Cave Refuge

When the door opened that moment, the dazzling light from outside flooded into the room like a deluge.

Compared to the gentle sunlight that gradually entered the room initially, the light that surged in now was not only fierce but also blinding.

At this moment, not only Dong Tianyu, but even Father Dong and Mother Dong, who were unaware of the situation, also felt the abnormality of the outside environment.

However, even though they had noticed something unusual outside, the two had no way to deal with the situation and could only follow Dong Tianyu's arrangements, slowly walking toward the staircase.

Under the reminders of Dong Tianyu, they walked somewhat slowly, and although the process took much longer than usual when descending the stairs, no accident occurred throughout the process.

Step by step, the three of them made their way to the first floor along the staircase.

Even though they could barely see the surroundings with sunglasses on, seeing only a vague whiteness, Dong Tianyu could observe the surroundings through Divine Sense and managed to smoothly open the door leading to the underground drainage channel.

This time, Dong Tianyu first led his parents into the stairwell, then turned around to close the large door of the stairwell, blocking the light that shone into the stairwell.

With the closure of the stairwell door, the light surrounding the Thompson family gradually weakened. Taking advantage of the lingering light, they quickly descended towards the exit below.

As soon as the three opened the door of the stairwell and entered the underground drainage channel, they were unavoidably subjected to curious gazes.

However, when it was seen that it was a family of three who opened the door, the intense gazes that were fixed on them instantly disappeared.

Only then did Dong Tianyu realize that there were many smart people; before them, many had already taken refuge here.

Although everyone had taken refuge here, the mood was still fairly good, unlike when the Cold Catastrophe first emerged and everyone hid in the underground bunkers, creating a very oppressive atmosphere.

Now, although they were also here to avoid the disaster, the atmosphere among the people was relatively relaxed.

Especially Father Dong and Mother Dong, who upon entering, met some acquaintances. Soon after, Mrs. Thompson smoothly integrated into a nearby group engaged in casual conversation, while Mr. Thompson naturally stood among a crowd that was watching a card game.

In contrast, Dong Tianyu stood awkwardly in place, seemingly out of sync.

Before Dong Tianyu could decide what to do next, the communicator in his backpack immediately rang out. He took it out to see who would be contacting him at this point.

It was somewhat beyond Dong Tianyu's expectation. He had thought it would be Madeline or Robinson William contacting him, but to his surprise, it was Thomas Jefferson.

Although the two had conducted business before, it had only been that one transaction, and when Dong Tianyu later wanted to procure more explosives, Thomas Jefferson outright stated that the stock he originally had was already sold to Dong Tianyu.

Hearing this, Dong Tianyu understood that not only did Thomas Jefferson refuse to trade with him this time, but it also seemed like he did not plan to continue trade with Dong Tianyu in the future.

It wasn't really Thomas Jefferson's fault. Despite possessing the technology to manufacture explosives, having the technology does not equate to having access to raw materials, although through his position, Thomas Jefferson could procure a bit more raw materials for loss.

But such a loss ratio could not be too high, as after all, the production consumption and loss ratio could not reach one to one.

Unlike those special items, for a mature production process, a loss ratio of one-thousandth is already considered quite high.

Therefore, the last transaction, which was quite large in volume, also indirectly emptied Thomas Jefferson's inventory.

And since Dong Tianyu purchased such a large amount of explosives at once, Thomas Jefferson naturally feared that using them might implicate him.

After all, the Magic Capital Base is only that big. Although there are many merchants who sell explosives in the base, tracing back to their sources, there are only a few people.

Thomas Jefferson is afraid of Dong Tianyu, who has a large amount of explosives, being like a child with a cannon, always having wild and wonderful ideas in his mind.

It's like having a hammer in hand and wanting to smash everything in sight.

If Dong Tianyu, who possesses a lot of explosives, gets a whim one day, although he cannot wipe out the Magic Capital Base completely, he could definitely retaliate heavily against anyone he dislikes by using the quantity of explosives he purchased.

That's also why Thomas Jefferson does not want to continue any interactions with Dong Tianyu.

Despite seemingly trading a large amount of spirits from Dong Tianyu last time, most people have a common vice—when they have amassed many supplies, they do not plan their use in advance.

Contrarily, only when having limited resources do they meticulously plan how to utilize the remaining supplies.

It's often the case: the more supplies one has, the faster they are consumed, but meager supplies, due to careful and frugal planning, tend to last longer.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the majority who, after exchanging a large amount of spirits from Dong Tianyu and after deducting the spirits used for gifts, frequently organizes banquets and dining parties.

Each time Thomas Jefferson organizes a banquet, he cleverly uses diluted spirits, trumpeting them as low-proof sake from Japan, but no matter how much water is added, it can't withstand the frequency of his gatherings.

Eventually, as expected, although Thomas Jefferson's network expanded continuously through his banquets, his stock of spirits dwindled rapidly.

Finally, when Thomas Jefferson calmed down and realized the rapid consumption rate of spirits and was preparing to slow down, he remembered to check the inventory of his remaining spirits.

But not checking would have been better, as upon inspecting, it was found that only less than five kilograms of spirits were left in the storage space.

Five kilograms of spirits might last a long time for ordinary survivors drinking a few grams a day, but for someone who frequently organizes gatherings like him, even if it's for diluting to make sake, it could only suffice for two drinking sessions at most.

Realizing this crisis, Thomas Jefferson immediately thought of contacting Mr. Thompson.

Yes, you read that right. Thomas Jefferson first approached Mr. Thompson, because when initially settling and registering for residency, the Thompson family was recorded as possessing traditional distilling techniques.

Normally, after cultivating the Martial Path, Mr. Thompson should be in his prime, hence it should be him leading the Thompson family.

So even though Thomas Jefferson tactfully refused to continue trading with Dong Tianyu when he approached last time, he still rejected the trade politely and graciously, with meaningful excuses, maintaining the pretext of trading ethics.

That's why, even if Thomas Jefferson feels it might be embarrassing to return and trade with the Thompson family, especially since he refused Dong Tianyu previously.

But this time, Thomas Jefferson did not approach Dong Tianyu with embarrassment, directly contacted the family spokesperson, Mr. Thompson. This way, even if their relationship wasn't close and the price might be slightly higher, at least it solved the procurement issue.

What Thomas Jefferson did not expect was that upon contacting Mr. Thompson to purchase spirits, he learned from Mr. Thompson that due to continuous problems recently, Mr. Thompson was not planning to start distilling anytime soon, only after things stabilized a bit would he begin distilling.

To Thomas Jefferson, Mr. Thompson's response didn't feel like an excuse; after all, even those unfamiliar with distillery know that once you start distilling, you can't frequently mess with the equipment.

If you mess with the distilling equipment frequently, it will surely lead to failure.

If the failure results in turning wine into vinegar, that's still manageable and not a complete waste.

But if it becomes completely unusable, the loss would be substantial, especially since the materials used for distilling are food items, which are life-preserving commodities at this time.