I Have Plenty of Ways to Make You Agree

"Rare minerals... I understand. What do you want? Provide a list, and we'll do our best to find them."

"But, intelligence, what kind of intelligence are you referring to?"

The two sides talked for a while.

The man said, "This amount of food and water can only provide a maximum of 1,000 kilograms of minerals. You must understand that we are risking our lives to search for minerals now."

A thousand catties is a lot, which shows how scarce water and food are.

If it weren't for the intense radiation outside, the presence of polluting organisms, and the time required for mining and mineral searching, the man could probably provide as many minerals as they wanted, provided they offered more water and food in exchange.

In this world permeated by radiation, food and water are becoming increasingly scarce, especially clean water, which has become more precious than gold.

After all, no matter how much gold you have, you can't survive for even three days without water.

Du Jiashi stated, "Our city doesn't lack water or food; what we lack are people, a large number of people."

He was referring to the lack of labor, because he remembered what Mi Lan had said: if we want to preserve civilization, then people are the most important thing.

By trading supplies, it might be possible to take over this settlement without firing a single shot.

However, the man heard it differently; his expression changed, becoming extremely ugly.

The people next to him were even more agitated, and several of them even raised their guns again, only to be stopped by the man raising his hand.

"Walti, are you going to cooperate with these devils?"

"We've held on for so long just to survive; we can't possibly provide them with live pigs."

Live pig? What's that? It doesn't feel like a good word, Du Jiashi thought to himself.

Xu Rou wondered, why have they suddenly become so agitated? Did they say something wrong just now?

She went over Du Jiashi's words in her mind and realized there was indeed some ambiguity in them, so she added, "What we mean is that we want to establish a community here, which is why we need to recruit some talented people."

The man named Walti looked surprised. "Establish a settlement? Don't you already have your own city?"

"Is she lying to us? We have nothing here, the radiation levels are too high, it's nowhere near as good as the central settlement, why would anyone come here to establish a settlement?"

They didn't believe anyone would do something so thankless and arduous.

Du Jiashi raised his hand. "Wait a minute, what do you mean by 'live pig'?"

Walti and his companions looked at each other strangely. "You don't know what a live pig is?"

Du Jiashi: "Although I know this word, I feel that the meaning you're referring to is different from what I understand it to be."

Walti observed Du Jiashi, Xu Rou, and the others again.

They were of different ages, but two of them looked like very young children.

Their faces still held a hint of childishness, Du Jiashi and the others did not show the numbness and despair of struggling to survive in the apocalypse.

His eyes still shone with hope for life.

What an irony!

Living in such a hopeless world, what kind of idyllic paradise do they inhabit that allows them to be oblivious to the suffering outside?

Walti said in a harsh tone, "Live pig? Isn't that what you people from the central settlement use to describe us lowly, worthless people?"

"They trade some food for a person, and as for what they do with those live pigs, well, as slaves, expendable resources, experimental subjects, or commodities for their own gratification—anything is possible."

"So that's what 'live pigs' means," Du Jiashi thought to himself, then explained, "No, we don't intend to buy you. We genuinely plan to establish a settlement here."

Mi Lan watched the group of kids racking their brains for a way to persuade each other, feeling bored. She tilted her head and said, "Too slow."

Mi Lan snapped his fingers, drawing everyone's attention to him, and then said, "I don't want to waste time with you. If you don't agree... I have a way to make you agree."

Walti's expression darkened. "What do you mean?"

"It means..." Mi Lan snapped her fingers again, "That you have no choice but to agree."

Walti's companion was furious and was about to pull the trigger to warn the other side when he was horrified to find that his body was becoming very strange.

Something was boiling and writhing inside his body. He looked at his arm and saw that the skin on it was bulging with bumps, moving around inside as if countless worms were wriggling inside.

He screamed in terror, "What is this thing?!"

His companions screamed one after another, unable to hold their weapons, which fell to the ground. They were so terrified that they couldn't stand and sat down on the ground.

Mi Lan smiled slightly, "This is... Divine Punishment."

Walti was anxious, but just as he was about to move, he felt an indescribable sensation throughout his body, as if his blood was being controlled by someone.

He thought helplessly: So that's how it is. The other side isn't on the same level as us.

"Please stop! We agree to all your demands, we only beg you to show mercy and not kill us."

Du Jiashi and the other three were stunned. Was this even possible?

Yang Yu's lips twitched. What had they done before? Just thinking about their stupid actions made him want to cover his face.

Yes, they're all Contract Anomalist now, and this mission was unusually unrestricted in terms of ability usage. They actually only thought of verbal communication instead of directly using their abilities to coerce the other party.

Is it due to ingrained thought patterns?

Du Jiashi scratched his face. "Actually, we're not very skilled at controlling the supernatural yet. Luckily, we have Lady Mi Lan here."

They can't control it that precisely yet; they might unleash a strange attack that could wipe out everyone.

It's more than enough to save one's life, but it would be very difficult to achieve the desired coercive effect.

Walti lowered his head and said very respectfully, "My lords from the distant city, what are your orders? We will do whatever is within the power of our White Sand Settlement."

His recent experience taught him that he had no right to resist the other party. Since that was the case, he might as well put aside his pride and perhaps save his life.

For those struggling in the apocalypse, nothing is more important than survival.

"Provide us with detailed information on all the settlements here."

Mi Lan: "Also, I need to know which settlement this group of people comes from."

When Walti saw the photo that Mi Lan had taken out, it showed a group of people wearing combat uniforms with their faces covered.