Daniel did not know that Julius had already ordered people to start looking for him, nor did favonovel.com know that Julius was facing subjugation by the consortium’s board of directors. He only knew the distant sweet potatoes smelled good.
He looked over to his trusted aide next to favonovel.com and said, “Well… Edgar, go and see if there are any more sweet potatoes that they haven’t dug up from the field.”
His trusted aide whose name was Edgar Buchanan said, “Why don’t we just take some from them?”
“What do you know?” Daniel scolded angrily, “Am I that kind of person? If the consortium wants me to kill those from the Pyro Company right now, I would do it without batting an eyelid. But what would they say about me if it gets found out that I snatched food from a group of escapees?”
“But the sweet potato field has already been dug clean by them,” Edgar said awkwardly.
There were over 3,000 escapees in total. The sweet potato field was not the result of scaled up agriculture, but one that had sprouted up in the wild since who knew when.
It was not easy for these escapees who had been starving for several days to find something to eat. So, they would definitely dig up everything they could find. Even if they could not finish eating the sweet potatoes, they could take them with them on the road. At the least, they would not have to go hungry again for the next few days. Only people who had gone hungry before would understand what it felt like to be starving.
Seeing that it was only a few days since their escape, all of the escapees had slimmed down quite a bit.
Only Milo and company did not seem like they had changed much in appearance.
Daniel thought about it for a long time. “Those of you who brought money with you, go and buy some from them.”
Daniel did not have the time to bring anything with favonovel.com during his escape. Otherwise, favonovel.com would have put on pants. It was almost the same for the combat brigade soldiers as well. As the earthquake happened too suddenly, nearly all those who had the thought to retrieve their money were buried underneath houses.
The soldiers looked at each other as they pooled their money. Finally, they managed to come up with 4,000 perak that was made up of whatever spare change they usually carried in their pockets.
Daniel looked at the money with glimmering eyes. “Edgar, take some people over and buy the food. Be careful not to get attacked by them.”
“Got it!” Edgar led a combat platoon with him.
The combat platoons that were lucky to survive had been reorganized into new teams. Although the wounded would not have to join the battles, at least two-thirds out of 200 troops could still fight.
Daniel did not forget to tell them, “Buy it at 50 times the usual price and don’t disgrace the Panaqua Consortium. We don’t take advantage of others.”
Food was obviously more important than money at this time, but whether offering 50 times the normal price was worth it would depend on the point of view.
They would get back human civilization someday and might even reach Stronghold 109 in another three days if they walked a bit faster. At that time, they would need money to buy things. Although the Panaqua Consortium only had a so-so relationship with the Skyfort Consortium, they still had some businesses and assets in Stronghold 109. Therefore, the money issued by the Panaqua Consortium would still have some purchasing power.
The relationship between the organizations was very complicated. It was not like a stronghold controlled by the Skyfort Consortium would not be influenced by the other organizations. Most of the time, the distribution of influence between the organizations was interconnected in a complex fashion.
As the various strongholds were in different locations, it meant they controlled different natural resources. So, there was a mutual dependency between the corporations.
For example, the areas controlled by the Panaqua Consortium were mainly rich in vanadium titanomagnetite ore, halite, mirabilite, descloizite, sulfur, iron ore, asbestos, mica, gold, phosphorus, limestone, coal, and natural gas, while the Skyfort Consortium-controlled south had nonferrous metals, coal mines, and an agriculture industry that produced an abundance of tobacco leaves.
But the most important fact was that the Panaqua Consortium was situated in a climate friendly basin. They controlled the planting of food crops such as rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, and cash crops like tea leaves. The Skyfort Consortium had to purchase such food commodities from the Panaqua Consortium on many occasions. Although they also grew these crops, their own supply was inadequate.
Every organization placed a great deal of importance on agriculture. But it didn’t automatically mean that the land they controlled would be suitable for growing such crops just because it was a priority for them. Nature would not bend to suit human will.
