Title: A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse
Translator: Little Bamboo Spirit
Chapter 195 - Little Shao's Secret (3)
Old Hu thought it over and finally figured it out.
"I remember now. This kind of box was shipped over at that time. The other boxes were made of cardboard. They were useless and thrown away later. Only these boxes were particularly good. Someone in the group said we should keep these to store stuff, so these boxes have remained in the warehouse."
Lu Xingchi asked, "Did they also donate vehicles?"
Old Hu was baffled. "That's right. They donated two vehicles to be used for rebuilding. How did you know?"
Everything made sense now. That's why the metal tags and van had the same sign.
Lu Xingchi asked, "Have you any dealings with LBD?"
"No," Old Hu said, "Everything is uniformly distributed by charitable organizations. They said it was from big companies from many different countries that knew we had natural disasters, so they donated these things. We just accept these items. We have no idea who donated these items."
So the people on the island had accepted things from these organizations without thinking about it.
Lu Xingchi had been carefully watching him this entire time and knew that he wasn't lying.
After getting the information he wanted, Lu Xingchi relaxed. He asked leading questions to inquire more information, but he didn't get any more useful information. He wanted to know what kind of organization LBD was.
Bei Nuan thought; too bad they couldn't go on the Internet. Otherwise, they could find the answer within a few minutes of searching online.
Unable to get more useful information about the sign from Old Hu, Lu Xingchi asked him about other things.
"What's with your metal tags? How do you decide on the ranking?"
Old Hu's gaze suddenly became panicky. He snuck a look at his stainless steel cup that had been crumpled up like scrap paper and fallen onto the table. He was much more nervous answering this question than the questions about the boxes.
"I didn't come up with that. It was Master Qiu's idea."
"Oh?" Lu Xingchi's tone was relaxed. "Why did he want to give laborers tags?"
Old Hu was almost sobered up.
The news that Qiu Zhengxun had died through a bizarre event in the casino and that his younger brother, Qiu Ji, was now the one in power had spread throughout the island this morning.
Old Hu surmised for a moment. Qiu Zhengxun was dead. Even if he told all of his ideas to someone, it shouldn't matter, right?
Old Hu honestly answered, "Master Qiu said that the island needs more laborers. But as more laborers were recruited, they outnumbered our group. It's difficult to control so many laborers with just our few members. We can't delegate power and let them manage themselves. They might cause trouble. So, Master Qiu thought of this idea. He said the simplest method is to divide them."
Bei Nuan understood. With only a bunch of shoddy metal tags, Qiu Zhengxun had splintered the laborers into smaller groups.
From the A's to the F's, they wouldn't cooperate or communicate with each other outside of their ranking groups. They didn't like any members outside of their ranking groups. He had created a hierarchy that was most beneficial to himself.
The A's and B's looked down on the C's and D's, who in turn looked down on the E's and F's. The E's and F's didn't dare to provoke the C's and D's, who in turn didn't dare to provoke the A's and B's. Moreover, they viewed those outside of their group as enemies.
Although the number of cassava eaters was quite large, it was useless. They were too busy despising and hating each other. Thus, Qiu Zhengxun didn't have to worry about them. This guy's heart was so sinister.
With how fast rumors spread on the island, artificially creating a few incidents as examples would add mystique to the metal tag system and would convince everyone of the authenticity of the metal tag system.
However, Lu Xingchi continued to ask, "Is that it? There must be more to it."
Old Hu severely shuddered. He raised his head to sneak a look at Lu Xingchi.
Lu Xingchi's posture was idle, but his light brown eyes had a threatening coldness to them as if he could see through everything.
Old Hu mumbled and hesitated for a long time before continuing with his explanation.
"Master Qiu also said there's rainstorms and gales every summer. The storms might destroy our planted fields and there'll be famine again. There's zombies everywhere. Even if there's a famine, there's no humanitarian aid available, so if we give them metal tags…"
This time, even Bei Nuan shuddered.
Old Hu continued to say, "He told me to give those that can work A tags and give F tags to the old, weak, sickly, disabled, and people without family members. If there is famine, we can start from…"
Fearful of continuing, Old Hu looked at Lu Xingchi and very quietly said, "we can start from the F's…"
Bei Nuan bit her lip.
Lu Xingchi glanced at Old Hu and interrupted, "It's too stuffy in here. You guys go out and wait for me."
Du Ruo placed his hand on Bei Nuan's back and pushed her towards the entrance while saying, "Let's go. This kind of questioning is too boring. He can do it by himself. Let's go get some fresh air."
After the others had left, Lu Xingchi signaled for Old Hu to resume.
Old Hu continued to say, "Master Qiu said those people will have gotten used to being at the bottom of the hierarchy and they're weakest too. If there's a famine, we'll eat them first. Their ability to resist won't be that strong."
"And the people that got higher ranking tags will rejoice that they were lucky and didn't get F tags. This matter will have nothing to do with them, and it's unlikely they'll speak up for the F's. They just follow us in eating meat."
"The A's, B's, C's, D's, and E's won't reject eating the F's. The A's, B's, C's, and D's won't do anything when it's time to eat the E's. By following this way of eating, we can get through the famine period."
He was done speaking. The cave was silent.
Lu Xingchi walked over and sat down in the seat across from Old Hu's. He leaned back into the chair and stared at him for a moment before suddenly saying, "You washed yourself clean of everything."
Lu Xingchi smiled.
"As if you weren't the one that came up with the idea of separating people into several ranks."
Old Hu was completely sober by now. He looked at Lu Xingchi in horror. This man was terrifying. His eyes were so perceptive as if he could read people's hearts.
Lu Xingchi rested his elbows on the arms of the chair. He interlocked his fingers and twiddled his thumbs.
A dagger suddenly appeared out of nowhere, flew towards Old Hu, and hovered in front of him.
"Do you want to tell the truth, or do you want me to open your head to take a look?"
Old Hu trembled. He looked at the eerily hovering dagger and gulped.