140: Chapter 140 Han Xue Fires a Shot to Set Rules: Tiangong-1 Has No Neighborhood Committee

The time goes back two hours.

After the george patton crushed the morning mist and departed, the air in the Outer Circle of Cloud Top Palace immediately became restless.

A line over ten meters long had formed in front of the makeshift medical station.

Aunt Liu held her seven-year-old grandson and fell to her knees in front of the wooden table with a thud.

"Please, check my grandson first! His whole body is burning up!"

Behind the table, the ones responsible for distributing medicine were two women who knew a little bit about medical care.

The fever medicine at the medical station had run out yesterday, and today's resupply hadn't arrived yet.

What Aunt Liu had her eyes on were the few remaining antibiotics on the table.

One of the short-haired women frowned and glanced at the child in Aunt Liu's arms.

"Ma'am, these are antibiotics; they can only prevent infection, not treat a fever."

"This morning's medicine must be prioritized for those who suffered knife wounds last night."

"Some of them have flesh hanging open; if we delay any longer, they'll need amputations."

As soon as these words were spoken, the line exploded.

"Why should they!" Aunt Liu stood up abruptly, tears streaming down her face, pointing toward the female prisoners' dormitory not far away.

"When we were following Boss Lin to build the perimeter wall, you lot were still sitting in prison!"

"You just arrived and already have clean bunks, and now you're even trying to steal life-saving medicine! If my grandson gets brain damage from the fever, I'll fight you to the death!"

A dozen or so female prisoners, woken up by the noise, walked out of the dormitory.

They still had blood-stained bandages wrapped around their bodies.

A young female prisoner leaned against the doorframe; her face was deathly pale, but her tongue was sharp.

"It's only right for those who are bleeding to use the medicine."

"Your grandson has a fever, so we should just rot in our beds?"

Just then, Zhang Qiang squeezed in from behind the crowd, carrying a steel pipe.

He had taken a slap from Fat Dragon yesterday, and half of his face was still swollen.

When Fat Dragon was around, he didn't even dare to let out a peep.

But Fat Dragon had worked the whole night shift and hadn't woken up yet.

Zhang Qiang felt that his opportunity had arrived.

"Did everyone hear that!"

He raised the steel pipe and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"This bunch of female convicts are nothing but robbers!"

"Today they steal medicine, tomorrow they'll steal your rations! The day after, they might even steal your belongings!"

"Boss Lin isn't here, so let's take back what belongs to us ourselves!"

These words were like a spark thrown into a pile of dry firewood.

The old residents, already holding back their anger, immediately started shouting along.

"Hand over the medicine!"

"Get out of Cloud Top Palace!"

"Why should convicts compete with us for resources!"

Dozens of survivors grabbed iron pipes and wrenches and pressed toward the female prisoners' dormitory.

The female prisoners weren't pushovers either.

They had just narrowly escaped death at the hands of the ninjas last night, and their nerves were tighter than anyone's.

A burly, vicious-looking old resident reached out to grab the young female prisoner's collar.

The female prisoner reached back to her waist, pulled out a sharpened piece of sheet metal, and slashed at his arm.

Fresh blood splattered.

The man screamed and stepped back, clutching his arm and shouting:

"Murder!"

"The convicts are killing people!"

The crowd completely lost control.

Pushing turned into a brawl.

The medical table was knocked about, and the medicine box nearly fell off the edge several times.

Bang!

A gunshot suppressed all the chaos.

Everyone froze in place and turned their heads in unison toward the gate of the Inner Circle.

Captain Han Xue walked out, holding a Glock pistol.

A wisp of smoke was still rising from the muzzle.

"Drop your weapons."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was cold.

Zhang Qiang swallowed hard and took a half-step back.

"Officer Han! You are a police officer, you have to uphold the law! They pulled the knife first, they are stealing our resources!"

Captain Han Xue walked to the medical table, glanced at the feverish child, and then at the blood-covered female prisoner.

Her instinct from the old world made her first reaction to mediate.

Clarify responsibilities.

Prioritize treatment.

Be as fair as possible.

She put away her gun and said in a deep voice:

"Back off."

Captain Han Xue put away her pistol, "Triage based on injury."

"Those with severe knife wounds get antibiotics first; those with minor injuries go to logistics for bandages."

"Those with fevers, wait until the fever medicine is resupplied before coming over."

"Line up, one portion per person."

She thought this plan was fine.

But she underestimated human nature in the apocalypse.

"It's not fair!" Aunt Liu hugged her grandson tight and sat on the ground, throwing a tantrum.

"By the afternoon, my grandson will be burned into an idiot! Just let him use the antibiotics; it's better than nothing."

"I only have this one grandson! You are forcing me to my death!"

The young female prisoner also spat out a mouthful of blood.

"I lost half a jin of blood last night, why should I share my medicine with a bunch of people with fevers?"

Neither side would back down.

The crowd pressed forward again.

Some people even started shoving Captain Han Xue.

In the chaos, Zhang Qiang's eyes darted around.

As long as he could prove these women were problematic, he could regain the face he lost yesterday.

After all, in this patch of land known as Cloud Top Palace, face really could be traded for food.

He lunged forward abruptly.

His shoulder slammed hard against the edge of the wooden table.

Crash!

The table overturned.

The medical box rolled onto the ground.

