361 We have a spy (1/2)

Post-battle rebuilding was a very tedious process, because the ruins would have to be cleared up first before the structures could be rebuilt. They had to experience pain before they could receive a new lease of life.

Ren Xiaosu took the lead in burying their dead companions. He initially wanted to erect a stele for each of them, but later, he realized some of the bandits did not even have names.

If Ren Xiaosu had not established this settlement, these people would have been forgotten after their deaths.

He took out a pen and a notepad from his storage space and handed them to Yang Xiaojin, saying, ”Make a record of those who are still alive. This will be our future roster.”

A regular army should first have a roster. It meant that everyone's names would be recorded, and the people on it would be recognized.

But when Yang Xiaojin started the recording process, she was put in a dilemma. The bandits did not report their real names to her. Instead, they gave their nicknames such as Rat, Crow, Mud Pit, Rotten Egg…

Just by their names alone, you would know they were not respectable people!

Yang Xiaojin said patiently, ”This roster is only for recording your real names. Besides, aren't your nicknames really…”

Jin Lan chuckled and said, ”Boss Lady, you should allow them to use their nicknames. If you call them by their real names, they might not even respond. All of us are bandits, so we should be called by our nicknames.”

Yang Xiaojin thought for a moment and said with a smile, ”Sure!”

But at this moment, Xu Jinyuan, who was in charge of the clean-up crew, suddenly came up to Ren Xiaosu and said, ”Boss, we found something in the ruins.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at the thing Xu Jinyuan was holding. It turned out to be a satellite phone! Seeing that the satellite phone was already damaged, he asked Xu Jinyuan curiously, ”Where'd ya find it?”

”It was hidden under the bed in the ruins of our brick house.” Xu Jinyuan said, ”There were twenty people sleeping in that house, and I remember that a bandit called Old Fox slept on that particular bedroll.”

”Where's Old Fox now?” Ren Xiaosu said, ”Get him here, I want to question him.”

”He's dead.” Xu Jinyuan said, ”That's why I secretly came over to seek Boss's instructions.”

Ren Xiaosu frowned. The satellite phone was definitely not something bandits could own. The owner of this satellite phone must've used it to report information to a consortium.

He wondered which consortium this satellite phone was linked to.

Was it the Qing Consortium? Or the Zong Consortium?

Anything was possible.

These two consortiums had been eyeing the valley for a long time now, so they might have planted quite a few spies.

”Don't breathe a word about it. If it doesn't belong to Brother Old Fox, his reputation will be tarnished after his death if this matter gets out.” Ren Xiaosu said, ”This satellite phone could also belong to somebody else.”

Ren Xiaosu even suspected the phone could be Xu Jinyuan's. He had read in a detective novel back at Stronghold 88 that stated how more than 40% of the witnesses and discoverers of a homicide turned out to actually be the real murderer.

However, Ren Xiaosu did not bring up that doubt and let Xu Jinyuan continue working.

Yang Xiaojin walked over and asked, ”What's the matter?”

”I'm afraid we can't stay here any longer.” Ren Xiaosu said, ”After we go back and get Yan Liuyuan and the others, we'll head northwest to look for a more secretive location to settle down again. Our activities here have likely been leaked. It's not so bad if it's the Qing Consortium, but if it's the Zong Consortium that planted their spies here, we won't be able to fend them off when their military attacks us here.”

”Mhm.” Yang Xiaojin agreed with him. She did not think it was wrong for Ren Xiaosu to be more cautious.

The reason why the Zong Consortium had trouble fighting the bandits was because the bandits were always wandering around. If they settled down here, it would be extremely easy for the Zong Consortium to deal with them. So Ren Xiaosu wanted to head deeper into the mountains and find a new place to reestablish the settlement.