Night completely swallowed the last trace of twilight at the Quarry.
Inside the off-road vehicle, the fully flattened seats pieced together an extremely spacious double bed.
Andrea sat cross-legged in the back half of the carriage, watching her younger sister, who was still fiddling with throw pillows and completely immersed in the joy of decorating their "new home", as the anger in the depths of her heart surged upward.
Her younger sister was completely bewitched by this man.
"Ling, there is a most realistic problem facing us right now." Andrea knocked on the middle armrest box, "What are we going to eat tonight?"
She asked with righteous confidence.
Since this guy had already treated Amy as something in his pocket, taking on the responsibility of protecting and providing food was a matter of course, and she couldn't let someone go hungry to spend the night with him in this barren wilderness.
Ling Feng was leaning against the main driver's seat smoking.
Without even turning his head, he directly raised a finger to point in the direction of the trunk: "Amy, pull that black suitcase next to you over and open it."
Amy obediently responded, crawling over hands and feet to drag the slightly heavy black travel suitcase.
The moment the zipper was pulled open.
Inside, neatly stacked were a dozen cans of pork and beans stew, several bars of high-calorie compressed biscuits, and a few bottles of unopened mineral water.
Although the amount of food could not be considered lavish, it was enough for the three of them to steadily eat in this wasteland for two days.
Seeing these things, Andrea's tense shoulders visibly relaxed.
She directly picked up a pack of biscuits, tore open the packaging, and shared half with Amy.
Ling Feng reached into the box to fish out a can of meat, pulled the pull-tab open with one hand, took the spoon handed over by Amy to eat a few casual bites, and quickly frowned.
"This thing really tastes awful." Ling Feng placed the can on the center console.
As a heavy carnivore, eating this kind of mush full of preservatives and starch was simply torturing his stomach.
"Right now it's the early stage of the disaster, and this deep mountain forest is temporarily quite safe, without those monsters biting everywhere." Ling Feng pulled a tissue to wipe his hands, "Tomorrow morning I'll go into the mountain, hunt some game, and get some real fresh meat back to improve our diet."
Hearing that Ling Feng was going to leave the car and act alone, Amy's hand holding the biscuit suspended in mid-air.
"Will we encounter any danger in the forest?" Amy looked at Ling Feng's broad back with full worry, "How about we go with you?"
Andrea immediately chimed in, with a very straightforward attitude.
"Amy is right, everyone must act together."
Andrea directly threw the biscuits in her hand back into the bag, "This hastily put-together Camp is not safe at all, no one knows the background of those people, especially that foul-mouthed Merle. To leave the two of us completely defenceless women here would be equivalent to delivering fat meat directly to their doorstep."
Andrea saw things very thoroughly.
Now that the legal system has collapsed, a glock pistol simply couldn't stop the wolf-like refugees outside.
Only by closely following Ling Feng, this baneful star, could there be absolute safety.
Ling Feng turned around, his gaze sweeping across the two women.
Leaving these two moving "point ATM machines" alone in the Camp indeed carried risks; just in case some blind scum touched them, who would he go to reason with? Although he already knew that most of the people in this Camp would be protagonists in the future, it was still the early stage, and he hadn't seen many of them yet.
"Fine." Ling Feng reached out and very naturally pinched Amy's delicate cheek, "Then let's just casually eat something to get through the night, and tomorrow morning you guys will follow me into the mountain."
A startlingly smooth and tender sensation came from his fingertips.
Amy's cheeks grew hot from the pinch, but she didn't dodge. Instead, following the force, she gently rubbed against Ling Feng's palm.
[Ding! Intimate physical contact detected, Pleasure Points +50!]
In a great mood, Ling Feng leaned back and comfortably closed his eyes to rest.
At the same time.
In the center of the open space twenty meters away from the off-road vehicle, the atmosphere was so oppressive that people could barely breathe.
Large pieces of firewood were stacked together, and the orange-red campfire was burning with a crackling sound.
T-Dog, the strong Black man who had just patrolled the surrounding area, was struggling together with Glenn, who was wearing a delivery uniform, to drag a few dead tree branches and throw them into the bonfire.
The firelight illuminated a circle of dirt-covered faces around them.
Everyone sat around the bonfire, each person only being distributed a pitifully small amount of snacks and a few mouthfuls of dry bread, and even drinking water had to be swallowed sparingly.
