The two of them quietly stepped back, trying to escape, but after only a couple of steps, flames suddenly surged up in front of and behind them, blocking all routes of retreat.
“Don’t run. It’s been so long since we last met, don’t you want to chat?” Jiang Yufeng wore an exceedingly gentle smile.
But in Jiang Chen and his mother’s eyes, he looked like a demon. They screamed and retreated, staring at the blazing flames before them, their eyes filled with terror.
It was over. Jiang Yufeng had clearly obtained some terrifying power and had come back for revenge.
“What is it, feeling guilty?”
“N-no, what are you talking about, Yufeng?” Jiang Chen’s mother stammered awkwardly.
A flicker of light passed through Jiang Yufeng’s eyes, and his smile grew even softer. “Did the food you got from selling me taste good?”
“Yufeng, we were just momentarily blinded. It was your father’s idea back then. I opposed it. Now we’re the only family left, we should rely on each other,” Jiang Chen’s mother said, her eyes darting as she decided to admit it and try to turn the situation around.
After hearing this, Jiang Yufeng laughed even louder.
“Family? Since you value family so much, why don’t you play with him?”
As he spoke, the flames parted, opening a path. In front of Jiang Chen and his mother, a staggering figure slowly walked in.
“Come on, let me see how you rely on each other now.” Accompanied by Jiang Yufeng’s low, almost demonic whisper, the zombie that had once been Jiang’s father slowly approached them. Their screams pierced the air.
While chaos unfolded on that side, new survivors arrived at Tang Ye’s shelter.
They looked extremely disheveled. Leading them was a woman in her forties named Cheng Fang, who was a doctor.
When she heard that name, Tang Ye paused for a moment. Before the apocalypse, there had been a well known doctor with the same name.
She remembered clearly because her grandfather had once been seriously ill. At the time, her mother had been overwhelmed, taking him everywhere to seek out famous doctors. Tang Ye had accompanied them to several places, including one doctor named Cheng Fang, who had been highly recommended.
Her medical skills had been excellent, and she had treated patients with great patience. She had even cured her grandfather’s illness, so after all these years, Tang Ye still remembered her and her voice.
Previously, the woman had been wearing a mask. After she removed it, Tang Ye realized she was much thinner than before, covered in dust and grime, making it difficult to connect her to the doctor she had seen on television years ago.
“Thank you, Administrator, for saving us,” Cheng Fang and her group said after catching their breath.
Tang Ye had been practicing her blade techniques nearby when she noticed them being surrounded. She had stepped in to help and brought them back to the shelter.
Through conversation, Tang Ye learned that they had come from a shelter in L City. Like those from Y City, their shelter had also been attacked by a large number of mutated zombies.
“The zombies around the shelter were usually cleared out daily. We don’t know why so many appeared overnight,” Cheng Fang said, equally puzzled.
Even Tang Ye sensed that something was off this time.
However, the movements of zombies and mutated beasts were always unpredictable. No one could truly understand their patterns.
“May we stay here?” Cheng Fang asked, glancing at her exhausted companions. “This is Fang Zhong, and we are both doctors. There are also five nurses with us. We can help in the shelter. We only ask for a place to stay.”
“Of course. Let me see, there are thirty two of you. Come with me,” Tang Ye said. She welcomed new survivors wholeheartedly, as she had not forgotten the original purpose of building the shelter.
Moreover, the doctors and nurses she had been worrying about had now arrived on their own.
“What are you building here?” Cheng Fang asked, looking at the workers constructing the fence.
“A fence. This area will be our shelter’s future farm,” Tang Ye said casually, though her words shocked the survivors.
“A farm? A real farm? What are you planning to grow? No, that’s not possible. The land can’t grow anything anymore,” the survivors said, stumbling over their words in disbelief.
Tang Ye nodded. “It’s a farm. The vegetables grown here will be sold within the shelter.”
The survivors fell completely silent. That silence lasted until they were brought into the eighteen person dormitories.
The newly built dormitories were not yet full, so all thirty two of them were arranged on the first floor. Tang Ye received thirty two Level 2 mutated crystal cores, equivalent to 3,200 energy points.
After settling them, Tang Ye brought Cheng Fang, Fang Zhong, and the five nurses to the medical room on Basement Level 2.
After so many years in the apocalypse, this was the first time they had seen such a fully equipped medical facility, not only stocked with medicine but also with a wide range of medical equipment.
