263 Escalated Too Quickly

Cardona's cemetery had to be taken care of. However, as long as no one enters it, mobs wouldn't respawn and they won't have to worry about them passively evolving. Jun added the place to his notes.

It was already noon when everyone saw the edge of the next town. The hot sun rays were shining directly above everyone's head from the heated roof of the jeepney.

It's already the Ber-months and yet there are no signs of Christmas spirit that could be seen on the highways. Much worse, the highways were littered with random trash. 

Since the Elite group already passed the area numerous times, the crashed cars were already pushed to the side of the road. Most of the abandoned cars were already retrieved by survivors of the town's survivors.

The travel was peaceful and everyone could feel the cool breeze as they drove down the hill. The vast farmland filled with budding rice crops on both sides of the national road reaffirmed the notion that they have arrived at their destination.

Jun couldn't help but salivate at the thought of harvesting the ricefields. He couldn't wait for the harvested rice and cook them into the real staple food that everyone was fond of.

Rice has been running out and has become a luxury good in the town. Its current price ranges around 200CP to 300CP depending on its quality. As a substitute for rice, corn has become the next staple food for every survivor and they're becoming tired of it.

While staring at the ricefields, Jun had a sudden idea.

The ricefield can ripen faster if Felipe works in tandem together with the Energy Watering-can.

Morong is the next suitable town in terms of farming which already has arable land. The whole two kilometers of the straight national road only comprised of rice paddies.

At the end of the journey, the jeepney was stopped by a simple car barricade.

Edward peeked his head out and greeted the person in charge. It seemed like the two knew each other and were already had a common understanding. 

He even received an extra tip while they passed by that the chairman wasn't happy that they arrived late.

"Understandable. Have a good day!"

Edward bade farewell to his acquaintance and sneakily gave him a piece of rat meat. His acquaintance smiled wide at him and ordered for the barricade to open up. The young man became the center of attention and got flocked by fellow barricade members.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the town hall since it was located on the outer periphery of the town and nearby the marketplace.

The group was welcomed by an unenthusiastic crowd and was led into the building. The group stayed at the first-floor lobby as a woman in ponytail invited Jun to follow her.

Jun gave the secretary a canned food causing the woman to chat and act nicely to him on the way. Unknowingly to the two, Edward was following behind secretively.

—

The current leader of the town was a minority Barangay Captain. He was unfavored by the people during peaceful times but thanks to the changes in the world, the harsh and strict methods he had managed to save a lot of people.

Matteo Ruiz brought the town to peace and safety with his iron fist.

He felt proud when another town's protector organized a visit, wanting to talk about cooperation. However, the said group arrived late as if mocking him.

Two knocks came from the door followed by his secretary's voice. "The visitors have arrived Chairman."

Although he became the spiritual leader of the town, he still hasn't changed his ways and promises to the people.

He works for the people and would die for the people.

He remained humble even after getting all the power available.

"Let them in."

The door opened and Edward entered the room followed by Jun. The reason for the rest of the group staying downstairs was they want nothing of the boring talks for cooperation.

After the two entered, the ponytailed secretary closed the door and took her leave.

Edward stepped forward while apologizing with a wry smile.

"Isn't it a good day today, Uncle Matteo. Too bad, we got held off by a pack of evolved carriers at Cardona. There are at least a dozen evolved ones while hundreds of normal ones!"

Jun stared at Edward's back.

You found your uncle but can't find your family members? What kind of rotten luck do you have?

Chairman Matteo clicked his tongue and glared at Edward. "You still haven't changed brat! Your father's a punctual man! He values time the most! Why didn't you inherit that trait?!"

Edward smiled awkwardly and shifted his eyes, so he doesn't meet Matteo's gaze.

In reality, Matteo wasn't his real uncle. He was just acquainted to him thanks to his father being friends with him. This was also the reason why he was able to arrange this meeting so easily.

"So, this is the man you want me to meet. From the way you praised him last time, I thought he was someone way older than you." Matteo said to Edward then turned to Jun. "Alright, you can sit kid. Let's talk about cooperation."

"I'll be outside," Edward said then strode towards the door. He felt something wrong when he saw Jun smiling pleasantly but ignored it thinking he must be happy for having an easy time.

However, he heard something wrong about the script before he could head out of the door. 

With an amicable and friendly tone, Jun said casually, "Thank you, but I'm fine. As for cooperation, it all starts after I take over this town."

"What are you talking about? Have you gone crazy? Sit down!" Matteo stated in a rough manner. 

Edward quickly turned around just in time to see Jun banging both hands on the desk. 

Matteo was even more shocked than Edward. He was just trying to act rude as payback since the other leader treated him like dirt. 

What's with the sudden escalation of events?

Of course, he couldn't show that he was troubled and continued his poker.

With a frown, he said, "And if I don't agree?"

"You'll get kicked out of your position and someone reliable will replace you. I think you've already seen a lot and you know that there are many people eyeing your position, especially now that the world is in chaos. If you yield now, you'll become the manager of this town and you can speak with Edward with anything you guys need. What do you think?"

Both Matteo and Jun have learned bitter truths after getting into a high position. Matteo knew that Jun wasn't kidding but he doesn't understand why he's acting like this.

Before Matteo could form a reply, Edward's cracked voice sounded from behind.

"Brother Jun, is this a joke? Or do I really have to start calling you Boss Jun from now on?"

Jun softly clicked his tongue and scratched his head. He turned and stared at the disappointed Edward looking at him.

"Haa... I'm just taking shortcuts, you know. It seems weird but he's the one who started it. You already told him the truth and yet he's still acting like a child. I came here for cooperation, but I have to take control of the town first. I want to do it as quickly as possible with no hassle. We don't have much time. Carriers evolve daily all over the country. We don't know when a horde of evolved carriers marches to this town, any of our town in that regard. I need full control with things such as this."

"I know... I understand. Maybe I'm just biased since this is my hometown..." Edward lowered his head and remained still in front of the door.

Jun turned to Matteo and continuously asked a lot of information. He knew that the chairman inwardly accepted their faith and wordlessly took Jun's offer.

"How many survivors does the town have?"

"...around one thousand five hundred."

"That's a lot more than I expected. How many can fight?"

"Two hundred?"

"How many can scavenge for food?"

"About five hundred..."

"What's with these numbers? Considering that those fighters are already counted with the scavengers, is something wrong in the town?"

Jun was not to blame for being confused.

More than half of the town wasn't doing anything with only two hundred fighters on the front line. Also, they can't venture further distances since they also need to protect the people scavenging for loot.

How can these people survive for so long?!

"There's nothing wrong with the town. It's just that the average age of the people in town hovers around thirty-one. A quarter of the town population were already forty-five. Most of the old people that survived but can't do any fighting and are old farmers who had their own lands. The diversity of people in town is currently divided into four groups; those who can fight, those who can't, those who are wounded, and those who don't want to help."

"So the town can't sustain itself, right? You are surrounded with forests and plains. How are you going to feed them? What are the people's response to the current state of the town?"

Matteo clenched his fist and some of his nails dug into his flesh. Since he already accepted to become someone's underling, he might as well go all out and tell the whole truth.

"Some of the abled bodies were leaving for a better place. We saw helicopters a few days ago up north and they're trying their luck by leaving the town. The fighters we have would even dip down in numbers and scavenging would become more troublesome. We were able to harvest some food from house gardens. but with the population at the time, it didn't take long to run out of food. Currently, the population has been starving for at least two days."