"No need, no need, I will handle it. I brought food and fuel with me, enough for us to get by comfortably. Don't worry about saving it; there will be more supplies coming down soon."
Jing Shu said that to ease everyone's minds, her voice calm and steady in the cramped cabin. These people had worked hard for so long, their bodies whittled down to nothing but grit and bone, and she felt they deserved a proper meal. This was her way of rewarding their stubborn loyalty.
Li Dayou shifted slightly, his face etched with exhaustion. "Should we have Auntie Wang help you out?"
Jing Shu frowned slightly, her eyes darting toward her heavy packs. If someone stood next to her, it would be hard for her to sneak anything out of the Cube Space without being noticed. She preferred the solitude of her own process, and honestly, she didn't like people watching her cook. It was too easy for someone to notice the impossible variety of what she had tucked away.
She was just about to refuse when a low, rhythmic sound reached her ears—the slapping of wet rags and the heavy, dragging shuffle of many feet. A crowd came trudging over the debris toward the boat. There must have been around forty of them, and as they drew closer into the dim light, they looked miserable. Their skin was sallow and stretched tight over their skulls, their eyes reflecting a desperate, glassy light. They were in a state far worse than beggars. It was mostly men, with a few women huddled among them, and just two small children whose faces were smudged with dirt.
Li Dayou's expression darkened, his brow furrowing as he gripped the edge of a crate. "What is going on? Why is everyone here? Didn't I say we would all eat together tonight?"
The silence was broken by a jagged shout from the back of the group. "We want compressed biscuits! We are not eating those soggy ones soaked in water anymore!"
Another voice joined in, louder and more aggressive. "We saw the rescue team just now! They brought tons of food—we even picked some up from the ground! There is enough for all of us!"
"We want that hen!" another man hollered, his voice cracking with hunger. "Are you guys planning to hog it all for yourselves?"
Xiao Dou trembled at the noise, the small hen flapping her wings in a panic and hiding behind Jing Shu's leg. The movement only drew more predatory attention from the starving crowd.
One man in the crowd stepped forward, raising a hand to signal for silence. His greasy hair was a tangled mess, and his clothes were little more than grey rags held together by grime, giving him the air of a beggar gang's elder. "Captain Li, that's not very kind of you," he said, his eyes flicking toward the crates. "Rescue teams are here, but you didn't even tell us? We from Gashan Village deserve some proper hospitality too! Oh, right, I'm Gashan's village head and secretary. Nice to meet you. We came here for an important discussion."
Just one glance at the way his gaze lingered on her bags, and Jing Shu could already guess what they were after. If they weren't here for food, she would eat her own foot. And they even wanted her chicken.
Her eyes cooled, the soft light in them replaced by a sharp, icy edge. "I think you are mistaken. I'm not part of any rescue team, and I don't work for the government. I'm just an ordinary person."
In the apocalypse, where every scrap of fabric was a luxury, no one who looked that well put together and healthy could ever truly be "ordinary."
The village head feigned a look of shock, his mouth hanging open to reveal yellowed teeth. He pointed a trembling finger at her, then at the terrified Xiao Dou. "If you are not with the rescue team, why did you risk your life coming down here? And with all those supplies? You mean you are not here to save us?"
"I am the seeds' owner," Jing Shu replied evenly, her posture stiffening. "I came to check on their condition; that's all. Everything else is none of my concern. As for the supplies, they are mine. How I use them is my business. If you have problems, wait a couple more days. The rescue team will arrive soon. Tell them your troubles, not me."
Jing Shu had zero interest in playing the selfless savior for a group of strangers. The food she brought out in the open was barely enough to sustain her own convoy. If she fed these people too, the portions would be spread so thin that no one would get more than a single, useless bite.
The village head frowned, his eyes narrowing. "But those chickens and compressed biscuits that came down the first time, those were from the rescue team, weren't they? Look at us, so many people—old folks, weak ones, trapped here for so long without a single scrap of food. Shouldn't the government save us? They can't just let us starve!"
"How unfortunate," Jing Shu said lightly, her hand resting protectively on her hip. "The hen is mine. As for those biscuits, the rescue team gave them to the convoy, not for other refugees. The refugees are under government management, not ours. If we shared privately, that would count as forming a faction. You understand what that means, don't you?"
The villagers were stunned, the wind seemingly taken out of their sails. That answer completely wrecked their plans. They had even rehearsed a few sob stories to elicit extra food, and now the situation had turned entirely against them.
The village head was quick to pivot, though. He let out a heavy, theatrical sigh, his shoulders sagging. "To tell you the truth, young lady, your seed ship only survived because of us. If it weren't for the houses in our village blocking the waves, your seeds would have been crushed to dust. And now you would really let your saviors starve?"
Jing Shu raised her brows, a cold smile touching her lips. "As I recall, Captain Li already broke protocol and gave you seeds to eat, didn't he? One life for one life. I haven't even held you accountable for eating them yet. Do you know what kind of seeds those were? They were the nation's last reserve. You ate a first-class protected species. Before the apocalypse, that was a death sentence. If the higher-ups investigate this—"
Wang Dan's eyes widened, and he clenched his fists by his sides. He had been worried Jing Shu would cave in like Captain Li, handing everything over after the villagers made enough noise. But in just a few sentences, she had flipped the tables. The villagers couldn't even find the words to argue back.
The crowd started murmuring nervously, the sound like the buzzing of agitated insects.
The village head rolled his eyes toward the sky and suddenly dropped to his knees on the hard deck. After signaling his people with a sharp motion of his hand, he began to wail, his voice a croaking, desperate sound. "We have already eaten it, there's no fixing that! Who knows if we will even make it out alive? Are we supposed to starve to death here? Look at us, all poor souls! We're not even asking for that hen anymore, just a few biscuits, so we can die with full stomachs!"
"Yeah, we are starving!" a woman cried out from the middle of the group.
"Please, give us something to eat!"
In moments, dozens of people fell to their knees, the sound of their joints hitting the wood echoing in the quiet night. For a starving bunch, they sure had the strength to yell.
Li Dayou sighed, his heart clearly softening at the sight of the weeping children. "Maybe we should—"
Jing Shu cut him off with a sharp, dismissive wave. "No. If you keep crying, I will stop caring altogether."
The place went dead quiet, the wailing cutting off as if a physical hand had been pressed over their mouths.
The village head's face lit up with a spark of predatory hope. "So you will help us? You will give us food?"
"I didn't say that," Jing Shu replied coldly, her gaze sweeping over them. "These supplies are for the convoy. If they are willing to share, I won't stop them."
"They will share, of course they will! We already agreed!" the village head shouted, looking back at his people.
Jing Shu's lips curved slightly, though there was no warmth in the expression. "Not for free. Things outside aren't much better than here. From now on, the convoy will hire you to work. Follow their arrangements. Only those who do their jobs properly will get food each day. No work, no food. It doesn't matter if you're old, young, man, or woman."
The crowd erupted in protest again, whining about the unfairness and the restrictions she was placing on them.
Jing Shu sneered, her voice cutting through the noise. "We have only got so many biscuits left. The rescue team won't be here for a few days. Anyone willing to work, have Wang Dan write down your names. Start now. If you wait too long, there won't be any food left."
A few quick-witted ones broke away from the kneeling crowd and ran to Wang Dan right away. The village head kept kneeling and wailing, his face turning a sour shade of red. This wasn't what he had planned at all; his authority was being stripped away before his eyes as his villagers scrambled to follow her orders.
"Which one of you is Auntie Wang?" Jing Shu called out, turning away from the chaos.
A thin, tall middle-aged woman stepped forward.