Chapter 16

'This…" Tristan hesitated a bit.

'Boss, it's bad! Shan is about to collapse!" a young man shouted from the stairs.

'Alright, if we have to switch, I really have a talent gold card…!" Tristan gritted his teeth and pulled out a gold card from his pocket.

[Talent — Yang Qiao and Yin Qiao Meridians]

Holy crap…!?

Henry's pupils contracted; this was an important card for opening the Eight Meridians! As long as he could find the 'Yang Wei and Yin Wei Meridians," he would be able to learn [Qi Manipulation].

To be able to learn [Qi Manipulation] at the beginning of the apocalypse by opening the Eight Meridians—how strong would that be? He couldn't even dare to imagine it.

'This talent… isn't very useful," but Henry still showed a troubled expression. 'However, saving lives is more important… Uncle, wait a moment, I'll go get the card."

Henry went back to the car and pretended to wait for a few minutes before handing the silver card serum to Tristan, which made Annie laugh.

Tristan hurriedly took the card and rushed upstairs to inject Nathaniel.

After a while, when Tristan came out, he looked noticeably relieved. 'Thankfully, Wilson's life is saved. Thank you, little brother."

'No need to be polite, Uncle. We're just engaging in equivalent exchange. If you have any other cards that you don't need for the time being, I can trade you for them with other cards."

Thank you very much!

No need for that!

Tristan's mouth twitched. From the beginning of the apocalypse until now, his team had only managed to acquire five gold cards, two of which were a vehicle [Military Truck] and [Food]. In other words, he only had three usable cards, and Henry had taken one of them. It would be a lie to say he didn't feel the pinch.

But thinking of saving Nathaniel, it was all worth it.

In the following time, Henry followed Tristan around the camp, and even the command center, such an important place, Tristan didn't hide anything, clearly not seeing Henry as a threat.

After touring the entire camp, Tristan suddenly asked, 'Little brother, what do you think of my camp?"

Not great.

He thought this in his heart but naturally couldn't say it out loud. Henry wasn't a person with low emotional intelligence; he smiled slightly and replied, 'It's alright."

'Right!" Tristan said excitedly, 'I chose to build the camp here for a reason. The view is open, the location is well-connected, and it's easy to defend but hard to attack. As long as you're willing to join the camp, we can definitely team up to take down those monsters and hold out until the rescue team arrives."

'Uncle, do you really think there will be a rescue team?" Henry asked with a strange expression. He shouldn't be so naive at over forty years old.

Tristan's expression changed, and he muttered, 'Honestly, I know deep down that the chances of a rescue team existing are slim, but people need to have some hope, don't they?"

Henry smiled faintly, 'Sorry, I need to go to Haicheng to find someone, so I won't be staying here for long. There's something I'm not sure if I should say."

'Feel free to speak your mind," Tristan replied.

Hearing that Henry was leaving, Tristan looked a bit disappointed, but they had agreed before coming that if they felt uncomfortable, they could leave at any time, so he quickly composed himself.

'Your camp has less than thirty armed personnel, and the remaining hundred or so people lack combat capability. At least, they don't look like they would fight to me."

'That's true. A significant portion of them are elderly, weak, women, and children, rescued by the search teams while looking for supplies," Tristan nodded.

'How many resources does it take to feed and care for over a hundred people every day? You might manage for a day or two, but what about ten days or half a month? Relying on thirty people to support a hundred will eventually drag you down."

Henry was only willing to say a few more words because he saw that Tristan was a decent person. If it were someone else, he wouldn't care about their survival.

Tristan felt like Henry's words struck a chord with him. They were absolutely right. With the increase in camp personnel, he had already felt tremendous pressure in just a few days. If that weren't the case, why would he have forced two search teams to split into four, all to maximize resource collection?

But what could he do? He couldn't just stand by and watch these people get killed by monsters, could he?

'Beep!"

Henry's communicator at his waist rang, and Marcus's voice came through, 'Boss, something's going on downstairs."

Henry was taken aback and leaned out to look down. Dozens of people were clearly divided into two factions and seemed to be arguing about something.

'What's happening?"

Henry and Tristan made their way to the empty space on the first floor, where Marcus jogged over to explain the situation.