Even the composed Cheng Fang and Fang Zhong could not help but express their amazement.
“This will be our workplace from now on? Look, there’s even a break room,” the nurses said excitedly, opening almost every room like curious visitors, their satisfaction obvious.
“I can monitor every room here in real time. You may use the medicines and equipment, but you are not allowed to take anything out. Anyone who misappropriates supplies will have to compensate ten times the loss, be expelled from the shelter, and permanently banned from returning.”
Tang Ye laid out the rules clearly before anything else, making future management easier.
They had no objections at all. “Don’t worry, Administrator, we’ll definitely follow the rules.”
“Exactly. We’re not foolish enough to waste such a good place.”
“Also, the main currency here is energy points. They can be used in the cafeteria, the medical room, with me, and later in the supermarket. Your salaries will also be paid in energy points.”
Tang Ye explained the exchange rate between mutated crystal cores and energy points and mentioned that each floor had machines for conversion.
“So here, we only need facial recognition. No need to carry crystal cores around,” the survivors quickly grasped the key point.
Tang Ye nodded. “For now, each doctor will receive five thousand energy points per month, and nurses will receive three thousand.”
Naturally, everyone accepted the offer with gratitude.
For Cheng Fang and the others, this fully equipped medical room was already a treasure.
Tang Ye had originally planned to let them rest for a day before starting work, but they insisted on beginning immediately.
As they were speaking, a survivor with a cold cautiously entered the medical room.
“Excuse me, can I see a doctor here now?” he asked, his voice muffled behind a mask.
“Yes, come in.” Tang Ye stepped aside.
The survivor entered, received a number slip labeled 01 from a nurse at the entrance, and was directed to Cheng Fang in Consultation Room 1.
After seeing the wide range of medicines available, Cheng Fang confidently prescribed treatment.
After the consultation, payment was completed through facial recognition.
For a simple cold, the cost was 250 energy points. It sounded like a lot, but converted into crystal cores, it was just two Level 2 cores and five Level 1 cores.
Before the apocalypse, this would have been unimaginable.
Even a minor illness like a cold could become life threatening without medicine, and when medicine was available, it was often prohibitively expensive.
The survivor left the pharmacy with his medicine, a relaxed smile on his face.
Seeing that everything was running smoothly, Tang Ye left the medical room.
…
Jiang Yufeng looked at the two mangled figures before him and clicked his tongue. “So fragile.”
Seeing the blood splattered on himself, a look of disgust crossed his face. Just as he was about to wipe it away, he seemed to think of something and pulled a dagger from his waist.
Jiang Chen and his mother, still barely alive, caught sight of this from the corner of their eyes. Their bodies trembled. But in the next moment, the man before them plunged the blade into his own arm, blood gushing out instantly.
Not only did he show no sign of pain, a faint smile even appeared on his face.
At that moment, Tang Ye was on the surface, observing the fence that was already halfway completed. As expected, with more people, efficiency had increased significantly.
The fence matched her expectations. It was tall, equipped with a lockable gate, and topped with sharpened wooden spikes to prevent climbing.
She had not considered this before, nor had she anticipated how intense the survivors’ attachment to the vegetable seedlings would be.
With such a large enclosed area, it would not only serve as farmland in the future but could also accommodate livestock.
Just as Tang Ye was feeling pleased, she caught sight of a blood covered figure entering through the gate.
She hurried over and realized it was Jiang Yufeng.
“What happened?” Tang Ye asked in surprise. Compared to before, he looked much worse, with a strong smell of blood and wounds deep enough to expose bone.
“I ran into the family who sold me to the laboratory.” Jiang Yufeng leaned against her, his voice deliberately weak. “When they saw I was still alive, they lashed out at me. I was already weak, but I managed to kill them and barely made it back.”
“Sold to a laboratory?” Tang Ye frowned. “How could anyone do that? So the power inside you came from there?”
Jiang Yufeng nodded weakly. He was not particularly surprised that Tang Ye knew about his abilities. After all, someone who could build such a shelter in the wasteland was already extraordinary.
“I went through some inhumane experiments. Now my power is unstable. If I’m not careful, I get fevers and become weak.”
Hearing this, Tang Ye frowned even more deeply. She understood the feeling of betrayal, having experienced it herself and come close to death.
Being betrayed by one’s own family was likely even more painful than what she had gone through.