Chapter Seventy-Four: The Beginnings of Monopoly

In the apocalypse, growing stronger meant greater safety. The two of them even held a small celebration for it. The first day went by tolerably; even without cigarettes, they could endure. Besides, some of the other guys had smokes, and the two shamelessly bummed a couple.

But today, their cravings were truly getting unbearable.

The brothers exchanged helpless glances, then their eyes simultaneously fell upon the ashtray on the table. Inside rested several cigarette butts from previous days. Suddenly, they both lunged for the ashtray, rummaging through for any remnants they could salvage. Taking a deep drag, they felt an immense satisfaction. But it was only a single puff; if anything, it made the craving worse.

On the third day, Jingyi arrived at the business hall on time, her sister Jingru looking bleary-eyed. Every night there was endless fighting and chaos, keeping her from sleeping well. Getting up early in the morning was doing her skin no favors either. Once all this was over, she swore she’d pamper herself with several face masks.

On this third day, people still came to exchange cigarettes for upgrade crystals, but their numbers had dwindled. That morning, Jingyi received only eleven cartons of cigarettes. The afternoon was even worse: just six cartons.

Jingyi nodded thoughtfully.

At five o’clock in the evening, just as the sisters were about to close up shop, more than a dozen people burst in.

“I don’t want the upgrade crystals anymore—give me my cigarettes back!”

“Yeah, me too! Just give the cigarettes back!”

Patrolling guards quickly rushed over, placing themselves protectively between the two sisters and the crowd.

“What do you think you’re doing? Trying to provoke Dawn City?”

For the past three days, the guards on this floor had received plenty of benefits from Jingyi—dozens of cartons of cigarettes alone. Even if they weren’t the highest grade, at the sisters’ buyback price, it was still a lot of upgrade crystals. What’s more, both sisters were stunning beauties—rare twin beauties, at that. With all these factors, the guards were bound to go all out for them. Besides, they represented Dawn City, so they had nothing to fear.

The dozen or so newcomers were all unaffiliated survivors, not part of any team, and none of them dared to offend Dawn City. Their sudden rush had been driven by unbearable nicotine cravings. Now, blocked by the guards, they snapped back to their senses, left with nothing to do but watch the two beauties leave.

As the sisters departed, the women posing as customers to protect them quietly slipped away as well.

“Sis, someone’s following us,” Jingyi whispered.

The twins had just left the trading hall when the observant younger sister noticed they were being tailed.

“So what should we do? Turn around and deal with them? I’ve never killed a person before—only zombies,” Jingru replied.

Before joining Fang Xia’s team, the sisters had struggled to survive, searching for food. Jingru had killed zombies before, but Jingyi had always been well protected by her. After joining the team, neither had fought again—at most, they’d scavenged supply drops. Still, Fang Xia had used upgrade crystals to raise them both to the second tier. If it came to a fight, the people following them wouldn’t stand a chance.

“No need. Let them follow—it’s better that way,” Jingyi said.

It seemed the pressure of the apocalypse was even greater than they’d imagined. It was only the third day, and already people had resorted to stalking. By tomorrow, it might be robbery, and the day after, outright assault.

The sisters turned a corner and passed by another woman.

“Phase two,” Jingyi murmured softly as they brushed past.

...

“Brother Yang, are those two really with Dawn City? They’re not to be trifled with,” one of the men trailing them whispered.

“What do you know?” Yang retorted. “Would Dawn City dare pull a stunt like this? People haven’t caught on the first three days, but by the fourth or fifth, everyone will realize—damned capitalism.”

“Dawn City’s ambitions are huge. They want to build a city. Even if they wanted to make money, they wouldn’t be so blatant about it.”

Yang looked like an educated man—or perhaps the nicotine withdrawal had sharpened his mind.

“So do we make a move?” someone asked.

“Of course not. Do you really think we’re the only ones watching them? Just wait—they’ll try to sneak out in the middle of the night. That’s when we strike.”

Helplessly, they watched as the twin sisters entered Dawn City’s residential district. No one dared to act now.

At nine thirty that night, Yang was rubbing his hands together, shivering from the cold. After making sure no one was watching, he carefully pulled out a battered pack of Baisha cigarettes from his coat. Inside, only two crumpled cigarettes remained. Thankfully, the two women hadn’t accepted these low-grade, loose packs during their buybacks—otherwise, he’d have none left.

He used his coat to shield his lighter from the wind, and the crisp sound of the flame rang out, unusually loud in the night. His little gang all looked over, eyes filled with longing. Yang took a couple of shaky drags; the relief was palpable. After a long, satisfying draw, he handed the cigarette to one of his men.

“One puff each—no more!” he ordered.

The underling nodded eagerly. None of them had smoked all day. Taking a deep breath, he drew in as much as he could, making the others wince at the waste. When it was their turn, they all copied him, each taking a huge drag. By the time it got to the last man, the flame was almost burning the filter, but he seemed not to care and sucked until there was nothing left.

“Brother Yang! Brother Yang!” A man came running over from the distance.

“There really is a back door to that villa—I saw those two women sneak out.”

“You smoked without me? You sneaked a smoke behind my back?”

Smack! Yang slapped him on the head.

“Lead the way! Once we catch those two, we’ll have all the cigarettes we want!”

“Exactly! And those twins—what figures, what faces—ha ha ha!”

A group of seven or eight men followed their guide, quickly making for the path behind the villa. They were not the only ones; from other corners, several more groups emerged, all converging.

Money moves the heart, but nicotine cravings are the true catalyst.

“Brother Yang, there they are,” someone said.

After running for ten minutes, they finally spotted the two women ahead. Perhaps realizing they were being chased, the sisters were running fast.

“Damn, those two must be fighters—maybe even second tier—to run that quick.”

Even so, none of the pursuers gave up, relentlessly chasing after them.

“Sis, which way should we go? I’m so tired,” Jingru panted.

“Keep up! This is what you get for doing nothing but eating and sleeping—you’ve even put on weight since the apocalypse started.”

“Nonsense! I’m not fat, just lazy. I can still run!”

Perhaps stung by her sister’s words, Jingru suddenly accelerated, pulling more than ten meters ahead of Jingyi.

“Come on, catch up! Can’t keep up because you’re out of shape?”

“Wrong way, sis—it’s to the left!”