The apocalypse struck, and I became a druid.

Page 183

He was surprised to find a working walkie-talkie at Blackie's place.

Seeing no response, the voice repeated several times: "Blackie, Blackie..."

Han Ning's eyes flickered slightly, but he did not respond immediately.

After the other party finished calling for the third time, there was a brief silence before he pressed the call button and leaned close to the microphone to speak:

"Blackie isn't here. What are your orders, sir?"

The breathing sound on the other end of the walkie-talkie changed noticeably.

Then, the hoarse voice, tinged with a hint of doubt, asked in return:

"……Who are you?"

Han Ning remained expressionless: "I am Blackie's subordinate. He went out on business, and I am temporarily keeping the walkie-talkie. I can relay any orders you may have."

The other party was silent.

This time the silence lasted even longer, a good ten seconds or more, with no response except for the hissing sound of electricity.

Clearly, the person on the other end either didn't believe it or sensed something was amiss and chose to remain silent for the time being.

Han Ning waited a few minutes, but when the other party didn't speak again, he simply released the call button. However, he didn't turn off the phone; he just turned down the volume and kept it on while listening.

He casually put the walkie-talkie in his pocket and turned his gaze toward the door.

Not long after, heavy footsteps and the sound of things being dragged could be heard outside.

Vice President Zhao returned with several team members, each with a hint of excitement about their accomplishment.

"Boss!" Vice President Zhao pointed outside.

"These guys really hid a lot of stuff. We found five barrels of gasoline, over two hundred well-sealed military-grade cans of meat, at least sixty boxes of compressed biscuits, various snacks and drinks—a total of 80 boxes—as well as a batch of unopened antibiotics and painkillers, and..."

"There are about 50 Black Stone-level monster crystals, oh right, and a few well-preserved military daggers and several boxes of pistol bullets, but unfortunately, I couldn't find the gun."

At this point, he couldn't help but grit his teeth and mutter a curse.

"These guys really know how to enjoy life. They control the best resources and the most beautiful women, while making ordinary people eat garbage... A bunch of scum!"

“Not everyone is as united as we are at Biyun,” Han Ning said with a smile.

Of course, there were scumbags within Biyun, but as the company gradually developed, those scumbags were kicked out by Chairman Wu and others.

Try to retain members with good personal qualities.

Of course, everyone has their own selfish desires, and conflicts will naturally arise in private, but as long as everyone does not affect overall unity and has the same goal, that's fine.

"Register all of them and install bees."

"Yes!"

As soon as Vice President Zhao finished speaking, Xu Ming led two team members in quickly.

"Boss, it's Lao Zhao."

Xu Ming greeted everyone and began his report in a steady, measured tone.

"There are currently 413 registered ordinary people in the Rock Gathering Area, and most of them are in very bad health."

"After initial observation and questioning, more than 80% of the people had obvious symptoms of malnutrition, were pale and thin, and almost everyone had chilblains, to varying degrees."

"About one-third of the people experienced diarrhea or a persistent low-grade fever of unknown cause, which was suspected to be caused by water pollution or parasites."

"In addition, there are about twenty people with more serious injuries. Some were injured while searching for supplies, while others had old wounds from monster attacks that had not yet healed. Many of their wounds were infected and festering. They have almost no effective medical treatment and are just toughing it out. Well... to put it bluntly, they are waiting to die."

"Regarding age distribution," Xu Ming continued.

"There are 47 minors under the age of 18, most of whom are orphans living with their parents or relatives. There are only 11 elderly people over the age of 60, and they are all in very poor health."

"The rest are mostly young adults aged 18 to 50, but their health is worrying, and many of them are far below their age expectations in terms of actual working capacity."

"The vast majority of them are construction workers, decoration workers, factory assembly line workers, catering service workers, security guards, and individual vendors. Their education level is generally low, with junior high school education being the mainstream, less than a quarter having a high school education, and university students accounting for one-fifth."

"Overall, the ordinary people in the Rock Gathering Area live in extremely poor conditions, suffer from serious health problems, and lack professional skills. They mainly rely on doing low-intensity physical labor such as carrying, building fortifications, and handling chores for the awakened in exchange for food that barely sustains them, or they form small teams to risk collecting wild vegetables, tree bark, insects, etc. in relatively safe areas near the gathering area to supplement their food sources, which is very risky."

"Boss, what should we do with these people?" Xu Ming asked the crucial question.

Chapter 209 Getting Close

"Develop Panshi into our affiliated settlement area."

Han Ning thought for a moment and said,

"It's not good for us to kill all of them, and it wouldn't benefit us much. It would be better to select a group of obedient Awakened Ones and let them manage this place."

"Just give us the corresponding resources every month, or provide us with combat power when there is any trouble."

Considering that these ordinary people and some awakened individuals actually don't have much connection with Blackie.

It would be too innocent to kill them.

Besides, Han Ning isn't the kind of executioner who enjoys "massacring" cities.

