Celine had just seen Hogan off and returned to the west gate of the space.
She was getting ready to contact Red.
Meanwhile, back in the apocalypse, the atmosphere at Red's temporary base was a little tense.
Ever since Leader Rui recovered, he had been following Red around like a shadow. He kept checking on him, offering help, and stayed close every step of the way.
This made Zhennan, Red's original right-hand man, feel uncomfortable and jealous. Zhennan had a loud voice and a rough personality.
He shouted at Leader Rui, his tone half-joking but with a clear sense of possessiveness.
"Hey, Old Rui. Why don't you spend more time with the young ones you brought here? Why are you always stuck to our captain?"
Zhennan emphasized the word "our" with extra weight. The meaning was clear.
Leader Rui raised an eyebrow. Instead of being embarrassed, he stood tall and answered confidently.
"Vice Zhennan, that's not fair. I'm part of the team now. Why can't Red be our captain too?"
He paused, looked around at everyone nearby, and then raised his voice suddenly.
"Red is everyone's captain, right?"
That last question was clearly meant for the team members Leader Rui had brought along.
Just yesterday, they had seen Red's incredible space ability with their own eyes. Thanks to his help, they had survived.
Now they looked at Red with both respect and gratitude.
When they heard Leader Rui's question, they immediately responded with loud voices full of passion.
"Yes! Leader Rui is right!"
"Exactly! Red is everyone's captain!"
"We'll all follow Red!"
Their voices were loud and perfectly in sync, full of admiration.
Zhennan looked at them and felt annoyed. He rolled his eyes and walked off to a corner, not wanting to see any more.
Leader Rui didn't care about Zhennan's reaction at all.
He stood proudly, already making plans in his head.
In the apocalypse, what mattered most?
Power? Strength?
No.
It was food.
Whoever had food was the real boss.
Red wasn't just strong. He also had a mysterious space that could provide an endless supply of resources.
If you could hold onto someone like that, why wouldn't you?
In this world, having a full stomach was more useful than having a strong fist.
Red didn't care about the little tensions and thoughts between the team members.
After resting for one night, everyone looked much better. Their spirits were lifted, and their faces showed some life again.
After a simple breakfast, Red led the mostly recovered team to search the shops on the first floor of the mall.
This mall had already been scavenged many times. Most of the shelves were empty.
The ground was covered in abandoned packaging and trash. There wasn't even a single zombie in sight. The silence felt strange and creepy.
Red went straight into a jewelry store with the team.
"Captain, why are we looking for this stuff?" a new team member asked, watching Red pry open the glass counter of a gold shop. He couldn't help but ask.
"It's useful," Red said simply, without stopping what he was doing.
After searching carefully, they found a good amount.
Gold, silver, jade, and diamonds were gathered bit by bit.
What surprised Red the most was that in a few big brand-name stores, they managed to open safes hidden in the walls or under the floor.
Inside were some really good items.
They found jade pendants and bracelets with beautiful color and texture. These were clearly very valuable before the end of the world.
Even more surprising, in an old and famous gold store, they found more than ten pairs of heavy, finely carved dragon and phoenix gold bracelets.
Back then, each of these would have been worth hundreds of thousands, even over a million.
They were once symbols of wealth and status, something many people dreamed of owning.
But now, in a world where human lives were cheap and food was everything, these items lost their shine. They were worthless compared to even a piece of compressed biscuit.
The other team members looked at the shiny items. Their eyes were calm. These things couldn't be eaten or drunk.
But Red was very pleased. If he gave these to Celine, she would definitely be able to trade them for more supplies.
He packed all the gold, silver, jade, and diamonds, no matter the size or quality, into a strong leather bag all at once.