Chapter 38: Negotiations and First-Hand Witness

"Eddie!" 

Brown yelled:

"What's wrong with you?"

The man sitting in another corner of the warehouse quickly stood up and ran over, saying:

"My cousin told me this! He said that David was just an ordinary person before the apocalypse, just a regular white-collar worker, even a bit overweight. How could he possibly be a veteran of the battlefield?"

"Where is your cousin now?"

"He's dead. He was supposed to lead us in, but we didn't expect Charles to move so fast and we were a step behind."

Eddie and David were first neighbors, and one of them was cousins. After Jones made contact with Charles, he always felt something was amiss. He thought it was better to betray the others himself than let Jones do it.

"Why should Jones rise to the top?"

Brown originally planned to move from the east of the city to the central area. Eddie wanted to check out the neighborhood for a good spot and ask his cousin about a stronghold.

Upon hearing this, his cousin quickly betrayed David and the others in the building.

When Brown heard about the remarkable David in the building, he was very excited. But he didn't think too much, just figured David's house might have a lot of food.

But they were too late, Charles had already arrived.

Charles's advance was incredibly fast, partly because he had protective gear, making Brown envious.

But they couldn't go now, not with Charles already there.

Their group was smaller than Charles's, and it would be suicidal to attack when the enemy had the upper hand.

They had hoped to coordinate an inside-outside attack with Eddie's cousin, but Charles ruthlessly killed everyone inside soon after entering.

Indeed, Charles was ruthless.

They were about to give up on David's house, but then they found out that Charles couldn't break through the door either.

This revived their interest.

They planned to eliminate the people in that room first, to avoid them consuming their future resources, then use the army to take down Charles. Once Charles was dead, they would move into the building.

But their plan failed.

Brown, somewhat perplexed, said:

"An ordinary person, with the qualities of a war veteran, a stash of food, and a door even Charles can't breach?"

That's not ordinary.

Brown smirked:

"Never mind, we'll see that kid the day after tomorrow, or maybe even tomorrow."

"Just now!" 

At that moment, a man suddenly ran in:

"Boss! It looks like Charles's men are attacking!"

"What?" Brown, who was thinking about canned meat, stood up and threw the can on the ground, "Damn, how dare he come? How many men?"

"It looks like a full assault, many men!" the man hurriedly said, "And they're all armed!"

"Weren't they just checked by the military? How dare they come out at this time?" Brown cursed, "Motherfucker, wants a fight with me?"

Brown was angry because he thought he could easily defeat Charles, but Charles came to confront him first.

Now, every loss was unnecessary.

But what he didn't know was that Charles was thinking the same thing.

Even if the army comes tomorrow, what then? Once the temperature rises, all the ice outside will melt, and they'll have to retreat hastily.

Then they'd have to gather boats or kayaks, wasting more time.

As the temperature rises, he doubted the military could withstand the extreme heat and battle them on their turf.

Not to mention Brown's gang, they may have survived the extreme cold, but surviving extreme heat was unlikely.

So in Charles's view, Brown's men were already dead.

Thus, if they fought now, every death on his side would be in vain.

But he still came, believing in David's methods.

"Are they all inside?" Charles asked.

Jacob pointed a gun at a man, who hurriedly said:

"Yes! The boss and everyone are inside!"

The man was one of Brown's, but he had joined just for a meal and had no loyalty. He quickly spilled everything he knew:

"Everyone's inside! Over a hundred thirty people, each armed!"

"Charles." Jacob looked at Charles

Charles tried to say:

"David, we're here."

He didn't know if David was there. If David's voice could reach them from so far, that would be truly miraculous.

"Don't rush, let's witness the scene with our own eyes." Then David's voice indeed appeared, startling everyone present.

But Charles, having experienced it once before, remained calm and said:

"What's your plan?"

"Call them out."

Charles nodded and then shouted loudly:

"Brown! I've heard so much about you! Won't you come out for a chat?"

"Ha! Your fame, Charles, is well known to me, but how could someone as insignificant as me catch your attention?"

A loud voice came from inside, and then the door opened, revealing many people with guns hiding behind cover, aiming outside.

Brown, behind a shelf, said:

"What brings Charles to my place? Surely not for tea?"

"Nothing much, just that you disturbed my brother David's rest, and I've come to settle the score."

Charles said:

"Put down your guns, I want to talk to Brown."

Following his command, his men put down their guns.

Seeing this, Brown also ordered his men to lower their weapons, preferring a peaceful resolution if possible.

So he stepped out of cover and said to Charles:

"Charles, this is our first meeting, isn't it?"

"Yes." Charles replied:

"But it's also our last."

"What?" Brown's pupils shrank as he thought of snipers, but suddenly a fireball exploded beside him!

Boom!

In an instant, a floating bomb exploded beside him!