Mobilization Order

The sun was already hanging low on the horizon. It was probably getting late, and there was no way he could make it back now.

Chu Guang would rather spend the night on Bette Street than travel after dark.

Having had several unpleasant experiences, he knew all too well how dangerous that was. Surviving had been nothing short of heaven watching over him.

Chu Guang wrapped the iron pipe rifle he had bought in a plastic bag and tied it together with the sharpened water pipe on his back. From the outside, no one could tell it was a gun.

Although Bette Street did not restrict survivors from carrying weapons, Chu Guang did not want the mayor's informants discovering that he had been trading privately with outside caravans.

Fifty grams of Blue Umbrella Mushrooms only got him one chip.

Those bloodsucking leeches really knew how to squeeze people dry!

After passing through Bette Street's gate,

Chu Guang saw a dense crowd gathered outside the recycling station. There were men and women, old and young.

They wore ragged clothes and had sallow, emaciated faces. Woven sacks or baskets hung from their backs, while plastic buckets and other containers filled their hands.

Their daily routine was simple.

They exchanged the trash they scavenged for chips, then used those chips to buy life's necessities.

"New soap! Made by Boulder City Chemical Plant! Just three chips, and you can wash off those revolting smells on you. Hurry up and buy one for your wives! Only thirty bars available, first come, first served!"

"Cooking oil! Never mind what it was rendered from, it's fresh stuff! Shipped from Brown Farm, only ten chips per liter... A little expensive, sure, but there's a reason it costs more. You'd better find someone to split it with."

"Let me see... Oh, right, coarse salt! A thumb-sized chunk is only five chips... Don't ask where it came from. How good do you expect your food to be? Come buy some."

"And tobacco leaves. Good for smoking or curing meat, also from Brown Farm... Forget it, pick whatever you want. I'm taking a break."

Old Charlie called out lazily at the entrance, with none of the attitude of someone trying to do business.

In truth, this was not business at all. It was more like a master handing out charity to servants.

Not just on Bette Street.

Within five miles, many things could only be bought here. The people living here had no right to choose.

And don't think five miles was a short distance.

Though Clear Spring City lay on the southern plains, it had long since become a reinforced-concrete graveyard even more dangerous than a forest...

Old Charlie wiped his sweat away, handed the job of collecting payment to the shop clerk, and sat off to the side with his eyes narrowed in rest.

At that moment, a thin young man in a gray overcoat stepped before the crowd, waving a wooden sign in his hand.

"Mobilization order! A mobilization order from the mayor!"

"Before the end of the month, every household must hand over one hundred kilograms of firewood and two square meters of fur."

"Spread the word!"

A commotion swept through the crowd.

Complaints rose one after another, but no one stepped forward to resist.

After all, this was how things had been in previous years.

Bette Street did not levy taxes, but that did not mean living here was free. Besides the subtle exploitation of trade rights, the mayor would always collect a batch of supplies one way or another.

The mobilization order was one such method, issued every year around August or September.

As for what happened if someone refused to pay?

The punishment was equally straightforward.

All men and women in the settlement aged sixteen or older counted as separate households if they were unmarried, regardless of whether they had moved out and lived alone. Once married, two people became one household.

If they failed to turn in the supplies, the steward in charge of household registration would cross their names off the roster, confiscate their shack on Bette Street, and drive them out of the survivor settlement.

In this world, where lives were thinner than paper, losing shelter was no different from dying.

Especially during the freezing winter.

Bette Street was not wealthy, but compared to neighboring Brown Farm, it was already much better. At least the survivors here still possessed a tiny scrap of pitiful freedom.

Looks like the mayor planned to squeeze out one last haul before this year's final caravan arrives, then use the traded supplies to enjoy a fat year.

Chu Guang pondered this, but did not take the so-called mobilization order seriously.

He would leave before winter came.

By then, no one would need to drive him away. He would leave on his own.

He bypassed the recycling station.

Chu Guang headed straight for his shack, but before he reached the entrance, he saw Yu Xiaoyu standing outside with a man, arguing about something.

