Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 459 - 17 Unpleasant Food

Chapter 459: Chapter 17 Unpleasant Food

The two men who initiated the fight were clearly seasoned brawlers. Their swift and ruthless kick went straight for Gao Yu’s lower body, not holding back in the slightest.

The distance between them was minimal, and though Gao Yu dodged the vital parts, his thigh was struck. He staggered back, only to have a man grab his neck from behind with his right arm and another man threw two punches directly at his face.

Gao Wei despised Gao Yu and did not intervene, standing in place on alert. Tang Zheng and Dantai exchanged a glance, realizing a fight was inevitable. The five remaining men circled around, looking at everyone fiercely.

"Hand over the ammo clip and anything valuable, or we will cripple this kid." To add weight to his threat, Gao Yu’s knee was struck again.

"Damn it." Gao Yu spit out some blood. He had been overwhelmed, but now, back to his senses, he tried to free himself from the man constricting him by hitting him back with his head. The man was ready for it and dodged, squeezing tighter and making Gao Yu flush red.

"Idiot." Dantai cursed, and when Tang Zheng’s foot reached the man in front of him, he also broke some unlucky devil’s nose.

Tang Zheng grabbed the man who seemed to be the leader by his hair, pulling it down and hit him right in the face with his knee. This knocked the man’s teeth out and he fell face down, he then used him as a human shield, swinging him into other people. Chaos erupted at the barrack’s entrance, filled with cries of pain and terror.

An Ping did not fight, protecting his younger brother. Chu Baichuan plunged in like a tiger amidst a flock of sheep, wreaking havoc ceaselessly. If he had a chopper, he would have fit well in a gangster movie.

Phew, Tang Zheng shook off the hair he was holding in his hand and looked at the leader’s balding head. Just as he prepared to question him, Gao Yu, who had broken free, rushed up and without saying a word, started punching him squarely in the chest.

"Enough, don’t kill him." Tang Zheng glanced inside the barracks, those civilians sneaking a peek quickly pretended to be asleep and covered their heads with blankets.

"These guys are the bullies of the barracks, right?" Gao Yu spat on the leader’s face and, unsatisfied, gave him two more kicks.

"Please, spare me." The leading man noticed a familiar patrol team passing by and immediately shouted, "You are in trouble, that’s my friend."

"The first rule of the camp, no causing trouble." The captain came over with a stern face, intending to reprimand them. But a subordinate pulled his arm and whispered something to him. He frowned, glanced at Tang Zheng, kept silent, and left with his team.

"What? Captain..." The leading man was stunned. The camp was under curfew in the evening and he was totally unaware of what Tang Zheng and the group had done. But from the captain’s attitude towards Tang Zheng, he realized he had messed with the wrong people.

"You think we are crazy enough to rob you when we have guns?" Dantai noticed that the group also had chainsaw guns, but they never used them. Even when being beaten, they kept them on their backs without using them, in addition to their confidence in their fists and feet.

"You didn’t know? Are you newcomers to the base?" The leading man looked miserable, it turns out it wasn’t that they didn’t use guns because they knew the camp rules, but they simply looked down on them, "What we wanted was the ammo clip. If anyone fires a gun in the camp, they will be put in solitary confinement."

"Have supplies already become so scarce?" Seeing these guys nod, Tang Zheng was even less optimistic about this game.

"Leave your rifles and ammo clips, and get out." After An Ping had finished, he suddenly exclaimed, "Can I understand what they’re saying now?"

"It must be a hidden mission completion, unlocking a new ability from Trojan." Tang Zheng was not surprised, and went into the barracks. He found six beds, and upon seeing the large shop’s bed cushioned with broken wood boards, he immediately lost his desire to rest on it.

"What a poverty-stricken guy, only twenty bullets, damn, no blanket." Gao Yu pinched his nose, looking miserable, "I’m not staying, sleep tight."

"And there are mosquitos." An Ning slapped a thumb-sized, long-legged mosquito and was startled, "Will we get malaria?"

"Drive them out to bathe, let the wind blow through." Chu Baichuan intended to improve the sanitation of the barracks, but Gao Wei stopped him, "This is a military camp, we should follow the rules."

"Sleep outside." After Tang Zheng’s single command, several men huddled against the exterior wall of the barracks for the night. Then at six in the morning, the military police team came to wake up the civilians and start their day’s work.

Mining stones, repairing the fortress. As this was the last barrier of the human base, the project was enormous. Due to energy exhaustion, many large machines could not be used, so the construction site that stretched for tens of kilometers was full of people, there were about fifty to sixty thousand.

Looking at the defense line of steel and concrete shaped like a huge dragon lying on the ground, Gao Wei sighed a few times, only to be immediately regarded as a bumpkin.

"The more surprising part is underground." A man carrying cement passed by with ten yellow sticks in his hand. They represented his workload and the food he could exchange for. Everyone fiercely protected these sticks. In the morning, Tang Zheng saw dozens of fights, all over the yellow sticks.

