Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 266: Every Problem Has Different Solutions

At first, Jun shrugged the idea off. What do kids know about fighting, right? Then he realized it. It's because kids don't have much exposure to the outside threat. That's why they could think clearly and simply.

They're hunting fish. Why not just catch them? Even if they evolved or mutated, unless they have dagger-teeth or blades as fins, it would still be possible to fish them out of water. 

"That's actually a good idea." Jun praised the two girls and they joyfully accepted it. 

He continued. "Now if we take Teresa and Baras, we can have the whole region for us. We can filter people who enter our controlled areas. But we won't do that. We'll focus on stabilizing our control over our towns and increase our defenses. We also have to set up an outpost at Taytay, to deter the army from rushing in our controlled areas. Overall, we will focus on increasing our food production, resource collection, and fighting power."

"Also, I need someone who would like to manage unoccupied towns. Edward is assigned to Morong. Marvin manages Angono, and I trust him. Is there any volunteer for Cardona? The place was already cleared and you would only need to deal with the leftovers and the cemetery."

Seconds passed and no one raised their hands. It's quite easy to understand why no one wants to take it. Everyone had carefree lives with no responsibilities, if they take this management job on, the number of things they could do would become limited. They would also have to live up with the expectations while working under pressure. Who would want that?

At this time, Adrian courageously raised his hand. Jun was a bit shock but deep inside he was happy.

Unfortunately, Adrian had other things inside his head. "How about Gilbert? He's the perfect candidate for a fishing town."

Jun hastily rejected the idea, "Gilbert has more important job at the Lakeside Marina. He can't leave and manage another town."

"Then how about Luke? I heard he's a butler of a tycoon who owns dozens of large fishponds." Sheila added.

Now that people were suggesting ideas, the atmosphere of the meeting has turned less suffocating. It all started from the two little girls' soft giggles.

The meeting continued on and decisions were made.

The Elite Unit would stop expanding eastward and would establish an outpost at Taytay. The town manager for Cardona would be Luke Baslot while Gilbert would temporarily keep watch over him.

Weapon production would also be increased. Spears and pikes would be prioritized. Spears were commonly around two meters in length and could be wielded with one hand. If it can't be used with one hand, then it becomes a pike. A pikes usual length hovers around four to five meters.

This decision was made since most of the survivors weren't battle-hardened and needs time to adjust. The spears and pikes would be crafted by Old John's apprentice while he would focus on swords and armor plates. 

King was also formally reassigned and given the rank of Director for the Black Haven army. The hierarchy would be one CEO, several Directors, a bunch of Managers, Hundreds of Team Leaders, thousands of Rank & Files, and an infinite amount of Trainees.

Jun believes in character more than an individual's strength. He can train weak people to become strong but he can't teach character to people.

Jun teleported back to the faction base at the Northern Plain. Since he had nothing to do, he might as well meditate while gaining additional XP.

He updated Marvin about current events through chat. Although Marvin's smartwatch was a bit outdated, it could still receive private chats as long as the sender has access to his ID, which Jun got from Evo.

Angono has regained life with a bit of struggle in terms of food. Bat meat tastes like mutton with the texture of chicken. Not many liked it, but could only bear with it. There's also a side-effect from bat soup that makes your stomach churn, however, everyone still sips it for that free additional max energy gain. Afterward, they fight the side-effect by circulating their energies inside their bodies.

Also, the population has spiked up after people who escaped to the mountains arrived. Some survivors from secluded barrios crossed the mountain and joined the town. The population has reached one thousand with more or less a few hundred more.

After checking the list of things he had to do in his mind, Jun laid down on his bed. He claimed the first room to be seen after climbing to the faction hall's second floor. His reasoning, he could gain more XP if he enters the room immediately.

While checking his dimensional storage, Jun noticed a black cellphone rotting in a corner. It was placed together with other important items. He inserted his hand to the black vortex and grabbed the cellphone out.

Upon seeing the design and model, Jun immediately remembered what he was forgetting about. A few seconds after the cellphone exited his dimensional storage, a series of notifications appeared on the phone.

They were all from Blake sending updates about his request. Most of the message has no value, but one particular information stands out. The army was acting antsy for some reason.

After checking everything, Jun stored the cellphone back to his dimensional storage and continued meditating. The more he practiced, the faster he could enter the meditative state.

Jun entered the half-asleep, half-awake status, and started his meditation. Inside his self, he started pondering on useful abilities that he could learn.

Most of the people in town already registered as citizens after hearing the news about the Faction Altar. Even though some complained about the payment, they still paid the entrance fee to receive the buffs.

There was a bunch of different mode of payments and the most popular one was energy repair. What the people didn't know was that when the faction altar reached the maxed altar durability, it would consider the influx of incoming energy as prayers.

Everyone was accustomed to transferring energies without question after habitually repairing the town portal. Most of the time they transfer energy until the portal stopped taking energy, however, the altar didn't stop sucking their energy and survivors had to regulate it themselves.

The altar uses one durability point to give the buff while gets repaired by one point, which is the equivalent of ten energy. Since the energy payment for taking the buff was fifty energy points, the altar gains forty energy which translates to 0.4 Prayer. 

At the town plaza...

On the prestigious Veronica's Pub, Dominic was drinking with his friends, the same-minded fellows, the ones he recruited for the mining job he received.

All of them were layman and know nothing about mining and he had to teach everything from safety and basic mining techniques.

They learned quickly and the group was able to mine 1/10th of the mineral mountain. Everyone was surprised since they were already slacking and yet had gotten such great progress. The Scavengers tasked to guard them also collected all the mined minerals for safekeeping. Whether they steal or not, no one knows.

Old Felipe could be seen drinking merrily with the group with a woman by his side. He already learned his lesson from last time and temporarily entrusted the watering-can to Tatang Robin.

"We've already waited enough. From the information that we're able to gather, he was able to reach Antipolo. There's also a military outpost at Rotunda Tikling. If we want to gain communication with the government, we need to do it now!"

Sitting in front of the Chief Officer, the newly promoted police branch secretary continuously declared his opinion.

Paolo Canlas massaged his forehead in contemplation.

"What we have are rumors. I'll talk to him tomorrow and confirm whether these things are true. And if it is, we're going for a walk and make contact with the government. Just prepare our boys, some transport, and supplies. We don't need a big group, we just need enough people to defend ourselves."

The same thing was happening at the Frontier's headquarters. They were itching to know whether Jun was able to make contact with the government.

Most of the factions that knew Jun left for Taytay wants to know.

They even left him alone for a few days to catch up with family and friends, but tomorrow, they want answers.

The night was getting deeper and people were minding their own business.

Inside his office, Evo placed a prototype Black Haven account card down on the table. He stretched his arms and took a deep breath, 

"Mhmm! Haa... I'm finally finished with this project. Let's hope that those people who wished this become satisfied! No use in mulling about this now. I could only wait for tomorrow for its release and see how things go."

He took a break from editing items and started procrastinating surfing the world wide web.