The man looked around seventeen or eighteen. He was short and still a teenager. Chu Guang did not know him well, only remembering that he seemed to be the Wang Family's third son, Wang Defu.

His shack stood at the farthest corner of the settlement. The Yu family lived diagonally across from him, with the Wang Family beyond them. They normally had no reason to visit one another.

Who knew what this was about? The Wang Family's third son had actually come all the way here.

"Move."

Wang Defu looked impatient. He reached out and shoved Yu Xiaoyu, who stood in his way. The little girl staggered back, but still spread her arms like a mother hen shielding her chicks and refused to yield.

"No. This isn't your home!"

"It isn't yours either."

"But he asked me to watch his house!"

"What was there to watch in a dead man's house?"

"He isn't dead." Yu Xiaoyu glared at him, her eyes round as goldfish eyes.

"Stop lying. That outsider hasn't come back for four or five days."

Wang Defu impatiently continued, "Your Yu family just wants a share too, right? I wasn't planning to keep it all for myself. Here's the deal: I get the shack's beams and the door. You can have the rest."

When a dead person's home sat empty, the neighbors would usually divide it up.

There was no fixed rule for how many days of absence meant someone was dead. But if no one had seen a person return for several days, everyone assumed they had either been taken by slavers or raiders, or carried off by mutants to feed their young.

No one could survive outside for several nights in a row.

Even experienced hunters found it difficult.

Yu Xiaoyu bit her lower lip until it turned pale, glaring at him with her goldfish-like eyes. No matter what, she would not move, though she did nothing else either.

Wang Defu did not want to wait any longer. If he waited, the Yu family's men would return, and he would not be able to get any advantage alone. So he prepared to shove her aside by force.

But just then, a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Who said I was dead?"

Every hair on Wang Defu's body stood on end. He leaped away and stared warily at Chu Guang with a beastlike gaze. Yu Xiaoyu quickly slipped behind Chu Guang to hide and quietly reported, "He came yesterday and wanted to tear down your house."

"Thanks."

Chu Guang looked at Wang Defu with a half-smile, then added,

"Are you leaving on your own, or should I send you?"

Knowing he was in the wrong and unable to argue back, Wang Defu glanced at the steel pipe on Chu Guang's back, its tip stained with dried blood. In the end, he left without a word.

He was not afraid of the Yu family, nor was he afraid of this outsider. But no one wanted to offend a strong, well-built man.

Especially one who was all alone and had no weaknesses at all.

Watching the man's retreating back, Chu Guang suddenly found it somewhat pathetic.

Some people were alive, yet no different from the hyenas and vultures outside.

He had once seen a mutated hyena bite through the neck of an injured companion and share its flesh. At the time, he had not thought much of it, taking it as a law of nature. Now, though, he felt an odd sense of understanding.

He had only been gone for a few days, yet these people were already itching to make a move.

Yu Xiaoyu remained behind Chu Guang. She felt that if she waited a little longer, she might get to eat the candy from that day again.

She had never eaten anything so sweet. She had nearly chewed up the plastic stick along with it.

Noticing those big eyes watching him,

Chu Guang froze for a moment, then realized what was going on. Smiling, he took an uneaten lollipop from his pocket and placed it in the little girl's hand.

"Thanks for the trouble these past few days."

"It was no trouble!"

Little Fish happily tore off the wrapper, stuffed the lollipop into her mouth, and said indistinctly, "Anyway, I don't have anything else to do. Whenever you go out, I can watch your place for you."

Just then, the Yu family's men returned from the direction of the recycling station, carrying their spoils. Their bulging bundles made it clear that they had done well.

At the sight of her eldest brother, second brother, and father, Little Fish darted back inside.

Earning candy was only a side job. Keeping an eye on the outsider was the task her elders had assigned her, and Little Fish had not forgotten their instructions.

However, no matter how quick she was, she could not be quicker than a hunter's eyes.

The head of the Yu family—a sturdy old man whose face was crisscrossed with wrinkles—glanced at Chu Guang but said nothing. He entered the house with his eldest son, who carried two sacks of green wheat.

