Chapter 371: Chapter 371: Fairgate Farm
"We really do need to block the road from Fairgate. If Tarr City and the base keep driving out refugees or residents, things will get complicated. The moment refugees start passing through here, our farm will become a target for everyone."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "That’s true. And there are benefits to working with them. They’re going to the border to scavenge for supplies tonight. With fewer people, everyone gets a bigger share. As long as you have tools, whether it’s for farming or logging, you can get by."
"What about the bodies of those dead refugees in Fairgate?"
"They dug a pit and buried them all."
Wyatt Vaughn sighed. "It’s a pity. Over a hundred people, just gone like that."
"If it weren’t for the Smoke Bombs Evelyn Ford made, we would have been completely wiped out too. That beast tide was more terrifying than I imagined."
"Don’t talk about it. Now, whenever I close my eyes, all I can see is the image of crows eating people."
The planting in the greenhouses was finished. Next on the list was to inspect and repair the fences and wooden cabins. The cockroaches had hollowed out some of the support pillars, which needed to be replaced. Otherwise, a strong gust of wind could bring a whole cabin crashing down.
The next day, the refugees from Fairgate came to trade for supplies again. This time, they actually brought gasoline.
"Manager, this gasoline is all good. You can check; it’s definitely not been watered down."
Evelyn Ford opened the lids. The gas cans were all full. Each person had brought two or three cans with them. It seemed they’d had a good haul last night.
"There was a tanker truck full of gasoline hidden in the mountains. There was a driver and two armed guards, but they were all dead. The truck was pretty much totaled, so we just split the gasoline among ourselves."
"They probably noticed something was wrong when the cockroaches appeared and tried to hide the truck in the mountains. I guess they still ended up getting wiped out."
Evelyn Ford nodded, tacitly accepting their story.
As for the other items and the guns on the truck, Evelyn Ford didn’t ask.
"We can trade. What do you want? But I have to warn you, the farm doesn’t have much right now."
"We’re planning to set up a farm in Fairgate, too. We’ll all band together, farm and raise livestock like you do. So, we’d like to trade for some seeds, livestock, and tools."
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "You can trade for livestock and seeds, but you can only borrow the tools. The farm doesn’t have many tools to spare right now."
The refugees looked at each other, then decided to discuss it among themselves. Evelyn Ford agreed.
"Manager, in that case, can we have some of the gasoline back?"
Evelyn Ford chuckled in exasperation but didn’t say anything harsh. "You can. It’s an equal exchange. I can give you ten pounds of seeds for one can of gasoline."
"How do we trade for livestock?" ’Ten pounds of seeds is enough; we don’t need to trade for too much.’
"Which kind?"
"Argali sheep or Red Deer."
"You can only have the argali. Three cans of gasoline for one lamb."
They discussed it for a long time before finally trading for ten pounds of wheat seeds, one pound of corn seeds, two cassava cuttings, four argali sheep, four rabbits, and ten fertilized chicken and duck eggs.
The borrowed tools included an axe, a saw, and a hand plane. The loan was for one month, at the cost of one can of gasoline.
In the end, they were left with only five cans of gasoline. After all, they had a motorized tricycle now and needed to save some fuel for hauling goods.
After they left, Evelyn Ford had Officer Graham move all the gasoline to the warehouse.
"They’re pretty lucky. And they seem quite united."
"In times like these, you have to stick together to survive. There are nearly fifty of them, all young and able-bodied. As long as they’re united, it’ll be easy for them to set up not just a farm, but a whole base. But if people refuse to follow orders, or if everyone wants to be the boss, they’ll have plenty of trouble, too."
Evelyn Ford smiled. "Then it all depends on who holds the guns they scavenged, or who has the ability to command respect."
In any case, having a farm in Fairgate was only beneficial for Evelyn Ford. When everyone has hope for survival, you don’t have to worry about petty crime.
"The geographical environment in Fairgate is better than here on Immeasurable Mountain. They have more people, so the land they’ve planned for their farm will surely be larger than ours. What I’m worried about is, after they develop their farm, will they start taking in outside refugees to expand it?"
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "We have an agreement. They are not to let any refugees in. If they break that agreement, we won’t have to be polite."
’The gun in my hand isn’t just for show.’
Wyatt Vaughn smiled. "And we have our wolfhounds. If anyone shows up, even two kilometers away, the two dogs will start barking immediately."
"I have a feeling that man in the front who was talking with Evelyn Ford isn’t an ordinary person," Taylor Vance said. "He seems very sharp. I doubt he’d be stupid enough to break the agreement." He felt the man looked familiar, but he just couldn’t place him.
"I think I’ve seen that man before. Many years ago, I had work dealings with a certain leader, and he always had a bodyguard with him. The reason that bodyguard left such a deep impression on me was because he was very thin and pale-skinned, but he had a very intense gaze."
After Taylor Vance finished speaking, Zion Lowell slapped his forehead. "I remember now! You told me about this. You said he didn’t look like a bodyguard at all, more like some pampered rich kid. Later we found out he wasn’t a bodyguard; he was that leader’s son."
Everyone was a bit surprised. "Then why was he acting as a bodyguard? Or was he deliberately hiding his identity to do something else?"
Taylor Vance smiled. "I’m not sure about that. The leader just said he was keeping his son by his side to toughen him up."
"Then could he have recognized you two? He won’t expose your identities, will he?" Wyatt Vaughn asked nervously.
"He probably didn’t recognize us. That was thirteen years ago. We’ve changed a lot over the years, and he’s changed quite a bit too. If it weren’t for his eyes, I wouldn’t have remembered who he was either. Besides, we don’t have any ’identities’ now. We’re just survivors on the run."
Zion Lowell nodded. "Yeah. And it’s not like we have any bad blood with him. Seeing him all alone now, his father is probably gone."
At this point, Zion Lowell thought of Secretary Hawthorne and sighed again.
"I wonder if I’ll ever see Mr. Hawthorne again in this lifetime."
"What’s his name?"
Taylor Vance thought for a long time but couldn’t remember. "I only remember his father’s name."
Zion Lowell grinned triumphantly. "I know his name. Ethan Dawson."
「The next day, Fairgate Farm began construction.」
Officer Graham led a few people to repair the wooden cabins. The temperature had recently risen to ten degrees Celsius, and the snow in the mountains had all melted. Although there were signs of life returning, Evelyn Ford still felt that the extreme cold wasn’t over.
Evelyn Ford returned the Gilded Tortoise to Ian Yates. Inside the glass tank, scorpions were crawling about in a dense mass. Evelyn Ford picked a few out to continue her work on developing poisons.
In the afternoon, Ethan Dawson came again. This time, he wasn’t there to trade for supplies but to ask for advice on the application of mortise and tenon joinery.
Zion Lowell was a little curious. "Fairgate has more stone than wood. Why don’t you build stone houses instead?"
"Fairgate does have a lot of stone, but building stone houses is a much bigger undertaking. It’s not worth it."
