Chapter Twenty: Confrontation

“In fact, whether it’s plants or animals, everything is growing so rapidly now. There must be food to be found outside,” Li Qingshui said as he gazed out the window. “The problem is, food has no shelf life anymore. Even if we gather huge amounts, without special storage, it’s useless. So, if we want to find food, we’d have to go out every day.”

“That’s too dangerous,” Liu Chang nodded. “Even with the little girl helping us, there’s no way to avoid danger every time.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that. Maybe vacuum packaging could help food last a bit longer, but that still wouldn’t stop anaerobic microorganisms from proliferating. And we don’t have the conditions for vacuum packaging anyway,” Li Qingshui said, rubbing his head.

“Maybe chemical agents that suppress microbes could work?” Zhu Lin, who had been silent all along, spoke for the first time, and what she said shocked all the men. “Those chemicals used to preserve corpses—like formalin—don’t they have a strong effect on preventing microbial growth and decay?”

“Eat formaldehyde?” Fatty blurted out in alarm. “Are you crazy? That stuff is poisonous!”

“If it’s diluted enough, it can actually be ingested,” Li Qingshui replied, surprisingly not objecting to Zhu Lin’s suggestion. “Although it's not good for you, diluted formalin—that is, formaldehyde—is worth a try. At the very least, it could keep food from spoiling for a few days, which is better than any preservative.”

“Let’s leave that for now,” Liu Chang said, cutting in. “We don’t even have food yet, and we’re already worrying about how to store it. Let’s take things one step at a time and see how the military arranges things for us.”

After Liu Chang finished, the group fell into a brief silence, exchanging glances before quietly waiting where they stood.

It was more than three hours before the military finished notifying all the citizens who had arrived. In a world where radio and even electricity had failed, getting a message out to over a hundred thousand people was no simple task.

Once everyone had been gathered and informed, the newcomers were split into two groups and led into the military compound.

The two groups, as expected, were those who had chosen different destinations—one group willing to stay, the other willing to follow the army to Zhengzhou.

Thus, Liu Chang and his companions joined the group that had chosen to stay and walked deeper into the military compound.

The compound was enormous. Although the soldiers were stationed in separate regiments, the combined forces of tens of thousands could still accommodate over a hundred thousand civilians. Everyone walked obediently in the footsteps of the person ahead, careful not to get separated from the group.

Soldiers fully armed lined either side of the procession. Perhaps because of the army’s presence, any mutated creatures had already been eliminated, making the place feel safe.

After being brought here, everyone endured another long wait. It was nightfall before all the newcomers had finally been settled.

Liu Chang and his group were assigned to a soldier’s barracks—bunk beds, much like a student dormitory, but simpler and cleaner.

This time, the military made no distinction between men and women, instead organizing people by family or group. Thus, Zhu Lin, the little girl, and the three men were placed together. In an environment like this, everyone wanted to stay close to their loved ones and friends; gender differences seemed trivial in the face of survival.

The military dormitory was essentially like a student dorm, an eight-person room, about the size of a platoon. But twelve people were assigned to this eight-bed space: Liu Chang’s group of five, a family of three, and a family of four.

The family of three consisted of a woman in her twenties and her nearly sixty-year-old parents—a combination that looked especially frail and vulnerable.

The four-person family seemed much more formidable: two brothers in their twenties, both with fierce faces, and their parents, who appeared to be in their prime at around fifty. The entire family looked tough and intimidating. The two brothers, both wearing vests with bare arms, were burly and muscular.

They immediately claimed the four best beds without a word, which Liu Chang found hard to tolerate.

“Hey, listen up,” Liu Chang stepped forward, “there are twelve of us and only eight beds. By rights, every three people should share two beds. Even if you have four people, you should get three beds at most—so you’re already getting the better deal. At the very least, you should give up one more bed! We have only eight beds—we need to divide them fairly. No one gets to take advantage.”

“Well, well, look who’s being tough!” One of the brothers, who had been making the bed, put down what he was doing and turned to face Liu Chang.

Seeing the confrontation, Li Qingshui and Fatty also stepped forward.

On one side were three strong young men—on the other, counting the brothers’ father, also three. Neither side was to be underestimated: the brothers’ family was obviously not to be trifled with, but since Liu Chang had taken a life, he now carried a dangerous air about him. Fatty, the most notorious in their old dorm, had only grown more determined since losing his mother.

As for Li Qingshui, though he looked scholarly and gentle, he was always calm and competent, never showing fear.

Both sides seemed evenly matched, and it was clear this was destined not to become a real conflict—everyone was merely defending their own interests, and more importantly, no one wanted to get hurt in this struggle.

After a moment of standoff, the brothers’ mother—a woman seasoned by life—stepped forward, smiling to smooth things over.

“Come on now, we’re all here as refugees. Ending up in the same place is fate—no need to get so worked up at first meeting. How about this…” She glanced at the other family before continuing, “We have four people, so we’ll step back and give up one bed. Your group of five can have four beds. The last family gets the remaining bed. That seems fair, doesn’t it?”

She looked at the other family with a smile. No one from that side said a word.

“See, no objections. Xiaogang, Xiaoyong, Old Li, let it go. Let’s leave it at that.” With that, she pulled her husband and two sons back.

And so, the standoff ended with this compromise—each side had shown its strength, and a negotiation was reached. It was not a true conflict, so there was no winner—unless both sides could be called victors. The ones who lost out, inevitably, were the weak.

Wherever people gather, the law of the jungle prevails.