Chapter 620: I’m a Man of My Word
They said they were clocking out early, but after gathering some supplies, it was already past three in the afternoon, nearly four, by the time they left.
The situation with the other convoys was unknown for now.
But the faces of the Fair Convoy’s people all looked relaxed, without any particular sense of urgency.
However, they did have a mountain of supplies.
Over at the base, in fact, the price of supplies had already dropped a bit over the past couple of days.
After all, everyone knew that as long as Xi City was secured, future supplies wouldn’t be nearly as scarce.
The most important benchmark was that labor costs were rising.
Before, if you wanted to hire a laborer, maybe all you needed was a piece of flatbread or a loaf of bread.
But in the past two days at the base, if you wanted a survivor to work for you, you had to pay at least two pieces of flatbread or the equivalent in food per day.
Of course, there were more precise benchmarks, but those were ultimately things that couldn’t be openly discussed.
Still, the survivors who had stayed behind with their vehicles saw the superhumans hauling back so many supplies, and their eyes lit up.
Everyone scrambled to load the supplies onto the vehicles.
The Monster Pickup Truck, on the other hand, handled it simply. A tentacle extended, took the items Chen Ye was carrying one by one, then retracted into the truck bed, casually closing the bed’s door behind it.
Chen Ye climbed into the cab and picked up the radio: “Alright everyone, let’s move! Heading home!”
With that, the Monster Pickup Truck’s motor hummed to life, and the vehicle began rolling back along the road they’d come from.
The other vehicles slowly followed suit.
Just then, on the street next to Sunset Avenue,
on the rooftop of a building, a woman in red armor stood there.
Her black hair billowed in the sea breeze, making her look beautiful.
Beside her was a man in a hood, his expression gloomy.
Pacing around the hooded man were several pitch-black, vicious wolves, their eyes glowing green even in broad daylight, giving them a deeply unsettling look.
“They’re heading back this early?”
Jiang Rou asked, surprised.
Zhan Lei didn’t reply, just watched the Fair Convoy’s withdrawal.
Jiang Rou snorted: “Hmph! At a time like this, and they’re still thinking about slacking off!”
Zhan Lei glanced in the direction the Fair Convoy had gone, but still said nothing.
As a member of the Breeder Sequence, Zhan Lei had long since lost the ability to speak human language properly.
Even if he wanted to say something, Jiang Rou probably wouldn’t understand him.
Just then, they saw a centaur leap over from a nearby rooftop.
The centaur was covered in green blood. Boss Ma had a spear in his hand, clearly having just been in a fight.
Hearing Jiang Rou’s question, Boss Ma chuckled: “I heard earlier that their temporary captain this time is Chen Ye!”
Jiang Rou’s expression cleared: “No wonder. If it’s him, nothing’s surprising!”
“Oh well, forget them. Let’s focus on ourselves first. Today, I’m going to have my fill! Where’s the next Anomaly?”
Zhan Lei let out a series of strange syllables from his mouth.
He couldn’t speak human language, but with these sounds, he was completely in his element.
The pitch-black wolves around him immediately gathered close, letting out low, throaty growls.
Zhan Lei pointed at a nearby building.
Jiang Rou licked her pink-red lips, her eyes brimming with excitement.
“Your pets aren’t much for fighting, but they sure come in handy at times like this. Not bad!”
With that, Jiang Rou’s figure flickered, and she charged straight toward the building.
Boss Ma looked up at the sun in the sky: “Actually, it’s getting late. We’ll have to leave soon, too. Staying out too late isn’t good!”
The Fair Convoy’s departure had still caught the attention of the other convoys.
Many people stood on high ground watching, some with bewildered expressions, unable to understand what the Fair Convoy was doing.
A few people pondered for a moment, then followed suit, telling their team members to pack up and leave.
Of course, only a minority did that.
Most people were still very interested in reclaiming Xi City, eager to get their hands on the territory they would soon control.
They wanted to take Xi City quickly, clear out all the Anomalies, and settle down there.
Once Xi City stabilized, the territory they’d secure would be a goldmine.
