Ch 77: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

In the middle of the night, the long-silent Lantang Village suddenly erupted into chaos.

Madam Guixiang rushed out of her house, barely dressed. “What? There was a break-in at Qing Ge’er’s house? Is everyone okay?”

“No one’s hurt, but Qing Ge’er happened to come back just in time. He caught them outside the courtyard. Four grown men, faces unfamiliar—not from our village, not from Shiqu Village either. I don’t recognize them,” Lian Shi said darkly. His mother, sister, and son had been staying at Shen Qing’s house tonight. If those thieves had really gotten inside, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Just thinking about it made him so furious that his teeth ached from clenching.

Village Chief Zhao hurriedly came out as well, draping a thick cotton coat over Madam Guixiang’s shoulders. Then he called for his sons to grab torches and summon the able-bodied men in the village. Once everything was set in motion, he hesitated before asking Lian Shi, “Are the thieves still alive?”

Normally, villagers wouldn’t involve the authorities in these matters—such incidents were handled according to village and clan rules. But if too many people ended up dead, it would be difficult to explain. The chief couldn’t help but recall the wild boars that had been carried down the mountain, slaughtered beyond recognition. His stomach churned at the thought, worried that Qing Ge’er might not have held back.

Madam Guixiang shot him a glare. “Are you out of your mind? Instead of worrying about our own people, you’re worried about the thieves?”

Village Chief Zhao gave a bitter smile. “I’m just afraid Qing Ge’er might have lost his temper and beaten them to death.”

Shen Qing really had wanted to kill them. His mood had already been sour—Song Kaiji’s parents were missing, their fate unknown, and he had been visibly distraught. Shen Qing felt terrible seeing him like that. Song Kaiji had decided to go to Zizhou to search for his parents. Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei had both agreed to go with him, and Shen Qing had no reason to refuse.

“But can we leave in a few days? I still have things to take care of at home,” Shen Qing said, feeling overwhelmed. The New Year was approaching, and if he wasn’t home for it, it would be hard to explain to the village and to Miao Shi’s family.

Song Kaiji hesitated for a moment. “You don’t have to go. The three of us can handle it—we can bring them along too,” he said, gesturing to Li Liang and Li Li, still tied up in vines. Zizhou wasn’t far from Red City before the apocalypse—just over an hour by high-speed train, three to four hours by car. But now, with roads blocked by abandoned vehicles and zombies, plus the time needed to search, the round trip could take five or six days, maybe longer.

Who knew what might happen along the way? There was inherent risk, and Shen Qing was just an ordinary person. Unlike Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei, who had abilities, Song Kaiji didn’t want him to take that risk.

This was his own matter. He had joined Shen Qing’s team, and if he couldn’t help Shen Qing, he at least didn’t want to drag him down.

“Don’t say that,” Shen Qing waved a hand dismissively. He wasn’t just delaying for the New Year. “Like you said, who knows what we’ll run into on the road? We need to prepare properly. None of you have particularly strong abilities—what if we get surrounded by zombies and run out of energy? I think we should stock up on more guns and bullets, plus anything else we might need for the journey. A car, fuel, maps, vine seeds, metal… Maybe we should even hire some stronger ability users to come with us.”

Shen Qing wasn’t afraid of danger. Zombies wouldn’t attack him—he was probably the safest one in the group.

Song Kaiji took a deep breath, realizing he had been acting impulsively. He had been so furious at Li Liang that he had wanted to leave immediately. But Shen Qing was right—if they weren’t prepared, even Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei would be in danger.

“It’s my fault. I let my emotions get the better of me…” Song Kaiji closed his eyes, feeling ashamed. Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei were good people—when he asked, they had immediately agreed to go with him. But he hadn’t properly considered their safety.

Shen Qing placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Don’t overthink it. No one blames you. This all happened so suddenly—it’s normal to be overwhelmed. Get some rest and clear your mind. Let Weiwei and Wenjie handle the preparations. We’ll leave in five days, how about that?” Considering that even if Song Kaiji’s parents were alive, they wouldn’t be easy to find, Shen Qing added, “If we prepare well, we can stay longer and search more thoroughly.”

Even though he was impatient, Song Kaiji knew Shen Qing was right. He could only nod in agreement. Shen Qing firmly pushed him into a room to rest, then assigned tasks to the others. “Weiwei, Wenjie, I’ll need you two to trade for weapons and fuel over the next few days. Don’t bother selling vegetables anymore. Weiwei, grow more food—Aunt can cook and store it in Kaiji’s space. And make sure Aunt Tang has enough to last at least a month.”

Then he turned to Li Liang and Li Li. “Leave them tied up. Feed them just enough to keep them alive—we’ll still need them to guide us.”

He spent the rest of the night discussing details with Qu Weiwei and Tang Wenjie before rushing back to Lantang Village. Remembering the wolf howls he had heard last time, he brought a crossbow with him.

Not the compound crossbow, but a wooden one he had learned to make from Song Kaiji. He planned to dismantle it once he got home—if the authorities ever searched his house, they wouldn’t find an illegal weapon.

Shen Qing felt rather pleased with his foresight. But when he arrived at his house under the moonlight, he saw several unfamiliar figures trying to climb over his courtyard wall.

His home was built at the foot of the mountain, and back when the Liu family had constructed it, they had been wary of wild animals coming down from the hills. As a result, the courtyard walls were built extra high. Thankfully so—these intruders were struggling to get over. When Shen Qing spotted them, they were stacking themselves like a human ladder, one person standing on another’s shoulders, attempting to climb up.

Thinking of Miao Shi alone inside, Shen Qing suddenly understood the urge Song Kaiji had felt to stab Li Liang to death. Rage surged through him, making his vision go red—he wanted to kill them on the spot.

