Chapter 40: Making Things Progress By Keeping A Low Profile

“Youhai, did you really run into someone important? Tell us, who gave you this good stuff?” The survivor who had called Zhang Youhai a “lazy bum who just poops and pees a lot” moments ago was now speaking to him with a brilliant smile.

The two female survivors were already cleaning the meat by the side. They were about to light up the fire to cook some food for themselves, but their eyes were fixed on the man.

Zhang Youhai seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. His smile was bright on his dark and wrinkle-filled face.

He pointed at the medicine in the bundle and said, “I can’t just run my mouth about the details. The only thing I can tell you is that I wouldn’t have gotten to know this important person if we hadn’t gotten into conflict in the first place. The person mainly asked me for information regarding Juchao District, and I gave him the general version. He then said he’d give me some stuff as thanks.”

“Then why did he kidnap you?” Old Lee asked hesitantly.

“Ah… this huh, Old Lee? The person just arrived in our area and doesn’t want others to know about his existence. That’s why he blindfolded me. I think it’s because he doesn’t want to get into conflict with the evolved humans here.” Zhang Youhai gave a half-truth.

“Is this important person also an evolved human?” another survivor asked curiously.

“Definitely!” Zhang Youhai said before sighing. “You didn’t see him, but the man wore a helmet that was embedded with bonemetal covering every surface. Big Brother Wang Gen and the others definitely don’t have that many bonemetals!”

“Then why didn’t you ask to be that important man’s lackey? If he has so many bonemetals, he’s definitely very strong. The man has just arrived, and if we seek refuge with him, it’ll be better than scavenging for goods while enduring hunger!” The survivor who labelled Zhang Youhai with the derogatory term before slapped his thigh and sighed.

Zhang Youhai’s eyes flashed. “The man has mentioned that he’ll talk about this later. We’ll have plenty of chances in the future… Keep this a secret for him. When we have a chance in the future, we’ll all be able to get benefits.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll definitely keep this a secret, especially the medicines. Everyone, keep this in mind. Don’t tell anyone about this! The man is an evolved human, and he won’t be bothered, but we’re normal people.

“If the news leaks, we’ll be in trouble! In the future, all seven of us will form a permanent group. Don’t join other groups anymore. We’ll search for chances to slowly give away these medicines. Then, we’ll be able to live peacefully,” Old Lee said sternly.

“Old Lee is right. We’ll have to keep our mouths shut tightly.”

“Young Zhang, your contributions today are great. Pay more attention to the new evolved human. When you find a chance, we’ll all join his side,” Old Lee said.

Zhang Youhai promised it. “No problem.”

When a young survivor by the side heard the group talk about seeking refuge with the new evolved human, he grumbled under his breath. “It’d be better to hand over the bridge tax and head to the main city area to look for the government.”

Old Lee immediately shook his head. “There’s no longer a government. Did you actually think that the firefighters are the government? If they were, they wouldn’t have chased Zhang Tianshen and his lot over here to cause us trouble or barricade the bridge! We even have to pay taxes if we want to head over. Have you ever seen a government like this?”

*****

Shen Cong did not know what the scavenging team was planning. In truth, he never told Zhang Youhai that he would talk about him joining him later. With his personality, it was impossible for him to trust anyone, much less be the leader of a group and take in lackeys.

He gave Zhang Youhai food because he was lean and emancipated, a clear sign that he lacked food. And since the tumor pork was about to rot, and Shen Cong did not eat rotten food, it would be better for him to give the meat to Zhang Youhai. He treated it as a gift in exchange for the information he obtained.

But there was a profound meaning behind why he gave Zhang Youhai the medicine.

This was Shen Cong’s first time in the place, and he was incredibly wary of the survivors, especially when he heard that the people from Dragon Slayers had killed and raped before. In the past, Shen Cong would stay far away from such people, but now, it was impossible for him to do that. In the end, he still needed to replenish his resources in Juchao District.

He could easily imagine that all resources in Chengnan were in Wang Gen, Dragon Slayers, and the Secret Organization’s hands.

If Shen Cong wanted to obtain any resources, he would have to come into contact with the three small forces of power.

As someone who moved around alone, Shen Cong was in a very passive position when he faced the three small forces of power. He could choose to kill Zhang Youhai to prevent him from spilling information about him, but even if he was in a post-apocalyptic world, Shen Cong was, first and foremost, still a human, and he had his fundamental principles.

If anyone harmed him, he would not mind counterattacking with the force of lightning.

But Zhang Youhai was someone he captured, and he showed great cooperation by providing the important information. As far as logic and human emotions were concerned, there was no reason for Shen Cong to kill Zhang Youhai to silence him.

