The Gambler Bai Sifei

"I'm just thinking about the future," Tom put aside his concerns for his sister. "You know, there aren't many threats on this side of the building for now."

"Hmm, it's good to be prepared. I like that about you," Bo Zai pulled out a wooden jar and offered it to him. "Want a sip?"

Tom shook his head. He didn't like drinking alcohol. People had shrunk, and their tolerance for alcohol had decreased significantly. Regular rice wine needed to be diluted with water, and Maotai, with its higher alcohol content, required even more dilution. In the end, the taste of what could be drunk was the same.

But just to have a sip of alcohol from the Maotai bottle, Uncle Seven's obsession had led Zeng Shisan to find Maotai in Old Street, resulting in the betrayal of 108 people to the black-clothed men.

Perhaps this was the pursuit of rulers—to exchange lives for a bit of spiritual enjoyment. This had been the case before, and Tom believed it would continue to be so even after people had shrunk.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Bo Zai interrupted Tom's wandering thoughts.

"Nothing much. Just thinking that once our two sets of armor are repaired, we need to consider clearing Old Street outside the courtyard," Tom replied.

"That's true, but what if we encounter wild dogs? Can your tin can armor withstand mutated wild dogs?" Bo Zai asked.

Tom shook his head. "No, but I don't think there should be any wild dogs on Old Street. Otherwise, the black-clothed man and his Haba Dog wouldn't have such an easy time eating those people. Dogs have keen noses. Once the black-clothed man's Haba Dog appears in the territory of wild dogs, it's easy to attract attention. Of course... it's been so long, maybe some wild dogs have come in, but we still need to investigate."

"That's true. There are still shops on the main street, and the supplies will be more abundant. Let's have Skinny go scouting later. His stealthy movement seems to have gotten faster. Hey, look over there!" Bo Zai pointed to the northern sky.

Tom looked over and saw a beam of light hitting the clouds, revealing a few words: "The Redemption Shelter on the Square is up again."

"Hey, what's the point of these bad guys messing around? The whole city is out of power, and they're building such a conspicuous shelter with such bright lights. Don't they need electricity for those lights?" Bo Zai wondered.

"Maybe they have some black technology that can produce powerful batteries, but they haven't leaked the technology," Tom speculated.

"Hey, wouldn't it be better for us to dismantle that ghost shelter? Constantly going up and down is just tormenting people. It's better to contribute the batteries," Bo Zai suggested.

"I also thought so, but I think they must have considered it," Tom said, looking at the light column somewhat absentmindedly. He thought of the seventh day after shrinking, when they had fled into the shelter under siege from the mutated cat Ah Huang and the mutated rat.

Liu Lian, Li Qiang—the events of that night seemed like yesterday. And now, Liu Lian was in the Haiwei Group's shelter and should be relatively safe. As for Li Qiang, all Tom could do was wish him well.

"Hey, do you think the Haiwei Group will send aircraft to search for survivors around the perimeter again?" Bo Zai asked curiously.

Tom shook his head. "The chances are slim. You have to understand that everyone has shrunk by 24 times, and with such a large area, it's hard to find people. The only beacons are these shelters with light columns. Only by reaching there is there hope for rescue. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why those Darwinian fanatics built shelters."

Speaking of which, Tom thought of the woman in the suit with a mole at the corner of her eye. Although he had only had brief contact with her and she spoke in a cold tone, Tom could feel that she was not as cold-blooded as she appeared on the surface.

Just carrying the burden of over a hundred people in the camp had put a lot of pressure on Tom, and Bo Zai and Uncle Wei shared it with him. As the general manager of the Haiwei Group, that woman, who seemed to be the same age as him, probably had an even heavier burden. With their abilities, they were probably constantly rescuing survivors in the city. Even if they had prepared safe shelters in advance, as the number of people increased, the burden on their shoulders would only get heavier.

With the arrival of the apocalypse, there were no more legal constraints. The ugliness and selfishness of human nature were spreading all the time. Even if they were a seemingly professional group company, with so many people from different backgrounds, classes, and ideas gathered under them, various problems could arise.

"Liu Lian, I hope you and Zhao Yingying are doing well." All Tom could do was silently wish them well; anything more was a luxury.

"To the left, there's a sound on the left side of the road, it's a cat, it must be a cat!" Liu Lian, sweating profusely in a protective suit, pointed to the left side of the highway and shouted loudly.

The two special operations soldiers beside him immediately turned their guns in the direction he indicated. A black figure jumped out from the wall of the avenue—it was indeed a cat.

The cat, with its eyes glowing red, leaped onto the wall, then pounced towards them.

The two assault rifles fired accurately, but the stopping power of such small bullets was low. The mutated cat landed a paw, sending the two special operations soldiers flying. The protective suits did not withstand the attack of the mutated cat, and blood splattered from their chests.

Liu Lian was prepared long ago and had just avoided the damage by lying down. Now, facing the mutated cat two stories high, he hadn't even had time to get up.

At this moment, a figure inserted itself at an extremely fast speed, grabbed Liu Lian lying on the ground, and ran.

The other six special operations soldiers had just dealt with one mutated cat and now had time to turn their guns towards the black cat, even firing grenades.

