《Apocalypse: Starting By Hoarding A Billion Food Additives》 Chapter 1 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio ¡°Hello, everyone. Today is the 24th of March. Welcome to the morning news¡­¡± Who was talking? The noise woke Zhao Feng up from his muddled dream. He opened his tired eyes and looked around at his surroundings in confusion. The clean bedroom, the soft bed, and the warm sunlight that shone in through the window. Everything was like a dream. ¡°Am I dreaming?¡± Zhao Feng got up from the bed and pinched his arm hard. The intense pain made Zhao Feng wide awake. He was not dreaming! The time on the bottom left corner of the TV news program had never been so striking. After a while, Zhao Feng finally accepted the fact that he had been reborn! Twenty years before the apocalypse, half a year later, a solar storm would hit the global ecosystem. The sun had turned the entire world into a purgatory, and the brilliant civilization of mankind that had lasted for thousands of years had been reduced to ashes under the flames of the sun. With the level of human technology, it was impossible to resist the sun¡¯s power. Since then, the world had entered the apocalyptic era, and only a few lucky ones were able to live a good life in the cruel apocalyptic world. Zhao Feng was like most people in the world. He could only struggle to survive and could die in the next second. After confirming that he had indeed been reborn, Zhao Feng quickly sorted out what he had. The memories of the past flooded his mind, and the date on the news program stabbed Zhao Feng¡¯s heart. Three days ago, a piece of bad news came. His parents encountered a plane crash on a flight heading abroad and unfortunately, both of them passed away. Now, he was facing the problem of inheriting his family¡¯s business. The company his parents had worked hard to set up was facing a situation, there was no leader to take over. He had just graduated from college and had not yet established enough prestige in the company. Therefore, a few uncles and relatives who held high positions in the company stood up at this time, and they wanted to fight for the inheritance of the company! Today was the day he would go to the company to attend the board meeting and confirm the new chairman! ¡°Hehe, in my previous life, I almost gave everything I had for the position of the chairman, but I didn¡¯t expect that the apocalypse would come, and all my efforts would be in vain.¡± ¡°Since the heavens have allowed me to live again and coincidentally return to this day, I will definitely not let this opportunity go to waste!¡± ¡°Dad, Mom, I¡¯ll carry your hopes and live well during the apocalypse that will arrive in half a year! After sorting out his mood, Zhao Feng set off lightly to the food company his parents had founded. Maple Leaf Food Group. It was a medium-sized food company in China and had many quality customers abroad. Its annual net profit could reach billions of Yuan. At this time, the atmosphere in the company was slightly depressed. The ordinary employees were idling at their desks. They had just received a notice to suspend all work for the day. All work would be arranged after the new chairman was elected! ¡°Young Master Zhao, you¡¯re finally here. Please come in!¡± The security guard at the door greeted Zhao Feng with a sinister smile. Zhao Feng was too lazy to pay attention to him. He knew that this person could mix with his uncles. Now, many people in the company who were on his uncles¡¯ side were waiting to see him make a fool of himself. ¡°Take me to the meeting room directly.¡± He arrived at the top floor of the building. The chairman¡¯s office was also there, but Zhao Feng had no chance to enter this office again. Zhao Feng had just walked into the meeting room when it suddenly became silent. The few uncles sitting at the table looked at Zhao Feng with a smile as if they were looking at a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. ¡°Xiao Zhao, you¡¯re here. Take a seat, and don¡¯t be nervous.¡± ¡°We all know that the death of Chairman Zhao and his wife was a huge blow to you, but we have to look forward. Don¡¯t be too sad, we¡¯re willing to help you get through anything!¡± Zhao Feng was disgusted by the fake faces of his uncles, but he didn¡¯t show it. If he wanted to have the capital to resist the apocalypse, he had to rely on them to earn his first bucket of gold in his life! After all, when the apocalypse arrived, it would no longer make a difference whether they were rich or poor, and these uncles would probably not last more than a year. The lucky ones might be killed by the sun¡¯s light on the day of the apocalypse, but the unlucky ones would still have to bear the hunger and the torture of war that came after. ¡°Thank you for your understanding. In order not to waste your time, I¡¯ll cut to the chase.¡± When Zhao Feng opened his mouth, all the uncles present were stunned. They felt that Zhao Feng was a little unfamiliar today. ¡°Xiao Feng, are you alright? Was it too much of a mental shock? My condolences.¡± Zhao Ming, an uncle who had a good relationship with Zhao Feng, said. Zhao Feng smiled. ¡°Thank you for your concern, Uncle Ming. I¡¯m in good shape. You¡¯re right. People should always look forward.¡± ¡°I also think that I don¡¯t have the ability and prestige to manage the company, so why don¡¯t we all help each other? I¡¯m willing to give up my position as chairman and hand over the control of the company to everyone!¡± The conference room was in an uproar. Was this still Zhao Feng, who had a tough attitude when he received the news two days ago? Or was there a conspiracy behind this? ¡°You all must think that I¡¯m crazy, but you might as well listen to my conditions first.¡± ¡°According to the law, I have the legal right to inherit the company. So, in exchange for the position of the chairman and the right to control the company, I want you to use one billion to buy all the company shares in my hands!¡± ¡°And it must be paid in cash! After I get the money, I¡¯ll have nothing to do with the company.¡± The meeting room was silent for a long time. Everyone was stunned by Zhao Feng¡¯s courage and the one billion transaction amount. After a while, Zhao Ming asked. ¡°Xiao Feng, are you serious? As long as we¡¯re willing to pay one billion, you¡¯ll be willing to cut off all ties with the company?¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll hand over the goods when I get the money. Anyway, you should have brought the agreement with you today, right? Just change the amount on it and I¡¯ll sign it.¡± ¡°The decision is in your hands.¡± In less than half an hour, when Zhao Feng entered the meeting room again, a revised agreement was already in front of him. ¡°Deal!¡± After signing, Zhao Feng immediately received a transfer notification. The long string of zeros in the text message was not a huge number to Zhao Feng, but a countless amount of resources and the capital he had to survive during the apocalypse! Zhao Feng had just received a huge sum of money and was ready to leave the company. A melodious female voice suddenly sounded in Zhao Feng¡¯s mind. ¡°Ding! Binding black-hearted merchant system in progress. Ding! Binding successful!¡± ¡°Master, congratulations on obtaining a newbie gift bag.¡± ¡°Ding! Master, it has been detected that you have just completed a black-hearted transaction.¡± ¡°Master, congratulations on obtaining the reward of unlimited storage space!¡± Chapter 2 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio The sudden system notification made Zhao Feng freeze on the spot. The black-hearted merchant system? System! Sure enough, the standard of a reincarnated person, the system had appeared! However, what was the use of this black-hearted merchant system? Why does the name sound so unreliable? Besides, he was a good person. Why would he be bound to this system? Did he really have to be a black-hearted merchant? Perhaps the system had detected Zhao Feng¡¯s thoughts and immediately gave him an answer. ¡°Master, the black-hearted merchant system can provide you with all kinds of low-cost food-making recipes.¡± ¡°All of the formulas are extremely advanced in technology. With the current level of human technology, it is impossible to conduct reverse research.¡± ¡°As we all know, all the activities of merchants are to obtain the maximum profit with the lowest cost.¡± ¡°With this system, you will be able to earn a huge profit like what a black-hearted businessman usually receive!¡± Extremely high-tech? It can¡¯t even be reversed? These words did not give Zhao Feng a very direct feeling. He seriously suspected that the system was just boasting. At this time, Zhao Feng suddenly remembered that the system seemed to have mentioned a word. ¡°System, what¡¯s the newbie gift bag?¡± ¡°The host can choose to receive the newbie gift bag and check its contents.¡± ¡°Then, please receive it.¡± ¡°Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the recipe for synthetic streaky pork!¡± ¡°Even if there¡¯s no meat in the ingredients, it can still produce high-grade streaky pork! Fat and lean, rich in nutrition!¡± ¡°The cost is only one-tenth of the streaky pork!¡± Just as Zhao Feng was about to take a look at what the recipe was, a woman¡¯s angry curse brought him back to reality. When he was talking to the system, the flow of time would greatly slow down. Hence, only a few seconds had passed since Zhao Feng received the notification of the transfer. Zhao Feng decided to study the recipe that the system gave him when he got home. One-tenth of the cost was too tempting! This was definitely a huge business opportunity! ¡°How could you do this? You¡¯re unilaterally tearing up the agreement. You¡¯re violating the contract!¡± ¡°You can either continue to fulfill the cooperation agreement with our company, or you can pay a penalty of one million dollars according to the agreement!¡± The beauty was pointing at Zhao Ming¡¯s nose and scolding him. Zhao Ming spread out his hands and said with a helpless look. ¡°What do you mean by that? What do you mean we violate the contract?¡± ¡°I suggest you take a good look at our cooperation agreement. It¡¯s written in black and white that if there¡¯s a problem with the quality of the product, we have the right to terminate the agreement.¡± ¡°And we don¡¯t have to pay any penalty.¡± ¡°Now the whole internet is against the use of food additives, and the products produced by your company use a lot of additives. These products can¡¯t be sold anymore.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m sorry, this is a product quality problem. We don¡¯t need to pay the penalty.¡± ¡°And since yesterday, our cooperation has been terminated. If you continue to be so unreasonable, I can only ask the security guards to escort you out!¡± Zhao Ming¡¯s every word made the beautiful woman unable to refute. She was just one of the many partners of Maple Leaf Food Group. As food additives had caused a strong response in society recently, countless consumers went to the association to report the use of food additives in various products. In order to stop losses in time, Maple Leaf Food company terminated its cooperation with most small and medium-sized suppliers. This woman¡¯s company was one of them! ¡°Boohoo, you, you can¡¯t do this!¡± Facing the dejected beauty, Zhao Ming did not have any fluctuations in his emotions. He had seen many people like these in the past few days. Moreover, as a large company, these small partners were just consumables that could be kicked out at any time. In the end, the woman did not receive any compensation. Before the security guards arrived, she finally gritted her teeth and left the company building. But when she turned around and looked at the magnificent company building, the woman could no longer hold back the grievances in her heart, and a line of tears flowed down from the corner of her eyes. If she went back like this, the company that she had worked so hard to build up would go bankrupt because of the rupture of the capital chain! This was because the products ordered by Maple Leaf Food Group had already been completed by their company! Now, it could only be treated as waste! Just as the woman was feeling hopeless, a gentle voice suddenly sounded in her ear. ¡°Hello, can you tell me what happened?¡± The beautiful woman turned her head and saw a man of similar age looking at her with a smile. She suddenly felt that this person looked familiar as if she had seen him somewhere before. The next moment, the woman¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You, you¡¯re this company¡¯s new chairman? Zhao Feng?¡± Zhao Feng laughed in embarrassment. ¡°Haha, I used to be the chairman, but I¡¯m not anymore. You can treat me as an investor, or a potential partner?¡± ¡°Now, can you tell me what kind of trouble you¡¯ve encountered?¡± The woman told him about the predicament she had been in with complicated feelings. After listening to the story, Zhao Feng was deep in thought. The woman¡¯s company was in urgent need of one million dollars for capital turnover. This amount of money was a small matter to Zhao Feng who already had a huge amount of 1 billion. Food? It just so happened that the recipe provided by the system was synthetic streaky pork. Should he just buy this company? He shall see if the system¡¯s recipe works or not. Thinking of this, Zhao Feng immediately extended his right hand. ¡°Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Zhao Feng.¡± ¡°After hearing your story, I¡¯m very interested in your company. I wonder if you have any intention of working with me?¡± The woman¡¯s eyes widened when she heard this. She had already fallen into despair, but Zhao Feng¡¯s appearance had given her hope. ¡°M-my name is Ding Yao. I¡¯m the general manager of Yaoyao Food.¡± ¡°Your invitation to work with me is too sudden. Can you tell me how you want to work with me?¡± ¡°My company¡¯s capital chain has already broken. If I were you, I would never be interested in my company.¡± Ding Yao laughed at herself. Zhao Feng extended a finger and said in an unquestionable tone. ¡°Miss Ding Yao, please listen carefully. I can immediately pour 10 million in cash into your company, but from now on, the company¡¯s development and food production projects must follow my requirements.¡± ¡°How about it? Exchanging the company¡¯s control for the company¡¯s future, this deal is absolutely fair.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll only give you five minutes to think about it. You have to think about it carefully. Once you miss this opportunity, you won¡¯t get another chance!¡± Chapter 3 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio An investment of 10 million! This was an astronomical figure for a small food processing company that was on the verge of bankruptcy! Not only could she revive the company, but she could also have enough funds to develop new businesses! Compared to this huge sum of money, having control over the company was nothing. Anyway, without this money, the company would be closed down. Why would she care so much? In less than three minutes, Ding Yao made her decision. ¡°Mr. Zhao, I¡¯m willing to accept your proposal!¡± ¡°Then, I hope we can cooperate well!¡± Half an hour later, Ding Yao, who came out of the bank, felt like she had just had a dream. Now that the company¡¯s account had an extra ten million, there was no longer an economic crisis. ¡°Mr. Zhao, from now on, you are the new general manager of Yaoyao Food!¡± When Ding Yao said this, she felt a faint heartache. After all, she was the one who had raised this company. But Zhao Feng shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I have many more important things to do, so I¡¯m only responsible for the general direction of the company¡¯s development. As for the specific operations and management, you¡¯ll still be in charge.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re still the general manager of the company. After all, you¡¯ve poured in a lot of hard work for this company.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s words made Ding Yao¡¯s eyes overflow with tears. How could she not know that Zhao Feng was thinking for her? ¡°Thank you. I, I will definitely do my best in the future!¡± Spending 10 million in exchange for a food processing company and a loyal general manager was definitely a good deal! It didn¡¯t take long for the two of them to arrive at the headquarters of Yaoyao Food. The headquarters was located in one of the small parks in Haicheng¡¯s development zone. The factory in this small park was Ding Yao¡¯s. When it came to business, Ding Yao said with a frown. ¡°Director Zhao, although I¡¯m grateful that you bought my company, I still have to remind you.¡± ¡°The food industry has been in a slump recently, and the trend now is to oppose food additives!¡± ¡°Even if a small amount of food additives is not harmful to the human body, someone is deliberately leading the trend. We are only a manufacturer and have no right to speak on the internet.¡± ¡°Right now, we can only look on helplessly. I hope you can be mentally prepared. The company may continue to lose money in the future.¡± Hearing this, Zhao Feng was not worried at all. He could not wait to try out the recipe provided by the system. ¡°System, extract the synthetic meat recipe!¡± ¡°Ding. Received. Master, the recipe has been delivered to you. Please put your hand into the left pocket of your pants!¡± Zhao Feng reached his hand in and touched it. He didn¡¯t know when it had appeared, but there was a small flash drive inside. ¡°Hiss, this system has some tricks up its sleeve. Is this considered teleportation, or is it energy converting into mass?¡± The system¡¯s ability was beyond Zhao Feng¡¯s imagination. No wonder the system was so confident in its recipe. Zhao Feng handed the USB to Ding Yao. ¡°There¡¯s a recipe for using food additives to produce synthetic meat in the USB drive. Find a few trustworthy employees immediately and produce it according to the recipe!¡± ¡°Food additives, synthetic meat? Director Zhao, how can you do this!¡± ¡°Consumers won¡¯t buy this kind of product. Sooner or later, we¡¯ll lose everything. As the general manager, I ask you to think twice.¡± Zhao Feng shook his head. ¡°Trust me, just do as I say.¡± Seeing that Zhao Feng was so insistent, Ding Yao didn¡¯t say anything more. She suddenly regretted selling the company to Zhao Feng. That afternoon, a piece of fat and lean synthetic meat that looked extremely delicious was successfully produced from the machine. This piece of meat looked no different from the real streaky pork. At first glance, Ding Yao even thought that the employee was lying to her with real meat. Ding Yao was stunned when the staff assured her that it was produced according to the recipe. ¡°This, this is impossible! I¡¯ve seen many brands of synthetic meat. Even if some foreign brands used more advanced technology to make synthetic meat, they can¡¯t have such a texture!¡± Ding Yao reached out and poked the synthetic meat on the metal plate. It was very elastic, and the texture of the meat was very fine. It didn¡¯t look like ordinary synthetic meat at all. It didn¡¯t look fresh at all, and it didn¡¯t have any texture. Zhao Feng was also very surprised by this result. He had just learned the production cost of this piece of meat from the staff. The production cost of a pound of synthetic meat was only about three dollars, but according to the prices in Haicheng, a pound of synthetic meat could be sold for at least thirty dollars! The system did not lie to him! That was ten times the profit! Moreover, if the production process was slightly improved in the future, the cost could continue to be reduced after mass production! The highest profit might even exceed twenty times! ¡°No, there¡¯s definitely something wrong with this meat. Although it looks good, there must be something wrong with it.¡± ¡°People would probably get diarrhea from eating it, right?¡± Ding Yao didn¡¯t want to believe that synthetic meat could be passed off as real. Zhao Feng smiled and said to a staff member beside him. ¡°Where¡¯s the stray dog that I asked you to find? Did you find it?¡± Soon, a stray dog was brought over by an employee. Under the guidance of the staff, the stray dog came to the synthetic meat. Would it have any appetite? Even dogs had no appetite for low-quality synthetic meat. But the next moment, the hungry stray dog took a bite, and juice spilled out. In less than two minutes, a large piece of synthetic meat had disappeared. The dog also lay on the ground happily and wagged its tail to express its gratitude. Ding Yao and many employees were paying attention to this stray dog to see if it had any health problems after eating synthetic meat. In the blink of an eye, the afternoon had passed, but the dog was still full of energy. After eating, it was obviously more energetic than before. Even Ding Yao, who had been extremely unyielding before, had no choice but to believe in the miraculous synthetic meat in front of her. There were no quality and safety issues, and the cost was extremely low. It was even enough to pass off as the real thing! After leaving the factory, Zhao Feng immediately gave instructions for the company¡¯s future arrangements. ¡°Ding Yao, from tomorrow onwards, the company will focus on producing and selling this synthetic meat. I don¡¯t have to worry about marketing, right?¡± Ding Yao patted her chest and promised. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Director Zhao. I¡¯ll do my best to complete the mission!¡± Zhao Feng nodded in satisfaction and lightly patted Ding Yao¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I believe you. It¡¯s getting late, so go back and rest.¡± After saying that, Zhao Feng turned around and left. Little did he know that just as he was strolling and chatting with Ding Yao, a man threw the bouquet in his hand to the ground at the entrance of the park that was not far away from the two. He gritted his teeth and looked at Zhao Feng. Zhao Feng and Ding Yao¡¯s back figures walking side by side appeared extremely intimate in his eyes. ¡°Damn it! How dare he touch Yaoyao! Just wait!¡± Chapter 4 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Zhao Feng invested 10 million dollars had instantly filled Ding Yao¡¯s food processing company with vitality. The employees¡¯ salaries that might have been delayed were immediately paid. Under Zhao Feng¡¯s request, the factory bought a large number of new pieces of equipment and replaced the old assembly line, thus achieving higher production efficiency. Because the food produced in the formula given by the system required a large number of various food additives, under Zhao Feng¡¯s remote control, Ding Yao¡¯s food company began to look for more cooperative manufacturers to purchase various additives in large quantities. These additives only needed to be produced according to the formula given by the system, and they could become food with good color, fragrance, and taste! ¡°Zhao Feng, I know a few suppliers here, but the company has been too busy recently and I can¡¯t leave. Why don¡¯t you go to these suppliers and discuss it in person?¡± ¡°Now that the expansion of the factory is completed, we need more raw materials to support production. Otherwise, we won¡¯t be able to keep up with the production capacity and every machine will be burning money.¡± Seven days after the official cooperation, Ding Yao looked for Zhao Feng and made a request. Zhao Feng also readily agreed. Although Ding Yao was the company¡¯s general manager, he was the real big boss behind the scenes. ¡°Okay, send the information about the suppliers to my phone. I¡¯ll contact them as soon as possible!¡± ¡°Mhm!¡± Just as Zhao Feng was about to visit these suppliers, a trend began to sweep through the entire food industry. There were even a lot of negative comments about his food company on the internet. ¡°Does anyone know about Yaoyao Food? I heard that they use a lot of additives in their food! How did a food company like this survive in the market!¡± ¡°We must strictly boycott this kind of unscrupulous manufacturer! Otherwise, our health will be completely destroyed by these food additives!¡± ¡°Boycott Yaoyao Food! I¡¯ve already made a report to the consumer association. I hope that the relevant departments can take action quickly!¡± Yaoyao Food was originally a small company, but now it had been pushed to the forefront of the storm and caused countless people to discuss it. The social forums were also filled with discussions about Yaoyao Food using large amounts of food additives, and even the term cancer-causing had appeared! The term ¡°cancer-causing¡± was a fatal blow to a food company! However, Zhao Feng was preparing to visit several suppliers at this time and didn¡¯t notice the storm of public opinion on the internet. On Ding Yao¡¯s side, she was already flustered. The sudden pressure of public opinion made her a little overwhelmed. She was only a small boss, not to mention that she was only Zhao Feng¡¯s worker now. She had never experienced such a thing. Ding Yao was forced to register an official company account on the social forum and post the news. ¡°Our company does use food additives in the food production process, but they are absolutely used within the legal and reasonable range!¡± ¡°There¡¯s definitely no problem with the quality. As for the news that it will harm the health of consumers and cause cancer, it¡¯s a completely false accusation!¡± Although the post had been sent out, it had little effect. There were a large number of visible fake reviewers in the comments section, and Ding Yao couldn¡¯t understand why. ¡°Who did I offend? Why are you targeting my company?¡± Ding Yao felt aggrieved and wronged, but she didn¡¯t want to disturb Zhao Feng¡¯s work, so she could only tell him about it after he finished his discussion with the other suppliers. On the other side, Zhao Feng had already arrived at the first supplier¡¯s meeting room and was waiting for the person in charge. A young man wearing glasses pushed the door open and entered. He was probably the person in charge of discussing the cooperation with him. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Zhao Feng. I¡¯m here today on behalf of Yaoyao Food to discuss a collaboration with your company.¡± Zhao Feng very courteously extended his right hand. However, the atmosphere quickly froze, and it became extremely awkward. Zhao Feng¡¯s hand hung in the air. The other party did not hold his hand. The young man sat on his seat and opened the material in his hand. ¡°Mr. Zhao, right? Of course, we welcome Yaoyao Food¡¯s willingness to cooperate with us.¡± ¡°But the premise is that the quality of your products has to be up to standard. But according to what I know, your company¡¯s products seem to use a large number of food additives.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you know how sensitive society is to food additives. I¡¯m sorry, but the quality of your company¡¯s products does not meet our requirements.¡± ¡°Please go back!¡± Zhao Feng didn¡¯t even say a word and the other party directly refused the company¡¯s request for cooperation. Zhao Feng left the supplier¡¯s office building in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s going on? How can he be so sure that our quality is not up to standard?¡± Although he was rejected once, Zhao Feng wasn¡¯t discouraged. There were still a few more suppliers after him. There should be one who was willing to cooperate with his company, right? But the truth was that Zhao Feng had been too na?ve. He had never expected that things would develop in such a difficult way. The suppliers seemed to have contacted each other in advance. Every supplier¡¯s rhetoric and meaning were the same. They replied that the quality of their products wasn¡¯t good, so they might as well not talk about it. There was no chance of cooperation! Zhao Feng had been kicked out 5 ¨C 6 times in a row. Even with his temper that had been tempered in the apocalypse, he could no longer control his inner emotions. Thus, he immediately called Ding Yao to ask about the situation. In the end, he was shocked when he asked. ¡°What? Someone hired ghostwriters to defame our company?¡± ¡°Who did this? Why are they targeting us like this?¡± In the face of Zhao Feng¡¯s questioning, Ding Yao was also at a loss. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯ve already asked someone I know in the industry to help me find out, but I don¡¯t remember offending anyone.¡± ¡°Could it be that your uncles got someone to do it?¡± Ding Yao¡¯s only conflict with others should be the last time she went to Zhao Feng¡¯s food company to ask for compensation. However, Zhao Feng shook his head and denied this conjecture. ¡°No, it shouldn¡¯t be related to this. Our company is too small now, and my uncles are busy fighting for internal power. They definitely don¡¯t have the energy to care about this kind of thing.¡± ¡°There should be someone else behind all this!¡± ¡°I suggest you start your investigation with the people you¡¯re more familiar with. These people are the people who understand our company the best!¡± Hearing this, Ding Yao fell into deep thought. The person around her? Suddenly, a familiar and annoying face appeared in her mind! Chapter 5 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio ¡°Han Feng, are you the one behind the commotion on the internet?¡± After Ding Yao ended the call with Zhao Feng, she immediately dialed Han Feng¡¯s number. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Yaoyao? What happened? Why are you talking to me like that? I didn¡¯t do anything!¡± The man on the other side of the phone was secretly pleased, but he pretended to be innocent. He was one of Ding Yao¡¯s suitors and was once a member of Yaoyao Food. The reason why he left the company later was that he often attacked Ding Yao in public and even affected Ding Yao¡¯s normal work. As a result, Ding Yao had no choice but to fire him. But even so, Han Feng still pestered Ding Yao like a haunting spirit. It was only recently that he had slightly restrained himself and disappeared for some time. ¡°Han Feng, tell me the truth. Did you hire ghostwriters to defame my company? I won¡¯t blame you if you tell me the truth.¡± ¡°At the same time, please understand once again that it¡¯s impossible between us because you¡¯re not my type at all!¡± ¡°So please stop doing such meaningless things!¡± After hearing Han Feng¡¯s words, Ding Yao immediately confirmed that it was definitely this guy¡¯s doing! She was all too familiar with Han Feng¡¯s usual style. Previously, when he was still in the company, he had used this method to gain the trust of many employees, and they thought that the rumors between him and Ding Yao were all Ding Yao¡¯s fault! The other side of the phone was silent for a moment. Suddenly, Han Feng became hysterical. ¡°Why? Why would you rather be lovey-dovey with a man you¡¯ve only known for less than a day than take another look at him?¡± ¡°You¡¯re even suspecting me when something goes wrong? Can¡¯t you just trust me this once?¡± ¡°Yaoyao, I love you. I like you more than anyone else in this world. Just give me a chance and I¡¯ll make you fall in love with me too!¡± Ding Yao helplessly shook her head and said in an impatient tone. ¡°Han Feng, why are you still so stubborn? Forget it, I¡¯ll try my best to solve this problem. Please don¡¯t use this kind of method to attract my attention in the future!¡± After saying that, Ding Yao hung up the phone. This time, she was even more ruthless. She directly blocked all of Han Feng¡¯s contact information. When Han Feng discovered that he could no longer contact Ding Yao no matter what method he used, the expression on his face became even crazier. He began to call the numbers recorded in his contact list one by one. He continued to persuade these manufacturers and raw material suppliers to continue to unite their front and reject Yaoyao Food¡¯s cooperation on the premise of giving them certain benefits! At the same time, Ding Yao told Zhao Feng the whole story. Zhao Feng wasn¡¯t surprised by this result. As expected, someone was secretly targeting Yaoyao Food. ¡°It seems like we can¡¯t get new partners and suppliers for the company through normal channels.¡± ¡°What should we do now?¡± Ding Yao¡¯s tone was flustered. Although the company was Zhao Feng¡¯s, it was still 10 million dollars! She didn¡¯t want such a large sum of money to be lost because of her company! Zhao Feng suddenly smiled and said. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not like there¡¯s no way. After all, it¡¯s already the 21st century. We still have one last way to try!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Live broadcast!¡± ¡°In this day and age, live streaming is the most direct way to attract the public. We can even directly show the factory to the audience.¡± ¡°Also, tell our potential business partners that our factory¡¯s standards are very strict. This way, the rumors on the internet will naturally be dispelled.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s words made Ding Yao fall into deep thought. Live broadcast? Would it really work? But if he didn¡¯t use this method, there seemed to be no other way to solve the problem. ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s do a live broadcast! I¡¯ll contact the factory and get you a few people to form a live broadcast team.¡± ¡°We can also do some publicity in advance to attract more manufacturers to watch our live broadcast!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Two days later, Yaoyao Food¡¯s official account made an announcement. [The live broadcast has been started on the Tease platform. All suppliers who are interested in cooperating with us are welcome to watch the live broadcast and seek cooperation.] Several suppliers sent people to watch the live broadcast that day, and Zhao Feng¡¯s live broadcast was very good. With the new machines, the clean and tidy factory gave people a brand new feeling, which easily left a good impression. The live broadcast lasted for a few hours before it finally ended. Just as Zhao Feng had expected, the more direct way of live broadcasting had attracted a manufacturer. Zhao Feng received a call from this supplier as soon as he got off the stream. ¡°Mr. Zhao, I just watched your live stream and I¡¯m very interested in your company¡¯s products. Can we have a chat in person?¡± ¡°Of course, you can!¡± That afternoon, Zhao Feng made an appointment with the man at his company¡¯s factory. He was ready to personally bring the man around the company. ¡°How is it, Mr. Wang? Our company¡¯s machines are all newly purchased, and we¡¯ve set the strictest standards.¡± ¡°I believe that with these, you should be able to trust our company¡¯s production level, right?¡± The supplier, Mr. Wang, nodded with satisfaction. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s no problem. It seems that the rumors about your company on the internet are indeed false.¡± ¡°Happy cooperation!