Cave Refuge

Ever since substitute food appeared during the natural disaster, it had become the most commonly consumed item by the lower-tier survivors.

Substitute food was actually made from a variety of broken grains mixed with edible plant fibers like straw corn cores, which were then dried, crushed, and compressed into something resembling grain bricks.

In fact, substitute food was invented during the flood disaster, but after the flood ended and Pengcheng’s food supplies gradually met the survivors’ needs, these grain bricks disappeared.

Even the common grain bricks were basically made from a mixture of coarse grains and corn cores.

Initially, when ancient creatures had not appeared, many were hesitant about becoming Martial Artists. After all, to become a Martial Artist, besides having a cultivation manual, the most important thing was the need to consume a large amount of food every day.

Because becoming a Martial Artist required the consumption of a large amount of food, a significant proportion weighed their personal circumstances and ultimately gave up on pursuing this path voluntarily.

However, after the ancient creatures revived, everyone realized that with the cooperation of just three to five people, perfectly in sync, even ordinary humans could kill them when not facing more than three small ancient creatures at a time.

The appearance of the ancient creatures greatly reduced the difficulty for survivors to obtain meat, and as a result, many no longer hesitated and threw themselves wholeheartedly into cultivation.

Although the Hunting Team killed a large number of ancient creatures every day, providing plenty of meat, the ever-increasing base of Martial Artists also drove up the price of meat.

Fortunately, without freezing equipment, raw meat could generally only be stored for two to three days unless great efforts were made to dry it. Even if cooked in other ways, the shelf life could only be extended by two or three days at most.

Because of this, no merchants hoarded meat to drive up prices, keeping it affordable enough that ordinary people could buy it if they stretched their budgets.

While the price of vegetables might seem more expensive than ancient creature meat, in terms of replenishing bodily deficits, vegetables fell far behind.

Vegetables were expensive because most suitable land was planted with grains, and only a small area was allocated for fruits and vegetables.

Compared to the meat from abundant ancient creatures available daily, vegetables that took at least several months to harvest were undoubtedly much more precious.

At this time, as long as one was bold enough, three to five ordinary people could hunt down isolated small ancient creatures without injury, so buying meat in the camp was not too difficult.

Although meat was very beneficial for the Martial Artists’ cultivation, it was not of much help to Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Thompson, who were cultivators. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Moreover, after Dong Tianyu left, Father Dong and Mother Dong often attended various banquets, having had their fill of meat during these frequent gatherings, leading to predominantly light meals at home.

There wasn’t much news in the camp, and the only significant recent event was the merger of the camps.

The merged camp, due to the addition of many survivors, had a population not much smaller than that of an average village before the disaster.

Therefore, it was somewhat inappropriate to still call it a camp, and the executives were now discussing renaming it to a county town.

In the camp, excluding Elder Jefferson, the executive committee director, there were ten other executives. Two-thirds of them were from the original members of the elderly group, whereas the remaining third came from the military before the merger.

Besides the merger of the camps, there was another major event unknown to many, which was the emergence of a mutated Giant Scorpion, or what could be called the Giant Scorpion King.

Other Giant Scorpions could at most burrow and move underground, but the Giant Scorpion King could actually climb trees and had a strong jumping ability.

If it was just these changes, it wouldn’t really matter to the Martial Artists; after all, compared to the Bug Nest in Pengcheng that killed people silently and unnoticeably.

Giant Scorpions, being such obvious targets, would be discovered by Martial Artists from a distance, and without the advantage of a surprise attack, they posed no significant threat to them.

Even the mutant giant scorpions that could climb trees and lurk amongst the branches for ambush attacks had caused numerous casualties when they initially appeared because people did not understand their capabilities, so many fell victim to the stingers that descended from above.

But as more people became aware of the mutant giant scorpions, the number of Martial Artists dying from unexpected attacks decreased.

The reason why these mutant giant scorpions were called Giant Scorpion Kings was that no matter how many Hunting Teams were out hunting on any given day, only one team would be attacked by a mutant giant scorpion within the same day.

Although most encounters with a mutant giant scorpion did not always result in its slaying, according to the current intelligence, the mutation of the giant scorpion was likely not an individual anomaly but rather a communal one.

This manifested in a way that when a mutant giant scorpion died, another would be born again among the giant group.

While it seemed like the mutant giant scorpions were endlessly regenerating, for Martial Artists armed with firearms, killing them was not really that difficult.

Over dinner, Father Dong briefly described the current situation at the camp for himself and Mrs. Thompson.

As Mr. Thompson’s position gradually improved, their lives in the camp were now ten times better than before the catastrophe,

If given the choice, Father Dong and Mother Dong would probably not choose to return to their pre-disaster lives.

Because of improved communication between Pengcheng and the camp, Mr. Thompson also took the opportunity to search for his father-in-law and brother-in-law.

Although the earthquake caused significant damage to the buildings in Pengcheng, it wasn’t difficult to locate people since evacuations were organized by community units.

Due to the distance, Mrs. Thompson’s brother took Griffin Benjamin under the guidance of the community workers, relocating to the Bajianquan Tourist and Holiday Resort.

The situation there was pretty much the same as Moon Bay: originally just a village, it was transformed and turned into a tourist attraction due to pre-disaster new countryside development plans.

The specific circumstances of the father-in-law and brother-in-law were unclear, but it had been confirmed that the family was alive.

Once they learned of the whereabouts of Mrs. Thompson’s family, of course, Mr. Thompson also asked intermediaries to look after them, a matter readily agreed upon as it was not a difficult request.

Mr. Thompson knew that Mrs. Thompson, although she never mentioned it, certainly cared deeply about her father and brother, so as soon as he confirmed their status, he informed Mrs. Thompson about Griffin Benjamin’s current situation.

After hearing the news about her father and brother, Mrs. Thompson wanted to arrange a visit, but as soon as she voiced this wish, Mr. Thompson immediately stopped her.

Mr. Thompson was all too aware of the dangers outside. Although their son Zachary and Madeline often roamed about, Mr. Thompson, who was responsible for liaising with the military on assignment exchanges, knew better.

Whether it was Martial Artists going out alone or groups forming hunting teams, there were daily casualties; even the powerful military units would suffer losses from time to time after taking over special combat team hunting missions.

So, regarding the wilds, Mr. Thompson always maintained the highest level of caution - if he didn’t need to leave the camp, he definitely wouldn’t.

Mrs. Thompson said she could find connections for a safe journey, but even if a secure method of travel was found, the issue of returning remained. Surely one couldn’t misuse public resources,

and Mr. Thompson didn’t want to pull strings with Robinson William or ask the military for a couple of experts, although he was confident he had the connections to do so; after thinking it through, he eventually dismissed the idea.

Through persistent persuasion by Mr. Thompson, Mrs. Thompson finally agreed to wait for Zachary’s return and let him make the trip.

Zachary, who was in Kyoto at the time, had no idea about his parents’ arrangements for him in his absence.