The situation reversed instantly. Not only was Luo Xiaole's strength proven, but she and her companions also immediately became heroes of Luocheng Base. The previously critical voices fell silent. Realizing further arguments would only invite more backlash, they decided to retreat.
The real estate staff member, who had been about to retort, paused. Thinking back, the timing of Little Aro's arrival at the base perfectly coincided with the Commander's return to the command center… Sweat beaded on her forehead. Could it be true? Wouldn't that make her a laughingstock?
She quickly dialed the communicator on her card. "This isn't what we agreed upon!"
"Agreed upon what?" The voice on the other end was cold, laced with a faint trace of annoyance.
"You promised me base points if I exposed that Little Aro and made her life difficult!"
"And did you succeed?" the voice snarled.
"This intelligence is inaccurate…" the staff member mumbled, fidgeting with her manicured nails, feeling uneasy.
"Shut your mouth, or else…" the voice threatened before abruptly hanging up.
When the staff member redialed, the base code was already listed as a defunct number, unreachable. She realized then that she had provoked someone she shouldn't have, and a sense of dread washed over her. She dared not contact that person again.
Meanwhile, Zhou Kaifeng, who had just ended the call, was seething. He couldn't believe that so many people were defending a mere sprout like her, just to tarnish her reputation! He had never experienced such a sense of defeat before! It was almost intoxicating! He refused to believe it!
His hand, adorned with rings, paused. "So her general store also sells medicine… Heh, such a small shop owner, daring to directly sell medicine. It seems my old man dotes on her quite a bit…" A smirk touched his lips, his eyes glinting. "Trust comes with a price."
Less than an hour later, before most people had even finished breakfast, Zhou Xiaojun yelped again, "Holy crap, Xiaole, did you not check the almanac today?"
"What is it now?" Luo Xiaole asked, curious, while chewing on her shrimp dumpling. She had grown accustomed to opening the forum and, sure enough, a new post was already at the top. This time, it was even more outrageous. The poster had linked the hoarding of medicine to her.
They claimed she and the Commander were colluding to hoard large amounts of medicine, creating a shortage so her own medicine would sell better. To make matters worse, the poster not only slandered her but also accused the Commander of appearing incorruptible while secretly receiving significant benefits from her. And beneath it all, there were "proofs"!
The surveillance footage captured her companions collecting medicine shortly after she arrived at the base to open her apothecary. Their faces were clearly visible entering and exiting the pharmacy. There were also photos from when she sold buffs to Zhou Shoushan and had people collect them – several vans packed to the brim leaving her residence, and then entering the military factory through a back entrance.
Everything was laid out clearly, compiled together. These few photos, along with their timestamps and the seemingly flawless logic of the accompanying text, presented themselves as irrefutable evidence unearthed from the smallest clues, exposing a hidden conspiracy.
"No way, are these people writing a novel? How can they concoct something like this?" Luo Shu frowned so deeply she could have crushed a fly.
"Exactly. Everything Xiaole does, doesn't she tell us? It's nothing like this!"
"If it weren't for the fact that these are Xiaole's abilities and can't be easily revealed, I would have bragged about them long ago! Letting them speculate like this?"
However, the comments below began to shift.
"Could it be… the Commander has always been upright? He's never withheld anything from us due to his control of the base. I've heard that in other bases, most supplies have to be handed over directly?"
"Who says? Your supplies weren't confiscated? When we entered the base, all our supplies were taken! Is that fair?"
"What? Such a thing happened?"
"You can know someone's face but not their heart. Some people look honest, but they've been using their positions to skim off profits all along, you just didn't know it!"
"The person above has a dirty mind. I still think Commander Zhou wouldn't do such a thing. What can these few photos prove? Perhaps it was a normal transaction?"
"Look at those vans, they were acting suspiciously. Neither weapons nor essentials, what kind of normal transaction could that be?"
"Even if he managed the base impeccably, that's on the surface. He might have been upright before, but in this world, with tight supplies and weapons, even if he secretly wanted to monopolize medicine and make a profit, it's only human nature. In the apocalypse, people change…"
"Wow, so many people were supporting that Little Aro earlier, and it turns out she's like this. How does that backstab feel? Hahahaha—"
More often than not, people tend to believe "hidden" secrets over the truth. Human curiosity drives them to flock towards "behind-the-scenes" stories. Although there were still some who defended Luo Xiaole, many hearts were wavering, believing that regardless of her strength, she was someone who hoarded and sold medicine, profiting from disaster.
Yet, it was difficult for her to prove her innocence, as both collecting medicinal ingredients and her transactions with Zhou Shoushan involved the secrets of her system.
"Tsk… playing this game…" Luo Xiaole scoffed dismissively. She wasn't in a hurry to prove herself. After all, with such a premeditated conspiracy, it would be too passive if she didn't unearth the person behind it. Zhou Shoushan himself wouldn't do this.
So, who else had a grudge against her and dared to act so brazenly? She could only think of Zhou Kaifeng, Qin Mingyang, and the Azure Dragon Gang… But could the Azure Dragon Gang obtain surveillance videos from the past month so quickly? It wasn't possible they had infiltrated this far… Besides, Cheng Miao's style suggested direct action rather than a smear campaign.
The answer was clear. Who else could have been watching her from the beginning and confirmed her recent situation in secret? Besides Qin Mingyang, who else could it be? And today, he had conspired with Zhou Kaifeng for this move. It seemed young Qin Mingyang hadn't been idle lately…
Everyone watched in astonishment as Luo Xiaole finished her bun and pulled out a bag of dried fish, their jaws dropping!
"Grandma, why aren't you worried at all!"
"They came prepared, they must have more tricks up their sleeves!"
"Why should I be worried?" Luo Xiaole grinned. "Do we lack housing? Food? Weapons? Medicine? Buffs? What do we lack?" she asked soulfully. "Will people stop coming to my shop because of this? We have medicine, but others are in short supply. If they don't come to buy medicine, is it my loss or theirs?" She struck a nerve again…
"…" The others instantly understood… Because they lacked nothing, they stood so tall and proud! This was quite clear, wasn't it…
"Hehehe…" Luo Shu suddenly smirked. "They're trying to create a medicine shortage in the base, but they didn't realize that Xiaole wouldn't be short on medicine at all. Instead, because other places have no medicine, even more people will come to Xiaole to buy it…"
A playful smile also appeared in the eyes of the others. "These people have truly shot themselves in the foot…"