Cave Refuge-Chapter 205 - 204: Disaster of the Private Sanctuary_1

Before the emergence of Martial Artists, the think tank of the great Xia had made calculations. According to the duration of previous disasters and the current reserves of food in most of the Xia’s Refuge Centers, there would be enough to sustain the existing survivors until the end of the scorching heat.

However, the think tank could not have foreseen that as the concentration of Spirit Energy in the air kept rising, the threshold to become a Martial Artist would lower, leading to a drastic increase in their numbers.

While the rise in Spirit Energy concentration benefited not only humans but also the plant and animal cultivation in the underground Refuge Centers, it could not make up for the increasing food demand of the survivors.

Luckily, Martial Artists did not need to consume large amounts of food at every meal. They could eat the same amount as an ordinary person. However, if they always ate so little, not only would their cultivation level not improve, but it would also regress over time.

For those Martial Artists who had just reached the Inner Breath Realm, stagnation in cultivation was already hard to accept, let alone regression due to insufficient food intake.

Under normal circumstances, in a Refuge Center, the majority of survivors, by scrimping and saving, could support two to three Martial Artists.

At first, since there weren’t many Martial Artists, the problem wasn’t too severe. Those Refugee Centers without Martial Artists welcomed them, hoping to scavenge resources from the surface more quickly.

After all, once unsupervised, surface resources became ownerless. Apart from those initially belonging to the Officials, whoever got to the resources first, had the claim.

However, as the numbers of Martial Artists increased and resources on the surface depleted, many Refuge Centers started to refuse to accept new Martial Artists.

Apart from a few willing to reduce their supplies and stay in the Officials’ Refuge Centers, some Martial Artists started eyeing Private Sanctuaries that were not connected to the subway network.

After all, the Officials had posted announcements stating that any sanctuary not connected to the subway network was not within the jurisdiction of their protection.

At first, those private sanctuaries managed quite comfortably. They certainly must have stored a lot of resources if they were able to break away from the Officials’ jurisdiction without relying on government relief.

In the early stages, because of the rising temperatures, ordinary people found it difficult to survive outside, which did not affect the Private Sanctuaries but instead benefited them.

After all, the less capacity ordinary people had to move about outside, the safer the situation became for the sanctuaries. Their impunity inside their controlled Refuge Centers grew.

Because of the pre-disaster environment, there were few Martial Artists in these Private Sanctuaries. Although the survivors capable of establishing Private Sanctuaries certainly had violent means at their disposal, these amounted to firearms at best.

Although firearms posed a strong threat to Martial Artists, and pistols were lethal, the Martial Artists weren’t foolish enough to stand still and be targeted.

For Martial Artists, acquiring firearms was simpler than for ordinary people. The initial wave of Martial Artists, who had yet to reach the Inner Breath Realm, were members of violent organizations, and were thus armed- with more than just simple pistols.

For these reasons, it took only three to five armed Martial Artists to take over a Refuge Center.

The moment more and more Martial Artists realized that the Private Sanctuaries outside were not protected by the Officials, these Sanctuaries started attracting them like tempting pieces of meat.

One could draw parallels with strategic games, where the Private Sanctuaries outside were like NPC cities in the game, and the Martial Artists were equivalent to player-controlled generals.

The generals could explore the game map freely, but the NPC cities had to passively endure attacks. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

If they managed to repel the invaders, all was fine. If not, the control of the city fell to the generals.

Many of the Private Sanctuaries had no one practicing martial arts, so even with a high Spirit Energy concentration in the air and the threshold to become a Martial Artist lowered, there was still not a single one among them.

In fact, many sanctuaries had such tight control over information that they didn’t even know of the existence of Martial Artists until their Sanctuaries were taken over.

The existence of these disconnected Private Sanctuaries temporarily delayed the time Pengcheng Officials had to face the food crisis.

After all, there would still be enough food stored in the Private Sanctuaries, however small the quantities, to feed a few Martial Artists for a while.

As for the original survivors in the taken over Sanctuaries, a certain number would inevitably be killed during the Martial Artists’ invasion. Upon gaining control, the Martial Artists would also dispose of the original controllers of the Sanctuary and some of their minions.

As for the remaining survivors, those who encountered kind-hearted Martial Artists might be given food. However, those who encountered ruthless ones would be forced to consume flesh.

The meat was fresh and slaughtered on the spot. As for where the meat came from, it’s not hard to guess.

The purpose of the Martial Artists forcing the remaining survivors to eat flesh was very clear.

It was to extend the survivors’ lives so they could serve them.

Regarding the question of whether these survivors would contract red-eye disease after eating meat and whether the Officials would find trouble with the Martial Artists because of this, the Martial Artists did not care. These Martial Artists did not consume meat, so they would not contract red-eye disease, and they would not allow the survivors who had consumed meat to live and leave the Sanctuary.

As long as no one discovered what these Martial Artists had done in the Private Sanctuaries, their reputation would not be affected in the eyes of the public.

Also, many Martial Artists were smart. When the outside temperatures rose above eighty degrees, they gained some insight into when the disaster would end.

After taking control of a Private Sanctuary, they were frugal with its resources. If the food supply was enough to satisfy their cultivation needs, they would stay and cultivate in the Private Sanctuary and would not attack other Sanctuaries.

After all, most Martial Artists didn’t want to risk their lives when they had enough resources, despite their overwhelming advantage over regular survivors.

However, if they were not careful, the firearms in the hands of ordinary survivors could still harm them. After all, those who could establish Private Sanctuaries at this time were not easy to deal with, and the firearms they possessed were not just pistols.

With the increasing number of Martial Artists, the situation in Pengcheng became more peculiar.

The Official-controlled areas were very peaceful and stable. Due to the extensive subway network, apart from some inconveniences in movement and a lesser quality of food, life for the survivors here wasn’t very different from before the disaster. There were very few instances of theft and burglary, let alone murder, as the Officials imposed severe penalties on criminals to maintain stability.