"Food. Hand over all your food, and only then can you leave here," Gan Xiong demanded aggressively.

Zhou Zhisheng’s face changed dramatically upon hearing this, and he tugged hard at Liu Cunyi’s sleeve.

Liu Cunyi wasn’t stupid; he certainly wouldn’t agree to such a condition.

So he spoke up, "Director Gan, then we won’t leave."

"Huh???" Zhou Zhisheng was dumbfounded, looking at Liu Cunyi in disbelief.

This had never been discussed with him beforehand.

What the hell.....

Liu Cunyi was gambling, betting that Gan Xiong actually wanted them to leave.

Leaving their own factories and industries behind, as well as some leftover products in the factories.

For Liu Cunyi and his people, carrying these things was a heavy burden; moving them before Doomsday would have been easier, but in this apocalyptic world, taking so many things with them was unrealistic.

They only took most of the dried fruit products from the factory, leaving a small portion to placate Gan Xiong.

Gan Xiong was briefly stunned for a second upon hearing Liu Cunyi’s words.

But he quickly regained his composure, and Liu Cunyi keenly noticed this moment.

On the other side, Zhou Zhisheng quickly caught on as well.

Aligning with Liu Cunyi, he said, "Director Gan, your request is difficult to meet. If that’s the case, our Zhou Family won’t leave either."

Gan Xiong stared intently at the two, trying to glean any clues from their faces.

He was weighing the pros and cons.

If he agreed with them now, he could immediately gain control over both families’ industries and products, and withdraw the personnel monitoring them. Once the two families left, the Western Alliance would be under his sole control, and he would become the absolute ruler here.

Moreover, the base they built with the resources from these two families was now completed, so their departure would give him more space.

On the other hand. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

If he insisted on them handing over their food, and they really stayed, he wouldn’t trust them and would have to keep monitoring them. If another Zombie Tide erupted, these two families would be an unstable element, and if another theft occurred, it would be intolerable for Gan Xiong.

It’s not an overly powerful enemy you fear, but an internal ally causing trouble.

Comparing these scenarios, agreeing with them seemed to be the optimal choice.

All these thoughts occurred in just a moment.

Gan Xiong couldn’t deny he was a hero; he didn’t squeeze more benefits out of the situation, but his conduct was still impeccable on the surface.

So he smiled and said, "Since you both have better prospects and development, I can’t stop you. If you want to leave, then leave. But if you can’t make it outside, you can always come back."

Gan Xiong’s nice words were articulated well, giving them a way back in case they couldn’t survive outside.

But Liu Cunyi and Zhou Zhisheng weren’t fools. They knew very well why they could get in before Doomsday — they had invested significant resources.

During their two years in the Western Alliance, their living space was constantly squeezed.

Food, manpower, bullets, etc., they paid a lot.

They were heavily exploited by Gan Xiong.

They were businessmen, after all. Businessmen never do losing deals.

....

Liu Cunyi exhaled a sigh of relief upon hearing Gan Xiong’s words.

Exchanging glances with Zhou Zhisheng, their eyes were a little excited.

Then he said, "Alright, Director Gan, we’ll leave our industries to you. We’ll leave today."

Gan Xiong chuckled, "Good, feel free to come to me if you run into trouble."

Zhou Zhisheng felt a wave of disgust in his heart, come find you....

It would be great if you didn’t consume us completely.

That old fox!

But having achieved their goal, they were still very pleased, and needed to do the surface work properly.

"Absolutely, absolutely."

....

——

Not feeling well today, just one Chapter.

I’ll make it up tomorrow with at least three Chapters, over fifteen thousand words.

Thanks for everyone’s support~~