210: The Patriarch's Grandson

Qin Shilei then added, “Twenty percent of Hope City’s income will be allocated to the Martial Artist Guild and the Internal Affairs Office for unified distribution.”

Hope City’s income primarily comes from two sources: first, taxes and shop rents from the trade street; second, twenty percent of the gains harvested by the four major legions and the Panshi Battle Group.

Previously, Qin Shilei used most of his gains for his own cultivation and that of those close to him, with a small portion used as rewards for tasks issued by the city Lord’s Mansion.

Now, he intended to allocate a portion for the daily management of Hope City.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Qin Shilei looked up and gestured for the others to continue expressing their opinions.

Zhang Qiang spoke up, “city Lord, the zombies around Hope City have been mostly cleared, and now we are gradually entering the territories of other stronghold forces. How should we interact with those forces?”

“Yesterday, our Panshi Battle Group members nearly got into a large brawl with a local force in Yongde city, about a hundred kilometers away, over some supplies.”

Qin Shilei said calmly, “If others don’t offend me, I won’t offend them. If others offend me, I will surely punish them. Our Hope City fears no challenge, but we should not bully the weak.”

Zhang Qiang thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, “city Lord, should we occupy more cities?”

Qin Shilei scanned the people in the conference room and noticed that most of them were looking at him with burning eyes.

He immediately understood that they wished to expand their territory and enlarge Hope City’s domain.

After a moment of contemplation, Qin Shilei said, “At this stage, our enemies are zombies, mutated beasts, and creatures from the Other World.”

“Without additional City Guardian Monuments, occupying more cities is largely meaningless.”

“Of course, we can send people to those large strongholds to establish mercenary groups. Once the time is right, we can also replace them.”

He then instructed Zhang Cheng and Commander Kong to fully acquire strategic equipment such as City Guardian Monuments.

Upon hearing that Qin Shilei had no immediate intention of expanding territory, Zhang Qiang and the others showed a hint of disappointment.

But upon closer thought, they felt that Qin Shilei’s words made a lot of sense and nodded in response, “Alright, we will select suitable people to infiltrate those large strongholds first.”

After discussing some other construction issues for Hope City, they each departed.

.........

The next morning.

Qin Shilei and Kong Qingshu, along with Xu Jun and his subordinate Ma Hongwei, drove towards Xu Family Stronghold.

Kong Qingshu was pushed into the group by An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli, who said, “Bring Sister Qingshu along, so you two can look out for each other.”

An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli secretly instructed, “Sister Qingshu, you didn’t go to the Other World last time, so it’s your turn this time. You must keep a close eye on Qin Dage and not let him flirt around outside.”

At that time, Kong Qingshu half-jokingly said, “Aren’t you two afraid I’ll steal from the store I’m guarding?”

“Tch.” Zhang Xiaoli deliberately scoffed, “You two have been exchanging glances for a while, you’ve probably already hooked up. What’s there to steal?”

Kong Qingshu’s face immediately turned bright red, and she said somewhat awkwardly, “I… I didn’t, Qin Shilei and I are innocent.”

An Qian said with a half-smile, “Then if you don’t go, we two will go, okay?”

“Go, why wouldn’t I go?” Kong Qingshu quickly recovered from her embarrassment and replied.

Just like that, the three women decided who would accompany Qin Shilei.

Xu Family Stronghold is located deep in the mountains of Xu Family Town, Puchang City, nearly three hundred kilometers from Hope City.

After driving on and off for four or five hours, the group finally arrived outside Puchang City.

Looking at the dense hordes of zombies inside Puchang City, Qin Shilei said with some concern, “President Xu, it seems completely overrun here. Has your Xu Family Stronghold also been breached by zombies?”

“Xu Family Stronghold is located deep in the mountains, so there shouldn’t be many zombies, but there are quite a few mutated beasts.”

Xu Jun said with a frown.

He had explored this area with his subordinates before, but they were scared away by an Black Bear five or six meters tall before they even reached Xu Family Stronghold.

Qin Shilei and his group spent another two hours carefully passing through Puchang City.

As they stepped into Xu Family Town, they heard sparse gunshots coming from ahead.

Immediately following that, they saw a large group of people running towards them.

At Qin Shilei’s signal, Ma Hongwei pulled the car over to the side of the road, allowing the group to pass first.

Through the car window, Qin Shilei noticed that this was a group of entirely women, about forty to fifty of them.

The last one was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl riding a blood-red leopard.

Chasing behind them was a large group of men, about thirty to forty of them.

“Xu Hongyu, you can’t escape. Why don’t you just surrender to us?”

“As long as you surrender to me, we can work together to return to Xu Family Stronghold and find our relatives.”

“We are all from Xu Family Stronghold. Why must you oppose us for a group of outsiders?”

The group of men shouted loudly as they chased.

“From Xu Family Stronghold, President Xu, do you know them?” Qin Shilei asked.

“The man is Xu Junchu, the son of the Xu Family Stronghold’s patriarch. I don’t know the woman, because I’ve been away from Xu Family Stronghold for seven or eight years.”

When Xu Jun saw the man named Xu Junchu, a hint of hatred flashed in his eyes.

He paused, then added, “city Lord, if we can capture Xu Junchu, we can force his father to hand over the Gu Insect Scripture.”

As they were speaking, Xu Junchu and his group also noticed Qin Shilei and his companions. They looked curiously but, being in a hurry to chase Xu Hongyu and her group, they quickly ran past the car.

Upon hearing that it was the son of the Xu Family Stronghold’s patriarch, Qin Shilei immediately became interested. He called out and got out of the car, chasing after that group of people.

They quickly caught up with the other party at the town entrance.

At this moment, Xu Junchu had also caught up to Xu Hongyu and was entangled in a fight with her.

His subordinates, like wolves entering a flock of sheep, rushed towards Xu Hongyu’s companions with lewd smiles.

Xu Hongyu and Xu Junchu were locked in a fierce struggle.

However, her companions were far inferior and quickly fell into a disadvantage.

“Haha, my beauty, let big brother take good care of you.”

“What a feisty little girl. I wonder how good your mouth is.”

“This fair skin is truly captivating. I can’t hold back for a moment longer.”

The group of men uttered obscene words while repeatedly attacking the women’s vital parts, even directly tearing their clothes.

Kong Qingshu, who had witnessed this scene as soon as they arrived, said with fire in her eyes, “Qin Dage, I want to kill someone right now.”

“Good.” Qin Shilei readily agreed, “Let me accompany you to kill all these beasts.”

Qin Shilei was not a busybody, so he initially had the car stop by the roadside, avoiding both parties.

Now, seeing a group of men bullying women, he immediately felt a murderous intent.

Kong Qingshu’s suggestion perfectly aligned with his feelings.

The two quickly picked up their weapons and charged towards that group of people.