Cave Refuge

Hearing Mr. Thompson's question, Zachary did not immediately give an answer. After contemplating for a while, Zachary asked Mr. Thompson in return, "How did you get that shop of yours, did you rent it or buy it, and what kind of business do you run there?"

"I bought that shop," Mr. Thompson replied. "Not long after the Black Market was established, Old Jefferson came to me, and under his urging, I ended up buying it.

However, as the Black Market became busier, quite a few people took an interest in the location of my shop. Some wanted to rent it, and others wanted to buy it directly from me.

The business I run there is actually dealing in Mysterious Cores, just like you said. But because of the pricing at my shop, even though it's well-located, the business inside is so-so. That's also why so many people want to buy it from me.

Given that there's risk involved, maybe I should just sell the shop outright. After all, a lot of people have been approaching me lately to buy it off me."

Hearing Mr. Thompson say this, Zachary thought it over for a moment, then asked again with a hint of puzzlement, "Many people want to buy the shop from you? Does that mean a lot of people in the Black Market know about your shop?"

"Yeah! What about it?"

Seeing Mr. Thompson's indifferent attitude, Zachary was somewhat at a loss for words. Mr. Thompson had mentioned it was the Black Market. Since it's the Black Market, it ought to be the kind of secret dealings no one wants others to know about. But now, it seemed everyone knew, which was quite a situation.

Observing the puzzled look on Mr. Thompson's face, Zachary could only explain with a slight sense of helplessness, "Dad, you said you went to the Black Market so that no one would find out what you're up to.

But now everyone knows you have a shop there and even the exact location. How is that any different from owning and running a shop in the base?"

Having heard what Zachary said, Mr. Thompson then realized that his son was right. He had originally gone to the Black Market precisely to keep others from knowing he was dealing in Mysterious Cores.

But now, many people not only knew he had a shop in the Black Market but also the shop's exact location. It was as if his dealings in Mysterious Cores there were common knowledge.

Thinking this over, Mr. Thompson suddenly felt regret, wondering why he had been so gullible, simply convinced by someone else's persuasion to open a shop in the Black Market.

Just as Mr. Thompson was about to say something, Zachary directly asked him, "Dad, who told you about the situation in the Black Market, who advised you to buy a shop there to do business, and how did those people wanting to buy the shop find out you were the owner, and through whom did they contact you to make the purchase?"

Hearing the string of questions from Zachary, Mr. Thompson was not foolish; he had simply not thought about these things before. Now, with Zachary's reminder and connecting the dots, he quickly grasped the situation.

"It could be Old Jefferson," he briefly conjectured, then immediately corrected himself, "No, not Old Jefferson, it must be Old King."

Hearing Mr. Thompson say this, Zachary did not press further but gave time for Mr. Thompson to figure things out on his own.

If this had been before, Mr. Thompson wouldn't have needed Zachary's reminder. Such matters could never have eluded him.

However, ever since the natural disaster struck, it seemed that the outside world was very dangerous, but for the Thompson family, there really hadn't been any crisis.

When the natural disaster first struck, Zachary took advantage of his premonition from rebirth to plan ahead and prepared all kinds of supplies.

By the time Zachary lost the experience from his rebirth, his Cave had grown to a degree he could rely on.

Although Zachary didn't often come home, every time he did, he would restock his family's supplies to ensure they had enough.

In the early stages of the natural disaster, as long as one had enough supplies, the impact on the everyday lives of the majority of ordinary people was actually not too great.

Thus, after the catastrophe struck, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, although experiencing some changes in their living environment, did not face survival crises like other ordinary people.

Furthermore, Dong Tianyu accumulated some connections through various transactions, which eventually allowed Mr. Thompson to take half a step into the decision-making circle in Saxon County.

With Mr. Thompson going with the flow, he gradually overlooked the backstabbing experiences, eventually leading to the current situation.

So, when Mr. Thompson calmed down and carefully reflected on his experiences during this period, he instantly understood who the manipulator behind the scenes was.

Seeing his father figure out the person behind the scenes so quickly, Dong Tianyu realized that his shrewd old father must have returned.

Before Dong Tianyu had a chance to ask, Mr. Thompson had already calmly explained the causes and consequences of the matter.

Originally, Mr. Thompson indeed wasn't very keen on going to the Plantation Area. First, Mr. Thompson was aware that the Thompson Family's shareholding in the Plantation Area was very low, and his attendance was akin to a mascot-like sinecure that his son had arranged for him to keep him from being idle.

For those who had once been in power, they either completely step down and manage nothing or regain real power. If they were assigned to a trivial position, it wouldn't take long before they would resign due to dissatisfaction, even without others causing them trouble.

Mr. Thompson was quite self-aware, but he also knew that this job was Dong Tianyu's way of preventing him from developing issues due to idleness, so even though he was reluctant, he still had to go and take a look.

Since he only planned to casually check out the place, he did not notify Madeline in advance.

However, on his way to the Plantation Area, he happened to meet Old Jefferson, who was preparing to go fishing at sea. Perhaps because it had been a long time since he last fished, and considering he hadn't contacted Madeline ahead of time, he decided to join Old Jefferson for a fishing trip out at sea.

Perhaps like Mr. Thompson, Old Jefferson's children were not around, and he did not need to worry about daily provisions, so he had a lot of free time. Over the following period, the two often arranged to go fishing together.

However, the vehicles they used for fishing were basically Companion Spiritual Treasures, and since the Companion Spiritual Treasures were relatively small, there were some dangers to going out fishing alone.

Especially if they fished in areas frequently traversed by boats, the passing vessels could significantly interfere with their fishing.

Because their fishing spots were rather remote, if only one boat went out to fish, there would be no one to call for help in an emergency.

For these reasons, the two of them joined an organization formed by fishermen.

Each time they went fishing, many people would go together, and once they reached the fishing area, all boats would spread out. Even if there were many vessels in the same waters, because these were fishing boats used by the fishermen who stayed still while fishing, they wouldn't interfere with the fishing activities under normal circumstances.

Perhaps because everyone had a lot of leisure time, they often gathered to fish, and both Mr. Thompson and Old Jefferson quickly became part of this organization. As everyone got to know each other, fishermen with similar temperaments and personalities, besides fishing together regularly, slowly also began to hold offline social gatherings.

These so-called offline gatherings were simply a few people coming together to drink. Those who had time to go out fishing during this period generally had no pressure from their families, or more bluntly, the person responsible for supporting the family was not them.

Since the family situations were similar, when they gathered for meals, everyone would bring either food or drink; nobody would come empty-handed.

As it was a small group of familiar people, the gatherings would usually take place at the homes of members in the group, rotating in turn unless someone explicitly stated they had matters at home, and the rest followed the sequence.