¡± From the start of the live broadcast to the signing of the contract, it took less than a day, and Yaoyao Food had won its first partner. Moreover, the company that Mr. Wang represented was not small. It could be considered a medium-sized enterprise. With a sufficient supply of raw materials, the equipment in the factory was immediately at full power, running at full speed and producing a large number of products. In addition, Ding Yao knew many friends in the retail industry and had many sales channels. Five days later, Yaoyao Food¡¯s latest products were put on the shelves in all major shopping malls and were officially on sale! From then on, Zhao Feng¡¯s plan to stock up on food production materials in preparation for the apocalypse was finally on the right track! Furthermore, he could use the company to earn more profits by using the war to sustain the war. He could use the money to buy more raw materials! They were to stock up and prepare for the apocalypse! With the support of the system¡¯s high-tech formulas, the synthetic meat produced by Yaoyao Food not only looked very good, but it was cheap and of good quality, and the price was twice as low as the same type of meat! As soon as it was released, it attracted the widespread attention of consumers. At first, some people were worried about the quality of the meat. However, as soon as the first person to eat the crab appeared and proved that there was no problem with the meat, they were all shocked. The sales of the products exploded in an instant. As long as Yaoyao Food¡¯s products were put on the shelves, they would be swept away almost immediately! Chapter 6 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio With the significant increase in sales, Yaoyao Food finally began to turn losses into profits. Under the circumstances of extremely low costs, the profits were extremely high! A piece of synthetic meat that only cost two or three dollars would cost 30 dollars on the shelf! Although the meat might only be sold to the supplier for a price of twenty-something, the profit was close to ten times! Of course, Zhao Feng would never reveal this to anyone. As the saying goes, an ordinary man is innocent, but because of his wealth, he might get into trouble. Such a terrifying profit was enough to make his peers have crooked thoughts! The sales of synthetic meat were extremely hot and booming. The uncles who had kicked Zhao Feng out of the company finally noticed the development of Yaoyao Food. Zhao Ming took the initiative to invite Zhao Feng to the company to discuss important matters because of his good relationship with Zhao Feng. The Zhao Corporation¡¯s headquarters. It was still the familiar meeting room. Last time, Zhao Feng sold all his shares here and gave up his position as chairman in exchange for a huge sum of one billion dollars. In the end, he was kicked out. As for why he had returned, Zhao Feng had his own guesses. It should be related to the recent sales of synthetic meat. Zhao Ming said as he looked at Zhao Feng with a smile. ¡°Xiao Feng, I heard that you¡¯ve started your own company recently. Are you selling meat?¡± Zhao Feng nodded and Zhao Ming suddenly sighed. ¡°Sigh, it¡¯s all our fault. We let you go out and make your own way at such a young age.¡± ¡°You¡¯re still inexperienced. You have one billion in your hands. With so much money, you can do anything. Why do you have to sell meat?¡± ¡°And it¡¯s synthetic meat! Do you know how sensitive society is to this kind of technology?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been through this. I called you here today to give you a piece of advice. You won¡¯t be able to stay in this business for long!¡± ¡°With this one billion, you clearly have a better choice to make!¡± Hearing this, Zhao Feng couldn¡¯t help but laugh in his heart. The fox¡¯s tail had been exposed! Zhao Feng pretended to enjoy it and asked. ¡°Then what should I do?¡± Zhao Ming smiled. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, you can take out a part of this one billion as an investment and let me manage it!¡± ¡°Our Zhao Corporation is a big company with a bigger platform. We¡¯ll definitely be able to grow your money!¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± As expected, this bunch of old foxes had revealed their true intentions! They didn¡¯t call him back because they were related by blood. They were just jealous of the one billion dollars in his hand! Previously, he had exchanged the control of the company for one billion dollars, and now these vampires wanted to eat up the last bit of capital in his hands! No blood relationship could compare to pure benefits! Zhao Feng laughed coldly. ¡°Uncle Ming, we¡¯re pretty close. I believe you know what kind of person I am!¡± ¡°From the moment I was kicked out of the Zhao Corporation, I was no longer a part of it!¡± ¡°As for how I want to spend the 1 billion in my hands, that¡¯s my own business. I don¡¯t want to trouble you, uncles!¡± Everyone in the meeting room was furious. ¡°Zhao Feng, how can you speak to your elders like that?¡± ¡°How can you say such things? We are your elders, your uncles! You can even trust outsiders, but you can¡¯t trust us?¡± ¡°What an ingrate! You don¡¯t understand our good intentions at all!¡± Zhao Feng only smiled at these comments and said indifferently. ¡°That¡¯s enough, everyone. I know better than you whether you¡¯re thinking for me or for the one billion dollars!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll leave my words here. If you¡¯re willing to cooperate with Yaoyao Food, you¡¯re welcome. If you have any other plans, I¡¯ll reject them all!¡± With that, Zhao Feng turned and left the meeting room, not leaving a single cent for these uncles! After Zhao Feng left, everyone in the meeting room had ugly expressions, but they couldn¡¯t do anything to Zhao Feng. No one could understand why Zhao Feng seemed to have changed into a different person after he came to the company to sell his shares that day. As the sales of synthetic meat became more and more popular, the profits generated increased. Those suppliers who had been persuaded by Han Feng to boycott Yaoyao Food because of the momentum finally could not sit still anymore! Whether it was a mall, a factory, or a supplier, they were all businessmen by nature. They were all businessmen who pursued profit! They would naturally flock to anything that could earn more money. These people were very flexible with their bottom lines. Previously, they were willing to join forces to reject Yaoyao Food, mainly because the company was too weak at that time. But now, the situation had reversed. Seeing that the suppliers who had cooperated with Yaoyao Food in the beginning, were also becoming more and more prosperous, they finally took the initiative to approach them, hoping to establish a cooperative relationship. Even though Zhao Feng took this opportunity to propose many cooperation plans that would give him more advantages, these suppliers did not hesitate and immediately agreed to the money! In the negotiations between the two sides, whoever could earn more money would have the final say! With this opportunity, Zhao Feng immediately began to expand the factory. From the beginning, there were only three assembly lines. Now, there were ten assembly lines! Moreover, a batch of old production equipment had been eliminated, and all the machines in the factory were replaced with the latest and most advanced models. The production efficiency had also been greatly improved! Even a fool could tell that Yaoyao Food was going to make a name for itself! Such a scene naturally couldn¡¯t escape the eyes of the Zhao Corporation. Zhao Feng¡¯s words in the conference room still echoed in their ears and slapped them hard in the face. ¡°This ungrateful bastard!¡± ¡°We¡¯re obviously a family, but he still has to do this kind of thing. He¡¯s not coming back even when I want him to. His wings have grown hard!¡± ¡°Hehe, it¡¯s just a food company that has just started to develop. Give him what he can do!¡± ¡°Chairman Zhao, we can¡¯t let this go on. The one billion dollars in this kid¡¯s hands is too important. We have to get these one billion dollars at all costs!¡± ¡°My suggestion is to strike at Yaoyao Food immediately. As long as we let that kid have a taste of failure, he¡¯ll naturally return to the arms of our Zhao Corporation. By then, he¡¯ll know that we¡¯re his best support!¡± Zhao Ming¡¯s expression was uncertain. He knew very well that the people in the meeting room were actually jealous of Yaoyao Food¡¯s profits. At the same time, he could not accept the achievements of a junior like Zhao Feng. A person who was kicked out of the house by him was living a better life than him. This slap was too much! Zhao Ming made his decision quickly. ¡°Go and contact the Commerce Bureau. There¡¯s something fishy about the synthetic meat from Yaoyao Food!¡± Chapter 7 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio A day later, a group of uninvited guests arrived at the factory of Yaoyao Food. These people were wearing uniforms with number tags on their chests. The group of people aggressively entered the factory. The leader of the group stood at the entrance of the factory with his hands behind his back. His subordinates spread out and pushed all the workers who were working normally to the side. He even shouted loudly. ¡°Stop, stop production, and wait for an inspection!¡± ¡°We are from the Food and Drug Administration. Someone has anonymously reported that the food you produce here is of unqualified quality and has excessive use of food additives.¡± ¡°You can only continue production after we¡¯ve checked and passed the inspection!¡± ¡°You can go and get your person in charge now. This is an order from our director!¡± There was an uproar in the factory. They were all members of Yaoyao Food and knew how strict the company¡¯s rules and regulations were. Who would have thought that the company would be forced to close down for rectification because of quality issues? A production team leader walked up and tried to reason with him. ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve already reported all of our products to you before we started production. They¡¯re all produced according to very high standards. How could there be a quality problem?¡± ¡°Is there a mistake?¡± The person in charge glared at him and snorted. ¡°Hehe, just because you say there¡¯s no problem with the quality, does that mean there¡¯s no problem? Follow orders immediately, or do you want us to seal your factory?¡± In the face of such a strong and even somewhat unreasonable official, the production team leader knew that he could not do anything to them. He quickly told everyone to stop their work and said, ¡°You guys stay here. Don¡¯t let anyone touch our production equipment before I come back. I¡¯ll go find Director Ding now!¡± Not long after, Zhao Feng and Ding Yao came together after hearing the news. Why did the people from the Food and Drug Administration suddenly come? The recipe was provided by the system and Zhao Feng had eaten the food produced by the recipe before. There was no problem at all. Moreover, he didn¡¯t know how the system came up with these formulas. After all kinds of food additives and technology were added together, they actually had a wonderful chemical effect. It made the food look and smell good. There¡¯s even enough nutritional value! ¡°I¡¯m the general manager of Yaoyao Food, Ding Yao. What¡¯s going on? There must be a misunderstanding!¡± In front of Ding Yao, the people from the Food and Drug Administration immediately put out a notice. ¡°Did you see that? It¡¯s the signature of our director. From now on, your company will be suspended for rectification. After the investigation is over and the food ingredients are confirmed to be qualified, you can continue production.¡± ¡°What about before the investigation ends?¡± Ding Yao asked anxiously. ¡°Hehe, you are not allowed to do anything before it ends. Otherwise, we will carry out a forceful punishment!¡± ¡°How could you do this? Where¡¯s the evidence?¡± ¡°When the investigation results are out, there will naturally be evidence!¡± ¡°What? You don¡¯t even have any evidence and you want us to stop production? Who will be responsible for the losses caused by the delay in production?¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t our business!¡± After saying these requirements, the people from the Food and Drug Administration didn¡¯t give Zhao Feng and Ding Yao any chance to refute and immediately left. Ding Yao gritted her teeth in anger as she looked at those people¡¯s backs. ¡°Director Zhao, what should we do now? Do you want to continue the production?¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s eyes were slightly solemn as he thought about it and said. ¡°Let¡¯s do as they say for now. The investigation by the Food and Drug Administration this time is too sudden. I suspect there¡¯s something fishy about it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s even possible that we¡¯re being watched! Anyway, just bear with it.¡± ¡°But if we don¡¯t continue production, we¡¯ll be losing money every day¡­¡± ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry. This small amount of money is nothing to me, and this matter won¡¯t be in a deadlock for long!¡± Zhao Feng said with a smile. The news that Yaoyao Food was forced to close down by the Food and Drug Administration for rectification quickly spread on the internet, and it attracted many self-media to forward and spread it. Gradually, more and more netizens began to hear about this matter. People asked around and found out that the cheap meat products that were very popular on the market recently were produced by this company. Since many netizens had already bought these products, people were worried about what they had eaten in the past. Yaoyao Food¡¯s reputation began to deteriorate rapidly. Some people even organized to go to court and ask for compensation from Yaoyao Food! Under the netizens¡¯ joint boycott, the retailers that had previously worked with Yaoyao Food also expressed their intention to terminate their cooperation. They also requested a refund! In just three days, Yaoyao Food had fallen into a situation where everyone spurned it. As a food company, a good reputation was its lifeline. If this situation continued, no matter how much money Zhao Feng had, as long as he invested in Yaoyao Food, he would lose all his money. There was no trace of the Food and Drug Administration¡¯s investigation at all. This once again confirmed Zhao Feng¡¯s guess that someone was deliberately messing with him! In order to calm this storm as soon as possible, Zhao Feng decided to do the opposite! Since those people behind the scenes wanted to use public opinion to destroy Yaoyao Food, he would use public opinion to launch a counterattack! ¡°Ding Yao, arrange a live broadcast room for me in the company. Give me a bag of each of the different specifications of our company¡¯s recent products.¡± ¡°Then, go online and buy some traffic to attract as many people as possible to watch the live broadcast. I want to personally prove that there are no problems with our products in the live broadcast room!¡± ¡°Also, go and find a qualified laboratory for food appraisal near Haicheng. No matter how much it costs, get the test report of our products as soon as possible.¡± ¡°If this continues, it¡¯s definitely what the people behind the Food and Drug Administration want to see!¡± Hearing this, Ding Yao immediately nodded in agreement. Two days later, a live broadcast began under the watch of countless people. Many netizens rushed to the live broadcast room after hearing the news. They wanted to see how the people of Yaoyao Food would prove that their products were healthy. As soon as he entered the live broadcast room, the bullet screen was filled with denouncement. ¡°Return me my health. Unscrupulous companies like yours deserve to go bankrupt!¡± ¡°We must boycott this till the end. Otherwise, how can we guarantee our health?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to see how this live stream guy is going to prove it!¡± Soon, Zhao Feng appeared in the live broadcast. Chapter 8 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio As soon as he went live, Zhao Feng placed the test report that Ding Yao had just taken from the laboratory yesterday in front of the audience. He also introduced the items and their meanings to the audience one by one according to the data given by the laboratory. ¡°Everyone, please take a look. Recently, there have been rumors online that the food additives in our company have exceeded the limit, and we have also used many unhealthy ingredients.¡± ¡°This is an inspection report given by a professional appraisal agency. The various data on it shows that all of our products have met the standards.¡± ¡°Everything on the internet is false. After this live broadcast, I will file a lawsuit against Haicheng Food Administration and demand compensation for the losses our company has suffered during this period!¡± Although Zhao Feng had already taken out the professional appraisal report, the audience in the live stream room did not seem to buy it. This was because the impression that the product was not up to standard had already formed in their minds. Changing it was not something that could be done with just a piece of paper. ¡°You think it¡¯s qualified just because you say so? Who knows if the experts you found are real or fake!¡± ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m laughing. There¡¯s still someone who would believe the words of an expert in this day and age?¡± ¡°Since your food is so healthy, why don¡¯t you eat it yourself? Do you dare to? If you dare to eat it, I¡¯ll believe you!¡± Zhao Feng immediately said after seeing this bullet comment. ¡°Alright, since no one believes me, I¡¯ll eat it in front of everyone!¡± ¡°See that? The packaging in my hand is still sealed. It¡¯s the latest batch of products. If I lie, I¡¯ll be struck by lightning!¡± As he spoke, Zhao Feng picked up a bag of cooked synthetic meat from the side. This product could be eaten immediately, and it was barbecue-flavored, which tasted very good. After Zhao Feng tore open the bag, he grabbed the meat and stuffed it into his mouth. He ate it in big mouthfuls without any psychological burden. Zhao Feng did not lie to the audience. Although the formula given by the system was full of technology, it was still high-tech! There was really no harm to the human body. Moreover, it didn¡¯t matter if he didn¡¯t eat synthetic meat. Once he got addicted to it, even Zhao Feng couldn¡¯t stop. A live stream of proving one¡¯s innocence instantly turned into a live stream of eating. The audience in front of the screen was dumbfounded. ¡°Damn, this guy is really eating! Do you have to be so desperate?¡± ¡°He¡¯s eating so happily, so what he said should be true, right? I don¡¯t think he¡¯s pretending!¡± ¡°He looks so much like me when I eat fried chicken. Now I¡¯m willing to believe what he said!¡± ¡°I¡¯m hungry from watching¡­¡± Due to the excellent effect of the live broadcast, the content of the live broadcast was spread very quickly. In addition, Ding Yao had already contacted various online media, so the live broadcast was quickly forwarded and spread. The videos and photos of Zhao Feng eating in front of the camera had completely convinced many netizens. It didn¡¯t take long for the retailers to put their products back on the shelves and the sales resumed. Not long after the live broadcast ended, Zhao Feng immediately fulfilled his promise and filed a complaint against the Food and Drug Administration in court. Who knew that this complaint would expose the truth of the matter? The Food and Drug Administration said on the spot that this matter had nothing to do with them and that they had sealed up Zhao Feng¡¯s factory because they had received a report from the Zhao Corporation. After hearing the news, Zhao Feng didn¡¯t make things difficult for the people from the Food and Drug Administration. Instead, he requested the Food and Drug Administration to hand over the evidence of the Zhao Corporation¡¯s report to him. Then, he filed a petition to sue the Zhao Corporation in court! Just three days later, as Zhao Feng had prepared sufficient evidence, the court declared Zhao Corporation to have lost the case. According to the professional¡¯s estimation, Zhao Corporation had to compensate Yaoyao Food production company for a total of 500 million dollars in economic and reputation losses! Not only did Zhao Ming and the others fail to cause any losses to Zhao Feng, but they also lost five hundred million dollars! The funds in Zhao Feng¡¯s hands did not decrease but increased instead, from 1 billion to 1.5 billion! With more funds, Zhao Feng was not stingy. If he wanted to hoard more resources before the apocalypse, the amount of money needed would be astronomical. In this era, a billion was not something he could afford to spend. He wanted to earn more money! Naturally, he had to put in some effort. ¡°Ding Yao, I will continue to invest 50 million into the company to expand production!¡± ¡°Our current production efficiency can¡¯t meet the market demand. Finish this work as soon as possible to avoid a shortage!¡± After receiving Zhao Feng¡¯s instructions, Ding Yao immediately threw herself into the work of expanding the company¡¯s scale. Soon, the factory, which originally only had two or three factories, rapidly expanded, and the number of synthetic meat production lines increased to ten! The daily output had doubled compared to before! In addition to the fame that Zhao Feng had gained from winning the lawsuit, the sales of synthetic meat soared. Seven days later, the system¡¯s voice suddenly sounded in Zhao Feng¡¯s mind. ¡°Ding! Master, congratulations on reaching the system¡¯s requirements. You have received a reward, ham sausage formula!¡± ¡°This product only requires a small amount of starch and a variety of food additives, and some trace elements that are beneficial to the human body to produce a good quality, cheap, and nutritious ham sausage.¡± ¡°Master, you can extract this formula at any time for production!¡± ¡°Master, I hope you can walk further and further on the path of a black-hearted merchant!¡± He didn¡¯t know why, but receiving a system reward should have been a happy thing. However, when Zhao Feng heard the system¡¯s last sentence, he felt a little uncomfortable. He was clearly a good person. How could it say that he was a black-hearted merchant? It¡¯s just that the cost is a little low! This recipe was provided by the system, and yet it¡¯s talking to its own master like that? Although Zhao Feng was complaining about the system¡¯s way of speaking in his heart, he still had to quickly take out the recipe and use it. Soon, Zhao Feng arrived at the factory and found the person in charge. He handed the formula that he had just printed to him. ¡°Now, your factory will stop all activities. Modify the machines according to the requirements on this list. This list contains the latest product that our company will be producing next.¡± Everyone in the company knew that Zhao Feng, who did not have any position, was the real big boss of the company, so the person in charge naturally would not delay any further. That afternoon, the first synthetic starch ham sausage was freshly made. Zhao Feng asked as he looked at the ham sausage in his hand. ¡°What¡¯s the cost of this thing?¡± The person in charge seemed to be a little excited. ¡°According to the recipe you provided, if we use the size of a normal ham sausage on the market as the standard, the cost of one ham sausage will only be 40 cents! According to a bag of ten, the cost is only four dollars!¡± ¡°As for this bag of ham sausage, the market price should be between 20 to 25 dollars, which is close to five times the profit!¡± ¡°Director Zhao, where did you get this recipe? The person who invented this formula is a genius¡­¡± Chapter 9 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio After saying that, the person in charge was immediately glared at by Zhao Feng and realized that he had asked too much. ¡°Don¡¯t ask what you shouldn¡¯t ask. From now on, your factory will focus on producing this new product. I will inform Ding Yao.¡± ¡°Yes, Director Zhao!¡± Not long after, while the popularity of the live broadcast and the lawsuit had not passed, Zhao Feng launched the synthetic starch ham sausage to the market as fast as possible. Sure enough, with the reputation that he had built up previously, coupled with Zhao Feng¡¯s intentional lowering of the selling price, this cheap, delicious, and nutritious product immediately won the favor of the market. The market share of Sanhui Ham Sausage, which was previously the most popular and well-known, had fallen sharply. As long as Yaoyao Ham Sausage was placed on the shelves, it would be sold out in the shortest time possible. There was even the phenomenon of consumers hoarding goods. They bought a large number of ham sausages at one time and then sold them online at a higher price! The continuous days of hot sales allowed Zhao Feng¡¯s investment in the company¡¯s expansion to quickly come back. Not only did his money not decrease because of the investment, but it also increased. Now that the money in Zhao Feng¡¯s hands had started to form a virtuous cycle, he did not have to worry about the problem of money not growing money. He could finally purchase food additives and synthetic food ingredients in large quantities from all over the world, and store them in the company¡¯s factory! However, the small park that the company originally owned would not be enough. In order to have greater development potential and more storage space, Zhao Feng set his sights on the luxuriant land in the development zone. Soon, Zhao Feng bought a large piece of land around the Yaoyao Food company. He would build this area into an industrial park and storage area that belonged to his company. A portion of the area was used to build houses and provide living space for the apocalypse! Starting to sell more products while beginning to hoard resources in preparation for the apocalypse! Due to the high-cost performance of Yaoyao Food¡¯s synthetic meat and synthetic starch ham sausages, more and more people began to choose cheaper products. As a result, their market share rose rapidly, and many food manufacturers in the same industry either closed down, were forced to transform, or develop overseas markets. From the time Zhao Feng started producing synthetic meat, it only took about a month for the two products to break through 50% of the market share! Yaoyao Food was finally no longer the small, unknown company it was before. Ding Yao was full of admiration for Zhao Feng¡¯s great success in such a short time. ¡°Director Zhao, you¡¯re really amazing. I¡¯ve even looked at those recipes with professionals before, but no one knew the theory behind them!¡± ¡°This is really unbelievable. A bunch of completely unrelated raw materials and food additives combined together can actually produce such a good product!¡± ¡°You¡¯re a genius!¡± During another dinner, Ding Yao didn¡¯t hide her admiration for Zhao Feng, and her eyes seemed to have little stars shining. Zhao Feng was a little embarrassed by the praise. After all, the recipe was given to him by the system. ¡°Haha, it¡¯s alright. I can¡¯t be considered a genius.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re the one who started this company.¡± After getting Zhao Feng¡¯s praise, Ding Yao laughed happily and suddenly looked at Zhao Feng. The two¡¯s eyes met, and both had a feeling of wanting to say something but stopped. An indescribable atmosphere suddenly wrapped the two of them. Even the atmosphere at the dining table started to become a little ambiguous. Cough cough. Zhao Feng took the lead to shift his gaze away as he spoke with some embarrassment. ¡°Let¡¯s eat first. We still have a lot of work to do in the future. Now that we¡¯re emerging in the industry, I¡¯m afraid that sooner or later, we¡¯ll attract the collective target of our competitors!¡± ¡°We have to strengthen our force before all of this come. Otherwise, all our efforts might be wasted on these people!¡± Zhao Feng brought the topic back to work. Of course, he could tell what kind of emotion was contained in Ding Yao¡¯s eyes when she looked at him just now. However, at this moment, he was carrying the huge secret of the apocalypse on his shoulders. Even though he didn¡¯t show it normally, Zhao Feng¡¯s psychological pressure was extremely great. In this second life, he didn¡¯t want to go through what he did in his previous life, doing nothing and only being the bottom of the survivors, living a miserable life in this world! He wanted to change his fate completely! Therefore, things like feelings were still too extravagant for him, who was about to face his doomsday! Not a single second before the apocalypse could be wasted! The construction of the industrial park was completed ten days later, and almost half of the area was divided into storage areas! In addition, Zhao Feng had already placed orders from all over the world. In the past few days, a large number of goods had been transported to the warehouse. After being dried and disinfected, the total stock had reached hundreds of thousands of tons! Zhao Feng finally had the capital to survive after the apocalypse. However, this was far from enough! As time passed, the market sales of the synthetic starch sausage finally met the system¡¯s requirements. On this day, the system¡¯s voice sounded again. Zhao Feng¡¯s spirit was lifted. He knew that there was going to be a new reward! ¡°Ding! Master, congratulations on reaching the required number of synthesized ham sausages. You have received a system reward: a milk tea powder recipe!¡± ¡°Master, you can retrieve the formula at any time!¡± This time, the system spoke less. Zhao Feng could not wait to extract the formula and gave it a rough glance. In the end, he was shocked! Even Zhao Feng himself was shocked by the formula of the milk tea! ¡°What the f*ck? You can make milk tea with this?¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t I find the word ¡®milk¡¯ in this formula? Is a single drop of milk not even added? It¡¯s all about technology and hard work?¡± ¡°The recipe given by the system is too ruthless!¡± After recovering from his shock, Zhao Feng suddenly realized that the system¡¯s style had always been like this. The previously synthesized meat and ham sausages didn¡¯t have any meat at all, and the ham sausages even used very little starch! Thinking about it this way, Zhao Feng was relieved. Then, he immediately called over the person in charge of a newly built factory and threw the formula to him. ¡°I don¡¯t think your factory has purchased any machines yet, right?¡± ¡°Yes, Director Zhao. We are preparing to introduce a batch of ham sausage production machines according to the standard.¡± Zhao Feng pointed at the formula on the table and said. ¡°No need. Go and purchase the machines according to the requirements of this formula. This is our company¡¯s latest milk tea product. I need you to produce the sample as soon as possible and then calculate the cost and profit.¡± ¡°Yes, Director Zhao!¡± Chapter 10 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio The milk tea was soon launched on the market. With Yaoyao Food¡¯s brand completely established, every new product would immediately be favored by consumers as soon as it was launched. The milk tea was the same this time. It had only been on the market for half a day, but the stock of the milk tea had been sold out. Many retailers had even come to order future products. The reserved date was one month later! In less than a week, Zhao Feng had already taken over half of the milk tea industry in Lihe. Countless milk tea powder manufacturers wanted to cry but had no tears. Compared to Yaoyao Food, they had no advantage in terms of cost or quality! The milk tea introduced by Zhao Feng not only had a variety of flavors, but it also had excellent taste. Even Zhao Feng himself had fallen in love with the system¡¯s products. As the saying goes, the tallest tree in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. Zhao Feng¡¯s limelight was too great, and it finally aroused the anger of some milk tea industry practitioners. ¡°Director Zhao, something bad happened! Thousands of milk tea shops all over the country have jointly sued us in court. Some people even reported us to the quality control administration, hoping that they can conduct a thorough investigation of our products!¡± ¡°There are even milk tea manufacturers that have developed sales strategies specifically to go against us, forbidding milk tea shops from selling our products.¡± ¡°Right now, many retailers that have good relations with us are starting to observe the situation. We need to calm this storm down!¡± ¡°Otherwise, all the resources invested in marketing would be wasted!¡± Ding Yao found Zhao Feng and hurriedly told him what had happened not long ago. Hearing these words, Zhao Feng couldn¡¯t help but think in his heart. Thousands of milk tea shop owners reported him together? This was really something he had seen after living for a long time. It seemed that he had really forced them into a corner. Although the situation seemed very tense, Zhao Feng was actually not worried at all. As long as the quality was good, no matter how many voices of doubt there were from the outside world, it would not have any impact on him! ¡°Let¡¯s arrange for the public relations department to make an announcement first. We have to comfort the fans of our product and stabilize their confidence.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the others. Continue to sell the milk tea as usual. It won¡¯t be long before the limelight passes.¡± Ding Yao nodded and immediately left to deal with the matter according to Zhao Feng¡¯s instructions. But very quickly, Zhao Feng realized that he had been too naive. With these milk tea industry people taking the lead and coming out to target him. Some of the bosses in the meat industry had also made a comeback and joined the milk tea shop owners to deal with Yaoyao Food! Almost overnight, the internet was filled with all kinds of negative comments about Yaoyao Food, as well as so-called scandals. Although most of this information was deliberately fabricated by the ghostwriters and was fake, as long as one person believed these words, the purpose of the ghostwriters would be achieved. ¡°Our food industry can¡¯t be dominated by a company like Yaoyao Food that uses additives without restraint!¡± ¡°Yaoyao Food company must withdraw from the food industry immediately! Otherwise, the future of Lihe¡¯s food industry will be dark!¡± ¡°Reject the use of food additives. Investigate Yaoyao Food¡¯s product formulas thoroughly!¡± ¡°This is too much. A company wants to monopolize the entire food industry in Lihe. There must be something fishy going on!¡± More and more voices began to denounce Yaoyao Food on the internet. In addition to the ghostwriters, many passers-by who had been driven by the momentum also joined the fray. As public opinion became more and more intense, Zhao Feng knew that he could not continue to let the momentum continue to ferment. He had to use an effective method to clear up all the misunderstandings! ¡°Ding Yao, quickly send someone to find the company that tested our synthetic meat last time and bring a sample of each of our products for testing.¡± ¡°Record the entire process. After you¡¯re done, look for post-production to do some editing. Then, post the video directly on our company¡¯s official account!¡± ¡°Also, find more popular online streamers or food streamers. Use their influence to make people feel assured about our food!¡± Zhao Feng gave out many orders in one breath. Ding Yao was no longer a small supplier. Although things seemed very complicated, she still managed them in an orderly manner. Soon, a video appeared under the official account of Yaoyao Food. The video¡¯s number of views quickly exceeded one million. Yaoyao Food¡¯s current popularity was too great. In addition to the traffic attracted by this trend, it had become almost known to everyone. ¡°Does anyone know the DNA testing agency in the video? Could it be fake?¡± ¡°New York Food Appraisal? I think I¡¯ve heard of this company before. Their laboratory is the most advanced in the country. Many exported products go to them for identification. It can¡¯t be fake, right?¡± ¡°How can this appraisal form be faked? If it¡¯s fake and the people of New York see it, wouldn¡¯t they be exposed?¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying that the rumors about Yaoyao Food online are all baseless?¡± ¡°Who did Yaoyao Food offend? This is too bad!¡± With the release of the clarification video, the direction of public opinion began to change. Netizens¡¯ positions and attitudes were the easiest to change. They would only believe what they saw. However, those whose interests had been affected by Zhao Feng were clearly not willing to admit defeat. Very quickly, someone posted on the internet in the name of public health, requesting Yaoyao Food to publish the ingredients list and the production process of the product! Moreover, the production process of the food would be recorded and uploaded to the internet for netizens to supervise! Of course, Zhao Feng would not agree to such an excessive request. These ingredients were all the system¡¯s black technology. Zhao Feng was not that generous. ¡°Refuse! These ingredients and production methods are all internal secrets of Yaoyao Food! That¡¯s why we will never announce it.