[Lucius: Hey, two little beauties, don’t be angry. I’m just sincerely inviting you to join my Shelter, it’s not as complicated as you think.]

[Lucius: Besides, I’ve been surviving in the Wasteland for so long, and I have thirty or forty people under me.]

[Lucius: No matter how big your appetite is, Miss Radhika, I guarantee I can afford to feed you. Just say the word, and I’ll try my best to satisfy whatever you want to eat...]

Lucius seemed to have done this kind of thing often, thinking the two women were just playing hard to get to drive up the price.

He made another promise.

At the same time, he ’casually’ revealed the strength of his Shelter, hoping to intimidate the two girls.

Having so many people under him already spoke volumes.

Being able to feed so many subordinates meant he could at least solve the problem of food.

After all, he hadn’t seen anyone in the Wasteland who would turn down food.

He believed the two women would understand and then privately message him.

However, after he finished speaking, he waited blankly for several minutes, but received no reply.

Instead, Vikram received private messages from the two women.

[Radhika: Big Boss Vikram, emergency help needed!]

Vikram, who had been watching the show, originally wanted to see how it would end up.

As for lending a hand, Vikram hadn’t even considered it.

Radhika’s sudden contact made him raise an eyebrow.

[Vikram:?]

He hadn’t uttered a sound throughout this farce, so Vikram couldn’t understand why the other party would seek him out, and immediately sent a question mark.

[Radhika: This Lucius is too annoying. We’re ignoring him, but he keeps pestering us.]

[Radhika: Big Boss Vikram, could we borrow your prestige to dampen this persistent pest’s arrogance and make him retreat? Otherwise, Geeta and I are going to be driven crazy.]

[Geetanjali: Yes, yes, Big Boss Vikram, we won’t ask you to help for free.]

[Geetanjali: Afterward, if there’s anything you want or anything you want to know, just ask, and we’ll try our best to repay you.]

Vikram glanced at the group chat.

After the two women ignored Lucius, several more messages had indeed appeared.

[Lucius: Why are the two little beauties still shy?]

[Lucius: It’s okay, we can discuss the benefits. As long as you’re efficient, I can give you anything.]

[Lucius: Even precious crystals are not out of the question.]

The most bizarre thing was that this guy even confidently posted a selfie in the group.

The photo clearly showed a middle-aged Survivor with a scruffy beard, sausage lips, and dead fish eyes.

The entire screen was filled with his damned charm.

Seeing this, Vikram also got goosebumps.

However, regarding the two women’s request, Vikram looked towards Divya and Anjali, as he noticed they watched from the side, a little anxious.

After all, Radhika and Geetanjali had offered some help when they were in danger.

Now that it was their turn to be in trouble, they naturally wanted to lend a hand.

Seeing their intention to help,With a smile on his lips, Vikram spoke lightly, "You want me to help your little sisters?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a glimmer of light instantly flashed in their eyes.

Then they nodded like pounding garlic.

As if not wanting to make Vikram feel awkward, Divya slowly spoke, "We can ask Radhika and the others exactly what to do, and then ask about the reward. If it’s too much trouble, then... then forget it."

Vikram didn’t speak but casually nodded, giving the two women full authority to discuss it themselves.

He wasn’t some cold-blooded ingrate.

Not to mention that Divya and Anjali had received help before, didn’t Vikram himself also get their help back at the Savage Wolf Shelter?

The fact that Radhika and Geetanjali, two girls, could discuss it beforehand instead of acting first and reporting later already showed that they had good character.

Coupled with previous events, what reason did he have not to help?

After the two women excitedly kissed him on the cheek, Vikram finished dinner and left the table first, so they will talk privately.

—

He went to look and found, the one-fifth area of Territory three was upgraded. If the Wood Mage Sprout and Air Mage Sprout continue doing this, they will soon reach the max level.

While he was looking at the territory 3 was purifying, he received a message from Divya on the Survival Platform asking him to come back and take a look.

With a doubt, he returned to the Shelter.

He was greeted by the smiles on their faces.

"What’s wrong? Did Radhika offer some good reward?"

"How did you know?" Vikram chuckled, guessing most of it from their unconcealed expressions.

"Our shelter has always been short on fuel like gasoline and diesel, hasn’t it?"

"Before the trading market disappeared, although we exchanged some with vegetables, there wasn’t much left in stock."

Listening to Divya, Vikram nodded.

These fuels could be used for going out.

Yet, this item couldn’t be found easily, which had always bothered him.

Logically, there should be at least some in factory resource points.

But Vikram and the others had searched the factory thoroughly and found no oil whatsoever.

As a result, every time Vikram drove out, he told Harry to go easy on the gas, fearing that the gasoline they had would run out before they found new supplies.

"According to you, Radhika has extra fuel that she can trade to us?"

"Yes!" Divya nodded without hesitation.

