He looked down from the slope.
The Mine's framed gate, about four meters tall, had ground spikes similar to the ones he had just seen placed at its entrance.
On the ground at the Mine's entrance, there were some tracks left by vehicles.
Among these tracks, Shawn saw two long marks from a large vehicle.
The large vehicle's self-weight, plus the goods it was carrying, made it several times heavier than other smaller vehicles, so its tire marks were even clearer.
"Found it."
Shawn waited silently for a while.
He only carefully snuck in after confirming there was no one guarding the main gate.
The entire Mine was not small, and just by looking up, Shawn saw his previous target in the distance.
Mountains of rocks and gravel lay there quietly, worthless.
But to Shawn, these were no less than mountains of gold and silver, worth a fortune.
Although the Mine was large, there were few traces of Walkers.
"This place is somewhat similar to Quarry Camp; it's sparsely populated in the suburbs."
Shawn glanced around, thinking to himself.
"However, when everything happened, there wouldn't have been few people in this mining area. To be able to clear out all the Walkers here, they must have some means."
Shawn walked along the foot of the mountain, going deeper, and after about 3 minutes, he saw his red overlord in the distance.
But with just one look, the anger Shawn had just suppressed flared up again.
The red overlord's windows were all smashed, and the last sheet of iron separating the water tank was completely stripped away.
The food and water that were originally in the separated water tank were now in the hands of those plunderers.
Shawn could hear their excited laughter from afar.
Among the crowd, Shawn saw a man who was only 1.7 meters tall.
He was wearing a flight jacket and loose bell-bottom jeans, watching his subordinates transport supplies like a supervisor.
"That should be the Kenny they were talking about."
Shawn watched silently.
Only when everyone started walking back did Shawn quietly follow them.
This group of people gathered in a large, flat-built house; it should have been the miners' resting place in the past.
When Shawn crept outside the house, he heard an argument coming from inside.
Shawn pressed his ear against the plastic wall as much as possible to hear clearly.
"You went to snatch other people's supplies again?"
It sounded like a woman's voice, and she sounded somewhat angry.
"Watch your tone when you speak to me, Lili."
"I don't need you to tell me what to do."
Kenny's voice was unhurried.
"How can I tolerate bandits and thieves appearing among my people?"
"I won't be angry if you call me a bandit, but I won't admit to something I didn't do."
"Is that so? Last week, one-third of the Camp's medical supplies were taken. Who else could it have been besides you?"
"…"
Shawn understood the situation and figured it out.
The control of this Camp had not actually been determined yet, and the power struggle was still ongoing.
Don't listen to their words, which are all about supplies.
But in reality, this was an open and secret power struggle.
The woman called 'Lili' urgently needed a legitimate reason to attribute the fault to Kenny, thereby occupying the moral high ground to contend for power in the Camp.
"Li, you tell us, you saw the thief's face last time."
Lili's voice sounded again, but compared to just now, her voice was much lower.
Immediately after, another unfamiliar man's voice sounded, presumably the 'Li' Lili spoke of.
"Actually, I didn't see that person's face. I just vaguely heard some noise, and then I discovered the medicine was stolen."
Li's voice, compared to the previous two, seemed less composed and forceful.
His tone was calm, his voice very weak, and his words were trying to balance the hidden struggle between Lili and Kenny.
But as Li's words fell, the room immediately erupted into even noisier arguments.
Shawn looked through the crack in the window and saw that behind Kenny and Lili, there were more than a dozen people standing, each speaking up for the person they supported.
Shawn recognized the man sitting behind Kenny; he was the masked man who first opened the fire truck door.
The other dozen or so people behind him had all participated in plundering Shawn's fire truck.
And Li, who had just spoken.
He was a black man, not of pure blood, with only a dark brown complexion.
He was sandwiched between the two people, holding a little girl wearing a blue and white baseball cap by the hand. The few people following behind Li all looked somewhat timid.
Facing the two factions, they remained silent, even retreating a little in fear.
"If Kenny is the pragmatist, and Lili is the order faction, then this Li is the moderate faction."
Shawn roughly categorized the three forces in this Camp.
He suddenly remembered the reminder from the apocalypse mission just now—rewards would be settled based on completion.
Now, looking at the impending internal strife, Shawn understood what that meant.
The internal strife happening here was actually somewhat similar to what happened at the former Quarry Camp.
But Shawn had taken over the 'autocratic' power of the Camp by means that convinced everyone.
It seemed Kenny and Lili also had this idea, but neither side could be as domineering and decisive as Shawn, so the two sides had been at a stalemate.
As the moderate faction, Li led the 'weak' who were unwelcome by both sides, surviving in the cracks between the other two factions.
"But this Li… why does he look more and more familiar?"
Shawn frowned, his gaze falling on the little girl he was holding by the hand… she also looked very familiar.
This combination of a black man and a little girl, it seemed he had encountered them somewhere before.
"Never mind, let's deal with Kenny's group first."
Shawn carefully snuck in. He crouched down, and immediately the 'stalker suit' set effect came into play.
Combined with the stealth effect provided by each piece of equipment, the people at Mine Camp were completely unaware that they had been infiltrated.
The argument continued.
The 'pragmatists' led by Kenny.
The 'order faction' led by Lili.
The argument not only showed no signs of abating but was even intensifying.
The leaders of both sides were still somewhat rational, but the dozen or so people following behind them had long since lost patience and began to curse and push each other.
Shawn watched from the very back of the group for a long time, but these people were all talk and no action; they argued for half an hour without making any progress.
"Alright, alright, I'll help you!"
Shawn chuckled to himself, then stealthily circled to the very back of the Kenny Party.
Shawn cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone, took a moment to gather himself, then lowered his voice and roared.
"Why should a woman be the boss?!"
"Can she lead us well?!"
"The supplies needed for the Camp's survival now, which time wasn't it snatched by the boss? Isn't everything she eats and uses snatched? And she's still complaining?!"
"Last time the medicine was lost, I think this bitch is crying thief while being the thief herself!"
"We can't just let this go, I support Boss Kenny!!"
A voice came from the very back, a low voice making it impossible to hear who was speaking.
But the moment this voice sounded, it actually completely overshadowed the voices of the Kenny Party.
They reacted belatedly.
"Yeah, why are you complaining? Isn't everything you eat and drink every night snatched back by Boss Kenny?"
"Hehe, why don't you just attach yourself to the boss, Lili? You won't lack food and drink."
"Once you become 'one of us,' we won't hold you accountable for the lost medicine."
"Hahahahaha—"
The Kenny Party burst into laughter, quite pleased with themselves.
Kenny, at the very front of the group, heard this, a smile curling his lips, and he turned to smile at his own people.
They did not realize that at the very back of the Lili Party, Shawn had quietly crouched down again.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 70 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[email protected]/Rexlent
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"