Chapter 348: Chapter 338: Got Laborers

"Qiao Jin, your parents are so good to you..."

After the principal finished reading, the onlookers scrambled to pass the letter around. They had been trapped here for so long and were desperate for any news from the outside world.

A silence fell over the crowd after they read the letter.

Tang Mo had expected the man-eating monsters mentioned in the letter to frighten everyone. But to her surprise, they were more concerned about the fact that Qiao Jin’s parents could still send her food and a letter under these circumstances.

More than anything, what they truly cared about was the concern from their own parents.

With no news for so long, their hearts pounded with anxiety. ’Have our parents already given up on us?’

The girl who spoke sounded dejected, her head lowered.

Her voice lacked its usual sharp, cutting tone, replaced by envy and a hint of grievance.

They were all just sixteen- or seventeen-year-old kids. After experiencing such a huge disaster and being away from home for so long, even though they all forced themselves to joke and laugh every day without saying a word about it, not a single one of them didn’t miss home.

"Qiao Jin, what are you going to do with all this food?"

The speaker was a boy Tang Mo recognized. When his package had been found earlier, he had shared it with everyone.

Maybe because he was a boy, he didn’t get involved in cliques. Qiao Jin had also eaten some of this boy’s food. Now that he had asked so bluntly, Tang Mo found herself admiring him.

"Let’s all eat it together."

Tang Mo had far too many supplies stockpiled in her cave. She wasn’t particularly concerned about resources right now. She only cared about two things.

One was the painting, and the other was getting out.

"Everyone can eat?"

Dozens of people surrounded Tang Mo and the package, staring at her. Many of them had never shared their own food with Qiao Jin.

But food was too scarce now, and no one wanted to go hungry.

’But will Qiao Jin really share this food with us?’

"Mhm, but you have to do me a favor."

As someone who came from a cruel world, Tang Mo didn’t really think much of the fact that those students hadn’t shared food with Xiao Jin.

And now, she really did have a favor to ask of everyone.

At noon, the school’s teachers used the food from the package Qiao Jin’s father had thrown to prepare a big meal.

It was called a "big meal," but it was really just enough to let all the students eat their fill. Under the current circumstances, getting a full stomach was no easy feat. It had been a long time since any of them had eaten until they were completely satisfied.

"Eat up, everyone. There’s more if this isn’t enough."

Tang Mo moved through the crowd, urging everyone to eat more and not be shy.

Seeing Qiao Jin act this way, many of the students, both boys and girls, were so moved their eyes turned red.

’What a good person Qiao Jin is! She was treated so badly before, yet now she’s so concerned for everyone. Not only did she share her food, but she’s even personally encouraging us to eat more.’

’What kind of selfless, altruistic spirit is this? Repaying injury with kindness!’

With red-rimmed eyes and tears welling up, they ate Qiao Jin’s food. In their hearts, they silently went from hating her to being neutral, and from neutral to being fans, lighting up imaginary fan signs for her.

Even the principal watched Qiao Jin, nodding repeatedly. With his hands behind his back, the admiration in his eyes was about to overflow.

"As expected of a girl from the Qiao Family. Truly outstanding."

If Tang Mo knew what everyone was thinking right now, she wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She wasn’t urging them to eat for their sake, but because only those with full stomachs could work properly. After all, she was going to round them up for manual labor in the afternoon. How could they possibly do it if they had no energy?

Zhang Siyang sat off to one side, sullenly eating the porridge made from Qiao Jin’s rice, her eyes filled with venomous resentment.

’They eat one meal from Qiao Jin and suddenly they’re all fawning over her with gratitude?’

’When they were eating my food, I never saw them acting like a bunch of lapdogs. Ungrateful wretches. A petty person gets her moment in the sun. Hmph.’

In a way, what Zhang Siyang was thinking wasn’t wrong.

But she had probably forgotten how she had blacklisted dozens of people, and even more so, how she had acted for days after everyone ate her food—speaking to them with the haughty arrogance of a princess.

Tang Mo was now sharing with enthusiasm, whereas Zhang Siyang had been a princess bestowing charity upon beggars. Naturally, the students’ attitudes were different.

In the afternoon, Tang Mo led everyone, teachers and students alike, to the tunnel entrance.

"My god, Qiao Jin, you didn’t dig this, did you?"

"No way! How could one person dig something like this? It must have already been here!"

Everyone stared in amazement at the hole in the mountainside. It was seven or eight meters deep—this was no simple task. How could Qiao Jin possibly have done this all by herself?

"This is the tunnel entrance. It’s our most likely way out. What I need you all to do is help me move all the rubble out of this tunnel. This isn’t just to help me—once this tunnel is cleared, everyone can go home sooner."

This was the reason Tang Mo had brought them here: to help her carry out the rubble from the tunnel.

The Spiritual Power Air Bomb was incredibly useful; it could precisely blast the hole deeper and deeper.

But while she had a hole, the rubble inside wouldn’t grow legs and run out on its own.

It was too exhausting and troublesome for Tang Mo to move all these rocks by herself. With the help of these hundred-or-so people, things would go much faster.

Although these people were normally pampered and didn’t have much strength, the tunnel opening wasn’t very large, and their sheer numbers would make up for it.

Even if each person moved just one rock, that was over a hundred rocks, which was much faster than Tang Mo moving them alone.

"Everyone line up and go in one by one. Let’s start now."

Tang Mo had already started giving orders. The sooner they started, the sooner they’d finish. Her time was very tight right now.

"Qiao Jin, this is a bit much, isn’t it? How can we possibly dig through an entire mountain ourselves? We should just wait for people on the outside to dig."

Because they had eaten Qiao Jin’s food at noon, no one felt any hostility toward her now, but they still had some reservations about digging through the mountain.

’We can just wait for the rescue team. Do we really need to dig ourselves?’

"People from the outside? It’s been so long. If people from the outside were really going to dig a tunnel to save us, would they have stopped sending us food?"

The speaker was the same boy who had first asked Tang Mo if she would share the food.

He was also the first one to line up and enter as Tang Mo had instructed.

The others fell silent after hearing what the boy said.

’He’s right. If they were really going to save us, they wouldn’t have stopped sending food.’

’Without food, we would’ve starved to death long ago. How could we possibly wait for a rescue?’

’In reality, there is no rescue coming, is there?’

It was a simple truth, but people always preferred to run from facts they didn’t want to accept, choosing instead to deceive themselves.

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