Dalao, Hurry and Drink Your Porridge

Near the bustling university district in Harbor District, Q City.

A black tide of Zombies swept some creature along as it surged eastward through the city.

In the middle of the horde, an enormous Zombie, a full three meters tall, strode forward with a swagger that acknowledged no kin.

A small, big-headed Zombie sat on its shoulder, two tiny red antennae growing from its head.

They were scarlet and grotesque, like two enormous hemorrhoids sprouting from its skull.

Whichever direction its antennae turned, the surrounding Zombies headed that way.

The Zombie tide continued to swell.

After Shen Jin brought the middle-aged couple back to the settlement, the system mission progress updated to:

Settlement residents: 31/30, residence time: 0/7

He only needed to wait seven days to unlock the advanced Industrial Mod.

With the Pulverizer and the Ore Washer, Shen Jin could begin his mining plan.

The resources gathered from the harbor alone were not enough for him to complete the entire industrial revolution.

Producing high-tech equipment later on would require massive quantities of minerals.

Not to mention building himself an apocalypse fortress immune to every poison.

When the time came, he could make a villa entirely of alloy and blastproof glass. Zombies would not even be able to chew through it.

"Cough, cough. I'm getting ahead of myself. Today, I need to get the settlement residents organized. They definitely can't starve to death, but I can't take a loss either."

Shen Jin suddenly remembered all the raw materials and seeds he had collected earlier.

"Got it!"

Beside the iron gate, Shen Jin quickly built a giant matchbox.

He placed inside it a stack of sixty-four cubic blocks of cotton taken from Room Xuan No. 7.

Then he placed a pile of planks, sticks, canvas, and other materials in the open space.

"Yang Ao, time to work!"

Shen Jin and Yang Ao, both clad in sheet-metal gear, stood before the thirty-one survivors.

Ignoring Li Jie, who was making seductive gestures at him, Yang Ao said, "I told you yesterday: as long as you work after coming here, you'll have food to eat!"

"Now, there are several jobs for you. Anyone who can do them can receive steamed buns and rice porridge!"

The crowd murmured among themselves. Quite a few people had no intention of working at all.

"Who do they think they are? They expect us to work ourselves to death for a few steamed buns and some rice porridge?"

"Why hasn't the government come yet? No one is doing anything about this. Next, they'll be setting up private punishments!"

"If all of us resist together, those two definitely won't be able to beat us."

Having recovered from yesterday's shock and slept well through the night, the crowd had grown bolder. They had actually forgotten that the two men had slaughtered more than sixty Zombies.

There would always be some people who thought, That's nothing. I could do it too if I were up there.

Most, however, felt there was nothing wrong with the terms the two men offered. Hadn't they worked for other people before?

In the apocalypse, what was wrong with working in exchange for food?

It was perfectly reasonable!

It was even a little too humane.

Li Jie and Su Lele exchanged glances within the crowd. They had started "working" last night.

Yang Ao continued, "Anyone who doesn't want to work, go back into the house. Those who want to work can stay and listen to the arrangements."

Six people chose to leave: five men and one woman.

The middle-aged couple who had been forcibly rescued that day in particular had no interest in steamed buns at all. They had been eating them for three months.

If it were rice, they might consider it.

"Very good. Has anyone here ever built a vegetable greenhouse?"

The urban white-collar workers looked at one another. They were all in real estate—how would they know how to build one of those things?

Who would have thought—

Balding Old Wang stepped forward. "My family grew greenhouse vegetables when I was a child."

Old Wang had been born into a poor family. As a child, he had done every kind of farm work, then gradually fought his way into the big city after growing up.

By middle age, he had finally climbed to the position of vice president at Wanyu Group.

Perhaps because he had been frightened by poverty since childhood, he was especially fond of saving money.

Normally, he pinched every penny and refused to spend. Whenever an opportunity arose, he ruthlessly stuffed as much as he could into his own pockets.

He was simply destined to make money through hardship, yet he had raised two useless sons who stayed home all day living off him.

Shen Jin was surprised for a moment. He had not expected the bloodsucking Old Wang to have this skill.

"Fine! You'll be the leader of the greenhouse team. Pick nine people and build a two-hundred-square-meter greenhouse in that open area first."

Old Wang was no fool. He did not choose a single white-collar woman, selecting only the men who had always been the most hardworking at the company.

Since he was doing it, he would definitely deliver results.

"Alright. Who knows how to make quilts and clothes?"

The female white-collar workers instantly felt their teeth ache. They had all been struggling in the big city; even cooking was difficult for them. They bought ready-made quilts and clothes from stores or online.

What era was this? Who still knew how to make quilts?

The young married woman Zhao Hong timidly raised her hand. "I did it back in my hometown."

"Then you'll be the leader of the tailoring team. Take all the women and make cotton quilts and cotton clothes for winter."

"Alright."

Zhao Hong looked at Yang Ao with fear in her eyes. She still remembered Li Jie and Su Lele being taken away last night.

Although nothing had happened to the two women, and they had even returned looking thoroughly satisfied.

But Yang Ao held the power of life and death over them. If she did not do well, would she not be taken away too?

"The remaining six will form the patrol team. You'll keep watch on the walls and report immediately if anything unusual happens. Old Wang, give them the walkie-talkies!"

Zhao Hong's husband was assigned to the patrol team. Feeling the chilly wind outside, he wanted to transfer to the tailoring team, but Yang Ao refused him outright.

"Now, everyone who wants to work, come over here with me to eat. One steamed bun and one bowl of porridge per person."

"Oh, right. The steamed buns and porridge haven't been made yet. You women, come cook first."

Shen Jin did not have time to cook for them himself!

He would make his own food and eat it himself.

With that, Shen Jin assigned the work so he would not be supporting so many people for nothing over the next seven days.

They would build a vegetable greenhouse to grow fresh vegetables, then use up the cotton by turning it into practical cotton clothes and quilts.

These were jobs his Blockify Ability could not accomplish.

The materials had also been piled up in the warehouse all this time, waiting for the day they suddenly became useful.

The joy of a hoarder was when something strange they had stored away long ago suddenly came in handy.

Elsewhere, after steaming the buns and porridge, everyone sat crouched at the entrance of the giant matchbox filled with cotton, eating.

Su Lele's boyfriend, Liu Dalao, had also been assigned to the patrol team. During the meal, he moved closer and eyed Su Lele suspiciously.

"Why do you seem cleaner? Did you wash your face?"

A brief flash of panic crossed Su Lele's face. "Um... I washed up a little."

She had not been allowed to stay with Shen Jin last night. After putting on a performance for him, she had been sent back.

Before she left, he had given her two packs of Compressed Biscuits and told her not to tell anyone whom she had seen inside.

As for that JK outfit, careful Su Lele had put it away and changed back into her filthy clothes.

"Where did you get water? You could even wash your face?" Liu Dalao sensed something was off.

"Those people gave us some water yesterday. A few of us washed up. If you don't believe me, look at Li Jie."

Liu Dalao looked at Li Jie's fair, glowing face. "Heh, then you really were lucky. Those people didn't give us any water."

"I don't know what Superhumans are thinking either. Stop talking about that, Dalao. Hurry and drink your porridge..."