But if he did not kill Zhang Youhai, it would be very difficult for him to keep the fact that he was an evolved human a secret.

That was why instead of remaining in a passive situation, it would be better if he took the initiative. Giving away a little medicine was Shen Cong’s strategy.

Before, medicine was an important strategic resource to Shen Cong and other normal humans, but ever since he gained Activity, medicine like normal antibiotics became pretty much useless to him. Evolved humans could use Activity to swiftly restore their health. Due to it, medicine’s value dropped from it being a strategic resource to a tradable resource.

Medicine was still something very important to survivors who had not mutated, or rather, who had not evolved. Plenty of the normal people among the three small forces of power would need it.

If Shen Cong brought out medicine, it would show that he was an evolved human, and he would definitely gain the attention of the three forces of power.

But he sent Zhang Youhai while keeping the man blindfolded and even hid Titan away, so the other party would be unable to get a clear grasp of his trump card.

He managed to flex his strength, but also hid his greatest power.

Now, all he needed to see was whether Zhang Youhai and his group could understand this and send the card he dealt to the three small forces of evolved humans.

After sending Zhang Youhai away, Shen Cong drove Titan 1 km away from the perimeter of Yinpingzhen, which meant he reached the lake where he drew water last time. For the time being, he still did not intend to come into contact with the survivors who lived in Chengnan. He had already made his move, so he should now hide in the dark and wait for the other party to make their move.

The three forces of power were clearly not easy to deal with. There were no longer any laws controlling them, and the societal morals had already crumbled to dust.

Only when Shen Cong was certain how the parties would act that he could choose the right method to respond to them.

He had to act as quickly as possible and position himself at the safest spot so that he could reduce the possibility of being exposed to threats from other people. That was why, while he waited for the other party to take action, he decided to get stronger while keeping a low profile.

He intended to eat all the remaining twenty-three Activity-laced nectarines during this period of time to push Titan’s Activity to at least 80% or even 100%. His physical constitution would definitely become better then as well.

Of course, Shen Cong did not know that his intricate strategy was something Zhang Youhai and the others did not think of at all.

In fact, they even thought about asking for protection from him.

Their plan was completely different from Shen Cong’s goal, but there was nothing to be done about it. Shen Cong always thought too much, so a normal person could never hope to figure out how his mind worked.

*****

Shen Cong stayed in Titan’s truck compartment, which was like a fortress.

He brought out a piece of white paper and started drawing on it.

He had to scrutinize his plan once more as well as examine the power setup of the survivors in Juchao District carefully.

Based on the information provided by Zhang Youhai, there were approximately seven hundred survivors in Chengnan. As for mutants, there were six of them: Zhang Tianshen, Wu Wenjun, Wang Dong, Tao Daqian, Da Haizi, and the leader of the Secret Organization. There was only one ironfolk, Wang Gen. There were not many half-orcs, since most of them were already killed or had been chased away.

There were originally quite a lot of evolved humans, but the provincial army sent some men over and led away a large group of them.

The ones remaining did not go to Hefei for various reasons.

“‘Evolved humans are very powerful. One of them alone can fight against several normal humans. They have surpassed the limits of what normal humans possess in every aspect.”‘

This was Zhang Youhai’s description of evolved humans when he was still in the truck.

Zhang Youhai had not had a lot of contact with evolved humans, and when evolved humans fought for territory, they usually used guns against each other. They seldom let their fists do the talking.

He only saw Tao Daqing and Da Haizi—both Wang Gen’s subordinates—spar for fun once, and he saw Da Haizi shatter a brick with a single punch. As for half-orcs and mutated monsters, Zhang Youhai met them a few times during the apocalypse. Wang Gen used his gun to kill them, and later on, there were basically no more mutated monsters in the city.

Then, the thunderstorm came, and the mutated monsters from the water wrecked havoc for a few days. The survivors did not have boats, so quite a number of them died trying to hunt the fish.

Based on this, Shen Cong deduced that mutated humans’ physical constitution should have improved in all aspects, but not by much. Their increase in strength should be around the same as that of a poodle evolving into an unspayed poodle. Mutants were largely about the same as half-orcs and mutated monsters, but they still possessed their intellect.

Shen Cong was confident that he could fight against ten such people, considering their combat strength and the fact that he was already as strong as three bulls.

It was the reason why he readily released Zhang Youhai instead of killing him. He even gave him medicine that might stir up greed in others to consolidate the success of his move.

The evolved humans in Chengnan did not have any heavy weapons, and they were not very strong either. If they did not scheme against him, they would be unable to harm him, who had Titan as his backup.