Time flew by.
A week had passed since returning from Liberation City. It was now the end of July. Tomorrow would be August.
The scorching sun beat down, and the water in the mountain pond was steadily decreasing. Some time ago, to prevent the sun from evaporating the water, a layer of black shading balls had been laid on top.
These black shading balls could effectively mitigate sun evaporation and save a significant amount of water.
Otherwise, direct sunlight alone would waste most of the water.
As a result, the rate of water level decrease in the mountain pond was greatly alleviated.
Not only were these black shading balls used in the mountain pond, but they were also used in the rice fields, with decent results.
The rice had already entered its heading stage.
In the base, having an old farmer like Grandpa, who had tilled fields his entire life, meant they had a true farming expert.
The old man knew exactly what to do at each stage.
Aside from the hot weather, everything else at the base was normal.
No chaotic incidents occurred. Due to ample electricity, many people turned on their lights at night to watch movies and TV series.
The older generation also enjoyed watching dramas, and Li Yu had downloaded many, encompassing various genres.
It was also a way for everyone to relax.
However, things were not so good in Liberation City.
Even before taking in the refugees, Liberation City was already facing various problems: food was scarce, and water was also a major issue. Even though there was a river not far away, the sun was too strong, and it was on the verge of drying up.
As for tap water, it had stopped two weeks after the apocalypse began.
Now, most of the water they drank was pumped from the riverbank.
They had also considered digging wells, but on the high ground of Liberation City, digging for water required going very deep. So, after digging one well, there was still no water source even 10 meters down.
It was temporarily put on hold for a period.
But now, as the water supply became an increasing problem, the well-digging project was resumed.
Without relevant instruments or equipment, they could only rely entirely on manual digging.
Finally, after 7 days of digging, the well reached a depth of 30 meters, and water finally emerged.
The water problem was temporarily alleviated, but there was still a huge problem before them: food.
Liberation City previously relied mainly on collecting supplies from the city and supplementing it with some crops grown within Liberation City, but these crops had not yet reached maturity.
The food they had accumulated before was also gradually diminishing.
Originally, they had quite a lot of food stockpiled. As the largest force in the city, without the oppression of the Salvation Army, they had a very good time in the first half of the year.
But now, more and more people were joining, and Director Zhang was committed to helping people. As long as someone joined, he would lend them 2 days' worth of food. After 2 days, they would need to go out with a small team to find food and then hand over a portion of it.
More than half a year passed, and various supplies became increasingly scarce. Furthermore, in the hot weather, many foods had already gone bad and were no longer edible.
The food crisis was like a mountain, suffocating them.
These newly joined refugees also went out to search for supplies, but often, they would basically not hand over the collected supplies. They knew very well how terrifying hunger was.
So, various tricks emerged to hide supplies.
In fact, the mechanism established by Liberation City was like this: rotational shifts. Some people would go out to find supplies, hand over a portion, and keep the rest for themselves.
Some people needed to be on duty, guarding the base; others needed to do things like digging wells, planting, and so on.
These people were like those who received wages, with the collective distributing basic living supplies to them.
Originally, those who went out would also hide most of the supplies, giving very little to the collective. However, some team leaders would directly pressure their subordinates to hand over the vast majority of supplies.
There were many small teams, and conflicts were already numerous, but they just hadn't erupted yet.
However, after these refugees joined, some were unwilling to hand over most of the supplies, leading to some direct conflicts.
These direct conflicts, coupled with the increasingly scarce food that could be found, grew larger and larger.
Suddenly, one day, they searched all day outside but found no supplies, and this conflict erupted even more intensely.
Everyone hid their food. Some team leaders used their power to allocate more supplies, allowing them to live normally.
But for some of the lowest-level personnel, once they ran out of a continuous food supply, they immediately ran out of provisions.
In the face of hunger, this contradiction began to escalate.
Internal struggles began over food, even leading to bloodshed.
In the face of hunger, any system or rules built on paper were torn apart.
Chaos began.
Director Zhang and others also realized this problem, but he had no solution. The most fundamental problem now was food!
Without food, they couldn't survive.
Just now, another fight broke out. Several refugees tried to snatch food from the original residents of Liberation City, and the two groups engaged in a fierce struggle.
This final struggle was only stopped when Captain Lü and others intervened, firing a shot into the sky, which then deterred everyone present.
However, after this struggle, people's minds completely changed.
There were conflicts between the refugee population and the local residents, between those who joined earlier and those who joined later, and between the team leaders, who were managers, and the grassroots people.
Coupled with the scorching sun, the zombies outside had not appeared during the day recently, so without external conflicts, internal conflicts would be infinitely magnified.
"Director Zhang, the situation is very grim now," Captain Lü said to Director Zhang.
Director Zhang sighed, then said, "How did it turn out like this? Also, are our supplies okay?"
Captain Lü glanced at Director Zhang, sighed, and finally said, "Although there are no problems, there isn't much left."
"How could this be?" Director Zhang asked in surprise.
Captain Lü looked at Director Zhang somewhat speechlessly: "The supplies collected recently have been pitifully small; we're just living off our past savings."
For a moment, both were silent. Director Zhang suddenly said, "Actually, we still have supplies, but I think we can discuss it with them. Everyone is arguing because of food. Although Liberation City has always advocated fairness and justice, if it weren't for us, they wouldn't have such an environment."
Director Zhang continued, "Find those team leaders and ask them to contribute some appropriately. I actually know they've been greedy, but considering they are veterans, I didn't pursue it. Now there's no other way; we can't watch this polarization continue."
