Apocalyptic Reincarnation: Start with a 30-million Bonus
Chapter 504 - 475: Can I Not Give It to Them? (2/10)

In the crowd, some people saw the departure of Lao Bi and others, and some who were slow to react couldn't get much food. Now, they were angry and began to shout:

"Why? Why can't we take the food? Isn't this food meant to be distributed to everyone?"

"Yes, exactly, why can Fang Tong's team take a whole truckload of food, and we can't even take a little bit without it being a problem?"

"This is unfair, it's so unfair."

"Aren't you supposed to serve the people? How dare you shoot at us?"

Among them, there were two who appeared to be relatives of the ones killed by Lao Bi's gunshots, currently holding the corpses and weeping in agony.

"People have changed, soldiers are killing people! They totally disregard our lives and survival; skin them alive!"

"You keep saying you're doing this for us, yet now you point the guns at us, the weak. My son, your death was so tragic, don't forgive them even in death..."

...

Sounds like these were incessant, profoundly unsettling to Luo and others.

We already told them they would receive their share, why then attempt to snatch it?

Moreover, Xiao Ding and Xiao Liu felt deeply indignant.

They and the captain had gone through so much trouble, even sacrificed so many comrades to get this food, and these people feel entitled to snatch it and then outrageously claim it was supposed to be theirs.

Do they have no shame?

Hence, Xiao Liu and Xiao Ding glared at these people, wishing they could just shoot them with their guns.

Now, they understood why the Big Camphor Tree Base in the far north had such rules, why they wouldn't give food directly to the Survivors.

Without the effort put in, these people's arrogance would only be fostered.

Without the power to suppress, there would be no authority.

If you give people despair first, and then offer minimal help, those people would end up being grateful instead.

A favor for a dollop of rice turns into resentment for a scoop.

Luo stood in front of the crowd, turning back he saw the truck's back door flung open, food spilled everywhere.

There was still some inside, but it looked like about a third had been taken by the crowd.

It hadn't been long at all.

This was just like before the apocalypse, when a freight truck crashed, spilling goods everywhere, and villagers on both sides of the road swarmed to snatch them all.

Human nature, it never changes.

Greed and selfishness always remain the same.

Perhaps for them, 'the law does not account for the multitude' is an ingrained notion.

Luo suddenly closed his eyes, then a few seconds later, opened them.

His gaze was so intense it was as if he could kill someone, staring straight at the people in front of him.

A strong oppressive force bore down on the few hundreds in front.

Those in front dodged Captain Luo's gaze, unable to meet his eye.

Some were guilt-ridden, others held their heads high, but soon their posture crumbled under the glare of Captain Luo.

The noise gradually subsided.

The entire scene quieted down.

Captain Luo stood on higher ground and said to the crowd, "We will distribute food to you, but remember, this is not our obligation; this is the last time we are helping you.

Those who just took food, come forward now and return it. If we catch anyone, they will be executed on the spot!"

His menacing tone made it clear that he was not joking.

In the back of the crowd, someone with a small cart heard Captain Luo and stealthily moved back, trying to leave the area.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out! That person was killed instantly.

Decisive and ruthless, Luo now resembled a merciless god of death.

This lesson made it clear to everyone that they should not have any more frivolous thoughts, these people dared not make any more tricks.

So Luo asked Xiao Ding and Xiao Liu to supervise these people to hand over the food they held, one by one.

Inequality breeds discontent, not scarcity.

Some people grumbled, for earlier, some moved quickly and took several hundred pounds of food using carts.

Now uncertain about how much Luo would distribute, they were somewhat reluctant to hand it over.

But still, Luo had said they would distribute it, so they waited to see how much each person would get.

After waiting a while, with great effort, all the food was finally collected from the people.

This Captain Luo in front of them was indeed capable of killing.

There was also Old Bi just now, the several people lying on the ground were all telling everyone the consequences of disobedience.

But the family and friends of those who were shot to death were staring resentfully at Captain Luo and his team.

