Chapter 48.3: Return to Lan Cheng [3]
Author: He Feng Yan
Translator: HeXie
Editor: HeXie
Although there were only one or two level three zombies when it first appeared, hadn’t they seen the speed of its propagation? In a short period of a mere month, the number of level three zombies in the hunting ground was already so numerous that every day, hundreds of hunting groups would encounter them. So, what was stopping the giant zombies from achieving the same thing?
After all, the speed of the zombies' evolution was simply too fast.
At most, they could handle perhaps one or two giant zombies with their weapons, but what if there were more? What could they do if that was the case?
Because the speed of the zombies’ evolution caused everyone to realize that the zombies’ evolution would not stop at just level three zombies or giant zombies. No, they realized that there was more to the zombies’ evolution route.
As such, one question rang in everyone’s mind. What would the humans do if someday the human weapons stop working on the zombies?
Perhaps the true end of the world had just begun. Perhaps what they knew up until now was merely a prelude to the real things.
Of course, no one felt good about such speculation. Therefore, even if Lan Cheng’s upper-echelons retrieved the tax-free shops under Zhou Sheng and Wu Ye’s name, it wouldn’t ease nor relieve the pressure they were under.
Because the pressure did not come only from their speculation about the future, but also from the bases in the capital.
However, what really caused Lan Cheng Base to hit rock bottom was neither the failure of the missions led by Zhou Sheng’s team nor about the existence of the scary giant zombie looming over them. It was the non-negotiable mandatory food requisition order that came from the bases in the capital.
It stipulated that half of the food from this year’s autumn harvest of Lan Cheng Base must be handed over to them. Otherwise, the bases in the capital would retrieve their special guards and stop supplying salt, weapons and ammunition, oil, medications, and other important resources to Lan Cheng Base.
Although the capital also offered compensation to ‘compensate’ the base, in reality, the offer the capital gave only paid ten percent of what half of Lan Cheng Base’s food supplies were worth. It was a high-way robbery, shown by the way the big warlords in the capital did not even try to cover up their ugly intent of ‘gobbling up’ Lan Cheng’s resources.
Admittedly, Lan Cheng Base’s lands were more fertile than any others, thus it was able to generate considerable output in every harvest. Furthermore, it also did not need a huge amount of investment to take care of the crops and land.
However, in order to successfully preserve this fertile farmland, the upper-echelons of Lan Cheng Base had poured in a huge amount of resources into building the base wall. Be it in terms of manpower, financial resources, and raw materials.
As such, the action of the capital, forcing Lan Cheng Base to give them 90% discount for the purchase of half their harvest, had caused them to lose everything. However, their life force was in the other’s hand; so, no matter how hard Lan Cheng wanted to struggle, the only thing they could do was to give in.
As the saying goes, wool comes from the sheep’s back. Nothing in this world comes for free. Since the upper-echelon of Lan Cheng Base suffered a huge loss because of the forceful expropriation, they immediately raised the prices of food in the whole base. And it was done on the same day they were forced to give up their food.
As such, the price of all food-related supplies became four times of their original price. It was not only the food — many other goods and raw material also had their price doubled.
It was no wonder that the survivors’ anger was stoked into a bonfire that not even the sudden arrival of autumn rain could dampen it. Thus, the sight of violent rebellions and vicious suppression became common in Lan Cheng Base. And in every few minutes, one would chance upon this sight when they took a walk.
Furthermore, the special forces guarding Lan Cheng Base finally revealed their true colors, tearing off the mask of ‘guarding the survivors’ as they joined the five big forces in the base to suppress the masses.
So, while Wu Ye and the others with him had been trapped in Qin Min County, numerous riots had broken out in Lan Cheng Base. And the blood of the survivors was mixed with the rainwater, almost coloring every path of land in Lan Cheng Base’s residential area red.
However, the guards’ forceful intervention had ended these riots early, leaving more than tens of thousands of survivors either dead or wounded in the conflicts. Thus, the situation forced the survivors already living in the slums to leave. They could no longer afford the standards of living. As such, they either moved into the refugee camp outside of Lan Cheng Base or simply journeyed to some place far away; in search of a more suitable survivor’s base for them.
Then again, everyone knew that crow’s feathers were all black in color. They wouldn’t be able to change their nature, and there were many who had proven their colors since the apocalypse arrived. So, where would they be able to find a safe haven?
Thus, in this world, the living could not sleep in peace. And neither could the dead rest in peace. As such, the survivors who had left the base were destined to be disappointed.
Nevertheless, after five days, Wu Ye and his group returned once again to Lan Cheng Base. Unaware of the fact that the hope and vibrancy that was brought to life by the rich harvest… were slowly rotting away alongside the matured crops and food in the fields during this long, unceasing autumn rain.
The Author has something to say: xoxo friend Qing Ying, long comments and such are the most lovely. I have sent the hong bao please accept it with thanks. Next tuesday I will honour my promise and update 10,000 words~~~ 10,000 words, one update making up for three, let all those with long comments come at me~~O(∩_∩)O hahaha~