The First Order

Chapter 1053: A strange crowd

Ren Xiaosu and the Great Hoodwinker tirelessly made their way back and forth between the Northwest and the Central Plains to abduct the refugees, truly enjoying it as they did so.

All of the Zhou Consortium’s officials seemed to have suddenly lost their sight and hearing. They could not see or hear whatever that was going on and just hid in the stronghold without making any fuss about the abduction. They did not care, and they did not ask.

When a reporter found out about this, he even went to interview the Zhou Consortium officials. However, they refused to meet him.

Moreover, some of the Zhou Consortium’s officials had also mysteriously disappeared.

At first, everyone thought that one of the officials might have fallen sick, so he did not come to work. But after two days, they felt that something was off. They could not get through to the official’s home line either, so some people started wondering if something had happened.

When his subordinates went to pay him a visit, they realized their superior’s house was already empty. The entire place was a mess, and all the gold, silver, and other valuables were gone as well.

Did someone break into the house and rob their superior? They should quickly report this to the Public Order Division!

As this official’s rank was not low, the Public Order Division placed high priority on his case. They immediately sent out a lot of officers to search for clues and check the surveillance cameras around the official’s house in recent days.

In the end, they were shocked by what they saw. The surveillance footage showed the official had packed up his belongings and left with his wife.

The couple left the stronghold with their luggage and faked their visas before disappearing into the crowd of refugees outside the stronghold.

He had escaped!

At this moment, everyone who was searching for his whereabouts understood that the man must have followed the Northwest’s future commander to the Northwest!

Recently, a wave of anxiety had been affecting the Zhou Consortium’s people. Everyone knew the Wang Consortium would start a war against the Zhou Consortium soon.

Initially, when Zhou Shiji was around, everyone could still work together to prepare for the war. But now that the cowardly Zhou Qingyang had taken over, everyone knew he was not at all capable of stopping the Wang Consortium.

When the Wang Consortium annexed the Zhou Consortium, the Zhou Consortium’s officials would definitely be the first to get dealt with. At that time, the entire south of the Central Plains would face a major reshuffle.

Instead of enduring humiliation when it happened, wouldn’t it be better to lead a rich man’s life in the Northwest while one still had their possessions?

The Zhou Consortium officials had many ways to amass wealth while holding office. The gold bars they had saved were definitely enough for them to enjoy their later years in the Northwest.

Before Ren Xiaosu came here, some people had already wanted to run away, but they just did not know where to go.

The north of the Central Plains had already become the Wang Consortium’s territory, so those seeking to escape could only go to the Qing Consortium. However, they would have to travel 500 kilometers through the wilderness to get there, and a lot of people were worried about danger along the way.

But now, the appearance of the steam locomotive from the Prosperous Northwest had given them hope and a way out!

Hope Media had already started reporting on the events of Ren Xiaosu helping the refugees escape. The entire Alliance of Strongholds could see the happy smiles on the faces of the refugees when they arrived in the Northwest, as well as pictures of them shaking hands with their future commander.

Included in the report were photos of welcome banners, photos of Wang Yuexi and Stronghold 144’s staff registering the new residents and dining with settled refugees during breaks, and interviews conducted with the refugees.

This assured everyone they would not lose their freedom if they went to the Northwest. Moreover, they would be treated as Northwesterners.

Faced with the flames of war in the Central Plains, Hope Media’s newspapers suddenly made everyone feel that any place outside of the Northwest would soon be in deep trouble. Only by getting to the Northwest would they lead a peaceful life.

If there was a first official that tried to escape, there would be a second one.

News of the Zhou Consortium’s official fleeing to the Northwest was secretly spreading within the Zhou Consortium’s ranks. A lot of people were starting to think, ‘That future commander of the Northwest didn’t seem to care about the identities of the refugees when he took them away to the Northwest. Besides, there wasn’t even time to check their IDs since the train had to carry several thousand people.‘

So, as long as they pretended to be refugees and got onto the train, they could lead a carefree life in the Northwest in slightly over 20 hours!

Thinking of this, the Zhou Consortium officials started disappearing in the course of the fortnight. Almost all of them brought along their families and disguised themselves as refugees.

Some of the officials who had satellite phones given by the Zhou Consortium even took it with them before leaving. When the Zhou Consortium discovered they had left, they immediately contacted them. However, they were greeted by the fleeing Zhou Consortium officials dishing out insults to Zhou Qingyang for being a fool. They even said it would be waiting for death if they did not leave the Zhou Consortium.

From this, it could be seen that they were really determined to leave.

Of course, not all of the officials brought their wives with them. There were even some people who abandoned their wives and left with their mistresses. In the past, such people were always conducting their affairs secretly in the stronghold. They were unable to get a divorce from their wives no matter how much they wanted it.

But now, they finally found a way to get rid of their wives. It was like they had eloped several thousand kilometers away with this separation from them.

Quite a few people did this. As a result, many women in the stronghold often woke up from slumber and started cursing at their husbands who had run away overnight.

Such was life.

When something like this happened, Zhou Qingyang would definitely be the one with the biggest headache. Seeing that the Wang Consortium’s main forces had already started heading south, the officials working for him had all started fleeing one by one. The Zhou Consortium was already riddled with holes, so how could they possibly stop the Wang Consortium?

Zhou Qingyang thought for a moment and ordered his secretary, “We can’t let Ren Xiaosu continue doing this. Find a way to stop him!”

It was not that he had suddenly become bold, but rather, if he did not stop the refugees from being taken away, the Zhou Consortium would really be done for!

Ren Xiaosu had been leading a very fulfilling life these days. Although there was no fourth weapon to unlock, he felt the gratitude tokens and Proficiency Stones would come in very handy. Therefore, he was trying his best to earn as many gratitude tokens as he could.

It was just like earning money. Who wouldn’t mind having more?

By the sixth trip, his number of gratitude tokens exceeded 40,000.

At this moment, if anyone were to provoke Ren Xiaosu and force him into a corner, he might really resort to trading 40,000 gratitude tokens for the Explosive Poker cards just to get a pair of Jokers to blow them up!

But on the seventh trip back to the Northwest, Ren Xiaosu discovered some strange people… people he did not receive any gratitude tokens from!

Normal refugees tended to suffer from starvation and would revere Ren Xiaosu’s character. After arriving in the Northwest, Ren Xiaosu would definitely receive gratitude tokens upon shaking hands with them. Some of them gave him one token, while others gave him three. There was really no one who did not sincerely thank him.

But by the seventh trip, Ren Xiaosu realized that even though some of the refugees looked like they were sincerely grateful, his gratitude tokens did not increase after shaking hands with them. Moreover, those people all had rosy cheeks and did not look like they were refugees who had been starving for over half a month.

Ren Xiaosu sneered in his head. Previously, the Great Hoodwinker was worried weird people would be hidden among this group of refugees. There could be Zhou Consortium officials or spies among them, and these people would then go on to become the bad apples of the Northwest.

But Ren Xiaosu said there was nothing to worry about since he could identify such people.

At that time, the Great Hoodwinker was a little puzzled. With so many refugees, how could they possibly get identified?

In the end, the Great Hoodwinker saw Ren Xiaosu pick out more than 60 people from the group of refugees within three hours and separate them from the real ones.