It was only they who were robbing, and with so many people robbing, why solely target them.

After the food was collected, Captain Luo looked at this dense crowd.

He couldn't help but feel a bit of pressure.

Nearly seven hundred people, and more than a hundred had just snatched food and fled.

If he didn't distribute the food to these people, it definitely wouldn't work, unless he was prepared to totally disregard Grandpa Ye's teachings and kill all of them.

But with so many people, he couldn't bring himself to kill them all.

Distributing too little would certainly incite a riot.

How much to allocate had become the biggest problem.

Captain Luo couldn't help but think of Li Yu, wondering what Li Yu would do if he were here.

After thinking for a while, he finally gave a bitter smile.

Possibly, with Li Yu's personality, he wouldn't distribute any at all.

As he was trapped in this dilemma, Xiao Shi walked out of the room and came over to say, "Uncle Luo, Grandpa has woken up."

Captain Luo hesitated, somewhat reluctant because based on his understanding of Grandpa Ye, he would undoubtedly serve the people wholeheartedly and would definitely give those folks the most food.

Captain Luo felt these people weren't worth it.

But after hearing that Grandpa Ye had awakened, he still had to go.

He briefed Yi Longfei and followed the guards over.

In the room, Grandpa Ye had woken up, appearing very weak; the news of Fang Tong and Xie Weishan's betrayal had deeply affected him.

Already weak, he now seemed like a flickering candle that could go out at any moment.

"Grandpa Ye." Captain Luo approached, concern in his eyes.

"What, is, the, situation, outside?" Grandpa Ye said slowly, each word with effort, yet his words were still clearly understandable.

Captain Luo thought about it, and chose not to hide the truth, so he told Grandpa Ye about the actual situation outside.

Grandpa Ye blankly stared at the ceiling, the light in his eyes seeming much dimmer.

"Grandpa Ye?" Captain Luo, seeing his appearance, spoke with some worry.

Grandpa Ye always believed that for the sake of the people, the people were the foundation of everything.

Winning the people's hearts could save the world.

As long as unity was maintained, problems could always be resolved.

But alas, since the apocalypse erupted, zombies ravaging, torrential rains, flooded lands, snow disasters, and extreme droughts had all brought tremendous pressure on them.

They had also tried planting crops outside the base, but when the Zombie Tide came, storms followed closely.

The ravages of snow increased the pressures on their planting.

Plus the unpredictability of zombies meant planting required a lot of effort on vigilance.

The extreme drought weather also killed many crops.

Though they had planted, it wasn't completely fruitless, but the ratio of input to output was far from balanced; for a season's worth of rice, they paid with nearly ten lives.

Unexpectedly, food had become the biggest issue in uniting the survivors.

Food issues had also become the biggest obstacle to their survival.

This was not an ordinary apocalypse, this apocalypse not only had zombies but also various natural disasters.

Grandpa Ye's vitality seemed drained; he hadn't expected the betrayal of Fang Tong and Xie Weishan.

He hadn't expected the people's betrayal either—not exactly betrayal, but something close to it.

For a moment, he didn't know which direction the future should take or whether what he was doing was right.

"Grandpa Ye, we only have about two-thirds of a truck of food left now, the rest, I'm afraid, cannot be recovered.

Estimating roughly, there should be about 10 tons left, approximately twenty thousand catties. These are all unhusked rice grains; if processed into rice, it would be even less," Luo said.

Grandpa Ye fell into thought.

Twenty thousand catties, if all distributed, each person outside could only get about 28 catties.

But, it's impossible to distribute it all to them.

Through this issue, he had learned an important lesson: people are a double-edged sword; with many, there is strength, but only with unity can there be strength.

Otherwise, it's just endless conflicts and under constant internal consumption, the less impact they could make.

Having many people also made managing harder, more likely causing conflicts.

"What do you think is appropriate?" Grandpa Ye suddenly looked at Captain Luo, asking.

Captain Luo: .....