Cave Refuge-Chapter 142 - 141: Malice of the Eldest of the Li Family_1

Upon hearing that Ye Liuyun had brought back saltpeter, the head of the Li family stayed put here, awaiting his return, with the intention of urging him to continue accumulating more of it.

Even though Ye Liuyun returned with several wooden boxes, they only held a little over seventy kilograms of the actual saltpeter. The other boxes contained other items.

Despite engaging in conversation with others, the head of the Li family never took his eyes off the entrance. As soon as he saw Ye Liuyun walk in through the entrance, he immediately ended his conversation with the people around him and headed straight towards Ye Liuyun.

Perhaps due to his limited interactions with Dong Tianyu, it wasn’t until the head of the Li family neared them that he recognized the man standing next to Ye Liuyun was Dong Tianyu.

Upon confirming it was Dong Tianyu, he grew incredibly excited, "Dong Tianyu, I didn’t expect to run into you here. I’ve had a hard time looking for you."

Realising how enthusiastically the head of the Li family greeted him, Dong Tianyu immediately remembered what Ye Liuyun had told him - they certainly wanted him to procure saltpeter.

Just as he expected, even before Dong Tianyu could respond to his greeting, the head of the Li family voiced his request, "I’m older than you, so addressing you by your given name should be acceptable.

The saltpeter that you gathered last time brought some relief to the survivors in the sweltering heat, which everyone greatly appreciated.

However, we can’t solely focus on ourselves. As the proverb goes, ’he who is successful should help others’. So, we have given part of the saltpeter that you brought in to the decision-makers, allowing them to distribute it to other refugees in order to reduce their chances of heatstroke.

But let me admit that we made a miscalculation here at the Command Headquarters - after we submitted a portion of the saltpeter, we found it insufficient to meet the daily needs here in the West City District.

So now, on behalf of the West City District Headquarters, I beseech you - we hope you can bring us another batch of saltpeter."

If earlier Ye Liuyun hadn’t informed Dong Tianyu of all the ins and outs related to this situation.

Upon hearing these words from the head of the Li family, Dong Tianyu might have believed him since, after all, you can reuse saltpeter for making ice.

Having slightly more or less only affects the speed of ice formation. Given the continually rising temperatures, separating saltpeter from water becomes the easiest and the most cost-effective thing to do.

As long as you throw away the saltpeter water, it naturally separates within a day or two without any human intervention.

But the head of the Li family, with his high-ranking position, made the same statement sound completely different from anyone else’s.

However, since his parents lived here, Dong Tianyu couldn’t outright reject him. Instead, he casually asked, "Prices for saltpeter outside are skyrocketing. Being able to procure so much last time was pure luck.

In the future, if we want to buy saltpeter from others, the cost will be high. I wonder what we can offer for exchange."

Hearing Dong Tianyu ask for equivalent supplies, the head of the Li family’s face instantly changed as he rebuked harshly, "At this point, you’re still trying to take advantage of the officials with no sense of the bigger picture.

Tianyu, don’t worry, I’ll arrange some special ops team members to accompany you. If you find anyone who has stored saltpeter... 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

You engage with them first. If they show a sense of the bigger picture, the Command Headquarters will compensate them.

But if they turn out to be selfish, you don’t need to trouble yourself with it - there will be people teaching them to do the right thing."

Not just Dong Tianyu, but even Ye Liuyun, who was observing quietly to the side, was taken aback after hearing what the head of the Li family said.

Has the head of the Li family gone mad? Sugar coating it, it sounds like he’s arranging a few special ops team members to help Dong Tianyu gather saltpeter in West City District. But if we call it as it is, we can say he’s monitoring Dong Tianyu.

If it is only for the saltpeter, then so be it. But the first thing that came to Ye Liuyun’s mind was that the head of the Li family wanted to investigate Dong Tianyu.

Frankly, after dealing with him for so long, Ye Liuyun didn’t really know which refuge center Dong Tianyu stayed in. Apart from Dong Tianyu visiting him actively, they only met everyone else by chance. Dong Tianyu was really good at keeping his refuge center location secretive.

Considering the most frequent items in Dong Tianyu’s deals were Reed Chicken and Reed Chicken eggs, his refuge center must be considerably large. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to allocate an area for poultry farming - they may be small in size, but in large numbers take up a lot of space.

Ye Liuyun had previously deployed people to scout most of the refuge centers in Pengcheng, but none of them matched his speculations.

What Ye Liuyun could think of, the head of the Li family definitely could too. Moreover, the head of the Li family, who could mobilize official resources, might have been more thorough.

Nevertheless, the head of the Li family still had not found out where Dong Tianyu usually stayed. So this time, arranging people to follow Dong Tianyu was not only so that they could procure more saltpeter through Dong Tianyu’s connections but also to dig deeper into Dong Tianyu’s situation.

Dong Tianyu quickly understood the latter’s intention after thinking over the head of the Li family’s arrangement for a moment.

He never expected the head of the Li family to stoop so low. Not only did he want to take advantage of Dong Tianyu’s connections to get free saltpeter but also wanted to find out the location of his regular refuge center.

If Dong Tianyu really had collaborative channels, this meddling from the head of the Li family would push everyone else away.

Even if Dong Tianyu decided to stay in this refuge center just to protect his channels and residential location from exposure, it was no loss to them. After all, they only tasked a few special ops team members to watch Dong Tianyu.

If they had no task to monitor, the West City District Command Headquarters would still need to take care of their daily necessities. So, whether or not Dong Tianyu left was irrelevant to the head of the Li family – this was just a casual arrangement for him.

Even now, the head of the Li family places his hopes on Ye Liuyun - one, because the old Mr. Taylor still lives here. Apart from Robinson William, there are many members in the West City District Command Post who are in complex relationships with the Taylor family, who won’t easily leave the Command Post.

Secondly, regardless of anything, Ye Liuyun’s network of resources is here and that he can still procure saltpeter at this point shows his resourcefulness, irrespective of how much saltpeter he brought this time.

Even though Dong Tianyu contributed three hundred kilograms of saltpeter at one-go, it made the head of the Li family speculate that the saltpeter was likely procured from the same place or person.

That source of saltpeter was probably a fluke, and it would be hard for Dong Tianyu to get fresh supplies of it.

If Dong Tianyu could bring saltpeter again, the highest probability was that when he contributed last time, he didn’t give away all of his saltpeter. He might still have saltpeter stored in his regular underground refuge center, which is why the head of the Li family is keen on finding out where Dong Tianyu’s regular refuge center is.