Chapter 42: Distribution of Supplies

Regarding the long-legged girl's behavior, Chu Che's mouth twitched, his face showing a pained expression.

What they were drinking today was Pu'er tea, his pre-apocalypse collection.

After the apocalypse broke out, others brought various foods or easily portable supplies, while he brought tea leaves.

This was the apocalypse now, and these tea leaves would diminish with every sip—no amount of money could buy more.

Even he himself rarely indulged in it.

Yet Nana had gulped it down like a cow chewing peonies—utterly wasting it.

"Captain, you're so stingy, only giving out such a tiny amount each time!"

"It's not even enough to get stuck between my teeth!"

Nana slammed the teapot onto the table, speaking with great dissatisfaction.

It was simply...

Nana smacked her lips, feeling the rich tea aroma filling her mouth and some energy returning to her body.

Chen Ye was also stunned, never expecting this long-legged girl to be so crude, completely unlike her delicate appearance.

But by now, Chen Ye understood—it seemed his actions in Longevity Village had made the long-legged girl consider him one of their own.

"Ahem... Old Bao, how many of us didn't make it back this time?"

Old Bao was standing nearby and replied directly, "Previously, our convoy had 124 people total. Now only 44 remain. Between Longevity Village and last night, we lost eighty people altogether."

"The convoy now has 16 men and 28 women."

Hearing the numbers from Old Bao's mouth, everyone present fell into silence.

In just one night, they had lost over eighty people.

Such a death rate before the apocalypse would have been news that shocked the nation, even the world.

But now, aside from those in the convoy, no one knew.

Not even the survivors in the convoy particularly cared.

Chen Ye hadn't expected such heavy losses either.

Initially, he thought losing about half would be the extent.

When they went to Longevity Village to gather supplies before, most of them were men.

Men had greater strength, faster speed, and could bring back more supplies, but because of this, many men never walked out of Longevity Village again.

Last night, survivors with vehicles all survived, while those who didn't reach the camp all died.

"What exactly happened in Longevity Village? How did we lose so many people?"

Chu Che finally had time to ask this question.

Nana recounted everything that happened from the moment they entered Longevity Village.

During this, Chen Ye supplemented some information.

Chu Che, Old Bao, and Old Li all listened very attentively.

When they heard about the massive willow tree in the village center of Longevity Village hung with Corpse Puppets, both Old Bao and Old Li turned pale.

As ordinary people, just imagining it made them feel chilled to the bone.

And then there was the Hunchbacked Old Puppet with human heads on its back.

An even more nightmare-inducing existence.

"You're saying that Hunchbacked Old Puppet didn't attack you at all?"

After listening to both of them, Chu Che fell into deep thought, his first question addressing this issue.

Nana was taken aback, then remembered that in Longevity Village, the Hunchbacked Old Puppet indeed hadn't attacked any survivors.

This situation was truly strange.

Anomalies and humans were naturally opposed—when Anomalies encountered humans, most times they would attack relentlessly.

Only when one side died would the attacks stop.

Chen Ye confirmed Chu Che's question: "No, the Hunchbacked Old Puppet only observed our actions and even possessed some intelligence."

This was also a puzzle in Chen Ye's mind.

He always felt like the Hunchbacked Old Puppet was brewing some major move.

Chu Che turned his gaze to Chen Ye and asked, "Chen Ye, what do you think?"

Chen Ye pondered for a moment before speaking gravely, "I have a speculation—it seems Anomalies are gradually growing stronger, and might even develop intelligence!"

Chen Ye said this based on the Hunchbacked Old Puppet in Longevity Village, and the Paper Crying Child in Xinghua Town.

The Paper Crying Child's intelligence might not be that high, but it clearly had its own thoughts.

Chen Ye had never encountered such Anomalies before.

As soon as Chen Ye spoke these words, everyone present felt a chill run through their bodies, their hearts sinking.

Anomalies were already so difficult to deal with—if they developed intelligence, they would likely become even harder to handle.

The scene fell into prolonged silence!

"Enough, let's not think about it. The world is already like this anyway—how much worse can it get?"

"Let's distribute the supplies gathered from Longevity Village!"

"Iron Lion hasn't woken up yet, so Old Li will represent him."

"As agreed before, I take thirty percent, Nana thirty percent, Chen Ye and Iron Lion twenty percent each!"

"Any objections?"

Chen Ye shook his head indicating he had no objections.

Although Chu Che hadn't entered Longevity Village, without him, the convoy would likely have ceased to exist long ago.

As for Nana, this woman was the only Sequence 2 in the convoy and had contributed greatly in Longevity Village.

Truth be told, Chen Ye hadn't yet demonstrated his value to the convoy up to this point, so getting twenty percent was already a huge advantage for him.

The first backpack opened was Chen Ye's.

Chen Ye had two backpacks—one on his back and one on his chest.

But both backpacks weren't very large.

The several of them moved aside the tables and chairs under the canopy and opened Chen Ye's backpacks.

Chen Ye didn't hesitate either, directly dumping out the contents of both backpacks.

Nearly half of the first backpack's contents were cigarettes.

Huazi, Lotus, HTS, and others—high, medium, and low grades all included.

There were also several bottles of baijiu.

Chen Ye had practically cleared out the cigarettes from that small supermarket at the time.

The other backpack contained some food items, mostly emergency rations and instant foods.

Plenty of spicy strips and snacks.

And some seasonings.

For example, they had packed quite a bit of Lao Gan Ma, soy sauce, cooking wine, salt, and such things.

This was the apocalypse now—as long as people still needed to eat, these items were absolutely essential!

The several of them distributing supplies here naturally attracted the attention of other survivors.

Zhou Lan and Zhou Xiaoxiao sisters were among those drawn in.

The sisters knew that the supplies Chen Ye and the others obtained would definitely be several times better than theirs, so they wanted to come see, hoping they might be able to trade with Chen Ye's group for some supplies they needed.

Seeing so many cigarettes and alcohol, disappointment flashed in Zhou Xiaoxiao's eyes.

"Why is it all this stuff!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao muttered quietly.

Zhou Lan made a shushing gesture at her mouth.

Some commotion also arose among the surrounding survivors.

For some people, these were premium goods, but for others, they were rather useless.

Chu Che examined the supplies Chen Ye brought back, his expression showing no disappointment.

"Cigarettes and alcohol are both excellent goods. Although I don't smoke, these items are hard currency!"

"If we encounter other convoys in the future, they'll be very useful for trading for supplies."

"And with so many cigarettes, they're lightweight and easy to carry!"

"As for alcohol, this stuff..."

Many survivors around looked at those cigarettes and alcohol with eyes full of greed.

If not for fearing the martial power of Sequence Superpowers, they probably would have tried to snatch them by now.

Hearing Chu Che say this, a trace of surprise flashed in Zhou Xiaoxiao's eyes.

"Sis, these cigarettes can't be eaten or drunk—what's so good about them?"

Zhou Xiaoxiao whispered to her sister.

"Keep your voice down! Just look at the expressions of people around us and you'll understand!"

Zhou Lan quietly scolded her younger sister.

Zhou Xiaoxiao curled her lip: Hmph! What's so great about them.

But while saying this, Zhou Xiaoxiao began observing the eyes and expressions of people around her.

Zhou Xiaoxiao herself didn't like smoking, didn't like people smoking around her, and didn't like drinking alcohol either.

But when she saw the blatant looks in the eyes of those around her, those pairs of greedy eyes completely baffled her.