¡± ¡°Some people can¡¯t bear to see others make money, and they can¡¯t bear to see others use better products to gain market share. So, they can only use some underhanded means to cause trouble.¡± ¡°Yaoyao Food solemnly promises that we will never use any raw materials that are harmful to the human body, and the products we produce will never be junk food!¡± ¡°Once a product that doesn¡¯t meet the standards appears on the market, our company will compensate you 100 times for the fake product. Please rest assured, consumers!¡± Yaoyao Food¡¯s firm attitude received a lot of praise from the netizens. In addition, they had previously published the food safety evaluation report. All the rumors on the internet were quickly dispelled because Zhao Feng¡¯s product had no problems, to begin with. Moreover, after this battle, the story of Yaoyao Food¡¯s victory over ten thousand people was widely spread. Those factories that were envious of Zhao Feng had instead given Yaoyao Food a free wave of traffic! Chapter 11 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio It was getting closer and closer to the apocalypse, even though Zhao Feng usually put most of his energy into work and earning money, he would still spend some time every day searching for news related to the apocalypse. Even though the apocalypse had come so suddenly in his previous life, Zhao Feng believed that it was only because he was an ordinary person. The apocalypse couldn¡¯t appear without any warning! Finally, one morning when Zhao Feng was about to head to the company for work, he was suddenly attracted by a piece of news that was being reported on the news channel. A huge fireball was displayed on the screen. This fireball was the source of life on this planet, the sun. The news broadcaster¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°Recently, a solar research institute in Japan has announced the latest research results!¡± ¡°According to the prediction of the scientists at the research institute, solar activity is entering a new cycle, and a super solar storm is expected to break out in the next six months.¡± ¡°This might be the strongest solar storm ever observed since human written records were created!¡± Then, the news broadcaster casually talked about some popular science knowledge about the nature of the solar storm and what kind of results it would cause. When Zhao Feng heard the news, he could not take his eyes off the television. ¡°This is the news! It turns out that someone had already predicted the appearance of a solar storm a few months ago!¡± ¡°Hehe, it¡¯s a pity that no one in this world believed that the storm would be so violent that it would almost destroy the planet!¡± Zhao Feng turned on his phone and opened the forum. Sure enough, the news of a solar storm was at the top of the search list, and many netizens were discussing it in the comments section. However, Zhao Feng shook his head in disappointment after reading a few comments. Everyone thought that the solar storm would at most interfere with global communication or slightly affect the weather. There were many students from related majors discussing this matter in the comments section, but they also felt that there was no need to worry about the solar storm. But Zhao Feng was very clear that the apocalypse had begun with this solar storm. The terrifying energy from the sun had broken through the protective threshold of the Earth¡¯s magnetic field. High temperatures, radiation, and rays that could be considered fatal to living things directly penetrated the atmosphere and shone on the earth. Many people had already passed away on the first day of the apocalypse, and some people couldn¡¯t bear the cruel living conditions after the apocalypse. The people in this era were like flowers in a greenhouse, bright and fragile. Other than the short-term damage caused by the solar storm. As the storm almost destroyed the entire biosphere, after the situation stabilized, the surviving human beings soon faced a great famine. This famine spread all over the world. Whether it was the transition between rich and poor before the apocalypse, there was no longer a distinction between the poor and the rich. Most people had to endure the torture of hunger. And hunger was also the biggest cause of global population reduction! ¡°The signs of the apocalypse are starting to show. It seems like I have to hurry up with my plan!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if my rebirth will affect the time of the apocalypse! I have to complete all the preparations as soon as possible!¡± Zhao Feng turned off the TV and was ready to go to the company. He had already made up his mind to hasten the speed of hoarding supplies and take out more funds to buy them. They would further expand the scale of the Yaoyao Industrial Park and start the underground project at the same time! Hiding underground was the best way to avoid the solar storm of the apocalypse! Half an hour later, Zhao Feng arrived at the company. He immediately found Ding Yao and called for an emergency meeting with all the company¡¯s top management. Even if someone was not in the company right now, they had to rush to the meeting immediately! Soon, all the senior executives of Yaoyao Food were seated in the meeting room, even though they were somewhat dissatisfied and puzzled by the sudden meeting. However, Zhao Feng was the big boss, so no one would reveal their dissatisfied emotions openly. ¡°Director Zhao, everyone¡¯s basically here. You can tell us what you want to say!¡± Ding Yao said to Zhao Feng as she scanned the entire place. Zhao Feng nodded and talked about the expansion plan he had conceived on his way to the company. ¡°In the next month, our industrial park must at least double in size!¡± ¡°Increase production efficiency by two times!¡± ¡°At the same time, in order to make better use of the limited space, we must start to develop the underground part of the industrial park to make it more three-dimensional!¡± After hearing the plan, everyone frowned as they looked at the area of the new park that Zhao Feng had drawn on the map. Someone quickly objected. ¡°Director Zhao, is our current production still not enough to meet the market demand?¡± ¡°Our production is increasing every day. Compared to half a month ago, the production efficiency of synthetic meat has increased by 50%, and the production efficiency of milk tea powder has doubled. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± ¡°Although I understand that you¡¯re eager to expand the company¡¯s scale, isn¡¯t this too big a step? If anything happens, I¡¯m afraid our company will suffer a huge loss!¡± The sales director¡¯s opinion was approved by many people. ¡°That¡¯s right, Director Zhao. Our company has just started to develop. It¡¯s better to be safe.¡± ¡°Director Zhao, please reconsider!¡± The opposition of the people was also within Zhao Feng¡¯s expectations. It would be strange if no one objected. However, Zhao Feng just smiled. He did not plan to discuss this with his employees in this meeting. He was merely informing them of his decision! Zhao Feng had 100% control of the company, and no one could interfere with his decision! Zhao Feng said indifferently. ¡°I¡¯ve already made up my mind. What I said just now was actually just a part of my future plan!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry too much about this. I¡¯ll continue to increase my investment in the company to ensure that my cash flow is healthy.¡± ¡°This matter is settled. Meeting adjourned.¡± The moment Zhao Feng finished speaking, the entire place was in an uproar. No one would have thought that Zhao Feng would use such a dictatorial method to decide the future development of the company. Since Zhao Feng didn¡¯t have any position in the company, most of the things were handled by Ding Yao. Therefore, many people in the company did not have much respect for Zhao Feng. Today, Zhao Feng¡¯s attitude suddenly became so tough that many people were not used to it. ¡°Director Zhao, this isn¡¯t good, is it? Everyone¡¯s suggestions are for the company¡¯s sake!¡± ¡°Yeah, you can¡¯t disappoint everyone!¡± Chapter 12 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio ¡°I¡¯m the boss of this company. I¡¯ve already made it clear just now. This matter is settled. Ding Yao, let¡¯s disperse the meeting.¡± Zhao Feng left after saying that. The meeting room instantly exploded. Ding Yao¡¯s heart was feeling a little complicated at this time. She didn¡¯t know why, but she suddenly had a very strange feeling. She felt like there was a huge mountain on Zhao Feng¡¯s body! Moreover, this mountain could completely crush him to death at any time, and he would be beyond redemption. That was why Zhao Feng ran forward with all his might to avoid the pressure of the mountain. However, Zhao Feng was already very successful, so why was he still under so much pressure? Ding Yao couldn¡¯t understand. Although many of Yaoyao Food¡¯s senior executives were against Zhao Feng¡¯s plan to expand the industrial park¡¯s scale, Zhao Feng was the biggest shareholder in the company, and he had the final say. This plan was soon pushed forward. Some of the companies near the park had the same thought when they heard about Yaoyao Food¡¯s recent actions. The boss of this company must be crazy! If this plan was completed, the industrial park area owned by Yaoyao Food would be far larger than that of a food manufacturing company. The area of this industrial park was even comparable to that of a small city. Just as the expansion plan of the industrial park was in full swing, Zhao Feng¡¯s milk tea sales finally reached the system¡¯s target. ¡°Ding! Master, congratulations on selling a large amount of milk tea. You have achieved your goal. You have received a reward, a new formula of Sanhua Evaporated Milk!¡± ¡°With just a spoonful of the Sanhua Evaporated Milk, you can let people taste the authentic soup stock! It¡¯s rich and fragrant, and the taste is great!¡± After hearing the system¡¯s explanation, Zhao Feng¡¯s first reaction was that it was impossible! What was soup stock? That would take time to boil! Even if the ingredient was good, it would be useless if there wasn¡¯t enough time! Could it be that the system¡¯s recipe was able to extract the flavor from the stock that required time to boil? Even though the system had proven its strength many times, Zhao Feng still had his reservations this time. Soon, Zhao Feng printed out the formula given by the system and threw it to the person in charge of a new factory. He asked the factory to produce the soup stock according to the formula as soon as possible! Just three days later, a gel-like object was placed on Zhao Feng¡¯s desk by the person in charge. ¡°Director Zhao, this is the soup stock that was produced according to your requirements. Are you sure you want to use this to make soup?¡± ¡°Although this thing is called soup stock, nothing related to stock was used in the production process. Do you want me to find someone to help you try it?¡± Zhao Feng shook his head and said. ¡°No need, just get me a bowl.¡± After a while, under the gaze of the person in charge, Zhao Feng threw the soup stock into the bowl and poured a bowl of hot water into it. Suddenly, the two of them opened their eyes wide. Zhao Feng¡¯s nose twitched, and his eyes were filled with disbelief. ¡°How is that possible? This smell is so strong¡­¡± Zhao Feng impatiently picked up the bowl and took a small sip. ¡°What the f*ck? It¡¯s so hot!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, system. I shouldn¡¯t have underestimated you!¡± Zhao Feng silently apologized to the system in his heart. The recipe given by the system was too powerful. If the person in charge of manufacturing this soup stock wasn¡¯t standing in front of him, Zhao Feng believed that he would have thought that this soup stock had been made from real soup stock. However, Zhao Feng was very clear that there was nothing that seemed reliable in the list of ingredients given by the system! ¡°What¡¯s the cost and profit of this thing?¡± The person in charge thought for a moment and replied. ¡°Considering the price of soup stocks on the market, a box of soup stock can be set between 20 and 30 dollars. As for the cost, it¡¯s only one or two dollars.¡± The person in charge was a little embarrassed to say it out loud. This profit rate was too terrifying! This was the highest profit margin of thirty times! After hearing this, Zhao Feng immediately made a decision. ¡°Okay, from now on, you¡¯re in charge of all the factories in your park. I want you to build the production equipment in the shortest time possible.¡± ¡°Then, apply for a patent for our soup stock. We have to hit the market as soon as possible!¡± ¡°Yes, Director Zhao!¡± In less than a week, Yaoyao Food¡¯s new product, Mutton Giblets Soup Stock, appeared on supermarket shelves of all sizes. This product could be seen everywhere, ranging from supermarkets to convenience stores. Now, Yaoyao Food¡¯s products had become the most popular among all the retail outlets. Many retailers were also trying their best to sign a cooperation agreement with Yaoyao Food. Moreover, the companies that he had worked with before had all become rich! As soon as the Mutton Giblets Soup Stock was launched, it attracted many consumers to buy it. In the end, that night, the discussion of the Yaoyao Mutton Giblets Soup Stock had already broken through the sky. Almost everyone was expressing their shock on the internet. ¡°My God, Yaoyao Food¡¯s latest Mutton Giblets Soup Stock is so good! It¡¯s even more authentic than the old mutton giblets soup shops in my hometown!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. At first, I just wanted to try it. Who knew that after just one sip, I couldn¡¯t stop drinking bowl after bowl!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. What is this soup stock made of? I saw a lot of stuff that I don¡¯t understand in the ingredients list. How did they make it?¡± ¡°This should be a trade secret of Yaoyao Food. I think it¡¯s some kind of ancestral secret!¡± The instant the Yaoyao soup stock exploded in popularity, this new product quickly dominated a large portion of the market. Many of the companies that had been producing soup stocks were now in danger, and their sales had plummeted. The crisis even affected the companies that produced instant noodles. For example, the sales of Master Kang instant noodles had dropped by at least five percent! There was also a huge drop in sales for the Black Elephant instant noodles, which had always been known for its fresh soup! After all, Yaoyao¡¯s soup stock was so delicious that many people just used it to cook noodles, so there was no need to buy instant noodles. Countless companies were worried about how to fight against Yaoyao Food and re-expand their market share. It was to the extent that a strange phenomenon appeared. Some companies would set up a special department with only one responsibility. That was to study which industry Yaoyao Food would enter next! Which field would their new product be in? After the research results were out, the company would avoid this field as much as possible to avoid clashing with Yaoyao Food. The emergence of this phenomenon was also helpless for these companies. Now, no company had enough confidence to compete with Yaoyao Food. Since they couldn¡¯t win, they could only try to avoid it. Unknowingly, Zhao Feng¡¯s company had become a demon king in the food industry! Chapter 13 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Although this time the sales of Sanhua Evaporated Milk had been so successful that many people in the food industry were envious and jealous, no one was able to organize an attack like before this time. Thousands of people in the milk tea industry joined forces, but they had not been able to punish Zhao Feng. Moreover, Zhao Feng used his excellent quality to slap everyone in the face. It would be foolish to find trouble with Zhao Feng at this time! Even if some people wanted to use the finished product of Sanhua Evaporated Milk to reverse-engineer it and find the production method of this product through research, the formula given by the system could not be derived with the current technology at all, and the proportion of various raw materials to be added was extremely demanding. A slight difference could lead to a thousand miles of loss. It was possible that if a certain ingredient was added 0.1 milligrams more than Zhao Feng¡¯s recipe, it would lead to the failure of the imitation! With the newly launched Sanhua Evaporated Milk, Yaoyao Food once again gained huge profits, and a few small goals were easily achieved. ¡°Ding, Master, congratulations on completing the sales target of Sanhua Evaporated Milk. You have received the system reward, the snowflake beef formula.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve also received an additional reward: an underground city. Master, you can choose any location as the location of the underground city. It cannot be changed after confirmation.¡± ¡°A gentle reminder: the construction of the underground city will take some time. Master, please do your own confidentiality work to prevent the secrets of the system from being leaked.¡± Zhao Feng was stunned when he suddenly received a system notification. The new product¡¯s recipe didn¡¯t surprise Zhao Feng, but this time, the system rewarded him with an underground city! ¡°Do you have a blueprint of the underground city? I¡¯m going to choose the construction site according to the blueprint!¡± ¡°Yes, Master!¡± Zhao Feng immediately went to his office and placed the blueprint given by the system on his desk. There was a circular underground city on the blueprint, and the radius of the entire underground city was close to one kilometer! The area had even completely exceeded the area of the technology park of Yaoyao Food. According to the blueprint, the underground city had a complete set of facilities that could perfectly meet the various living requirements after the apocalypse. It would definitely provide sufficient shelter for the survivors. This underground city was extremely sturdy. It was no longer a city but a Garden of Eden for the apocalypse! ¡°It seems like the system will reward me based on the time until the apocalypse. I wonder if there are any other underground city-like items in the future.¡± Thinking up to this point, Zhao Feng could not help but be filled with anticipation for the rewards that he would be able to obtain in the future. He was also amazed by the rich and overbearing system. Zhao Feng immediately went to the park. He wanted to carefully observe his company¡¯s technology park and see where he should start building the underground city. It also had to be hidden enough so that it would not be discovered! After almost a day of inspection, Zhao Feng finally chose a good location and decided to start building the underground city from the southeast corner of the park. This was an area that the company had just bought. There were no factories or equipment in it, so there were naturally not many people. This way, even if the system created some noise during the construction of the underground city, as long as there was no one inside, it would not be discovered. Zhao Feng immediately returned to the company and issued an internal order. He circled out a piece of land and forbade anyone from entering on the grounds of the company¡¯s confidentiality! Zhao Feng then went to the interior of the forbidden zone and called out to the system. ¡°System, let¡¯s start building the underground city from here. It will cover the entire area from the southeast to the northwest.¡± ¡°Roger that. The construction of the underground city will begin immediately. Please wait patiently, Master. It will take some time to complete the construction of the city!¡± Although the underground city was a surprise, it satisfied all of Zhao Feng¡¯s requirements for the apocalypse survival base. Moreover, many of Zhao Feng¡¯s plans to build underground facilities could be called off, which would undoubtedly save him a lot of money. The next day, Zhao Feng announced the production plan for snowflake beef and the plan to go public at the company¡¯s internal meeting. During the meeting, Ding Yao and the supervisor of the sales department discussed a joint sales plan. ¡°Director Zhao, I think that snowflake beef is very similar to our previous Sanhua Evaporated Milk. We can definitely bundle these two products together!¡± ¡°To create a product similar to hotpot, using the Sanhua Evaporated Milk to make a simple soup stock, and pairing it with the cheap snowflake beef, it will definitely become the first dining choice for countless consumers!¡± ¡°People no longer need to go to a hotpot restaurant to eat hotpot that costs hundreds of dollars per person, and they no longer need to feel the pain of eating a plate of mutton or beef!¡± ¡°With some promotion plans, the price will be lower, and the price-performance ratio will be higher. It will definitely be popular!¡± Zhao Feng pondered for a moment and immediately agreed to this plan. After that, Zhao Feng made a decision at the meeting and asked the publicity department to put the plan on paper immediately. Then, he would let the factory start designing the packaging of this brand-new joint product. At the same time, he would vigorously promote this epoch-making hotpot product on the internet! In just three days, this product had been brought out of the assembly line. Zhao Feng and Ding Yao brought some of the company¡¯s senior executives to the factory for inspection. ¡°Director Zhao, this is our new product.¡± The person in charge seemed very excited to be able to meet the legendary company¡¯s real big boss. He handed a large plastic box to Zhao Feng and introduced it to him. ¡°Director Zhao, this plastic box contains two servings of our soup stock and three servings of snowflake beef!¡± ¡°In terms of quantity, it¡¯s already equivalent to more than 50 dollars of beef rolls in a hotpot restaurant, and the price of this box is only 30 dollars! It¡¯s almost double the price!¡± ¡°Our products will have strong market competition!¡± Zhao Feng looked at the plastic box in his hand. After opening it, it was indeed as the person in charge had said. There was a large amount of snowflake beef and two pieces of soup stock. ¡°Mhm, not bad. We¡¯ll put all our efforts into producing our new product. We must make it appear in the frozen section of the market as soon as possible!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± As soon as the new product was launched, it exploded in popularity again. At the same time, this product immediately caused a huge earthquake in the entire hotpot industry. The stocks of major companies related to hotpot plummeted and suffered heavy losses. Many people in the hotpot industry were also crying and shouting, and their faces were full of worry. Some people even publicly expressed their pessimistic opinions, thinking that the new product launched by Yaoyao Food would completely announce the decline or even the demise of the hotpot industry. Zhao Feng¡¯s title as the demon king of the food industry was once again confirmed. As long as it was an industry that Zhao Feng was about to intervene in, there would be a major shuffle without exception. But not long after, the situation suddenly reversed. Chapter 14 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio After the hotpot restaurants were initially deserted, almost all the hotpot restaurants introduced a large number of new products from Yaoyao Food. The hotpot restaurants had an unprecedented scene of excitement. There were tens of thousands of hotpot restaurants in Lihe. As long as it was mealtime, they would always be full. Some even had to get a number and line up to get a seat. This abnormal situation caught almost everyone off guard. After some interviews, they found out that the hotpot restaurant was so popular because most people didn¡¯t have the ability to cook at home. Even if the hotpot didn¡¯t need a chef, for people who were used to eating takeaway, it was a great burden even if they only needed to wash the dishes. At this time, the hotpot restaurants, which had a sudden drop in consumer prices, naturally became the first choice! Moreover, the hotpot restaurants were extremely lively. It was a wonderful thing to eat hotpot with friends under the dense steam and talk about everything! Zhao Feng¡¯s reputation also quickly improved with this turn of events. People realized Zhao Feng¡¯s commercial value from the hotpot restaurant¡¯s popularity! So, Yaoyao Food would become the demon king of the industry, but what if it could develop in the direction of Yaoyao Food? Even a drop of the pie from Yaoyao¡¯s company was enough for a company to make a fortune! Then, a strange phenomenon occurred. Many other food producers that had nothing to do with Yaoyao¡¯s products had also started to set up their own departments within the company. Their goal was to study which industry Yaoyao Food would enter next and what kind of new products they would produce! After a discussion, they would look for possible business opportunities. They would not seek to compete with Yaoyao Food head-on and seize the main market. Instead, they would just follow suit and reap the benefits! As the days passed, the system-built underground city had reached its maximum capacity. The restricted area that Zhao Feng had marked out in the company¡¯s inner area was almost unable to cover the underground city¡¯s area. Moreover, the apocalypse was getting closer and closer. Zhao Feng was once again dissatisfied with the size of the company¡¯s current park. Especially when compared to the system-provided underground city, his previous park planning was like child¡¯s play. Therefore, the park had to be bigger! Even if many areas could not be developed, for the time being, it could be used as a buffer zone to separate the park from the outside areas and reduce the possibility of outsiders discovering the existence of the underground city. For the company¡¯s internal staff, Zhao Feng had already set up an extremely comprehensive assessment system and a supervision system within the park. Coupled with the high benefits and great treatment offered by the company, almost no one could poach people from within Yaoyao¡¯s company! Every employee of Yaoyao Food felt the warmth of home here. Everyone¡¯s pockets were full, so who would be willing to sell the company¡¯s interests? ¡°Ding Yao, tomorrow morning, you and I will go to the government office. I want to continue to take down more land to ensure the future development of the park.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s sudden plan made Ding Yao somewhat confused. ¡°We still have to go to the government to get land? But there¡¯s still a large area in our park that hasn¡¯t been developed. Isn¡¯t this land enough?¡± Ding Yao asked with some worry. Since the last meeting, she began to notice that there seemed to be something wrong with Zhao Feng¡¯s mentality, and she became more and more determined in her thoughts. Zhao Feng must be hiding some huge secret! It was this secret that was suppressing Zhao Feng, making him walk forward with all his might. He was even willing to pay any price to become a lunatic in the eyes of others. ¡°It¡¯s not enough. Before we go to the government office, find a few people to make a plan for the future development of the park. We¡¯ll do whatever is good according to the plan.¡± Zhao Feng said indifferently. ¡°In short, you have to help me convince the government to give me more land and authority, understand?¡± he said. Ding Yao nodded, somewhat hesitant to speak. Just as Zhao Feng was about to leave the office, Ding Yao finally couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. She was sure that Zhao Feng had something on his mind. Although she knew that she might offend Zhao Feng by saying some things, she could not sit by and do nothing about his abnormal behavior. ¡°Wait a moment!¡± Ding Yao suddenly said. Zhao Feng turned around and looked at her with some doubt. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Do you have any questions?¡± Ding Yao¡¯s gaze was complicated, but she spoke to Zhao Feng with sincerity. ¡°Zhao Feng, are you hiding something from me?¡± ¡°You keep giving me the feeling that the world is going to end tomorrow. So, what¡¯s going on? Did you encounter some difficulties?¡± ¡°Just tell me. I¡¯m the general manager of our company, and also your friend. I¡¯ll help you think of a way!¡± Ding Yao¡¯s words stunned Zhao Feng. When he heard the words ¡°the end is going to end,¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s heart trembled in fear. Could this be a woman¡¯s sixth sense? She had really guessed it right! It was really the end of the world! Zhao Feng pondered for a moment and decided not to tell her the secret of the apocalypse today. Although the apocalypse was approaching, there was still a period of peace to pass. There was no need to let Ding Yao bear such huge pressure like him! ¡°Haha, you¡¯re thinking too much.¡± Zhao Feng smiled. ¡°I¡¯m really just preparing for the company¡¯s future. Although our company¡¯s scale is already very large in Lihe, do you think we have enough factories in the world?¡± Although Ding Yao still had some doubts in her heart, she didn¡¯t continue to ask after hearing Zhao Feng¡¯s explanation. She chose to believe in Zhao Feng! Even if Zhao Feng had lied to her today, he would tell her the truth one day! The next day, Zhao Feng presented the proposal that Ding Yao and the executives had spent a night researching to the mayor of New York. This plan was like a pie in the sky for the government. He told the government that Yaoyao Food would continue to expand its production scale and might enter other industries in the future, not just food production. The plan also vaguely mentioned the possibility of developing a new production base with the technology park of Yaoyao Food as the center. In the eyes of the government, this was not just a shining silver, but also an achievement! This big pie was big and fragrant enough. The officials didn¡¯t know that the apocalypse would come, and they didn¡¯t expect Zhao Feng to use so much land to store supplies and build a shelter for himself. Hence, they immediately agreed! The land in Zhao Feng¡¯s hands was once again in a frenzy. This time, it had finally exceeded the area of the underground city provided by the system! The park covered the entire underground city. Chapter 15 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Given Zhao Feng¡¯s success in hoodwinking the government, he had obtained a large piece of land with little to almost no investments. This time, his excellent results had even gained the system¡¯s approval. ¡°Ding, Master, congratulations on completing this black-hearted plan. You have received the reward, one apocalypse transport vehicle!¡± ¡°This transport vehicle has an extremely high load capacity, and its body is extremely sturdy. Even in an apocalyptic world with extremely harsh environments, it can still operate perfectly!¡± After the system finished speaking, Zhao Feng held his breath and focused for a while. In the end, he realized that the system did not seem to have anything else to say. Zhao Feng asked doubtfully. ¡°Is there only one transport vehicle? Where¡¯s my formula?¡± ¡°Ding, the rewards this time do not include any formula.¡± ¡°F*ck! No formula? I think this system is the real black-hearted merchant. No wonder it¡¯s called that!¡± Zhao Feng couldn¡¯t help but complain. Fortunately, he had obtained an apocalypse transport vehicle. With the power behind the system, Zhao Feng was quite curious about what this vehicle would look like. Would it have any special functions? Therefore, after returning to the industrial park, Zhao Feng immediately went to an empty factory area alone and retrieved the apocalypse transport vehicle rewarded by the system from a warehouse. ¡°Retrieve the vehicle!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± As the invisible spatial fluctuation in front of him ended, Zhao Feng only felt his vision blur. Before he could react, a large transport vehicle with a sci-fi design that gave people a strong sense of security appeared in the warehouse. Zhao Feng walked around the transport vehicle. He quickly climbed into the driver¡¯s seat and flipped through an instruction manual. ¡°Tsk, this system is quite considerate.¡± After reading the contents of the instruction manual, Zhao Feng realized that he had picked up a treasure. Although this vehicle was called a transport vehicle, its function was far more than just transporting supplies. It could even become a moving fortress in some critical situations! This vehicle even had a weapon module! In addition, the weapon was already fully loaded in the initial state. As long as the operating system of the weapon was unlocked in the driver¡¯s seat, the weapon could be launched. ¡°This is so cool!¡± ¡°Sigh, it¡¯s a pity I can¡¯t produce these ammunitions. I hope I can use them sparingly when the apocalypse comes.¡± As the transport vehicle was too eye-catching, Zhao Feng put it back into his storage space. Although the transport vehicle was huge, Zhao Feng¡¯s storage space was infinite. He pointed at the transport vehicle, and the warehouse quickly returned to its original state. At some point in time, Yaoyao Food products began to appear on live-streaming platforms outside of Lihe and gained the favor of many food streamers. Finally, it gradually spread to the entire live-streaming field. As more and more people learned about this high-quality product, Yaoyao Food products gradually gained more prestige on the international stage. It had even become the first choice product for many people to purchase when they traveled to Lihe. There were even some who came to Lihe to carry out the purchasing business and sell these products to people all over the world for everyone to try. Yaoyao Food products had really begun to spread to the world, and this food company that had risen rapidly not long ago finally attracted the attention of some international food and beverage giants. Most of these companies were multinational groups. In terms of strength and influence in the industry, even today¡¯s Yaoyao Food could not catch up. It didn¡¯t take long for these food and beverage giants to send representatives to Lihe to negotiate with Zhao Feng and purchase Yaoyao Food products. Of course, Zhao Feng would not miss such a good opportunity! In Zhao Feng¡¯s eyes, these food and beverage giants only had one advantage, and that was money! Hence, Zhao Feng personally came out to negotiate with the representatives of the food and beverage giants one by one and signed the cooperation agreement. By convention, these agreements were often long-term. The payment method was also cash on delivery. The food and beverage company would only transfer the money to Yaoyao Food¡¯s account after they delivered a certain amount of products. However, this method of earning money was too slow! The apocalypse was near. Zhao Feng did not have the time to wait for these people to transfer money to him in waves. When the apocalypse arrived, all the money would become a piece of waste paper and a string of meaningless numbers. Therefore, Zhao Feng directly rejected all the agreements that the representatives of the food and beverage giants had offered, which made the other party very confused, thinking that Zhao Feng did not intend to cooperate with them. ¡°Mr. Zhao, our agreement is already very sincere to you, right? Why are you doing this?¡± Zhao Feng faintly smiled and said. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to work with you, but I want to use a more straightforward way to carry out this cooperation.¡± The representative of the food and beverage giant was puzzled. Zhao Feng continued. ¡°I have a good proposal here. In our cooperation with your company, we can cut the current price by another 10%!¡± ¡°The corresponding requirement is that you must pay in full in one go according to the number of goods you have ordered!