Vikram opened the chat. He scrolled through his friends and found Abhishek, with whom he had explored the Hospital earlier.

That last exploration of the Hospital had brought him a lot of resources, but he was later chased away by the Super Zombie.

Since he wants to clear the ruin, he wants to know about the current scenario.

And since Brown Wood Shelter was so close to the Hospital and had many members, he estimated they might have some new information about that resource.

As usual, before chatting, Vikram first used the power of his bracelet to summon Abhishek.

When the time was right, he stopped the electric shock, and Abhishek’s message appeared in the chat box.

[Abhishek: Coming, coming, big brother, what’s up?]

[Vikram: How’s it going? Does your Brown Wood Shelter have any new ideas about the Hospital?]

[Abhishek: Sigh, don’t even mention it, brother. After we explored the Hospital last time, more than a dozen brothers in our Shelter died, and we were all severely weakened.]

[Abhishek: We just finished dealing with the horde of corpses that chased us back to the Shelter a couple of days ago. Everyone was exhausted, so who had the energy to go to that resource point again?]

Hearing the other party say this, Vikram’s first reaction was disbelief.

A resource point as large as the Hospital, if discovered by others, would surely be forcibly occupied.

Brown Wood Shelter, as they called it, was also considered an old Shelter, so they certainly wouldn’t be unaware of the principle of striking first.

But Abhishek, wearing the slave bracelet, obviously couldn’t lie to him.

After thinking for a moment, his hands didn’t stop as he slowly typed out a message.

[Vikram: Have you noticed that some people are missing from your shelter recently? Tell me honestly.]

Abhishek, inside the Shelter, was momentarily stunned when Vikram abruptly sent such an unexpected question.

He sat on the bed in his high-ranking room, pondered for a while, and then, as if remembering something, slapped his forehead.

[Abhishek: There haven’t been any missing people, but it seems two high-ranking members have been acting mysteriously recently, often not seen during the day and only appearing at night.]

"Hmph." Seeing the message in the chat, Vikram sneered.

[Vikram: That’s right. Those few are probably the members your boss sent to the Hospital to collect supplies.]

"That shouldn’t be. The Hospital is so big, how could he only send two people, and act so secretively about it?"

Abhishek on the other end was still puzzled, but Vikram had already warned him.

[Vikram: Such a troublesome task as exploring a resource point, even you, a high-ranking member, don’t know about it. Your boss probably started suspecting a mole after you returned last time.]

[Vikram: And you’re definitely within the scope of suspicion. If you don’t want to die, I advise you to find a way to clear your name, otherwise, next time you might not even have the chance to be electrocuted by my bracelet.]

[Vikram: Good luck.]

After saying that, he closed the chat, regardless of Abhishek’s reaction.

He showed no surprise at the Brown Wood Shelter boss discovering a mole.

When a resource point they discovered suddenly had a strange Survivor snatch away so many of their supplies, no one would think it was a coincidence.

Actually, Abhishek, this double-crosser, was quite useful to him.

Since his next target was the Brown Wood Shelter.

It was at least much more useful than the current, Savage Wolf Shelter.

He turned his head and stopped thinking about those things.

He glanced at today’s date.

February 18th, temperature: -20 degrees Celsius.

"Is the natural disaster going to change again in two days?" Vikram muttered to himself, looking down.

"No, these two days I still need to get more supplies from the market."

Who knows if the next change will affect the Survival Platform’s trading function? Getting even a little bit of supplies now is a gain.

Vikram pondered for a moment, then looked at the three people sitting beside him.

"Don’t save the vegetables in the warehouse; use them all for trading."

"While the natural disaster hasn’t changed these two days, try to hoard any necessary supplies that are not easily collected."

They were startled by his words and looked at him with surprised eyes.

"Ah? Trade everything? What will we do later when we have nothing to eat?" Anjali scratched her not-so-bright head, wondering.

"Just leave enough rations for a few days. The crops have already been planted and are expected to be harvested in seven or eight days at the earliest, so don’t worry about that."

"Oh, okay." Receiving their instructions, the three immediately began to busy themselves with trading.

Vikram had given them trading and bargaining tasks many times before, so he wasn’t worried about any problems now.

As for the items traded back, having been in the Wasteland World for so long, he believed they had their own judgment and didn’t need his further interference.

After instructing the three, Vikram didn’t plan to be idle himself. He walked toward the farmland.

At this time, a batch of crops was also sown here, and small sprouts had appeared these past two days.

However, he didn’t come this time for these crops, but for a group of livestock next to the crops.

