"Has Yunpeng woken up yet?" Liu Fugui asked, seemingly casual, but Huang Yong wasn’t slow-witted; he smartly replied, "When I went, the young master had just woken up."

"Hmph, just woke up? I bet he was actually disturbed from his sleep. That kid is still so lazy." Liu Fugui knew his son well; if the latter ever got up early, that would be a real surprise: "Did that brat have any reaction to the tasks I’ve assigned him?"

"Reporting to Mr. Liu, the young master was initially very surprised, but after I explained everything, he appeared quite confident, saying he could finish those books in less than two weeks." In just a few words, Huang Yong both flattered Liu Yunpeng and set a big trap for him.

"Always bragging, making promises before doing anything, such immature behavior!" Liu Fugui sighed, frustrated at his son’s lack of progress.

Huang Yong secretly chuckled and pretended to say, "Mr. Liu, in my opinion, the young master has changed a bit recently. Take the Li Huiru incident for instance; he came prepared to confront me, clearly having thought it through."

"Hmm! And that counts as using his brain? He’ll be ruined by these women, mingling with them all day, learning nothing useful. By the way, have the brothers who took Li Huiru out returned?" Liu Fugui suddenly remembered that Huang Yong hadn’t yet reported the final result of the Li Huiru incident to him.

This matter could be trivial or significant; if Liu Yunpeng found out the truth, who knows what foolish thing that brat might do in a fit of passion.

"Buzz!" Until just now, Huang Yong was enjoying watching Liu Fugui scold his son, but he wasn’t in the mood anymore. The two subordinates he sent hadn’t returned, and even the hand-held radio didn’t work, leaving him at a loss for what to do.

There’s no way to bluff through this; kidding aside, trying to trick Liu Fugui is suicidal: "Reporting to Mr. Liu, the subordinates carrying out the task haven’t returned yet!"

"Not back yet?" Liu Fugui put down the book in his hand and slowly turned his head: "What’s going on? Have you not been able to contact them?"

"N...no!"

Seeing Liu Fugui’s face turning livid, Huang Yong cautiously added, "Mr. Liu, do you think they might have encountered some accident, like a zombie attack during the execution?"

Liu Fugui let out a cold snort: "You’re asking me? Who should I ask? I entrusted this matter to you. You should be reporting the results to me."

Huang Yong was speechless; this was the third time it happened. The first secret operation was discovered by He Lei, the second time the subordinates he sent to monitor He Lei were captured, and now his subordinates have inexplicably lost contact during the action again.

After repeated failures, Huang Yong felt frustrated; he desperately needed an opportunity to prove himself, or else someone else might replace him one day.

"Mr. Liu, I’ll take people out to look for them right away!" With that, Huang Yong stood up to leave, but Liu Fugui stopped him with a low shout: "Stop. Rushing out blindly won’t help, Huang Yong. You must understand, if those two subordinates intend to avoid detection, even if you turn the factory area upside down, you might not find them."

"Mr. Liu, do you mean those bastards defected?"

"Hmph, that’s just my guess, but they might have been swayed by Li Huiru’s charms."

"I think I underestimated the power of that woman," Huang Yong admitted, his expression full of remorse.

"Enough. Overthinking it is pointless. The important thing is to make sure Yunpeng doesn’t discover the truth. Go inform the guards that any vehicle entering the factory’s line of sight must be reported immediately, and no one is allowed to enter without permission. Once those two subordinates return, isolate them immediately. Understand?"

"Understood! Then Mr. Liu, I’ll carry it out right now!"

Liu Fugui thought for a moment but didn’t have anything else to instruct, so he waved his hand to signal Huang Yong to leave.

After half a day’s collaborative work among the three of them, the originally gruesome crime scene had now turned into a sea of blue. Old Zhao and the others opened the bedroom windows, leaving it to the biting cold wind to carry away the overwhelming smell of paint.

With half a day left, the three survivors couldn’t just waste time huddled inside their rooms; every moment was precious. Who knows when the bandits might launch a surprise attack? So, they needed to hurry with the construction of their second shelter.

"What are we doing this afternoon?" Wang Qiang, lying on the wooden bed in the living room, asked while stretching his neck.

Old Zhao looked around the empty room, pondering, "Beds, we need to bring over some beds, or else when everyone else comes, we can’t all sleep on the floor."

If it were the scorching summer, sleeping on mats on the floor would be nice, but now, it would only be unpleasant.

"Hmm, makes sense. I suggest we go to the neighboring houses this afternoon to get beds. We can put a few together to create a big shared sleeping area. Everyone huddling together would be warmer. What do you think?"

Tang Xiaoquan’s suggestion was out of necessity; they couldn’t drive out of town just to hunt for beds, and even if they found them, the Jianghuai’s carrying capacity wouldn’t allow them to transport many. Besides, the house didn’t have space for more, so making do with what was available was the best choice.

Tang Xiaoquan’s suggestion immediately gained Old Zhao’s approval, and Wang Qiang, who was always the muscle, saw no reason to disagree since both of them found the plan reliable.

In addition, Old Zhao suggested placing wooden planks between the village houses. He observed that although the village houses were scattered, the gaps weren’t too large, and most of them were single-story tile-roofed houses. If they could place boards between them, they could turn the whole village into a large, interactive shelter.

In the event of a large-scale zombie attack, they wouldn’t have to worry about being trapped in a single house, unable to move.

"Good idea, Old Zhao. To be honest, I’ve had this thought for a while. We can completely cut planks from the trees by the village road. It will just take some effort." Tang Xiaoquan seemed a bit excited. This geographical advantage for escaping was one of the reasons he initially liked this place.

"Ah, what’s the big deal? We didn’t travel all this way to relax; if we can do it, let’s do it. Suffer a bit now to avoid more suffering later." Wang Qiang seized the rare opportunity to mock Tang Xiaoquan, who rolled his eyes at him twice and said:

"Oh wow, Qiangzi, impressive thoughts you have there. Then the heavy responsibility of chopping trees today is all yours, huh! I’m sure with your enlightened state, cutting down a couple of small trees would be a piece of cake, right, Old Zhao?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Hahaha, I also think leaving it to Xiao Wang is no problem!"

Seeing their mischievous smiles, Wang Qiang suddenly realized he’d been set up again. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)