¡± The representative still couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°Why is that, Mr. Zhao? Your company doesn¡¯t seem to be short of money, right?¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s attitude was firm. ¡°This involves our company¡¯s internal secrets, so please understand. In short, I¡¯ve shown my sincerity. If possible, we can sign the agreement immediately. Otherwise, I can only express my regret.¡± ¡°Mr. Zhao, I need to discuss this with the company. Please wait a moment.¡± In the end, all the food and beverage giants agreed to Zhao Feng¡¯s request. In exchange for Yaoyao Food¡¯s product discount, the food and beverage giants would pay the entire amount in one go! Moreover, in the following negotiations, Zhao Feng tried his best to persuade the other party to increase the number of pre-ordered products. To Zhao Feng, this was a one-time deal. He would get as much as he could! Three days later, with all the payments from the major food and beverage giants in his account, the funds in Zhao Feng¡¯s hands skyrocketed again in a very short time. In addition to the huge profits from many of their previous products, the working capital in Yaoyao Food¡¯s account had now exceeded 5 billion! Compared to the one billion compensation that Zhao Feng had received when he first arrived in this world, his net worth had already increased by five times! This was the first time Zhao Feng experienced the troubles of having money. He had too much money, and it was a headache for him to think about how to spend it. Because Zhao Feng had ruthlessly scammed the big bosses of the food and beverage industry this time, he had collected billions of dollars in cash without paying any price. Hence, Zhao Feng also obtained the recognition of the black-hearted merchant system. ¡°Ding, congratulations on completing this transaction. You have obtained the reward: a fillet steak production recipe.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to add any meat at all, and you can create a product that is no different from a real top-tier steak. You can enjoy the delicious taste even after the apocalypse arrives.¡± Chapter 16 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Fillet steak? No need to add any meat? This was the first time Zhao Feng had heard that a steak could be directly synthesized with other ingredients. Therefore, he immediately called a few senior executives and gave them instructions on this project. ¡°I want to see the finished product within a week, and then put it on the shelves as fast as possible!¡± ¡°Yes, Director Zhao!¡± The current Yaoyao Food company already had a very complete set of research and development processes for new products. From the moment Zhao Feng handed the formula to his employees to the moment the first product was produced, it only took four days! It was only half of what Zhao Feng had requested. ¡°Director Zhao, this is the steak made according to the recipe you gave me. Are you sure you want to try it yourself?¡± The person in charge was in a dilemma. This was the first time he had no confidence in the products produced by his own company. He knew all too well what this so-called steak was made of. There wasn¡¯t even a single piece of meat, how could it be called a steak? However, Zhao Feng now believed in the system¡¯s strength. He picked up the knife and fork and started eating. The steak melted as soon as it entered Zhao Feng¡¯s mouth, and he felt that it was no different from a real steak! And it¡¯s the texture of the best steak! ¡°Oh, it¡¯s delicious!¡± Zhao Feng started to eat the food, one mouthful at a time. The person in charge was dumbfounded. Was this technological steak that delicious? The person in charge couldn¡¯t help but doubt his life. After a full meal, Zhao Feng immediately made the decision. ¡°Increase the publicity for this steak! I want the whole world to taste our company¡¯s fillet steak!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the investment in advertising. Just do it!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Soon, the steak filled with technology and ruthlessness was put on the shelves and people¡¯s tables. Due to the extremely low price and the reputation that Yaoyao Food had built up in the past, as soon as the product was launched, it immediately attracted a warm welcome from the people, even if some people didn¡¯t think that this steak would be very delicious. After all, it was too cheap. Most people might not be able to eat something like steak normally, and they would not be willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of steak. Therefore, the price of the fillet steak was undoubtedly affordable for people, and they just bought it to try it out. Even if it didn¡¯t taste good in the end, they wouldn¡¯t lose much. As such, the moment the fillet steak appeared on the shelves, it was already sold out. Soon, the first batch of people who ate the crab posted their eating experience on the internet, and all of them had good reviews. There were even a lot of people who exclaimed that this was the best steak they had ever eaten in their lives! Some self-media and bloggers were keen to attract traffic by comparing the real high-end steak and the fillet steak on the market. These bloggers¡¯ spontaneous creations undoubtedly promoted Yaoyao Food products again, letting more people know about the existence of this product. The performance of the fillet steak was within Zhao Feng¡¯s expectations. He did not put too much energy into the sales of this product. Currently, Zhao Feng was actually doing something else. And that was to plan how to use the huge 5 billion in the company¡¯s account! If this money was kept in the bank and not used, it would be a huge loss! Moreover, once the apocalypse came, money would become useless. The right choice was to spend the money as soon as possible and convert it into supplies or earn more money. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the orders from the international food and beverage giants. The first batch of goods will be delivered after the apocalypse. They won¡¯t be in the mood to ask me for goods by then.¡± ¡°Sigh, it¡¯s really frustrating to have too much money to spend.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t I use this money to buy land?¡± After some consideration, Zhao Feng decided to invest the money into the purchase of land. After all, the amount of money was too huge. It was impossible to spend all the money on building factories or buying materials. With such a huge order flowing into the global market, it might even cause a violent shock to the prices of the entire industry. At that time, it would be almost inevitable to attract the attention of thousands of people. When it came to stocking up resources, it was better to store them in the warehouse bit by bit and try not to be noticed by others. ¡°Hmm, using 4 billion to buy land, the free underground city given by the system is still too small. It¡¯s better to continue expanding. We can even add three underground levels below the underground city!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll use the entire third underground floor as a larger storage warehouse.¡± ¡°Additionally, besides the production materials, all the machines and production equipment should be arranged!¡± ¡°After the apocalypse, the industry was almost completely destroyed, and there would be no place to buy these machines!¡± ¡°As for the remaining one billion, I¡¯ll continue investing it in the company¡¯s operation and expansion, so that we can earn more money and buy more machines and supplies!¡± Zhao Feng quickly made all the plans for the money. Therefore, he immediately sent a negotiator to the government to seek cooperation. Currently, Yaoyao Food had become a guest of honor and also a money tree. Even the mayor of New York City had to be polite to Zhao Feng. No one would make things difficult for their God of Fortune. The taxes that Yaoyao Food had paid in the past few months were almost equivalent to the total taxes of other food companies! Moreover, the recent popularity of fillet steak further proved the strength of Yaoyao Food. Very quickly, Zhao Feng received a report from his subordinate. ¡°Director Zhao, the authorities have agreed to almost all of our requests, and all of our strategies have been given the green light. Our plan can be implemented smoothly very soon!¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be long before the government sends the certificate of our newly purchased land to our company!¡± Zhao Feng immediately started to arrange a construction team to expand the underground city. In order to prevent the secret of the underground city from being leaked, Zhao Feng specially arranged and handed out a big red packet for everyone on the construction team and signed a confidentiality agreement! The construction of the underground city that the system had rewarded Zhao Feng with was almost completed. It was huge and could accommodate tens of thousands of people. This underground city was like a small town. In Zhao Feng¡¯s plan, the city would continue to expand in all directions, and the ultimate goal was to accommodate more than 100000 people! This number was also an ideal number that Zhao Feng thought. Not only would he have enough manpower to develop industrial and agricultural industries, but he could also form a protective force for the city! The rules of the apocalypse had collapsed, and whoever had the bigger fist would have the say. There was no longer any comradeship between the forces of the survivors. To survive, becoming enemies with all external forces was destined. This was the survival rule that Zhao Feng had accumulated over the last 20 years of the apocalypse! Chapter 17 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio The sales of the fillet steak had been booming, and in less than a week, it had brought Zhao Feng at least 500 million in revenue. It was easy for a product like a steak to break into the global market, so they were able to earn more. Finally, the sales of the filet steak had reached the goal of the reward provided by the system. ¡°Ding, Master, congratulations on successfully selling a large number of synthetic steaks. Congratulations on obtaining a new reward, the recipe for synthetic crab roe sauce!¡± ¡°We only need to use one-fifth of the cost of the real crab roe sauce to produce a crab roe sauce that is not inferior to the authentic one in terms of nutritional value and taste!¡± It was still the same old rules and operations. Five days later, the synthetic crab roe sauce was completed, and three days later, it was put on the shelves of supermarkets and major shopping malls. The performance of this synthetic crab roe sauce was just like its predecessors. Once it was launched, it occupied nearly half of the market share of crab roe sauce. Once again, Zhao Feng had earned a lot. Moreover, by now, there were basically no competitors in the food industry who would question Yaoyao Food¡¯s products. Everyone knew very well that ordinary methods would not affect Yaoyao Food in any way. Instead, they might end up suffering losses. The most important thing was that there were no problems with Yaoyao Food products. If the competitors couldn¡¯t find any flaws, they naturally had no angle to attack. However, Zhao Feng did not know that a sneaky figure was busy in the office after work. He seemed a little nervous, constantly looking around for fear of being discovered. After a while, he put a USB into his pocket and quickly left the company headquarters. It didn¡¯t take long for this person to appear at the headquarters of Zhao Corporation. The person who met him was Zhao Ming. ¡°Director Zhao, the things you want are in this USB drive. Hurry up and check the goods. The money you promised me before¡­¡± Zhao Ming smiled and nodded to the secretary beside him. Soon, the man¡¯s phone rang. Seeing the string of numbers on the message, the man was extremely excited. As for Zhao Ming, he laughed proudly. ¡°Haha, well done. You don¡¯t have to go to work for the time being. Stay low for a while!¡± The man nodded his head heavily. He was a commercial spy that Zhao Ming had developed in Zhao Feng¡¯s company. His goal was to steal the formulas of various products from Yaoyao Food. He even copied many of the factory¡¯s production videos from the company¡¯s monitoring room and stored the production process of various products on a USB drive. Finally, he handed it over to Zhao Ming. The next morning, Zhao Feng suddenly received a call from Ding Yao. ¡°Zhao Feng, something bad happened. The recipe for our latest crab roe sauce has been published on the internet!¡± Hearing this, Zhao Feng said disapprovingly. ¡°Crab roe sauce recipe? And who is it that thinks they have seen through our recipe?¡± ¡°It¡¯s different this time. I also thought that someone was trying to scam me at first, but I just checked it and the published formula is correct!¡± Ding Yao hurriedly said. ¡°It even included the production process of our product. Now, voices are questioning everywhere on the internet.¡± ¡°Someone even wants us to announce the production cost and whether our pricing is reasonable. You should quickly take a look and see how we¡¯re going to deal with this matter.¡± Facing the anxious Ding Yao, Zhao Feng hurriedly comforted her. ¡°Don¡¯t be in a hurry. I¡¯ll handle this matter. First, find someone to suppress the momentum on the internet as much as possible. Get someone to delete any malicious remarks that defame our company.¡± ¡°To be able to obtain the real formula, this matter is definitely not simple!¡± This formula was provided to him by the system. Zhao Feng did not believe that anyone would be able to research and recreate the formula. It even came with the production process. How could this be possible? At this time, the internet was full of doubts about Yaoyao Food, and it was obvious that there was a group of ghostwriters leading the way. However, the netizens couldn¡¯t clearly distinguish who were the ghostwriters, so the tide of this wave was becoming more and more intense. ¡°Is the formula that was announced this morning real? Yaoyao Food¡¯s synthetic meat didn¡¯t contain any meat at all. You call this a meat product?¡± ¡°And their milk tea, all of their products are different from what we imagined. This is a scam! This is a fraud!¡± ¡°Yaoyao Food, please give the consumers a reasonable explanation immediately. This is too much!¡± ¡°Even the swill that pigs eat is more authentic than the products of Yaoyao Food!¡± In addition to the overwhelming denouncement on the internet, some popular bloggers also obtained the method to gain more online attention. They began to find professional agencies to test Yaoyao Food¡¯s products. They didn¡¯t test the nutritional content but the raw materials used in the products, whether it was consistent with the formula published on the internet. In addition, the company had also received summonses from multiple courts. Many foods and beverage companies filed lawsuits against Yaoyao Food, demanding compensation for the damage to their reputation. The reason was that many consumers attacked these catering companies, accusing them of using the unqualified products of Yaoyao Food. Most of these companies were hotpot companies. As the saying goes, when a wall falls, everyone kicks it. When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Businessmen always sought advantages and avoided disadvantages. Even if the companies in the hotpot industry had followed Zhao Feng and made a lot of money, now that the wind had changed, everyone was targeting Yaoyao Food. At this moment, the first thing Zhao Feng was doing was not to provide clarification to the public. He wanted to catch the mole! After Zhao Feng received the news, he only thought about it for a short time. He was sure that there must be a mole who had leaked the company¡¯s internal information. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the recipe given by the system to be researched. Finally, two days later, the staff of the security department found the employee who had returned to the company after work and secretly copied all kinds of confidential documents through the surveillance cameras. ¡°What are you doing? I didn¡¯t do anything! Your videos are fake! Let me go!¡± Who knew that the man who stole the information still insisted that he had done nothing even when he was caught? Under such circumstances, Zhao Feng was helpless. There was no use in suing him for commercial espionage at this time. The apocalypse was coming, and he might not even be able to wait for this person to be sentenced. ¡°Take him under control and hand him over to the security bureau.¡± Zhao Feng temporarily gave up on pursuing the commercial spy and returned to the market where public opinion was boiling. The consumers were still worried that they had eaten something bad. Some people even began to publicly call for a boycott of Yaoyao Food on the internet, calling for people to stop buying these unworthy products! In order to stop their losses in time, some businesses even started to terminate their contracts and even returned the products to Yaoyao Food! The situation was extremely grim. Chapter 18 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio However, Zhao Feng was still not in a hurry. According to his memories from his previous life, there was only less than a month left before the apocalypse! The construction of the underground city was progressing steadily. Other than the underground city rewarded by the system, the other underground city that Zhao Feng had spent his own money to build was also under construction. The two underground cities were connected by an underground tunnel that was nearly a kilometer long. This tunnel had always existed. It was the system¡¯s way of building a path for Zhao Feng to enter and exit the underground city. Other than the two underground cities, the underground warehouse was filled with supplies. It had already filled up 80% of the space. The construction team even found an underground river a few days ago. Since this was the outskirts of New York City, the underground river was not only rich in water but also had a low level of pollution! The water inside could even be directly used! In this sort of situation where everything was basically ready, Zhao Feng was actually not as sensitive to the various reactions of the outside world as before. At worst, he would quit and exchange the rest of the money for supplies and wait for the apocalypse to come. However, as the public opinion against Yaoyao Food reached its peak, Zhao Feng was too lazy to deal with these things, and the officials finally could not sit still. They were still counting on Yaoyao Food to actively pay taxes and add to the government¡¯s performance this year! ¡°Mr. Zhao, I believe you¡¯ve heard of the various discussions and storms about your company on the internet recently. According to our observations, you don¡¯t seem to have any intention of clarifying or explaining anything, right?¡± ¡°Why are you doing this? Your company is suffering huge losses, and you can¡¯t go on like this!¡± ¡°If you have any difficulties, you can tell us. We¡¯re all from New York, and the authorities are willing to lend a hand.¡± The representative sent by the government asked Zhao Feng with a very sincere attitude. Zhao Feng didn¡¯t want to pay attention to this guy, but on second thought, he still had to show some respect to the government. Although the apocalypse was coming, it was better not to cause any more trouble during this last period of time. If the existence of the underground city was exposed, it would be a big problem! Did he build a city for himself? And under the eyes of the government? No matter how rich he was, it would be difficult to settle this kind of trouble. So Zhao Feng pretended to think for a while and said with some difficulty. ¡°Sigh, I don¡¯t want this to happen either, but there¡¯s really nothing wrong with our product. The rhythm on the internet right now is clear that some people are jealous of our interests!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a choice now. I¡¯ve tried to clear things up a few times before, but was it of any use?¡± ¡°If the government has any good ideas, feel free to tell me. Our company will definitely cooperate.¡± The people from the government started to feel conflicted. They could only take their leave and inform Zhao Feng when there were results. Two days later, Zhao Feng received news from the government. It seemed that the government was indeed anxious about his performance. ¡°Mr. Zhao, after some internal discussion, we¡¯ve decided to have the authorities come forward and find professional researchers from New York University to do a live broadcast.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s a live broadcast of the testing and nutrition evaluation of your company¡¯s products in the laboratory. I believe that this professional live broadcast will definitely clear up the rumors on the internet.¡± ¡°And we won¡¯t charge any fees for this test. Just take it that our government is protecting the development of local enterprises. What do you think of this plan?¡± Zhao Feng didn¡¯t mind that someone was trying to clean up his mess. Moreover, there were only benefits and no disadvantages to earning more money and buying more supplies before the apocalypse. With Zhao Feng¡¯s cooperation, the live broadcast soon began. Moreover, the government had personally gone down to publicize it before the live broadcast, and this matter had been too popular recently. The number of people watching the live broadcast at the same time on that day actually exceeded 10 million! This wasn¡¯t some sort of popularity, but living people! The researchers in the live stream room first introduced the various equipment in the laboratory to the audience. Many of the equipment¡¯s names were incomprehensible. Then, he began to explain the principle of the test in detail to the audience, as well as the fact that the tested nutritional content was very real. He wanted to gain the audience¡¯s trust. Just as the government had expected, a professional came down to conduct the test, and it was in a laboratory. It was easy to gain people¡¯s approval. It didn¡¯t take long for the test report to be fresh out of the oven. The various nutritional ingredients indicated on it completely proved that there were no problems with Yaoyao Food¡¯s products. As for why the raw materials used were so strange, this point seemed insignificant. It was tasty, nutritious, and cheap. What else was there to ask for? A 20-dollar fillet steak was better than a high-quality steak that cost hundreds of dollars. Would you like to eat it? Even if this steak was full of technology and ruthlessness, most people couldn¡¯t afford the expensive ones! Everyone could only choose this product. At the end of the live broadcast, there was a special guest in the live broadcast room. Zhao Feng had specially arranged for this person to show his face at the end of the live broadcast. He was the company¡¯s spy that Zhao Feng had found out about earlier! Facing the camera, this man finally couldn¡¯t bear the pressure in his heart. He cried and admitted to all the wrong things he had done. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was the one who leaked the company¡¯s confidential information, including the formulas and production processes.¡± ¡°Someone was instigating me to do all this! I was blinded by greed, so I took measures. I¡¯m sorry!¡± These words caused an uproar on the internet. What? The formula that was exposed wasn¡¯t actually researched. But it was stolen from Yaoyao Food? So, who did all this? Who was it that bribed this employee with money to leak these secrets? Under the waves of condemnation from the entire internet, all the spies had nowhere to hide. Very quickly, the online users dug out the self-media accounts that had initially started the trend. People followed the clues, and also the apology content of the owners of these self-media accounts, they finally knew who the mastermind behind all this was. Zhao Corporation! It was this company again! There were rumors on the internet that Zhao Corporation was targeting Yaoyao Food and even forced Zhao Feng to cooperate with them. At this moment, the two incidents overlapped and exploded together, immediately pushing Zhao Corporation to the forefront of the storm. The company¡¯s stock price plummeted, and the company was on the verge of collapse! Chapter 19 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio The Zhao Corporation instantly became the target of public criticism. In addition, the grudges between Zhao Feng and the Zhao Corporation were dug out, and the public sided with Zhao Feng. ¡°Zhao Feng used to be the Crown Prince of the Zhao Corporation. However, when something happened to his parents, not only did his relatives not help him, but they also tried to kick him out. Those ungrateful people!¡± ¡°The Zhao Corporation has gone too far. I¡¯ll never buy their products again!¡± ¡°This kind of inhumane, immoral company should go bankrupt!¡± The storm didn¡¯t last long, but it was a devastating blow to the Zhao Corporation. Although the company did not go bankrupt in the end, for a food company, the collapse of its reputation almost meant the decline of the company. It was impossible to make a comeback. After this incident, Yaoyao Food became the largest food company in Lihe and had a high reputation internationally. A large number of orders from all over the world came to Ding Yao¡¯s desk like snowflakes. Zhao Feng did not interfere in any of these matters and just let nature take its course. As the apocalypse was very close, Zhao Feng was not sure when it would suddenly descend. Thus, just in case, Zhao Feng had already begun to put all his energy into the final preparations for the apocalypse. First, he had to fill up all the warehouses in the underground city! ¡°System, you built this underground city for me. Can you help me calculate the stock in the warehouse?¡± ¡°Ding, that¡¯s not a problem, Master. Please wait a moment.¡± ¡°The warehouse¡¯s stock has now reached 8.5 million tons of supplies. After it¡¯s filled, it¡¯s expected to exceed ten million tons.¡± ¡°According to the current capacity of the underground city, these resources are enough for the people to live for the rest of their lives!¡± 8.5 million tons of supplies! This number exceeded Zhao Feng¡¯s expectations. He had originally thought that five million tons would be enough. He didn¡¯t expect the final number to be so much more than he had expected! It seemed like he had underestimated the storage space in the underground city. The reason why Zhao Feng did not store these resources in the infinite space given by the system was mainly that there was a possibility of exposing the existence of the system. After all, if there was nothing in the underground city, and he could keep moving supplies out, it would easily arouse suspicion. Now that the material reserves had reached Zhao Feng¡¯s goal, there was no need to worry or consider this problem. He only needed to continue to purchase supplies from all over the world and fill up the warehouse. Other than resources, there was another important matter that Zhao Feng was most concerned about. That was to strengthen the ground facilities of his industrial park! The solar storm that led to the apocalypse was very terrifying. It almost destroyed everything on the ground. Ordinary city buildings were almost unable to survive such a terrifying energy impact, not to mention the simple factories in the park. These factories would probably be destroyed as soon as the solar storm arrived. Therefore, these buildings had to be reinforced. It was best to lay a layer of reflective film on the buildings¡¯ exterior to spread the radiation energy to the outside world. This way, they could return to the surface and restart the industrial production of the park after the disaster subsided. In addition to protecting the buildings in the park, they also had to strengthen the protection measures for various electronic facilities in the park. When a terrifying solar storm hit the atmosphere and magnetic fields, ionization would occur, producing extremely strong electromagnetic pulses. All electronic equipment exposed to the outside world would be destroyed by the terrifying electromagnetic pulse. Even if some of the machines could survive the energy impact of the solar storm, they would be useless if all the internal circuits were destroyed. In order to better complete all the preparations, Zhao Feng finally decided to tell Ding Yao the truth. She shall cooperate with him to complete the work. Ding Yao came to Zhao Feng¡¯s office. These days, she had been busy with orders from all over the world and was still complaining that Zhao Feng was wasting her time. ¡°I¡¯ve been very busy recently. If you have anything, you can find someone else first.¡± Ding Yao was about to leave when Zhao Feng grabbed her hand. Her body froze on the spot, not knowing what to do. ¡°W-what are you doing?¡± Ding Yao¡¯s heart was beating wildly. Could it be that Zhao Feng, this blockhead, had suddenly awakened today? ¡°I want to tell you a secret, a very important thing!¡± Zhao Feng said slowly. Ding Yao¡¯s heart was in her throat. Was Zhao Feng going to confess to her? However, this was all too sudden! ¡°The apocalypse is coming!¡± Ding Yao was dumbfounded. The apocalypse? What was this thing? It didn¡¯t seem to be April Fool¡¯s Day today. ¡°Are you kidding me? You called me to your office just to tell me this?¡± Ding Yao suddenly felt very disappointed and even a little angry, so she said with a little dissatisfaction. Zhao Feng looked into her eyes seriously and didn¡¯t say a word. He just held Ding Yao¡¯s hand and directly went to the underground city from a special elevator in the office. This was the first time that Ding Yao had seen the complete underground city, and she was instantly stunned. ¡°Did you find someone to build this city? Didn¡¯t you just build an underground warehouse? How did you do that?¡± Zhao Feng replied calmly, ¡°This is the sanctuary I¡¯ve prepared for the apocalypse. The apocalypse is not a joke. If you¡¯ve been following the news, you should know.¡± ¡°The article that made it to the hot search a few months ago, right?¡± Ding Yao thought for a while and suddenly said, ¡°You mean that solar storm? But didn¡¯t the experts already refute the rumors?¡± Zhao Feng shook his head and interrupted Ding Yao¡¯s words. ¡°An expert? Hehe, haven¡¯t you noticed that the international news has been a little too quiet recently?¡± ¡°Have you ever seen any high-ranking officials appear in front of the camera on TV? Can you guess where these people have gone to?¡± Ding Yao was completely silent. Although she still felt that the apocalypse was a bit too outrageous, Zhao Feng had given so much evidence, and it didn¡¯t seem like he was joking. ¡°Then why did you call me here today?¡± Zhao Feng then told Ding Yao about the many preparations he had made to welcome the apocalypse. ¡°Strengthen our ground facilities, strengthen the protection of electronic equipment, and strive to maintain normal operation after the apocalypse. Restore production capacity as soon as possible!¡± Chapter 20 - The Apocalypse Descends Chapter 20 The Apocalypse Descends ¡°In addition to the above two points, we also need to store some long-distance communication equipment in the underground city. After the solar storm ends, we will return to the surface as fast as possible to build a communication base station.¡± ¡°At that time, global communications will be cut off, so we can only try our best to restore short-distance communication. This way, we can save more survivors, gather enough living forces, and re-develop.¡± ¡°We also need to prepare enough transport vehicles and prepare to set up an apocalypse rescue team. We also need anti-radiation suits, anti-radiation drugs, and a large amount of other medicinal herbs.¡± ¡°The underground city¡¯s storage is still lacking in this aspect. To prevent suspicion, I didn¡¯t make it too obvious.¡± ¡°However, according to my prediction, the apocalypse will officially arrive in about half a month, so I need you to organize the resources of the entire company as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t care about the opinions of the outside world. Complete all the above tasks!¡± Ding Yao had never thought that she would be dealing with the apocalypse with Zhao Feng in the blink of an eye while she was discussing cooperation with the representatives of other food corporations. This change was too magical. After Ding Yao left Zhao Feng¡¯s office, she took a long time to digest it before finally accepting reality. The remaining time was for the final preparations. With Ding Yao¡¯s cooperation and Zhao Feng¡¯s identity as the company¡¯s boss, the final preparations were made. The work proceeded without any obstacles. Coupled with sufficient financial support, a huge amount of various materials has begun to transport into the warehouse of Yaoyao Food company. During this time, Zhao Feng also held a high-level meeting and called back all the employees on the grounds that the company was going to carry out a large-scale team building. Using welfare as an excuse, he tried his best to persuade employees to bring their loved ones with them and live at the place arranged by the company. Although this measure caused many people to be suspicious and puzzled at the beginning after Zhao Feng had spent a lot of money to express his sincerity, naturally, no one would refuse such a gift that fell from the sky. Half a month passed just like that. During this period, the news of the solar storm appeared once or twice, but in the end, it did not attract much attention. Zhao Feng could feel that there was a pair of big hands behind the internet, trying to suppress the heat of the solar storm. Just when everyone thought that this solar storm was just a joke and would not bring any changes to everyone¡¯s lives, the disaster finally arrived. It all started when a monitoring agency suddenly discovered an abnormality in the sun¡¯s activity. ¡°Warning, the intensity of the solar activity this time has exceeded the peak recorded in history and is rapidly increasing. The warning is now issued. Everyone is advised to find underground facilities to take refuge in the next 24 hours.¡± ¡°The deeper we go, the better. The impact will reach the surface in an hour. Take care!¡± As soon as this news was released, it quickly set off a huge uproar on the internet. ¡°Didn¡¯t they say that this solar storm wouldn¡¯t be a threat? Why did he suddenly want everyone to take refuge?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on? I just received a notice to go to the nearest air-raid shelter. What happened?¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be, right? Isn¡¯t it just more intense solar activity?¡± ¡°Everyone, run! A friend of mine at the research institute just told me that this solar storm is unusual. All living things exposed to it will be killed! Quickly run!