Chapter 782: Chaos and Order

Two more convoys arrived today.

The two convoys brought more than a hundred people.

The number was not large, but together with the three convoys that had arrived yesterday, the total population had already reached four hundred.

Happy Garden and Sunshine Garden were starting to get a little crowded.

So the third residential compound nearby was also opened.

Some people had even started doing business on the streets.

Others were selling Wonders with low number rankings.

Some people even wanted to take over the shops along the streets.

But all the shops in Xi City belonged to the first convoys that had arrived to open up the area.

For example, this part of Sunset Avenue was Fair Convoy territory.

Sunset Avenue had the best scenery in all of Xi City, so naturally it was also where people gathered.

Every day, people came here and sat by the seaside on Sunset Avenue for the entire day.

Except for the somewhat horrifying sight of Haosheng Hotel, everything along Sunset Avenue was perfect.

Of course, whenever anyone passed the entrance to Haosheng Hotel, they could always hear the sound of someone slamming into the doors inside.

The banner fluttering on the fifth floor also gave people a sense of terror.

Rumors about this place had grown more and more mysterious and frightening.

As time passed, Cha Wu's sealing Magic Formation seemed to grow more and more solid.

A few days ago, people from the Silent Council had brought a large pile of Silent Gold Coins here and reinforced the formation once more.

Every day, members of Guard Team Thirteen and the Silent Council patrolled the area.

Anyone who showed curiosity about Haosheng Hotel would be sternly reprimanded by members of Guard Team Thirteen.

If some idiot tried to go inside and take a look, members of Guard Team Thirteen would beat him black and blue.

Guard Team Thirteen was no longer just a handful of people.

After this period of recruiting, its ranks had grown, though it was still far from being a strong and well-equipped force.

Even so, Guard Team Thirteen now had more than fifty Superhumans.

Aside from the thirteen captains, the rest were all powerful figures from their respective convoys.

And as more and more people arrived in Xi City, the ranks of Guard Team Thirteen would continue to grow.

But Xi City had not been very peaceful lately.

The problem was still tax collection.

The Xi City authorities wanted to rebuild the city and make it the starting point for humanity to rekindle the flames of civilization.

That would require a great deal of manpower and resources.

It was not something the Silent Council or the Convoy Alliance could accomplish on their own.

Moreover, repairing the city was not Xi City's most pressing problem right now.

Building defenses was.

The people who had been at the Beach Base earliest on had witnessed the terror of Anomalies coming ashore.

The most urgent task now was to build a wall around the entire residential area.

Ideally, they would also build soundproof Shelters.

The Silent Council and the Convoy Alliance were already making plans for this.

They could not build these things with nothing but a few words.

For a short time, perhaps the pressure from the Anomalies could make everyone set aside their differences and work together.

But these projects could not be completed in just a few days. They were long-term undertakings.

Even with Superhumans involved, they would still take some time to finish.

So the issue of taxes had to be raised.

Even if they collected only a tiny amount, they still had to collect it.

After all, no one could expect the Architect Sequence members or the people taking part in reconstruction to work for free.

Who would be willing to do that?

Those opposed to the tax also had a point.

Everyone was desperately short on supplies. Many people could barely feed themselves and had no income at all. How could they afford to pay taxes?

Even though the Xi City authorities had set the tax rate incredibly low, some people still refused to pay.

Some even questioned whether this temporary government had any legitimacy.

“Xi City didn't belong to these people before, either. So why do they get to claim it just because they showed up? They say it's theirs, and that's that? What gives them the right?”

“Exactly. My grandma used to have a house in the High-tech District, and I haven't seen them give it back to us!”

“Taxes? What taxes? I can barely feed myself, and now I have to pay taxes?”

“Let them try to kill me. As long as they can't kill me, there's no way I'm paying.”

“Exactly, exactly...”

“Anomalies coming ashore? Ha... I'd like to see just how terrifying that is. I've traveled all over and survived until now. What kind of Anomaly haven't I seen?”

Among those refusing to pay taxes were quite a few powerful Superhumans.

Xi City's population was now approaching five thousand.

At the current rate of growth, reaching ten thousand was probably only a matter of time.

The more people there were, the more opinions they had.

Although Xi City had now been taken, that did not mean it was safe. Endless Anomalies still surrounded the city.

They knew what mattered most right now, and they knew what the first people there had sacrificed to take Xi City.

But some still couldn't help developing ulterior motives.

They wanted to seize advantageous positions before Xi City had a chance to grow.

Some had even begun forming an underground alliance, planning to stage a coup and take control of Xi City for themselves.

Meanwhile, after Huang Jue became Deputy Captain of Guard Team One, he had begun secretly developing the Goddess Symbiosis Society.

In an apocalypse like this, the Goddess Symbiosis Society was growing at an astonishing pace. People came in an unending stream every day, hoping to join.

Fortunately, Huang Jue still knew where to draw the line and had not expanded recklessly.

His position as Deputy Captain had given him many advantages.

But some people had begun looking into the Goddess Symbiosis Society.

Captain Chu Che had also been very busy these past few days, busy arguing...

With Xi City newly established, many rules still had to be drawn up. This was no longer the society they had known before.

Superhumans, Anomalies, Wonders...

How difficult it was to establish an order that everyone would follow in a world like this.

And there were no precedents to consult for a society like this.

Captain Chu Che had snagged himself a seat as a councilor, and his days were filled with meetings.

It was said that Captain Chu often slammed the table and shouted at people in the second-floor conference room, cursing those idiots who knew nothing but scheming and calculating how to serve their own interests.

Xi City had only been taken a few days ago. Instead of thinking about how to keep the city running and defend against the dangers that were soon to come, these people were busy looking for ways to line their own pockets. This left Captain Chu deeply anxious and worried.

Chen Ye had not seen Captain Chu Che for at least three days.

It was in this very atmosphere...

In the newly opened third residential compound,

something chilling was happening.