Food Issues in the Camp

Tom's speculation was half confirmed. Three of the mutated cockroaches had blue crystals dug out of their bodies. The remaining two had green crystals, also known as control crystals. As for the red crystals that Tom needed most, they were currently unavailable here.

However, according to Skinny's reconnaissance, there should still be mutated ants in the ant nest. There was a high probability that they would dig out red crystals, but as for the grade... at most, they would be large gems.

Apart from clearing the cockroaches in the landlord's room during this trip, they also planned to collect some supplies.

They brought along a bottle of Moutai liquor, pushing it with a handcart. There were also those mutated cockroaches. Their carapaces were tough, and even Tom's three times strength with a large knife couldn't break through their defense. They were excellent materials for making armor, so they naturally had to be peeled off and brought back.

In addition to several stainless steel pipes in the drawer, Skinny, Wang Sanli, also found several pieces of gold jewelry in the drawer, three gold rings, a large gold chain, and several diamonds.

In the past, these things were only worn as luxury items. However, Tom discovered that when used to make "crystal energy conducting materials" with gold, they could slightly enhance the effect of abilities. However, the amount of gold in the camp was only as big as a fingernail, enough to make knuckles but not sufficient for armor, so it couldn't enhance abilities.

With these few pieces of gold jewelry, it was enough for the use of two sets of armor. Moreover, the ability of metal shaping was effective on gold, which meant Tom could shape gold into any shape he could think of.

Skinny also found two cans of fish on the tall cabinet. Meat was currently scarce in the camp, so it was time to replenish it.

Because they had only come with seven people and one set of armor, and they were focused on combat, they didn't bring much transport equipment. So, what they could bring back for now was just these few things. However, even so, Tom could still drag a whole bottle of Moutai liquor back while wearing the Old Street Zero.

The remaining jewelry was brought back by four people with a handcart. Bozi, after enhancing his strength with a red crystal, dragged along two boxes of canned fish.

The door was closed again, with Skinny scouting ahead stealthily, and the others went up to the fourth floor via the stairs, then down to the second floor on the other side.

Tom bringing back a whole bottle of Moutai made the uncles in the camp very excited. They sometimes wanted to drink alcohol too. Uncle Wei's medicinal liquor was abundant, but it didn't have a high alcohol content, and the "side effects" were quite significant. After drinking it, the uncles all got drunk, and those with spouses were fine, finding a corner to sober up, but those without... had to deal with it themselves.

Now with Moutai, its alcohol content was strong enough, and it didn't have annoying side effects, so it was naturally very popular. But in Tom's opinion, all alcohol had to be diluted. Wasn't there a difference in taste in the end?

Compared to Moutai, the news of Tom defeating six mutated cockroaches was encouraging for the people in the camp because it meant the camp's safety was more assured. Uncle Wei immediately announced an extra meal and drinking tonight to celebrate enthusiastically.

Apart from the original uncles and aunts, there were 26 under Uncle Qi at the time. After multiple verifications, it was confirmed that five of them had done things that were too outrageous, including personally cutting off the legs of three survivors deceived by Zeng Shisan, throwing them to feed ants, as well as participating in the rape of women in the camp and killing their relatives.

These five people were sentenced to death by Bozi and executed by him. Witnessed by all survivors, each was rewarded with a bullet, and the last one was burned to ashes.

The remaining 21 under Uncle Qi were gradually released. They sincerely repented and were incorporated into the labor team to do hard labor as punishment.

Anyway, there were too many mutated creatures outside, and without weapons, the possibility of surviving outside was almost zero for them. So they could only accept punishment honestly and choose to continue to be protected by Tom and the others.

The surveillance of these people definitely couldn't be relaxed temporarily. All survivors would supervise them to prevent any suspicious actions. As for security, Bozi indeed had his own way. He specially organized his own followers and more than thirty uncles to form a patrol team, rotating in four shifts to patrol the entire clinic, adopting fixed-point and mobile patrol modes. Once a threat was discovered, they would immediately sound the alarm, ensuring that no large or small mutated creatures could sneak in.

Having more people had its advantages, so when Tom found survivors, he immediately wanted to approach them. In an environment where bugs could attack everywhere, it was impossible to sleep peacefully at night with just one or two people.

People in charge of security were not allowed to drink while on duty, but now they didn't have to take shifts, and their alcohol was doubly guaranteed. This move by Bozi not only ensured safety but also greatly boosted their morale.

Tom came back and immediately brought the gold jewelry to Iron Scraps. This old man spent all his time hiding in the cardboard house specially designated for them by Uncle Wei, conducting various metal experiments.

Having obtained so much gold, Iron Scraps was very happy. He immediately started working with Tom to shape the gold into inner connecting parts of the armor to replace the original metal parts.

It took a whole night, and all the conducting crystal energy connecting parts were completed. Tom found Bozi, and the two of them together replaced the gold parts, then Tom put on the armor for testing.

Through full-force strikes on hard objects and pinching the stopwatch in Tom's watch, they completed the calculation of the amplification effect.

After using the crystal energy conducting material based on gold, powered by large red crystals, Tom's arm strength enhancement increased from the original 5 times to around 6 times. However, the increase in leg strength was not as significant, going from the original 3.5 times to around 4.2 times.

