Chapter 701: Chapter 472: Entering the Manor
Zachary was listening to the information provided by the Fruit Brother while observing the people mentioned in the shared intelligence.
During this time, many newcomers appeared outside the manor gate. Zachary noticed that besides Rufus, who would initiate communication with newcomers, the Fruit Brother’s few brothers, like the Fruit Brother himself, would actively approach those newcomers who were reluctant to join Rufus’s group.
The situation was akin to a screening mechanism, with Rufus first contacting the newcomers; if the newcomers didn’t trust Rufus, then the other members of the Fruit Brother’s team would continue the outreach.
Of course, there were also some Lone Wolves, who neither joined Rufus’s team nor accepted the invitations from the Fruit Brother’s group and didn’t interact with others, opting instead to find a quiet corner to stay in.
As the number of people outside the manor continued to grow, many were unwilling to wait idly and chose to actively explore their surroundings.
The current environment around them was almost identical to what Zachary had initially detected with his Divine Sense; air walls existed in three directions other than the manor gate, limiting everyone’s activity within this area.
Of course, plenty of people came to the manor entrance, like Zachary, hoping to push open the manor doors to peek inside, but despite their various methods, they ultimately failed to open the gate.
Seeing this, the Fruit Brother greeted Zachary and then began to engage with those people, looking to recruit them into his group.
Before anyone realized, two days had passed.
In these two days, the open space outside the manor continually filled with newcomers, and the area, which had been spacious when Zachary first arrived, had now become much more crowded.
With the ever-increasing headcount, many started forming alliances in a bid to claim their territories.
Through Zachary’s observations, there were already over a dozen scattered organizations outside the manor.
The one with the most members was undoubtedly Rufus’s organization; after all, that fellow rejected no one, allowing anyone who verbally agreed to join his group.
Although the organization Zachary joined was established only slightly later than Rufus’s, if ranked by the number of members, it would at best be considered among the top five.
The Fruit Brother’s team had certain criteria for recruitment. Though not large in number, Zachary felt their cohesion was likely far stronger than Rufus’s group.
While everyone was confined here, whether they entered voluntarily or were pulled in, the survivors actually carried survival supplies with them when they entered, given that many had their life possessions on their person during the disaster.
Zachary wasn’t sure about other organizations but knew that the Fruit Brother’s consortium was more casual, not requiring members to hand over personal resources, and therefore, understandably, not providing any supplies in return.
However, to prevent internal strife due to hunger, the Fruit Brother specially appointed Big Pear as the supply coordinator, responsible for coordinating resources to help those within the organization who lacked food.
Looking at the bustling scene around him, if Zachary hadn’t known they were trapped here, an outsider witnessing the liveliness might have mistaken it for a bustling market.
When Zachary noticed that it had been quite a while since any newcomers appeared, the others also became aware of the situation. At the Fruit Brother’s signal, Strongman Two tried pushing the manor gate once more.
What Strongman Two didn’t expect was that the gate, which he had previously pushed with such force that his arms bulged with veins, now opened smoothly with a light push.
The sound of the manor door opening caught everyone’s attention, and when they saw the gate had opened, many excitedly rushed inside.
Zachary, who was leaning against the exterior wall of the manor, noticed that among those flowing into the manor were some who were reluctant to enter.
However, because of their unfortunate positioning and lacking the steadiness of rocks in a rapid river, they were naturally swept along by the crowd into the manor against their will.
As more and more people entered the manor, only a little more than ten remained outside the door.
Seeing Rufus, who also had not ventured into the manor, the Fruit Brother walked over to him with a mix of confusion and mockery in his voice, "Well, if it isn’t our Manager Rufus. Your recruits really don’t know the ropes, how come they didn’t wait for you? They all just went their own way."
Rufus was unfazed by the Fruit Brother’s mockery and calmly replied, "You should talk, some of your own people have also left. Enough of this. Let’s not linger here; we can’t stay for long. One way or another, we have to enter the manor."
Rufus gestured in the opposite direction of the manor gate. Following the direction Rufus pointed to, the few who had not entered the manor saw a black mist steadily advancing towards them.
At this moment, no one wanted to personally experience the consequences of coming into contact with the black mist.
So, watching the space around them being swallowed up by the black mist, they hurried into the manor one after another.
