Free Web NovelChapter 285: Fighting For Food
The twenty Survivors heard Vikram say he wanted them to also ride in the vehicles back to the Shelter, and a strange glint gradually flickered in their eyes.
They couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but it wasn’t too bad.
They asked again, "Driving four vehicles at once, won’t that waste too much gasoline?"
"Waste my ass. If vehicles aren’t used to carry people, should they be hidden away and worshipped like ancestors?"
"No more nonsense, get in the vehicles quickly. I’ll take you home."
After Vikram finished speaking, he summoned his earliest vehicle again, a motorcycle.
Once these Survivors were seated in the vehicles, he led the way, guiding them back to the Shelter.
The Wasteland was covered in silver, without towering buildings or various environmental pollution. Although occasional discordant zombie wails would appear, it was still breathtakingly beautiful.
Vikram himself didn’t feel much, but the Survivors sitting in the vehicles all had a sense of being in another world.
Before they became survivors who ate raw meat and drank blood, how many times had they leisurely admired such scenery from a car on Earth?
But after arriving in the Wasteland, let alone enjoying the scenery, every day they had to worry about whether they would starve to death or be killed by some natural disaster.
Now, watching the scenery gradually disappear behind them from inside the vehicles, the twenty Survivors were all a bit dazed.
Just admiring the scenery, they unknowingly arrived at a mountainous region.
The gate had already opened before they approached.
Ron and his group peered curiously into the four vehicles behind Vikram.
"Boss, who are these people?"
"You’ll know in a moment."
After settling them in Territory 2, Vikram put away his gains from this trip, then brought the four women to the territory 2.
"Let me introduce you. These four by my side are the Vice Directors of our Shelter."
Vikram pointed at Luna, Sophia, Divya and Anjali, saying.
Then he looked at Ron and the five others, "These five are your seniors, and also the five high-ranking officials of the Shelter."
Ron and the others had originally thought Vikram wanted them to help build residences for these newcomers, but upon hearing this, they immediately waved their hands. freewebnovёl.ƈom
"Boss, we’re just helping to guard the home every day; there’s no talk of being high-ranking officials."
Vikram glanced at the five flattered individuals and said with a smile, "Once you’re in my Shelter, as long as you’re willing to be loyal and contribute to the Shelter, you won’t be treated unfairly."
"Even if you’re just guarding the home, you won’t be shortchanged on the treatment you deserve."
Then he pointed towards the men and ten women, "These twenty members are also the same as you, they will teach you how to work here."
Then he looked towards the newly brought members, "These twenty Survivors before you are the new members of our Shelter."
"As high-ranking officials, besides your previous chores, you will also need to help me command these newcomers from now on."
Vikram paused, looked at the members he had just ’recruited’ from Brown Wood Shelter, pondered for a moment, and then continued, "Regardless of how you were at Brown Wood Shelter before, your former boss has now died twice, and Wesley has sold you to me. This is an indisputable fact."
"Since that’s the case, why not settle down and stay in the Shelter for a period of time."
"After a period of time, if you still don’t acknowledge me as your boss, and you wish to leave, I won’t stop you."
"Two weeks. Within two weeks, if you still don’t plan to leave, I’ll consider it your default agreement to join my Shelter, and by default, you will no longer have any ties with Brown Wood Shelter and your Wesley."
"If any of you have objections, you can raise them now. If no one speaks, I’ll assume you all agree."
As soon as these words were spoken, the twenty Survivors in front of Vikram immediately began to whisper among themselves.
However, what was strange was that even though Vikram wasn’t stopping them from leaving, not a single one of the twenty expressed an intention to leave.
Only occasionally did appraising glances fall upon Vikram.
It’s worth mentioning that among these twenty members from Brown Wood Shelter, six of them were women.
Although their Brown Wood Shelter wasn’t exactly a good place before, at least the principle of the capable rising to the top wasn’t limited to men.
Just then, one of the women, who was quite attractive, stepped forward and said, "What do we need to do for you here?"
Vikram crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, "What’s there to ask? Broadly, for men it’s just gathering supplies outside and protecting the shelter’s safety. While for women cooking the food and looking over the farmland. What else would you want to do?"
"Is it that simple?"
"No rude requests like ’attending to your bed’?" The six female Survivors in the team looked at Vikram warily.
If it was just normal survival, they wouldn’t have any objections, but if Vikram had any improper thoughts about them, they would definitely turn and leave.
To their surprise, Vikram rolled his eyes in exasperation at the question.
"Are you sick?"
"With my conditions, what kind of woman can’t I get? Do I need you stinky women?"
Hearing Vikram’s blunt words, the six female Survivors blushed and looked at Vikram with a bit of embarrassment.
They were just ordinary members in Brown Wood Shelter, so they naturally didn’t have the opportunity to bathe daily with precious water.
Most of them would just roll around in the snow, and that counted as washing up.
However, they weren’t particularly angered by Vikram’s words just now.
They just had principles; they weren’t ’little fairies’ from Earth, and Vikram speaking to them like this actually put their minds at ease.
"Then we are willing to temporarily follow you, Boss." The six female Survivors got the answer they wanted and agreed to Vikram’s proposal with almost no hesitation.
With such a good start, the fourteen rough men who had come along had even less to say.
They echoed one after another, "I’m willing too!"
The condition Vikram offered was that they could leave within two weeks if they wanted, which meant there was absolutely nothing for them to hesitate about.
"Alright, in that case, you can all disperse for now."
