Cave Refuge-Chapter 145 - 144: Clean and Peaceful Nameless Mountain_1
Through gritted teeth, Campbell Leo managed to hobble to a nearby Refuge Center, then traveled back to the Refugee Center at the People’s Square subway station through the underground network, where the West City District Headquarters was located.
When Lee Minghao saw Campbell Leo, he was so exhausted that he was about to faint. But before reporting on his mission, Campbell Leo forced himself to stay alert, trying not to succumb to sleep.
Seeing Campbell Leo in this exhausted state, Lee Minghao directly asked him: "Did you confirm the location of Dong Tianyu’s usual refuge center?"
"No, it seems the target knew he was being followed and kept leading us in circles. Not only that, but he seemed to have some special anti-tracking measures and can confirm the number of pursuers behind him.
After my teammates left, it seemed he got wind of this and perhaps didn’t want to waste time with me, so he suddenly sped up.
Due to my physical exhaustion, I couldn’t continue the tracking mission, so I had to end it halfway through, and also...".
Before Campbell Leo could finish speaking, he fainted, probably due to complete exhaustion.
Seeing this, Lee Minghao could only instruct the others: "Take him to the medical room. Ensure his physical health and try to prevent any complications." After speaking, Lee Minghao turned and left.
At this point, Lee Minghao knew he had not only offended Dong Tianyu, but the younger generation of the Elder Group would look down on him when they found out.
This situation was not something that could be kept hidden. While the special operations members he dispatched were not under Robinson William’s command, they were all part of the special operations team, and the fact they all needed to be sent to the medical room meant this couldn’t be kept under wraps.
But Lee Minghao could not help it, in this world of power play, even now, there are many others eyeing his position. Even with the Elder Group that his father maintained looking out for him, he still needed to show some achievements.
It should have been fine just maintaining the status quo, but the situation complicated quickly due to the dispute over the nitrate.
Handing over the nitrate would cause confusion in the West City District due to the inability to supply sufficient ice blocks.
But if he didn’t hand over the nitrate, he wouldn’t be able to explain it to his higher-ups.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Lee Minghao decided to hand over the nitrate first and then take it one step at a time.
After the nitrate was handed over, problems cropped up immediately in the various West City District refuges, which were used to frequent supplies. Many Refuge Centers experienced disturbances of varying degrees due to the reduced supply of ice blocks.
To maintain stability, the West City District Headquarters cut down their consumption of ice blocks and allocated them to other refuge centers instead.
But this meager increase in supplies was nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the other West City District refuges.
Having no other choice, Lee Minghao thought of the perpetrator of this incident, the original supplier of the nitrate - Dong Tianyu.
However, Dong Tianyu did not live in the Officials-controlled refuge centers, so Lee Minghao could not track his movements.
Fortunately, other than Dong Tianyu, there was another trader within the Elder Group’s network - Ye Liuyun.
But Ye Liuyun collected nitrate at a much slower pace, and at this time, other survivors also caught on. The already scarce nitrate was quickly snapped up, with what’s out on the market being as valuable as diamonds.
If he didn’t place such a high importance on the nitrate, Lee Minghao wouldn’t be waiting for Ye Liuyun to deliver goods at the entrance of the refuge center in the middle of the night.
However, due to this, his wait led to an unexpected harvest - he chanced upon Dong Tianyu.
Thinking of the information he’d gathered, Lee Minghao didn’t think highly of Dong Tianyu, believing he could easily manipulate him.
So he didn’t treat Dong Tianyu the same way he’d asked Ye Liuyun for help, offering rare items in exchange. Instead, he hoped to find out Dong Tianyu’s sources and ideally trace the entire supply chain.
If those people didn’t have any special backgrounds, this operation could significantly enrich the West City District’s warehouse.
When the time came, although Dong Tianyu would not be able to do business outside anymore, in recognition of his contributions to the West City District, Lee Minghao planned to give him a cushy position to retire in.
Lee Minghao, however, had not anticipated that his seemingly foolproof plan would stumble at the very first step.
The weather outside, as predicted by survivors, continued to rise day by day without any signs of cooling down.
Having experienced a Cold Catastrophe before, the survivors residing in the underground Refuge Center were fairly calm, even though life was a little hard.
While the Officials couldn’t ensure a comfortable life for the survivors, they could at least guarantee their survival.
Life may be hard, but it was infinitely better than during the Cold Catastrophe.
With their previous experience of surviving underground, this time the Pengcheng underground refuge centers managed to dig up biogas pools. Although the electricity generated wasn’t much, at least there was no shortage of lighting energy.
With the cooling effect of ice blocks, the temperature in most of Pengcheng’s underground refuge centers could generally be maintained at around thirty degrees.
Although this temperature still seemed high, compared to the sweltering heat outside that reached almost fifty degrees, it was bearable.
However, unlike the Cold Catastrophe, heatwaves brought not just high temperatures, but also an unpleasant smell.
To conserve water supplies, the survivors in the refugee centers were only given one basin of liquid for bathing each week.
This liquid appeared no different from clear water, but few knew the source of this water was quite revolting.
This liquid was actually obtained after multiple rounds of filtration from the items that should have been sent to the biogas pools.
Although it looked very clean and would pass chemical tests, those who knew its origin couldn’t help feeling a sense of disgust.
As the old saying goes, "What you don’t know won’t hurt you."
The more you know about some things, the more problems you’ll have. Sometimes, knowing less might actually free you from trouble.
Ignorance is bliss, indeed! 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Although he knew he was being tracked and that Lee Minghao was targeting him, Dong Tianyu’s tranquil life was not disturbed.
Living on Nameless Mountain far away from the City Center, the sweltering heat outside served as a natural barrier. The higher the temperature, the better the isolation effect.
As long as Dong Tianyu avoided provoking anyone, the chaos of the outside world would not affect him too much.
However, once back in his cave, Dong Tianyu, thinking about what he promised his mother, felt that now that he had reached the Foundation Building Stage, he could no longer let his younger brother suffer.
