Luo Lan did not know Qing Zhen had already sent people to look for him, nor did he know that Qing Zhen was facing the suppression of the consortium's Board. He only knew that the sweet potato fragrance from next door was really fragrant.
He looked at his trusted aide next to him and said, "Um … Tang Zhou, check if there's any leftovers from the sweet potato fields."
His aide named Tang Zhou said, "Can't we just go and snatch some?"
"What do you know?" Luo Lan swore, "Am I, Luo Lan, that kind of person? If the consortium wants me to kill the Pyro Company's people, I won't even bat an eyelid. But if word gets out that we're robbing a group of escapees, what kind of person would I, Luo Lan, become? "
"But they've already dug up all the sweet potato fields," Tang Zhou said awkwardly.
There were more than 3,000 escapees, and the sweet potato fields were not planted on a large scale. They had been growing there for an unknown period of time.
When the escapees finally found something edible after starving for several days, they would definitely dig it up until it was all gone. Even if they could not eat it, they could still bring it along with them. At the very least, they would not starve for the next few days.
Only those who had been hungry before would understand what it felt like to be starved to the extreme. It had only been a few days since they fled, but all of the escapees had lost a lot of weight.
Only Ren Xiaosu and the others did not seem to have changed much.
Luo Lan was conflicted for a long time. "Go, which of you have money with you? Go and buy some from them."
Luo Lan did not have time to bring anything with him during his escape this time. Otherwise, he would not have been left without a pair of pants to wear. The soldiers of the other brigades were also in a similar situation. The earthquake had struck too suddenly, so those who were in the mood to return to their houses to get their money were basically buried inside.
The soldiers looked at each other. Everyone pooled their money and finally came up with 4,000 yuan. This was the change they usually carried in their pockets.
Luo Lan's eyes lit up as he looked at the money. "Tang Zhou, take some men with you and buy some. Be careful not to get ambushed by them."
"Roger that." Tang Zhou led a platoon over. At this time, the surviving platoons had already finished reorganizing. The wounded did not need to participate in the battle, but at least two-thirds of their 200-odd people could still fight.
Luo Lan didn't forget to remind them, "Buy it at fifty times the usual price. Don't embarrass the Kyung Clan. We don't take advantage of others."
At this time, food was obviously more important than money, but whether fifty times the price was worth it was purely a matter of opinion.
Everyone would eventually return to human civilization one day. Perhaps they could even reach Stronghold 109 in three days if they were fast enough. At that time, they would need money to buy everything. Although the Kyung Clan Consortium did not have a good relationship with the Li Consortium, the Kyung Clan Consortium still had some business interests in Stronghold 109. Therefore, the notes issued by the Kyung Clan Consortium still had some purchasing power.
The relationship between the consortiums was very complicated. It wasn't that the strongholds controlled by the Li Consortium were completely free of infiltration by other consortiums. Most of the time, the distribution of power between the consortiums was more like a dog's teeth.
Each stronghold was located in a different location, which meant they controlled different natural resources. Therefore, there was a need for the consortiums to communicate with each other.
For example, the area controlled by the Kyung Clan Consortium was mainly dominated by vanadium titanomagnetite, rock salt, mirabilite, lead zinc, sulfur, iron ore, asbestos, mica, gold, phosphorus, cement limestone, coal, and natural gas. Meanwhile, the southern area controlled by the Li Consortium was dominated by non-ferrous metals and coal mines, and the plantation industry was rich in tobacco leaves.
But most importantly, the Kyung Clan Consortium was located in a basin with a suitable climate, so they controlled rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, and other food crops, as well as cash crops like tea leaves. Most of the time, the Li Consortium had to purchase food from the Kyung Clan Consortium. They also grew their own crops, but it wasn't enough.
Every consortium valued food very much, but it did not mean that the land under their control was suitable for growing food. Nature would not change because of the will of humans.
Not long after, Tang Zhou returned with a large pile of sweet potatoes. When the escapees saw the soldiers coming over with loaded guns, not many of them dared to reject the Kyung Clan Consortium's request. Moreover, the Kyung Clan Consortium's offer was not low.
