Chapter 14: 14: Current Status of the Temporary Gathering Point
After deciding to settle down on the first floor, Su Han began preparing to move supplies to his own room.
Water was inconvenient to carry, so it was left in the original room, but rice, flour, canned goods, and medicines—these important supplies—they couldn't possibly leave in the original room.
Even though Cheng Zhenyong had said he wouldn't touch their original room, such promises were worthless in the face of scarce resources.
For now, having searched the building floors, they still had supplies and weren't that desperate.
But no one could guarantee what the situation would be like later on.
Therefore, the supplies had to be kept close at hand.
The actions of the four of them naturally attracted the attention of the other survivors, but no one interfered. They just watched the four pack up and carry full backpacks from the upper floors down to the first-floor rooms.
In their eyes was a mix of envy and even a hint of jealousy.
But order still prevailed, and they dared not do anything out of line, especially since they had seen the Angel Envoy and knew these four were contracted individuals.
All the survivors had the Book of Blood Spirit, and indeed, after making a contract, they would gradually gain strength.
However, contracting required personally killing those monsters, and not everyone had the courage or opportunity to do so.
Two or three hundred pounds of rice and flour, as well as some medicine, were all carried down in one go by the four, with most of the items placed in Su Han's room.
A smaller amount was placed in the rooms of Gan Xinglei and Zhu Xiong, just in case.
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Meanwhile, as Cheng Zhenyong was settling Su Han and the others, He Fang was also leading people to continue clearing flesh corpses upward and preparing to search for supplies.
Only by continuing the search could they obtain more resources, and those who exerted effort would get a larger share.
"Damn it's cleaned out, completely scavenged."
Wu Guang, whose face was a sickly yellow, cursed behind He Fang. They had hoped to find something overlooked but realized there was truly nothing left after entering just one or two rooms, everything had been scavenged clean.
He Fang gave him a glance and said, "Don't waste your effort, let's head straight to the eighth floor. If they came down safe and sound, they surely had the means to clear out the supplies. We'd do the same in their shoes."
Wu Guang choked at the retort, displaying an embarrassed expression, certainly bearing a grudge against Su Han and his group.
The Angel Envoy flesh corpse had directly chopped off an arm, and even though the wound was slowly healing now, he had indeed lost his arm, which significantly reduced his combat ability as an Angel Envoy.
"Brother Fang, how come that flesh corpse had four arms and was so formidable? Do you think he knows something we don't?"
At these words, a flicker passed through He Fang's eyes. He had indeed considered whether there was some secret they were unaware of.
But if he truly knew such a secret, he surely wouldn't easily reveal it, and he acknowledged that if he wanted to know the truth, he needed to be more clever.
"Wu Guang, don't talk nonsense at the gathering point. Look for an opportunity to cozy up and then slowly ask," He Fang advised softly.
Hearing this, Wu Guang nodded vigorously, "Got it, Brother Fang."
Continuing the search this time, the security team members hadn't followed, so the four people were all He Fang's men.
They used to run a street barbecue stall, with He Fang as the small boss. The others were either his younger brothers and helpers or friends with whom he shared rent.
When the outbreak occurred, He Fang was the most ruthless, smashing a newly transformed monster of a brother to death with a fire extinguisher and then becoming the first one to make a Contract.
Lending mutual support, all his followers gradually completed their Contracts, becoming a significant force among the survivors.
"Click"
Just as they were about to leave the fifth floor, a soft sound came from room 7502—it was the sound of a door closing.
He Fang instantly became alert, his gaze locked onto the door of 7502. The door lock had been broken, and through a large hole, a glimpse of white shirt fabric could be seen.
His eyes narrowed, and he whispered, "Should be a living person, let's go over there."
Their group approached slowly, with the flesh corpse leading the way, the sound of their footsteps echoing in the hallway.
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"Come out!"
At the door, He Fang called out coldly, gripping the iron pipe in his hand tightly.
"Don't, don't kill me, we don't have any supplies left, we've already been robbed of everything."
"Open the door!"
He Fang showed a look of surprise, but still commanded sternly. Soon there was a click, and the door opened to reveal a frightened man with glasses, who was indeed the same person who had encountered Su Han the day before.
...
Although Su Han's arrival had drawn some attention, not many people actually inquired about him; everyone was still minding their own business, holding onto the thought that there would be rescue in a few days.
Among the six units on the first floor, three were occupied by their group of four, and the remaining three included their left-hand neighbors, the original tenants of the first floor who were two young women in their twenties.
Su Han had seen them once when coming and going and then had watched them hurriedly close their door, their sense of vigilance not exactly weak.
Next to them lived the security team, which was also temporarily requisitioned. Two or three people would be stationed there regularly, taking turns to guard the entrance to the first floor.
The room at the end of the corridor had its door tightly shut, and there were distinctly piled-up sofas at the door, clearly indicating it was unoccupied.
"Something is strange." Su Han pondered and decided to walk towards the hall that served as the entrance and exit of the first floor.
The middle-aged security guard, Zhang Fu, was standing guard there with a younger security guard. Thanks to the relatively new housing complex, the security guards had not yet become elderly.
"Little brother Su Han," Zhang Fu saw Su Han and greeted him first.
"Brother Zhang," Su Han nodded, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the two men: "There's something I'd like to ask about."
He had picked up the cigarettes while scavenging for supplies. He didn't smoke, but he knew they could serve as barter in certain situations, so he kept them.
Zhang Fu and the young security guard named Xiao Zhao lit up at the sight of the cigarettes. They had been without smokes for a day, and this was timely.
"You're too kind," Zhang Fu said with a smile, accepting the cigarettes, "What do you want to know?"
"The blocked room on the first floor, what's the deal with that?"
Upon hearing Su Han's question about the room, Zhang Fu sighed before explaining, "That's where the bodies are dealt with. The bodies of those creatures and the people they killed are all thrown out from there. Though we say they're thrown out of the room, being so close makes it unsuitable for living, so it's left vacant."
So that's why he had only seen bloodstains but no bodies—they had all been disposed of uniformly.
"If you're feeling uneasy, you could actually move upstairs. Anyway, we're all mixed together now; no telling how long this will last."
Su Han did not voice the idea of changing rooms; on the contrary, a thought emerged in his mind: if the bodies were all stored there, didn't that mean he could have materials for Fusion again?
After chatting a bit more with Zhang Fu, he gained a general understanding of the operation of the entire survivor enclave.
It was a group-up style enclave. Cheng Zhenyong was one of the leaders, with the security team basically on his side, and two or three other people with Contracts also followed him.
Another significant grouping was He Fang and his people, totaling around six.
Besides those with Contracts, there were almost 20 people without them, for various reasons.
The distribution of supplies, as well as the allocation to those participating in exploration or who had dealt with the bodies, varied.
'Currently, there's still a bit of food, but with more people and as time goes on, conflicts are bound to arise.'
Su Han estimated in his mind. No matter how labor was divided within a building, there was only so much work to be done. Those who couldn't contribute would inevitably end up without supplies.
"Brother Zhang, is there a doctor here?"
Zhang Fu was taken aback for a moment: "Did someone get hurt or sick?"
"It's not like that." Su Han did not explain, and Zhang Fu did not press further, instead he replied, "I don't think so. There were injured people that day too, but they all had to tough it out on their own."
Su Han thought of the female survivor from the sixth floor. With no doctor around, it seemed she would have to depend on herself.
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