Stepping closer to the chicken coop, Vikram’s eyes scanned the area, and the number of livestock instantly became clear.

The largest number, naturally, was chickens.

The seven remaining chickens from the Kabold Ruins had multiplied over these many days.

They had already laid several batches of chicks, and the earliest batch had even fully matured and could lay eggs again.

Counting them, there were nearly thirty chickens of all sizes inside.

The previously small chicken coop was almost too small to hold them.

He nodded with satisfaction; this breeding speed was precisely why he had always wanted to raise livestock.

The growth rate of livestock in the Wasteland World, like crops, was entirely determined by the quality of feeding.

They had always been fed high-grade feed from the market, so this breeding speed was to be expected.

As for other livestock, besides the eight freshwater fish harvested initially that had spawned, the remaining one goat, sheep, two wild buffalo, and one goose, being unpaired livestock, they were not able to increase their quantity.

"Sigh, I just don’t know if I can still find normal creatures outside the Wasteland World."

When the black fog first started, he could occasionally see one or two, but now, after so many outings, Vikram had truly never seen these creatures again.

He estimated that 99% of normal creatures were probably infected by zombies.

Thinking of this, Vikram couldn’t help but sigh.

The only way he could think of to collect livestock now was to try his luck in the ruins, after all, the previous chicks were also obtained from there.

When he exterminated the top leader of Savage Wolf Shelter, he did learn of a ruin’s location from Brijbhushan.

He naturally wouldn’t let go of such a good place, but when he arrived there, all that was left was an empty space covered in ice and snow.

Clearly, the time the ruin existed had long passed... 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

—

On the desolate Wasteland, two Survivors were making their way across the ice-covered frozen ground.

One of them was clearly half a step ahead of the other.

From the subservient posture of the person behind, their respective statuses were immediately clear.

They walked for quite a while in the snow until a giant tree appeared not far off, and only then did they stop.

"How did the task I gave you go? They didn’t manage to sneak away, did they?"

"I’m telling you, the boss values these people highly. If any of them get lost, you’ll be the first to lose your head."

With that, Scott exhaled a breath, and the mist quickly rose in the -20 degree weather, disappearing into the cold air.

"Brother Scott, don’t worry. The four of us might not be able to beat their four, but keeping an eye on these people? We can certainly manage that, can’t we?"

"For the past few days, under our surveillance, they haven’t even dared to step out. The apocalypse is here, Brother Scott, why are there still such cowardly people?"

The Survivor behind him flashed a hint of disdain in his eyes, his tone also carrying a touch of contempt.

Hearing this, Scott glanced back at him, letting out an undisguised sneer.

"Cowardly? If they were truly cowardly, how could they all be strong enough to be high ranking members of a Shelter, while you’re still an unknown mid level?"

"You think they’re cowardly, but in reality, they just have no other choice."

"Without supplies, in this freezing weather, with zombies everywhere, where can they run to?"

"Only simple minded people like you would think they’ve cowered." Scott mocked the Survivor behind him with absolutely no mercy in his tone.

And when that Survivor heard this, he, who was already hunched over, lowered his head even further.

"Yes, yes, Brother Scott is right. I’m just a servant, I really can’t think that far ahead." He said, then scratched his head, feigning a simpleton’s sincerity, and offered a fawning smile.

Taking in his movements, Scott scoffed disdainfully and continued, "So, have those people agreed to join our Shelter yet?"

"This... well..."

Seeing him stammer, Scott immediately glared at him.

"Hm?"

"Didn’t you say you’d collected protection fees from them until they couldn’t afford it anymore? How come you still haven’t brought them in?"

Looking at the mid-level who was almost bowing his head to the ground, Scott grabbed him by the collar and roared with an impatient tone.

"Brother... Brother Scott, I didn’t lie to you. They really can’t afford the protection fees anymore. We checked their Territory Core before, and there’s nothing left inside."

The man grabbed by Scott shrank his neck, explaining while waving his hand.

"Oh? Then tell me why they still haven’t joined our Shelter?" Scott raised an eyebrow, then released his hand.

"This... I don’t know either. I tried to persuade them to join us before, but those few people were completely unmoved."

"Especially that bearded Survivor among them; every time we brought up the matter, he’d chew us out fiercely."

"If it weren’t for that guy named Harry stopping him, the four of us probably would have been beaten to death."

"Brother Scott, if you don’t believe me, you can ask them yourself later, I guarantee every word is true."

"Hmph, a bunch of useless good for nothings. I have to personally handle such a simple matter." Hearing this, Scott snorted coldly, pushed the man aside, and walked towards the large tree ahead...