Watching Hunting Captain Qin Jiezhou leave, the crowd immediately offered their congratulations to the newly appointed captain.
"Thank you, everyone!"
"From now on, I’ll need everyone’s cooperation. I, Xu Yi, swear that I will lead you all to carve out a bloody path for ourselves in this apocalypse!"
The newly appointed rookie team captain looked incredibly excited.
After speaking, she looked at everyone with a resolute gaze. Every team member her eyes fell upon unconsciously puffed out their chest, looking inspired.
’Saint Joan of Arc...’
Ye Fei watched Xu Yi stand before the crowd, weapon held high, and couldn’t help but be reminded of a famous painting. In any case, it seemed Xu Yi was born with a natural leadership aura.
Just then, a young man said with a smile, "Captain Xu, my name is Zhang Zhen. I’d like to apply to be the team’s vice-captain. Let me take the lead on all the dangerous scouting missions from now on. How about it?"
"Like you’re worthy. That job has to be mine."
"I’ll do it!"
"I’m a student, let me go first!"
"Let me do it!"
The moment Zhang Zhen finished speaking, numerous competitors emerged. Their enthusiasm was soaring, all of them eager to fight for this position with its extremely high mortality rate.
One’s environment can really change a person.
In an era fraught with danger, where everyone was accustomed to death, the desire to grow stronger was exceptionally fierce. Not to mention, becoming the vice-captain meant being the captain’s second-in-command and gaining access to help from some of the Superpower Users.
Soon, a group of people began dueling for the position. The winner would become the vice-captain.
At that moment, Wang Gang, who was standing nearby, clicked his tongue. "Hear that crisp voice? This woman’s really something, able to fire up this pack of animals. It’s just a shame it’ll be hard for her to awaken a Superpower."
"Oh? What’s the story there?"
It seemed a lot had happened during the time he was "dead."
Wang Gang looked at Ye Fei in confusion. "Oh, I almost forgot about your amnesia. She’s the one who fought alongside you back then. When you died, she almost bought it, too. She wanted to come see you last night."
"I see."
Realization dawned on Ye Fei.
Directly facing death gives you a chance to awaken a Superpower. But back then, Xu Yi not only faced death, she witnessed it firsthand. If she wasn’t stimulated into awakening a Superpower under such dangerous circumstances, it was basically impossible for her to awaken one in the future.
In other words, she most likely had no Superpower Talent.
"That’s why you’re so lucky. Not only do you have Superpower Talent, but that Talent also saved your life."
Wang Gang said with a hint of envy.
The two chatted about the people they knew and didn’t know in the crowd. Just then, Zhang Zhen walked over. After greeting Ye Fei, he said happily:
"Congratulations, Ye Fei! Surviving a great catastrophe is a sign of good fortune to come! Even though you’re temporarily blind, you Superpower Users have Power far beyond ordinary people. I heard you’ve even figured out extra Cultivation methods to make yourselves even stronger."
"But I think if things keep going like this, our community will definitely split in two. One part will be the Superpower Users, high and mighty, leading us normal people."
"Not necessarily. It all depends on how much stronger Superpower Users really are than regular people. If they can’t take a bullet, a single shot will still put them down."
At least so far, Ye Fei didn’t think Superpower Users were all that powerful.
Even if they were several or even ten times stronger, it didn’t make them that different from ordinary people. After all, wasn’t there still so much work that only ordinary people could do?
Besides, authority wasn’t something as simple as mere physical might.
Unless the gap in their power became so vast that no external force could possibly bridge it.
Zhang Zhen gave a mysterious smile, then lowered his voice. "Haven’t you all noticed? For the last month, those Superpower Users have basically stopped interacting with us normal people. The only one who ever shows their face is the Captain."
"They’ve taken over Pit Section 0 and won’t let us in. Even though it’s near the surface and they have the heavy responsibility of fighting off monsters, the environment is better, the radiation is lower, and they’ve stockpiled clean food, fresh water, and even meat!"
"Their benefits and treatment are already far better than ours, and they’ve monopolized the Spiritual Crystals."
"Some people... are about to redefine what it means to be human."
"Once everyone who can become a Superpower User has been filtered out, the rest of us will just be useless dregs."
Zhang Zhen had his own assessment of the situation in the Shelter.
"What are Spiritual Crystals?"
Ye Fei asked.
Zhang Zhen shook his head. "I don’t know either. I just happened to overhear a Superpower User mention them. They’re something good that can make Superpower Users even stronger, so they must be incredibly valuable."
Zhang Zhen had been a colleague of Ye Fei’s, and the two were on good terms. He had clearly come over specifically to tell Ye Fei all this. After revealing this information, he walked back to the crowd to continue competing for the vice-captain position.
He had already won one round. If he won two more matches, he would become the vice-captain.
And the vice-captain would attract the attention of the Superpower Users. Not only would they get a chance to face the trial of near-death sooner, giving them a better chance of becoming a Superpower User, but they could also be protected by them in critical moments.
Everyone was focused on the competition. Power also determined one’s status and treatment in this place, "Shelter 301."
As for Ye Fei, he used his stick to make his way to the entrance of Pit Section 1, where he received a piece of charred, unidentifiable roasted meat and a bottle of fresh water, before returning to his room to rest.
Food was rationed daily.
Because Ye Fei was injured, he received preferential treatment and was given meat. The other ordinary people mostly received cooked congee and flour dumplings. But Ye Fei’s "preferential treatment" wasn’t much better. First, the meat was awful. Mutations had made the wild animal meat as tough as chewing on wood shavings. If an ordinary person ate it, they might even cut their throat or suffer from indigestion. As for the water... it was just boiled water from the mine, containing trace amounts of radiation.