“Brother Su, did you know this Master Pei from before? The way he looked at you just now was kind of strange,” Sun Quan said indistinctly around a mouthful of braised pork.

“No. Didn’t I tell you? This really is the first time we’ve met,” Su Mo smiled.

“Maybe it’s heroes recognizing heroes. Look how well he cooks. Doesn’t that match my craft exactly?”

“Tsk tsk, Brother Su, he’s already set his dishes in front of us, but we still have no leads on our tool, and the Summer Harvest is coming soon...” After a few days of cozy slacking off, seeing how driven Su Mo was had made Sun Quan want to make something of himself too.

But unfortunately, ordinary people had never even seen an energy stone, let alone developed tools to use one.

Even having a rough idea would make a person a genius among ordinary people.

“It’s fine. If you want to work hard, I’ll give you something to do in a bit,” Su Mo went on smiling. “Didn’t you study computers? I’ll raise a work ticket for you later.”

“A work ticket?”

Hearing that familiar yet strange term, Sun Quan raised his head in sudden realization.

In the eight years since coming to the apocalypse, he had increasingly forgotten the things of the civilized era. His mind held only how to survive and how to protect himself.

Only in these past few days, after meeting Su Mo, had the dust-covered memories in his head gradually opened and been released.

By now, Sun Quan could no longer tell why he had felt, from the very first glance, that Su Mo was approachable.

But one thing he was sure of was that the man in front of him gave off, from time to time, a spirit completely unlike anyone else in the wasteland.

It was absolutely one of a kind in all of Tian Yuan Territory, perhaps in the whole wasteland!

After the meal, the two left the canteen and walked back toward the workrooms. Sun Quan could not sit still, so he started on other topics again, one after another.

“Brother Su, now that I think about it, I joined our territory in the fifth year of the Doomsday Calendar, and in all the years since, the territory has never been in a mess like this.”

“The chaos today is truly unheard of. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“True, I’ve heard others mention it too. The territory’s attitude toward outside workers seems very delicate this time,” Su Mo nodded.

“Brother Su, have you looked into how our Hope City is structured?”

“No. Hardly anyone talks about that. How come you know about it?” Su Mo raised an eyebrow, interested.

Meanwhile, although Oreo’s various abilities had been suppressed within Yuanbao, this Chinese rural dog, she was in the end a spirit with a divine nature.

As long as the person in question appeared within two kilometers, Oreo could sense it.

But this time, having searched all of Hope City, she had not found the slightest trace of Su Chan or Moore, and could not even find Lü Kuan or Ai Jianfeng and the others.

That included the current mayor of Hope City, Chen Shen.

Oreo could not find him either. The whole upper tier of Hope City seemed to have vanished, which left her baffled.

“I’ve heard some rumors,” Sun Quan said, looking around furtively. Only after making sure no one was there did he lower his voice. “Some say the Great Lord of our territory has been sidelined to another territory, and the real policies are all being handled by Mayor Chen. In the past he was a firm advocate of expansion for our territory. It was only while the Lord was here that his aggressive approach was repeatedly suppressed and the measures for consolidating the territory continued.”

“Now that the Lord isn’t here, Mayor Chen has no restraints. Maybe this upheaval is the first step in his move against the others...”

“After all, our territory developed fast in the past, and too many people have collected the dividends. These people can be sure of food and clothing even without going out to work, just on the strength of one house.”

“Our territory pays a huge price in the wasteland, using the best geographic conditions, the strongest and safest territorial forces, and the most comfortable living environment to support this crowd. If it can’t quickly renew itself, keep the capable and clear out the ‘dead weight,’ then over time, once a truly great disaster arrives, it will definitely burst at a single poke!”

Who knew where Sun Quan got all this information, but as he spoke he was methodical, with quite a bit of supporting evidence.

“You’re saying our Lord is not in the territory?” Su Mo furrowed his brow.

“I can’t be sure of that,” Sun Quan said, shaking his head like a rattle drum. “But I do have some news. In the past, our Su Chan, Lord Su, didn’t often show her face, but for the most important events of each year, the Summer Harvest, the Autumn Harvest, and the assembly that sees out the old year at New Year, she would show up on time and say a few comforting words.”

“But since last year’s Summer Harvest she hasn’t appeared at a single assembly, and up to this year nobody has seen any news of the Lord.”

Having said that much, Sun Quan did not dare go on.

Within the whole of Tian Yuan Territory, though nothing was stated openly, there was a red-line rule in private that the Lord must not be criticized.

This was not because the Lord had issued a death order forbidding such talk.

It was because the people living in the territory knew very well that the safe life they had today owed a great deal to the Lord.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.