¡± More and more news appeared on the internet, and the whole world was in chaos. The normal social order completely collapsed in less than half an hour, and countless people rushed to the sanctuary in the city. However, there was less than an hour, which was not enough time for the entire city to enter the sanctuary. Countless people were in despair and gave up on survival. They began to vent their anger all over the city. Some people set up speakers and microphones on the streets and sang pop songs, while others went even crazier and began to race cars on the streets. The city was filled with fire and explosions. It was hard to imagine that everything was normal an hour ago. There were still five minutes left before the impact given by the warning, but the signs of the disaster had already appeared. Even though it was still daytime, a large number of fiery meteors suddenly appeared in the sky, cutting through the sky and landing on the planet¡¯s surface. These meteors were all space equipment in orbit, including satellites and space stations. This meant that the impact of the solar storm had reached the orbit of these spacecraft and completely destroyed them. Because all the spacecraft in the hemisphere had crashed, global communications on the sun¡¯s side were completely cut off. The discussion on the internet also stopped a few minutes ago. Very quickly, disaster befell the ground. The terrifying shock wave was like an iron screen that fell from the sky, violently striking the ground. The entire world trembled as a result. After the impact, there was a terribly high temperature and thermal radiation. Due to the high energy, the radiation broke through the magnetic field¡¯s defense, broke through the atmosphere, and came to the ground. Fires started to burn everywhere in the city, and tall buildings began to collapse. Some people on the streets felt as if their skin was burning, causing unbearable pain. A mother used her own body to shield her child from the radiation in order to allow him to enter the fallout shelter. She tried her best to protect her child¡¯s body and sent him to the fallout shelter. In the end, she fell at the door of the fallout shelter. There was also an elderly couple, but they were not as flustered as the others. In the last hour of their lives, they stayed at home, as usual, snuggling up to each other, holding the photos they had taken over the past half a century, and recalling the sweet life of the past. After the apocalypse, the two of them hugged each other tightly and calmly welcomed death. Similar scenes happened all over the world. Some people tried to survive, while others chose to leave their last moments to their loved ones. And in this chaotic and crazy world, there was an unremarkable corner that was very quiet. An hour ago, when the research institute issued a warning, there was also a moment of chaos here. However, it was quickly stabilized by a man¡¯s notice. ¡°All members, gather at the headquarters building immediately. Bring all your family members and companions. This is to ensure that you can live!¡± Zhao Feng had gathered everyone in the company early in the morning. Then, he took the largest elevator in the headquarters and transported them to the underground city. When the people saw the clean and tidy underground city, they were all shocked. Then, they hugged the people around them and cried as if they had just been saved. Chapter 21 - A Safe Underground City, Seven-Day Lockdown Chapter 21 A Safe Underground City, Seven-Day Lockdown After everyone calmed down, Zhao Feng announced the truth of the apocalypse and the reason for it. This explained why Zhao Feng had asked his employees to bring their loved ones with them. Zhao Feng then turned on the large screen that had been set up in the city¡¯s central plaza. At this time, the apocalypse had not officially descended, and they could still receive many signals from the outside world. Hence, the underground city dwellers gathered in the plaza and watched the chaos and despair on the large screen. The people in the city witnessed tens of thousands of satellite fragments flying across the sky, and the global communication network built by humans for more than half a century completely collapsed. The bustling city was completely covered in fire and smoke. Countless buildings had collapsed, and the entire city was in ruins. Just as disaster and death enveloped the world, a beautiful aurora appeared in the sky! This was a phenomenon caused by the violent collision of the solar storm and the earth¡¯s magnetic field. Under normal circumstances, it would only appear in the north and south poles. These auroras were breathtakingly beautiful, but they were also deadly. As the disaster destroyed almost all communication facilities in the outside world, all signals from the outside world were cut off ten minutes after the disaster. The world seemed to have suddenly quieted down, and the underground city had become an isolated island. Fortunately, the city was located deep underground, and the lights on the streets gave people some comfort. Just as the people were united to face the disaster, a violent tremor caused them to panic. At this time, a staff member from the control room ran over and switched the view to a camera in the industrial park. It turned out that the tremor was caused by a large plane that had just crashed into the park. The entire plane was still burning. ¡°Director Zhao, according to our observations, there are likely to be survivors on this plane. By right, we should be carrying out a rescue, but the situation now is a little special. Please make a decision.¡± The news spread quickly, and many people knew that a plane had crashed outside. ¡°We should help them! What if there are still survivors inside?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t open the door. Who knows what other dangers are waiting outside? What if the safety of the underground city is threatened?¡± ¡°But all of them are our compatriots! How can we just watch them die like this!¡± The people¡¯s opinions were divided into two parts: willing to rescue and not willing to rescue. Both sides were claiming that they were right and no one could give a result that was convincing to everyone. Zhao Feng finally spoke. ¡°I built this city. I think I have the absolute right to deal with this matter, right? Everyone, please do as I say.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s voice was transmitted to everyone¡¯s ears through the broadcast, and everyone immediately quieted down. ¡°Since the plane crashed in front of our house, we can¡¯t just sit back and do nothing.¡± ¡°But we must also be on our guard and make sufficient preparations to carry out the rescue so as not to increase the number of casualties.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m going to form a rescue team now. I¡¯ll provide you with the best conditions and equipment to help you complete the rescue.¡± ¡°The rest of you will stay in the underground city. Someone will assign you your jobs.¡± ¡°The disaster has arrived. Although this city is safe enough, in order to keep this city running for a long time, you will need to pay with your hard work and labor.¡± ¡°If anyone objects, you can voice your opinion.¡± There was complete silence. Zhao Feng was the boss of the company and the owner of this underground city. Now that the city¡¯s population was all from the company¡¯s employees and their family and friends, no one would object to Zhao Feng¡¯s words. They had seen the miserable state of the outside world. They were lucky enough to have survived. The rescue team was quickly established. Most of the people were from the security department of the industrial park, and a few strong employees joined. At this time, the anti-radiation clothing and a lot of professional equipment that Zhao Feng had prepared before came in handy. At the same time, Zhao Feng arranged for some people to enter the monitoring system to observe the situation outside and the movement of the rescue team in real-time. They would provide them with instructions. If anything happened, they would immediately retreat to the underground city. After a few hours of rescue, the rescue team finally brought the survivors back to the underground city. Half of them were seriously injured and were immediately sent to the infirmary for treatment. While everyone was still in anxiety, the first day of the apocalypse had passed. As the sun was facing the other half of the world, Zhao Feng had some time to catch his breath at night. However, the solar storm had not stopped. It was still raging on the other side of the planet. Zhao Feng and the underground city survivors could not relax. As the solar storm destroyed everything on the ground, it caused many industrial raw materials to leak. In addition, many of the materials used in modern civilization were poisonous after being heated and melted, so the entire outside environment was filled with poisonous gas. The underground city was completely sealed off and entered an internal circulation state. ¡°System, when can this internal circulation be removed? We won¡¯t have to live underground in the future, will we?¡± Zhao Feng asked worriedly. ¡°Ding. Master, don¡¯t worry. The underground city¡¯s built-in monitoring system will automatically detect changes in the outside environment. When the outside environment returns to a level that is harmless to the human body, the underground city¡¯s seal will automatically be lifted.¡± ¡°The current sealed state is expected to last for about a week. Please don¡¯t worry, Master.¡± One week¡­ It wasn¡¯t a long time, and even if it was longer, with the underground city¡¯s material reserves, there was no need to worry. He could make use of this time to let the citizens of the underground city adapt to life here and prepare for their return to the surface in the future! Thus, from the third day, Zhao Feng and Ding Yao appointed the original company¡¯s higher-ups as the senior management of the underground city. After that, these people were assigned their own duties, and they assigned tasks to other survivors. He allowed the people to work in the various facilities of the underground city, turning the place into a truly orderly city as soon as possible. The underground city was divided into many areas, including the storage area, industrial area, living area, and even entertainment area. A large number of electronic devices were stored in it, and almost all the single-player games on the market were installed. Anyone could come here to play and relax as long as it was not working hours. The operation of the underground city was finally on the right track. Chapter 22 - Whats the Big Deal About High-Tech Meat, Survival Is the Principle! Chapter 22 What¡¯s the Big Deal About High-Tech Meat, Survival Is the Principle! Life in the sealed underground city officially began when the apocalypse started. Even though the underground city had an abundant supply of resources, it did not mean that the people should only enjoy themselves in the underground city. On the third day after the apocalypse, some of the underground factories were fully operational. They produced a large number of resources and tools in preparation for the post-disaster rescue. There were only the original employees and their relatives in the underground city. It seemed like a lot of people, but to make the underground city fully operational, at least tens of thousands of people were needed. Hence, when the disaster in the outside world was over, Zhao Feng would immediately send out a rescue team to rescue the survivors outside to increase the living strength of the underground city. Human strength was the most important power after the apocalypse! Whether it was expansion or reconstruction, it was not enough to just have machines and supplies. People who used these tools were also needed. Moreover, if they wanted to restore the population after the apocalypse, they had to rely on people! In a food factory in the underground city, it was just getting ready to start work today. The equipment here was moved over from the industrial park of Yaoyao Food company. Previously, these pieces of equipment had been used to produce synthetic meat. ¡°This is where you will be working in the future. The meat produced in this factory will become the most important food to improve meals after the apocalypse.¡± ¡°Please remember, every piece of meat you produce may end up in your stomach, so don¡¯t slack off.¡± ¡°The production will be carried out in accordance with the factory¡¯s regulations and quality standards. If the product quality is not up to standard, the relevant person in charge will be held accountable.¡± ¡°The worst-case scenario is that he might be expelled from the underground city!¡± Due to the importance of the food factory, Zhao Feng personally came to explain to the employees. After hearing Zhao Feng¡¯s words, everyone¡¯s expression became serious. ¡°Director Zhao, don¡¯t worry. We will follow the company¡¯s rules and regulations strictly and not cause you any trouble!¡± Zhao Feng nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll show you how to operate the machines here.¡± ¡°All you need to do is watch it once, then combine it with the video recording, and do it step by step. Then, you can easily complete your own work.¡± After that, Zhao Feng asked one of his employees to come forward and start operating the machine. The production process of these factories was highly automated. This was the advanced equipment that Zhao Feng had specially purchased for the apocalypse. It was mainly to prevent the situation of a lack of manpower after the apocalypse. As the employee operated, the crowd kept exclaiming, mixed with some questioning voices. ¡°Are they producing meat? But I don¡¯t see any meat ingredients?¡± ¡°What kind of production method is this? There¡¯s no meat at all, so how can it be called a meat product?¡± ¡°I heard that this assembly line produced one of our company¡¯s main products. Could it be that these products were produced in this way since the beginning?¡± ¡°Meat that¡¯s made without any meat at all. Are they even edible?¡± ¡°D*mn, where did Director Zhao get this recipe from? It¡¯s all so technologically advanced. I¡¯m a little scared to eat it.¡± Zhao Feng had been standing at the side the whole time, so he naturally heard the questioning voices in the crowd. Not long after, a bag of meat was produced. This high-tech production method was obviously not trustworthy in the eyes of people. Zhao Feng smiled and opened the package in his hand. He walked up to everyone and said indifferently. ¡°Come, take a closer look and see if this meat is any different from what you usually eat.¡± Zhao Feng then cut off a piece of meat and let everyone touch or smell it. This made the people even more confused. The meat looked extremely fresh and delicious. What was going on? Zhao Feng¡¯s next action completely dispelled the doubts in their hearts. He had actually sent someone to prepare a pot in advance, as well as the vegetables that had already been cut. He directly stir-fried a plate of meat and vegetables in front of everyone. He even picked up a piece of meat and ate it without any hesitation. The company¡¯s big boss was personally testing the poison, so what reason did the others have to not eat it? Moreover, the entire process of Zhao Feng eating the meat had been recorded by a camera from the side. In the future, if anyone still doubted the products produced by these factories, he could play these videos to them. Naturally, no one would object. Slowly, one by one, the factories resumed operations. In addition to the synthetic meat production plant, even part of the milk tea production line had been restarted. In any case, the production of these things would not consume many resources at all, so it was better to get more to improve people¡¯s living standards. Zhao Feng¡¯s goal had always been to let the people in the underground city lead a life as well as they did before the apocalypse. This was the only way to make people believe in themselves and work together to survive in this cruel world. The gate of the base separated the underground city from the outside world. and The material conditions of the people in the underground city were extremely rich, they could even play computer games in the entertainment area after work. Although the internet had stopped working, the employees could still use the games that had been downloaded in advance. They could have fun with friends by connecting to the local area network. Zhao Feng gave the people in the entertainment area a lot of authority. He even allowed the employees to collect resources themselves and use them to set up a server and a battle network to have fun with more people. If one only looked at life in the underground city, it might even cause a misunderstanding. That was, the apocalypse did not descend at all, and the world was still running in prosperity and stability. The various signals from the outside world told the people in the underground city that an unprecedented disaster was happening in the world. It was impossible for people to return to the sunny world they used to live in. According to the latest information received by the base¡¯s still-working antenna, the disaster in the outside world had entered its most intense phase. All the major cities in the world had been completely destroyed, and the power of humans seemed so weak in the face of the sun¡¯s power. Moreover, it was not only the densely populated cities that had suffered a destructive blow. Even the desolate places had been reduced to ruins. The base had unexpectedly received a signal from the other half of the planet a day ago. The signal mentioned the world¡¯s largest rainforest. Right now, the rainforest was on fire, and even the rivers in the rainforest had been evaporated! The power of the sun was not something that this small planet could resist. When he received this information, Zhao Feng could only pray for the people who were suffering in this world with the underground city dwellers. Chapter 23 - Returning to the Surface, the Rescue Mission Begins Chapter 23 Returning to the Surface, the Rescue Mission Begins The solar storm lasted for three whole days, cleaning every location on the entire planet three times before it finally ended. However, the outside world was still filled with all kinds of harmful gases, so the base was still under lockdown. It would take at least four days for the base to be unsealed. After one to two weeks, the level of toxic gas in the outside world might return to normal and not cause harm to the human body. Just like that, the people in the underground city played their new roles after the apocalypse, and it was finally time for the gate to be unlocked. It had been a week since the apocalypse began. On this day, everyone in the underground city gathered in the large plaza in the middle of the city early in the morning. There was a wide road connecting the plaza to the distant elevator that could lead to the surface. After going up through the elevator, they would reach the gate of the underground city, which separated the underground city from the outside world. ¡°According to the data from the monitoring station, the atmospheric indicators have basically returned to normal. Most of the harmful substances can be filtered out with professional equipment.¡¯ || ¡°Now, all rescue teams, step forward!¡± Under Zhao Feng¡¯s command, the fully armed rescue team took a step forward in unison. In the past seven days, they had undergone extremely strict training and had reached a level of proficiency in the various equipment and rescue tools they had brought with them. ¡°Next, I will open the gates of the underground city. We will be searching for survivors in the outside world for the first time since the apocalypse and rescue them!¡± ¡°Although the apocalypse has destroyed everything in the past, and even the order of the past has begun to collapse on this planet.¡¯ ¡°But we still cannot forget everything we have as civilized people. Take up the weapons and tools in your hands and protect all our compatriots in suffering.¡± ¡°I hereby announce that the rescue operation will begin immediately.¡± As soon as Zhao Feng¡¯s voice fell, the elevator¡¯s indicator light suddenly lit up. Under the gazes of all the underground city residents, the group entered the elevator, and the tightly shut underground city gates opened. At this moment, even Zhao Feng was feeling a little excited and nervous. Although it was not his first time facing an apocalyptic world, it was definitely the first time that he had made the most preparations. In his previous life, when the apocalypse had just occurred, he was struggling to survive like countless ordinary people. For a mouthful of moldy food, he would sell everything he had, even his own dignity. Even so, he had lived the last 20 years like a rat in the sewers. Living an ignoble life was considered a nice way of putting it. The elevator finally reached the surface. After passing through the base gate, everyone finally stood on the familiar yet strange land. The entrance to the underground city was located in the core of the park, so it was the most frequented place. But now, looking at the dark red sky and the scorching red earth under his feet, even though the building had been reinforced, it had already collapsed, so people felt that this place was very strange. In just over a week, the people outside had changed. People could only rely on their pre-apocalypse memories to distinguish what the surrounding buildings were used for. ¡°Now, according to the previous team, everyone will first search for survivors near the development zone. We will talk about the survivors in the city later.¡± ¡°When we encounter survivors, we will first give them the most basic treatment according to the rules. Then, we will interrogate them and make sure that these survivors will not pose any threat to the base before we bring them back to the underground city.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Following Zhao Feng¡¯s order, a total of 10 teams headed in different directions. He personally led a team to search for survivors. There were naturally no survivors in the Yaoyao Food company¡¯s industrial park. Zhao Feng had already ordered people to seal the door before the disaster. Then, he let everyone enter the underground city. No one would appear outside during the outbreak because the disaster was too intense. With the level of radiation and poisonous gas in the outside world over the past few days, completely exposing oneself to the outside world was a suicidal act. There was no hope of survival at all. Zhao Feng quickly found a few survivors in the storage park next door. These people were the employees of the logistics company. They had been sorting goods here before the apocalypse. They were lucky. There was a basement under the storage park, and there were many goods inside. It allowed them to survive the first week of the apocalypse. But even so, these survivors were all unkempt, and each of them had obvious burn marks on their bodies. Some of them even had skin peeling off. ¡°Do you have any other injured people here? I¡¯m Zhao Feng, the owner of Yaoyao Food next door. I¡¯m here to rescue you.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s words left the employees in disbelief. Of course, they knew about Yaoyao Food, but didn¡¯t this company produce food? Why were they the ones who started the rescue after the disaster? ¡°Are you here to rescue us on behalf of the government?¡± one of the person in charge asked. Zhao Feng shook his head and pointed at the dark red sky. ¡°Do you think that there will still be people from the government who will appear in this situation?¡± ¡°How can there not be any! The government will not abandon anyone. They must be organizing a search and rescue operation in some corner of the city right now!¡± The person-in-charge said with some agitation. The government¡¯s rescue was the hope of survival. Even if there was no sign of rescue, people were willing to believe in it unconditionally. ¡°I¡¯ll ask you one last time. If you want to wait here for the government to rescue you, I won¡¯t force you.¡± ¡°But once you miss this chance, there won¡¯t be another. There are still many people waiting for my help. I won¡¯t waste all my time on you!¡± Zhao Feng had given an ultimatum. Special times called for special measures. His unyielding attitude made the group of survivors fall silent. How could they not know how bad the situation was? The officials were probably too busy to take care of themselves. ¡°Manager Cui, don¡¯t bother about the rescue. We haven¡¯t received any news from the government since the disaster.¡± ¡°If we continue to stay here, we can only sit and wait for death!¡± The ¡°That¡¯s right, Manager Cui. Director Zhao is just being kind. Let¡¯s just follow him! resources here are almost all used up, and we¡¯ll starve to death sooner or later!¡± In the face of the cruel reality, Manager Cui finally nodded. ¡°Okay, we¡¯re willing to follow in Director Zhao¡¯s footsteps!¡± Chapter 24 - Restored Communication, Chapter 24 Restored Communication, Self-Made Weapons, Heading Towards the City The entire rescue team took two days to gather most of the survivors near the development zone. The rescue team continued to search for the remaining people. The number of people in the development zone was relatively small, and because most of the warehouses were owned by various companies, there were sufficient materials. But even so, the development zone suffered heavy losses after the disaster. The population was only one-tenth of what it was before the disaster, so one could imagine how terrible the casualties in the big cities were. That place was probably no different from hell on earth. ¡°Xiao Cui, I heard that you are familiar with the people in this company in the development zone. Is that true?¡± Xiao Cui was Manager Cui that Zhao Feng had saved. Manager Cui nodded and said, ¡°Yes. Many of the materials and goods purchased by many companies in the park will pass through our warehouse.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s a compulsory course for us to deal with other companies. Director Zhao, do you have any orders for us?¡± Zhao Feng nodded and pointed to a relatively intact and tall building in the park. ¡°Do you see that house? Go and find a group of people and retrieve the communication equipment from the underground city¡¯s warehouse.¡± ¡°I want you to build a temporary communication base station on this building. Then, find a professional to make a communication hot air balloon.¡± ¡°Now that the global wireless communication has been cut off, I want to use this communication hot air balloon as a temporary base in the air to build a new communication network that covers the entire New York City.¡± ¡°I wonder if this idea is feasible? If we can contact the survivors in the city in advance, it may solve a lot of problems for our rescue work in the future.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s words made Manager Cui fall into deep thought. Establish a communication network through the hot air balloon? This idea was a little strange, even a little old-fashioned. After all, modern society had long eliminated the outdated tools of hot air balloons. There were very few jobs that required hot air balloons. However, Manager Cui quickly said in a certain tone. ¡°Director Zhao, you¡¯re a genius. Your idea is feasible. I¡¯ll get someone to do it now. I guarantee that New York¡¯s wireless communication will be restored as soon as possible!¡± ¡°When the time comes, as long as someone still has a communication device in their hands, they can contact our base!¡± In addition to the task of rebuilding the wireless network, Zhao Feng had another very important thing to deal with. That was the production of weapons! In the previous rescue process of the survivors in the development zone, not every rescue operation was very smooth. This was especially so when Zhao Feng encountered survivors who were lacking in resources. These people would often show the truest side of the apocalypse. In a park with almost no food reserves, the survivors were divided into three groups, and they had been fighting for limited supplies. As a result, there were fewer than 10 survivors in the park. The company had nearly 100 people before, but when Zhao Feng found them, there were less than 10 people left. This incident also served as a reminder to Zhao Feng. In the development zone where there were few people, battles between people for resources had already occurred. If they went to the city, the number of survivors would only be more. These people had already changed to adapt to the apocalypse. If they were saved, it was difficult to guarantee that there would be no accidents in the future. Therefore, only with enough power could he intimidate the people in the underground city and make them follow the rules he had set! Although there were many difficulties in manufacturing weapons, Zhao Feng had purchased many industrial machine tools before the apocalypse and stored them in the underground city¡¯s warehouse. Nowadays, there was no longer any regulatory organization that would supervise the use of these machine tools. There were many talents in the development zone, even many R&D personnel from technology companies. He would get these people to modify the machine tools according to the information collected before the apocalypse, and they would be able to use them to produce weapons. Zhao Feng planned to keep his activities within the development zone. When some of the weapons were produced, he would organize a group of fully armed city rescue teams and enter New York City! In the apocalypse, every living force was very precious, and the value of a single person was no less than an entire factory. Just like that, a month had passed since the apocalypse. The factory that produced weapons had already been put into production half a month ago. The first batch of city rescue teams had been officially established. The rescue team had a total of 50 people, and each of them was equipped with the underground city¡¯s self-produced weapons and equipment. Although these pieces of equipment were very crude, and their performance could only reach the level of a century ago, they had enough power. ¡°We¡¯re officially setting off for New York City today!¡± ¡°If any of you have relatives living in the city, you can register in advance. If we pass by these places on the way, the rescue team will help you search for your relatives and determine their living conditions.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s words immediately caused a sensation in the underground city. When the apocalypse happened, many people stayed in the development zone for work reasons, and their families might be living and working in the city. In addition to the loss of communication, many people still did not know the whereabouts of their family members. Zhao Feng¡¯s words undoubtedly ignited the people¡¯s thoughts about their families. Moreover, as the saying goes, whether he¡¯s alive or dead, I want to see his corpse. No matter what the outcome of my loved ones is, there must at least be a result! ¡°Director Zhao, I also want to join the rescue team!¡± ¡°I also want to join.¡± ¡°Give me a set of equipment. I want to enter the city with you. My parents are in the city!¡± There was a slight disturbance in the crowd. ¡°Silence!¡± As soon as Zhao Feng opened his mouth, everyone stopped talking. Zhao Feng had a high reputation in the eyes of the underground city residents. Before the apocalypse, he was the boss of a company. No one could challenge Zhao Feng¡¯s authority in the underground city. ¡°Quiet, I know you¡¯re all very anxious and want to know the whereabouts of your loved ones.¡± ¡°But entering the city for rescue is not child¡¯s play. It¡¯s much more complicated than the development zone, and we may encounter many unexpected dangers.¡± ¡°And we¡¯re short on weapons right now, so we can¡¯t allow more people to join the rescue team for the time being.¡± ¡°But I can guarantee that when there¡¯s an opportunity in the future, everyone can go to the city and go back to their homes to take a look. ¡°After the registration, the rescue team will set off immediately and enter New York City!¡± Ten minutes later, the rescue team took the elevator to the surface and boarded a few cars parked in the park. They drove at full speed along the damaged road to New York City! Chapter 25 - Attacked the Wrong Person, a Miraculous Survival Rate! Chapter 25 Attacked the Wrong Person, a Miraculous Survival Rate! On the way to the city, although the road conditions were not ideal, there were broken-down vehicles everywhere, and many roads were almost blocked by cars. Fortunately, Zhao Feng had anticipated this. From the beginning, he did not choose the fast road into the city but chose the road below, so the journey was relatively smooth. What made Zhao Feng feel a little puzzled was not this, but because the convoy had not encountered many survivor gathering places along the way. The total number of survivors might not even exceed a hundred people! According to Zhao Feng¡¯s estimation, before he set off, even if he had not entered the city, the number of survivors he could have met along the way should easily exceed 1000. ¡°This is strange. Where did all these people go?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that these people still have the ability to migrate after the apocalypse? Or is it that there are very few people left in this area before the apocalypse?¡± Zhao Feng could not understand this situation. He was not a God, just an ordinary person who had been reborn. The system did not give Zhao Feng the ability to predict the future. Manager Cui guessed after thinking for a moment. ¡°Maybe there were some unexpected changes in the city after the apocalypse. The number of people in the development zone is normal, so the only place these people could have gone to is the urban area!¡± After getting along for nearly a month, and with his excellent ability, Manager Cui had become Zhao Feng¡¯s right-hand man. Moreover, most of the people in the development zone were familiar with Manager Cui. If Manager Cui were to lead some work, it would make these things very smooth. Zhao Feng also brought Manager Cui with him on this trip to the city. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Tell the car in front to speed up. We shouldn¡¯t stay too long outside the city. Once we enter, all the answers might be revealed!¡± The convoy increased its speed and bypassed the crowded road. They soon arrived at the city center. The scene here could only be described as a disaster. Although only a few tall buildings had collapsed, most of the buildings were in ruins. Almost no piece of glass was intact, and the ground was covered in crystals formed by the melted glass. Many high-rise buildings had clearly been set on fire during the apocalypse. The entire building was now black, and there were burn marks everywhere. As for the road condition in the city, it was naturally worse than outside. If the convoy wanted to enter the city, they often had to make a few detours to avoid the completely blocked roads. Just as the convoy passed through a street and was about to turn into another street to head to the city center, the screeching sound of the brakes hurt people¡¯s eardrums, and many people¡¯s heads even hit the car. Zhao Feng asked, holding his forehead. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why did you suddenly brake? What happened?¡± As soon as he finished speaking, there was a ¡°bang¡± and Zhao Feng suddenly quivered. He had a bad feeling. ¡°Director Zhao, we¡¯ve been ambushed. Someone has set up a roadblock to stop us here.¡± ¡°And they have guns in their hands. The other party has already opened fire. Please allow us to launch a counterattack!¡± What? The survivors of New York City had weapons? They even set up a roadblock to block the city center and even took the initiative to shoot. How could Zhao Feng tolerate such a thing? It seemed that the toughness of the city center¡¯s survivors had exceeded his expectations. ¡°Permission to return fire! However, everyone¡¯s safety is our top priority.¡± ¡°Understood, Director Zhao!¡± The two groups of people quickly separated and began to fire at each other. However, because both sides clearly cherished their lives very much, there were only very small injuries on both sides, but no one died. At this moment, the other party suddenly fired a signal bullet and stopped firing. Naturally, Zhao Feng immediately ordered his men to stop firing and see what the other party was up to. Soon, one of the team members saw a drone flying over with a walkie-talkie. ¡°Who are you? This is New York City. Identify yourselves. Otherwise, please return the way you came from. You are prohibited from entering the city!¡± A man¡¯s voice came from the walkie-talkie. Zhao Feng didn¡¯t answer these questions but asked a question in return. ¡°I¡¯m a citizen of New York, and I¡¯m just going home. Who are you? What right do you have to set up a roadblock and attack us?¡± The other party was silent for a moment. He probably didn¡¯t expect that someone would still have the intention to go home at this time. ¡°We¡¯re from New York¡¯s security bureau. If you¡¯re not enemies, please put away your weapons. It might have been a misunderstanding.