After much deliberation, the best approach seems to be to cultivate a puppet management team and transform the Panshi Cluster into Biyun's blood bank and talent pipeline.

"Then... Lao Zhao, you can work with Chairman Wu to select some Awakened or ordinary people with good character and abilities to officially join our Biyun Resort and add fresh blood to our organization."

"After we get back, we will provide some supplies to those ordinary people who can't afford to eat, so that they don't all die."

The Biyun residential area now has no shortage of fresh vegetables and staple foods.

Because they can all be produced and self-sufficient.

On the contrary, there is a shortage of various industrial products.

Vice President Zhao and Xu Ming listened attentively to Han Ning's words, and finally they both nodded: "Understood."

These complicated tasks can be left to the subordinates.

After wandering around the Rock Gathering Area and confirming that he hadn't found anything, Han Ning returned to the Cloud Gathering Area.

He didn't bring any supplies, except for that strange walkie-talkie.

As evening approached, Vice President Zhao and Xu Ming returned one after another.

They brought back relatively intact basic supplies from the rocky outcrop, along with a dozen or so ordinary people dressed in rags and reeking of rancid stench.

“Boss, these people are all ordinary people we carefully selected. They are either highly educated or have strong willpower, but they were seriously injured and it would be difficult for them to survive in the environment of the Rock Gathering Area. They have not done anything bad, so I brought them back for treatment.”

Vice President Zhao pointed to the ordinary person who had been supported for over ten seconds and was on the verge of fainting, and immediately reported to Han Ning.

"Understood, you can make the arrangements yourself." Han Ning nodded, indicating that he understood.

Old Zhao and Old Xu, looking travel-worn, hadn't even settled in their seats before calling Chairman Wu and the other members of the study group to continue their meeting in the room.

Annexing a settlement is no small matter; it requires careful consideration.

Han Ning was happy to be a hands-off manager.

Almost at the same time the human group returned, the bustling buzzing sound from the rocky slope outside gradually subsided.

The light quickly dimmed, and the cold wind grew even more biting.

The extraordinary bees that were busy on the frozen rocks also stopped working, following the rhythm of working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

After nightfall, the bees intended to rest in their still-unfinished, freezing outdoor home.

Seeing that the bees were not used to the cold weather outside, Han Ning called them into the warm cave.

"It's too cold outside. Your house isn't finished yet. Come in and rest."

This thought was transmitted.

"Goo!"

"Buzz!"

"chatter!"

Several waves of gratitude emanated from different directions.

The four enormous queen bees were carefully lifted by their respective worker bee squads and slowly flew into the cave.

As the saying goes, "Kings don't meet," although the four queen bees had once paid their respects to Han Ning together, after entering the cave, they split up to rest in several directions, each with a dozen or twenty bees guarding them.

The places where the four queen bees were located also became resting places for the four bee species.

For example, the treasure-hunting bees are closest to Han Ning and rest near the planting area.

Crystal bees are relatively cold-resistant and live near the cave entrance, while rock bees live near the mountain wall. The green stamen bee swarm is the most exaggerated, circling around the Emerald Tree Spirit like licking dogs.

"Wow! It...it's looking at me!" A little girl from the rocky settlement, who had been hiding behind an adult, exclaimed softly, pointing to a treasure-hunting worker bee that was curiously poking at a smooth pebble with its forelegs not far away.

She appears to be the daughter of someone with a high level of education, around the same age as Xu Yinyin, or even a little younger.

The plump, golden bee seemed to understand. Its compound eyes turned to the little girl, its antennae twitched, and then it clumsily used its forelegs to push the pebble towards her, all the way to her feet, making a questioning "coo?" sound.

The little girl was both surprised and delighted. She squatted down and carefully picked up the stone.

The treasure-hunting bee immediately spun around happily, its short fur becoming even fluffier.

The most popular spot is still the area around the Spirit Spring where the Flower Language Bee Swarm is located.

Xu Yinyin was bold. She ran to the edge of the spirit spring, squatted down next to the Emerald Tree Spirit, and curiously watched the emerald green bees busily working.

A worker bee with the symbolism of flowers flew to her side, its flower bud-shaped antennae gently brushing against the tips of her hair.

Xu Yinyin felt a cool and refreshing sensation. She raised her hand to touch it, and a few tiny, luminous leaves flashed by in her hair, carrying a faint fragrance of grass and trees.

"Wow!"

The little girl's eyes widened, a faint green halo swirling around them, and she kept spinning around in the flowing light.

The flower language worker bees seemed to be very popular with children and girls; before long, they were surrounded by a number of girls.

The cave was filled with a low hum, the joyful laughter of children, the relaxed conversation of adults, and the occasional "cooing" or "whimpering" of bees.

The arrival of the bees undoubtedly brought much joy and laughter to the Biyun gathering area.

Han Ning was leaning against a snow cake, sitting next to the planting area, watching this scene with a smile.

Just then, a faint rustling sound came from his arms.

I heard a rustling sound.