Chapter 42: Purification Rate 17%

Under the desolate moonlight, Lin Yue crept back into the room and, seeing Tang Miao sleeping soundly with the cub in her arms, tiptoed toward the bathroom.

Filthy! Upon returning to that three-bedroom apartment, Lin Yue felt there was simply nowhere clean to step.

The living room was cluttered with garbage scattered everywhere, the bathroom was clogged, and whiffs of foul odor drifted out from time to time.

She could hardly believe how she had managed to live there for such a long time in the past!

Fortunately, along the way, she had quietly leaked Tang Miao's secret to the biggest gossips. By tomorrow, over half of the safe zone would know.

When she came out after her shower, a stealthy figure appeared in the bedroom, crouching down and quietly approaching the sleeping Tang Miao.

Finding the right position, the figure pulled out a fruit knife and thrust it straight at Tang Miao with a soft stab.

Tang Miao reacted with extreme agility, rolling and leaping to sweep the intruder to the floor with a kick.

The cub also sprinted along the wall at lightning speed and switched on the bedroom light.

The moment the light flared, Lin Yue gasped, "Tang Miao! Are you alright?"

Instead of replying, Tang Miao pinned the intruder's hands behind their back onto the floor and kicked the dropped knife away. The fruit knife skidded across the floor and stopped right against the tip of Lin Yue's shoe.

"Speak. Who sent you?"

"I was wrong, I was wrong! Please forgive me, I beg of you, I'll never dare do it again!"

"I'm not an unreasonable or cold-blooded person. If there's a valid reason, I'll understand. Confession brings leniency."

Hearing Tang Miao's words, Lin Yue felt a pang of unwarranted guilt. She carefully observed Tang Miao's expression and picked up the fruit knife, putting it away.

Hearing the softening tone in Tang Miao's voice, the intruder stammered out the whole story.

Originally an ordinary resident of the safe zone who never got enough to eat, he could only scavenge leftover bones from the chickens, ducks, and geese sent by Tang Miao's farm to boil into soup just for a taste of flavor.

Word had it that the safe zone was going to send people to Liutuo Mountain to retrieve a turbine, and those chosen had no right to refuse; they would be forced to go and pave the way to their deaths.

Hearing from others that killing Tang Miao would make one the master of the farm, he had been lured into secretly following Lin Yue inside.

Listening from the sidelines, Lin Yue silently cursed the man for a fool. Admitting to Tang Miao's face that he wanted to kill her—how could Tang Miao possibly forgive him?

"What others said is wrong. Even if you killed me, you wouldn't become the master of the farm. I'll let you off this time, but there won't be a next time. Get lost."

The man was clearly stunned for a couple of seconds before he hurriedly muttered his thanks and scrambled away.

"Tang Miao, that guy just wanted your life! Are you really just letting him go like that?"

At this, the cub glared at Lin Yue. This wicked woman claimed someone wanted its mother's life, yet she had stood by and watched the man make his move without uttering a warning.

Tang Miao covered the cub's eyes, ruffled its head, and spoke with her back to Lin Yue:

People make wrong choices out of impulse; that's only natural. Besides, with me, confession has always been met with leniency.

"Is that so? What you say makes sense."

Lin Yue returned to bed as if nothing had happened and hid the fruit knife under her pillow.

"Let's get some rest quickly. Brother Yang Sen said the number of people coming for interviews tomorrow will be several times that of today. It certainly won't be easy."

"Mm, okay."

Tang Miao looked out the window at the moonlight. Though it was the same moon, the moonlight over the Crimson Fire Safe Zone felt inexplicably bleak.

When she lay back down in bed, Tang Miao gave Lin Yue a deep look. The last chance had already been missed.

Tang Miao closed her eyes and resumed scanning the safe zone, locating the dwelling of the unusual little boy who was currently fast asleep.

Remote purification had very low efficiency, but Tang Miao wanted to test the waters first.

Golden threads coiled around the little boy, slowly burrowing into his abdominal cavity.

His abdomen was entirely hollow, devoid of the organ structures a human should possess.

