44: Chapter 44 Guo Changzheng's Methods

"Guo Changzheng, others might fear you, but I, Sister Hong from the Northeast, am not afraid of you!" Sister Hong shouted at the top of her lungs, spraying spit all over his face.

"Don't think I don't know that your talk of taking us to join Liang Kun is nothing more than wanting to use us women as bargaining chips to trade for your own future status!"

Upon hearing this, Guo Changzheng was not annoyed; he just stared coldly at Sister Hong before sweeping his gaze over the crowd.

He raised his hand to wipe the spit off his face and said sinisterly.

"Sister Hong, don't put it so harshly! Joining Liang Kun is a last resort. Do you want to just stay here and wait for death?"

"Wait for death? Hmph! Why would we be waiting for death?"

Sister Hong reached out and pointed directly at Guo Changzheng's nose.

"If it weren't for you insisting on provoking Chen Ze, would so many of the men in our team have died? Huh? How dare you even say that?"

"Heh!" Guo Changzheng sneered and continued.

"Attacking Chen Ze was something everyone agreed to. Now that things have gone wrong, you're trying to pin all the blame on me. That doesn't seem quite right, does it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone on the scene was stunned for a moment.

It was true; most of them had agreed to that operation at the time. But that Chen Ze was simply not as vulnerable as Guo Changzheng had claimed.

Sister Hong froze for a moment, then began to tremble with rage, her voice rising an octave.

"Bullshit! If it weren't for you old bastard saying that Chen Ze had just returned from going out and that a sneak attack would definitely succeed, would we have been swayed by you? You have to take full responsibility for this!"

"And another thing! Don't think you're so special just because you have a crossbow. There are no zombies outside right now. We may be women, but if we really start fighting, we could drown you just with our spit!"

After Sister Hong finished speaking, the other women visibly puffed out their chests.

"Guo Changzheng, you got my husband killed, and now you want to sell me out? Don't even think about it!"

"Old Guo, we won't stop you if you want to join Liang Kun, but you have to hand over the heart of the fortress and the remaining materials!"

"Exactly! Otherwise, you can go keep those dead men company today!"

For a moment, Guo Changzheng became the target of their collective attack. The women spoke one after another, seemingly having forgotten his cruelty from the previous night, rediscovering the feminism they had displayed on Red Note before the apocalypse.

Guo Changzheng remained silent, merely sweeping a cold gaze over the crowd, the murderous intent surging in his eyes completely undisguised.

In his eyes, these people were his possessions to begin with.

He had originally intended to endure for now and wait for Liang Kun's men to arrive, then use the materials in his hands and these women as a tribute to establish a firm footing.

But now, this group of women was openly rebelling under Sister Hong's leadership, which was something he absolutely could not tolerate.

"Since that's the case, I'll just have to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys."

A sinister sneer curled the corners of Guo Changzheng's mouth. He suddenly raised his right hand, the cold, glinting crossbow pointed straight at Sister Hong, who was leading them.

Sister Hong's expression changed drastically, and her voice carried a hint of panic.

"You... what are you doing? We have the numbers; if you dare to make a move, don't think you'll leave here alive either!"

Before her warning had even landed, Guo Changzheng had already pulled the trigger.

A pitch-black crossbow bolt broke through the air, moving so fast it left only a blur.

"Pfft!" The sharp arrow pierced deeply into flesh, a dull thud that was jarringly loud amidst the noisy confrontation.

Sister Hong's body stiffened abruptly. She looked down at her chest in disbelief; most of the arrow had already buried itself into her body, and warm blood instantly soaked through her clothes.

"Drip! Drip!" The surrounding shouting came to an abrupt halt. All the women froze in place, with only the crisp sound of blood dripping onto the floor remaining.

The women who had been acting so ferociously just a moment ago had now completely become lambs waiting for the slaughter. They didn't even dare to scream, each one tightly covering her own mouth with both hands, looking exactly like quails with their necks being strangled!

"You... you... cough, cough, cough! You..." By now, Sister Hong had already collapsed to the ground, the excruciating pain in her chest spreading through her entire body like fire. She struggled to speak, but every breath brought out large mouthfuls of bloody foam; she couldn't even manage a complete sentence.

Guo Changzheng sneered and stepped forward. His heavy boots stepped into the blood, making a sticky "patta" sound that made one's scalp tingle.

"You're about to die, and you still can't shut that stinking mouth of yours!"

He lifted his foot abruptly and kicked down hard on Sister Hong's neck. "Crack!" A crisp sound of bone breaking exploded in the warehouse, even more hair-raising than the sound of the arrow entering flesh just moments before.

Sister Hong's neck was twisted at an eerie angle. Her chest, which had been rising and falling weakly, instantly stopped moving. It was clear she was dead beyond a doubt!

"Ah!" "Murder! Murder!" The other women could no longer suppress the fear in their hearts and began to scream one after another.

They were completely terrified, scrambling and crawling toward the warehouse gate. In the panic, a woman wearing a blue cheongsam had her legs give out, and she fell directly to the ground, her forehead hitting the floor with a dull thud.

But the women behind her didn't hesitate at all; in order to seize the gap to escape, they trampled directly over her back to rush forward! The camaraderie they had shared earlier was completely gone.

"Heh! What a bunch of rabble!" The speaker was, of course, Guo Changzheng. He sneered and fired the crossbow again.

"Whoosh!" The arrow whistled through the air, grazing the cheek of the person running in front and sticking directly into the floor of the warehouse gate. The tail of the arrow vibrated violently, humming incessantly.

The fleeing crowd was struck as if by lightning, their movements suddenly freezing.

Everyone was afraid. They knew full well that if they just rushed forward all at once, even with a crossbow, Guo Changzheng couldn't possibly stop them all.

But the sight of Sister Hong's tragic death was right there, and the bloody lesson was right before their eyes. No one dared to take the first step, and no one wanted to be the first bird to be shot by the arrow.

"Guo! Manager Guo, I beg you, for the sake of us having been neighbors before, please let us go!"

In the crowd, a middle-aged woman in her thirties or forties spoke tremblingly, her voice shaking uncontrollably.

Guo Changzheng scoffed, slowly licked the corners of his mouth with his tongue, and mockery surged in his eyes.

"Let you go? What kind of talk is that? Have I ever threatened you? I don't think so!"

He unhurriedly stepped forward, walked straight to the center of the warehouse gate, firmly blocking the only escape route, and then slowly turned around, looking down at the group of trembling women in front of him.

"We are surviving together, which means we are a family! And I am the head of this family!"

His fingertips casually flicked the string of the crossbow, the light sound of metal clashing ringing out piercingly in the deathly silent warehouse.

"As long as you are all obedient, I will naturally protect everyone and let everyone live safely."

As Guo Changzheng spoke, his hand was already resting on the handle of the warehouse gate, a hypocritical smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Seeing that the women were all cowering and dared not resist, he completely relaxed in his heart.

"A bunch of stinking bitches who only know how to talk—they really are easy to fool!"