Chapter 116: The Plan

However, this was only a rough estimate; some people were even squeezing five or six individuals into a single sixty-square-meter apartment. According to Chen Gang’s final tally, roughly two hundred thousand people were without shelter. This was not merely due to a lack of housing, but because a significant portion of these people simply had no money.

"You ask where the upgrade crystals went? They were all traded for cigarettes; who knew they would live this long?"

Living this long was one thing, but the fact that the zombie crisis, which had accompanied them every day, had been more than half resolved left many filled with regret.

They had also found creative ways to utilize tents. A standard two-hundred-person tent cost one upgrade crystal per night. A slightly better fifty-person tent offered much more space, along with toilets and bathing areas. Above that were ten-person tents, which were essentially the same as shared housing, just transitioned from a house to a tent. There was no point in going beyond that; anyone who could afford such luxury wouldn't be sleeping in a tent to begin with.

The housing issue was largely resolved, and Fang Xia had put all thirty-four of his tents into operation. However, there were more than just those thirty-four tents in Fang Xia's territory. Some independent survivors also owned tents and had started their own rental businesses. But tents were not like houses; they couldn't be locked, and anyone could walk inside. If you just set one up in a random corner, it was easy to get robbed blind while sleeping, so no one wanted to stay in those. Only the tent zones managed by the four major factions offered full security.

Consequently, these independent survivors placed their tents within the four factions' zones. After several rounds of negotiation, it evolved into them renting their tents to the four major factions for twenty upgrade crystals per day, with all profits from the tents going to the factions. Although many were dissatisfied, they had no choice. They couldn't earn that kind of money on their own, and twenty crystals a day was enough for them to live in Dawn City. Thus, this group became some of the most carefree people in the city—collecting rent and strolling around without having to do a lick of work.

With the housing issue settled, the next challenge was food. Dawn City was the first to sell various food items, having long since begun planting crops from seeds. They had suffered a major loss when the earthquake hit, but they had managed to hoard some supplies. With the help of growth-type ability users, Chen Gang was now able to achieve self-sufficiency and even produce a surplus. Aside from Chen Gang, the Blood Cloak Group had also begun selling fresh vegetables and melons, suggesting they too possessed growth-type ability users. Only the Lone Wolf Group watched them in bewilderment, unable to understand why the crops matured so quickly. Even so, with two major factions supplying food, the prices were so high that ordinary people couldn't afford them, and the vast majority continued to rely on rice balls.

Fang Xia’s territory had also achieved self-sufficiency in vegetables, but he had no intention of selling them; he was saving them for the future move to the Demon Capital. As soon as the core members of his group reached the fifth rank, Fang Xia would depart immediately. Judging by the current situation, unless there was another zombie rain, it would likely take some time.

Once the construction boom faded, the demand for manual labor dropped, and the low-level survivors had no choice but to venture out of Dawn City once again. Some spent their days tapping and digging in the ruins of the old White City, a practice known as "gold panning." If they were lucky enough to dig up usable pre-apocalypse supplies, they could go a long time without worrying about food or shelter, or perhaps even strike it rich overnight. A large number of others returned to their old trade: killing zombies.

At the same time, rumors began to circulate about the presence of large wild animals outside the city, and after such a long time, everyone finally saw hope for eating meat. However, these large wild animals were not to be trifled with; their combat power exceeded that of high-level zombies, and they even fed on the upgrade crystals found inside zombies. For a time, casualties were immense.

Yet, the people of Dawn City flocked to the wilderness regardless, preferring to face stronger beasts than to kill zombies. When fighting beasts, getting injured didn't mean certain death, but when fighting zombies, even a minor scratch meant you were done for. Moreover, humanity had ruled the Blue Star for so long not through raw force, but through intelligence. Consequently, all sorts of creative hunting methods emerged. Although there were still significant casualties, people saw hope and became even more motivated.

Dawn City was finally getting on the right track. Various industries began to flourish; of course, the most profitable business remained the flesh trade, though Fang Xia chose not to get involved in that.

Back on the second floor of the villa, which Fang Xia called the core team of his harem, many others felt differently. They viewed this place as the true harem, while they themselves were merely unchosen palace maids, hoping one day to be promoted. Today, it was rare for everyone on the second floor to be gathered together.

In addition to the original members, a new face had joined the second floor: Li Qianwan. This was something Fang Xia had promised her long ago, but he had forgotten about it as he got busy. Li Qianwan had reasoned that as a woman—and a beautiful one at that—she should wait for Fang Xia to take the initiative since he had given his word. But after waiting in vain for so long, she finally reached her breaking point. She wanted the days of eating meat, and even more, she wanted a warm meal in the middle of winter, so she sought Fang Xia out herself.

Fang Xia didn't deny it; he had promised her, after all, and there were plenty of rooms on the second floor, so adding a few more people was no problem. Of course, he couldn't just let anyone move in. Someone like Li Qianwan—who had strength, looks, and a great figure, plus a fire-type ability—was naturally a perfect fit. Thus, Li Qianwan successfully moved into the second-floor group and even won a large sum in the betting pool organized by the other ladies—a double delight.

Liu Rui didn't say much about this, as it was indeed a promise made long ago. Besides, it was only allowing her to live on the second floor; she was still a long way from being officially "in." After all, there were several others on the second floor already waiting in line.

"Brother Fang, we should probably slaughter those cubs. If we keep raising them like this, we're going to lose everything." The little girl spoke with her mouth full as she ate the succulent wild boar meat.

Fang Xia hadn't checked on them for several days, as the little girl had been in charge of those tasks.

"What's wrong?"

"A chicken eats three upgrade crystals a day, a pig eats ten, and a cow eats ten as well. We've been feeding them for half a month, and I haven't seen them grow much at all. How can we afford this?"

Not grown much? Fang Xia was a bit stunned. Shouldn't they be growing rapidly after consuming so much energy?

"Why don't you go take a look later? We're already raising five pigs, two cows, and nine chickens. They're eating through the equivalent of one second-rank fighter every single day."

When put that way, it did seem a bit excessive. If they could grow to match their thousand-kilogram parents in ten or fifteen days, it might be worth it, but...