Chapter 32

It was night, and all was quiet.

There was an indescribable air lingering in the shelter.

…Like a storm was coming!

Suddenly, a gust of wind rustled the tree branches, sweeping up leaves and tossing them to the ground.

Within a somewhat more intact villa, the dim light of a lantern illuminated several gloomy faces.

Ding Qiang took in a deep breath and was the first to speak. “I trust that everyone has seen the shelter’s announcement poster. What is everyone’s opinion?”

“What is there to say? A shelter with only a few Awakened wants to order us around? Are they for real? I trust that each of you shares the same opinion.”

“Right! How could we possibly serve the shelter? What blasted patrol team? They want us to search for resources and obey their orders? That’s asking us to kill ourselves! It was such a trial to get here, to a region where demonized beasts were sparse, so I don’t want to see another demonized beast for the rest of my life! Isn’t it good enough that we have enough to eat and drink every day? And they want me to fight demonized beasts? No way in hell!”

“Let alone the patrol team, don’t think about making me join the moving team either. We’re Awakened that would be honored guests in any other shelter. It’s already good enough that we decided to stick around. Making us work? Pah!”

“But that announcement said that if we don’t become residents of the shelter, we won’t have as much food, and housing will even prioritize residents over us. Hmph! Do they plan to drive us out of this shelter?!”

The light of the lantern flickered.

Their faces were dark and sinister.

They naturally believed that all this was theirs by right.

Anyone who tried to take from them was their enemy!

Seeing how all of them had a common enemy, Ding Qiang couldn’t help but smile.

These people were all Awakened, people who had stood together with him on the same front line. In the past, he had worried that these people might have been lacking in resolve, but it now appeared that they were just as dissatisfied with the shelter as he was.

His confidence went from fifty percent to seventy percent.

“So, everyone, if we don’t want to lose what we have now, we need to negotiate some conditions with the shelter.”

“Negotiate? How? It’s still a shelter…”

“A shelter? No, it’s just a small organization with a few Awakened.”

If it were a real shelter, even a small shelter, they would have never tried to provoke it. They would have been cowed by the prestige of the shelter alone.

Upon second thought, these people quickly realized that Ding Qiang was right. This was a shelter in name only. It only had a few administrators, and while they were all Awakened, what did that matter? They were also Awakened, and in terms of numbers, they might even have the advantage!

“Old Ding is right. It’s just a few Awakened. We’re also Awakened, and regardless of what organization we join, we’ll receive good treatment. It’s one thing for this shabby organization to make us move around things, but now they want to take away the food that should be ours! They’ll have to ask this old man’s blade if it agrees, and this blade has killed demonized beasts before!”

These words immediately drew the admiration of the others.

Not all Awakened had killed demonized beasts. The majority of Awakened were ordinary people before the apocalypse who had never even killed a chicken. Fighting with demonized beasts? That was a joke!

It was true that one could absorb Soul Energy from killing demonized beasts to get stronger. This wasn’t any secret. But this was reality, not some game. Everyone had only one life, and things weren’t as simple as beating up monsters to level up. In each fight, one had to wager their life.

A correct bet meant ascending to the heavens.

An incorrect bet meant turning into a pile of bones.

Most Awakened chose to avoid them. Demonized beasts were just too frightening. In any case, with their bodies, they could run faster than ordinary people and had higher chances of survival. Since that was the case, why did they have to risk their lives by fighting demonized beasts?

For the sake of getting stronger? Futile!

In the past, they knew that studying and working hard could allow them to advance upward, but how many people were actually capable of such a thing?!

The Awakened present here didn’t have this courage, but when they saw that one of their number had killed a demonized beast, they found it just too amazing. With a comrade like this, why did they need to be afraid of the Awakened of the shelter?

This was a heroic man who had killed a demonized beast!

“That’s right. We have the right to negotiate with the shelter! If the shelter gives us our deserved status and resources, then fine! But if it doesn’t, we won’t be polite!”

“Hear, hear! This shelter is so annoying, setting up all these dumb rules and regulations, not even letting us hit those ordinary survivors. This old man has been holding back for quite a few days, so I can’t be blamed for being rude! In any case, I’ll be enjoying myself today!”

They had been whipped into a furor!

But a rather coolheaded Awakened said, “But we can’t be careless. In the end, these are people who dared to set up a shelter here. Those Awakened have probably also killed demonized beasts. We have to be cautious.”

Ding Qiang saw that the time was right, and he spoke once more. “That’s true. We can’t get careless, but we also don’t have to overestimate our foe. I’ve already investigated the shelter’s fighting force. Everyone, please take a look.”

He threw out three cards. On them, three names had been written.

‘Chen Haiping’.

‘Captain Roger’.

‘Chief Tang’.

“These three are the ones we need to pay attention to.”

Ding Qiang took Chen Haiping’s card. “I’m sure that many of you have seen this man. As we’re all Awakened, we can sense each other’s energies, so we can naturally tell how strong he is.”

“True,” someone gravely said. “This Chen Haiping has very strong energy, and to speak frankly, we’re probably no match for him. He might be the shelter’s number one expert.”

“Chen Haiping’s energy is truly the highest among the shelter’s Awakened, but we can’t underestimate the other two either.”

He raised Roger’s card. “Captain Roger, despite not having energy as high as Chen Haiping’s, possesses a frightening demeanor. I’m sure all of you get what I’m talking about. There’s a huge difference between the demeanors of someone who’s killed a person and someone who hasn’t. This Captain Roger is probably a ruthless person, and since he dares to go out to search for resources, his strength can’t be discounted.

“Finally, we have the mysterious Chief Tang. I’ve seen this man from a distance, and he seems very ordinary, without the demeanor of some expert. But we can’t be careless. I speculate that he was the one who created those automatons we see around the shelter.”

“An ability user?” someone softly said.

Many people had this theory.

The villa fell silent.

What did an ability user represent? Others might not understand, but everyone present here believed that they did.

In a battle, one person could only rely on straightforward attacks, while the other possessed mysterious and powerful abilities. The outcome of this battle was obvious! In the apocalypse, if ordinary people regarded Awakened as experts, ability users were experts to Awakened—experts that were blessed by the heavens!

“If Chief Tang is an ability user, what should we do? Those automatons don’t seem easy to deal with. If there are a lot of them, things will get difficult.”

Ding Qiang softly chuckled, his smile infused with a relaxed confidence that came from control over everything.

“Ability users are truly not easy to deal with, but it’s not like we don’t have an ability user on our side.”

The rest of them shared glances of confusion.

If they had an ability user, why were they sitting around and discussing these things that couldn’t be exposed in the daylight?

“Yes, there is no ability user among those of us here, but today, a man called Peng Bo arrived at the shelter. That man is an ability user, and as for if he will help us, you’ll understand once you meet him…”

Ding Qiang assured them, “He is the same as us!”

…

Returning back to noon…

Peng Bo walked along the road, shaking his head. All the survivors he encountered kept their distance.

He felt rather helpless. He just had a scar on his head that seemed very savage. Was this really necessary? Could there not be a little trust between fellow humans?!

For survivors living in the apocalypse, no such trust existed between fellow humans, much less a savage-looking fellow like Peng Bo. It was said that there were some people that intentionally got tattoos and scars to make themselves look savage. This slightly plump man was probably this sort of person, and he was also an Awakened. No one dared to mess with him!

The survivors had all heard rumors like these, and they lowered their heads and quickly walked away.