Zhou Haimei listened, stunned. Though she didn't fully understand, she grasped the severity of the situation as described by Xu An.
It was easy to imagine the lengths to which those addicted, but lacking funds, would go to secure a taste of the meat.
"I hadn't thought that far ahead, but hearing your analysis, I do find it rather frightening."
"If things really spiral out of control, won't this Southern Base be finished?"
Xu An's eyes held an unresolvable sorrow. "I fear those people want more than just money."
Before they could ponder further, Zhou Haimei and Xu An witnessed the scene they least wished to see.
Not far from them, a barbecue stall was suddenly surrounded, as if a disturbance was occurring.
Xu An pulled Zhou Haimei along, pulling the hood of her jacket up and over her head, obscuring her face to prevent recognition.
After all, they had just left the area after causing trouble. If they were to appear here again amidst the crowd,
It would be difficult to avoid being mistaken for troublemakers.
"Boss, please take pity on me, just give me one skewer. I truly want to eat your barbecue."
A raggedly dressed man knelt on the ground. Although he spoke to the proprietress, his gaze was fixed on the barbecued meat.
His clouded eyes were filled with longing and greed.
Xu An's expression darkened; she knew this man was likely already addicted.
At this moment, Zhou Haimei suddenly had an idea.
She leaned close to Xu An's ear and whispered, "An'an, do you think the boss's purchase limit is to prevent people from becoming addicted too quickly?"
Xu An remained silent, but her grim expression conveyed everything.
Meanwhile, Chu Yu, who had returned to the base's enforcement team, was examining the intelligence reports from the past year of his absence.
His brow furrowed as he held the application for the night market's approval.
"The barbecue stall wants the enforcement team to provide them with military support? And night market autonomy?"
His subordinate stood shakily below, looking at the captain who had been away for a year.
The fears he thought he had forgotten, buried deep in his memory, were slowly resurfacing.
How could he forget? Chu Yu was the core of the enforcement team.
The man who could return unscathed from a horde of zombies, alone.
"For the year I was away, is this how Shen Zhi managed the enforcement team?"
"Captain Chu Yu, Captain Shen..."
Before the subordinate could finish, Chu Yu interrupted him.
Chu Yu's voice was like ice that had never melted, carrying a chilling aura.
"Captain Shen? You call him so affectionately. In the year I was gone, have you all forgotten who the enforcement team belongs to? If you have forgotten, I don't mind reminding you all."
"Who is Shen Zhi to me? Does he deserve to be called captain in front of me?"
"It's just a damn barbecue stall, and now they want to carve out their own territory within the base, demanding autonomy, and establishing their own fiefdoms. And you still dare to bring such documents before me."
"What, has life in the base become too good, has your brain rusted over?"
The subordinate stood below, his body trembling, his voice laced with an obvious tremor,
Clearly recalling the fear he had experienced under Chu Yu's command before.
"But, Captain, isn't it just a small barbecue vendor? Why do you care so much about them?"
"These documents were all signed by Captain Shen Zhi... Shen Zhi, and the night market was also promoted by him."
"The owner of that barbecue stall said they are willing to split the profits with our enforcement team fifty-fifty, and even provide free barbecue for the members."
"No matter how you calculate it, we aren't losing anything."
Chu Yu, unable to contain his anger, flung the document directly at his subordinate's face.
His already fair skin showed bulging veins on his neck due to his anger.
"Don't you people have any brains!" He couldn't help but think of Xu An.
He couldn't understand why a woman who was naive and sheltered in an ivory tower like the Lighthouse could see it.
The threat this barbecue stall posed to the Southern Base, yet his subordinates, who had followed him for years, were so brainless and easily manipulated.
"That meat is addictive! You useless fools!"
"Not losing anything! Fifty-fifty?!"
"Fu'an, has the meat you've eaten blocked your brain?"
"Where did that money and resources come from? Wasn't it extorted from the base's citizens?"
"To give you fifty percent, you actually dare to accept it!"
"If public anger erupts, have you ever considered what will happen to the Southern Base?"
"This is the apocalypse, and this Southern Base is merely a sanctuary."
"This is not a palace, and you are not Shen Zhi's insatiably greedy, idiotic eunuch lackeys!"
"If resentment brews, and people overthrow your base, you... and the rest of you, you will be nothing!"
Chu Yu's every word was as sharp as a killing blade,
Cutting into everyone like a knife,
Revealing the bloody truth to those still dreaming.
Fu'an's previously confused eyes suddenly widened in surprise.
"Addictive?"
"Don't you realize that once people become dependent on this, it will be worse than pre-apocalypse drugs, making life unbearable!"
"At that time, you all, no, everyone in the base, will become puppets of this couple, constantly craving that life-saving 'meat,' becoming tools in others' hands!"
A deafening speech left everyone in the office in silence.
Did they truly not know there was something wrong with the meat?
Not exactly.
Every member of the enforcement team had returned with Chu Yu from the border with Myanmar.
They were personally trained by Chu Yu.
Many of them had been responsible for combating bandits and drug dealers before the apocalypse.
Was it because Chu Yu's absence had made them lower their guard?
Or were they all consciously succumbing?
Even after a year and a half, no one wanted to accept that the apocalypse was the current reality.
In the room, everyone except Chu Yu lowered their heads in silence.
Seeing this, Chu Yu's anger only grew.
He even began to question what he had been striving for.
Going to great lengths to infiltrate the Lighthouse, trading his life and future with those calculating and cunning old foxes,
All for the sake of securing a better future for these men.
The brothers he had brought back from the border.
But while he was playing the subservient role outside, trying to curry favor,
His own home was almost being plundered.
After a year, even the common people outside,
Upon seeing him, called him Captain Chu Yu with genuine respect.
Yet these brothers who had shared life and death with him,
In front of him, called someone who had been planted to replace him,
Captain Shen Zhi.
At that moment, Chu Yu felt that his efforts were not worth it.
...
On the other side, Xu An watched the unfolding farce with cold eyes, but it was far from over.