“Ah, this is comfortable,” Mr. Wang groaned contentedly.
The intense and fierce heat transmitted to him through the iron plate beneath his buttocks made him shiver twice from the warmth.
Immediately after, he dared not waste time, taking advantage of the heat to soak the bread in the small pot with water, and then gulping it down in one go.
It was very hot; his mouth was slightly scalded, but as the hot food and water passed through his throat and into his stomach, he felt his stomach warm up, and then his whole body began to feel warm.
Clang! Mr. Wang quickly placed the empty small pot on the headboard, then lay down on the bed, pulling the quilt tightly over himself.
He wanted to take advantage of this warmth to get a good night's sleep.
The room's glass was covered in mist.
At this time, the indoor temperature was already approaching negative ten-odd degrees Celsius.
This temperature was only achievable after about twenty minutes of burning flames, combined with Mr. Wang's own body heat, and then sealing off this small room.
This was already considered a relatively high temperature for these days.
Typically, when there was a blizzard outside, the outdoor temperature would reach negative forty-odd degrees, while indoors, if doors and windows were tightly shut, it could reach negative twenty-odd degrees.
There was approximately a ten-odd degree temperature difference.
But it was precisely this ten-odd degree temperature difference that allowed some people to barely make it through; in these negative ten to twenty-degree conditions, they could only bury themselves under their covers to resist the cold.
At this moment, Mr. Wang lay on the iron plate that had just been heated, and having just eaten some hot food, the heat radiating from his entire body made the quilt warm.
This multi-layered quilt, warmed by Mr. Wang's body heat, then transferred that warmth back to his body.
“So warm.” This was the last thing Mr. Wang said before falling asleep.
At the same time.
Downstairs from Mr. Wang, there was a room with a similar layout, only this one appeared somewhat empty.
In this room, wooden furniture, and even plastic items that could be burned, were all gone.
A gaunt man, dressed in thick clothes, was pacing back and forth in the empty room.
He seemed to be trying to raise his body temperature by walking.
Perhaps he felt warm after walking for a while, or perhaps he felt tired from walking for too long; this gaunt man with a scar on his face quickly crawled into his quilt.
This quilt was also filthy, and the man shivered uncontrollably while hiding inside it.
This ground-floor house looked as if it hadn't been renovated, appearing clean and bare.
The man, huddled in a ball, seemed to have forgotten that his wife was still outside, still searching for fuel.
This cold weather prevented people from going out, making them endure every minute and second in torment.
They just didn't know how much longer such temperatures would last.
But no matter the circumstances, most people wanted to continue living.
Inside Safe City.
The villa area.
The four factions were holding a meeting.
The main reason for this meeting was a significant conflict between Hua Chuanlong, the leader of the underworld faction, and Ke Hanyu, a former business owner.
The conflict arose because Hua Chuanlong's subordinates had privately taken a portion of the supplies that should have been allocated to Ke Hanyu's faction.
The first faction consisted of military personnel led by Wu Jianguo, who controlled the actual power of the base.
The second faction was the former underworld gang, led by Hua Chuanlong.
The third faction was a business owner, Ke Hanyu, and some people who followed him.
The fourth faction was the civilian representatives.
Everyone entering Safe City, except for the first three factions, had to pay protection fees.
The first three factions, if they found supplies themselves, did not have to hand them over upon returning to the base; they could keep everything.
However, whenever a zombie horde appeared, they were obligated to resist the zombies and could not retreat.
The fourth faction, composed of civilians, had the largest numbers but was the weakest; the protection fees they paid mostly supported the first three factions.
They wanted to resist but were powerless to do so.
Therefore, each time the safety protection fees were collected at the main gate, the most powerful military faction led by Wu Jianguo took half of the supplies, then Hua Chuanlong took thirty percent, and finally, Ke Hanyu took the remaining twenty percent.
It was strange to note that whenever Ke Hanyu went out, he always managed to find a relatively large amount of supplies.
This also made Ke Hanyu's faction, which was originally only supposed to take twenty percent of the supplies, the wealthiest.
This greatly displeased the underworld faction, especially now that the weather was cold and it was impossible to go out to find food or supplies.
The underworld faction, relying on its slightly stronger power, began to openly and secretly bully Ke Hanyu's group.
Ke Hanyu, who used to do business frequently, was well aware of this and repeatedly retreated, but Hua Chuanlong only escalated his actions.
Just yesterday, Hua Chuanlong's people openly seized the supplies that had been jointly collected earlier, taking away the portion that belonged to Ke Hanyu.
Previously, when distributing supplies, they always picked first, and what was left was less than twenty percent.
That was already bad enough.
This time was even more excessive; after Wu Jianguo and his group took half, they directly hauled away the rest.
This clearly showed they didn't regard Ke Hanyu's group at all, which was a severe breach of their previous rules.
In the meeting room, because there were charcoal fires burning in all four corners, the whole room was not cold.
However, the atmosphere in the room was extremely oppressive.
The few people from the fourth faction, who were only there to join the crowd and make up numbers, were thin but had expressions as if they were watching a good show.
Anyway, they didn't have protection fees, and the profits were all divided among the three factions, so now they were fighting, which was exactly what they wanted.
The fourth faction, at this moment, wished they could pull up a chair and grab some melon seeds to watch the show.
In the front right, a man with a scorpion tattooed on his head, wearing a fur coat, exuded a rogue aura and said lazily, “It’s your fault for not coming to collect the stuff earlier. How can you blame me?”
In the front left, sat a middle-aged man of about 35, with fair skin, exuding an intellectual aura. He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes as calm as an ancient well: “Boss Hua, we’ve been cooperating for over a year, and even Old Wu said before that everyone must abide by the rules. Now, does this mean everyone can disregard the rules?”
“I already said, if you’re late, you’re out of luck. You didn’t come to collect the supplies yourselves. It’s so cold, are we supposed to wait for you there?”
“Our people came, but they were beaten by your men.”
“Nonsense, don’t talk rubbish.”
…
Ke Hanyu had a headache; it was like a scholar meeting a soldier—reasoning was useless.
Distorting facts and fabricating lies was Hua Chuanlong's specialty.
Ke Hanyu did not want to have a large-scale conflict with Hua Chuanlong's group for now.
Once guns were fired, neither side would fare well.
Therefore, Ke Hanyu turned his gaze to Old Wu, who was sitting in the center.