The Yu family's second son, Yu Hu, stopped in front of Chu Guang.

Chu Guang recognized him.

The people here generally did not pay much attention to him, but this eighteen- or nineteen-year-old was one of the few who would take the initiative to speak with him.

It was just that Yu Hu always spoke bluntly, as straightforward and simple-minded as his name suggested.

"You haven't been around these past few days. I thought you were dead."

Chu Guang said,

"Looks like your instincts aren't very accurate."

Yu Hu paused, then grinned and scratched his head.

This outsider was pretty interesting. Even the way he talked differed from everyone else's—he always liked to beat around the bush.

Not minding it, Yu Hu continued.

"I should tell you, the mayor just issued a mobilization order. Before the end of the month, every household has to hand over one hundred kilograms of firewood and two square meters of fur."

The Yu family had three adult men, so they needed to pay three hundred kilograms of firewood and six square meters of fur. On Bette Street, they counted as a "major taxpayer."

The former was manageable enough. Vegetation grew everywhere in the city, and the northern outskirts had vast stretches of woodland. Even without the mayor's mobilization order, they would still chop some wood to store for winter.

But the latter was not so easy. Six square meters of pelts meant killing at least four, perhaps even five, mutated hyenas.

"I heard about it on my way back."

"Good."

Yu Hu did not beat around the bush. He said directly,

"We were just talking with the Li family about trying our luck in the northern woods. We heard there are signs of a deer herd migrating through there. If we catch two, we'll get not just hides, but meat too. Want to come?"

"I'll pass. I'll think of something myself."

Chu Guang declined tactfully, but silently remembered it.

The scavengers of Bette Street planned to hunt in the north. Water Caltrop Lake Wetland Park was a little to the northwest as well. Hopefully, they would not run into each other then.

Yu Hu naturally had no idea what Chu Guang was thinking. He only assumed Chu Guang felt awkward about it and continued persuading him.

"I can tell you're capable, but no matter how capable one person is, there are limits. That Wang Family brat dared to bully you because he had numbers on his side."

"How about this? My sister will be old enough to marry next year. Why don't you marry her? Then we'll be one family."

"If you're in a hurry, we can hold the wedding feast tonight."

Chu Guang nearly choked on those words. He coughed and said,

"No need."

What the hell?

How had the conversation suddenly gotten here?

Besides, Chu Guang, who came from civilized society, could not accept the marriageable ages these survivors considered normal.

After all, he was still young himself. Marriage was far too early.

"Ah, all right then."

Yu Hu did not press him further, though he felt regretful.

People from shelters were all pretty sharp, like that old man Charlie. Ever since Yu Hu could remember, Old Charlie had been working for the mayor and was a big shot in the neighbors' eyes.

Old Charlie had said that Chu Guang also came from a shelter, so that should not be wrong. He must be smart too.

If Chu Guang could have a son with Yu Hu's sister, maybe the Yu family could produce a big shot like Old Charlie someday.

Yu Hu had even been prepared to persuade his father.

But now, it seemed he had been reading too much into things.

Carrying his things home,

Yu Hu grabbed his sister.

"Little Fish, tell your brother: if I married you to Big Brother Chu Guang next door, would you be willing?"

With the lollipop still in her mouth, Little Fish mumbled,

"Sure."

It was right at their doorstep, so it was not far.

In her eyes, getting married only meant sleeping somewhere else. There was not much difference. Maybe she would even get two more pieces of candy.

Yu Hu, who had been ready to give up, happily said,

"Then I'll try persuading him again for you."

"Okay."

Little Fish answered casually, focused only on eating her candy and not caring much.

Yu Hu, on the other hand, eagerly started making plans.

"Fine. I'll talk to Big Brother and Dad, but you can't just sit around waiting. When you have time, go learn how to make flatbread from Mom... What are you eating? Let me have a couple bites."

"No!"

Seeing her second brother trying to snatch her candy, Little Fish immediately became unhappy. She hunched over protectively, dodged away, and vanished in a flash.