wait for a second... They will open their mouth."
Yezi moved the knife to the person on the left again, then sliced one of the fingers off before putting it before the second man's face.
"Fuck! It fucking hurt! Just fucking kill me!" The left person screamed as blood began flowing out everywhere.
"Now, do you want to lose your finger just like the person left? We both know you aren't getting out alive, but you want a painless death, don't you?"
Hearing Yezi's words and the actions he was performing, both Xiaoyun and Yiming got a little chill.
"I do..."
"You traitor! Boss is going to make you regret this! Your family is all going to die for this!" The man on the left yelled.
"FUCK THE BOSS! I am sick of doing this shit. My family is going to die no matter what. He barely feeds anybody!
You get all the food bootlicking boss like a dog. You don't even have any dignity!" The one on the right yelled back.
"Huh, look like they are infighting already," Yiming commented.
"The location is at 35th Street outside the city outskirts. It's right next to three shops, and you can see the Songjia skyscraper in the distance."
The man on the right finally spills the bean, but Yezi seems to be frozen, as if he is thinking of something.
"Huh, isn't that an underground casino?" Yezi commented.
"Yes! Our boss was the right-hand man of the original boss. He killed the original boss when the virus broke out!
He was the one who organized the kidnap ring. The original boss only did gambling and nothing else." The man on the right replied.
"Congrats, thanks for your cooperation. You are going to live for now."
As Yezi walked back to the person to the left with the bloody knife, the man on the right let out a sigh of relief.
"Please, I can give you the information as well!" The man on the left begged his hand still bleeding severely all over the floor now.
"Unfortunately, I gave you a chance, but you didn't take it."
Yezi fatally stabbed him in the heart before pulling out the knife and wiping the blood with a piece of cloth.
"Whew, that brought some flashback." Yezi let out a sigh of relief as he finally returned to normal.
"A-are you really Yezi? The Yezi I know of?" Xiaoyun asked nervously, his face looking a little scared towards him.
"What do you think?" Yezi asked in a joking tone as he casually patted him on the back.
"Um... I will go clean the body."
Xiaoyun quickly dragged the body out, leaving the room as he didn't want to spend a single minute with Yezi in the security room.
"Yezi... you really just armed smuggle before?" Yiming curiously asked after seeing the brutality he had done.
"Yeah, just armed smuggle, nothing else... Anyway, let's put him in the log barn until tomorrow."
---
The three met up again later in the evening.
"So, do you think we should attack them tomorrow morning?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Not yet, maybe in the afternoon or at night. That's when those gang members are most asleep," Yiming replied.
"But it's the city outskirts. It's very risky to go out at night being unable to see anything, and the afternoon still doesn't change. We're coming back late at night." Yezi argued.
Suddenly, the door was opened, revealing Yuqi standing right outside before walking in.
"I want Yezi retired from management and this old man never to be allowed to set militia wages," Yuqi angrily stated as she threw a whole document right onto Xiaoyun's face.
"What?"
All three of them looked confused by Yuqi's sudden anger, with Xiaoyun the most confused being hit.
"I am suggesting you, Xiaoyun, separate the civilian and military parts of this town. Is that hard to understand?
Yezi should not be managing both. Is that clear? You're the mayor. You need to do some real work." Yuqi stated again.
"Why? Did I do something wrong?" Yezi asked first.
"Yes, you. I should have noticed this earlier. Yiming, you, too, don't think you are getting off for free.
All three of you should be fired for managing this town so badly." Yuqi replied as he signaled Xiaoyun to open the document.
"Well, I never managed any of these. I just decide things." Xiaoyun lazily kicked the can as he opened the document cover.
"We will discuss your issue later. But you two have zero planning," Yuqi said, pointing at Yezi and Yiming in the face.
"What do you mean? I had planned almost everything in town." Yezi argued, feeling a little offended.
"Xiaoyun, flip to page 5 of the document," Yuqi yelled.
"Um, the food stamp for food is at... two hundred cans in one day? What the hell? We don't even have forty people. That's like five cans per person.
Who's eating this much food or stockpiling it again? I thought a few days ago they were holding it," Xiaoyun asked, recalling the data from last week.
"Because Yezi kept passing out food stamps like there's no tomorrow, the inflation has gone through the roof even after we lower the food prices.
