Chapter 439 - 318: Opening Move
Franklin Forrest didn’t say anything about Paige Summers’s invitation to stay for a meal, but he couldn’t help but inwardly praise her for her thoughtfulness and generosity. ’Although she’s just a young woman,’ he thought, ’her social skills are impeccable. You can tell she’s a big-picture thinker just from the little details. She definitely deserves her position as vice base chief!’
Not to mention her skill in crafting weapons.
Now *that* was a skill worth more than gold!
His own ability to stockpile such a large quantity of ore was certainly thanks to his foresight, but as he’d told Paige Summers, a great deal of it came down to pure luck.
But what she possessed was a real, tangible asset that no one could ever take from her!
Realizing this, his attitude became even warmer.
But no matter what he’d expected, this lunch left him utterly dumbfounded.
No, to be precise, he was stunned before the meal even truly began. The moment several plates of steamed buns were set on the table and he caught the scent of real flour, his jaw dropped.
It wasn’t just him. His men, who had come with him and were seated at an adjacent table, looked on with ravenous eyes.
It wasn’t as if they’d never seen good things before.
They had flour.
But none of the food made from it ever tasted as authentic as the steamed buns on the table right now!
This was especially true for him and a few of his slightly older men who had actually lived for a decade or so before the apocalypse. Their noses told them that *these* were real steamed buns!
Along with the buns came various meat dishes, including some rare Mutant Beast meat, but right now, who had eyes for any of that?
Although Franklin Forrest wanted nothing more than to glue his eyes to the steamed buns, he managed to restrain himself with immense willpower. "This is..."
Paige Summers smiled and pushed the plate closer to him. "Why don’t you try one?"
Forcing himself to remain composed, he took his first bite. The aroma of wheat filled his mouth, seeming to travel straight up his nerves and into his brain. Franklin Forrest was on the verge of tears.
He was originally from the north.
As a child, his staple foods had all been flour-based—steamed buns, noodles, flower rolls... Things he ate every single day. Back then, it had seemed perfectly ordinary. Wasn’t that how all common folk lived?
But after the apocalypse came, he realized that getting to eat those things again was incredibly, impossibly difficult.
In the beginning, you could still find crackers and the like, but soon even those disappeared. His diet became mostly meat from non-toxic Mutant Beasts and mutated plants. Even after The Government developed Nutrition Cakes to serve as a staple, he considered them a total sham. They didn’t fill you up, and they had virtually no nutritional value. If you ate nothing but that stuff, you wouldn’t even have the energy to hunt!
But was real flour that easy to come by?
He’d spent a fortune on some before, only to be bitterly disappointed.
The stuff looked like flour, but any food made from it was dry and completely lacked that distinct aroma.
And even that stuff was incredibly rare.
He’d heard that even the top brass in Central City ate no better.
The thought sent a jolt through him.
’What I’m eating is a real steamed bun, made from real flour. But how could something this precious appear in a small, remote base like this? If it exists at all, it should be in Central City, or at least on the dining tables of the leaders in Southreach—not here!’
More importantly, Paige Summers had actually brought it out to serve guests...
’What on earth is she trying to say with this?!’
But thoughts were just thoughts. Franklin Forrest didn’t slow his chewing in the slightest, practically inhaling a palm-sized bun in just two or three bites.
"Delicious! This is so delicious!"
His men nearby thought their Base Chief was being rather undignified, wolfing down his food like that, but they couldn’t stop themselves from gulping down their own saliva.
Paige Summers was inwardly amused. "Don’t just stand there, everyone," she said. "Eat up! We’ll have more energy to talk business once our stomachs are full!"
Everyone, including Franklin Forrest, thought she had a point. Whatever the case, they would eat first and talk later!
The other dishes at lunch were barely touched; only the steamed buns vanished. The twelve of them ate a whopping seventy buns, and that was only after holding back as much as they could.
Seeing that they had all stopped reaching for more, Paige Summers slowly set down her bowl. "How about another round?"
Franklin Forrest glanced at the empty plates that had held the buns and chuckled sheepishly. "Ah, don’t laugh at me. It’s been years since your big brother here has had buns this good. I just couldn’t help myself!"
"I’m not laughing," Paige Summers said, shaking her head.
"Good, good." Franklin Forrest blinked. "Well, if you’re finished eating too, why don’t we take a walk to let our food settle?"
Paige Summers nodded with a smile.
The two of them left the mess hall and went for a leisurely stroll.
Paige Summers remained silent. Finally, Franklin Forrest couldn’t hold back any longer and took the initiative. "We’re both straightforward people. Since you brought out something this good, I’ll be bold and ask: are you interested in making a deal?"
Paige Summers smiled faintly. "Big Brother Forrest is a sharp man. I am."
Selling food had been part of her plan for a long time, of course.
But the idea of selling to Stoneridge Base had only occurred to her during Franklin Forrest’s earlier visit.
And the more she thought about it, the better the idea seemed.
In the southern territories, aside from Southreach, Stoneridge Base was the next most powerful faction.
Franklin Forrest might seem slick and act boorishly, but he was actually a very shrewd man who knew exactly what was going on.
He didn’t confront Leo Joyce, but he certainly didn’t grovel before him either.
The recent trip to the military base was a perfect example. He’d sent people, but only two, and both were of middling strength—steady, low-key types who would never draw attention to themselves. By contrast, his attitude toward a small base like Bloodfall was far more enthusiastic.
This suggested at least two things.
First, he didn’t want to be a vassal of Southreach. Second, he understood the importance of winning over any potential allies.
Paige Summers felt this aligned perfectly with her own plans.
She didn’t like Southreach being the sole dominant power either, and right now presented a perfect opportunity.
With Leo Joyce in a coma, Southreach was bound to experience a period of turmoil, whether it descended into outright chaos or not.
With Marcus Monroe and Claire Chapman there, she didn’t need to worry about things on that end.
But she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. If she could use this window of opportunity to solidify Bloodfall Base’s position in the south with her food supply, that would be ideal.
As for the issue of her food supply being exposed...
’That’s bound to happen sooner or later.’
The crops in the outside world grew slowly, but the ones in her Planting Space grew impossibly fast. After being gone for some time, The Stillspace was already filled to the brim with harvested food.
There was more than enough to feed everyone in the entire base.
Of course, the base residents couldn’t just take and eat these crops as they pleased; there was a system in place.
But to put it simply, even if everyone chose to eat steamed buns, rice, and cultivated vegetables, she could supply them all and still have plenty to spare.
So, what to do with that surplus?
New harvests came in every day. As long as she maintained a sufficient reserve, was she just supposed to let the rest go to waste instead of selling it?
Paige Summers was not about to do something so foolish.
Therefore, she decided to choose Stoneridge Base—and Franklin Forrest—to lead the way.