Apocalyptic Reincarnation: Start with a 30-million Bonus

Time swiftly passed.

A week had passed since returning from Jiefang City. It was now the end of July. Tomorrow would be August.

The sun blazed high in the sky, and the water in Mountain Pond was dwindling. Previously, to prevent evaporation by the sun, a layer of black sun-shading spheres had been laid over it.

This black shading sphere effectively eased the evaporation from the sun, saving a significant amount of water.

Otherwise, the water would largely be wasted due to direct sunlight.

Therefore, the rate at which Mountain Pond's water levels decreased was significantly relieved.

Not only were these black shading spheres used in Mountain Pond, but they were also used in the rice paddies, and the results were satisfactory.

The rice was already entering its earing stage.

Within the base, there were old farmers like Grandpa, real experts in farming who had farmed for a lifetime.

The old man knew clearly what to do at each stage.

Here at the base, apart from the hot weather, everything else was normal.

No messy problems occurred, and thanks to ample electricity, many people watched movies and TV series at night.

The older generation also enjoyed watching various dramas. Originally, Li Yu had downloaded many types, covering various genres.

It was a way for everyone to relax.

However, things were not going so well in Jiefang City.

Even before accommodating the refugees, Jiefang City was already facing various issues — food was scarce, and water was a major problem. Though there was a river not far away, it was drying up under the blazing sun.

As for tap water, it had been cut off two weeks after the apocalypse erupted.

Now, their water mainly came from pumping it from the river.

There had been thoughts of drilling wells, but in the highlands of Jiefang City, water could only be found at great depths. Thus, after drilling a well and reaching 10 meters without finding a water source, the project was temporarily shelved.

However, as the water shortage increasingly became a problem, well drilling was resumed.

Without the necessary equipment, they had to rely entirely on manual labor.

Finally, after 7 days of drilling, at a depth of 30 meters, water finally began to spring forth.

The water issue was temporarily relieved, but another huge problem loomed — food.

Jiefang City had previously relied on gathering supplies from the city and planting some crops within the city. However, these crops had not yet reached maturity.

The food that had been stockpiled was also gradually dwindling.

Originally, they had a considerable stock of food. Without the oppression of the Salvation Army, they had managed quite well in the first half of the year.

But now, more and more people were joining, and Director Zhang acted with the intention to help, lending two days' worth of food to new arrivals. After two days, they were expected to find food themselves in small teams and hand over a portion.

After more than half a year, supplies were increasingly scarce. Moreover, due to the hot weather, much of the food had spoiled and was no longer edible.

The food crisis, like a huge mountain, made it hard for them to breathe.

The newly joined refugees also went out to search for supplies, but often, they did not hand over what they collected. They knew too well the horror of hunger.

Thus, various tactics emerged to hide the supplies.

Actually, Jiefang City had developed a mechanism of rotational duties; some people had to go out and find supplies, handing over a part and keeping the rest.

Some needed to stand guard, protecting the base; others had to do tasks like drilling wells and farming.

Those in the latter group were somewhat like wage earners, receiving basic life-sustaining supplies allocated by the community.

Originally, those who went out would also hide most of the supplies, giving very little to the community, but some team leaders would oppress their subordinates to hand over most of their finds.

There were many small teams, and there was already much conflict, which had yet to erupt.

But after the addition of the refugees, some were unwilling to hand over most of their supplies, leading to direct confrontations.

As the amount of food available continued to decline, these confrontations grew more severe.

One day, after failing to find any supplies the whole day, the conflict erupted even more intensely.

Everyone hid their food, some team leaders used their power to allocate more supplies, thus managing to live normally.

But for some at the very bottom, once their continuous supply of food stopped, they were cut off from food entirely.

In the face of hunger, the conflicts grew.

Internal strife began over food, and there were even incidents of bloodshed.

In the face of hunger, any semblance of order maintained by frail rules was violently torn away.

Chaos began.

Director Zhang and others were aware of this issue, but they were powerless—the fundamental problem was food!

Without food, survival was impossible.

Just now, another fight had occurred; many refugees went to seize food from the original residents of Jiefang City, and a fierce fight ensued.

This last struggle was eventually stopped by Captain Lv and others, who fired a shot into the air and intimidated all present.

But after this conflict, people's mindsets completely changed.

Refugees had conflicts with local residents, early joiners with those who joined later, team leaders and other managers with the lower-level people.

With the blazing sun high above and zombies recently absent during the day, the absence of external conflicts meant that internal conflicts were magnified.

"Old Zhang, the situation is very serious," said Captain Lv to Director Zhang.

Director Zhang sighed and then said, "How did it come to this? And, is our portion of the supplies okay?"

Captain Lv glanced at Director Zhang, sighed and finally said, "Although it's okay, it's not much."

"How did this happen?" Director Zhang asked in surprise.

Captain Lv looked at Director Zhang somewhat speechlessly, "The supplies we've been collecting recently are pitifully small, and we're running out..."

Both were momentarily silent until Director Zhang suddenly said, "Actually, we still have supplies, but... I think, we can negotiate with them. Everyone is arguing over food, and although Jiefang City has always promoted fairness and justice, without us, they wouldn't have such an environment."

Director Zhang continued, "We should find those team leaders, ask them to give up some of what they've taken. I know they've been greedy, spared them because they are old folks. We can't watch this polarization continue."