Rise Of The Wasteland
/ Rise of the Wasteland Chapter 72 - Deliberation
Chapter 72 Deliberation
“We have three dead and two injured.
“A group of people had approached us. They asked us about what we were doing. I told them that we were only transporting water, but they didn’t believe us. They insisted on knowing what we were doing.
“As they asked, a black lady suddenly pulled out a pistol from her miniskirt and quickly fired a shot. One of my subordinates got shot dead on the spot. Our loss would have been even greater if it wasn’t for DogMeat.”
Roma’s Search Team Second Division returned not long after Zhou Qingfeng came back with his own team. Roma’s team, however, had faced quite a huge loss. Three were dead and two were injured. Roma felt extremely terrified. He was even trembling when he reported the situation.
The group of people who attacked them comprised all illegal immigrants. In total, six of them came to Manhattan. Although the group had been bitten to death by DogMeat in the end, the search team had still experienced a serious loss.
As a result of the attack on Roma's Search Team Second Division, all the members had fled. Roma instantly became an army of one. None of his subordinates had returned with him, as even the injured ones escaped.
The news was passed on to the clubhouse, and as a result, everyone lost their confidence. They were now afraid to continue living in Manhattan due to the current conditions of the society. Zhou Qingfeng was finally able to gather about a hundred people in the clubhouse. However, after the lunchtime, fifty had already escaped through various ways. He did not know exactly where they went.
Most of the people who escaped were males. Most of the females chose to stay in the clubhouse because of their timid natures. Zhou Qingfeng originally divided his subordinates into a ratio of one to one. Since he now had only around forty people left, the ratio had turned into one to two. Merely around ten males remained.
Furthermore, among the remaining males were the old and weak Patrick, as well as Professor Kelvin and Doctor Rezzo. There were only six to seven of them who knew how to use a gun. Zhou Qingfeng and Butcher were the only ones left who possessed combat abilities.
In the face of this unexpected situation, Lena Fox had no other choice but to gather up all the leaders. They started deliberating in an effort to come up with a plan.
“First of all, we need to assess how bad the situation will be in the near future.” Lena Fox looked around the table. In the end, she settled her gaze on Zhou Qingfeng. In fact, she actually set the question specifically for Zhou Qingfeng, as only he knew anything of the future deterioration of their society.
“In the following month, I predict that the death toll would soar to over tens of thousands of people dying every single day. Various types of violence will massively destroy this financial capital, and the few banks in Manhattan will become the focus of attack. Everyone will go crazy, rushing toward those banks in order to get their hands on the gold inside them.”
Zhou Qingfeng was actually not guessing, but talking about fact. The current situation was a hundred times worse than in the movie. The movie could only show part of the cataclysm. However, in reality, tens of millions of people in the city would lose their control, and the consequences would be extremely disastrous.
Mr Patrick was stunned after hearing what he said. He questioned, “Can’t we do anything? At least, can we try to stop the situation from deteriorating even further? Or maybe we should contact the church and seek for help.”
Butcher laughed uncontrollably. He rapped on the table and said, “Unless we have a few thousand elite equipment, as well as a group of well-trained individuals willing to sacrifice for the society, we have no hope at all. Look at the current state of New York; do you actually think that an organization like that exists in New York? No!
“Gangs instead are the most organized groups in the current situation. The Russian Mafia, Irish Mob, Italian Mafia, and so on. MS-13 has the biggest structure among these gangs. Their group consists of around hundreds of members, and they now have the biggest influence in New York.
“The bustling streets of New York will soon become a living hell. Anyone with a brain will understand that escape will be the optimal solution for now. For example, one could escape to places outside of New York. The farming industry would be a good choice too; because with farming, at least one could fill up their stomach.”
“Then, should we escape from New York?” Professor Kelvin asked on behalf of all the educated researchers.
“Escape is a must, but before that we’ll need to gather as many supplies as possible. You’d be extremely wrong to think that we could survive with ease after escaping from New York. Life will only get harder from this point onward,” said Zhou Qingfeng.
How many of the people in the current society had ever been desperate or experienced poverty? Those people who only care about escaping would soon experience the cruel reality. One should not be thinking about escaping to a remote and desolate area if they did not prepare more than a month of supplies in reserve.
Zhou Qingfeng looked at Lena Fox after mentioning the reserves of supplies, as she was the one that responsible for it. The young woman shrugged her shoulders and smiled bitterly. “We have enough vehicles, but we’re currently lacking heavy-duty trucks as well as fuel. We’re slightly better in terms of food reserves, but it’ll only last for a week at most.
“We lack medicine and doctors too. Our one and only surgeon has just escaped. I need to tell you guys about another bad news: Our water supply had been cut off just ten minutes before I called you guys in. Our water reserves will only last for five days at most.”
Hearing this, Zhou Qingfeng got a headache. David Lawrence, the protagonist in the movie, was tall, bright and wise. Although the Lawrence family had lived in poverty, they had never fretted over losing access to their basic needs. However, those problems appeared in front of Zhou Qingfeng in the blink of an eye.
“Victor!” Lena shouted.
Zhou Qingfeng frowned. “What happened?”
“We’ve made a mistake in our calculations,” Lena replied to him with a serious expression on her face. “We could no longer set up a team of two to five hundred people. Our team lacks cohesion, so we have to lower our target. Fifty people for our team will be more than enough.”
“What can a group of fifty people do? We already have more or less fifty people now.” Zhou Qingfeng said unhappily, “We can’t even do the simplest internal tasks with just fifty people. Our team will collapse in no time if we were to face even the smallest issue.”
“So, we have to get ourselves some allies.” Lena continued, “We’ll maintain the most basic reciprocity. We can then help each other out and fight against challenges together.”
“Allies? Where am I supposed to find allies?” Zhou Qingfeng spread his hands to indicate that he was just a stranger in New York. His understanding of New York was far inferior to anyone else’s in the meeting. It was a joke for him to find allies.
Lena, however, looked up slightly. She looked Zhou Qingfeng in the eyes and said, “Do you know who I’m referring to?”
“Who are you referring to? Oh…. No way!” Zhou Qingfeng instantly realized who. “There’s no way I’ll go and find that guy. We’ll only start a fight if we were to meet each other.”
Lena simply shrugged as she continued to stare at Zhou Qingfeng. Everyone else was confused, because they did not understand who the two were talking about. Butcher was the most anxious one, as he asked directly, “Who’re you guys talking about?”
“David Lawrence, a man who used to be Victor’s neighbour. Victor once tried to flirt with his daughter, but instead he decided to peep on his wife.” Miss Fox seemed interested in uncovering Zhou Qingfeng’s history. “Victor, you shouldn’t worry too much about it, because the situation has now changed. David Lawrence will not reject you as long as he’s still sane. "
"Right, we’re the first to start stockpiling supplies and gathering staff. Nobody from New York had done it ahead of us. For the time being, we’re actually doing quite well," said Zhou Qingfeng.
After the name of the so-called ally was revealed, Butcher laughed and said, "Ah... I know David Lawrence, he’s a megalomaniac! To be honest, I hate him too! His family is a typical troublesome family.”
“What’s a troublesome family?” Zhou Qingfeng looked at him with interest.
Chapter end
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