The Trembling World

Chaper 233 - Severe Winter

TL: Lonering

TLC: xDh20

Sorry for the late post! Finals week got everyone stalled!

The forty people present heard 'won't kill those that surrender', and the majority of them revealed themselves one by one, and kneeled on the ground. A few of them tried to hide in the corners of the factory, and were subsequently found by Yin He when she activated her infrared eyes to probe around. When they were found, they were brutally beaten and then thrown in front of Liu Gan to be chopped to death on the spot.

"Those that are still hiding, come out! I can clearly see where you are. If you don't come out quickly and surrender then I will uncover you and have you killed one by one!"

The mentality of the people that were hiding completely crumbled, and they all walked out of their hiding places. They neatly lined up as they kneeled in the center of the factory.

Given the situation, they had no choice but to kneel. Their boss, the windbreaker-player, was a level 6 player who had activated his ability first to gain the upper hand. However, the outcome was that he was beaten by Liu Gan without even being able to retaliate in the slightest, and was cruelly killed on the spot after only two moves. Could it be that this kind of strength was a level 7 player's strength? The disparity in strength between each level for a player was fairly vast; it could even be said that it exceeded it by a lot.

In addition, even the three level 5 players that were by the windbreaker-player's side had all knelt down. The other people that were lower level were courting death if they didn't kneel. Liu Gan and Yin He had revealed that their strength far exceeded their imagination. Once they had to faced the two of them, they didn't even have the courage to flee.

Yin He found some rope and bound the hands of the forty people together, bunching them together a few at a time. They were split into two lines to be squeezed onto the beds of their farm trucks. There were also a few women slaves that they had imprisoned, and they were also taken into the vehicles. Afterwards, Liu Gan and Yin He individually drove both of the farm trucks along the route to return towards the prison camp.

When the two of them returned to the prison camp, Zhang ShengLi and the other people had already finished clearing up the zombie bodies lying outside the high walls. They opened the large iron gate to welcome the two loads of slaves within the trucks. While Liu Gan and Yin He had rushed off to attack the camp, the three original ATV riders had harbored some hope within their hearts. They hoped that their boss could defeat Liu Gan, and then seize the prison to rescue them.

However, what currently greeted their sight was the other members of their camp, minus their boss, all caught and brought over as slaves. They asked these people what happened, and upon hearing that their boss had unexpectedly been cruelly killed by Liu Gan within two moves, they had immediately given up on all thoughts of hope. They backed down, and prepared to work hard as slaves in order to properly reform and strive for sooner lenient treatment. Ultimately, to obtain the opportunity to receive equal treatment as members.

…

The battle to defend the prison was extremely arduous, exhausting all the ammunition stored within the prison, as well as eight barrels of gasoline were used. There were also many more wounded team members in the group. Fortunately, capturing the forty slaves immensely replenished the population of the prison.

In the few days that followed, the main task at hand was to split apart and reform these slaves as they slowly let them assimilate within the group. Preventive measures were also implemented to guarded against these slaves revolting. The level 5 players amongst the slaves, except for the therapist, were all tied and locked away inside a prison cell by themselves without being fully fed. The next step was to have a team, consisting of Wang DeCheng and other reformed individuals, to have one-on-one talks with the level 5 players by themselves.

After the windbreaker-player was killed, the rest of the players and survivors that were caught became well-behaved. There were no stubborn people who refused reformation, and some even took the initiative to fit in with the team members.

This kind of thinking was a good sign, as it was the only way to survive this world. However, they will all have to experience reformation through labor to show their dedication. They would need to invest in working hard through physical labor, pass the group evaluation from the special inspection team, and then pass Liu Gan's final examination in order to possibly obtain the status of being an equal team member.

The results from this kind of reformation through labor were not bad. After all, these people and the original members had no life or death enmity between them. They were all either players trapped within the game, or local people who had survived the apocalypse. After some of the original team members started conversing with the slaves that were brought over, they even recognized some of the people as former guildmates in another game which they had previously played with. Once they were all familiar with each other, the whole process of fitting in became much smoother.

The original goal of the coastal camp was to seize the prison camp in order to have food to survive, which was why they started this battle. Now they had assimilated into the prison camp, and were able to eat their fill of food. Also, even though they had yet to obtain equal team member status, they were not mistreated every day. The work allocated was also within the scope of their capabilities. When they became familiar with the original team members, their previous unease and scared state of mind slowly disappeared. Therefore there were no obstacles while fitting in.

As for the matter of exchanging bosses, did it really matter who they followed along? So long as someone could give them food and safety then they would follow along with them! Elder Liu was clearly stronger than their previous boss, so following Elder Liu would further ensure their survival, and even if they die, their hearts will settle for following Elder Liu! If they didn't, they could certainly venture out on their own, but was that a wise choice?

Their former boss had already been killed, and the remaining people had no strong affiliation with their former boss. They all strove to curry favor with Liu Gan's original team members, fighting for their own special treatment each day. The leader of the reformation group, Wang DeCheng, had timely elected a few of the relatively outstanding representatives of those reforming-slaves by recommending them in the group meeting. After passing Elder Liu's investigation, their slave status was removed, and they obtained equal treatment as a team member.

Following the commendation ceremony, all the remaining slaves saw some hope, and worked even harder to reform. It seemed to only be a matter of time before the slaves would completely fit in and join the original team members. With these additional personnel, the prison's construction and defensive capabilities were increased by a lot.

During this period of time Liu Gan led the few ATV riders out several times in order to lead the ~10,000 zombie horde, which was previously led onto the plains several kilometers away from the prison, back into the city in batches. This was to remove the hidden danger of the zombies possibly wandering back into the vicinity of the prison.

…

The [Trembling World]'s weather system was always acting strange. After so many days, there had yet to be a sunny day seen. It could possibly signal that winter was coming. The past few days the weather had gradually turned colder. One night there was a terrifying rainstorm pouring down. The rainstorm came during the middle of the night, and there was even the rustling sounds of hail landing onto the window ledges and the ground.

[TL: Winter is Coming.]

Many people woke up freezing in the middle of the night. It seemed to be that the [Trembling World]'s winter had finally arrived. The players and survivors were now faced with a new problem. In the future they would have to deal with the corpse tides, other survivors and also facing the trial of the severe winter.

Compared with the players and survivors that were still wandering around outside, the people in the prison were considered lucky. There was sufficient food in the prison, and they could also go out to the secret warehouse at any time to replenish their supplies.

There was still a large quantity of clothing and quilts stored within the secret warehouse. After the sudden change to cold in the weather, the transport team went between the secret warehouse and the prison several times to transport the large quantities of clothing and quilts. For now the problem of the cold and waking up freezing in the middle of the night was resolved.