Rebuilding after a war was a very painful process because it meant you had to clear away the rubble before you could build a new building.
You had to experience pain before you could get a new lease on life.
Ren Xiaosu took the lead in burying his dead companions. He had wanted to carve a tombstone for each of them, but he later realized some of the bandits did not even have names.
If Ren Xiaosu had not established this settlement, these people would probably have been forgotten after they died.
He took out a notebook and a pen from his storage space. When Ren Xiaosu handed them to Yang Xiaojin, he said, "Register the people who are still alive. This will be our roster from now on."
A regular army should have a roster first. It meant that everyone would be recorded, and it also meant that everyone on the roster was recognized.
But when Yang Xiaojin started recording, she got a headache. These bandits did not want her to remember their real names but their nicknames instead. Rat, Crow, Pit, Rotten Egg …
She could tell they were not decent people just by hearing them!
Yang Xiaojin said patiently, "This roster requires you to record your real names. Besides, your nicknames …"
Jin Lan chuckled and said, "Big Sis, just give them nicknames. If you call them by their real names during roll call, they might not even be able to react to it. We're all bandits after all, so that's how we call them by their nicknames."
Yang Xiaojin gave it some thought and said with a smile, "Sure!"
But at this moment, Xu Jinyuan, who was in charge of cleaning up the rubble, suddenly came over and said to Ren Xiaosu, "Bro, we found something under the rubble."
Ren Xiaosu looked at the item in Xu Jinyuan's hand. It was a satellite phone!
Seeing that the satellite phone had been smashed to pieces, he asked Xu Jinyuan curiously, "Where did you find this?"
"It was under the rubble of our brick house. It was hidden under a bed." Xu Jinyuan said, "There were 20 people in the house. Now that I think about it, that bed belonged to a bandit called Old Tricky."
"Where's Old Tricky?" Ren Xiaosu said, "Call him over for questioning."
"He's dead." Xu Jinyuan said, "That's why I secretly came to ask you, Big Brother, what should we do?"
Ren Xiaosu frowned. A satellite phone was definitely not something a bandit could have. The owner of the satellite phone must have used it to contact the financial groups in the outside world and report information.
I wonder which financial group this satellite phone is contacting?
Kyung Clan? Or the Soong Clan?
Everything was possible.
These two consortiums had been eyeing the valley for a long time, and it was unknown how many spies they had planted.
"Don't make it public yet. If it's not Brother Old Diao's, it'll ruin his reputation after his death." Ren Xiaosu said, "This satellite phone might also belong to someone else."
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu even suspected this phone belonged to Xu Jinyuan. He had read a detective novel in Stronghold 88. In the novel, more than 40% of the witnesses and discoverers of a murder case were the real culprits.
However, Ren Xiaosu did not say anything and let Xu Jinyuan continue with his work.
Yang Xiaojin came over and asked, "What's the matter?"
"I'm afraid we can't stay here any longer." Ren Xiaosu said, "When we go back and pick up Yan Liuyuan and the others, we'll head to the Northwest and find a more secluded place to settle down. I'm afraid the situation here has already been leaked. It'll be fine if it's the Kyung Clan, but if the Soong Clan has planted a pawn here, we won't be able to hold them off when the Soong Clan's troops arrive."
"Mhm." Yang Xiaojin agreed with this view. She did not think there was anything wrong with Ren Xiaosu being a little more cautious.
The reason why the Soong Clan had a headache fighting the bandits was that the bandits were roaming all over the place. If they settled down here, it would be very easy for the Soong Clan to deal with them. Therefore, Ren Xiaosu wanted to go into the mountains and find a new place to settle down.
On the same night, Jin Lan went to look for Ren Xiaosu. However, when he walked up to him, he heard Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin whispering, "The northern bandits caused the deaths of our brothers. I've already contacted Old Xu, and he'll be leading a team here next week. At that time, we'll deal with the northern bandits together!"
Jin Lan was a blabbermouth. If he knew about this, it was basically the same as everyone in the settlement knowing about it.
Ren Xiaosu looked at Jin Lan. "Why were you looking for me?"
"Oh." The dumbfounded Jin Lan came back to his senses. "Our brothers wanted to ask you … but I forgot what I wanted to ask!"
"Then go back and think about it before coming back," Ren Xiaosu snapped.
After Jin Lan went back, the news that Xu Xianchu would be leading a team over tomorrow spread.
When the bandits heard this, they were stunned. Everyone started discussing noisily, saying that Master Xu would definitely be bringing people from Stronghold 178 with him. As bandits, they had to perform well tomorrow and not embarrass their boss, Ren Xiaosu!
The days of reconstruction after the disaster were very peaceful. No one would wallow in sorrow and pain all the time, so the days had to go on.
Jin Lan and the others worked even harder than before. Everyone was still thinking about those motorcycles.
Three days later, in the wee hours of the morning, when everyone was asleep, a figure quietly snuck out of the settlement.
It was not quiet in the settlement. The snoring of the bandits could be heard everywhere.
Just as this person was about to leave the settlement, he suddenly turned around and looked at it. There seemed to be some reluctance in his eyes. But after struggling for a minute, he continued running north. He was going to leave this place and head north!
But before he could take two steps, he saw Ren Xiaosu sitting in the shadows and looking at him with a smile.
Ren Xiaosu chuckled and said, "So it's you. What's your nickname again? Rat?"
The bandit named Rat knelt down on the spot. "I … I had no choice."
"Whose family are you from?" Ren Xiaosu asked.
Rat whispered, "I was originally a bandit lair at Mt. Dingyuan in the north. It was the leader of the Mt. Dingyuan bandits who asked me to come to Mt. Daban. Later on, I followed the bandits here. But there's someone else behind me."
"You're quite honest. You've confessed everything," Ren Xiaosu said with a sigh.
Rat was a little anxious. "I don't want to leave either. But even if I stay, I won't be able to survive if the people at Mt. Dingyuan spread the news that I'm a traitor."
This was the awkward part of being a traitor. A wrong beginning would lead to a wrong ending. Rat had also been tempted to stay here for the past few days and wanted to live a good life. But could he stay? If that happened, neither side would let him off.
"Is that thing yours?" Ren Xiaosu asked, but he did not mention anything. "Why are you carrying that?"
Rat said, "That satellite phone was given to me by the previous leader. It's used to pass messages."
Ren Xiaosu nodded. That made sense.
But how should he deal with this Rat? Should he let him go? Ren Xiaosu was not that kind.
But when he thought of the time they had spent together over the past few days, Ren Xiaosu felt a little melancholic.
Ren Xiaosu said softly, "If you don't leave and betray me, I might not do anything to you in the future. Xu Jinyuan was also a traitor in the past, but he made the right choice. Rat, let's be bandits again in the next life. Not in this life. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
