Cave Refuge-Chapter 240 - 238: The Night and the Human Heart_1

Perhaps they were accustomed to living in the underground refuge center. When the Eternal Night first descended, the survivors of Pengcheng were filled with fear, worried that other disasters might accompany the onset of the Eternal Night.

However, after about a week, the survivors realized that apart from the darkness, no other disasters had appeared. Thus, they gradually began to relax.

If the Eternal Night had descended immediately after the initial end of the electromagnetic pulse, the survivors of Pengcheng might have descended into chaos.

But now, with power restored, the onset of Eternal Night still had some impact, but compared to other natural disasters, the impact on the survivors had greatly diminished.

As the outside world gradually returned to normal, Dong Tianyu, fearing outsiders, filled the platform with shipping containers as originally planned.

The platform was transformed into a shipping container residential area. The entrance to the Cave mansion was now overly conspicuous. Without the infamous reputation accumulated during the heat disaster, many would undoubtedly come to visit.

Now the number of Inner Breath Realm Martial Artists in Pengcheng has definitely surpassed a thousand. However, about 85% of them should be under the control of the officials.

The remaining hundred or so were beyond the control of the officials, but they were likely entwined with the officials in countless ways.

Nameless Mountain was now so stable because the Airdrop Faction and the Local Faction within the officials were pulling at each other, and Dong Tianyu had a good rapport with the Local Faction.

Although everyone had moved out from the underground refuge center in the War Reserve Warehouse, Mr. Thompson still lived in the office building above the West City District Command Post, eating and drinking with other elderly group members each day.

Although Dong Tianyu didn’t have many acquaintances in the West City District Command Post, he had a good relationship with Robinson William, the captain of the Special Forces team, and his younger brother Ye Liuyun.

For these reasons, Dong Tianyu was automatically identified as a member of the Local Faction by the Airdrop Faction, and although both sides were vying for power and benefits, everyone was still following the rules.

Although everyone was looking for each other’s faults to strike fatal blows, it was not easy to engage rashly with someone like Dong Tianyu who did not associate with outsiders and had no apparent faults.

Sometimes, rules are not only constraints but also a form of protection. Everyone knows that once someone breaks the rules without being punished, the original rules will be disregarded and no one will complain when others resort to dirty tricks.

In the official circles, the more critical the situation, the more important it is to abide by the rules, even though the easiest way to solve a problem is to get rid of the person who raised the issue. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

However, once someone breaks the game rules, others will also deal with him in a way that ignores the rules, and the ensuing chaos will be beyond anyone’s control.

The tranquillity on Dong Tianyu’s side was partly because the Airdrop Faction hadn’t found an excuse to deal with him. Dong Tianyu, although he had obtained the System, his livelihood was remarkably cautious. Apart from occasional visits to his parents, he rarely left the mountain, let alone harboring other survivors.

On the other hand, the Local Faction, knowing Dong Tianyu’s infamous reputation for gunning down more than a dozen martial artists, no one dares to set foot on Nameless Mountain unless there was a group of over twenty martial artists.

However, after the Eternal Night descended, the external environment became gloomy, and a shroud of darkness had settled over the hearts of the people.

As the street cameras had become useless, the crime rate on the surface had actually increased compared to when they were living in the underground refuge center.

The main reason for this was that when they were living in the refuge center, there was nowhere for criminals to hide after committing a crime. Additionally, food supplies were always limited to a day’s quantity, so no one was willing to bear the consequences of crime.

But after everyone moved to the surface, and as the crops in the field matured, food wasn’t as scarce as it used to be, with each distribution being more than a day’s supply.

Additionally, the concealment provided by the darkness led to a surge in Pengcheng’s crime rate.

Realizing the increasing instability of the external world, members of the Patrol Office in various places began to patrol, and the officials also deployed tactical teams for mopping-up operations.

The purpose of deploying tactical teams was not to arrest criminals, but to mop up criminals. Although arrest and mop-up only differ by two words, the meanings they convey are vastly different.

Arresting requires evidence, while mopping up only requires a photo.

When the tactical teams were dispatched, gunfire resounded intermittently across different areas of Pengcheng.

Tactical teams had the power for ’kill first, report later,’ meaning they would first kill the target, then search for criminal evidence.

As for collateral damage, if the supervising department didn’t receive any complaints, it meant no collateral damage had occurred. As for the supervising department’s doors being tightly locked, that was due to staff negligence. The authorities would send someone to talk to them.

After the lively sounds of gunfire echoed in the night for a long time, the streets were deserted. Even those who had to go out were hurrying on their way, not lingering on the streets too long.

When there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets, the crime rate instantly saw a substantial decrease.

The Black Car’s jet-black exterior was like a natural invisibility cloak in this environment. Without the illumination of a light, even if it was parked right in front of an ordinary person, it would be hard for them to see the Black Car.

At this moment, Dong Tianyu was driving the Black Car to the neighbouring province. Although Pengcheng still had plenty of supplies, the city’s reconstruction and recovery also required these resources.

To put it bluntly, Dong Tianyu’s Cave mansion was a parasite of this world, consuming the world’s resources to fatten itself.

Although the Cave mansion now produced some resources, the amount of resources needed to upgrade was significantly higher than its output.

Therefore, if Dong Tianyu wanted to upgrade the Cave mansion, he would have to introduce more resources into it from the outside world.

If he were to use only the resources of Pengcheng to fill up the resources needed for the Cave mansion’s upgrade, others would soon notice Dong Tianyu’s constant demands in Pengcheng.

As Dong Tianyu collected greater quantities of supplies, others would perceive him to be a fat sheep, as they only saw him collecting resources without seeing his use of them.

When the resources in Dong Tianyu’s hands caught the attention of the officials, and when they came knocking on his door, there would only be two difficult choices for Dong Tianyu.

He could either disclose the condition of the Cave mansion, garner the support of the entire Pengcheng to nurture the Cave mansion and raise its level. However, in doing so, the ownership of the Cave mansion might be subject to dispute.

The other choice was outright rebellion. Although Dong Tianyu, with his Foundation Building Cultivation, might be able to repel the soldiers of Pengcheng, facing the Great Xia, which has restored transportation and can conscript nationwide, requests for reinforcements may not even make it out of the province.