¡± After fighting for so long, both sides had people injured, and in the end, it was a mistake? Zhao Feng didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. It seemed that the apocalypse had caused everyone to be a little nervous. The roadblock was removed. After Zhao Feng checked the other party¡¯s identity with the drone, he finally ordered the convoy to continue moving forward and meet the people from the security bureau. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m the current deputy director of the security bureau, Leon. This is a special period. Please forgive me if I offended you just now.¡± Leon sincerely extended his hand to apologize. Zhao Feng naturally wouldn¡¯t slap a smiling person. The appearance of the security bureau gave Zhao Feng a pleasant surprise. This meant that New York City was still operating normally after the apocalypse. As many of his memories of his previous life¡¯s apocalypse had become blurry, Zhao Feng did not remember the deputy director of the security bureau. ¡°What¡¯s the situation in the city? How many survivors do you have?¡± ¡°I remember that the evacuation time should only be an hour, right? There was enough time?¡± In the face of Zhao Feng¡¯s doubts, Deputy Director Leon began to tell him about the situation in the city since the beginning of the apocalypse. Only then did Zhao Feng know that after the disaster warning, although it was already too late, the local authorities had immediately organized an evacuation. In the last few hours, nearly half of the population was moved to underground air defense projects in various parts of the city. In the center of the city, there was actually a large-scale disaster shelter that looked like an underground shopping mall on the outside which accommodated a population of nearly a million. Moreover, since the outside world had begun to recover ten days ago, the government had begun rescue operations in the entire city and re-established the social order before the disaster. After learning this information, Zhao Feng was shocked at the government¡¯s swift actions. Moreover, this was a little different from the memories of his previous life. After some thought, Zhao Feng felt that his rebirth had caused a butterfly effect. Perhaps in other cities, everything was still going according to the course of history. However, it was the best news that Zhao Feng had heard since the apocalypse that there were still millions of survivors in New York City! With people, there was hope. Chapter 26 - Cant Repeat the Same Chapter 26 Can¡¯t Repeat the Same Mistakes in the Second Life After some communication and clearing up the misunderstanding, the relationship between the two sides had completely eased. Moreover, the apocalypse had only just begun. Although the order of the past no longer existed, the same blood still flowed in everyone¡¯s body. It was a heartwarming thing to be able to see his compatriots after the apocalypse. ¡°Is it convenient to ask, who is the person in charge of the city¡¯s refuge shelters?¡± Zhao Feng suddenly asked because he had just thought of a famous person in his previous life. The Deputy Director nodded after hearing this question. ¡°Of course, no problem. It¡¯s not really a secret.¡± ¡°The person in charge of all the shelters in New York is Mayor Zhu Jun. When we first found out about the disaster, we immediately evacuated the government staff to the shelter.¡± ¡°Other than some of the staff who were out on business trips, the government¡¯s management system did not suffer any losses, so Mayor Zhu¡¯s position continued after the disaster.¡± Hearing this result, Zhao Feng nodded thoughtfully. As expected, it was still Zhu Jun. It seemed like even though his rebirth had changed a part of history, the butterfly effect was not too big. In his previous life, Zhu Jun was the one who ruled this city after the disaster. He also used the large number of emergency supplies stored in the refuge shelter to survive the most difficult period after the apocalypse. He had also used his position to gather a large number of survivors after the apocalypse. Other than the survivors in New York, many other smaller cities had also chosen to join New York City. In the end, Zhu Jun¡¯s subordinates grew in number, and he established his own force here, dominating the area. Zhu Jun even brought his men to a military base near New York City and took all the weapons stored there. The arrival of the apocalypse had caused the military base to be severely damaged, and most of the weapons and equipment could no longer be used. However, the armory of the military base had sufficient protective measures, and even a solar storm could not destroy the armory. As a result, there were still many usable weapons left there. With these weapons, Zhu Jun¡¯s strength grew stronger and stronger. No one in this region could challenge his authority. Although Zhu Jun did a good job during the early days of the apocalypse, he still did his job and worked hard for the development of the survival base. However, the good times didn¡¯t last long. About two months after the apocalypse, Zhu Jun finally began to fall. He used his powerful military force to become a cruel dictator. He started to oppress the ordinary people in the refuge shelter, causing them to live precarious lives. Although there were many voices of opposition in the refuge shelter at the beginning, as Zhu Jun began to use the weapons in his hands and the army to suppress and rule cruelly, these voices gradually disappeared. In the end, the millions of survivors in the shelter became Zhu Jun¡¯s private property, and they could only live in his shadow! In his previous life, Zhao Feng was also one of these ordinary people! He had experienced such oppression. At this moment, Zhao Feng only had one thought in his mind. ¡°Since the heavens have allowed me to live again, then Zhu Jun must not be allowed to live! Otherwise, when he finds out that I have a large number of resources stored in the underground city, he will definitely send an army to find trouble with me!¡± ¡°At that time, no matter how many things I prepare before the apocalypse, in the end, it will only benefit others!¡± ¡°And the people of New York City will once again live in misery!¡± At this moment, Zhao Feng had already made up his mind. He must not let the tragedy of his previous life repeat itself! Since he was reborn, this time, he had to find a way to completely overthrow Zhu Jun¡¯s cruel rule and let the survivors after the apocalypse live as good a life as possible. Although they would not be as rich as before the apocalypse, they would at least have enough dignity. ¡°Mr. Zhao, what are you thinking about? Can you share it with us?¡± Zhao Feng was unconsciously engrossed in his thoughts, and the deputy director of the security bureau asked doubtfully. Zhao Feng quickly smiled. ¡°Haha, it¡¯s nothing. Chief Zhu reacted quickly and saved millions of people in our city. He¡¯s the hero of New York City! ¡°Respect.¡± The Deputy Director also smiled and said sincerely. ¡°That¡¯s right. There was less than an hour left before the disaster notice was issued. At that time, the government was in chaos.¡± ¡°It was Mayor Zhu who stood up and stabilized the situation in the government. That¡¯s why the people in the city could be evacuated in an orderly manner, allowing enough people to enter the refuge shelter to survive.¡± ¡°By the way, where did you come from, Mr. Zhao? Which shelter is it?¡± Hearing this question, Zhao Feng shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not from the refuge shelter. I came from the development zone. There are enough supplies there, so I¡¯m living pretty well.¡± ¡°I came to the city to see if I could help some survivors and rescue them. I didn¡¯t expect the situation to be so much better than I expected.¡± ¡°This way, I can be at ease. It¡¯ll save me a lot of trouble.¡± The two of them chatted for a while before the security bureau¡¯s Deputy Director suddenly suggested. ¡°Mr. Zhao, since you¡¯re already here, do you want to join our refuge shelter?¡± ¡°Although there might be some conditions for joining the sanctuary, our sanctuary is large and strong enough. Even if there are any disasters in the future, there will be no accidents.¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely your best choice! It just so happens that we¡¯re going to change shifts soon. If you agree, we can go back together.¡± Zhao Feng would have immediately accepted the invitation if he was just a normal survivor. However, Zhao Feng could not agree to it. Moreover, he was very clear about what kind of person Zhu Jun would become in the future. At this time, joining the government¡¯s sanctuary was simply courting death. It wouldn¡¯t be long before Zhu Jun would fall! Of course, Zhao Feng couldn¡¯t tell anyone about this. The security bureau wouldn¡¯t believe him, not to mention how he was going to explain it. Up until now, Zhu Jun was definitely a qualified mayor. He was even a hero in the refuge shelter! ¡°Thank you for your invitation, but I still have a lot of supplies over there. I¡¯ve also gathered a group of people, and I¡¯m doing pretty well now.¡± ¡°If I run into any trouble in the future, I will definitely consider your shelter first.¡± The Deputy Director of the security bureau looked a little regretful, but he didn¡¯t insist. It was already the end of the world, and the pre-disaster tactics were no longer effective. It could be said that apart from some pre-apocalyptic ties, they no longer had many obligations to each other. The two sides parted ways, and Zhao Feng prepared to go to other areas to search for survivors that might not have entered the government¡¯s refuge. Chapter 27 - The Cautious Survivor Group Chapter 27 The Cautious Survivor Group As Zhao Feng was still wary of Zhu Jun¡¯s power, he did not plan to have any further contact with the government. Therefore, Zhao Feng ordered the convoy to go around the city center and continue to search for survivors in places far away from the place. Just as Zhao Feng had expected, although most of the survivors had entered the government¡¯s underground shelter, there were still a lot of people who had survived in the outside world. It didn¡¯t take long for the convoy to have more than a hundred people. These people were all survivors who had been convinced to join Zhao Feng¡¯s shelter. Of course, some unfortunate situations happened. Because Zhao Feng was not part of the government, some stubborn survivors rejected his invitation. They insisted on waiting for the government¡¯s rescue. Even if they wanted to join, they would join the government¡¯s sanctuary. Zhao Feng didn¡¯t force these people. He even kindly told them the location of the government¡¯s shelter and where the security bureau¡¯s members were. ¡°Director Zhao, there¡¯s almost no more space in our car. When are we going back?¡± ¡°I suggest that we don¡¯t spend the night in the city. The temperature here will drop a lot at night, and the surrounding houses have been severely damaged. They don¡¯t have enough heat insulation.¡± Manager Cui looked at the time and reminded Zhao Feng that it was almost time. There were more than 100 new people in the car today, which was a good harvest. They could go back now. Zhao Feng nodded lightly. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s take another route back to the base. Along the way, we¡¯ll search for survivors. If there are, we¡¯ll bring them along to maximize our benefits.¡± ¡°Alright!¡± The fleet of cars began to turn around and move in the direction of the development zone. Not long after, Zhao Feng saw a flag fluttering in the wind on the side of the road. At first, the flag did not attract too much attention, but Zhao Feng immediately realized that someone had put it there later. Under the terrifying solar storm, the temperature of the outside world during the apocalypse was very high. Even metal could melt, let alone these flags. Therefore, the flag might have been planted by the survivors on the side of the road to attract the officials to come down and rescue them. ¡°Stop the car. There are survivors here!¡± Everyone alighted one after another, carefully and vigilantly searching the nearby area with their weapons. Finally, they found the survivors in an office building by the road. These people were all hiding in the underground parking lot. Because the underground parking lot of this office building had a total of three floors, they hid at the bottom and avoided the crisis of the apocalypse, and they survived. As soon as they entered the garage, the atmosphere in the garage suddenly became tense. A group of people with all kinds of strange weapons in their hands hid behind the cars and pillars, staring at Zhao Feng and the others with vigilance. Some of them were holding vegetable knives, while others were holding steel pipes. These were all considered normal weapons. The strangest thing was that one of them was actually holding a pair of scissors. The weapons in their hands seemed to have been found in this office building, and they were probably all people who worked in this building. ¡°Who are you? Why are you here?¡± A man¡¯s voice came from behind the pillar. It sounded very deep and powerful, so it should be the leader of this group. Zhao Feng replied loudly. ¡°We are from a survivor base in the development zone. We have sufficient supplies and maintained the order of civilization.¡± ¡°Today, we came to the city to search for survivors to help them. Now, I officially invite you to join our survivor base. I can guarantee that you will live a stable life.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine even if you refuse. I met people from the security bureau on my way here. I can tell you where they are, and you can join the government shelter!¡± Zhao Feng had shown his sincerity and didn¡¯t force them to join his base. These words undoubtedly won the favor of the survivors. However, the leader of the other party was obviously vigilant enough. He was already familiar with the truth of the apocalypse, the law of the jungle. ¡°How can I believe you? If what you say is a lie, I will be responsible for the lives of the people behind me!¡± ¡°What are you going to use to prove that what you¡¯re saying is true?¡± With that, Zhao Feng immediately had a whole new level of respect for the leader of this group of survivors. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t encounter a group of survivors that were vigilant enough, but most of them had wavered after hearing his initial words. Almost no one could remain rational in the face of the temptation of a stable life like this survivor leader. Everyone had suffered too much after the apocalypse. When did people from modern civilization suffer like this? The moment they heard that there was a safe place to live and sufficient resources, all their sense of crisis would be instantly abandoned. Zhao Feng thought for a while and suddenly realized that he really didn¡¯t have enough evidence to prove his words. At this moment, Zhao Feng suddenly thought of the weapon he was holding. Then, Zhao Feng did something that no one expected. He immediately threw the weapon in his hand. The sound of the weapon falling to the ground attracted everyone¡¯s attention. The atmosphere in the garage suddenly became tense. These people actually had guns? Zhao Feng continued. ¡°Is this enough sincerity? If I were a bad person, I wouldn¡¯t need to waste so much time trying to convince you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re a match for me. So, have you thought it through?¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s performance finally convinced the survivors hiding in the garage. The next moment, a burly man appeared not far from Zhao Feng. He threw the sharpened steel pipe on the ground and strode toward Zhao Feng. Zhao Feng could see the aura of this person with a single glance. He was a soldier! No wonder he could be the boss of this group of survivors. When the man came to Zhao Feng, he first used a scrutinizing gaze to stare at him, then stretched out his hand and said indifferently. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Wang Li, the leader of the survivors here. I hope what you said just now was true.¡± Zhao Feng and Wang Li¡¯s hands touched, and he immediately felt a terrifying force start to squeeze his palm. However, the moment the pain appeared, Wang Li let go of Zhao Feng¡¯s hand with a hint of warning in his eyes. It was clear that he did not fully trust Zhao Feng, and wanted to use this method to help his companion gain more status and dignity from Zhao Feng. Zhao Feng said with a smile. ¡°I seem to have seen through your choice, right?¡± Wang Li said with a bitter smile. ¡°We have no other choice. If you had come two days later, we would have run out of supplies.¡± Chapter 28 - The Whereabouts of the Military Base Chapter 28 The Whereabouts of the Military Base Wang Li¡¯s area was only an office building in the city. It was already a miracle that they could last more than a week after the apocalypse. This place was not a development zone with sufficient resources, and there were no shelters around. ¡°Everyone, come out. Mr. Zhao is not a bad person. Our supplies are running out. I suggest you join Mr. Zhao¡¯s base. He has enough supplies.¡± Soon, dozens of survivors dropped their weapons and gathered. He didn¡¯t expect to meet such a large group of survivors when he was planning to go back. The harvest was not small. Wang Li obviously had a lot of say in this group of survivors, and he quickly convinced everyone to join Zhao Feng¡¯s camp. ¡°There are still many cars in the garage that can be used. I can get everyone to follow behind you in their cars. You can leave in ten minutes!¡± ¡°Alright, then tell everyone to hurry up and get ready. Take the rest of the supplies you have here with you. Don¡¯t waste them.¡± Ten minutes later, the fleet, which had nearly doubled in size, drove on the road to the development zone. With Wang Li¡¯s group, the number of survivors that Zhao Feng brought back this time exceeded 200 people, exceeding the number of people who had completed the search mission. Since Zhao Feng was curious about Wang Li and it was rare for him to meet a soldier, he invited Wang Li to sit in his car. Furthermore, Zhao Feng had a very important question that he wanted to ask Wang Li! It was about the military base near New York. Did he have any information about the base? ¡°Wang Li, you¡¯re a soldier, right? Why did you appear in that office building after the apocalypse?¡± After hearing Zhao Feng¡¯s question, Wang Li answered while thinking. ¡°Yes, I was in military service, to begin with.¡± ¡°But I happened to be on vacation at the time, and when I heard the news that the disaster was about to break out, I didn¡¯t have enough time to find a government refuge.¡± ¡°So, I found an office building with a deep underground parking lot. Fortunately, there were some supplies stored in that building, which allowed me to survive until now.¡± Zhao Feng continued to ask. ¡°Have you heard of a military base near New York?¡± ¡°It¡¯s roughly in the northwest of the city?¡± As soon as he said that, Zhao Feng immediately noticed that Wang Li¡¯s expression was nervous for a moment but then relaxed. ¡°Why are you asking this question? The military base is a top secret. Why do you think I would know?¡± Zhao Feng said with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s just a guess. You just happen to be on vacation here, so I asked.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to answer. I can only tell you why I¡¯m looking for this military base.¡± Then, Zhao Feng told Wang Li about the changes that Zhu Jun, the current manager of the shelter, might undergo in the future, as well as the suffering that millions of residents might suffer. ¡°If Zhu Jun gets his hands on these weapons, no one will be able to restrict his authority. By then, millions of New York citizens will be plunged into an abyss of suffering.¡± ¡°Some people may even starve to death in the refuge. The reason I want those weapons is to overthrow his rule and redistribute the resources!¡± Wang Li frowned. ¡°How do you know that Zhu Jun will become corrupted in the future? Couldn¡¯t it have been your own ambitions?¡± Zhao Feng shook his head. ¡°There are some things that you won¡¯t believe even if I tell you. Why don¡¯t you come back to my base with me first, and then you can choose whether to believe me or not?¡± Zhao Feng ended the conversation, even though he didn¡¯t get any valuable information from the conversation. However, he was sure that Wang Li knew something about the military base. Even if he didn¡¯t know the exact location, he had a rough idea! This way, he could send people out to search for the location of the base and make a move before Zhu Jun! The weapons produced by the underground city could not be compared to the standard weapons in the military base, so these weapons were extremely important to Zhao Feng. After a day of searching, the number of survivors in the base had finally exceeded 1000! After the 200 people that he brought back entered the underground city, Zhao Feng immediately asked Ding Yao to assign them to their respective jobs and quickly put them into production. At the same time, he began to prepare his own plan. His ultimate goal was to overthrow Zhu Jun¡¯s rule and take over the various shelters near New York City! A few days later, the new 200 people had basically adapted to life in the underground city, especially Wang Li. He had joined the security department and even had a position. He had started to train the new recruits for Zhao Feng. Although he had only been in the underground city for a short time, Wang Li had already completely integrated into this place. Moreover, everything he had experienced confirmed Zhao Feng¡¯s words. There was indeed no discrimination or oppression here, and the civilization and order before the disaster were preserved to the greatest extent. On this day, Zhao Feng found Wang Li again. ¡°So, are you willing to believe what I said now?¡± Wang Li nodded without saying anything. Zhao Feng did not mention the military base but asked a question. ¡°I want to develop my own network and eyes in the government¡¯s shelter. What do you think is the best way?¡± ¡°As the saying goes, the strongest barrier is often easily disintegrated from the inside. Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win every battle.¡± ¡°Only by obtaining information about the shelter will we have a higher chance of overthrowing Zhu Jun in the future. How about you give me a suggestion from your perspective?¡± This time, Wang Li didn¡¯t refuse. He said after thinking for a moment. ¡°I think the best way is to use material things to win over people¡¯s hearts, even if the government¡¯s shelter had a lot of reserve supplies before the disaster.¡± ¡°But there are too many people in the government shelters. Even if there is a large number of resources, it will be diluted in the face of a larger population.¡± ¡°So, if I¡¯m not wrong, the government should || still be very tight on supplies. ¡°According to what I¡¯ve learned over the past two days, the underground city doesn¡¯t seem to be lacking in supplies, right? The material reserves here seem to be even more than the government¡¯s shelter?¡± ¡°By the way, how did you do it? You seem to have the ability to predict the future and have stored such a huge amount of resources here in advance?¡± Wang Li couldn¡¯t understand. It was too obvious that the underground city was deliberately storing supplies! Zhao Feng said with an embarrassed smile. ¡°Haha, predicting the future is a little exaggerated. However, I did indeed realize the existence of the apocalypse in advance. Let¡¯s get back to the main topic.¡± ¡°So the best way is to trade with the government¡¯s shelter!¡± Wang Li continued. ¡°We should play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses. Supplies are our greatest advantage!¡± Chapter 29 - Automatic Weapons Chapter 29 Automatic Weapons Production Line! ¡°Since the government¡¯s sanctuary is lacking in supplies, we will provide them with these. We can also bribe them in the process of trading to develop the power that belongs to us in the sanctuary.¡± ¡°This can gradually win the people over, and we can even use these people to collect information about the sanctuary.¡± ¡°According to what you told me, Zhu Jun¡¯s corruption as the director of the sanctuary is definitely not a sudden occurrence. It might mean that the entire sanctuary¡¯s management is decaying!¡± ¡°In this case, it¡¯s much easier to win people¡¯s hearts with materials!¡± ¡°And we can dump the cheap products produced by the underground city to exchange for what we lack from the sanctuary.¡± ¡°For example, tools of production and even population!¡± Wang Li¡¯s last sentence shocked Zhao Feng. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t think of obtaining the population the underground city lacked from the sanctuary, but he never considered using resources to exchange for manpower! Isn¡¯t this already considered human trafficking? It was hard to imagine that such a thing could happen in the modern world. However, Zhao Feng had to admit in his heart that Wang Li¡¯s suggestion had moved him! ¡°Your suggestion is great. I need to think about it. Work hard. If you decide to tell me about the military base, you can come to me at any time.¡± After saying that, Zhao Feng left in a hurry and went back to make his own plan. With the various ideas that Wang Li had provided, Zhao Feng¡¯s plan was quickly completed. The main purpose was to bribe the officials in the government sanctuary through trade to develop their own power. And he had to use his absolute advantage in terms of materials, plus the huge burden on the sanctuary¡¯s population, to force the sanctuary to agree to his human trade request! This way, the underground city would gain a lot of labor, and many factories that were not operational could be utilized! Zhao Feng was not worried that the products of the sanctuary would not be attractive enough. In addition to the synthetic meat and ham, the system had also given him milk tea, Sanhua Evaporated Milk, and other things that could greatly improve his living standard. He thought about the apocalyptic world, where resources were scarce and living standards had plummeted. How happy would it be to suddenly have a cup of warm and sweet milk tea? And this sweetness was enough to make people recall the happy lives they had in the past, which was enough to make them go crazy! Just as the plan was completed, Zhao Feng suddenly heard the long-awaited system notification in his mind. Since the apocalypse, the underground city had been sealed for more than a week without any transactions. Naturally, the system was not triggered. However, this time, his plan had not even been carried out, and the system had already jumped out impatiently. It seemed that the system was just like him. It had been driven crazy by the past week of isolation. ¡°Ding! Congratulations on completing a black-hearted plan, Master. Given your previous good performance, the system reward will be given to you in advance.¡± ¡°The reward is a nutrition paste production formula! And an automatic weapons production line!¡± After hearing the system¡¯s words, Zhao Feng¡¯s attention was drawn to the last sentence. Let¡¯s not talk about the nutrition paste for now. The automatic weapons production line! It seemed that the system pitied the self-made weapons that he was using now and felt that they were too simple and backward. Therefore, it had specially given him a weapon production line! Perhaps the reason why the reward would be given out in advance had nothing to do with the nutrition paste. The main reason was that the system wanted to give him this production line as soon as possible! ¡°What a considerate system! I love you. I love you.¡± Zhao Feng praised the system in his heart and immediately went to an empty factory. ¡°System, take out the automatic weapons production line!¡± ¡°Ding. Received. Please be careful and pay attention to your safety, Master! There was a flash of light, and a familiar spatial distortion appeared. When Zhao Feng looked forward again, a huge machine appeared in the empty factory. This machine was extremely advanced. At first glance, it gave Zhao Feng a strong industrial feeling. At one end of the machine, there was a numerical control console, and a manual was placed next to it. ¡°This production line is used to produce fully automatic weapons. The performance index can be adjusted by the user. After the raw materials are put in, and the power is connected, production can begin.¡± So, production can be started just by putting in the raw materials? A person is not even needed to operate it? Zhao Feng¡¯s eyes suddenly widened. He couldn¡¯t wait to get someone to send a batch of materials over. Then, he put them in through the entrance of the machine and started it. Not long after, at the other end of the machine, a cold metal weapon was freshly made. This weapon was different from any other standard weapon that Zhao Feng knew about, but Zhao Feng was sure that this weapon was much stronger than the ones produced by the underground city! A nearby resident was stunned and stammered. ¡°D-Director Zhao, I¡¯m not dreaming, am I? This gun was automatically produced using the materials I just sent you?¡± Zhao Feng said with a proud smile. ¡°Haha, of course. Besides you and me, did you see anyone else here?¡± ¡°Damn, this could be done? Director Zhao, you sure have a lot of good stuff in your hands! Following you is indeed the right choice!¡± ¡°That¡¯s a must!¡± After Zhao Feng asked Ding Yao to arrange for some people to be in charge of this weapon production factory, he got the synthetic formula of the nutrition paste from the system. In the beginning, Zhao Feng did not pay much attention to this nutrition paste. After all, he could already produce synthetic meat and all kinds of high-quality food. Nutrition paste and the like sounded a little too profitable. However, Zhao Feng was shocked when he saw it. The formula of the nutrition paste was very simple, with only a short sentence. ¡°The range of raw materials is wide. As long as you crush anything edible and process it according to the fixed steps, you can produce food that can quickly fill people¡¯s stomachs that has enough nutritional value!¡± ¡°It¡¯s the most cost-effective product during the apocalypse. It¡¯ll definitely be welcomed by the sanctuary managers!¡± These words provided Zhao Feng with a new train of thought. Originally, Zhao Feng had planned to dump his synthetic meat into the sanctuary in exchange for the resources he needed. But now, Zhao Feng had changed his mind. Synthetic meat was still a bit high-end, so it was better to package it with products like milk tea and sell it to the higher-ups of the sanctuary. As for the normal residents of the sanctuary, they could just eat the nutrition paste! He was such a genius! Chapter 30 - The Sanctuarys Depravity Chapter 30 The Sanctuary¡¯s Depravity The nutrition paste seemed to be of little value at first glance. After all, the citizens of the underground city ate healthy food, and they were used to eating delicious food even during the apocalypse. No one would be willing to buy the nutrition paste at this time. However, if the nutrition paste was an export product and was specially provided to the sanctuary, it was undoubtedly the best choice! Furthermore, the sanctuary did not know what the nutrition paste was made of, nor did they know how low the cost was! With such a deal, the underground city would definitely profit greatly! Soon, Zhao Feng arranged for an empty factory and started to arrange multiple assembly lines to vigorously produce the nutrition paste provided by the system. After a few days of production and accumulating a certain amount of nutrition products, Zhao Feng immediately sent people to the government sanctuary as trade representatives to negotiate with them. Opening a trade channel between the two would be Zhao Feng¡¯s first step into the sanctuary! At this moment, in the government¡¯s sanctuary. Zhu Jun looked at his subordinate and frowned. ¡°You said that there is a private sanctuary planning to trade with us? Are you sure you¡¯re not joking with me?¡± Zhu Jun was already getting impatient. A private sanctuary? These sanctuaries were probably still waiting for aid and material assistance from the government sanctuary. What extra things could they trade? The subordinate nodded and replied. ¡°Director Zhu, it¡¯s true. The other party is said to be from the development zone, so there¡¯s a certain level of credibility.¡± ¡°As far as I know, the development zone had a lot of storage warehouses before the apocalypse, so it¡¯s not surprising that they have a lot of supplies.¡± ¡°Director Zhu, please think twice. Although the supplies in the sanctuary are still quite substantial, the number of people entering was not controlled when the disaster broke out, causing the supplies to be quite limited.¡± ¡°If we can open up trade and collect more resources from other sanctuaries, it will be very important for us!¡± After hearing this, Zhu Jun fell into deep thought. His fingers continuously tapped on the table. After a while, he finally nodded and said. ¡°Alright, send someone to talk to them and see what they want in exchange. Report to me immediately if there¡¯s any new information.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± In the underground city, Ding Yao found Zhao Feng with a happy expression. ¡°Zhao Feng, the government has agreed to cooperate with us. They are now asking us what we want to trade.¡± ¡°They obviously need living supplies, but I¡¯m not sure what we¡¯re lacking.¡± Zhao Feng was not surprised by this news. The government sanctuary was short in supply, so Zhu Jun would not reject this deal. Zhao Feng thought for a moment and decided not to reveal his purpose of trading people. Right now, the two sides had yet to cooperate, and the trust between them was very shallow. If he were to expose the population requirement now, it would only raise Zhu Jun¡¯s vigilance. ¡°First, submit the production tools on this list as well as some of the rarer chemical raw materials to the government sanctuary. || ¡°As for the exchange ratio, you can decide. I trust your judgment. Zhao Feng gave the authority of this matter to Ding Yao. ¡°Alright, don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t let our base suffer any losses!¡± Soon, the trade between the underground city and the government sanctuary officially began. Although Zhao Feng did not request the trade of humans, the other operations were still proceeding as planned. Through trade, the information channels inside the sanctuary were opened, and the information inside was obtained smoothly. Three days later, the first batch of goods was officially exchanged with the sanctuary, and Zhao Feng thus obtained a lot of information about the situation within the sanctuary. ¡°Tell me, what¡¯s life in the sanctuary like now? What¡¯s the situation there?¡± Zhao Feng looked at the captain of the transport team and asked. ¡°Director Zhao, as far as I know, the lives of the ordinary people in the government sanctuary can¡¯t be compared to ours at all. It can only be described as miserable.¡± ¡°Although they survived, and the size of the government sanctuary is huge, the number of people there clearly exceeded the approved capacity of the sanctuary.¡± ¡°I¡¯m guessing that the sanctuary accepted people far beyond the standard on the day of the apocalypse, so the normal people in the sanctuary don¡¯t have their own personal space at all!¡± ¡°Most people can only squeeze into public spaces and only have a small space to sleep!¡± ¡°And because there are too many people, the sanctuary¡¯s ventilation system is also severely overloaded. The interior environment is extremely harsh, and not fit for humans at all!