The mutation of the black cat did not enhance its physical protection. Bullets hit its body, combined with the pain caused by the two soldiers just now, making it quickly leap away.

Liu Lian was placed behind the special operations soldiers, and the one who rescued him was none other than Ouyang Haotian. His legs emitted a red light, and the explosive power in his legs was even stronger than Bo Zai's.

Xiao Mei quickly went forward to check on Liu Lian, and after confirming that he was fine, she sighed in relief.

In addition to the special operations soldiers, there were three security department personnel. Their reactions were slower by two beats. By the time the mutated cats had retreated, they aimed their weapons and fired, but the targets were already gone.

At the back of the position was Bai Sifei wearing gold-rimmed glasses. His pristine white coat was stained with quite a bit of blood. He shouted loudly, "Quick, the Redemption Shelter is fully operational, the gates are open, hurry inside!" With that, he rushed towards the gate.

The three security department personnel also hurriedly followed suit. Surprisingly, the six special operations soldiers held their ground, steadily retreating with their weapons. Every time the black cat tried to pounce, they forced it back with their bullets.

Soon, the sturdy iron gate of the shelter closed completely, and everyone successfully retreated into the shelter.

"Damn it! It's eating Zhao Debiao and the others' bodies!" The special operations soldier angrily observed the bloody scene outside on the display screen, pounding his fist against the metal wall.

With the living people safely inside, the remaining bodies naturally became the mutated black cat's dinner. Watching the two bodies being torn apart and devoured by the black cat, the three security department personnel couldn't help but retreat to the side, vomiting uncontrollably.

Liu Lian and Xiao Mei had already become immune and could only sigh and shake their heads. Ouyang Haotian didn't even bother to look; he didn't want to invite trouble.

Bai Sifei sighed, wiping the corner of his mouth. "Liu Lian, Xiao Mei, Haotian, you guys register as awakened individuals first."

Liu Lian and Xiao Mei stepped up to the globe, placing their hands on it in turn, extending the activation time of the Redemption Shelter by 12 hours. Combined with the default 9 hours, it meant they would only have 21 hours of safe shelter time.

Watching the large countdown timer on the door, Bai Sifei sighed again, feeling as if his heart had sunk into an icy abyss. Finally convincing Shen Jiayi to agree to let him lead the Special Shelter Investigation Team, he had hoped to bring people out and earn some points, exchange them for crystal technology, and strengthen the group's power, making Shen Jiayi look at him with admiration.

He had made ample preparations this time. Two awakened individuals who had previously obtained shelter qualifications were invited to join the Special Shelter Investigation Team. Of course, revenge would provide them with better resources, but for the group, it was not worth mentioning.

Then there were the survivors who had been brought out by the two sheltered individuals. The task of the investigation team was to ensure that the two awakened individuals, along with the grateful survivors, would go to other Redemption Shelters in the city. By having the survivors earn shelter points for the awakened individuals, they could then exchange them for crystal technology.

With over forty survivors, plus the research and armed personnel of the investigation team, totaling eighty-two people, the group had to suspend some survivor search operations and deploy seven Phoenix No. 6-axis aircraft for transportation.

They started from the nearest shelters, only to find that not all shelters had point exchange functions. Undeterred, Bai Sifei decided to split up, testing each nearby shelter one by one. After all, with such a large mobilization of manpower, giving up after one or two failures was not his style.

After consecutive failures at four shelters, the investigation team took the risk and ventured into the city segment designated as a Level 3 danger zone. To their surprise, Bai Sifei's squad discovered that this shelter actually had an exchange function.

The awakened individual, who possessed both strength enhancement and defense enhancement abilities, was successfully identified as a sheltered individual. Unfortunately, out of the fifteen survivors who originally followed him, only four showed gratitude, resulting in only four shelter points.

Since he had already exchanged once—for a knife—the second exchange required eighteen points, which was still half of what he had.

Bai Sifei reluctantly accepted the reality after some research. It turned out that the awakened individual had indeed successfully led the fifteen survivors to the Redemption Shelter and each person was indeed grateful to him. However, after entering the Haiwei Group's shelter, they were separated, and some selfish actions by the awakened individual had cooled many people's hearts. So now, the only ones left in the group who were still grateful to him were the four women he had slept with.

Bai Sifei now felt like a trapped gambler. In order not to let his previous investments go to waste, he decided to send the eleven survivors back and let the others continue to the next shelter, hoping to exchange for a technology as soon as possible.

However, when two Phoenix aircraft entered another area, they were attacked by two birds, causing the aircraft to be damaged and forced to land hastily. The group could only choose to walk to the nearest shelter. But as they approached the shelter, they were attacked by two wild dogs. Despite relying on ample firepower to eventually kill one and drive away the other, they also paid with the lives of five temporary search team members and two security department members.

During the attack, the awakened individual was the first to lead his harem of four women towards the shelter. However, since the shelter had not yet activated, they were bitten to death by two lurking wild cats. When Bai Sifei and the others caught up, they found a third one.

If it weren't for Liu Lian's discovery of these wild cats, they would probably all have died at the door of the shelter.

"Thanks to this awakened individual," Bai Sifei, who had previously somewhat disliked this sarcastic fatty, now found him somewhat endearing.

"Oh, Dr. Bai, look, a table has risen on the platform!" exclaimed a security department member.