091 A Frightening Future!

“No need to provide supplies? All you want is for me to ensure your safety?” Xue Feng chuckled; this Tang Qiqiang certainly knew how to conduct himself.

“Exactly. We can handle the ordinary zombies, but when it comes to those strange mutants, we’re powerless,” Tang Qiqiang’s eyes brimmed with fear—fear of what was to come.

“As long as you follow my orders, you won’t have to worry about food. I’ll provide for you. But you must also prove yourselves through action—show me your worth,” Xue Feng said. In truth, he’d already seen their capabilities.

Tang Qiqiang’s group possessed remarkable combat skills. With just four or five people, they’d wiped out all remnants of the Red Flower Society. Their coordination was seamless—worthy of mercenaries. Moreover, several others were standing guard at their gathering point. Once they joined, the group’s strength would increase significantly.

What Xue Feng didn’t expect was that Tang Qiqiang and the others would take the initiative to ask to join him. That certainly saved him a great deal of trouble.

“Rest assured, we’ll do our part,” Tang Qi and the others were deeply grateful, tears nearly in their eyes. They hadn’t expected Xue Feng to agree so quickly, nor to ask for any excessive terms. He’d even promised them food!

“Take inventory of the Red Flower Society’s supplies. See if they left anything useful,” Xue Feng commanded.

Tang Qiqiang and his men immediately set to work, searching through the Tiancheng complex. Xue Feng, meanwhile, walked over to the twin-headed mutant’s corpse. As expected, he found two crystal cores in its skull—proof that this was a particularly unusual mutant, likely the result of some error during mutation, which had left it in this grotesque state.

If such mutants existed, it meant even more bizarre and terrifying creatures would appear in the future. The thought of this made Xue Feng feel that the apocalypse would only grow more arduous.

Soon, the results of their search were tallied. To everyone’s surprise, the Red Flower Society had gathered quite a hoard—rooms filled with food and medicine stacked to the ceiling. There were also other resources like gasoline. However, much of the packaged food was past its expiration date; some loaves of bread were visibly moldy. Still, the Red Flower Society hadn’t thrown any of it away; on the contrary, they’d hoarded every bit.

Clearly, such food would still be eaten. In the apocalypse, any source of nourishment was precious. As long as it wouldn’t kill you, it was kept. Throughout history, during times of famine, survivors devoured anything—earth, bark, grass roots—nothing was off-limits.

“We’re short-handed. I’ll send someone back to the base to call for more people so we can haul this stuff away,” Tang Qiqiang’s eyes gleamed at the sight of the supplies. He hadn’t imagined the Red Flower Society could amass so much—enough to feed them for a month.

The thought sent a chill through him. Without Xue Feng’s help, the Red Flower Society could have simply outlasted them with these stores, starving his group out by blocking the exits.

“No need,” Xue Feng waved a hand with a smile.

Then, to the shock of Tang Qiqiang and his men, Xue Feng merely placed his hand on the supplies—and in the next instant, all of it vanished without a trace.

What sorcery was this? Had they just witnessed a magic trick? Impossible. Absolutely impossible. It must have been an illusion.

Tang Qiqiang and the others rubbed their eyes and looked again. The rooms were empty—the food and water had truly disappeared!

“Is… is this your ability?” one man couldn’t help but ask.

Smack!

Before the words had finished, Tang Qiqiang slapped him across the face. “Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t!” he barked in a low voice.

It was a foolish question—if it wasn’t a supernatural power, what else could it be? Surely not some conjuring trick.

“I—I was wrong! Please forgive me!” The man realized his mistake and looked at Xue Feng in terror. Asking about such things was tantamount to probing for secrets.

Xue Feng simply nodded, saying nothing more. He didn’t mind revealing his ability before his own people—on the contrary, it would reinforce his authority, making Tang Qiqiang’s group all the more loyal.

Seeing that Xue Feng wasn’t angry, Tang Qiqiang finally relaxed, a surge of excitement welling up inside him. He was certain he’d made the right choice in following Xue Feng.

“Brother Xue Feng… shouldn’t we keep the moldy food?” Tang Qiqiang asked, distressed at the sight of so much spoiled food being discarded.

In recent days, they’d risked their lives searching for such rotten food—several of their number had even died in the process. To them, this food was as precious as life itself. The thought of throwing it away was hard to accept. With a little effort, it was still edible—at worst, it might just cause some stomach trouble.

“If we were short on food, this would be worth eating. But my base has plenty of supplies. Getting sick for the sake of such scraps would be a waste,” Xue Feng replied. “Medicine is an exceptionally valuable resource in the apocalypse.”

Though his words were logical, Tang Qiqiang and the others still found it hard to accept. Their values had been utterly transformed since the disaster began.

“Does that mean you’ve never eaten rotten food before?” someone blurted out.

“Of course,” Xue Feng nodded.

The group was stunned. That meant that since the outbreak, Xue Feng had never truly suffered hunger. Envy filled Tang Qiqiang and his men.

“As long as you follow me faithfully, your lives will be far better than what you’ve endured,” Xue Feng promised.

Hearing this, Tang Qiqiang and the others believed him wholeheartedly—they had already witnessed his power.

Soon, all the supplies in the rooms were taken care of, and the group returned to Tang Qiqiang’s base. There, too, they had a fair amount of supplies, though even more of it was spoiled—barely enough for the next meal.

What astonished Xue Feng was that one room was dedicated entirely to storing salt—large, unopened bags, at least five or six tons in total. Tang Qiqiang offered a wry explanation: the room’s owner had once been a street vendor. There had been rumors that salt was contaminated and would soon run out, so everyone had rushed to hoard it.