¡± Zhao Feng was not surprised by this information. It was inevitable for the sanctuary to have too many people. And the normal people in the sanctuary would never have thought that they would be in a worse state than they were now! At the very least, the current Zhu Jun was still very responsible. As the trade between the two sides continued, the food shortage problem in the sanctuary was finally effectively solved. Although the ingredients used to produce the nutrition paste were very strange, the finished product was surprisingly tasty. It had a good reputation among the sanctuary residents, and it was easy to eat and digest, so it immediately became the most popular food in the sanctuary. However, the deterioration of the sanctuary¡¯s environment was still not resolved, and the ordinary people were still living in misery every day. But even so, the sanctuary would still take out a large number of resources to exchange with Zhao Feng for synthetic meat and other products to enjoy. And as time passed, more and more higher-ups in the sanctuary began to pursue these material pleasures. It was obvious that the situation in the sanctuary was just as Zhao Feng had predicted. In fact, before Zhu Jun had become corrupted, the management system of the sanctuary had already decayed. The administrators were becoming corrupted and used their power to enjoy themselves, not caring about the lives of the civilians in the sanctuary. They squandered the resources stored in the warehouse to trade with Zhao Feng. Zhao Feng even received news that the government would send people to the city to search for the remaining alcohol and cigarettes every day. After these things were found, they would not fall into the hands of ordinary people. These things would be sent to the management the moment they entered the sanctuary. After layers of exploitation, the best things would be sent to the sanctuary¡¯s director, Zhu Jun! Chapter 31 - The Systems One-Stop Service Chapter 31 The System¡¯s One-Stop Service After a period of trading with the government sanctuary, Zhao Feng obtained many chemical materials and production tools. His biggest gain was a large number of construction materials. Zhao Feng did not hoard these things before the apocalypse, so there were not many of them. It was only a few days before the apocalypse that Zhao Feng realized the importance of construction materials during the apocalypse, especially in the post-disaster reconstruction process. But these problems were now solved by trading with the government sanctuary. Using these materials, Zhao Feng quickly got his men to build a large number of temporary ground residences on the surface above the underground city, which was the original Yaoyao Food company¡¯s production park. Moreover, the quality of the construction materials stored in the government sanctuary was extremely high. The residence built with these things was very strong and could also play a good role in keeping warm. These newly built houses could allow people to return to the surface and not have to stay in the dark underground city every day. Although most of the production activities were carried out in the factories of the underground city, not all the work was done underground. Among the parks in the development zone, there were still many materials that could be collected as they were not destroyed during the catastrophe. Zhao Feng was also prepared to send more resource search teams to explore the urban area outside of the development zone to obtain more resources. Depletion would occur if they only relied on the resources that were hoarded before the apocalypse. Only by making good use of the current material advantage to obtain more benefits could they maintain good living standards for a long time during the apocalypse. ¡°Director Zhao, we¡¯ve started transporting the production equipment that was originally stored in the underground city back to the surface. In a few days, our industrial park will be able to resume production!¡± ¡°By then, whether it¡¯s food or industrial products, our base will have the ability to produce them independently!¡± Manager Cui came to report to Zhao Feng about his daily work. At this time, his face was glowing, and he was obviously quite proud of his achievements. The production of the industrial park was recovering rapidly. Zhao Feng nodded in satisfaction. He then instructed. ¡°Right, we have been using nutrition paste to trade with the government. Did they have any complaints?¡± ¡°Or are they not satisfied with our nutrition paste products? If there are any, you must report back in time.¡± Manager Cui shook his head and answered. ¡°No, not only did the government¡¯s management have no complaints, but I also heard that our nutrition paste products are very popular in the government sanctuary.¡± ¡°It¡¯s said that before our nutrition paste was introduced, commoners there could only drink a bit of plain porridge a day. Since the apocalypse, they have not seen meat at all!¡± ¡°Sigh, those people are living so miserably. I hope the government can send some people to live here. Our underground city can accommodate a lot of people!¡± Hearing this, Zhao Feng smiled and said. ¡°Hehe, your wish of sending people over should be fulfilled soon.¡± ¡°Continue to expand our production facilities on the surface and try to make the living environment in the underground city more comfortable. This is to prevent these production activities from polluting our living environment!¡± ¡°Understood, Director Zhao!¡± Just as he asked Manager Cui to leave, Zhao Feng suddenly received a system notification. ¡°Ding, Master, in view of your active trade activities with the government sanctuary, you have obtained good business results.¡± ¡°Congratulations, Master, for obtaining the reward of a synthetic soy sauce and a combat suit production line!¡± After the system finished speaking, Zhao Feng was shocked. Good Lord, the last time it sent him a weapon, and now it sent him combat services? What should the system give him next time? Was he going to give him the production technology of planes and cannons? But even if the technology was given to him, the underground city wouldn¡¯t be able to produce it. Zhao Feng sighed with emotion in his heart and immediately asked for the formula for the synthetic soy sauce from the system. After a quick glance, he found that the formula for this item was the same as the system¡¯s previous formulas. From the list of raw materials given by the formula, there was nothing related to the final product. For example, this synthetic soy sauce used some things that Zhao Feng had never even heard of. It looked like some industrial raw materials. Was it really okay to use these to produce soy sauce? Fortunately, Zhao Feng was already familiar with the system¡¯s style and was no longer surprised. ¡°This synthetic soy sauce is a very good seasoning. Get Manager Cui to add it to the trade list with the government sanctuary. It can be exported to the sanctuary¡¯s senior management as a new luxury item!¡± Other than the soy sauce, Zhao Feng was most concerned about the combat suit¡¯s assembly line. The post-apocalypse environment had undergone a huge change compared to the pre-apocalypse. Although this planet had a very strong self-healing ability, the time of the effect of this ability was often calculated in centuries or even millennia. There were still a lot of toxic substances in the air in the short term. Even if the content would not cause significant harm to the human body, people¡¯s health would still be affected in the long run. Especially those who went out to work were the most vulnerable to these poisonous substances. At this time, a comfortable combat suit could play a great role in improving the situation! Zhao Feng placed great importance on this and immediately found someone to arrange a factory. suit. First, he went into the system space alone and took out the production line of the combat Then, he arranged for someone to operate the production line. ¡°Try to arrange a set of this combat suit for each of our team members who are carrying out missions in the shortest time possible to ensure everyone¡¯s health while working outside!¡± ¡°No problem, Director Zhao. I¡¯ll complete the mission!¡± With Zhao Feng¡¯s constant trade with the sanctuary, the supplies in the underground city did not decrease by much. This was because Zhao Feng¡¯s cost of producing the nutrition paste was too low. The formula given by the system used some chemical reactions that Zhao Feng could not understand at the moment, causing the nutritional value of the product to be outrageous. The combination of some cheap and seemingly unnutritious things should have been full of technology and hard work. As a result, the combination had an unexpected effect, which led to the continuous progress of trade. Zhao Feng¡¯s supply was getting bigger and bigger. On the other hand, the government sanctuary¡¯s supplies were stored before the apocalypse, so the amount was fixed. With the continuous trading, the supplies in the government sanctuary were rapidly decreasing, and it would not be long before they ran out! Chapter 32 - For the Sake of More Population Chapter 32 For the Sake of More Population At this moment, Zhu Jun was having a headache over this matter. He had gathered some of the higher management of the sanctuary to discuss the solution. ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s talk about how we should deal with this. Right now, our sanctuary is very dependent on products such as nutrition paste and synthetic meat provided by Zhao Feng.¡± ¡°But if this continues, our reserves may not be able to take it, so we have to find a new replacement to complete the deal with Zhao Feng.¡± ¡°Do we have anything else we can use to exchange?¡± Upon hearing Zhu Jun¡¯s words, the many high-ranking officials present fell into deep thought. They all knew why the supplies in the government sanctuary were dropping so quickly. However, everyone was clear about these problems, but no one would say it out loud. Once this layer of window paper was broken, no one could retreat unscathed. ¡°Director Zhu, I remember that we stored a lot of seeds in the sanctuary before the apocalypse. Why don¡¯t we use some of them to trade with Zhao Feng?¡± ¡°There are no seed stations in the development zone. If they want to restore agricultural production, these seeds are a necessity.¡± ¡°As the only supplier of seeds, we can definitely increase the price of the seeds and rip them off!¡± An official made this suggestion. Some people supported it, while others opposed it. ¡°No, we have to resume production in the future. How can we give out the seeds?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like we have to give out all the seeds. If we give some, we can just cultivate some of them ourselves.¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s use the seeds and our soilless agricultural products as new exchange materials. This item should be quite scarce on their side.¡± After a round of discussion, Zhu Jun immediately made a decision. ¡°Alright, then we¡¯ll use these new products as bargaining chips. Immediately send someone to talk to Zhao Feng and change the type of trading!¡± Very quickly, Zhao Feng received a request from the government. ¡°What? They want to trade seeds and agricultural products with us?¡± Manager Cui nodded and said. ¡°Yes, and because of the high production cost of these things, the exchange ratio set by the government is also very disparate. One seed can be exchanged for 100 nutrition pastes.¡¯ ¡°As for the price of soilless cultivation, it will be even higher.¡± Zhao Feng didn¡¯t expect the government to have so many good things. He had never heard of soil-less cultivation technology in the government sanctuary. It seemed like the technology that was previously produced had been digested by the higher-ups of the sanctuary. This bunch of bastards! He occupied the best resources, but he let the ordinary people in the sanctuary live in misery! It seemed that the apocalypse had indeed made them forget their original duties! Zhao Feng quickly made his decision. ¡°No, reject their request. We don¡¯t lack food here, and the exchange rate they are offering is too high. We can¡¯t accept it.¡± There was one more thing that Zhao Feng did not say. If he could use these items to exchange for nutrition paste in large quantities, how could he force the sanctuary to give him what he really wanted when they had no choice? The underground city still had a lot of space to accommodate more people! There were still many factories that were still idling, waiting for enough manpower to start up! From the start, Zhao Feng planned to use trade to exhaust the supplies of the government sanctuary. Then, he would force them to exchange their population for resources. ¡°Go and reply to the people in the government sanctuary. Just reject them directly and leave them hanging for a few days to make them anxious.¡± ¡°When the time comes, you can tell them that if they want to exchange the nutrition paste, they either have to use the things we wanted before, or they have to use people to exchange!¡± When he heard the last sentence, Manager Cui thought he had heard wrong. He didn¡¯t know that Zhao Feng planned to ask for people from the beginning, so he asked in shock. ¡°Director Zhao, did I hear wrong? You¡¯re saying that you want them to use people to exchange for the nutrition paste?¡± Zhao Feng nodded his head lightly. ¡°You didn¡¯t hear wrong. My goal has always been population. You should know how many people the underground city can accommodate!¡± ¡°We can¡¯t even fill the underground city with our 1000 members. Most of the underground city¡¯s areas are empty!¡± ¡°And we have enough supplies to support tens of thousands of people for decades!¡± ¡°Those who can come to the underground city through the exchange are lucky. If you are a member of the government sanctuary, ask yourself, do you want to live in the crowded and stinky sanctuary or live in the underground city?¡± Although he was against the idea of exchanging people for resources, Zhao Feng¡¯s words convinced Manager Cui. Indeed, after a period of understanding the government sanctuary, Manager Cui was very clear about what it was like. Even if he was asked to be the director of a government sanctuary, he would not go! ¡°I got it. I¡¯ll send someone to contact the government sanctuary. I¡¯ll inform you immediately if there¡¯s any news.¡± Half a day later, in the director¡¯s office of the government sanctuary. With a loud bang, Zhu Jun slammed his hand on the table and cursed. ¡°This is preposterous. What kind of person do the natives of the development zone think I, Zhu Jun, am? They want to use a mere nutrition paste to exchange for the people of the sanctuary?¡± ¡°In your dreams! Tell them that they can either do as we say or forget about the trade!¡± ¡°Using nutrition paste to exchange for people? It¡¯s impossible!¡± Very quickly, Manager Cui told Zhao Feng about Zhu Jun¡¯s reply. ¡°Director Zhao, after hearing my request, the government is very agitated and has rejected our request.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we change the terms? Otherwise, the trade won¡¯t be able to continue!¡± Zhao Feng had already expected this. Although Zhu Jun had slowly become corrupted with the higher management of the sanctuary, he still had a bottom line. Also, if the news of selling people got out, it would not be good for his reputation as the leader of the sanctuary, and it might cause some internal problems. Unless he had no other choice, Zhu Jun would not accept such a choice. ¡°Since they don¡¯t agree, then forget it. From now on, stop all trade with the government sanctuary.¡± ¡°They will take the initiative to negotiate with us, trust me.¡± Manager Cui was a little confused about Zhao Feng¡¯s confidence, but he still nodded and agreed. The honeymoon period between Zhao Feng and the government sanctuary had finally ended. Both sides entered a stalemate. It all depended on who lost their cool first. That way, they would be at a disadvantage in future cooperation. However, this stalemate did not mean that Zhao Feng would do nothing. He had bribed so many informants in the sanctuary just for this moment! Chapter 33 - The Sanctuarys Crisis Chapter 33 The Sanctuary¡¯s Crisis At the same time, in the sanctuary. It didn¡¯t seem to have changed much from when the disaster first occurred. People still lived in the place where they had first come. Everyone only had a very small area to live in, and even when they slept at night, they were surrounded by people. Millions of people were living in such a state, and since the apocalypse, almost no one had taken a bath, so the whole public space was stinky. No matter if it was a man or a woman, even the most delicate person before the apocalypse, their bodies had become quite dirty at this time. Most people did not have any work either because there were not many jobs available in the sanctuary. Therefore, the people here just sat in their seats every day to prevent their seats from being taken by others. The only thing they could do was chat and stare blankly. Everyone hungrily hoped that something interesting would happen. No matter good or bad, at least it would make some waves in their stagnant lives. At this time, some people suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a few people gathered in the distance talking about something. These people seemed to be a little agitated. Did something bad happen? The people around them were attracted by the noise. When they got closer, they could hear what these people were talking about. ¡°Have you heard? There is a problem with the supplies in our sanctuary! It might not be able to hold on for much longer!¡± ¡°What? The material reserves are not enough? This can¡¯t be. We¡¯re the biggest government sanctuary in New York City, so how can we finish the entire storage?¡± ¡°Hehe, our sanctuary is indeed big enough, but you have to see how many people came. Do you think the warehouse can handle a million people eating and drinking every day?¡± ¡°According to reliable sources, due to the lack of supplies in our sanctuary, some people might be driven out of the sanctuary in the future!¡± Upon hearing this, some of the passersby who had just gathered around could not help but speak up. ¡°How could that be? Mayor Zhu would never kick us out! Otherwise, why would he let us in?¡± ¡°Hehe, Mayor Zhu was indeed a good person back then, but can you guarantee that he hasn¡¯t changed at all? Please, it was already the end of the world! The order of the past is long gone!¡± The atmosphere grew silent and heavy. Slowly, the news began to spread like wildfire throughout the entire government sanctuary. In less than half a day, almost 90% of the people had learned of this news. Due to the lack of supplies, some people might be driven out of the sanctuary! The people in the sanctuary were already living precarious lives. No one knew what would happen in the future and when they would go hungry because they had one less meal. However, people¡¯s bottom line was to stay in the sanctuary and not face the cruel environment and poisonous air outside. However, this bottom line was about to be crossed! So, the people of the sanctuary finally united under the crisis of survival and began to ask the higher-ups of the sanctuary to explain the matter clearly. There were even people who began to attack the exclusive living quarters of the upper echelons in an organized manner, demanding an explanation. After a day of brewing, the entire sanctuary¡¯s upper echelons were already under pressure from this crisis. ¡°Director Zhu, we can¡¯t go on like this. Even though the people outside are a motley crew, there are too many of them.¡± ¡°If this goes on, something will happen. Once these emotions break through the critical point, we will no longer be able to control them!¡± Zhu Jun was also in a terrible mood at this time. He was very puzzled in his heart. Who was the one spreading these rumors? When did he say he was going to kick some people out of the sanctuary? But now was not the time to think about these questions. The key was that people believed these words! Once the rumors spread, it was useless to refute them! Moreover, the lack of material reserves was a well-known fact, so it was completely useless to refute the rumors under this premise. ¡°Directory Zhu, we can¡¯t wait any longer!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, Director. Just tell us what we should do, and we will do it!¡± In the face of his subordinate¡¯s urging, Zhu Jun also appeared to be a little impatient. ¡°All of you shut up. If it wasn¡¯t for all of you being so useless and only knowing how to eat and drink all day, would you all end up in this state?¡± ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve been doing in private every day? The shortage of supplies should have happened at least two months after the apocalypse. So why is there a problem now? Hmm?¡± Zhu Jun¡¯s sudden outburst made all the higher-ups present look at each other. They all lowered their heads in guilt. Of course, they knew the reason for the lack of supplies. They had all been embezzled. After a while, Zhu Jun finally said. ¡°Send someone to tell the motley crew that the sanctuary will not give up on anyone, but now we are forced to make this choice.¡± ¡°And we¡¯ve found a better place for them. There¡¯s enough food and living space. Let¡¯s just say that.¡± ¡°Also, send someone to find Zhao Feng and tell him that we agree to exchange our population for supplies.¡± After Zhu Jun finished speaking, no one raised any objections. If it was a few days ago, there might be people who would advise Zhu Jun to consider it carefully. But now that the situation was getting out of control, the most important thing was to relieve the pressure on the resources and population. As long as everyone had their fill, naturally, no one would come out to find trouble with the management. Not long after, Zhao Feng saw Manager Cui come into his office with a happy face. ¡°Director Zhao, good news! It¡¯s just as you expected!¡± ¡°The government is willing to accept our request and use people to exchange for our nutrition paste!¡± ¡°The ratio given by the government is one person for 200 nutrition pastes. Take a look¡­¡± Before he could finish, Zhao Feng gave him a new number. ¡°One person for a hundred nutrition paste. Reply them. If they don¡¯t agree, then forget it.¡± Upon hearing this, Manager Cui laughed. ¡°Haha, as expected of you, Director Zhao. This time, the government is going to suffer a huge loss!¡± ¡°Look at what you¡¯re saying. I¡¯m helping them to relieve the double pressure of population and material resources. Isn¡¯t it reasonable for them to pay a little price?¡± ¡°Haha, no problem. I¡¯ll go inform the authorities now! ¡°By the way, our current stock should be close to a million nutrition pastes. This time, we should take out half of it to trade, to avoid losing too many people at once and provoking the government.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Chapter 34 - The Reason Is Exposed, Zhu Jun Is Completely Corrupted Chapter 34 The Reason Is Exposed, Zhu Jun Is Completely Corrupted With the government sanctuary facing an internal crisis, Zhao Feng cut the price in half. But for the government sanctuary, there was no choice but to accept it. For the first trade between the two sides, Zhao Feng directly asked for 5,000 people, and the price was half of the stock, 500,000 nutrition paste. Although 500,000 sounded like a lot, it was nothing to the underground city, which had tens of millions of tons of material reserves. In addition, with the production formula provided by the system, the cost of 500,000 nutrition pastes was extremely low. After completing the trade, Zhao Feng immediately received a system notification. ¡°Ding, Master, congratulations on completing this black-hearted transaction. You have greatly expanded the population of the underground city at a very low cost.¡± ¡°Master, now I¡¯ll reward you with a synthetic rice production formula and a simple house production module!¡± Synthetic rice! This was good stuff! According to the system¡¯s usual style, although this rice was labeled as synthetic, the taste of the product should be no different from real rice. It might even be better! Rice is a good thing to improve life! Although the underground city¡¯s warehouse also stored a lot of rice, these things would expire and go bad. Therefore, before the restoration of agricultural production, rice would decrease. It might not be long before they would not be able to eat fragrant rice. The production formula of synthetic rice solved this problem! Zhao Feng was more curious about the simple house production module. What is this? Was it to help him build a house? But what was the meaning of this simple house? With the harsh environment outside, it would be a big problem if the quality of the houses produced was not up to standard! Of course, Zhao Feng would still choose to believe in the good stuff provided by the system first. He immediately took the elevator to the ground level and found a place with no one. ¡°System, take out this simple house production module!¡± ¡°Understood. Please be careful, Master!¡± A feeling of time and space being twisted appeared. Then, a huge object appeared in the open space in front of Zhao Feng. It should be the simple house production module that the system mentioned before. ¡°Master, you can quickly produce a large number of planks for building houses by adding in raw materials.¡± ¡°These boards are all of the same standards. They only need to be connected in the simplest way to build a house of qualified quality.¡± ¡°Not only is it strong enough, but its thermal insulation is also excellent. It can meet the initial building needs in an apocalyptic environment.¡± ¡°Master, I hope that you can use this technology to quickly expand the control range of the ground base so that everyone can have their own house!¡± The house production module could mass-produce houses, and the synthetic rice could enrich people¡¯s daily food choices. The system¡¯s reward this time was really considerate. Zhao Feng was very satisfied with it. After two rounds of population exchanges, the number of survivors in Zhao Feng¡¯s underground city base had officially exceeded 10,000. It had also reached one percent of the total population of the government¡¯s largest sanctuary. There were too many people in the government sanctuary. Even if Zhao Feng had absorbed enough people, the difference in numbers was still huge. At the same time, the authorities seemed to have found something. Ever since the wave of condemnation of the higher-ups of the sanctuary appeared, Zhu Jun had been sending a large number of people to investigate this matter. He wanted to find out where the rhythm was coming from and what made people think that he would drive out a portion of people. Because he had never thought of doing this, it was obvious that someone was secretly setting the pace! After a series of investigations, some clues gradually came together, and in the end, these clues all pointed in the same direction. It was Zhao Feng! ¡°Director Zhu, it was said that a group of people gathered to discuss this matter, which led to people thinking that someone would be driven out!¡± ¡°According to the information given by the witnesses, those people were probably bribed by Zhao Feng!¡± ¡°We just found these people not long ago, and some unfinished synthetic meat and many other products from Zhao Feng¡¯s base were found on them! This evidence undoubtedly proves that Zhao Feng sent someone to set up this arrangement!¡± ¡°What do you think we should do? Do you want to stop all cooperation with Zhao Feng¡¯s base?¡± The veins on Zhu Jun¡¯s forehead bulged when he received the news. He couldn¡¯t tolerate someone causing trouble right under his nose. Furthermore, it was in his own base camp. This was simply preposterous! ¡°Looks like if we don¡¯t do a proper reorganization of the sanctuary, it won¡¯t be long before our entire sanctuary belongs to Zhao Feng¡¯s base.¡± Not long after, Zhao Feng suddenly received a piece of news. ¡°Director Zhao, I heard that Zhu Jun found out about us instigating the sanctuary residents to question the higher-ups.¡± Hearing this, Zhao Feng asked curiously. ¡°Oh? What did Zhu Jun do?¡± ¡°Recently, Zhu Jun had a private conversation with many higher-ups in the sanctuary. I heard that some of them were fired, and some of them were severely punished after the investigation.¡± ¡°It seems like he has already started to purge the dissidents within the sanctuary. He wants to use this opportunity to firmly grasp the highest power in the sanctuary in his hands!¡± After receiving this news, Zhao Feng calculated the time and thought that it was about time. Perhaps in his previous life, Zhu Jun had also started to gradually become corrupted and degenerate at this time. Through the information leaked by the spies in the sanctuary, Zhao Feng learned a lot about the recent inside story of the sanctuary. For example, one of the higher-ups in the sanctuary revealed that Zhu Jun was a completely different person five days after the disaster. This news shocked Zhao Feng. In his previous life, he had thought that Zhu Jun would only become corrupted two months later. He did not expect that he had changed in just five days after the disaster! It seemed like this person had been hiding too well. He had been pretending to be a hero to gain the support of the residents. A higher-up of the sanctuary provided even more shocking news, including many pictures of girls. ¡°Director Zhao, I heard that Zhu Jun has used his power to force many young girls from the sanctuary to serve him!¡± ¡°The sanctuary has become jittery due to this incident. I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t be long before Zhu Jun¡¯s words completely rule the sanctuary!¡± ¡°We¡¯ve lost contact with many of our informants recently. I¡¯m afraid that they¡¯re already dead!¡± Zhao Feng had not expected this. Chapter 35 - Temperature Drop Warning, Winter Is Coming Chapter 35 Temperature Drop Warning, Winter Is Coming He didn¡¯t expect Zhu Jun to be so merciless as to get rid of all the people who were found to be in contact with him. From the looks of it, this incident had a huge impact on Zhu Jun. ¡°It seems like I have to find the military base near New York City as soon as possible. Only with enough weapons can I overthrow Zhu Jun and maintain the safety of the base!¡± Zhao Feng had a premonition that he would soon face a massive crisis. The military base near the city would become the most critical point of contention! Regardless of whether it was he or Zhu Jun, whoever controlled a large number of weapons in this base first would have the initiative! In the apocalyptic world where the strong preyed on the weak, having a huge reserve of materials was not enough. One must also have enough powerful military strength to protect themselves. Otherwise, the things stored in his warehouse would only benefit others! After making up his mind, Zhao Feng immediately went to find Wang Li. As he had been too busy with the government sanctuary, Zhao Feng had almost forgotten about this guy. Wang Li had a high position in the underground city¡¯s security department, even though he wasn¡¯t the first to join the underground city. However, compared to the 10,000 people who came from the government sanctuary, he was already one of the more experienced people. Therefore, Wang Li had a lot of power in the security department. Seeing Zhao Feng, Wang Li didn¡¯t seem surprised at all and instead took the initiative. ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, you¡¯re here to ask me about the military base, right?¡± After hearing this, Zhao Feng did not plan to keep him in suspense. Time was of the essence, and this matter could not be delayed. ¡°Well, I think you should be able to tell me where the military base is now, right?¡± ¡°And this matter has become extremely important. If I¡¯m not wrong, the government sanctuary might have already started looking for the location of this base.¡± ¡°And with the information the government sanctuary has, they might find this military base faster than we do.¡± ¡°There have been some conflicts between us recently. You know that I¡¯ve used some means to force Zhu Jun to send a lot of people to us. Once they get hold of the weapons there, you know the consequences!¡± After Zhao Feng finished speaking, Wang Li fell into silence. It was obvious that the rules before the apocalypse still had a certain binding force on him. The military base was top-secret information that could not be leaked. Finally, Wang Li recognized the reality. This was the apocalypse. He said with a sigh. ¡°Fine, the world has already become like this. It¡¯ll be a joke if I continue to persist like this.¡± ¡°Get someone to bring me a map of New York City. I¡¯ll mark the general location of this base on it.¡± ¡°However, this base is not marked on the map, so I don¡¯t know the exact location. You may have to send people to search in the area I have drawn.¡± Zhao Feng replied with a smile. ¡°Haha, I¡¯m already very satisfied that you can mark the approximate location. I¡¯ll find someone to do the rest!¡± After Wang Li finished drawing the location information, Zhao Feng immediately handed the map to Manager Cui and ordered. ¡°Within half a day, immediately send someone to find the military base according to the location marked on the map. Remember to keep a low profile along the way.¡± ¡°If you meet anyone who might be related to the government, you should avoid them in time and don¡¯t leak any information about this action!¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s serious tone made Manager Cui realize the importance of this task. He immediately agreed and left. Just as the search for the military base was about to begin, Zhao Feng suddenly received news that a person who claimed to be a meteorologist wanted to see him. ¡°Let him in.¡± Zhao Feng picked up the phone in the office and ordered. Soon, the meteorologist appeared in front of Zhao Feng. Although it was the apocalypse, Zhao Feng still preserved some of the special jobs and did not let them do simple production work. Instead, he let them continue to do their own jobs and continue to do what they used to do. This meteorologist was one of them. In his previous life, after the apocalypse, the global climate had undergone a huge change. However, at that time, Zhao Feng was just a low-level ordinary person, living like a walking corpse in the underground city every day. He had no right to come into contact with information from the outside world. Now that he had become the owner of the base, he naturally wouldn¡¯t ignore the possible impact of climate change on the base. ¡°Tell me, what¡¯s the matter?¡± The meteorologist took a moment to organize his words before he spoke in a hurry. ¡°Director Zhao, according to the latest data and research I¡¯ve gathered, the global temperature rise caused by this solar storm will probably decline rapidly in the next month!¡± Hearing this, Zhao Feng asked in confusion, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? How fast was this speed of decline? How long would it take?¡± ¡°It will become very cold in the end? How much has the temperature dropped compared to before?¡± The meteorologist immediately replied to Zhao Feng¡¯s questions. ¡°It¡¯s already been one and a half months since the apocalypse began. According to the prediction, the temperature should return to the normal level of the same period in the past year in about a month.¡± ¡°In the following month, there will be a global cooling!¡± ¡°The average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere will drop to freezing point in one and a half months. In two months, the temperature will exceed -20 degrees celsius!¡± ¡°And the temperature will continue to drop. Although the drop in temperature will not be as fast as before, the lowest temperature this year may become terrifying.¡± ¡°And because of the apocalypse, the heat insulation of the houses we temporarily built on the ground is definitely not as good as the houses we built before.¡± ¡°So, if we want to maintain a certain level of ground activity after the temperature drops, we might need to collect more thermal insulation materials to modify these houses.