Chương 170: Feeding on Empty Promises

"At the same time, this is also a gesture of gratitude for saving Marcus. Exactly how much value this 'gift' truly holds is still uncertain. But you know our current situation as well as we do. For now, all we can offer are promises and painted cakes..." Vince looked at Evelyn, remaining silent for a few seconds. He had to admit, the perspective of a professional was far more comprehensive than he had anticipated. He truly hadn't thought much about the issue of identity or status.

Or rather, he had subconsciously believed that as long as he kept growing stronger, sheer, overwhelming power would be enough to crush any obstacle or rule in his path. But Evelyn had reminded him of a crucial fact: the act of 'crushing rules' was, in itself, an incredibly tedious and troublesome process. This was especially true in a completely unfamiliar environment where he would need to acquire resources and navigate a newly established order. He wasn't afraid of it, he just found it annoying.

He fully understood the weight of this 'gift.' When a group of survivors formally transitions into an organized unit, the internal cohesion and external legitimacy instantly level up.

"I understand. I accept the cake." Vince finally spoke, officially accepting the mantle of 'Colonel Lin.'

"So, what's your plan moving forward?" He looked across the tent at Evelyn, his expression serious.

"Reporting!" Evelyn cleared her throat, just about to speak, when Clint's voice rang out from outside the tent. She immediately turned to Vince, an unspoken question in her eyes. After all, as of a few minutes ago, Vince was the supreme commander of this convoy and the highest-ranking officer in the tent. Even if the people outside were her own subordinates, Evelyn would absolutely seek Vince's permission before letting them in.

"Come in." Vince was taken aback for a split second before understanding her gesture, and called out his permission. The tent flap was thrown open, and a large group filed inside. Clint and Chuck, leading the way, threw a crisp salute at Vince before falling in beside Evelyn. Behind them came Ben, Zack, Cody, Seth, and the others. They nodded in acknowledgment to the veterans before moving to stand behind Vince.

"Brother Bruno said his brain isn't wired for meetings, so I sent him back to watch the house. There's still a lot of people over there we need to look after..." Ben explained as he stepped up to Vince's side, handing him a thin notebook.

"Here's the finalized inventory of all the supplies in the convoy."

"Good. You guys got here just in time to hear what's next," Vince nodded. He flipped through the notebook briefly, snapped it shut, and turned his attention back to Evelyn.

"Colonel Ye, please continue."

"Understood." Evelyn closed an identical notebook that Clint had just handed her. It seemed to be an exact copy of the one Vince was holding. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Our previous mission... you heard it on the radio broadcast, Colonel Lin. It's actually very straightforward: Escort myself, Raven, six other research personnel, and our specialized equipment to the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone." She gestured toward another tent set up outside, which housed the researchers.

"Are they also involved in Awakened research?" Vince asked.

"No. I'm the only one left handling Awakened research. The others... died on the road.

"And honestly, calling it 'research' is a stretch. With Raven as our sole subject and zero control groups to compare against, progress was agonizingly slow. We were essentially just fumbling in the dark..." Evelyn shook her head.

"The researchers outside are far more critical right now than we are. They are scholars from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences...

"If my research on the Awakened is focused on securing humanity's future, then what they are doing is far, far more relevant to our immediate present..."

"The Academy of Agricultural Sciences..." Vince muttered, chewing on her words.

"Winter is coming..." Evelyn glanced at the watch on her wrist, her tone flat but laced with an undeniable chill.

"They are transporting a batch of fast-growing sweet potato seedlings, currently preserved in incubators. If we can get them planted before mid-August, we'll be able to harvest a crop by late autumn, while simultaneously yielding a massive new batch of seedlings. That is the only way we can plant enough by early spring next year to survive the impending famine..." Food. So that's what this is about. Vince experienced a moment of sudden clarity.

He finally realized that the scale on which Evelyn and the others were operating was entirely different from his own. Even though he now had over a hundred people under his wing, as he grew stronger, securing food had never truly felt like an existential crisis in the short term. His old neighborhood had over two thousand households.

Even by the most conservative estimates, if each apartment yielded enough food to sustain one person for three to ten days, clearing out his complex and the one across the street would provide enough rice, flour, and cooking oil to feed his current group for half a year. Half a year. Vince had never even entertained the thought of staying in that neighborhood for another six months. He had initially planned to relocate his 'family' to the Quarantine Zone within a week or two at most.

He had even secured a 'fuel tanker' and an RV specifically for that purpose. As for what they would eat once they reached the Quarantine Zone? That was obviously the government's problem. If they had the resources to set up a massive safe zone, they surely wouldn't just let the refugees starve to death inside, right? In the early days of the apocalypse, the vast majority of survivors scrambling blindly toward the Quarantine Zones thought the exact same thing.

Even Vince's initial reaction upon hearing the radio broadcast mirrored that mindset. Just stay alive first. If you're dead, it doesn't matter what's for dinner. For ordinary people, staying trapped in a residential building was a guaranteed death sentence. Reaching a Quarantine Zone at least offered a sliver of hope for survival. But the safer a Quarantine Zone appeared, the more people would flock to it. And the more people it held, the less safe it actually became.

After all, food doesn't magically respawn in supermarket display cases or apartment pantries. The Quarantine Zone couldn't just conjure food out of thin air like he could.

"Do you have direct contact with the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone? What is the actual situation over there? How much can this batch of sweet potatoes realistically yield? And how many people are currently in the Zone?" Since Evelyn brought this up, it obviously wasn't just baseless speculation. If hearing her words led Vince to these conclusions, it meant they had already considered factors far beyond what he was seeing.

Evelyn's eyes briefly lost focus, as if rapidly indexing the information stored in her brain. She gave a curt nod, her expression turning grave.

"During the initial outbreak, radio communications were still viable. We successfully established contact not just with Linjiang University, but with several other Quarantine Zones as well.

"The Jishan Garrison was merely a defensive outpost. We had manpower, but our weapon reserves were limited, and we had almost no ammunition for heavy ordinance. Linjiang University, however, is an entirely different beast..." The moment Evelyn mentioned intel on the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone, Ben and the other survivors immediately leaned in, listening with rapt attention. After all, this place was their ultimate beacon of hope.

"Based on the intel from our last successful communication, the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone was established and is currently led by the remnants of two combined-arms brigades previously stationed in the Linjiang suburbs, coordinating with surviving local government officials.

"Their core surviving military personnel alone numbered around three to four hundred. If they've since integrated local police forces and drafted militias, their armed forces could easily exceed a thousand men... And as for civilians... the population could already be over ten thousand. Twenty thousand is entirely possible..."