The next day, Hong Tao woke up late as he wished. It was almost noon when he finally woke up. He stretched lazily and felt comfortable, as if his strength had returned to his body. He had originally planned to do morning exercises with Chu Qiu, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Master Hong, you have to come out and take a look. This matter is not easy to handle!" It was boring to lie down, so Liu Quanyou got up. But as soon as he stepped out of the room, without brushing his teeth or washing his face, Liu Quanyou came over and whispered, while throwing flirtatious glances.

There were a row of people squatting in the corridor on the west side. Hong Tao roughly counted and found that there were 11 of them, including the old lady who was older than Sun Dacheng and had white hair. They all kept their heads down and didn't move, silent like a crow, forming a sharp contrast with the people in the yard who were busy moving tables and chairs to prepare lunch. Even though the sun was shining brightly in the sky, it still gave people a sense of oppression.

"...Did you not explain the rules here to them?" With just one glance, Hong Tao roughly understood the reason. The worries he had last night didn't go to waste at all; they had become a reality.

"I... I've talked so much that my mouth is almost worn out... But they just listen and don't react. I can't rush them. Whenever I raise my voice a little, they kneel down and kowtow, without saying why. Not only me, but my wife and sister-in-law also took turns persuading them with bitter words. Only they can understand, the others have no reaction! Oh, I've been working with grassroots masses for nearly ten years, I've seen all kinds of people, but this time I'm really at a loss."

Facing Hong Tao's question, Liu Quanyou felt wronged. He explained while shaking his hands. It was clear that he was a bit helpless. But there was one thing he didn't forget, he changed his words and formally called Chu Qiu "sister-in-law". It seemed that the commotion caused by Hong Tao and Chu Qiu last night was quite big, even the people in the neighboring yard heard it.

"What about Sun Dacheng and Jiao Qiao?" Was Liu Quanyou weak in his ability to work? Or did he not use the right methods? Hong Tao didn't think so. Liu Quanyou had never encountered such an extreme situation before. Even if he worked with the masses for a lifetime in peacetime, he would never come across such an example. Suddenly encountering this, he had no experience to rely on and was completely at a loss.

As the saying goes, the person who tied the bell must untie it. Sun Dacheng and Jiao Qiao definitely had nowhere else to go, but there were still two guys who could be used. They couldn't be considered as the ones who tied the bell, but they could be considered as witnesses. Their words were more effective than Liu Quanyou's.

"...They rode motorcycles early in the morning and said they were going to search for survivors... Wasn't it arranged by you?" Liu Quanyou was stunned for a moment, and then seemed to understand something.

"What did I arrange? These two guys are playing tricks with you. They don't want to face this situation, so they left everything to you and me!" Hong Tao was angry. He had just said that he owed himself a life, but he turned around and sold himself. What kind of people were they?

"...Then... what should we do? It's almost time for lunch. We can't let them squat and eat. It's too unreasonable..." Liu Quanyou couldn't figure out what tricks Sun Dacheng and Jiao Qiao had played, but he knew one thing. Last night, three people went, and two ran away, so there was still one left.

"Bang bang bang... Attention... One person, one chair, sit down!" Hong Tao had to come forward even if Liu Quanyou didn't force him. Every time he had to be the good guy, he never had a chance. But as soon as he became the bad guy, he couldn't hide. This time, he had to come forward as the bad guy again. With a stern face, he used a toothbrush to tap the cup and shouted loudly.

Guess what happened? Liu Quanyou, who had spent the whole morning trying to persuade the men, women, old, and young without success, suddenly stood up like they were fully charged, and ran to the middle of the yard, found a chair at the table, sat down, and didn't move.

There was also a small episode. The two women who were helping to wash cups and dishes at the kitchen door also stood up reflexively, ready to walk into the yard, but then remembered something and quickly squatted down to continue washing dishes. Their eyes were a bit more lively, occasionally glancing over here, and then quickly looking away.