He turned towards the old women (it was about old members, not at age) of his shelter, which he has brought from the Savage Wolf Shelter, but now they only recognise his territory.
"You guys, please take these new members to wash up."
"Also, I’ll have to trouble you with dinner tonight; you’ll need to cook for over twenty people."
One of the women immediately waved her hand when she heard Vikram’s instructions, "Vikram Boss, there’s no such thing as trouble. It was out daily work, living such a good life in territory just by cooking and looking for farmland."
"If this is considered trouble, I don’t know how many Survivors would want to come and snatch this kind of hardship from me."
Others behind her covered her mouth and chuckled.
What seemed like a casual remark appeared in a different light to the newcomers.
After dispersing, they all looked around their new home within the walls.
"Is this really a building, how did our new boss create it?"
"And what was the thing, which when we entered it scanned us and put us in the chamber, that time, I felt all my injuries were healed."
"And what about the farmland, why are there different types of vegetables?"
"Do you think this is real or fake?"
"Why do I feel like it’s a show for us?"
Another survivor who was spoken to shrugged, "Who knows? I don’t care; I plan to leave after two weeks anyway, and Wesley will have an explanation."
Among the twenty people, not a few shared his idea, but naturally, there were also survivors who had already started to waver.
For example, the six female Survivors who had spoken to Vikram earlier.
At this moment, after taking a hot shower that didn’t require covering their entire bodies with ice-cold snow water, the expressions of the six female members changed several times.
Leaving aside other conditions, at least since arriving at Vikram’s Shelter, all the facilities here almost completely surpassed those of Brown Wood Shelter.
What pleased them even more was that this new Boss, who had abducted them, had given all of them sufficient human rights and respect.
No matter how loyal they were, the thought of being actively sold, combined with the environment of Vikram’s Territory, moved them more or less.
Evening.
The silent Wasteland night should have been full of danger, but at this moment, territory 2 was bustling with activity.
Several basins of freshly cooked dishes appeared on five tables temporarily set up.
Blanched cabbage, stir-fried cabbage with vinegar, shredded chicken, large pig trotters, and a large pot of sauerkraut fish.
Dish after dish was served, and the expressions of these new members changed again and again.
Their gazes at Vikram were completely different.
From initial disdain and defiance, they now all turned to disbelief.
At this moment, the dishes on the five tables were clearly all served, yet no one reached out for their spoons.
Because a meal that would only be considered decent on Earth was comparable to a state banquet in the Wasteland.
What did they usually eat? Rotten vegetable stalks and thin porridge made from various unknown doughs.
Never mind whether it tasted good or not; being able to eat until full was already considered good, and these were conditions only available because Brown Wood Shelter was already considered generous.
Now that Vikram calmly brought out such a large table of dishes, the few people were not only surprised but even felt as if they were hallucinating from exhaustion, as if they were dreaming.
"What about being sold, as promised?"
"Why do I feel like I was invited on a trip?"
All twenty new members had such thoughts simultaneously.
It was only when Vikram urged them to eat quickly that everyone came back to their senses.
At Vikram’s signal, a survivor broke off a chicken leg from the chicken soup.
From initial cautiousness to the moment the chicken leg entered his mouth, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Seeing that others were still hesitating, the next second he was already reaching for other dishes.
"It’s actually real, not a dream."
"And it has flavor!"
Having suffered enough from the feast-or-famine life in the Wasteland, the moment he tasted the sweetness, his eyes immediately burst with a keen glint.
Like a hungry ghost reborn, he continuously stretched out his spoons, piling large amounts of every dish into his bowl.
Even when other Survivors tried to move their chopsticks, he reached out to block their actions.
"Mine, it’s all mine! None of you are allowed to snatch it from me!"
"You guys go eat at other tables!"
However, the more he acted this way, the faster the surrounding Survivors moved.
Soon, when everyone tasted the food on the table, the crowd instantly erupted.
By this time, there was no need for Vikram to say anything; they had lost all reason.
As for table manners, there was even less to say; everyone stood up from their chairs to get food, afraid of eating even one bite less.
Some even found the spoons too slow and directly used their hands to grab, and the scene instantly became chaotic.
However, not a single piece of meat or vegetable was wasted.
If some food accidentally fell to the ground, someone would pick it up, not caring about their dignity, and swallow it whole, mixed with the snow water.
Vikram, standing by and watching, pursed his lips in exasperation, "Why are they guarding their food?"
"Eat slowly, there’s more in the kitchen. There’s enough food in there for you to eat until you can’t eat anymore, no need to fight for it."
Unfortunately, these words did not have any practical effect.
Not only did they snatch more vigorously, but some were even eating with tears and snot streaming down their faces.
Seeing this, Vikram’s expression tightened slightly.
Although Vikram had experienced many dangers along the way, he had never lacked food.
Seeing that all the members of Brown Wood Shelter behaved this way, he finally understood why his comment about the metals being scrap iron had caused so much public outrage at the Hospital earlier.
He also thought all his speeches were useless, if he had given the all Brown Wood Shelter a bit of food, they would have already accepted his boss.
He didn’t even need to make Wesley the temporary leader.
Shaking his head, he returned to the territory 1 living area.
After he had finished his own dinner, Vikram returned here again.
By this time, these new Survivors were all stuffed, their mouths glistening with oil.
The difference was that this time, upon seeing Vikram, compared to their previous reluctance, they all stood up and saluted him.
"Boss!"
"Boss, good evening!"
