Cave Refuge

Neither Daniel nor the soldier captain said anything when Dong Tianyu finally took twenty pounds of fried noodles out of his backpack.

The two men, full of thoughts, did not ask Dong Tianyu to open all the pockets of his bag nor did they intend to inspect it personally.

Seeing the two men silent, Mr. Thompson began to help pack the things back into the backpack. After cleaning it up, there was still a pack of cigarettes, two glass bottles, and a box of chocolates left. Daniel and the soldier captain exchanged glances but didn't initiate any conversation.

Seeing this situation, Mr. Thompson directly asked Dong Tianyu, "Son, why did you bring a few bottles of water? The Refuge Center is not short of water now."

Assuming that the glass bottles contained pure water, Mr. Thompson customarily left two of them.

After all, when dealing with people outside, a normal social courtesy was either offering cigarettes or water.

The reason why a pack of cigarettes was left was that both men represented the two major powers in the Refuge Center.

One was his own boss, also representing the dominant voice in the Refuge Center.

Although the other was not his boss, he was the superior of his nephew and son-in-law, and controlled the enforcement department in the Refuge Center.

So he casually took out a pack, five packs for each, both for them and to win over the other people in their groups. As long as the two understood some social courtesy, they would not monopolize the cigarettes, and each would at least share a pack or two with others.

No matter whether they talk about the source of the cigarettes in their hands, others could guess that they were from the Thompsons.

Everyone saw Dong Tianyu's backpack and knew that it couldn't hold much stuff, let alone being full of cigarettes. So even if they knew the source was the Thompson's place, they wouldn't be overly jealous.

Mr. Thompson skillfully unpacked the cigarettes, then naturally divided them between the two men. Seeing that neither man refused, they directly accepted the cigarettes and put them in their pockets.

Dong Tianyu knew that the two men had a good relationship with his father. If the relationship was not close, even if they wanted the items, they would have feigned a refusal in front of him.

After confirming this matter, Dong Tianyu picked up the two glass bottles and introduced, "This is not ordinary purified water, it's above 95 degrees, and you must dilute it before drinking."

After hearing Dong Tianyu's explanation, the other three quickly caught on. All three were educated and had a deep understanding of the concept of 'degree'.

After hearing Dong Tianyu say this, their eyes lit up, and swallowing, Mr. Thompson said directly, "Son, what's going on?"

Had there been a different situation, Dong Tianyu's response would have been to ask his father, "Can you guess?"

"This is edible alcohol, grain alcohol. I won't detail how I got it. It was just a benefit distributed by my unit. You can dilute and drink it.

Although it's referred to as alcohol, it's typically used to blend cheap grain alcohol. Under regular circumstances, a one-to-one water dilution is fine. If you want higher alcohol content, you simply dilute it less. If you want it weaker, dilute it more.

It may not taste as good as what's sold because manually shaking it probably isn't very even, but it will satisfy a craving at this time."

Hearing Dong Tianyu explaining this, and seeing him pass over the glass bottle, the two men hesitated and did not directly accept it from Dong Tianyu.

Seeing this, Mr. Thompson took the glass bottle from Dong Tianyu and directly put it in their hands: "Your nephew has come here after much difficulty, what's wrong with him bringing something for his uncles? The cigarettes and alcohol are all generic brands, not anything expensive."

Actually, what Mr. Thompson was saying made perfect sense. The pack of cigarettes, named Purple Tree, used to cost just seven or eight yuan per pack. Five packs of cigarettes cost at most more than forty yuan. Unbranded alcohol is even cheaper. Even if it's a litre, it's usually not more than twenty yuan.

Of course, the value of goods depends on the time and place.

At this time, the previously worthless tobacco and alcohol had indeed become uncommon goods.

Seeing the men had accepted the cigarettes and alcohol, Dong Tianyu, following his father's idea of giving everything at once, prepared to open the chocolate and divide it between the two men.

Seeing Dong Tianyu's actions, Daniel quickly stepped forward to stop him. Before Dong Tianyu could say anything, Daniel directly said, "That's enough, we both understand your sentiment. As long as we are in this Refuge Center, you don't have to worry about home affairs when you are out working."

"What Uncle Wang said is correct," said the soldier captain, promising the same.

The two men never asked where Dong Tianyu was currently working. It was not that they overlooked the question, but that they knew that at this time, anyone who could move outside and still bring back so many things was not simple.

Moreover, when Dong Tianyu faced them, his expression was always relaxed, showing no signs of caution. Most importantly, they had not only learned from Mr. Thompson that Dong Tianyu was working in a subsidiary unit of the government's disaster warning department, but had also confirmed this information from the Officials.

Even though Dong Tianyu did not enter the government Refuge Center after the temperature dropped, they guessed that the Refuge Center where Dong Tianyu was located must have had a complex relationship with the Officials since all of the private sanctuaries in Pengcheng had connections with the high-level Officials.

Seeing that Daniel was determined not to let him unpack the chocolate, Dong Tianyu knew it was not a polite refusal, as they had already accepted two other items. One more or less didn't make a big difference.

But since the two insisted on not accepting, Dong Tianyu stopped insisting, avoiding an unnecessary tug-of-war.

After quickly packing the chocolate into his backpack, he once again opened the side pocket of his backpack and grabbed a handful of loose candies. He handed them to Daniel, fearing Daniel would refuse, he directly said, "Uncle Wang, this is not for you, this is for the little ones at home, just a few loose candies, let them sweeten their mouths."

After hearing what Dong Tianyu said and thinking of the princes and princesses at home, Daniel hesitated for a moment before putting them in his pocket, "Since you've put it like this, I won't refuse. I'll thank you on behalf of the little ones at home."

Seeing that Daniel accepted the candy, Dong Tianyu did not disfavor the soldier captain, grabbing another handful of loose candies from the side pocket and handing them over.

Having seen Daniel's example, the soldier captain also accepted smoothly.

After receiving the items, the four chatted for a while. Mr. Thompson took the initiative to say, "His mother should know now that Tianyu has come home, so let's not chat any further. I'll take Tianyu to see his mother first."

Hearing what Mr. Thompson said, Daniel seemed to remember, and quickly said, "Right, right, right, I completely forgot about it. You take Tianyu there first, we can chat when we have time."