"How about that? Isn't my trick amazing!" Hong Tao walked to the kitchen door, took a cup of water from the hanging purified water bucket, and brushed his teeth while walking towards the outside of the yard. The lakeside was the washroom, where there was a bucket of water that could be used to wash his face.

"I still don't quite understand, why is this happening?" Liu Quanyou also followed out. This matter had to be understood, otherwise they wouldn't be able to proceed with their work in the future. They couldn't rely on Hong Tao for everything, otherwise, what value would he, the second-in-command, have?

"...Do you know how they have been living for the past ten days? They were tied up with iron chains, not given clothes to wear or enough food to eat. They could be beaten at any time and forced to lure zombies. If they ran too slowly, they would die. Initially, there were 14 of them. Either they were caught by zombies or killed by those people. On average, one person died every two days. They are still alive today, but it's uncertain whether they can see the sunset tomorrow. Do you know what people lose first in this kind of situation? It's trust! They don't dare to trust anyone, especially their own kind. In their eyes, the worst thing is humans, living humans, worse than zombies! You think you're saving them, but they think we're no different from those people. We are all bastards who are physically strong, ruthless, and can determine life and death at any time."

Because they were in a hurry when they came back last night, there were some things that Hong Tao didn't have time to explain to Liu Quanyou. In fact, Sun Dacheng and Jiao San didn't know everything either. It was all revealed by Han Pangzi.

If he had known that this would happen today, he shouldn't have let him die so easily at the beginning. He should have brought him back and held a struggle session, and let those tortured people stab him to death one by one. It would have been very effective in soothing their wounded souls."......So what should we do?" Liu Quanyou felt a chill just thinking about it, let alone imagining the actual scene. To hide his inner fear, he quickly lit a cigarette. These days, if anything had grown, it was his addiction to smoking.

Fortunately, cigarettes and alcohol had become the most useless yet abundant items. Every household had them, and you could smoke as much as you wanted, whatever brand you preferred, without spending a penny. No one even mentioned smoking bans.

"There's no easy solution. Physical wounds need time to heal, and so do emotional ones. Time is the best medicine. Right now, they're not deliberately opposing you, it's just that you haven't given clear instructions. They're scared and terrified, afraid to have their own thoughts. The clearer your instructions, the easier it will be for them to follow. Understand? If you keep asking for their opinions, it will only make them more fearful. Don't make things awkward for yourself. People are complicated. Sometimes, even when you're doing good, you seem like a villain. Other times, you're doing something bad, but everyone looks up to you, men and women, old and young, giving you thumbs up. Strange, isn't it?"

Chatting didn't stop him from brushing his teeth. After finishing his speech, he fetched a bucket of water. Hong Tao squatted by the river to wash his face, feeling quite pleased. This time, he didn't have to play the bad guy. The thought of Liu Quanyou reluctantly giving strict orders to a group of pitiful people made him want to laugh.

"Master Hong, why do I feel like you've done all these things before..."

"See, what I just said is being proven right by you! I'm teaching you how to heal their emotional wounds, but you suspect me of being a great villain. Believe it or not, forget I said anything!" But Liu Quanyou's words wiped the smile off Hong Tao's face. After all this, am I still the bad guy?

Many people understand these principles, but it's not so easy to put them into practice. Lunch was abundant. To welcome the newcomers, Zhou Jinlan had Liu Quanyou lead a team to the restaurant in the east in the morning. They cleared out more than ten zombies from the kitchen before finding suitable ingredients and baked a three-layer cream cake.

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But the meal was far from joyful. Instead, it was stuck in everyone's throat. The rescued people didn't speak. They ate when food was given, and didn't reach for food when it wasn't. At first, everyone was enthusiastic, almost feeding them one-on-one. But then a problem arose.

The old lady's stomach might not have been in good shape. Faced with the food Zhou Jinlan served, she dared not leave anything uneaten and stuffed her mouth full. In the end, she vomited it all out, even splattering Hong Tao's pants.