Meanwhile, under a giant tree.

The center of this unknown large tree’s trunk had been hollowed out, and if one looked closely, they could even see flickering firelight within the hollowed trunk.

Outside the tree hole, two tents were set up.

At this moment, three pairs of eyes peered out from inside the tent, staring intently into the tree hole.

It seemed unable to withstand the watchful gaze of these three, as two stones suddenly flew out of the tree hole, accurately hitting the tent. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

One side of the already crude tent was directly collapsed.

"Harry Bro, I really can’t stand these people watching us like prisoners outside every day."

"If it’s really impossible, let’s abandon this treehouse now. Anyway, there’s nothing left to take."

The man frowned tightly, his tone carrying a hint of resentment, and then he pulled his hand back, clearly indicating that the stones had been thrown by him.

"Alas, it’s not that I don’t want to take you all away, but the situation outside is too dangerous right now. If we go out, something might happen before long."

The middle-aged man sighed, his face also looking unwell, even a bit pale.

If Vikram were here at this moment, he would surely recognize at a glance that the two speaking were the same group of people he had met at the villa before.

Their clothes were as worn as ever, and everyone had lost a noticeable amount of weight compared to when they last met.

After hearing Harry’s words, Ron lowered his head, then couldn’t help but speak, "I said long ago that we shouldn’t have trusted those people and paid them those damned protection fees. Now look, we don’t even have food to barely get by."

The other four people inside the treehouse all looked remorseful upon hearing this.

Previously, due to the shrinking land area, they had become neighbors with Snape’s group.

Originally, they wanted to get along well, but the other party immediately demanded ’protection fees,’ claiming it was a small amount of resources collected to prevent them from being robbed by other shelters.

Harry thought that there were only five people in their treehouse shelter, and they were all honest Survivors who collected resources and never robbed anyone.

If there was a shelter that could stand up for them, it wouldn’t be bad. He only hesitated for a moment before agreeing to the other party’s demand.

Of course, this was also on the premise that the other party only took half a piece of bread, which made him choose to believe them.

But slowly, they quickly realized something was wrong; these protection fees weren’t a one-time thing.

Instead, every day from then on, the other party would come to collect.

They were naturally unhappy about this, but the other party actually threatened to burn down their shelter if they didn’t pay.

It was important to know that their shelter was entirely based on a large tree. If the other party set fire, even with metal protection inside the tree hole, it would be impossible to resist the flames.

Out of desperation, they could only swallow their bitterness and offer resources to the other party every day.

During this time, they also thought about leaving. They had previously found a villa, where the houses were still sturdy, and there were many Supporting facilities resources inside.

It was there that they encountered Vikram.

Unfortunately, they had only tried to live there for a few days when, no one knew how the other party managed it, they immediately found the three of them.

The remaining resources in that villa were, of course, also all taken away.

And they were naturally driven back to this treehouse.

As for why they, despite being quite strong, couldn’t escape, it was entirely because Snape had too many subordinates.

Not only the shelter headquarters, but even most of the readily available shelters nearby belonged to Snape’s command.

As soon as they were discovered by any survivor, several survivors of similar strength would find them and forcibly bring them back.

It could be said that this entire area was where Snape’s influence spread.

"Ai~" A long sigh came from inside the treehouse.

Then there was a deathly silence. The five people looked at each other, but there was nothing they could do.

After a long while, one of the Survivors in black seemed unable to bear it any longer and finally stood up.

"Everyone, if it really comes to it, we can only agree with them and join their shelter."

A trace of helplessness flashed in the survivor’s eyes as he looked at the four and said seriously.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ron clenched his right fist and slammed it heavily on the ground, staring at Draco, who had spoken, with contempt.

"Draco, listen to the nonsense you’re spouting. I thought you had some backbone."

"It’s only just begun, and you’re already preparing to conspire with those beasts outside?"

"If you want to go, go by yourself. I will absolutely not agree to kill and set fires with those beasts outside."

After speaking, he didn’t forget to open the treehouse door and gestured for him to ’get lost’.

"Ron, we don’t have a choice now, do we? All those ideas, at least they can only be realized if we’re still alive, right?"

"First, pretend to join them, and then find a way to escape. Isn’t that better than sitting here doing nothing?"

Draco heard Ron speak to him in such an impolite tone, but he wasn’t angry and explained softly. "Heh heh, I, Ron, might be a bit reckless, but I’m not stupid."

"I was already tricked by those people once. Are you still planning to rely on them for survival? You’re too naive, aren’t you?"

"Once you really enter their shelter, you won’t have any say in anything."