It turned out that just a moment ago, some members of Marcus's team were feeling hungry, so they started cooking. Most of the food they had was leftover green card food from the morning, such as hot dogs, canned goods, and instant noodles. The smell of the instant noodles was an absolute sensory assault for the camp's residents, who had been eating nothing but rice and pickled vegetables for a week. Consequently, the locals sent a few representatives to demand food, but after being refused by Marcus, a quarrel broke out between the two sides.

'Why are you being so stingy? We're just asking for a few bags of instant noodles. Before this, I wouldn't even look at such junk food!"

'Exactly! I used to be the owner of a publicly traded company, with a net worth of several hundred million. Asking you for a bit of food and you're being so difficult—what a lack of vision!"

'I'm a Douyin influencer with six hundred thousand followers. Give me two cans, and once this apocalypse is over, I can help you make a lot of money!"

'…"

Everyone was talking over each other.

Hearing their chaotic remarks, Henry almost couldn't help but laugh. This group had been brainwashed by Tristan, naively believing that the apocalypse would end and a rescue team would come to save them. Little did they know that there was no longer even a country left—what were they going to save, a yo-yo?

'Robinson, you're the nurse from the women's and children's hospital, right? I'm your sister Wang. Do you remember me? I took care of you quite a bit back when you were at the unit."

A young woman from Marcus's team huffed, 'Of course I remember you; you didn't give me any special treatment."

'Hey, why are you talking like that? I was helping you grow; it was for your own good." The woman's expression changed. Why were young people nowadays so ungrateful?

'Enough! Everyone stop arguing! Didn't I give you food this morning?" Tristan felt incredibly awkward, especially since he had been bragging to Henry that the camp had plenty of resources.

'More bread? We haven't smelled meat in days!"

'Yeah, Tristan, at least open a few cans for us. If we keep eating like this, we'll end up malnourished."

'When you brought us back, you promised us enough food and drink. If we had known this was the treatment, we would have preferred to stay outside."

'Exactly!.."

Tristan was nearly beside himself with frustration, and his deputy, William, angrily shouted, 'Shut up! You're not satisfied with being unconditionally provided for? To find resources for you, Brother Shan nearly lost his life out there, and he's still in a coma! How can you say such things without a conscience?"

Seeing the argument turning into infighting, Henry signaled to Marcus, who indicated for everyone to step aside and watch the drama unfold.

'Everyone, don't worry. I will definitely sort out the food situation; I just hope you can give me some time," Tristan said, feeling utterly exhausted and regretting bringing such a burden upon himself.

'Don't give us that delaying tactic, Tristan. They have good food ready," a woman pointed at Marcus's group. 'Let's improve our meals first."

'Yeah! Let's improve our meals!" someone quickly echoed.

'That's nonsense! What do their cards have to do with me?" Tristan snapped at the crowd.

Henry chuckled, 'If you want to improve your meals, it's simple: go out and kill some blood corpses. Which of those blood corpses doesn't have cards inside? My people are eating meat because they fought hard alongside me. What about you? A bunch of beggars complaining about stale food?"

Upon hearing this, Marcus and his group stood tall. Henry's words were spot on; they had fought alongside him against the horde of corpses last night, and this was what they deserved.

'Damn it, watch your mouth! Who are you calling a beggar? When I was choosing concubines in the heavens, you probably didn't even know where you were hiding!"

A middle-aged man in a tattered suit stood up, glaring fiercely. 'You will give me that card, whether you like it or not! That's what I say!"

'Say that to your mother!"

Henry couldn't be bothered to argue with him and pulled out his gun instead.

With a loud bang, red and white splattered everywhere, and the entire world fell silent.

'You…"

William was taken aback, not expecting Henry to kill so decisively. He instinctively reached for his own gun, but the next second, a rough hand pressed down on him. 'Boss?" he asked in confusion.

Tristan didn't say anything, just shook his head gently.

Looking at the group of survivors facing Henry, they had all backed away several steps, their eyes filled with fear.

None of them had expected that this seemingly cheerful young man would be so ruthless when it came to killing, not even blinking an eye.

Only Marcus and his group knew that Henry might appear easygoing, but in reality, he was quite fierce.