Luo Lan excitedly instructed the soldiers to throw the sweet potatoes into the fire. Then the group of men waited anxiously.
Luo Lan counted the number of people and then the number of sweet potatoes. Then he sighed and said, "Each of you can have half. No one is allowed to have more than that. The wounded can have an entire sweet potato."
After it was roasted, Tang Zhou took a wooden stick and pulled out a sweet potato from the fire for Luo Lan. "Boss, take this and eat it."
Luo Lan picked it up, broke it in half, and handed it to Tang Zhou. "Half each."
"There's no need for that, right, Boss?" Tang Zhou was a little hesitant. "You're only going to eat half too?"
"Cut the crap. Hurry up and take it. It's hot!" Luo Lan looked at the others and said, "I don't have the time to talk to everyone right now. When we get to Stronghold 109, I'll treat everyone to a good time. Hehehe, we're all people who have escaped a disaster. Those who survive a disaster are bound to have good fortune later on!"
The soldiers of the combat brigade ate the sweet potatoes in silence and did not say anything.
Ren Xiaosu had been observing the Kyung Clan Consortium's movements. Suddenly, a woman among the escapees screamed. Following that, a loud slap rang out.
They all turned around and were surprised to see a middle-aged man tearing at a woman. He said, "Why are you still pretending to be innocent after eating the sweet potatoes I dug up? Your man died in the stronghold a long time ago! If I hadn't pulled you back, would you still be alive now? "
"I said I'll give you the money for the sweet potatoes when we get to Stronghold 109!" the woman said through clenched teeth.
"What are you going to give me? Everyone will still have nothing when we get to Stronghold 109! "
Ren Xiaosu curled his lips. These two actually knew each other? It was probably the man who got slapped when he tried to get physical with them. Now that he had flown into a rage out of humiliation, he dragged the woman away into the secluded wilderness. The woman cried but was powerless to struggle. Everyone else was watching coldly from the sidelines.
But at this moment, a shout rang out next to Ren Xiaosu, "Stop! So it's you, the Leopard King, who's causing trouble! "
This shout made Ren Xiaosu's head buzz. He looked at Chen Wudi with a dumbfounded expression and saw Chen Wudi rushing out with the Golden-Hooped Rod in hand.
The middle-aged man could not react in time and was smashed to the ground by Chen Wudi's rod. He nearly vomited blood!
Chen Wudi had even held back his strength. Otherwise, the man would have been smashed to death on the spot.
But before Chen Wudi could enjoy the sense of accomplishment of vanquishing the evil, the woman who was dragged away became angry. She looked at Chen Wudi and said, "Why did you hit him! Get lost! "
Chen Wudi felt a little aggrieved, but he could not figure out what was going on. He could only walk back to Ren Xiaosu with his head drooped.
Everyone looked at this scene in amazement. Only Ren Xiaosu, who had read the original novel of Journey to the West, felt that something was amiss. The Leopard King was the demon king of the Hidden Fog Mountain's Severed Peak Chain Cave in Journey to the West. In the original novel, the Leopard King took a liking to a farmer's wife and took her for himself.
However, the reason why Ren Xiaosu felt that something was amiss was because he realized that Chen Wudi would assign a demon's name to whoever he wanted to fight, such as Little Diamond Wind, Leopard King, and so on.
When he did not feel like fighting, the other party would just be a normal human.
This seemed to be the logic of a mental patient looking for a "reason" and "standpoint" for himself. He was the Great Sage, so he had to fight demons.
Ren Xiaosu watched in a daze as Chen Wudi returned to his side. He thought for a while before teasing, "My disciple, what if you run out of demon names to use when you encounter hundreds of enemies in the future?"
After all, there were only so many demons in Journey to the West. Wouldn't there be no more to fight after they were used up?
Chen Wudi fell into deep thought. That did seem to be the case.
But after a while, Chen Wudi decided to lower his principles a little and said, "It's fine, demon names can be used repeatedly."
Ren Xiaosu was speechless.
Was he really stupid or just pretending to be stupid?! Didn't he say that he would not randomly recognize others?
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