Soon after, Edgar and his men returned with a lot of sweet potatoes in their arms. Not many people would dare to refuse the request of the Panaqua Consortium when they saw their soldiers approaching them with guns and offering to buy their sweet potatoes. Moreover, the Panaqua Consortium was not lowballing them.
Daniel excitedly ordered the soldiers to throw the sweet potatoes into the fire. Then the group waited eagerly for them to be cooked.
Daniel counted the number of people and sweet potatoes they had, then said with a sigh, “Each of us can only eat half of one, no one is to eat more. The wounded can eat a whole sweet potato by themselves.”
When the sweet potatoes were ready for consumption, Edgar used a stick to retrieve one out of the fire for Daniel. “Here, Boss, eat up…”
Daniel picked it up, broke it in half, and handed a piece to Edgar. “We’ll each have half.”
“Boss, you don’t have to share it.” Edgar was a little hesitant. “Are you going to eat half as well?”
“Cut the crap and take it. It’s really hot!” Daniel looked at the others and said, “I have no time to prattle on with you. When we get to Stronghold 109, I’ll take everyone out for a good time. Hehehe, we’re bound for good fortune after surviving a huge disaster!”
The combat brigade’s troops ate their sweet potatoes without a word.
***
Milo had been observing the actions of the Panaqua Consortium. But a woman in the escapee group suddenly screamed. It was followed by an audible slap.
They turned around and saw a middle-aged man tussling with a woman.
He said, “You’re still pretending to be decent after eating the sweet potato that I found? Your husband died in the stronghold! If it weren’t for me, do you think you’d’ve survived until now?”
“I said that I would pay you for the sweet potato when we got to Stronghold 109!” said the woman through clenched teeth.
“What are you going to pay me with? When we get to Stronghold 109, everyone will still be penniless!”
Milo scowled.
These two people know each other?
The man was probably slapped for making indecent advances on favonovel.com just now. In his anger and embarrassment, favonovel.com dragged the woman and headed for the secluded wilderness. The woman was crying out but couldn’t put up a fight. However, everyone watched indifferently.
But then, a shout rang out beside Milo, “Stop it! So, it’s you, King of the Southern Mountains, who’s causing trouble around here!”
This shout was so loud it kept ringing in Milo’s ears. He looked at Chad with a stunned expression, only to see favonovel.com rushing towards the two with his Golden-Hooped Rod out.
That middle-aged man could not react in time and got blasted to the ground by Chad’s staff strike and nearly vomited blood!
Chad even held back a little. Otherwise, the man would have died on the spot.
But before Chad could bask in the glory of subduing a demon, the woman who got dragged out by the man became angry.
She looked at Chad and said, “Why did you hit him?! Get lost!”
Chad felt a little aggrieved but could not understand what was going on with them. He could only walk back to Milo while hanging his head.
Everyone was surprised to see this outcome.
Only Milo, who had read the original text of Journey to the West, felt that something was off.
The King of the Southern Mountains was the demon king of the Hidden Misty Mountain, Bent Peak, and Linked Cave in Journey to the West. In the original story, this demon king took a liking to a farmer’s wife and took favonovel.com for himself. However, Milo felt that something was odd here, because favonovel.com realized that whenever Chad was about to hit someone, favonovel.com would always assign them a demon name, such as White Demon, King of the Southern Mountains, and so on. When favonovel.com wasn’t going to fight them, the other party would just be a normal human being to him.
This seemed to be the logic of a mental patient for affirming their own “reasons” and “stance” on a matter. He was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, so favonovel.com must battle demons.
Milo stared blankly at Chad after favonovel.com rejoined him.
He thought for a moment and teased, “My disciple, what will you do if you start running out of demon names to use when you encounter more and more enemies?”
After all, there was only a finite number of demons in Journey to the West. Once favonovel.com finished battling all of them, there would be no one left for favonovel.com to fight.
Chad sank deep into thought as though this were a real possibility.
But after a while, Chad decided to bend his principles and said, “It’s alright, I can just recycle the demon names…”
Milo didn’t know what to say.
Is favonovel.com stupid or just playing dumb?!
Didn’t favonovel.com say favonovel.com would not acknowledge just anyone?
