The Guard Team

When everyone heard the voice, they all turned to look in the direction it came from.

"It's the Guard Team!"

"Don't look, let's go, the Guard Team is here."

"Time to bail, time to bail."

The onlookers, realizing the Guard Team had arrived, quickly scattered, not wanting to get into any unnecessary trouble.

The leader of the Guard Team was a woman. Jason furrowed his brow. Another woman? She had golden hair flowing down her armor and a large sword at her waist. Her left hand rested on the sword's hilt as she coldly approached them.

"Take them all back!" The woman raised her arm and, with a signal, more than ten guards moved forward and grabbed the nine of them.

The guards were all armed with firearms, and the group had no choice but to comply. However, Jake wasn't going down without a fight.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can just take me?" he shouted, knocking one of the guards who had come for him to the ground.

Jake's teammates, seeing him resist, broke free from the guards and stood beside Jake, confronting the others.

The blonde woman, seeing this, handed her large sword to one of the guards and slowly walked up to the five of them.

With just five meters left between them, she suddenly sprang forward, moving like lightning and landing a punch squarely in Jake's stomach.

Poof!

Jake spat out blood, some of it splashing onto her armor. The four teammates around him froze in place, too stunned to even breathe.

"Why?" The woman sneered. "Take them!" she ordered as she turned around to speak to her subordinates.

A subordinate immediately stepped forward with a handkerchief, which the woman took and wiped the blood off her armor.

Jason and his team were then escorted to a small room on the first floor of the Guard Division.

After a while, the blonde woman came into the room where Jake and his team were held.

"The Red Flame team, for malicious injury, will be confined for one month and will have 750 survival points deducted as food expenses during the confinement," she said coldly, then turned and walked out. With a clank, the iron door closed behind her. As for what Jake and his teammates said after that, the blonde woman couldn't hear it anymore.

Meanwhile, in the other room...

"Boss, are you okay?" Li Feihong asked with concern.

"I'm fine, just a bit of numbness in my arm. Looks like I need to step up my training," Jason shook his arm and said.

"Ah, my little brother got hurt? Is it serious? Do you need big sister to massage it for you?" Sakura teased, moving closer to Jason.

"No, no, no, Sakura, I'm fine. I'm strong as an ox," Jason quickly waved her off, trying to avoid her attention.

Click.

The door to Jason's room opened.

"The Red Flame team, for malicious injury, will face one month of confinement and the deduction of 750 survival points. You should all take this as a lesson and follow the rules of the Dawn Tower. The captain stays, the rest of you can go."

The blonde woman said to the group.

"You're Captain Jason Wright?" She stared at him for a moment before asking.

"Yes!" Jason said, feeling a little nervous.

"Don't be so tense," she replied with a smile, "I'm the head of the Guard Division, Jessica Clark. Half of the survival points deducted from the Red Flame team will be transferred to your team. Come with me to handle the asset transfer."

Jason's heart lifted. This was an unexpected stroke of luck.

"Thank you, Captain Jessica Clark, for your fairness. I'll definitely invite you to a meal when I get the chance," Jason said, pleased.

"No need for a meal. This is my job. Instead of inviting me to eat, you should focus more on training," Jessica Clark replied with a light pat on Jason's shoulder.

Jason flinched, the pain from her grip almost making him yell out.

"I'll definitely keep your advice in mind, Captain Jessica Clark," Jason said through gritted teeth, wondering how Jessica Clark's strength was so impressive.

After Jason finished the asset transfer with Jessica Clark, he came out of the Guard Division and saw his teammates standing nearby waiting for him.

"I've got good news for you guys. Half of the 750 survival points deducted from the Red Flame team have been transferred to us," Jason said, shaking his magnetic card.

"Great! What are we doing next, Captain?" Li Feihong asked, excited.

"Well... we haven't had a proper meal since we got here, so let's head to the cafeteria for a nice meal," Jason suggested.

With no objections from anyone, the four of them headed to the second-floor cafeteria.

The cafeteria was only sparsely populated. After glancing at the price list, they saw that vegetarian dishes cost 2 survival points, meat dishes cost 5 survival points, staple food was 2 survival points per pound, and purified water (500ml) cost 1 survival point. The prices were uniform, and customers could order whatever they wanted.

For alcohol and cigarettes, they had to go to specific stores to buy them.

After their meal, which cost them a total of 39 survival points, they felt a bit extravagant. For four people, spending 30 survival points on one meal was a bit much. If they trained for eight hours a day and ate three meals, they would end up with a deficit of 50 survival points by the end of the day.

Luckily, they had brought some of their own food, or they'd be forced to hang around the industrial zone just to scrape by, and sometimes Jason even wondered if this place was just a black hole sucking up their resources.

Once they had finished eating, there was less than a pound of staple food left on the table and a small plate of vegetables. They packed up the leftovers to take with them.

In this kind of situation, if someone was wasting food, it could only mean one of two things: either they had a surplus of survival points, or they didn't believe in the coming apocalypse, still clinging to the luxurious thinking of the outside world.

What was even more outrageous was that Jason actually saw someone picking up leftovers from other people's tables in the cafeteria! In this new world, who would still do something like that? But yes, it was happening here.

To save a few survival points, people were doing all kinds of things now.

After eating and drinking their fill, the four of them strolled through some other shops.

Besides the cafeteria, there were weapon shops, hardware stores, clothing stores, department stores, and even a bar, a coffee shop, a beauty salon, and... a sex shop?

Among them, the most interesting to Jason was the weapon shop.

It had everything—both firearms and melee weapons. If it wasn't in stock, they could even make it for you on the spot!

The armament selection was comprehensive. Even Sakura and Hank were marveling at the variety.

Unfortunately, their survival points were limited, so they could only look and not buy. When they left the shop, they all felt a bit reluctant.

"Sakura, do you have any extra guns in your bag? Could you maybe give me one?" Jason asked tentatively.

After visiting the weapon shop, he was full of adrenaline. Though the request was a little much, he really wanted one.

"Holy crap, Sakura has a gun? I bow to you, sister!" Li Feihong shouted in amazement from the side.

"I do have one, but can you use it?" Sakura glanced at Jason and asked.

"Does a toy gun count?" Jason replied awkwardly.

"Forget it. Since you took that kick for me, I'll teach you how to use a real gun when we get back," Sakura said, grinning.

"Mm, and maybe let Hank teach Li Feihong too."

"Holy crap, Hank has a gun too? My god, Hank, I kneel to you!"

Jason looked at the constantly kneeling Li Feihong with some helplessness. He thought it was fine as long as he knew, but if others didn't, they might think Li Feihong was a fool.