¡± ¡°Otherwise, the extremely low temperature in the winter may force all of us to retreat to the underground city, and all outside activities will be forced to stop!¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling you this news today to remind you that we don¡¯t have much time left. We have to start preparing for the winter!¡± ¡°Otherwise, this winter might become the most difficult winter in history!¡± Zhao Feng wasn¡¯t too surprised by the meteorologist¡¯s news. The only thing that surprised him was that the temperature had dropped earlier than in his previous life. It seemed that the butterfly effect had some effect on the climate. Chapter 36 - The Battle for the Armory Chapter 36 The Battle for the Armory There was not much time left. After sending the meteorologist away, Zhao Feng immediately ordered the number and scale of the resource search teams to increase. These teams only had one goal after entering the city, and that was to find more thermal insulation materials! The number of people in the base had reached more than 10,000, so after sending out many search teams, they still had enough manpower. Other than this, the most important thing now was to take down the military base near New York City. Once these weapons were in Zhu Jun¡¯s hands, the threat to the base would be greater than the cold winter. After all, no matter how cold it was in winter, everyone could just hide underground. The sanctuary was very deep. As long as the door was closed and the elevator was sealed, the temperature outside would not reach that deep underground. Besides, most of the underground city was built by the system, and it has a perfect heating system, so there was no need to worry about heating. If it wasn¡¯t to save energy, Zhao Feng could even make the underground city as warm as spring. According to Zhao Feng¡¯s plan, the time needed to take down the military base and even the sanctuary would be shortened to less than a month! Before the outside world began to cool down, he would solve all external problems and then put all his energy into dealing with the winter! There was an undercurrent in New York City. Although the trade between Zhao Feng¡¯s underground city base and the government sanctuary was still going on normally, Zhu Jun had clearly sensed Zhao Feng¡¯s ambition. Hence, the frequency of their transactions was not as frequent as before. The materials used in the exchange process at the sanctuary had also changed greatly. Now, there were basically no production tools or metal materials to be seen. Most of them were agricultural products. As for exchanging people, that was even more impossible! Now, apart from the two sides not ending all contact and declaring war, they had basically turned against each other. It all depended on who made the first move! In addition, less than a day after the search team for the military base set off, Manager Cui hurriedly found Zhao Feng. ¡°This is bad, Director Zhao. According to the news from the sanctuary, Zhu Jun seems to have sent out many search teams to search for the military base around New York.¡± Upon hearing this news, Zhao Feng¡¯s sense of urgency reached its peak. As expected, Zhu Jun¡¯s actions were also much earlier than in his previous life. In fact, it was almost a month earlier! It seemed that the existence of his base had given Zhu Jun a strong sense of urgency. ¡°Pass down the order immediately. We¡¯ll send more people to search the military base and have them carry all their weapons when they carry out the mission.¡± ¡°If we encounter people from the government sanctuary, we shouldn¡¯t shoot unless they attack us. It¡¯s best to avoid contact with the government and don¡¯t let them discover our whereabouts!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Three days after the search mission began, the search team sent the news to the underground city through the communication network built by the high-altitude hot air balloon. This was a piece of good news, and it could be said that it made Zhao Feng let out a huge breath. ¡°Reporting to Director Zhao, we have found the location of the military base and are waiting for your orders. Please give us your latest orders.¡± Zhao Feng immediately replied, ¡°Stay where you are and be on standby. Be on guard. I¡¯ll bring some people over!¡± They had finally found the military base. Now, as long as they could transport the weapons inside, everything would be done! At that time, he would no longer have to worry about the government sanctuary posing a threat to him! ¡°Wang Li, gather our security team immediately. My people have found the location of the military base. Prepare the transport vehicles, and we will leave in ten minutes!¡± After receiving the news, Wang Li led the entire security department and began to act quickly. In less than five minutes, everyone was fully armed and ready at the elevator door. This speed surprised even Zhao Feng. It seemed like he had made the right decision to let Wang Li manage the security department. If it was another person, it was highly unlikely that they would have trained the team to such a level. As expected of someone who had received professional training! The team set off very quickly. According to the information from the search team, Zhao Feng¡¯s team found the military base in less than an hour. At this time, the military base seemed to be severely damaged, and almost half of the walls were destroyed. No one was left in the base. It seemed that the people in the base had left before the disaster. It was very likely that some of Zhu Jun¡¯s current subordinates had left this military base. ¡°Open the gate of the armory!¡± Under Zhao Feng¡¯s command, Wang Li simply waved his hand, and two soldiers immediately went forward to unlock the door of the armory. Although the entire military base had a power outage, the gate was powered by an independent battery, which could work on its own for a long time even after a power outage. With a beep, the ground began to shake slightly, and a cloud of dust rose from the ground. Zhao Feng¡¯s eyes were fixed on the door in front of him. Finally, the armory door was completely opened, and the lights inside automatically turned on. Zhao Feng couldn¡¯t hold back the excitement in his heart. ¡°Men, load all the weapons that can be taken away quickly!¡± Zhao Feng had just finished speaking when suddenly, a series of braking sounds could be heard from afar. Zhao Feng then heard a familiar voice, and the speaker was extremely proud, his words filled with ridicule. ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t this Zhao Feng? It¡¯s such a coincidence that I¡¯ve come to this place as well. I wonder what you¡¯re here for?¡± Zhao Feng looked at Zhu Jun with a dark expression. He did not expect that this guy would actually come over. He didn¡¯t need to ask to know that his whereabouts had definitely been leaked! Perhaps, there were many people sent by Zhu Jun to watch him from the periphery of his base! He could release high-altitude hot air balloons to restore communication. As the ruler of the sanctuary, Zhu Jun must have some long-distance communication means. ¡°Don¡¯t you understand the first come, first served principle?¡± Zhao Feng said indifferently. ¡°Since I opened this door, so the things inside are already mine.¡± ¡°Director Zhu, I don¡¯t want to have any conflict with you. I¡¯m only taking these weapons for self-protection. I hope you can leave now. I can give you enough nutrition paste and other products as compensation.¡± Chapter 37 - The Surprise in the Armory Chapter 37 The Surprise in the Armory As soon as Zhao Feng¡¯s voice fell, Zhu Jun fiercely spat on the ground. ¡°Pfft, you want to fool me with a pile of broken nutrition paste? You wish!¡± ¡°Let me tell you. I was the mayor of New York City before the apocalypse. The military base is under my jurisdiction now, even though everyone here has fled.¡± ¡°But the control of this military base is in my hands. No matter what, this place is mine. What right do you have to take the things inside?¡± ¡°Now, you better leave obediently, and I¡¯ll treat today¡¯s matter as if it never happened. Otherwise, you¡¯ll bear the consequences!¡± Zhu Jun was obviously very confident in his subordinates¡¯ force and started to threaten Zhao Feng. Both sides were at daggers drawn. As long as one side opened fire first, this confrontation would immediately turn into a chaotic battle, and it would definitely be very intense. To be on the safe side, Zhao Feng had brought almost everyone from the security department with him when he came out. Only a small number of them were left to guard the base, mainly to guard the gate. Zhu Jun came prepared. The sanctuary had a larger population, so he could bring more people with him. Facing such a situation, Zhao Feng pondered for a moment before suddenly sweeping his gaze over the door of the armory. A bold idea appeared in Zhao Feng¡¯s mind. He began to order Wang Li, who was beside him. ¡°Wang Li, tell everyone to get ready. We¡¯ll smoke the exit together later. After that, we¡¯ll all retreat to the armory and close the door!¡± ¡°The door of this armory is extremely sturdy. It¡¯s impossible for Zhu Jun to open it from the outside with his men!¡± Wang Li immediately understood Zhao Feng¡¯s meaning and everyone quickly got ready. ¡°Fire!¡± Zhao Feng suddenly shouted. This sound shocked everyone on Zhu Jun¡¯s side. They thought that he was going to shoot. However, a large cloud of smoke spread out, making it impossible to see what was on the other side of the smoke. Zhao Feng immediately led his men into the armory and closed the door. When Zhu Jun finally led his men through the smoke cautiously, they only saw the tightly shut door of the armory. This made Zhu Jun furious. ¡°Zhao Feng, if you have the ability, then stay inside for the rest of your life. I¡¯ll see when you open the door!¡± ¡°Everyone, stand by and wait for the guy inside to come out and surrender! After entering the armory, Zhao Feng immediately sent people to check the supplies inside. This place was indeed worthy of being the armory of a military base. The supplies stored here were extremely rich, enough to meet the armed needs of thousands of people. For the group of people that Zhao Feng had brought, it was enough for everyone to change their weapons. However, these firearms could not be considered Zhao Feng¡¯s possession for the time being as Zhu Jun was still coveting them. He still needed to find a way to leave this place. Just then, one of Wang Li¡¯s men ran over and said excitedly. ¡°Director Zhao, Captain Wang. My team members and I just found a few armored vehicles in the deepest part of the armory, and there is fuel stored underground.¡± Zhao Feng immediately said after hearing the news. ¡°Quickly bring us over!¡± Soon, Zhao Feng saw the armored vehicle parked in the deepest part of the armory. He finally understood why the door of the armory was so wide and high. It turned out that not only were there weapons and ammunition but there were also armored vehicles! ¡°Refuel the car immediately and drive the car to the door. We¡¯ll rush out with these armored vehicles!¡± With the armored vehicle, Zhao Feng¡¯s confidence increased greatly. He no longer needed to worry about the possible casualties when facing Zhu Jun. This was because during the confrontation just now, Zhao Feng had already observed that Zhu Jun¡¯s men did not carry any heavy weapons. Clearly, they did not think that Zhao Feng had any heavy weapons or armored weapons. The appearance of these armored vehicles had undoubtedly broken the balance of the battlefield. After all the ammunition near the entrance of the armory had been moved to a safe area, Zhao Feng lined up the armored vehicles in a row to cover the soldiers behind. Then, he gave the order to open the gate of the base. When Zhu Jun saw the door of the armory open, he thought that Zhao Feng was going to come out and negotiate with him. He had a smug look on his face. However, when the door of the armory opened, they were faced with the muzzle of the armored vehicle. While the people outside were still in a daze, the armored vehicle¡¯s muzzle had already begun to fire and mercilessly shot its ammunition into Zhu Jun¡¯s camp. The battle only lasted for a few minutes. Zhu Jun suffered heavy losses and was completely defeated. In order to save his life, he quickly left in a sorry state under the cover of his own people. ¡°Zhao Feng, I won¡¯t let you off. Just wait. This matter isn¡¯t over yet!¡± Before he left, he did not forget to say some harsh words. However, Zhao Feng did not care about it at all. After obtaining the weapons in such a large armory, he was already in an invincible position. ¡°Clean up the battlefield and load all the usable weapons and ammunition into the truck. If you can¡¯t take them away, destroy them on the spot. We can¡¯t leave a single bullet for Zhu Jun!¡± Zhao Feng immediately led his men back to the base and entered the highest state of alert. Zhao Feng knew very well what kind of person Zhu Jun was. He had caused him to suffer a great loss this time. That fellow would definitely not let him off easily. Therefore, it shouldn¡¯t be long before Zhu Jun launch a violent attack on his base. The truth was just as Zhao Feng had predicted. On the other side, Zhu Jun, who had returned to the sanctuary, immediately began to mobilize his troops to attack Zhao Feng. Not only did he want to get back his firearms, but he also wanted to occupy Zhao Feng¡¯s base. A large number of civilians in the sanctuary were forcibly recruited, and the resentment of the people in the sanctuary was boiling. After more than a month of torture after the apocalypse, most of these civilians were as thin as firewood. But now they were holding outdated weapons from the security bureau¡¯s warehouse as well as a lot of damp ammunition. They were only wearing unlined garments and had no desire to fight. ¡°All of you, buck up. Whoever can contribute on the battlefield will be heavily rewarded when they return.¡± In order to boost morale, Zhu Jun personally came out to make a promise, but the effect was minimal. Seeing that his troops had no will to fight, Zhu Jun grew impatient and completely tore off the hypocritical facade on his face. He shouted at the soldiers in front of him, ¡°Don¡¯t give me a sad face. Let me tell you. You have to fight this war even if you don¡¯t want to. If you can¡¯t win, you don¡¯t have to come back alive!¡± The moment his words left his mouth, the entire place burst into an uproar. Everyone¡¯s eyes were burning with anger as they glared at Zhu Jun. Although this sentence caused public anger, in the end, no one took the lead to launch a rebellion. People temporarily swallowed their anger and were forced to rush to the development zone to attack Zhao Feng¡¯s base. Two months after the apocalypse, the war between the base and the sanctuary officially began. Chapter 38 - Breaking Into the Fortress From the Inside Chapter 38 Breaking Into the Fortress From the Inside The two sides were engaged in an intense battle two kilometers away from the base. As Zhu Jun cherished his reputation, he urged the civilians he recruited to go to the battlefield at all costs. The atmosphere in the sanctuary became more and more depressing. Zhao Feng defended Zhu Jun¡¯s attacks while secretly arranging for people to fan the fire within the sanctuary. ¡°Residents of the sanctuary, are we just going to watch the tyrant disregard our lives and send us to the battlefield?¡± ¡°We¡¯re also humans with dignity. Now that our dignity has been trampled on, if we don¡¯t take up our weapons and fight back, we¡¯re no different from animals!¡± The people bought by Zhao Feng started to spread the idea of rebellion within the sanctuary. The residents of the sanctuary were already filled with anger, and now that there was finally someone to lead them to vent their anger, the residents were naturally willing to follow these people. The atmosphere in the sanctuary was easily ignited. People were furious, especially those whose family members were forced to go to the battlefield. They hated Zhu Jun to the core. ¡°That¡¯s right. Our lives belong to us. We won¡¯t allow anyone to sway our life and death!¡± ¡°Defeat the tyrant! Defeat Zhu Jun!¡± Slowly, under the deliberate guidance of the leader, hundreds of thousands of residents rushed like a wave to the higher-ups of the sanctuary. In the face of such a huge crowd, the soldiers under these high-ranking officials were vulnerable. Even if they used up all the ammunition in their hands, it was impossible to kill so many people. Furthermore, these soldiers did not have the slightest will to fight. Everyone knew that firing at these people at this time was equivalent to suicide! Not long after, the higher-ups of the sanctuary all changed sides and expressed their attitude toward the people, cutting off all ties with Zhu Jun. Finally, when Zhu Jun arrived at the front line to personally supervise and command the battle, Zhao Feng¡¯s informer successfully incited the higher-ups of the sanctuary to defect, including the second-in-command, and successfully occupied the government sanctuary. At this moment, Zhu Jun still didn¡¯t know that his house had already been stolen. At the same time, Zhu Jun, who had once again retreated from the front line, sent people back to the sanctuary to ask for reinforcements, but he was rejected. ¡°What? That bunch of trash actually dared to reject me? Are you rejecting reinforcements?¡± ¡°Men, return to the sanctuary with me immediately. I want to see who has the guts to refuse my orders!¡± Then, Zhu Jun immediately brought his men back to the sanctuary to recruit people. However, the moment he entered the sanctuary, Zhu Jun realized that something was wrong. The residents of the sanctuary no longer looked at him with fear in their eyes. Instead, anger was written all over their faces. When he entered the director¡¯s office, he saw a person he didn¡¯t expect, Zhao Feng! Wasn¡¯t this guy supposed to be commanding the battle at the front line? When did he come to this place? At this moment, Zhu Jun finally realized that he had lost. The fact that Zhao Feng was able to appear in the director¡¯s office unscathed explained everything. ¡°You thief, you stole my weapon and my shelter!¡± ¡°You really deserve to die, you scum!¡± Zhu Jun cursed at Zhao Feng in a fit of rage, but his irascibility could not change the situation at all. In fact, Zhao Feng had rushed over the moment he received the news that the sanctuary was under control. He wanted to meet Zhu Jun at this moment and give him a huge psychological blow! ¡°Hehe, you actually have the nerve to scold me? Look at what this sanctuary has become!¡± Zhao Feng also said angrily. Zhao Feng had never come to this sanctuary before, and all the information he had heard came from his informants. Therefore, Zhao Feng didn¡¯t expect to be so shocked when he saw the actual state of the sanctuary residents. How much suffering and torture did these people have to go through to become like this? Their bodies were filled with filth, and their eyes were listless as if they were walking corpses! ¡°Men, lock this sinner in prison. We¡¯ll deal with him after everything has settled down!¡± ¡°Yes, Director Zhao!¡± The second-in-command replied Zhao Feng respectfully. He had clearly become Zhao Feng¡¯s most loyal lackey. Zhao Feng then asked the second-in-command to send people to investigate the various levels of officials in the sanctuary, and he supported the idea of reporting each other. Under such measures, the various stains on the officials were quickly pointed out. Everyone knew that the world was about to change, so they would be courting death if they tried to hide anything at this time. Everyone told him everything they knew in their hearts, hoping to save their lives by performing meritorious deeds. Zhao Feng, on the other hand, fired all the corrupt officials in the sanctuary based on the information he gathered. ¡°I¡¯ve circled the names of these people. Lock them up and try them according to the laws before the apocalypse.¡± In addition to the fired officials, Zhao Feng also found some of the worst people and gave them even more severe punishment as an example. This was to completely purify the sanctuary¡¯s management, and at the same time, it was a warning to future management members that if they didn¡¯t do their job well, they would learn from their mistakes. After everything was done, Zhao Feng dismissed the second-in-command. ¡°On account of your contributions, I won¡¯t hold you responsible for what you¡¯ve done before. You¡¯re on your own.¡± The second-in-command was so excited that he almost knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zhao Feng a few times. Although he had lost his hat, at least he had saved his life. This could be considered a blessing in the midst of misfortune. ¡°Thank you, my Lord, for sparing my Thank you, my Lord!¡± life. Zhao Feng waved his hand impatiently. ¡°Hurry up and get lost. I don¡¯t want to see you again.¡± In order to maintain the normal operation of the sanctuary, Zhao Feng temporarily transferred a trustworthy higher-up from the underground city to be the new director of the sanctuary. Then, he would make an announcement. ¡°From today onwards, every resident of the sanctuary will receive a subsidy of ten nutrition pastes per person. They can also receive a small amount of meat and rice. Please line up in an orderly manner and head to the central plaza of the sanctuary to receive your supplies!¡± This announcement had just been released, and the entire sanctuary was about to explode! Many people even thought that they had read the wrong words. Food was going to be distributed? And it was meat and rice? Was this still the sanctuary they were familiar with? When people understood who had sent them these things, they were filled with gratitude towards Zhao Feng, the new boss behind the scenes. Zhao Feng¡¯s combo had completely established his prestige and position in the sanctuary. From now on, no matter who became the director of the government sanctuary, they could not replace him. Chapter 39 - Punish the Evil! Chapter 39 Punish the Evil! Zhao Feng then came to the cell of the sanctuary and met Zhu Jun once more. At this moment, this guy had completely lost his previous arrogance. Zhao Feng looked at Zhu Jun in front of him and sighed in his heart. In his previous life, Zhu Jun was extremely powerful and was almost invincible in the entire New York City and its surrounding areas. He didn¡¯t expect that he would be defeated so easily in this life. Zhu Jun said in a self-deprecating manner when he saw Zhao Feng. ¡°What are you doing in front of me now? Are you showing off? Hehe.¡± Zhao Feng shook his head and said. ¡°I¡¯m not as bored as you.¡± ¡°Then what are you doing here?¡± ¡°I just wanted to see you, and I felt a little sad.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s words made Zhu Jun confused. He could not understand what Zhao Feng meant. Zhao Feng suddenly said. ¡°The mistakes you made in the past are unforgivable. Because of your mistakes, the millions of people in this sanctuary have suffered great pain and torture.¡± ¡°So you have to pay the price for your mistake.¡± As soon as he said that, Zhu Jun grabbed the iron bars in front of him and glared at Zhao Feng. ¡°What do you want to do? Are you so eager to settle the score with me? Hehe, under the banner of justice, the things you do are as expected.¡± ¡°I originally thought that you really had something special about you, but now it seems that you and I are no different.¡± Zhao Feng said indifferently. ¡°So, what do you think? I only do what I think is right. Now that the people here have a better life because of me, then what I did was right.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give an order before I leave the sanctuary. From now on, you only have three days left. Cherish it.¡± After he finished speaking, Zhao Feng turned around and left. He had originally wanted to visit Zhu Jun, to see this generation¡¯s formidable person from his previous life. But now that he had lost interest, there was no need for him to stay. Looking at Zhao Feng¡¯s back as he left, Zhu Jun suddenly started to roar ferociously. ¡°Stop right there! You have no right to treat me like this! On what basis!¡± ¡°Come back immediately. Come back quickly. I beg you, don¡¯t do this. I don¡¯t want to die yet!¡± ¡°I beg you, please don¡¯t do this to me!¡± Slowly, Zhu Jun¡¯s attitude underwent a 180-degree change. He no longer had the self-righteous look he had before. He was crying and begging for mercy. However, Zhao Feng left without looking back. He also fulfilled his promise and gave an order before leaving the sanctuary. ¡°In three days, we will hang Zhu Jun in the central plaza of the sanctuary. Let everyone in the sanctuary, especially the newly appointed management, watch as a warning to others!¡± Other than this, Zhao Feng also recruited a group of meteorologists from the sanctuary. He was going to bring them back to the base to study the apocalyptic climate with the scientists in the base. Of course, it was impossible to bring all the meteorologists away. There would still be some people left to continue working in the sanctuary. It was also a good place to collect weather data. After that, Zhao Feng returned to the base. In order to stabilize the hearts of the people in the sanctuary, Zhao Feng immediately ordered a large number of supplies to be sent to the sanctuary. At the same time, the simple houses built by the underground city were transported to the government sanctuary and a base was built on the surface of the sanctuary. Furthermore, they would set up factories and various food production facilities, using the resources transported over to restore production at the fastest speed! Zhao Feng¡¯s series of actions won the praise of both the base and the sanctuary within a few days. His reputation had reached an unprecedented level. But in truth, Zhao Feng had done all of this at a very low cost. Especially the simple houses that were used to help the sanctuary build the above-ground base. The materials used for these houses were exchanged from the government through the nutrition paste. Other than losing a bit of nutrition paste, there was no cost at all. Instead, unanimous praises were received from the entire sanctuary. This wave was like getting benefits for nothing! Because of this, Zhao Feng received a new system reward. ¡°Ding. Master, congratulations on walking further and further down the path of the black-hearted merchant. You can already use the technique of getting benefits without risking anything.¡± ¡°Master, now you will be rewarded with a formula for synthetic fruit juice. Synthetic fruit juice doesn¡¯t require the addition of a single drop of real fruit juice, allowing people to drink the most original, all-natural fruit juice product!¡± ¡°It reminds people of the beautiful life before the apocalypse. Good luck!¡± ¡°There¡¯s also another reward, the thermal insulation material production technology, and the supporting production facilities. Please receive the reward on time!¡± As expected, the system still followed its old rules and provided two rewards at once. The first reward was not bad. In the future, he would be able to drink fruit juice even in the apocalypse. According to the system¡¯s habits, this juice formula should be able to produce a variety of flavors. As for the second reward, the thermal insulation material production process, it was like getting a pillow when you were sleepy! Zhao Feng was worried that the search team in the urban area would not be able to find many intact thermal insulation materials. He did not expect the system to give him the ability to produce these materials. Now, Zhao Feng was more and more suspicious that the system had been secretly spying on him. Once he encountered any trouble, the system could immediately arrange a corresponding reward to help him tide over the difficulty! Zhao Feng immediately arranged for the factory to produce these thermal insulation materials to provide for the expansion of the sanctuary. It had already been two and a half months since the apocalypse, and the temperature had returned to the late summer and early autumn levels before the disaster. There wasn¡¯t much time left, and they had to make full preparations to deal with the arrival of winter. In addition to the production of thermal insulation materials, Zhao Feng also thought of a very important thing to do. In this city, in addition to being the largest government sanctuary, there were many small sanctuaries in the large areas around the city. These sanctuaries were often underground air defense facilities. Before the apocalypse came, people outside the city did not have enough time to rush to the government sanctuary, so they could only choose these air defense facilities to hide. After the apocalypse, Zhu Jun did not have any countermeasures against these people, which led to these people never being able to come to the government sanctuary. Of course, this might also be related to the lack of supplies in the government sanctuary, which could not carry more people. The shortage of resources in the government sanctuary had been completely resolved now that Zhao Feng¡¯s here. Now, they could gather all the sanctuaries in the vicinity! Chapter 40 - Either Work or Wait for Death Chapter 40 Either Work or Wait for Death Furthermore, winter was coming. Some of the smaller sanctuaries did not have enough energy to survive the winter. Some people might even freeze to death in the sanctuary! ¡°Ding Yao, I¡¯ll leave this matter to you. Try to persuade all the small sanctuaries near the city to join us and move them all to the city center.¡± ¡°The houses we¡¯ve been building on the ground are specifically for these people!¡± ¡°If we can¡¯t finish this work, many people will freeze to death when winter comes!¡± Ding Yao nodded her head heavily upon hearing Zhao Feng¡¯s words. She knew how heavy her responsibility was. A few days later, Ding Yao came to Zhao Feng¡¯s office, somewhat depressed. She said, feeling ashamed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m really useless. I¡¯ve already tried my best to tell those people that this winter will be very cold, and they might not be able to make it.¡± ¡°But they just don¡¯t want to believe me, and some people even drove us out. Now, only about half of the sanctuaries have agreed to join the large sanctuary in the city center.¡± ¡°The rest of the people are just watching. What should we do? The total number of people in these sanctuaries is at least a few hundred thousand, and we can¡¯t just leave them be!¡± As she spoke, the responsible and kind Ding Yao was on the verge of tears. However, Zhao Feng was not surprised by this result. He had already expected that there would be many voices of opposition. Besides, these people had been living alone for a while after the apocalypse. If someone suddenly jumped out and told them that they might freeze to death, many people would not believe it. Zhao Feng comforted Ding Yao. ¡°Alright, alright, don¡¯t cry. Just relax. This has nothing to do with you. Those people will have to bear the consequences themselves.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve already done what you should have done.¡± ¡°If there are people from other sanctuaries who want to join us, we still have to accept them. Or, we can send these people to the sanctuary in the city center.¡± ¡°In short, we¡¯ll save as many as we can. If we can¡¯t save them, we¡¯ll just hope they can survive this winter.¡± As the days passed, the temperature suddenly began to drop like a cliff, just as the meteorologists had expected. The temperature had been at its highest point of 20 degrees a day, but it had dropped to 15 degrees the next day. After that, the temperature dropped rapidly at a rate of nearly two degrees per day. The drop was even far beyond the expectations of the experts. It was estimated that it would reach -20 degrees celsius three and a half months before the apocalypse! ¡°Director Zhao, the temperature is dropping too quickly. It¡¯s far beyond our expectations.¡± ¡°There is still a lot of work to be done at the surface base of the sanctuaries in the city center, and we still have a lot of resource collection teams working outside.¡± ¡°Also, from time to time, there will be team accidents, resulting in casualties. Now, there are many voices in the sanctuary questioning whether we should continue to go out for work.¡± ¡°My suggestion is to recall the people working outside as soon as possible. Otherwise, the loss of too many people may affect your reputation in the sanctuary.¡± The new director of the sanctuary expressed his concerns when he reported to Zhao Feng. That was the truth. Many people in the sanctuary had begun to refuse to go out. Even if they were offered generous rewards, no one was willing to do these things. Although the daily pay for doing this kind of work was very generous, after all, it could cost one¡¯s life, so this little pay was nothing. It wasn¡¯t easy for everyone to survive the apocalypse, and no one was willing to lose their lives in vain at this time. Facing such a situation, Zhao Feng immediately took over the sanctuary. There was nothing in the underground city that he had to personally take charge of, and everything was running in an orderly manner. It would be better to put more energy into the management of the government sanctuary. After all, there were still a million people living there. The most important thing was to make sure that these people survived the winter. When the temperature turns warm next year, these people would become an important labor force for post-disaster reconstruction to restore the city¡¯s operation as quickly as possible. After taking over the government sanctuary, the first thing Zhao Feng did was turn on the broadcast. He decided to personally speak to the residents of the sanctuary. ¡°Hello, everyone. I am Zhao Feng, the current controller of this sanctuary.¡± Zhao Feng¡¯s voice suddenly appeared, causing the sanctuary to fall into dead silence. Everyone¡¯s attention was drawn over. The controller of the sanctuary announced it personally. This was a very rare thing. Zhu Jun had been the director for such a long time, but he had never done such a thing. ¡°I believe you¡¯ve heard of many casualties when people go out to search for supplies, so much so that you¡¯ve begun to doubt my ability.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m going to tell you now¡­¡± Zhao Feng then began to talk about how the temperature would rapidly drop soon, and how it would be the coldest winter in history. Then, he continued. ¡°The situation is just as I said. If we can¡¯t store enough fuel before winter comes and reinforce our houses with warm materials,¡± ¡°It¡¯s foreseeable that many people will freeze to death this winter!¡± ¡°Are you willing to see such a thing happen to you?¡± ¡°There¡¯s still a certain risk in going out to collect supplies, but if we don¡¯t do it now, we¡¯ll and be waiting for death when winter comes, we can¡¯t leave!¡± ¡°I can tell you, with the current fuel reserves of the sanctuary, it¡¯s impossible to maintain heating throughout the winter. So, do I need to go on?¡± ¡°If you want your family to survive this winter, please sign up for outdoor missions. We will try our best to ensure everyone¡¯s safety.¡± ¡°I am Zhao Feng, and I am with you.¡± The broadcast time was not long, but the content was all substantial. Zhao Feng used this method to quickly convince most of the people in the sanctuary. Many people had brought their families into the sanctuary, including many elderly and children. For the sake of their loved ones, the young people finally overcame their fear of death. They started to sign up for resource-searching missions and work in the outside world. Zhao Feng was very pleased with this change. The more difficult the situation was the more people needed to unite to overcome the difficulties. If everyone acted in their own way and was in a state of disunity, even if the apocalypse did not destroy mankind in the week before it arrived, humans wouldn¡¯t be able to last much longer.