Cave Refuge

Wryden laughed inwardly at Mr. Thompson's explanation. Without any preparation, they had a steel bar as thick as an arm welded into a gate at the emergency exit and plenty of food, even though it had been raining for days.

The exterior of the office building did not show significant damage, but they had encountered Zachary who had just returned. The only possibilities were that they knew of a more concealed entrance or Zachary was back for the first time since they moved in.

However, from the casual way in which Zachary collected water just now, it was certain he had been here before. With this information, their claim of moving from the third floor crumbled.

Furthermore, Wryden was confident they had scavenged supplies from within the office building, otherwise their reserves wouldn't be so plentiful.

Hence, Wryden did not believe Mr. Thompson's words at all.

Whether the Thompsons spoke or not, whether their words were true or false, were actually of no real consequence to Wryden. After the move to the West City District Command Post, he would have ample time to deal with the Thompsons. This current visit was merely to survey the situation in advance. Any findings, or lack thereof, were immaterial.

Wryden understood that the Command Post's office area wouldn't require much space. At most, it would occupy two floors and the remaining space would essentially be for housing the families of the staff members.

Given the current circumstances, travel entirely depended on transportation. To be blunt, if the family members of people going outside weren't staying here as well, who knew if they might just abscond.

For special reasons, the location of the Command Post had to be at the highest level. If the Thompsons were occupying the top floor, the officials would absolutely enforce their relocation.

However, the Thompsons were currently residing on the thirtieth floor, which according to the original plan, was the family area. Although the Thompsons weren't part of the plan, if they had occupied it, it would be troublesome to ask them to relocate again.

If the Thompsons were forced to move further down, in case they acted irrationally on being cornered, the residents on the upper floors would be at risk.

If the Thompsons were to be evicted, it would cause another round of trouble.

A multitude of thoughts crossed Wryden's mind, but he decided to throw all these scattered ideas to the back of his mind.

"Don't mind us, we just came up to take a look. If there's nothing else, we'll head back." Having said this, Wryden prepared to stand and leave.

Mr. Thompson seemed to want to say something, but swallowed his words when he saw the look in Mr. Thompson's eyes.

The Thompsons courteously escorted the two to the door. After watching them descend the stairs, they closed the door again.

"Brother Wryden, I have a feeling this family is problematic," Emily voiced her concerns once they were out of the building.

"Problematic? Who isn't problematic at a time like this, not willing to go to the officials' designated places? But these are not our worries. We just need to report the truth when we get back."

Upon hearing Wryden's remarks, Emily still seemed unconvinced, "You saw their rosy complexions. They must be hiding a lot of food in their house."

Upon hearing those words, Wryden stopped descending the stairs, turned around, and solemnly looked at Emily behind him. "Emily, let me warn you again, whether they have stored food or not has nothing to do with you. What they eat on a daily basis also has nothing to do with you. If you say such things again, I will request our leader to change our team."

Seeing Wryden's stern expression gave Emily quite a scare.

Seeing Emily's fearful expression, Wryden sighed, "By age, I should be your uncle. As your elder, I can share lessons from my life with you, it's up to you whether you listen or not."

"Never force someone to the end of the line, because when someone is desperate, he can do anything."

Observing Emily not taking his words seriously, Wryden paused before speaking again.

"Don't think I'm just trying to scare you. Because of your brother-in-law, you have never been out on the front lines before. If it weren't for the unexpected incident, you wouldn't be assigned this task of surveying the building."

"If you had been out with us in the harsh winter, you would understand the advice I just gave."

"Let me tell you a real story, which I witnessed myself. It was in the middle of winter, and the resources in all the refugee shelters were almost exhausted. The government had just started planning to send relief supplies to the shelters."

"The shelter I was escorting supplies to was my destination. I'm not sure about the specifics of the situation, but all the street members there were stripped naked and thrown outside the shelter."

"At first, we didn't think much of it. After all, people freezing to death in that weather was not anything unusual. Even stripping them of their clothes for the living didn't seem amiss, as most people rushed into the shelters with little preparation."

"However, we noticed a problem when handing over the supplies. The person receiving the supplies didn't know the process at all. We were sure that they were impersonating street members."

"After some probing, we got a general idea of the situation inside. Simply put, the street members, abusing their power of resource allocation, were bullying others inside the shelter."

"I won't get into details, but they accidentally caused the death of an honest man's wife and daughter."

"Then, those who had been abused exploded with rage, joined by many others in the shelter. Directly, all street members, including those from the Officials, were killed, stripped and thrown outside the shelter."

"It might sound easy the way I tell it, but when I went to look at the bodies outside, the mutilated condition of the corpses suggested that they had been severely tortured before death."

"As someone who has lived through these times, I advise you not to provoke trouble for no reason. You saw Zachary's physical condition when he was climbing the stairs."

"Think about why he still has such good physical strength at this time. If you target him, unless you hide in the Command Post all the time, you must find a way to get rid of him, otherwise you won't end well."

Initially, Emily had some intentions, but hearing how serious Wryden was, she finally took his warnings seriously.

As her sister was supporting her during these troubled times, she decided not to poke the bear. If it brings trouble to her brother-in-law, it's still okay, but if targeted directly, it would be absolutely dreadful.

After speaking, Wryden turned and continued down the stairs. Despite not voicing anything more, he was deliberating whether to apply for a change of team member.