This result already excited Tom greatly. He couldn't believe that gold material could spontaneously enhance the effects of abilities. Excited, he took the opportunity to make a pair of handguards and leg guards and put them on.

The result left him somewhat disappointed. When he installed the red crystal on the gold handguard, the original 3 times strength effect only increased to 3.5 times, with a lower amplification effect. As for the legs, the amplification effect was originally 2 times, and changing to the gold conducting material, it remained at around 2 times, with no amplification effect.

Tom concluded that the larger the volume of the crystal, the more obvious the amplification effect of the conducting material.

After completing this experiment, Tom immediately wanted to start drawing the blueprint for Bozi's Old Street One armor. However, Uncle Wei, who had been standing nearby early in the morning, forcibly stopped Tom's work.

After a fierce battle yesterday and working overnight again last night, Tom hadn't eaten much and hadn't slept much, so Uncle Wei couldn't overlook it and intervened.

So Tom had to put down his work and went back to his bed to sleep peacefully.

When he woke up, it was already dark outside. Tom got up and wanted to go to the cardboard laboratory, but he was caught by Skinny, who had been waiting nearby, and dragged to the meeting room.

Seeing Tom arrive, Uncle Wei immediately called for a meeting. Those present included Uncle Wei, Bozi, Tom, Iron Scraps, Skinny, and Head Chef Uncle Rong.

With the victory of Old Street Zero in its first battle, Uncle Wei naturally wanted to summarize and discuss the new situation. As the number one combat force in the camp, Tom naturally couldn't be absent.

Tom summarized his situation in the battle with the mutated giant cockroach, listed some shortcomings and improvement plans for Old Street Zero, and then Bozi had Skinny report on the latest situation in the ant nest.

According to Skinny's reconnaissance more than ten days ago, the mutated bamboo green, which had eaten three of them, found a concealed corner to sleep and completed its mutation. It often went to the ant nest to pay homage, and the mutated ants dared not leave their nests and could only send non-mutated worker ants out to forage.

In recent days, the mutated bamboo green had not appeared again, and the ant nest had loosened its vigilance. Today during the day, Skinny lurked at the entrance of the ant nest and saw the mutated worker ants starting to lead teams out, with three or two mutated soldier ants patrolling at the entrance.

Therefore, Bozi speculated that without the suppression of the mutated bamboo green, the mutated ants would soon come knocking at their door. Therefore, he suggested temporarily stopping external exploration. After all, the size and ramming ability of the mutated soldier ants, as well as their sharp pincers, posed a significant threat.

Tom decided that the next operation for Old Street Zero would target the ant nest. With the large number of ants and the proximity of the nest to the clinic camp, it was a considerable threat and needed to be cleared as soon as possible.

To ensure the safety of the battle, he needed at least two days to make adjustments to Old Street Zero, address some minor issues that arose during yesterday's battle with the mutated cockroach, and adjust the fighting style for the large number of ant colonies.

Iron Scraps reported that there weren't many iron tools left in the camp. According to his estimation, there was barely enough to forge a suit of armor, which was the Old Street One that Tom planned for Bozi. This armor specialized in speed and mobility and didn't require as much metal as Old Street Zero.

Therefore, Uncle Wei concluded that for safety reasons, the camp should close its gates and maintain high-intensity patrols 24/7 to ensure that no ants or other insects entered. Tom and Iron Scraps were urged to complete the adjustments to Old Street Zero as soon as possible and expedite the manufacture of Old Street One. As for Head Chef Uncle Rong, he would try to make various dishes using rice in different ways. In the current situation of overly monotonous nutrition, at least ensuring the variation in food taste could maintain the good mental state of the camp survivors.

Finally, Uncle Rong raised another issue.

After Uncle Qi and Zeng Shisan died, apart from the 21 horsemen left behind for assessment, there were also seven women in their thirties who worked as prostitutes before the disaster. At that time, they attached themselves to Uncle Qi and others, not needing to work every day, just accompanying Uncle Qi and his men. Now that Uncle Qi and Zeng Shisan had fallen, Uncle Wei was in power. Naturally, they hoped to continue to freeload in the camp without working.

However, accustomed to a life of easy money, their work ability was relatively poor. In the past month, as Feng Jie and others gradually took over, they had resorted to their specialties.

Tired of working? Then use their bodies as payment to tempt those uncles to work for them.

If they were single, it was fine, but many of them had wives. Tempted by them, they couldn't control their third legs, naturally leading to discord between husband and wife.

Although it only stayed at the stage of quarrels between husbands and wives for now, in Uncle Rong's opinion, as time went on, the jealousy was likely to escalate from between husbands and wives to between companions.

Several men fighting over a prostitute could develop into a physical fight. If one didn't control it well, it could become a problem that sparked internal strife in the camp. Therefore, after Uncle Rong raised the issue, he hoped that everyone could provide a solution. In addition to the forty to fifty-year-old uncles in the camp, there were also some horsemen who originally belonged to Uncle Qi, all of whom were vigorous young men. Plus, recently, in order to relieve stress, Uncle Wei had supplied a large amount of his medicinal liquor, exacerbating the conflict between men and women.

Tom and Bozi were okay, as they had strong self-control and didn't need to vent through women, but it was hard to say for the others.