Many of Xi City’s buildings were still intact.
They only needed minor repairs to be habitable.
In fact, even the entire base’s population could move in without any problem, and plenty of space would still be left over.
After all, even if Xi City wasn’t huge, it was still a proper city.
It could easily house a few thousand people, or even tens of thousands, or a hundred thousand.
The Silent Council had previously discussed whether they could just take one district.
That would significantly lower the mission’s difficulty and save a lot of effort.
After all, there was no point in taking a larger area when they couldn’t even fill it.
But that idea was ultimately shot down by some.
If they only took one district, leaving the Anomalies in the others untouched,
the result would be the Anomalies from the other districts discovering their new neighbors.
Then humans and Anomalies would clash again, and more Anomalies would inevitably be attracted.
The situation would then be far more passive than it was now.
After all, many Anomalies were no less intelligent than humans.
If humans had the upper hand in numbers and strength, there’d be no issue.
But right now, Anomalies far outnumbered humans, and their individual strength far surpassed them.
If word got out that humans were living in Xi City,
the result would be that Xi City would become a wasteland again.
Some also raised a counterpoint:
Even if we wiped out all the Anomalies in Xi City, other Anomalies would still find out.
It was impossible to keep all human activity a secret.
Eventually, we’d be surrounded and attacked by Anomalies.
The outcome wouldn’t be any different from other human cities, and it would end up as another Uninhabited Forbidden Zone.
As for that outcome…
It couldn’t be ruled out.
In fact, it was a very real possibility.
Even the Silent Council didn’t have a better solution. They simply responded to the doubts with one sentence:
“Man proposes. Some things have to be done by someone.”
“If humans keep hesitating and second-guessing, they’ll never return to the cities. The only outcome waiting for them is extinction.”
The Silent Council had done so much work just to keep news of human activity here under wraps.
When the others heard the Silent Council’s response, they didn’t know what to say.
Faced with this apocalypse, they had no better options.
Some people were like that. Ask them to criticize, and they’d come up with a hundred reasonable objections.
But toss the problem back to them, and they couldn’t produce a single useful solution.
Still, everyone believed that as long as they could get a foothold in Xi City,
then there would be a second Xi City, a third…
“Hey, Yezi, didn’t the Silent Council say someone with a Sky Whale was coming? Why haven’t we seen anyone yet?”
The trip back was pretty quiet, so the radio soon crackled to life.
Chen Ye picked up the radio: “How the hell would I know? Elder Hou said they’d send someone!”
“I’ve heard before that it’s not just the Sky Whale people coming, but also someone holding a top ten numbered Wonder!”
“Yeah, yeah! But there’s still no sign of them!”
“Yezi, you’re the captain now. Do you know anything about this?”
Voices overlapped on the radio, discussing the topic with great enthusiasm.
Chen Ye picked up the radio again: “I’ve heard about it too, but I still don’t know the answer to that question!”
Chen Ye was telling the truth.
He really didn’t have any concrete information about the arrival of those two parties.
He’d only heard that someone was supposed to come, but he had no idea when they’d actually show up.
“Seriously, you don’t know this, you don’t know that—how did you even become captain!?”
“Yeah, yeah! What good are you!?”
Chen Ye’s temple twitched violently. He really wanted to jump down and beat Dantai Bie to a pulp.
This whole topic had been started by that chatterbox.
The convoy left Xi City’s range without incident.
The thirteen pillars of light still stood around Xi City, like thirteen guards encircling it.
But Chen Ye felt like those thirteen pillars were missing something.
That feeling…
Was complicated…
Back at the base.
Captain Chu Che was quite surprised that Chen Ye had returned so quickly.
But after exchanging a few words with Chen Ye, Chu Che didn’t say anything else.
Every superhuman who had gone out with the Fair Convoy was accounted for.
Not even a single survivor who had gone along was lost.
The mission had been completed perfectly.
After handing over a few minor tasks, Chen Ye went to find Elder Hou of the Silent Council to repay his loan.
