Hu Zhao liked it when people called him Master Hu. He liked to call himself that, too, as it made him feel powerful.
He couldn’t do that during peacetime. Even if he did that, no one would bother about him. He shot someone during a robbery and was sentenced to 20 years. He didn’t amount to much in a maximum security prison like Ying City Prison. To be called Master there, they had to have at least killed people.
But the apocalypse gave him a chance. He dared to fight and kill. He dared to run out of prison and gained Zhang Dalong’s respect. Not only did he evolve, but in a few days, Zhang Dalong even promised that he would get a job.
Thinking about how strong Zhang Dalong was, Hu Zhao was excited. He felt like he was a real man that was an influential person.
People in Ying City Jail didn’t care about their lives; they were all fierce and daring in peacetime. If they disagreed on things, they would fight and see blood. The apocalypse didn’t have rules or teachings, so many fights became more rampant. Along with Black Dragon allowing it, these fellows didn’t hold back.
This caused Zhang Dalong’s team to suffer huge losses.
But even so, they were still the strongest faction around Cloud Peak. As long as Zhang Dalong wanted, he could unify this region easily.
At least to Hu Zhao, it looked easy. What Lou Family, East Mountain Village, Tech City Squad, etc? The reason why they still existed was because Brother Dragon was raising them. Once they got fat, he would eat them up.
This wasn’t a secret internally. There were even people who agreed to take over each faction. Everything from that faction would belong to those few people in the future. The others could only get leftovers.
Many people were naturally unhappy, but there was nothing they could do. After working with Soul Merchant, those few guys were very strong. Each one of them was stronger than the leaders of other factions. Even if others were unhappy, they had to swallow it.
Hu Zhao was one of those unhappy, but like the others, what could he do?
But when he was outside yesterday, Hu Zhao got the news that a group occupied Cloud Peak. They started using food to trade for abandoned cars and were recruiting too.
Hu Zhao was delighted.
Wasn’t this an easy win for him?
Abandoned cars were all around. Apart from moving them, which was a small problem, it was a free win.
Hu Zhao was initially suspicious, but after asking around, he realized it was true. That delighted him. He led those who followed him and headed towards Cloud Peak.
To Hu Zhao, there were no rules about trading. He just needed to stay on the only path from Cloud Peak down the mountain and stop those who came here to trade.
In just four hours, he robbed over 30 abandoned cars and controlled the hundreds of survivors who came to join Cloud Peak.
Hu Zhao wasn’t stupid. He looked at all the guards here and considered the possibility of taking over the place.
But the dozens of guns terrified him. It seemed like he could only get a small win today and bring more people over in the future.
Hu Zhao touched his bald head when he saw Ye Zhongming walk over. He still sat on the roof. But his eyes lit up when he saw Xia Lei and Liang Chuyin.
He had spent so long in hail, and although he released himself over the past month, he still needed a woman. Lovely ones. One would see many beautiful girls in this world, but it was hard to see clean ones.
Ye Zhongming looked at him and confirmed that he had never heard of such a person in his last life. He probably wasn’t one of Zhang Dalong’s top few.
“You are the boss here?”
Hu Zhao sized Ye Zhongming up as if he was superior.
Liang Chuyin and Xia Lei had sharp gazes in their eyes.
They were one with Ye Zhongming. This person looked down on him, which was worse than looking down on the two of them.
“I am.”
Ye Zhongming was calm.
“Okay then.” He jumped off the car and pointed at the abandoned vehicles, “40 cars, 150 people, how much are you giving.”
Ye Zhongming glanced and knew that this fellow had bumped up the numbers. The two girls, as well as Xiang Tao, frowned. Did he think they were fools?
“50 kilograms of rice, 50 liters of water.”
Ye Zhongming said out some numbers.
Those things were already a lot. One car previously could only get two buns, and they also didn’t pay anything for survivors who came.
“Fk, do you think I am a beggar?”
His face twitched, and he shouted at Ye Zhongming, pointing at his nose, “I spent so much effort to get all these heavy things to you. I also sent so many people here, and you give me 50 kilograms of rice and 50 liters of water? Newcomer, ask who dares to treat your Master Hu like this!”
