Chapter 60 Differentiation

"According to your opinion, how should these people be distributed?" Jia Lue was indeed no pushover, directly passing the ball back to me.

I glanced at these people, a trace of a cold sneer involuntarily rising in my heart: "Originally, you and I are not on the same path, but if we are to cooperate, we naturally must consider the safest approach!"

At this moment, even Chen Zhimong and Liu Huan were staring closely at me. To my surprise, Zhou Jianguo indeed wore a gloomy expression, with no one knowing what he was thinking!

Too lazy to fathom the thoughts of these people, I looked cautiously at Peng Qian and Jia Lue, and said quietly: "You experienced the dangers here last night, so for my side, I will go out; on your side, those who are seriously injured, along with the two girls, should temporarily not go out!"

"What do you mean by seriously injured?" Hearing my words, Zhou Jianguo's eyes unexpectedly lit up, and his whole body even trembled slightly.

"Someone like the fat man is naturally seriously injured. His hand was already hurt, and now it looks like his leg is injured too. What can he do if he goes out?" Initially, it looked like Zhou Jianguo was also seriously injured. But since he was practically walking right into the line of fire, I naturally couldn't be bothered to give him a pleasant expression: "As for you, everyone will have to take a look together!"

"You're talking nonsense! Are you intentionally targeting me?" Zhou Jianguo was naturally unwilling to accept this, but his voice was a bit too loud, and it must have aggravated some injury, causing his already distorted face to twitch: "I'm hurt like this, and you're saying it's not serious?"

"Since you're so severely injured, you probably won't live much longer anyway, so why waste our food?" Hearing him say that, Peng Qian and Jia Lue's expressions turned gloomy. I naturally understood the intentions of the two, so I certainly wouldn't let Zhou Jianguo off the hook without rubbing salt in his wounds!

"You......" Zhou Jianguo clearly wanted to flare up, but immediately thought of something. After all, he was indeed injured, and my words had truly startled him. Clearly, Peng Qian and Jia Lue were both the type of people who would turn hostile and deny anyone at a moment's notice, so he immediately changed his demeanor and put on a pitiful look.

"Alright, enough arguing!" Peng Qian's expression turned gloomy as he glanced at Zhou Jianguo before looking back at me: "If we go together now, there are still several healthy people, and our food consumption will certainly be quite high. We'll still need to go out and look for food, and this distribution will be a bit difficult!"

"There is nothing difficult about it. The two of you are seriously injured, one looks less severe, and our food will be divided equally!" I naturally understood Peng Qian's thoughts, but I would not back down in the slightest.

"Um, your name is Huang Jing, right? To be honest, your method of division is a bit excessive!" Jia Lue didn't seem angry; his voice even sounded rather calm: "There are four of you now, with two seriously injured, while we have three healthy ones. This equal split seems a bit inappropriate!"

I glanced at these people; clearly, even the fat man's eyes carried a hint of dissatisfaction. As for Zhou Jianguo, suppressed by Peng Qian, his eyes burned with anger, though he didn't voice it. But I didn't care, and instead said calmly: "My meaning is that everyone present, regardless of how much food is obtained, should share it equally!"

"If those who go out to look for food—no matter who is sent out the next day—they can get an extra portion!" Sure enough, upon hearing my words, although some people were intimidated by the methods of Peng Qian and Jia Lue, they all quieted down.

My method of division was beneficial to everyone, so naturally even Zhou Jianguo didn't make a sound, and for the first time, even looked at Peng Qian and Jia Lue with a trace of anticipation. I had to admit that my idea indeed had the effect of dividing their unity. Peng Qian couldn't help but look at Jia Lue, and Jia Lue nodded slightly.

He had no choice but to accept this suggestion, because whether injured or not, my proposal was fair to everyone. However, the healthy people naturally harbored some private doubts. Yet Jia Lue did not want to show his anger publicly: "Naturally we can. Let's settle it this way then. If there are no other opinions, let's integrate our groups!"

"Of course we can integrate. Right now, I have some food here that should be ready soon, and I can share some with you!" It wasn't that I was deliberately generous at this moment; everyone's eyes were watching, and furthermore, the aroma of the food was far too sensitive right now, so there was no need for me to conceal it!

"However, I'll make my ugly words clear first: don't even think about coming over, and don't cross the line, or else don't blame me for turning hostile!" At this point, I had to speak harshly. Who asked these people to look like none of them were good folks?

"Of course!"

Immediately following that, everything seemed to become simple. Under the arrangement of Peng Qian and Jia Lue, their group settled down at a little distance from us, beneath a large tree by the riverbank on one side. Jia Lue had Liu Huan, who was carrying the backpack, generously place the bag at the edge of the warning line and let Qu Xiang go over to fetch it.

A sudden stir arose in my heart, and I instructed Qu Xiang to take the cooked bear paw that we hadn't yet eaten, string it directly with a thin rattan vine, and carry it over to Liu Huan. Of course, I didn't give them any black salt, and Qu Xiang instantly understood my intention.

Seeing that the backpack was just as it had been before, and opening it to find that there was only a little food left, I finally understood the reason behind Jia Lue's straightforwardness. But I didn't argue. Opening the side pocket, I saw that although the medicine was somewhat reduced, it was basically the same assortment and quantity of medicine boxes as at the start.

"With so many people, the food is definitely running low!" Seeing my gloomy expression, Jia Lue actually offered an explanation: "Three people are injured, so naturally some medicine was used up, but it is definitely the same types and quantities as we started with!"

I did believe this point, because generally, bags at most only held some snacks, and finding something like beef jerky was already a bit of a surprise. Even though not much was left, I didn't care in the least. I kept one opened bag of chocolate and a bottle of water.

The remaining two bags of snacks and two bottles of water were returned to them by Qu Xiang. Then I quietly said as before: "We don't need these. Leave the bag with me; tomorrow morning we'll use it to pack food!"

Seeing that I had divided the food for them according to our agreement, Peng Qian didn't look surprised, but with a gloomy face, he said: "We also have three injured people on our side. I hope the distribution of medicine will be reasonable and fair!"

Too lazy to speak much, I nonchalantly placed the bag to one side. Then I saw the fat man, having found quite a bit of hay and dry leaves from somewhere, carrying them over on a large taro leaf to start a fire.

Shortly after, they also lit a bonfire. Without another word, I brought them two more uncooked bear paws. To my surprise, however, I watched them toss the bear paws directly into the bonfire, and my face twitched with anger. I was left feeling both amused and exasperated; they clearly lacked any cooking tools.