Cave Refuge

Perhaps only a small portion of ordinary survivors have guessed that Pengcheng is beginning to run out of food, but the majority of the lower-class survivors are unaware of this situation.

Water indeed is the source of all life. Although during the cold catastrophe, every living being on the surface was frozen, life started to emerge in water slowly after the flood.

The first signs of life were a few algae plants, followed by an emergence of underwater grass.

The grass, when ground into a powder, is mixed into the grain bricks as fillers. Even though it doesn't taste good and doesn't have much nutrition, it served as a temporary filler for the stomach.

As the proportion of underwater grass mixed in grain bricks increased, the salvage team members, who make up the majority of the survivors' community, started discussing this issue.

As the number of people discussing this issue increased, all of the survivors came to know about this in a very short time. Seeing that the issue couldn't be kept a secret any longer, the officials announced it to all the survivors.

Now, in Pengcheng, survivors could only exchange grain bricks for their contribution points earned by completing the tasks assigned by the officials.

The reaction amongst the survivors was varied when they found out about this.

Firstly, those groups who had a stable food-production channel began to reduce their workforce, recalled their full-time members, defended their plantation area, and dismissed some of their peripheral members.

Meanwhile, many of the survivors, who did not have a constant supply of resources, didn't worry too much. They used to earn their food by completing tasks assigned by the officials in the past too. Hence, the newest announcement from the officials didn't trigger any significant effects on them.

They don't realize that, formerly when every household had one member working, they could earn at least enough food for the entire family. Now, everyone in the family has to work to get enough food for everyone.

It may seem strange to some that the erstwhile poor people of Shanghai fell into a state where they could only fill their stomachs by eating large crabs, and now the price of a single crab is enough to buy a week's worth of rice for a person.

Just like when on a diet, one might tend to eat more fish and seafood, but crabs don't make you feel satiated. Even if you consume a dozen at a time to fill your stomach, you'll feel hungry again after a short while.

The underwater grass powder mixed in the grain bricks works similarly. Though it is mixed with grain powder and cooked into a pot of mush, you will feel hungry quite quickly after eating it. The higher the ratio of underwater grass in the grain bricks, the faster you'll feel hungry.

Although the Thompson family handed over most of the supplies in the warehouse, each household still stored a lot of food. Mr. Thompson and his group demonstrated foresight.

They didn't turn up their noses at the grain bricks distributed by the officials but collected them just like the other survivors. They also ate those things. Even though they don't taste good, they would add quite a lot of side dishes to them, but their staple food remained this porridge.

Because of this, the rate of consumption of supplies stored at home slowed down considerably. Although Pengcheng is starting to run out of food, they are not too worried as they have supplies at hand.

Just as they were waiting for Dong Tianyu to come over and discuss together, they were unaware of the problems that had arisen at the Nameless Mountain.

Because many people were aware that there were forces planting crops on the Nameless Mountain, many took interest in this place when officials issued a food shortage warning.

Of course, it wasn't just the Nameless Mountain, wherever there were plantation areas, they gradually drew attention.

Because the exposed part of Nameless Mountain was relatively small compared to other mountains, and the only food was being planted on one side of the mountain, many prominent forces did not focus here. For the moment, only a few scattered individuals were paying attention to this place.

But even so, the faction who opened up the plantation began to summon its members, ready to hold its ground at the plantation at the top of the mountain.

With the arrival of many members, the tacit balance on the Nameless Mountain was disrupted.

Because more and more members were arriving, some bored members started wandering around the mountain instead of staying in their designated areas.

After encountering the members from the other two factions being driven away, more and more people ended up on the northern side of the mountain, where they noticed the platform on the mountain slope.

Although the platform area was not large, just over a hundred square meters, on the sloping mountain, a flat area was very eye-catching.

The members who climbed onto this natural platform also noticed the grand door on the mountainside.

At first, everyone rested silently on the platform, but as more and more members gathered on the platform, they grew bolder.

Seeing his dozen or so brothers around him, one man couldn't resist walking up to the door and knocking hard, curious to see who lived inside.

Considering the living area inside the cave mansion was very far from the entrance door, and also the solid construction of the door, it was not easy for the knocking sound to reach inside.

Seeing that no matter how they knocked, there was no response from inside. The man who was knocking, emboldened by the crowd, began trying to break the entrance door.

But an iron-reinforced concrete door was not easy to open by manpower, especially when they didn't have any appropriate tools. After struggling for a long time, they only managed to leave a few scratches on the door.

The fruitless attempts made more and more people feel intrigued. One of them muttered quietly, "Given such high level of protection here, could it be a storage warehouse? Looking at the size of the door, the area inside should be quite large."

Although he spoke softly, everyone was standing close together and so everyone heard his words.

Before anyone else could say anything, he spoke again: "With such a large area, even if there are no supplies inside, at least we could live there. That'd be much better than staying outdoors as we are now."

Hearing these words, everyone's eyes lit up.

Because this place was designated as a plantation base, only a few small houses were hastily built, and only about a dozen people were stationed here permanently.

Now that everyone was called back for defense, over a hundred people had returned and most of them had to find places to sleep randomly.

They were already quite pleased having found a flat platform by the caves, after all, they could lie down here. But in case it rained, certainly, it was better to stay inside a cave than outside.

Human beings live in their mother's womb when they are infants, in houses from childhood to old age, and after death, lie in coffins.

This just goes to show that humans always prefer to live in a closed space.

The faction members, unable to break the door, spent the night on the platform instead of returning to their original residences. After all, sleeping on a flat surface is more comfortable.

When Dong Tianyu opened the door of the cave mansion the next morning, he found a bunch of people sleeping haphazardly on the platform.

Before Dong Tianyu could say anything, the sound of the opening door woke some of the members sleeping on the platform. Realizing that the door they'd tried to open all day yesterday was now open, excitement dawned on their faces.