Nina Jacobs and her group were led to a few low-slung, single-story buildings by the roadside.

This row of buildings had probably been a line of small restaurants before. Signs for things like "*zhou Ramen" and "** Rice Bowls" still hung above the doorframes.

As for the camp the men had mentioned, it turned out to be a bus station across the road.

The walls surrounding the bus station had simply been raised and reinforced with an electric fence.

"It looks like this is a long-term encampment for Riventon Base."

Adrian Shaw said. Those men had already told them they were from Riventon Base.

"Mm."

Nina Jacobs observed her surroundings.

Behind this row of single-story buildings was an unobstructed wasteland. The perimeter of the wasteland had been blocked off with layers of paneling, and the road itself was sealed. It should be relatively safe for them to rest here tonight.

"We’re less than two kilometers from the gates of Aethelgard. These people are definitely more than they seem. We need to be careful."

Joanne Page added.

"More than careful. I’d say they’ve already marked us as fat sheep."

Shirley Lucas scoffed.

He highly doubted those people would be kind enough to let them stay in their camp.

But this was the only road to the gates of Aethelgard. All other routes required a long detour onto the highway.

Trevor’s group had also mentioned that the highways around Aethelgard were nearly impassable.

"There’s only one thing they said that might be true: that hundreds of thousands of zombies are locked up inside Aethelgard."

Nina Jacobs said.

They were so close to Aethelgard, yet there were no zombies around. That could only mean one thing.

The zombies had all been sealed inside the city.

"Look! They’re back too."

Not long after they had gotten out of their vehicle, Leo Hale noticed the four armored cars driving into the bus station across the road.

"If they come over later, I’ll need a few of you to stall them."

Nina Jacobs said.

Holden Shaw and Chase Gallagher had gone to scout the area, and she was worried they would be spotted by those people on their way back.

"Miss Jacobs, let us go."

Beaumont Wallace volunteered. Damian Coleman and Marcus Miller were with him; the men seemed to be thick as thieves.

"I’ll go too," Leo Hale said.

"Okay. Remember, my name is Summer Warner,"

Nina Jacobs instructed.

Just as she expected, a large group of people started walking over from across the road before long.

Beaumont Wallace and the others pretended to clean up the area, while Leo Hale used his Gold Element Superpower to reinforce the doors and windows.

Seeing the people get closer, the men exchanged a glance and went to meet them.

"What are your names?"

David Rowan looked at the young men and asked casually.

Leo Hale and the others hadn’t expected them to ask for their names first.

Remembering Nina Jacobs’s instruction, Leo Hale casually made one up: "My name is Rex."

Beaumont Wallace’s pupils constricted slightly. "My name is... my name is Walter Warner."

In his nervousness, Damian Coleman thought of a novel he’d recently read to pass the time and blurted out, "I’m Dominic Coleman!"

Marcus Miller said, "My name is Gregory Miller."

’Rex, Walter Warner, Dominic Coleman, Gregory Miller?’

David Rowan’s expression immediately soured. ’What kind of garbage names are these?’

Nevertheless, he extended a hand and pointed at Leo Hale.

"You... what’s-his-name? Rex?

Take us to your leader. We have something to discuss."

"What is it?"

Leo Hale and the others quickly blocked their path.

"What? Do we need your permission to see your boss?"

Suspicion flickered in David Rowan’s eyes.

’Are these guys deliberately blocking us?’

"No! Our boss and the others are still... still..."

For a moment, Marcus Miller didn’t know what to say.

They all came from a military background and were terrible at lying.

"Are you looking for me?"

Just then, Adrian Shaw appeared, conveniently getting them out of their bind.

There were over a dozen men in the group. When Adrian Shaw led them inside, Leo Hale noticed that Holden Shaw and Chase Gallagher were already back.

"Here’s the deal. This whole area is under our jurisdiction,"

Conrad Hawthorne explained with a smile. "Since you’re staying here, you should pay a lodging fee for the night. It’s no big deal."

"Lodging fee? What’s the rate?"

Nina Jacobs asked.

’Chase Gallagher just said there were more than 300 people in that camp—at least 600.’

"Simple. A hundred-plus pounds of Gold, for instance. Or a truckload of supplies, something like that."

"Or, what do you think... the lives of your seventy-odd people are worth?"

A calculating glint flashed in Conrad Hawthorne’s eyes.

By now, the sky outside had gone completely dark. Even if these people wanted to leave, they had nowhere to go.

If they refused to hand over enough goods, they could just drive them out.

Besides, he was positive these people had supplies and Gold.

But after hearing this, Adrian Shaw just smiled.

"Sounds good. In any case, your Mr. Stone said that as long as we deliver the goods, he’ll cover all our travel expenses."

As he spoke, he had Shirley Lucas take out a document from his dimensional space. The signature on it was indeed Justin Stone’s.

"You know our commander?"

David Rowan glanced at it. The document not only had a signature, but the official seal was indeed that of their Riventon Base.

"Know him? We’ve even had drinks with him back at Falken Base."

Shirley Lucas replied.

"Then why didn’t you say so earlier?"

Conrad Hawthorne was suddenly furious.

They had indeed wanted to extort some money or supplies from this group, but if Base Commander Justin Stone found out about it, it would probably hinder their future promotions.

"We didn’t know you guys were from Riventon Base then."

Shirley Lucas said.

"In that case, we won’t disturb you any further."

David Rowan scoffed and was about to leave.

But he was stopped by a beaming Shirley Lucas.

"Just kidding!

You guys did us a huge favor, we can’t thank you enough! How could we possibly let you leave empty-handed?"

With that, he waved his hand and took out several boxes.

Nina Jacobs noticed that when the men saw the items, their eyes instantly lit up.

There were cases upon cases of high-proof liquor. Beside them, a few mini-fridges were plugged into a portable power station, full of ice-cold beer.

The thought of the day’s sweltering heat made Conrad Hawthorne and his men feel an unbearable thirst.

"Bro, it’s real Maotai!"

one of the men said excitedly after going up to inspect it.

"Hahaha! Who would’ve thought? I never got to drink Maotai before the apocalypse, but here it is now."

Conrad Hawthorne and his men were clearly delighted.

"Don’t be shy, fellas. Take it all."

Shirley Lucas put away the mini-fridges, packed the cans of ice-cold beer into boxes, and even took out a large bag of fried peanuts for them to have as a drinking snack.

Watching the group leave, satisfied, Adrian Shaw shook his head.

Nina Jacobs had been right. The carrot and stick approach was the most effective way to deal with people like them.

"I didn’t expect you to have all this prepared."

Nina Jacobs was quite impressed with Adrian Shaw and Shirley Lucas.

The two of them had performed a perfect double act.

Shirley Lucas smiled. "Of course. My job involves a lot of socializing. Greasing the wheels with all sorts of shady characters makes things a lot easier."

The other team members watched with keen interest.

"Lucas, why’d you give them so much booze?"

Marcus Miller asked.

"Duh. What else would it be for? It’ll be easier for us to make our move when they’re drunk."

Shirley Lucas replied.

’He refused to believe they wouldn’t be tempted by the sight of ice-cold beer!’