He only needed to nock an arrow, pull the trigger, and these vile thieves, no different from zombies in his eyes, would be shot through the skull, never to threaten his family again.

Shen Qing gritted his teeth, forcing himself to calm down. This wasn’t the apocalypse. Killing people outright wasn’t something he could get away with—how would he dispose of the bodies? How would he explain things to the authorities? He had no power to resist the government, nor the expertise to cover up a murder perfectly.

Casual killing was still wrong. He took a deep breath. Maybe the apocalypse had changed him more than he realized—after so much time killing zombies, he had lost some of his reverence for human life.

He set the crossbow aside, picked up a thick wooden stick instead, and silently crept up behind the group. With one precise swing to the back of the neck, he knocked out the three men forming the base of the human ladder.

The man on top suddenly felt his support vanish beneath him. He flailed wildly, barely managing to cling to the wall. “What the hell, Second Brother? I wasn’t even up yet—why’d you move so fast?”

Silence.

“Second Brother?” He frowned, squinting in the moonlight. All he could see was a shadowy figure standing below. “Why are you the only one left? Where is everyone else?”

His only answer was the solid thud of Shen Qing’s stick against his head.

By the time Village Chief Zhao arrived with a group of strong men from the village, the thieves were still unconscious, tied up tightly and left out in the freezing night. Their faces had turned blue from the cold.

Zhao Youdang took one look and nearly fainted. “Are… are they dead?”

This was exactly what he had been afraid of.

Shen Qing sat inside the main hall, comforting a terrified Miao Shi and Second Aunt Lian. Hearing the chief’s question, he shook his head. “No, just unconscious.”

Seeing the chief’s doubt, Shen Qing walked over, grabbed one of the men by the collar, and slapped him several times across the face. The man groaned weakly, slowly regaining consciousness.

Zhao Youdang finally let out a sigh of relief, but the young men who had come with him were all stunned by this ger’s ruthlessness. If this hadn’t been Shen Qing’s own house, he would have looked more like a bandit than the actual thieves!

Zhao Youdang quickly said, “Let’s throw them into the main hall. It’s too cold out—if they really freeze to death, it’ll be hard to explain.” He glanced at Shen Qing’s expression and lowered his voice. “…As long as they don’t die, anything goes.”

Only then did Shen Qing feel somewhat satisfied and allowed Zhao Youdang to have the four men dragged into the main hall.

That was the proper way to handle things!

Before long, nearly the entire village had arrived, crowding into the hall so tightly that there was barely any room left. Those who couldn’t squeeze in stood outside in the cold, unwilling to leave. Torches lit up the courtyard, turning the mountain-foot house as bright as day. Every newcomer who arrived made sure to give the thieves a few kicks or spit at them.

A break-in wasn’t a small matter in this village. If it were just petty theft among their own people, that was one thing. But outsiders sneaking into their village? That was dangerous! Today, they had targeted Shen Qing’s house—tomorrow, they might target someone else’s. And the day after? They might start robbing, killing, or even abducting people!

This was a blatant disregard for Lantang Village’s authority. Even the men who usually didn’t get along with Shen Qing were furious at the thieves.

The four men had already been beaten awake by the relentless barrage of kicks and punches. Groaning and whimpering, they writhed on the floor, but when Zhao Youdang stepped forward to ask which village they were from, they avoided answering.

It was an old matchmaker, Matchmaker Wei, who suddenly squinted at one of them and exclaimed, “Hey, why does this one look like someone from Wang’s family in Xiaoji Village?”

The Wang family from Xiaoji Village? The only ones Shen Qing had interacted with were Wang San and Old Lady Wang. He froze for a moment before grabbing the men’s faces one by one to inspect them, but Wang San was not among them.

Matchmaker Wei hurriedly pushed her way to the front. She had been worried that Shen Qing still resented her for the marriage proposal incident, but now that she had a chance to make amends, she wasn’t about to let it slip by. She pointed to the eldest of the group. “That’s their eldest son! Wang San’s big brother! Their mother wanted Wang San to marry into another family to get him a wife. I remember her bringing him to my house to cause a scene—I’ve seen him before, no mistake!”

Shen Qing let out a cold laugh. So that old hag Wang was really that obsessed with money? Since she couldn’t sell her son, she decided to steal instead?

He turned to Zhao Youdang and said, “Village Chief, how do you think we should handle this? My mother and I live alone—we’re relying on you to stand up for us.”

His words sounded polite, but to Zhao Youdang, it was as if he were saying, If you don’t give me a satisfactory answer, I’ll have to handle it myself—and that won’t be pretty.

Zhao Youdang shook his head. That had to be his imagination. Qing Ge’er was just a bit fierce—he wouldn’t actually kill someone over this, right?

Still, knowing that the culprits were from Xiaoji Village filled him with anger. “At dawn, I’ll go straight to their village chief. They dared to steal from our village—no way we let that slide! Their chief has two choices: either each of them gets eighty lashes, or their whole family is exiled from the village. And I’m not even being harsh—if their chief has any sense, he’ll agree. If not, we’ll report them to the authorities!”

Shen Qing nodded in approval. His own idea had been to break a leg on each of them before dealing with the rest, but Zhao Youdang’s method was also acceptable. Since this involved another village, he didn’t want to stand out too much—it was best to let the village chief handle things.

Hearing Zhao Youdang’s verdict, the four men on the ground panicked. Whether it was the lashes or exile, either outcome spelled disaster for them.

“We weren’t here to steal! We were looking for someone!”

Wang Da, covering his swollen eye, suddenly pointed at Shen Qing and shouted angrily, “It’s all because of that shameless ger! He seduced my younger brother and took him away, even stealing our family’s money! We only came to take back what’s rightfully ours—why are we the ones being punished?”

◦°˚(*❛‿❛)/˚°◦