People can just afford to save up and buy food at the same time, rendering your idea useless." Yuqi explained.
"But how about the luxury goods? Is it not enough?" Yezi pointed out.
"Yeah, but you decided to give food stamps for mandatory training? Who came up with that idea?"
Yuqi looked at the three in frustration. She could clearly remember the original plan: nothing was supposed to be given.
"Me... I thought it could incentivize people to put more effort into the mandatory training." Yezi raised his hand as he nervously said it out loud.
"Well, you should have only done it as a one-time thing because THE WHOLE FUCKING STORE IS ALMOST EMPTY EVERY DAMN DAY NOw!"
Yuqi angrily lifted Yezi by the collar, her face full of anger as if she was about to slam him in the face.
"I didn't realize it was going to be that much. Sorry." Yezi apologized as he tried to take a step back.
"Qiqi, calm down... How about this: you will be the head of human resources instead. Yezi would only assigned to manage the outside.
Nami could take over the store in your place instead." Xiaoyun suggested as he moved Yuqi's hand away to let go of Yezi's collar.
"Fine... Now, you, Mr.Yiming, just because you are an old man doesn't mean I am going to let you off the hook."
"What did I do wrong?" Yiming innocently looked back at Yuqi.
"I know Xiaoyun let you set the militia wages, but can you not set it way above THE WHOLE FUCKING DAY OF WORK?
Do you know how upsetting some people are? A guy in the militia can earn triple the food stamp working on the wall for a whole day." Yuqi pointed out.
"Yeah, but they are risking their life to defend the town." Yiming stood up and argued back.
"Yeah? Xiaoyun flips to page two." Yuqi replied.
"Um... A militia member earns ten food stamps a day on duty and three food stamps on days that are off duty. Ten food stamps if called upon on off-duty days...
There's a note on the side... they have no job restriction on off-duty days, so they could earn more than almost a hundred food stamps a week.
Holy shit... The whole store doesn't even have that much food to trade if they all went in to trade at the same time."
Xiaoyun suddenly began to realize the issue as he read more and more about the document.
"So you see what I mean? None of these two have any concept of numbers. These two are only good for fighting, not managing a town."
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement. He almost had a nightmare thinking that the town would continue to run like this without anyone pointing it out.
"I didn't know the food prices... I just arbitrarily put a number that Xiaoyun told me to." Yiming admitted his mistake but snitched on Xiaoyun at the last second.
"So, babe? You don't have anything else to say?" Yuqi asked as she walked closer and closer to Xiaoyun's face.
"Wait, darling. I can explain. That number was... Um, what if I told you I was just too busy making stuff for the store?"
Seeing Yuqi not buying it, Xiaoyun quickly turned back to the two behind him.
"Starting today, these two will never be allowed to set wages or give out food stamps without your permission.
Yuqi, you will be the co-mayor effective immediately. I'll also be working every day to ensure everything in the town runs smoothly."
Both Yezi and Yiming nodded at Xiaoyun's confirmation, still looking a little scared by Yuqi's attitude.
"Whatever, I guess that works too... But I'm not going to work here. I heard the wall will be finished tomorrow.
Perhaps we can build a new administrative building instead? We're going to need one sooner or later when we have more people." Yuqi suggested.
All three of them nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, babe! I love you!"
Yuqi lightly kissed Xiaoyun on the cheek before running out of the room, stunning the two on the back as the contrast from earlier was completely different.
"Um... Yezi, I'm sorry that I have to take your job——"
"It's okay, she is right. I should have never been doing all this. I was never good with numbers, and I hate this job.
Only if some mayor were doing their job instead of pushing everything to their co-mayor, though, everything would have been so much easier."
"You right, you right, I should have done my job. All my fault, my bad." Xiaoyun apologized, raising both hands in defeat, as he knew he was in the wrong.
"When were women allowed to be so angry and assertive toward their husbands? Where is the respect? Xiaoyun, you don't do anything about this?"
Yiming asked, still unable to believe what Yuqi had done. Especially how young she was talking to someone like him, who was almost three times his age.
"Um, she is always like that. She gets frustrated easily when someone does their work badly.
She is usually very nice... as long as you don't mess up. It's just her personality at this point."
Xiaoyun avoided answering Yiming's question directly as he didn't want to get into more trouble.
"Ahem, anyway, let's go back to talking about attacking the casino."