"Get to work, or else you won’t even get soup." The foreman overseeing five hundred workers ran over, scolding those who were chatting idly.

"This is even harder than being in black kiln." Gao Yu, who had never experienced such harsh conditions, threw the iron shovel on the ground and sat down, "I quit."

"Intentionally damaging tools, your lunch will be halved, what’s your name?" The foreman took out the work discipline to note down his transgression.

"Quickly apologize, offer him a cigarette or something." A middle-aged man from his team kindly reminded in a low voice.

"Ha, what?" Gao Yu was amused, "I would rather die than to bow down to this guy."

An Ping and his brother, along with Chu Baichuan, didn’t even glance at him while they were desperately shoveling the ground with their iron shovels. They were working hard to earn food for their families.

Tang Zheng and Dantai were also working. After wiping his sweat, Gao Wei felt that since Tang Zheng had not complained, there was no point for him in holding any grudges.

"Then go die. Here, I’m the boss." The foreman glanced at Gao Yu disdainfully, and snorted, "Just a weakling, only good at talk. If you have the guts, go kill the beastman and exchange military achievements for food."

"Where do I sign up?" Chu Baichuan asked while continuing his work,

"I advise you to give up. The civilians who join the army are basically treated as cannon fodder. After all, we can’t compare to the regular army in terms of military quality. It’s not worth it for a little bit of food." The foreman, with a smiling face, walked up to Chu Baichuan, staring at his muscular biceps and attractive back lines. He swallowed, and after blocking the view of others with his body, he touched Chu Baichuan’s butt, "If you want food, you can find me."

Chu Baichuan’s response was a punch on the foreman’s chin. He didn’t say anything but fished out more than a dozen yellow sticks from his pocket and put them in his pocket.

The foreman bit his tongue, and his voice was distorted. But anyone could understand the threatening tone.

"Gay." Gao Yu laughed. What could be more interesting than watching a man being harassed by another man?

"I’m worried about my wife. Given the government’s style of working, pregnant women definitely won’t get any welfare." Chu Baichuan’s face was full of worry. He was wielding the iron shovel with all his might, as if he wanted to vent all his anger. An Ning was only six years old, but she also had to work to earn food.

"Everything will get better." Gao Wei could only rely on these perfunctory words. He felt he could adapt to this kind of life for the time being. But at lunchtime, he realized he was too naive.

There was no cafeteria, just a large pot brought over by a team of chefs. The workers cheered, immediately took out a rice bowl and spoon from the bag hanging around their waist, and rushed over to line up. Chaos ensued as everyone scrambled for a spot, finally calming down under the scolding of the chef.

"Don’t push, there’s enough for everyone." The foreman was helping to maintain order. He didn’t need to fetch his meal because he could eat in the cafeteria.

"What are we gonna do? We can’t just grab it with our hands, right?" Gao Yu was dumbfounded, then fiercely glared at those guys, saying angrily, "These bastards are so indifferent. They didn’t even tell us to prepare bowls."

"They have rental bowls." An Ping pointed to a table. Four civilians were standing there, with dozens of dirty bowls on it. After checking the price, he was taken aback. It actually was equivalent to half a morning’s wages.

"Too expensive? Then go back to the barracks to fetch it. But when you come back, not even the soup will be left." These people clearly know to play this trick. Sometimes, in order to rent out a few more bowls, they even conspire with civilians to steal them.

A dozen unfortunate guys had to grit their teeth and swallow the loss. They hurriedly grabbed the bowls to fetch their meals.

"I can only get two, you take one, Bai Chuan." Tang Zheng took out two meal boxes and handed one to Chu Baichuan. He had a wife and Tang Zheng wanted to help him save some expenditure.

"Profiteers." An Ning reluctantly handed out the yellow sticks, looked at the other party’s face with a smug smile, spat, and complained unhappily.

"Let’s go, get the food." Gao Yu got to the end of the line. But by the time it was his turn, there was still food, but its looks were too unappetizing.

"Even pig food would be better than this." Looking at the greyish soup that had only a few rice grains, Gao Yu frowned. He thought if he ate it, he might get diarrhea.

"Then you can go become a pig, next." The chef stared at Gao Yu and urged him to leave.

"Why is it so much less?" The second pot was boiled cabbage floating with a few specks of oil. It was extremely simple, but because Gao Yu complained, he only got water and two stalks of cabbage, half less than the others.

"Won’t eating shut your mouth? Next."

"Fine, I’ll bear with it." Starving for a day and a half, and doing manual labour for half a day, Gao Yu couldn’t bear the hunger any longer and backed down. Fortunately, the third pot was steamed buns, two for each person. There was no way to deduct from that.

"I must be crazy to eat this stuff." Holding his bowl of rice, Gao Yu was waiting for Tang Zheng and the others to finish their meals. But he found the civilians simply found a spot on the construction site, squatted down and began to eat. For a while, all he could hear was the sound of chewing.

.......

PS, I got stuck, I’m really upset, tears are rolling down my face! (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote, your support is my biggest motivation.)