Four or five precious antibiotics smashed against the rocks, and the glass shattered.

The transparent medicine mixed into the foul-smelling mud, disappearing quickly.

"F*ck!"

"The medicine is gone!"

"That was life-saving medicine!"

The crowd erupted in wails.

Zhang Qiang immediately shouted at the top of his voice.

"Captain Han! You saw it, the female prisoners kicked it over on purpose! If they can't have it, they don't want us to live either!"

The female prisoners were trembling with rage.

"Bullshit! It was clearly you who knocked it over!"

Captain Han Xue stood still, looking at the broken glass on the ground.

Her fists slowly clenched, and her chest heaved more and more violently.

She was still trying to reason with them.

She was still trying to use past laws and principles to fill the bottomless pit of these people's greed.

In her earpiece, Liu Qing's cold electronic voice suddenly came through.

"Captain Han Xue, the surveillance footage has been pushed to your tactical tablet."

"The wooden table was intentionally knocked over by Zhang Qiang five seconds ago."

After a short pause, Liu Qing continued:

"Housekeeper Su asked me to pass on a message."

"Boss Lin asked you to manage the Outer Circle, not to act like a neighborhood committee auntie."

Captain Han Xue's heart sank abruptly.

Lin Yuan's rules never cared about absolute fairness, only absolute order.

Whoever dares to smash the table must die.

Captain Han Xue slowly turned around, her gaze locking directly onto Zhang Qiang, who was hiding in the crowd.

She raised her hand and pointed her index finger at Zhang Qiang.

"Come out."

Zhang Qiang felt a chill run down his back from that look.

He bit the bullet and shouted: "What are you doing! Are you trying to shield the convicts again?"

Captain Han Xue didn't waste words.

She drew her pistol and strode toward Zhang Qiang.

The crowd seemed to split open, automatically clearing a path.

Zhang Qiang panicked.

He understood the look in Captain Han Xue's eyes.

That wasn't mediation.

That was a verdict.

Just as Captain Han Xue walked to within three steps of him, Zhang Qiang acted like a cornered dog.

He shoved Aunt Liu, who was kneeling nearby, aside, grabbed the seven-year-old grandson by the neck with one hand, and used the child as a shield.

"Don't come any closer!"

Veins bulged on Zhang Qiang's forehead, and his expression was twisted.

Aunt Liu lunged at Zhang Qiang's legs like a madwoman, but was kicked over by him.

The child was so terrified he couldn't even make a sound, his face flushed bright red.

"Officer Han, didn't you used to be all about procedure? If you dare to kill me, how are you any different from people like Fat Dragon?"

Captain Han Xue stood her ground.

Her hand holding the gun was as steady as rooted steel.

If it were the old Captain Han Xue, she would have already put down her gun and started a negotiation lasting tens of minutes.

Asking Zhang Qiang what he wanted.

Asking Zhang Qiang what it would take for him to stop.

Probing his bottom line, appealing to his emotions and reasoning with him.

But now, she was the Captain Han Xue of Tiangong No. 1.

She wore rabbit ears, wore clothes given by Lin Yuan, and ate food provided by Lin Yuan.

Captain Han Xue didn't speak.

She lowered her wrist, avoiding the child's body, and aimed at Zhang Qiang's exposed lower leg.

Bang!

"Ah—"

The bullet shattered Zhang Qiang's shinbone.

The excruciating pain made his whole body go limp, and he fell to his knees in the mud with a thud.

The strength in his hands instantly slackened.

The child seized the chance to break free and fell to the ground.

Just 0.1 seconds after the child was out of his control, Captain Han Xue raised her wrist.

Bang!

A second gunshot rang out.

A nine-millimeter bullet pierced through the center of Zhang Qiang's forehead.

The scream came to an abrupt halt, and the corpse slammed straight into the mud.

Even the sound of breathing stopped in the surroundings.

Captain Han Xue lowered the muzzle, the smoke still lingering in the barrel.

She looked at the corpse on the ground, feeling no fear, not even disgust.

She only felt a sense of relief, as if she had broken free from shackles.

"Throw the body to the back mountain."

Captain Han Xue turned around, her gaze sweeping across the entire crowd.

She saw a female prisoner with blood seeping from her shoulder, saw the child in Aunt Liu's arms convulsing from fever, and also saw several people nearby with only scraped skin pushing to the very front.

Captain Han Xue realized that the problem wasn't a lack of medicine, but that no one accepted the prioritization.

"From today on, the Outer Circle of Tiangong No. 1 will implement an injury card system."

"Red card, critical injuries, unconditional priority treatment. Yellow card, fever and infection, second priority. White card, minor injuries, last in line."

She walked to the overturned table and kicked the steel pipe on the ground away.

"The cards will be assessed and issued by Liu Qing. Anyone who dares to cause trouble over the line or incite the looting of supplies..."

Captain Han Xue raised her gun and racked the slide.

"There are enough bullets."

No one dared to object.

Aunt Liu scrambled up, trembling, hugged her grandson, and crawled and ran to the side of the table, obediently standing at the end of the line.

The young female prisoners also silently tucked the sharpened sheet metal back into their waists and stood in a row.

Order was rebuilt under absolute violence.

Meanwhile, at Jiang University, which had established order through Chu Feng's kindness, Chiba Sakura arrived.