The proprietress clearly felt guilty, and her expression turned panicked under the gazes of the crowd.
She was accustomed to being in charge, and things usually went according to her plans.
But this young woman before her not only didn't resist the search of their bags but was also cooperating.
Yesterday, her daughter had told her that this woman had nothing on her, and she hadn't believed it. She hadn't expected it to be true.
Now, this person suddenly stepped forward, wanting to search her lodging. She hadn't finished cleaning up the things she had stolen yesterday.
Not to mention, not just supplies, but also some unsavory items.
At this moment, the man who had lost his supplies, sitting next to the proprietress, heard this, glanced at Xu An, and added his agreement.
"That's right, Proprietress. After us brothers said our supplies were missing this morning, you enthusiastically told us to take guns and drag everyone out of your inn to be searched one by one. How come when it comes to you, you're stammering?"
The man, who was already fierce-looking, suddenly changed his tone, his voice rising, making him appear even more sharp.
"Or do you think we brothers are now fewer in number, and you look down on me?"
Upon hearing this, the proprietress began to sweat profusely. "My dear sir, what are you talking about? I was helping you find your things this morning and preparing breakfast for you. I've been busy all morning. Not only are you not thanking me, but you're also suspecting me now?"
"If I had stolen it, why would I have so brazenly let you search everyone? Don't you think so, my good sir? I've offended so many people for you, how can you be so ungrateful?"
The proprietress feigned a wronged expression. On her dried, cracked face, she forced out a few tears of a physiological nature, looking accusingly at the man, her eyes holding a subtle hint of seduction.
The man looked at her with disgust. The proprietress appeared to be around 35 years old. Before the apocalypse, with good care, she could have been considered a woman of charm.
But now, her withered figure, her emaciated legs, and the sagging skin and sallow hair due to long-term imbalanced diet made her utterly unappealing.
Not to mention that the proprietress, with such a face, was making faces at a man who suspected her, which backfired spectacularly.
"Proprietress, are your eyes twitching? I said, we just want to check your lodging. We're not asking you to take out all your possessions for us to inspect one by one. This is already an exception for you. So many of us can be checked, so why can't you be special and refuse?"
Facing the man's blunt remarks, many in the crowd let out lewd laughter.
"Yes, Proprietress, so many of us were called down and obediently accepted the search. Even if we had urgent matters and were rushing to leave, you locked us in here and tried your best to cooperate. Now that you can't find anything on us, it's only you left."
Many of the people staying here had been tricked into coming by the proprietress and her eccentric little daughter.
In the apocalypse, people's hearts were unfathomable, but people still held a trace of their last bit of innocence.
That's why they were willing to believe a "kind" mother who was raising her child alone.
But when they woke up that morning, they were all stunned. The only door in the hall was secured with an iron lock as thick as an arm. They couldn't open the lock even with bullets.
Then, the proprietress, who had been kind and benevolent yesterday, had changed like a different person today, becoming sharp and mean.
She said someone had lost their belongings yesterday, and now a search was to be conducted.
Because the group who lost the items had weapons, everyone dared not act rashly and cooperated, obediently taking out their supplies for inspection.
But in the apocalypse, the capital for survival was supplies. During the intervals of mutual inspection, several single girls had already been targeted.
They looked like sheep exposed in the apocalypse, alone and carrying a large amount of supplies.
The key point was that they were good-looking.
These girls hated the proprietress and the group of men who had threatened them with guns to cooperate.
Now, seeing the proprietress cornered and asked to have her lodging searched, they felt an opportunity for revenge had arrived.
"Proprietress, you weren't like this when you were advising us just now. Didn't you tell us to be generous?"
"That's right. Didn't you say it was just a search to see if anyone had lost anything? We all cooperated with the search, and you're so resistant. If the things weren't stolen by yourself, then you are guilty of theft, right?"
As the girls pressed their questions, people kept moving closer to the proprietress.
It was as if they were all venting their anger. Even the somewhat attractive woman who had wanted to argue with Xu An and was huddled in someone's arms.
At this moment, she was waiting with a mocking expression for the proprietress to be exposed.
"I'll take you there, but my yard is not clean! You all need to be careful. If you die here, it's not my responsibility!"
At this moment, the proprietress suddenly spoke. Her expression was one of desperation, and she glared fiercely in Xu An's direction.
"I want her to go with me!"
"I don't want to!"
Xu An refused without a second thought. It was a joke. Usually, in such situations, the ones who went ahead were the ones who died.
She had lived through it once before.
She wasn't going to do something like sacrificing herself, especially when it wasn't her things that were lost.
Hearing Xu An's refusal, the proprietress resorted to being unreasonable.
"I want her to go with me, otherwise, I won't take you there. Even if you kill me, you won't be able to open this door."
The people around them, seeing that it was none of their business, all adopted a hands-off approach. The righteous posture of intimidating the proprietress shifted to Xu An.
It was like a freeze-frame in a movie, but the target had changed to Xu An.
Zhou Haimei saw the crowd approaching them, drew her long saber, and looked fiercely at the surrounding people.
But her heart was also pounding. There were too many opponents. No matter how skilled she and Xu An were, and how good they were at close-quarters combat.
They were only two people after all, and even the best fighters couldn't face a crowd. Especially since they were just two women.
Xu An also saw the other party's worry. In this situation, she had no choice but to compromise.
She took Zhou Haimei's hand and whispered in her ear.
"Mei-jie, you go first and find the proprietress's little daughter. I suspect this group is more than just a shady inn. I'll go with the proprietress first. Do you remember the signal flare? If anything goes wrong, fire it immediately. I'll bring these people to you!"