Consultation

"Brother Xiao, dinner is ready."

"I'm getting sick of hotpot every day."

Xiao Jun walked out of his room, just in time to hear the complaint from Jing Ru, the twin sister.

"Then you can have rice balls today, any flavor you want."

For most people, rice balls were the perfect solution to hunger, but for the residents of this second floor, they were nothing short of torture.

The taste wasn't bad, but there was just too little of it.

It was like highly concentrated compressed crackers – one would fill you up, but you'd be left with a dry mouth all day, unable to eat anything else.

"No, I don't want that!!!"

Jing Ru wailed in horror.

The little girl next to her didn't care, swiftly taking out a spicy rice ball from her spatial pocket and shoving it into Jing Ru's mouth as she was screaming.

"I'm telling you, if you dare spit it out and waste it, you'll go hungry for two days," said Xiao Jun.

Hearing his words, Jing Ru stopped trying to spit it out, but her big eyes still glared angrily at Xiao Jun.

Speaking of food, Xiao Jun suddenly remembered something – with the emergence of fifth-tier zombies, there should also be mutated beasts appearing.

Those mutated beasts, even the weaker ones were on par with fourth-tier zombies, and their massive bodies were completely immune to the zombie virus.

Not only were these beasts virus-free, but their meat was also extremely delicious. Once they appeared, they could finally have fresh meat to eat.

Xiao Jun was getting tired of eating the hotpot made from frozen food every day.

"Do we have any skilled chefs in our team?" Xiao Jun suddenly asked.

"There are two, professional chefs from before the apocalypse," Jiang Doctor replied.

The chef profession was actually quite rare for women.

Before the apocalypse, not to mention chefs, there weren't many young women who could cook at all – they were all little princesses. How could anyone expect them to cook?

It was surprising that Jiang Yue had managed to find two female chefs.

As long as they could survive this zombie crisis, they would truly be able to enjoy life again.

"By the way, when will Li Jingyin recover?"

It had only been a day since the events, and Li Jingyin hadn't come out to eat, still resting in bed.

"She's much better now, but she lost a lot of blood, so it'll take some time to fully recover."

"Can't she use a Mutation Crystal?" Xiao Jun was puzzled. However, he had never suffered such injuries in his previous life, and there were no Mutation Crystals available back then.

"No, Mutation Crystals can't directly replenish blood. It'll probably take two or three days for her to fully recover," Jiang Doctor said after considering it.

Two or three days? That should be fine then.

The zombie rain was still four days away, and Li Jingyin would be able to recover before that, so there was no problem.

"Starting from today, our team will still be divided into two shifts, the Gale Gang and Tiger Leopard Gang have more people than us."

Jiang Yue nodded in agreement.

"We should try to keep our own team at around a thousand people, taking an elite approach even though it can't be too small a number."

Xiao Jun only needed to mention these things, and Jiang Yue would naturally handle the implementation details.

As they were talking, everyone had almost finished their meals, except for Jing Ru, who sat on the side, eyeing the food longingly, unable to eat despite the enticing aroma – it was just too torturous.

"Go, take out the trash. You can't just eat and do nothing all day," said Xiao Jun, assigning the cleaning task to Jing Ru, who was the only one with no duties.

Her twin sister Jing Yi was currently overseeing the entire trading hall in her domain, setting prices for everything.

On the entire second floor, Jing Ru was the only one with nothing to do. Even the couple's massage had become her solo performance. If she didn't have some chores, others would start complaining.

Or she could just eat, that worked too.

...

"Brother Xiao, the leaders of the Gale Gang and Tiger Leopard Gang are here to see you," the female bodyguard came upstairs to inform him.

It was getting late, so they must be here to discuss tonight's battle.

Xiao Jun stood up, and Jiang Yue followed him downstairs.

The two gang leaders were waiting for them in the main hall downstairs.

When Xiao Jun first saw these two leaders, he was almost stunned into laughter.

One fat, one thin. One tall, one short.

A bamboo pole and a ball.

It was such an amusing coincidence that these two polar opposites had ended up teaming up together.

The leader of the Gale Gang was the fat one, ironically named for his lack of swiftness.

His round, chubby face was packed with folds of fat, wearing a Buddha-like smile.

"Leader Xiao, Leader Jiang, I really envy your lifestyle."

"Lu Dezhi, don't think I don't know – you took your 14th concubine just two days ago. Your life is the colorful one, be careful not to get drained dry like Zheng Fahun, or you'll be in trouble."

"My name is Zheng Fakun, Leader Xiao."

The tall and thin leader of the Tiger Leopard Gang corrected him.

"Ah, my apologies, Leader Zheng. Please, have a seat everyone."

The first floor main hall was similarly furnished with a full set of sofas and a tea set, specifically for receiving guests, though this was the first time it was being used.

The four of them sat down, and the female bodyguard poured them a pot of hot tea.

"Leader Xiao, let me get straight to the point," Lu Dezhi said as Xiao Jun gestured for him to continue, picking up his own teacup.

Brewing a pot of tea wasn't easy – they had to start a fire and boil the water in a pot, so it couldn't be wasted.

"Since we've chosen to follow you, it means we have confidence in you. But for tonight's battle, we need to inform our brothers of the plan ahead of time, or they'll be uneasy."

Xiao Jun didn't speak, glancing at Jiang Yue beside him.

The two gang leaders also turned their gaze toward Jiang Yue.

"Here's what we'll do – tonight, we plan to reactivate the battlefield we used previously. For the past few days, because the zombies were too powerful and we lacked manpower, we had retreated to Leader Xiao's courtyard."

"Now, with the addition of the two gang leaders, we can reactivate it again, which will greatly improve our combat efficiency and allow us to assist each other."

"Furthermore, our previous combat location was built against a wall, so each gang can take responsibility for one direction. If any fourth-tier zombies appear, our people will naturally clear them out, and the two leaders don't need to worry about that."

As the overall commander of the nightly battles, Jiang Yue had already considered these issues and was simply voicing her plan.

"What about the spoils?"

"Each gang will collect the zombies from their own direction after the battle. The final wave of third and fourth-tier zombies will belong to us."

Xiao Jun's tone left no room for negotiation.

During the zombie attacks, there would also be some third-tier zombies appearing, but not in large numbers, and Xiao Jun's team wouldn't be able to assist them.

But the final wave with the fourth-tier zombies would likely include around twenty third-tier zombies as well, which was the real prize.

Lu Dezhi and Zheng Fakun exchanged a glance, eventually nodding in agreement.

Before coming here, they had already expected that Xiao Jun's team would demand some concessions.

As long as they got the final wave of third-tier zombies, it was acceptable.

"Here's to a pleasant partnership, and may we all survive the apocalypse."