Cave Refuge

After all, humans are social creatures, and the vast majority are unable to fend entirely for themselves.

When both of his parents had left the house, Zachary didn’t stick around for long, heading straight for Madeline’s cabin.

It must be said that Madeline truly had foresight, having chosen to live alone on the edge of the camp back when it was still small, rather than staying with Master Ye and the others.

The house that was once in a corner of the camp had now transformed into a hot commodity within the inner circle.

When Zachary arrived at Madeline’s place, Madeline was still not awake. Zachary did not intend to wake him and simply sat down on a wooden chair in the living room.

As for why he entered the house without opening the door, it was simply because Madeline hadn’t locked the door. Nowadays, there were no locks like before the catastrophe, and if you wanted to lock a door, you could only use a wooden latch like in ancient times.

However, this contraption was only useful for keeping out the honest folks, not the thieves. Even a Martial Artist at the Body Tempering Realm could easily push open a door that was barred with a wooden latch, should they wish to.

It wasn’t long after Zachary arrived that Robinson William also came. Seeing Zachary sitting alone on the wooden chair daydreaming, he knew his younger brother probably hadn’t woken up yet.

So, Robinson William didn’t indulge him, heading straight to the second floor of the wooden cabin and dragged Madeline out of the quilt.

Despite the comfortable temperature, Madeline was still startled when suddenly pulled from the bed and, in a daze, upon seeing Robinson William, suddenly remembered the appointment he had made with his brother the night before during dinner.

It was just that Madeline hadn’t had a comfortable sleep in so long that, after lying down in bed last night, he had forgotten all about it.

In a daze, after confirming that it was indeed his brother pulling him, Madeline said somewhat confusedly, "Brother, aren’t you a bit early? We agreed to meet up this morning, just calling me won’t work, Zachary might not be awake yet like me."

Hearing Madeline speak, Robinson William retorted irritably, "When I arrived, Zachary was already sitting in the living room. You think everyone is as lazy as you, like a pig, not getting out of bed even when the sun shines on their behinds?"

Startled by his brother’s words, Madeline suddenly shivered, "What? Zachary is already here?"

After shaking his head and rubbing his face, he then went downstairs with Robinson William to meet Zachary.

As for brushing teeth and washing your face?

Although Madeline had the means to obtain toothpaste if he really wanted to, toothpaste production had stopped, and even if you managed to get some, it couldn’t be wasted on brushing your teeth.

In times of disaster, if you come across toothpaste, don’t use it to brush your teeth. Keep it instead. It can treat the redness and swelling caused by mosquito bites and has some effect in stopping bleeding and reducing bruises.

As for washing your face, the camp might not lack drinking water, but that was pretty much it. The existing wells were only sufficient for less than five hundred people, but now the camp’s population had suddenly exceeded ten thousand.

Until a new source of water had been secured, saving water had become a very important matter of certainty.

Nowadays, if you wanted water, you had to go to the well to collect it. Not only was there a limit on the amount each person could claim each day, but you also couldn’t accumulate a few days’ worth and collect it all at once.

Luckily, there were water carts delivering water to various collection points, making it convenient for survivors to collect water and avoiding the need to have someone specifically queue up for daily water use.

After coming down and seeing Zachary in the living room as his brother had said, Madeline greeted Zachary with a big stretch and a yawn, "Zachary, why are you so early today? Have you had breakfast?"

"If you’re treating, I can eat a little more."

Hearing Zachary’s response, Madeline chuckled, "If you’ve eaten, then forget it, but if not, starve with me until noon.

Since there aren’t any fridges at home now, I distributed all the food before I left, because in ten days’ time, even if we kept it, I guess it would have all gone bad by now."

Hearing Ye Liuyun’s explanation, Zachary just gave a very perfunctory "Hmm."

"Alright, I know you two might have skipped breakfast, so I brought a little something for you both."

Having said that, Robinson William pulled out a box from under the table, which contained several steamed buns made with white flour. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The white-flour steamed buns, which were inconspicuous before the disaster, had now become even more precious than braised pork.

Seeing Robinson William take out a whole plateful of steamed buns all at once, Zachary casually ate one and then did not continue to eat any more.

If one does not understand the current value of steamed buns, they could think of the status of king crab before the disaster.

It’s not that ordinary people couldn’t afford it, but for them, it was fine to use it to entertain friends. However, very few people would go out of their way to buy it just to satisfy their own taste buds.

Though they were so familiar with each other and considering their assets, they wouldn’t care too much even if they ate all the steamed buns, but it wasn’t a matter of the value of the items; it was a matter of etiquette.

Seeing that Zachary had stopped eating after one steamed bun, Ye Liuyun did not insist on offering more, but instead quickened his own pace of eating and swiftly finished his breakfast.

After putting the remaining steamed buns back into the box under the table, Ye Liuyun wiped his mouth and said, "Done, let’s talk serious matters."

"You must have noticed when you came back yesterday that the camp has already undergone two expansions since you left.

Because of the merger with the military camp, after we gained a stronger defense team, my special forces team turned into the Patrol Office responsible only for internal security within the camp.

Luckily, before you left, Zachary, you didn’t keep your rewards to exchange later. If you hadn’t exchanged your rewards in time, even if you went to find Rylan now, trying to redeem them would become very difficult."

Hearing Robinson William speak like that, Zachary and Ye Liuyun showed curious expressions on their faces.

Before the two left, Rylan was the head of logistics, and everything in the warehouses of the camp, whether weapons ammunition or food supplies, private or public transactions, required his approval.

But judging by Robinson William’s tone just now, had Rylan lost his influence?

Seeing their gaze toward him, Robinson William guessed what they were thinking, but knowing their guess was wrong, he immediately explained, "With the merger of the camps, Rylan hasn’t lost power; on the contrary, his authority has only grown.

However, because several camps have merged, the logistics department has been split into two: logistics for combat readiness materials and logistics for living support materials.

The logistics for combat readiness materials is easy to understand; all materials directly related to combat fall under this category.

Materials not directly related to the fight are known as living support materials.

While the department responsible for living support materials might not seem powerful, in reality, its authority is extensive.

The weapons ammunition Zachary chose last time would, under normal circumstances, certainly be considered combat readiness materials. Now, the logistics officer in charge of managing these materials hails from the original military camp’s logistics division.

The current logistics officer has no real connection with us. Additionally, there is a standing committee above him. If you were to exchange rewards now, let alone the uncertainty of the exchange, your father would definitely get wind of it, complicating matters quite a bit.

And now, although Rylan has nominally lost some of his authority, his power has not decreased but rather increased as construction on the second ring of the camp has been successful, making his authority ever more practical.

So, if you are not exchanging for combat readiness materials, but only for living materials, then Rylan is the man to find.

However, with several camps just merging, everyone is in the process of settling their affairs. It’s best to keep a low profile for now. If you can avoid activity, do so, and ride out this storm before taking action."