Chapter 25: The Alliance’s Conspiracy

As soon as the alliance assembly ended, the Gu siblings hurried home.

There were many people, and since it was their first meeting, discussions were heated with many matters needing to be settled. But the efficiency was low.

Then came the so-called mobilization speeches. Each of the three newly appointed commanders delivered long-winded monologues—boring and useless, mostly complaints about the butler department.

By the time it finally ended, it was already dark outside…

Normally, the Gu siblings and Mu Jiu would meet for dinner around 5:30 PM.

Now, it was nearly 7.

When the siblings reached the gate of their villa, they saw Mu Jiu walking out, arms full of things.

“I experimented with making a rose-scented milk tea today. I thought it turned out pretty good, so I brought some for you to try!”

The siblings quickly helped take the items from her and the three of them entered Villa 048 together.

Warm air greeted them.

In the center of the villa’s living room stood a 40 cm tall stone fire pit.

A while ago, Gu Yang had gone into the mountains and brought back large stones. After carefully shaping them, he built a circular pit about a meter wide.

Just like how Mu Jiu’s home kept its fireplaces burning all day, the fire here never went out either.

Even when the siblings were away, they would stack enough firewood inside to keep it burning.

This kept the room warm and the bedding and floors dry—making life much more comfortable and illness less likely.

“Big Sis, today the people living in the villas of the hot spring resort officially formed their own Resistance Alliance, meant to oppose the butler department!” Gu Yang said excitedly, scratching his head. “Just like you guessed, they really tried to elect me as the overall commander because of you.

The intention was too obvious, so I firmly declined. I didn’t want to bring you trouble.

In the end, they chose Lu Ming—the guy who organized the assembly—as commander. He’s around 30. I haven’t interacted with him much before, but he must be somewhat capable to organize everyone like this.

And the uncle living next to you—his name’s Lou Zheng—was elected as deputy commander.

About that, I need to apologize to you first, Sis!

Sorry, I might’ve mentioned something, and now that uncle might come looking for you…”

“It’s fine. Let him come—I won’t respond,” Mu Jiu said calmly.

She had observed the whole thing and knew it wasn’t Gu Yang’s fault. That neighbor uncle was the one who provoked things.

Originally, she had a bit of goodwill toward that family because of the neighbor girl and her mother. But now, that goodwill was completely shattered by the father and son.

“You guys had a four- or five-hour meeting. Did you come up with a timeline or plan to fight back?” Mu Jiu asked casually.

Gu Nuan immediately replied, “Sis, you don’t even know—those old geezers are so rigid!

The entire afternoon, aside from electing leaders, was just a huge complaint session about everything the butler department has done. No actual plans were discussed at all.

It felt less like a resistance alliance and more like a complaint festival. Total waste of time and energy.

Would’ve been more productive if I just went to chop more firewood!

The worst part is they want us to meet every three days, and on the mountain no less. Let’s hope the next meeting isn’t as chaotic and useless!”

But then—on the third day after Gu Nuan’s rant—the second official meeting of the alliance was held…

And once again, it turned into a giant complaint session.

Then, the three commanders made a shocking proposal—

Every family in the alliance was to hand over half of all their supplies to the alliance.

These supplies would be pooled and redistributed to address food shortages in certain villas.

They framed it as “mutual aid,” claiming it would strengthen unity within the alliance.

Immediately, several families declared they were withdrawing from the alliance.

Damn it—so this was a trap to exploit people right from the start? How was this any different from the butler department’s “protection fees”?

At least the butlers took small amounts over time—slowly bleeding you dry.

But the alliance? They wanted half your resources right out the gate. Even robbers weren’t this bold.

The Gu siblings remained still. Aside from a mountain of frozen fish and a few foraged goods, they had virtually nothing to give.

Surprisingly, the commanders didn’t beg anyone to stay.

They simply said: those willing to resist with the alliance were welcome to stay. Those who wanted to continue groveling under the butlers could leave.

Around 20 people walked out, leaving about 60 remaining.

The meeting continued—still just complaints. No one discussed actual strategies for resisting the butler department.

Gu Nuan was so fed up, she was about to storm off when Gu Yang stopped her.

In a low voice, he said, “Guess why the commanders proposed that insane supply-sharing idea?”

“Isn’t it just to steal everyone’s resources?” Gu Nuan was confused.

“Think again. Who were the people that left?”

“The ones who didn’t want to get exploited?”

“Silly girl—they were the ones with lots of supplies. If someone didn’t have much, why would they care about sharing?” Gu Yang explained.

“Wait… are you saying the commanders wanted to smoke out the people with the most supplies… and then…”

Gu Nuan suddenly covered her mouth. The deeper she thought, the scarier it became. What were they planning?

“Exactly. Those who walked out effectively declared themselves ‘non-members’ of the alliance.

So if the commanders later choose to ‘eliminate’ those outsiders, there’ll be no objections from within.

Their leftover supplies would then be absorbed into the alliance. Everyone wins. Two birds with one stone,” Gu Yang said.

In other words, this Resistance Alliance was a one-way death trap.

They were never really planning to fight the butler department. Their goal was to create a new power structure—one that would eventually replace the butler department.

No wonder their sister never joined—she didn’t want to get dragged into this mess, used as a pawn, and then discarded when her usefulness ran out.

At the end of the meeting, the three commanders announced that starting that night, they would begin house-to-house inventory checks and collect supplies accordingly.

They even held a vote on the spot to select a 12-person logistics team to handle collection and transport…

Supplies would supposedly be fairly redistributed after the next formal meeting.

What a masterful bit of shady politics.

Gu Yang said nothing. As soon as the meeting ended, he pulled his sister and rushed down the mountain.

But just a few steps later, they were stopped by Lou Zheng—their neighbor.

“Gu Yang, just a heads-up—your place will be the first stop for the commanders and logistics team tonight. Be ready. Don’t hide anything!”