The two hundred gold coins he had borrowed earlier, plus interest, were all returned in full.
Of course, the interest was paid in food.
Elder Hou Junji was quite pleased with Chen Ye’s repayment.
He had thought getting Chen Ye to pay back the money would take some effort.
He never expected Chen Ye to be so trustworthy.
This made Elder Hou’s opinion of Chen Ye shift slightly.
After all, over the past couple of days at the base, he had lent out quite a bit of money.
Some people were clearly planning to default.
That had given Elder Hou quite a headache.
It wasn’t that the Silent Council didn’t dare to act.
But they had just gathered everyone here, and if they started cracking down on people, morale would easily become unstable.
Still, this was a situation the Silent Council had anticipated.
Promoting the Silent Gold Coin was never going to go smoothly from the start.
Now that someone had taken the initiative to repay…
Chen Ye was the first!
Really, the very first!
Elder Hou silently gave Chen Ye another point in his mental ledger.
Hou Junji patted Chen Ye on the shoulder, and the bird on his shoulder screeched:
“I didn’t expect you… ahem… I didn’t expect you, Chen Ye, to be a man of your word!”
The original line was supposed to be, “I didn’t expect you, Chen Ye, with your thuggish face, to look like a deadbeat but actually keep your word!”
But then he realized that didn’t sound polite, so Elder Hou swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Chen Ye’s face darkened. He knew Hou Junji wasn’t saying anything good, but for the sake of his future plans, he let it slide, treating it as interest paid in advance.
“Elder Hou, what kind of talk is that? I, Chen Ye, am an upright and honorable man, the prince of good faith. Just ask around our convoy, and you’ll know what kind of person I am!”
“I, Chen Ye, am the most trustworthy man. I may not keep every promise, but I know to repay my debts!”
Hou Junji sneered inwardly: The people in your convoy are all birds of a feather, except that Ding Dong girl who seems alright.
But he didn’t plan to show what he was thinking. He played along with Chen Ye’s boasting.
“By the way, Elder Hou, I’d like to borrow some more money. Based on my current credit, how much can I get?”
Hou Junji paused for a moment, did a quick calculation in his head, and then his face broke into a smile.
“Given Mr. Chen’s excellent credit record, the Silent Council can currently lend you five hundred Silent Gold Coins!”
“That’s it?”
Chen Ye was deeply dissatisfied!
Hou Junji kept the smile plastered on his face, and the bird on his shoulder spoke: “Mr. Chen, it’s not that I don’t want to lend to you! But our Silent Council has its rules!”
“I know Mr. Chen wants the Wonder’s Heart!”
“How about this? If you mortgage the Monster Pickup Truck to me, I can authorize a loan of seven thousand gold coins! You just add a little more, and you can buy the Wonder’s Heart right now!”
“And I can offer you a discount on the seven thousand gold coins. We can set up installment payments.”
“Once Xi City…”
Before Hou Junji could finish, Chen Ye was already shaking his head like a rattle-drum.
“No way, no way. That Monster Pickup Truck of mine is not up for mortgage. Don’t even think about it!”
With that, Chen Ye stormed off in a huff.
Hou Junji watched Chen Ye’s retreating back, a slight curl to his lips.
The bird on his shoulder smacked its beak, looking just as sly: “If that guy had agreed so readily, I’d be worried he was planning to welch!”
In Hou Junji’s view, if Chen Ye had immediately agreed to mortgage the Monster Pickup Truck, he definitely wouldn’t have believed it.
But the way Chen Ye acted clearly showed how much he valued that truck.
As long as he valued something, the man could be trusted.
Meanwhile, Chen Ye walked away with his hands in his pockets, looking thoroughly angry.
But deep down, he wasn’t all that upset.
Chen Ye thought: If I’d agreed too easily, that old bastard would have been suspicious. Hmm… actually, mortgaging it isn’t out of the question, but the price is too low.
After all, I don’t plan on paying it back anyway!
This is the apocalypse. How stupid would I have to be to actually repay a loan???
Want my truck? Dream on!