dognovel Chapter 344: Farm Daily Life 16
Chapter 344: Farm Daily Life 16
Everyone fell silent at these words. Some had been separated from their families, while others had lost all their relatives.
For ordinary people to survive from the beginning of the apocalypse until now, besides a tenacious will to live and a strong survival instinct, they were supported by the hope of reuniting with their families.
Aside from the rich and powerful who could board planes and quickly escape to the safest places, most people had fallen and picked themselves back up through one ordeal after another.
In truth, you could tell that nine out of ten people were mentally and psychologically unwell. They had all witnessed mountains crumbling and the earth splitting apart, experienced the most terrible disasters, and seen countless dead bodies.
Every single person still alive had essentially been reborn from a pile of corpses.
"I miss my mom so much," Joelle Finch, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said.
And just those words were enough to make everyone burst into tears.
"If only Mom were here."
"I miss my mom, too. I don’t know where she is, or if she’s worried about me."
Evelyn Ford’s eyes also grew hot. She turned her head away, silently watching the snowflakes drift down outside.
「 」
Fewer and fewer people came from Fairgate to trade for supplies. The snow outside the farm was already quite deep.
When the three patrolmen came to get the antidote, they told Evelyn Ford that many people had died in Fairgate.
"Froze to death? But everyone traded for matches, that shouldn’t be happening."
"No, they were mauled to death by tigers. I went to see. There were only some remains left. There were several tigers. They must have been starving, or they wouldn’t have come down the mountain to eat people."
Evelyn Ford’s brow furrowed. "You saw the tigers?"
Patrolman A shook his head, while Patrolmen B and C exchanged a look and nodded in terror.
"We saw them last night. Good thing our house is sturdy, or we would have ended up as a tiger’s meal too."
Evelyn Ford was lost in thought. "About how many tigers were there?"
"Probably three. I heard three roars."
’I’ll know for sure if they’re really tigers and how many there are if I go take a look tonight.’
After the three men left, Evelyn Ford looked at Ronan Kendrick. No words were needed; a single glance was enough for Ronan to understand what she was thinking.
"I hear tiger pelts are very warm."
Ronan Kendrick nodded. "That’s the word."
’No need to bring the others. They’d just be dead weight.’
At nine that night, the two of them left the farm. The snow was difficult to walk in, so Evelyn Ford took out a skateboard and decided to ride it out.
Immeasurable Mountain was still a bit far from Fairgate. It would take half an hour to walk, but the skateboard was faster, getting them there in ten minutes.
The place had changed drastically. There were wooden cabins and stone houses everywhere, as well as tents and thatched huts. In the dead of night, not a single sound came from all of Fairgate. Worried about the tigers coming down to prey on them, everyone must have gone into hiding.
The two waited for half an hour before two figures came running down from the mountain.
"It’s the tigers, but there are only two of them."
Ronan Kendrick watched for a moment and felt something was strange about these two tigers.
"They probably didn’t come down the mountain out of hunger. It looks more like they’re here for revenge and to vent their anger."
Evelyn Ford was confused. "Could it be that too many refugees are living here, disturbing the tigers’ lives, and that’s why they’re so angry?"
"The patrolmen said there were three tigers, but we only see two."
Ronan Kendrick frowned. "The cub is already dead, which is why the two adult tigers came down the mountain for revenge. Clearly, those three patrolmen knew about it. Or rather, they were the ones who led the hunt and killed the cub, causing the tigers to come down for revenge and kill so many people."
"Then the other people..."
"Chet Lawrence said before that many people moved into the mountains. Is it possible that they took over the tigers’ den?"
Now that Ronan Kendrick had put it that way, everything made sense.
"First, we’ll deal with the two tigers. After all, they’ve eaten too many people. If we don’t take care of them, they’ll probably come after the farm tomorrow night. Then, we’ll deal with the three patrolmen."
Ronan Kendrick agreed. Evelyn Ford took out two Silencer Guns. As the tigers got closer, Ronan fired first. The tigers were huge and fast. In the instant they lunged to counter-attack, Evelyn fired five consecutive shots. When the tigers fell, the ground beneath them trembled slightly.
The tigers didn’t even have time to roar before their lives were cut short.
"I don’t know where those three patrolmen live." ’Looks like we’ll have to search door-to-door.’
"I do." Ronan Kendrick remembered the foul, rotten stench on them. He led Evelyn Ford past rows of stone houses, finally stopping in front of a wooden cabin.
"They’re in here."
Ronan Kendrick kicked the cabin door open and, before the man inside could react, snapped Patrolman A’s neck.
Dealing with these three weaklings took Ronan Kendrick only a few seconds.
Evelyn Ford looked at the furnishings and equipment inside the cabin and let out a cold laugh. ’To think they could live such comfortable lives in Fairgate with just three fake guns.’
Previously, Evelyn Ford had considered sparing them to deal with any investigations from higher-ups, but that was no longer necessary. The trio had repeatedly tried to be clever and had even used her and Ronan to solve their problems.
After the three patrolmen were dealt with, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick returned to the farm. They didn’t touch the patrolmen’s bodies or belongings.
In the early morning, when Chet Lawrence got up for his patrol, he saw the two tiger carcasses and was thoroughly spooked.
When Evelyn Ford came out at noon, the tigers had already been processed. The two pelts had also been perfectly skinned and prepared.
Quincy had a mournful look on his face. "You two have no sense of loyalty! You went out to hunt tigers and didn’t even invite me. By the way, how did you bring both tigers back?"
"The Mammoth dragged them back. If we took you hunting, not only would you fail to catch any prey, you might not come back at all."
"Can we eat tiger meat?"
"Why not?"
"They ate people."
"It’s not like *you* ate people. What are you afraid of?"
The two tigers yielded over a thousand pounds of meat. In this day and age, who could afford to be squeamish? Evelyn Ford certainly wasn’t.
The patrolmen were dead, and the tigers were gone. For the remaining refugees, this was good news.
But the refugees who had lost their families could only endure their pain alone in a corner.
That’s just how the world was—some people rejoiced while others suffered.
The heavy snow continued to fall, having long since buried all traces of last night’s events. The patrolmen’s belongings were looted by the refugees. Even their wooden cabin was taken over by a few able-bodied men.
They fought over the three long guns, thinking that from now on, they could take the patrolmen’s place and do whatever they wanted in Fairgate.
However, someone accidentally fired a shot, only to discover there were no bullets in the gun.
It slowly dawned on everyone that for the past few months, they had been oppressed and enslaved by three empty guns.
From that moment on, all the pent-up rage of the refugees was unleashed upon the patrolmen’s corpses. The bodies were hung from trees outside Fairgate, and to vent their hatred, anyone was allowed to go and desecrate them.
"I can’t believe those three patrolmen just died like that. The refugees in Fairgate are terrifying, hanging their bodies from the trees. I’m too scared to even go outside now."
"I heard all the people who moved into the mountain caves died. They were probably killed by the tigers. I’m not going into the mountains alone anymore. If there’s a tiger that got away, I’m afraid I won’t make it out alive."
Wyatt Vaughn was speechless. "Relax. A tiger wouldn’t even be interested in the few pounds of fat on you."
Quincy was crushed. "Even the tigers are going to reject me?"