With his hands on his hips, Ron let out a long breath through his nose, his eyes firm.

Draco, though somewhat unconvinced, found that what he said seemed to make sense.

Didn’t those people outside just use such persuasive tactics to trick them out of their supplies before?

Thinking of this, Draco snorted coldly and turned his head away, not looking at him.

"Alright, brother, Big Brother Draco also made the suggestion out of good intentions. He’s not really planning to join them. We’re all in this together, there’s no need to argue over them."

Seeing that the two were at odds, Ron’s younger brother, Percy, quickly jumped out to mediate.

Hearing his younger brother’s persuasion, Ron said no more, apparently knowing that now was not the time for idle chatter.

"Alright, don’t have an internal conflict now. The previous incident was indeed due to my lack of foresight, which allowed them to get the upper hand."

"After this, I will have no complaints about how everyone blames me, but let’s not talk about that now."

"Since everyone doesn’t want to join Snape’s shelter, the most important thing is to think about whether we have anywhere else to go."

Harry, seeing that the few people had disagreements, immediately soothed their emotions.

The reasons they hadn’t escaped, besides the various threats in the Wasteland and Snape’s forces, was also that they had nowhere to stay if they left here.

Hearing Harry’s words, everyone bowed their heads.

Their shelter was crammed inside a tree hollow, and with only five people, they clearly had no connections.

Aside from their fairly good physiques, they really seemed to have nowhere to go.

"Hey, brother, last time when you found the villa, didn’t you say you met a somewhat mysterious survivor who invited you to join him?"

"Maybe we can go to his Shelter?" Percy looked at the disheartened crowd and remembered when they went out before and he stayed behind to guard the shelter.

Although he didn’t know what kind of person the Survivor his older brother Ron encountered was, judging from their behavior when they returned last time...

The other party didn’t seem to have done anything to make things difficult for them. In that case, it seemed like a good choice?

"Oh, right, Harry Bro, it seems there was such a thing. That kid was so strong before, and he even gave us most of the supplies in the villa."

"And when we fought before, he was careful not to kill me, sparing my life."

"Regardless of the strength of his shelter, at least he’s a good person, which suits my, Ron’s, taste." Ron slapped his head, remembering his previous encounter with Vikram at the reminder of his younger brother Percy.

It seemed that Vikram had left a very good impression on them before.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present, including Harry’s wife Ginny, who had been silent, nodded.

"This suggestion is indeed good. Speaking of which, Vikram had approached me several times before, asking how our consideration was going."

"It’s just that at the time, I never thought Snape would go to such extremes, so I never responded to him."

"Now it seems, he is practically our only lifeline." As he spoke, Harry even wanted to immediately slam the table and decide.

After all, the other party clearly had intentions of recruiting them, otherwise he wouldn’t have repeatedly invited them to join his shelter.

Logically, this should have been a win-win situation.

But Harry seemed to suddenly remember something, his face stiffened, and he sighed again.

Ron was already preparing to pack up their remaining clothes and leave when he noticed Harry’s troubled expression and asked, "What’s wrong, Harry Bro? That kid is good, and I’m sure he’s not with Snape. Why are you sighing?"

"Yes, Harry Bro, just hearing about this Survivor, I can feel that he is our kind of person. We will definitely get along well."

Percy always trusted his older brother’s intuition and echoed.

However, facing the two of them, Harry still shook his head.

"It’s not their problem, but our own problem."

"The five of us are now being targeted by Snape. If we go to him now, wouldn’t that be bringing trouble to him, and then Vikram would also be caught up with us?"

"Although the incident at the villa last time might have been an attempt to recruit us, he genuinely gave us a lot of benefits."

"If we choose to join him now because of Snape’s pressure, wouldn’t that be returning kindness with enmity?"

"This..."

Hearing this, the two who had just been chattering suddenly fell silent.

They were only focused on finding a way to escape Snape’s clutches, but they hadn’t considered so much.

"How about this, Harry Bro, let’s first ask for his opinion. We’ll tell him our situation honestly. If he agrees, that’s great."

"If he doesn’t agree, then we’ll think of another way." Ron also knew how troublesome it was to be entangled with Snape, so he immediately said.

"Hmm, at this point, that’s all we can do." Harry raised his left hand, opened Vikram’s chat, and prepared to discuss the matter thoroughly.

As the message was sent, their future whereabouts would be decided by Vikram.

Everyone waited hopefully for Vikram’s reply, but a hearty laugh came from outside the tree hollow.

"Hahaha, everyone’s here! What were you all talking about just now? So lively?"