“Even Yuan Shang, that you know, the boss of Black Cloak Motorcade, has to call me Master Hu respectfully when he sees me.”
Ye Zhongming reached out to knock his hand aside. Their arms clashed in mid-air, but this bald head was suppressed.
He was a one-star evolved, and in terms of strength, he was naturally worse than a two-star evolved.
His expression changed, and he understood Ye Zhongming’s strength.
But he didn’t think much about it. He had 20 brothers behind him with as many guns as this group. More importantly, he was from Ying City jail and had the nearly impossible Zhang Dalong. He didn’t fear anything, even if he couldn’t snatch this place over.
He would be sorry to Brother Black Dragon if he didn’t extort them today.
“How much do you want?”
When Hu Zhao heard that, he expressed as if he was telling Ye Zhongming that he, fortunately, knew his place.
“150 kilograms of rice, no water. I heard that you have many cans, at least 100 meat cans, as well as soy sauce and oil.”
“Do you think we are stupid? How many things can that feed?”
Consumption in the apocalypse was different from peacetime. One of the two meals they ate in Cloud Peak was porridge, and they were only half fool. Other places would have one meal a day. With that as a standard, 150 kilograms would be enough for 100 people for half a month.
This didn’t include the meat cans, which were a luxury. No wonder Xiang Tao would oppose. This fellow was too much.
“Pay attention to your words. Do you believe that I will kill you with one shot?”
Hu Zhao stared at Xiang Tao like he would eat him up.
The guards raised their guns.
Fighting if they had problems, that was the style of the apocalypse.
Ye Zhongming waved and smiled, “Since Master Hu said that, then so be it. Sister Lei, tell people to carry the grain over.”
Xia Lei and Liang Chuyin, who were prepared to fight, were stunned. To them, this wasn’t his style; when did he ever get extorted?
But since he said that, although they didn’t feel good, they didn’t say anything. They told people to get the stuff from the storage.
Hu Zhao laughed and said to Ye Zhongming, “At least you know your place.”
In a while, three huge bags of 50-kilogram rice were moved out, along with a few boxes of cans and condiments. Hu Zhao told his men to load it, pushing those abandoned cars to their door. He told them they would return and left.
“Zhongming, why didn’t you kill him?” Liang Chuyin was on the verge of exploding. Mo ye, who heard the news and rushed over, was also confused.
“Hehe, nothing.” Ye Zhongming said, “We need to focus on building the base and not fighting with the factions around.”
Le Dayuan nodded, “Right, things are different. We can’t kill and then leave. We have a base, and we are staying here. We must consider the effects and can’t spoil our plan because we are rash.”
Le Dayuan was one of the core members who knew about the seven wheels, and naturally, he understood what Ye Zhongming was planning. Zhang Dalong was one of the strongest leaders around, and he had 500 men. In comparison, only a few dozen of them could fight. The gap was huge. If they fought, they would suffer tremendous losses even if they could win. Their core members might even die, which was not a worthy trade.
Ye Zhongming didn’t explain and told everyone to work. He pushed the cars to broken areas of the wall. As for those survivors, they were brought to the meeting district.
He glanced at the leaving motorcade, and killing energy shone in his eyes.
Some things were like that. I didn’t kill you today didn’t mean that you could live well. Ye Zhongming gave in today so that his plans could come to fruition. Once he had time, he would let Master Hu see what arrogance built on strength was instead of him relying on others to act strong.
Also, that nine star evolved in the last life, and Ye Zhongming was interested in him. He wanted to see how strong Brother Black Dragon was.
Hu Zhao rushed back to Ying City and bragged about how strong he was along the way. He boasted that Cloud Peak was afraid, which made the other factions look down on Cloud Peak.
However, this new base attacked two places with no weapons and no food and obtained massive resources, expanding to 800 people.
A week after Hu Zhao left, the people drawing the map returned and gave him a detailed map.
He looked at it for an hour before he drank some water. His gaze still didn’t leave the map.
“Tomorrow they will attack the Demon Monsters, then… Here…”
Ye Zhongming stared at a small symbol and was thinking about something.