Compared to that quiet, well-stocked off-road vehicle not far away, this side was simply a standard refugee shelter.
Lori sat on a severed piece of dead wood.
With one hand, she tightly hugged her stepson Carl, who was still gnawing on hard biscuits, while her gaze crossed the leaping flames, undisguisedly hovering over that off-road vehicle.
Shane held a tree branch, casually poking at the bonfire, and then sat down next to Lori.
Lori immediately made a move.
Her body leaned over toward Shane extremely naturally, her shoulder seemingly brushing against Shane's sturdy arm without fully leaning on it, which stirred Shane's attention. Her voice was lowered very low: "Shane, how do you actually plan to walk the road ahead?"
The movement in Shane's hand paused for a moment.
"Survive tonight first." Shane responded muffledly, "Tomorrow at dawn, I'll arrange for a few people to check out the perimeter situation, and by the way, look for water sources and edible wild fruits. As long as we guard this entrance, we are temporarily safe."
Lori was not satisfied with this conservative answer at all.
"Take a close look at what kind of people are in this Camp." Lori directly pointed out the pain point, "Aside from old men, there are women and children; there is simply no combat power capable of fighting."
She leaned closer, her lips almost touching Shane's ear, her tone revealing absolute shrewdness.
"If you truly want everyone to survive, and even more to consolidate your leadership in this Camp, you must go and cooperate with that man named Ling."
Lori was very clear about the rules by which this world operated.
Shane possessed the identity of a police officer, was accustomed to giving orders, and could steady the hearts of this group of civilians.
And that arrogant Asian man held highly destructive heavy firepower and overwhelming combat skills in his hands.
As long as Shane stepped forward to win over Ling Feng, and the two of them partnered up, this team's survival probability would definitely increase exponentially.
As for herself, as long as she tightly tied down Shane, she could continue to enjoy the highest level of protection in this doomsday.
Hearing these words, Shane's brow instantly twisted into a dead knot.
The scene of Merle getting beaten up in the afternoon was still playing on a loop in his mind; that man named Ling Feng was simply an untamable beast.
Having him actively win over a thorn that had made him lose face was more painful than killing him.
But Lori's words were blunt and realistic; if this group of the old, weak, sick, and disabled really encountered a large horde of infected, they would all die.
Shane stood up with a gloomy face.
He did not directly answer Lori's proposal, instead forcefully patting the dust off his trouser legs with both hands, and strode to the very front of the campfire.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Shane raised his hands high and clapped forcefully.
The crisp applause was particularly piercing in the quiet dark night.
"Everyone stop what you're doing first! Look over at me!" Shane raised his voice.
The people sitting around the campfire successively raised their heads, their gazes all concentrated on this temporary leader, and even Dale, who was drinking water, put down his kettle.
On the outermost fringe of the crowd, in the shadows where the firelight couldn't reach.
Merle was leaning sideways against the tire of the pickup truck, listlessly toying with that folding knife in his hand, the blade flipping back and forth between his fingers.
Watching Shane's posture of standing on high and preparing to give orders, Merle let out an undisguised sneer.
He used his elbow to heavily bump his younger brother Daryl sitting next to him, lowering his voice with a full expression of watching a show.
"Look at that pretentious cop, really treating himself like the President of America." Merle spat a mouthful of saliva, "I bet there's definitely a good show to watch next."
Daryl was intently stringing his crossbow.
He was long used to his older brother's cheap mouth that loved nothing more than chaos.
Daryl didn't even raise an eyelid, completely treating Merle's words as wind passing by the ear, silently lowering his head to wipe the cold-glinting arrowheads.
In front of the bonfire, Shane looked around all around.
He deliberately lingered his gaze on that off-road vehicle in the distance for two seconds, then cleared his throat.
"Since we've camped in this ghost place, if we want to survive until rescue arrives, we can't run around blindly like headless flies." Shane threw out his decision, "Starting tomorrow, everyone must obey commands to be assigned tasks, no one gets to be a freeloader, and the first thing that must be done is to clarify the rules of the Camp!"
The crowd instantly whispered among themselves, and the atmosphere began to ferment.
Shane raised his hand to point at the only entrance and exit of the Camp, his voice sharply rising: "Tomorrow morning, I'll call out a few people's names to go directly to the fringe area of downtown Atlanta, and bring back some usable supplies. As for the person leading the team..."
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