At the same time, the sleeping little boy suddenly opened his eyes, coughed twice, and burst into loud crying. Tang Miao quietly withdrew her spiritual energy.

Sensing something, the cub in her arms tightened its little paws, anxiously scratching at the palm of her hand.

The auxiliary tool was lodged in the little boy's abdomen, having in some measure become a part of his body.

If she cleared the pollution source and took back the tool, the little boy probably wouldn't survive.

While using her spiritual energy to soothe the cub, Tang Miao continued to monitor the situation downstairs.

After being let go by Tang Miao, the man had sneaked all the way into a room.

Three or five people inside asked excitedly, "Well? Did it work?"

Li Jiu shook his head, pulled a cigarette from someone nearby, and lit it. "It didn't. Her reflexes are pretty fast, and so is that kid of hers—moving with a speed that doesn't look like a child at all."

Li Yong, also inside, narrowed his eyes and exhaled a puff of smoke. "She didn't find out?"

"She did, but this woman is soft-hearted. She let me go after just a couple of pleas, only confiscating the knife."

A roar of laughter filled the room. Out of sympathy and kindness, letting the person who wanted to kill her walk free—this woman was truly a fool beyond redemption.

The thought that such incredible resources were in the hands of such a stupid woman made their blood boil.

"Boss, boss!" Someone knocked on the door from outside and hurried in. "It's bad. An'an suddenly woke up, keeps complaining about a stomachache, and is crying for you."

"You guys go back first. I'll go check on my son."

Li Yong stubbed out his cigarette butt and strode out of the room.

The men in the room exchanged glances, and someone muttered under his breath:

"There's only one pendant. Do you think the boss will keep it for himself or give it to Li An'an?"

Li Jiu glanced sideways at the man. "Why couldn't it be for us?"

That son of Li Yong's was naive and childish, yet acted like a little tyrant who tried to control everything. He didn't allow them to swear, didn't allow them to kill, and prohibited a whole bunch of other things.

Moreover, whenever Li Yong got various kinds of foods, he always let his son eat first—something Li Jiu had resented for a long time.

Hearing this, the others chuckled in unison. It seemed they were all thinking along the same lines.

Since the pendant was up for grabs, why bother listening to Li Yong anymore? Whoever got it would be the boss...

Early the next morning, Tang Miao woke up early, washed up, and ate breakfast with the cub on the second-floor balcony while observing the activities of the others in the safe zone.

Lin Yue got up a bit later. By the time she finished tidying up and went out to the balcony, a large crowd had already gathered in the open space downstairs.

Many of them were weeping and wailing, begging Tang Miao to take them along, kneeling and kowtowing. The more agitated ones tried to charge into the building where Tang Miao resided, only to be blocked by Li Yong's men.

"I'm Li Five. Li Yong has some matters to attend to today and can't make it for now. If Boss Tang fancies any of these people, just let me know."

Without turning back to look at the man, Tang Miao calmly replied with a hum.

She had only performed intermittent remote purifications through the night; as of now, the purification rate had only reached 17 percent.

Yet even now, these people refused to call Li Yong their boss anymore.

Lin Yue, however, felt a deep sense of unease. Why would Li Yong leave at a time like this? Could it be that he had also learned about Tang Miao's pendant and was plotting something behind the scenes?

After scanning the area, Tang Miao selected a total of 11 people. When signing the contracts with Li Five, he brazenly raised the price on the spot.

For each person traded, the price was fifteen chickens, ducks, and geese each, thirty fish, two hundred catties of vegetables, and thirty catties of fruit.

Lin Yue slammed the table and stood up. "Are you insane? This is outright robbery!"

With a sullen face, Li Five drew the pistol from his pocket and aimed it at Lin Yue. "Lin Yue, just because you left the safe zone for a few days, do you really think you're someone important?"

Terrified and pale, Lin Yue sat back down with trembling limbs, looking to Tang Miao for help and hoping the latter would back her up.

Ignoring Lin Yue, Tang Miao picked up her pen and signed her name.

Today, she would retrieve her tool, throwing the safe zone into utter chaos, and these signed contracts were doomed to be unfulfillable.