Then she continued, "She said that if we help her get rid of Lucius, that persistent survivor, they can directly give us ten liters of gasoline for free."

"Such a good deal?" Vikram knew why it was ten liters; this was the maximum daily trading weight per person on the trading platform.

"Yes, Radhika also said that if we are short on oil, we can try offline trading."

"She said that their Shelter found a small gas station resource point before, and the gasoline in their Shelter is quite sufficient."

Initially, Vikram was calm about the ten liters of gasoline, as ten liters of oil was only enough for his vehicle to travel less than three hundred kilometers, so there wasn’t much to be excited about.

But if the other party could trade a large amount of gasoline with them later, that would be completely different.

Suppressing his slightly excited mood, Vikram spoke again, "How exactly does she want us to help? She doesn’t want me to go directly to the other shelter and kill Lucius, does she?"

The current Wasteland was not like before.

Just from the small motorcycle Vikram got from the Epic-level supply crate, he knew that vehicles would gradually become common.

Coupled with the fact that many Survivors’ Shelters already had electricity, the demand for these fuels was self-evident.

The other party offering these things definitely wasn’t doing it casually.

However, Divya’s answer surprised him.

"Not at all."

"Radhika and Geeta said that we don’t need to do anything, just be their shield."

Divya leaned closer and showed Vikram her previous chat with Radhika and Geetanjali.

The content inside was largely the same as what she relayed to Vikram.

Only one detail was omitted.

That was, the other party did indeed plan to trade gasoline, but they hoped Vikram could offer food in exchange when trading.

Upon seeing this, Vikram was not surprised at all; instead, he had an expression that said, "I knew it."

He guessed that these two young girls getting entangled and seeking his help was only a secondary reason; the main reason was to connect with him to obtain food.

Vikram, who saw through their true intentions, wasn’t angry at all and shrugged as if it were only natural.

"Tell them to do as they said."

"As for the trade, we can discuss it later."

Vikram smiled. Anyway, he wasn’t at a disadvantage. Food, for him, was the easiest thing.

For him, trading with food was actually the most cost-effective...

Inside a large shelter, Radhika, who received Vikram’s permission, jumped up excitedly.

"Yay!"

"Finally, we’ve established a food trading opportunity with Big Boss Vikram."

"Then we can also occasionally have a big meal!"

Geetanjali, standing beside her, also looked happy.

At the same time, she was a little worried, "Radhika, won’t it be bad to deceive Big Boss Vikram like this? After all, he has never offended us."

Radhika’s face suddenly returned to calm, and she said seriously.

"There’s no other way, Radhika. Food is too difficult to obtain now."

"Even for ordinary food trades, it usually requires an additional favor to be equivalent, and even then, no one is willing to trade food."

"Among the people we know, only Big Boss Vikram has this capability."

"When we trade later, we’ll give Big Boss Vikram more gasoline as an apology."

As they said, food trading is very difficult to conduct now.

Not to mention large-scale, long-term food trading.

They knew that Vikram’s Territory was not short on food, but not being short on food and being able to trade food were two different things.

Vikram held food, and trading with anyone was still trading; at worst, he could consume it himself. Why should it be their turn?

So, they used this matter to indirectly inquire about Vikram’s needs, hoping to establish a trading relationship with him through this.

What the two women didn’t know was that Vikram was actually hoping someone would come to him to trade gasoline for food.

The canned goods in his warehouse alone were enough to last him for several years.

Not to mention after the Treehouse Upgraded, even if he didn’t do anything, he can daily harvest various types of food and fruits.

As long as he wanted to, he would never starve.

In the group, after all this time, Lucius still hadn’t given up.

From time to time, he would still post what looked like recruitment messages, but the targets of his recruitment were always some good-looking female Survivors in the group.

His intentions were obvious to everyone!

Especially Radhika and Geetanjali, who he had targeted early on, had a pile of messages from him in their inboxes.

They were nothing more than sweet words and sugar-coated bullets, trying to trick them into bed just by typing.

Seeing that the two women had been ignoring him, he even went into the group and @-mentioned Radhika and Geetanjali.

[Lucius: How about it, beauties? The conditions I’ve offered are generous enough, aren’t they? At least give me a reply?]

[Radhika: Please, Uncle, can you stop deluding yourself? Generous? With your paltry offerings, any Shelter you find on the street could offer more.]

[Geetanjali: Exactly. You’re quite ugly, but you dream big.]

Seeing the two women finally reply to him, Lucius was not only not angry but even showed a smug smile.

He wasn’t a Survivor pulled in by Kashif Ali; he was added to the group by someone he knew in the group.

He had never taken this group chat seriously, always treating it as a common trading group.

Before Kashif Ali posted any new messages, this group chat was indeed all about trading information and daily shares from some Survivors.

Aside from having larger trading amounts than the chat channel, there was nothing special about the group.

That’s why he had no concept of the group’s true strength and continued to bluster.