DipNovel Chapter 342 People's Hearts Are Restless
Chapter 342 People's Hearts Are Restless
Chapter 342 People's Hearts Are Restless
After Thomas finished expressing his concerns, everyone present fell silent.
Especially Old Feng, the only man with a wife present, weakly raised his hands to support his forehead, trying his best to make himself mute.
Thomas's questions were crucial and incisive.
The male-to-female ratio at the camp has reached one to three, or even higher!
In this situation, if the camp mandates monogamy, or cracks down on infidelity, and further prohibits things like prostitution or promiscuity...
Half the people in that camp will be forced into a life of being unable to marry!
So how will the camp deal with the trouble that half of the man is destined to bring at that time?
Is the camp going to make new exploration requests to the field crew, requiring them to collect as many Fiji cups as possible, wholesale them, and distribute them to every man who has no girls to play with?
Well, this can actually be considered an idea, and there are already people in the camp doing this kind of business.
Adriana was involved in this business with two women. At first, Adriana mainly brought back small women's toys to share with her female friends.
This is a serious error of empiricism.
As time went on, Adriana also noticed the men's needs, so she contacted the women in the field, such as Diana and Tara.
During their explorations, they often plundered adult stores, bringing back some male toys to exchange for jewelry with the male field workers, or for labor with the male support staff.
As for what this labor force is?
Women still need someone to help them with chores.
Adriana and her companions had dedicated logistics staff who took time to care for their horses, and their weapons were also maintained by someone.
Even within Eugene's team, there was a customer of Adriana who would carry Adriana's bag to reduce the burden of her movements.
Those were all won in exchange for the Fiji Cup —
In short, the camp has not yet enacted a financial law or a monetary system.
But life is always good at finding its own way; it can find its own commodities to trade.
Therefore, relying on adult toys to alleviate the pressure of having more women than men is indeed feasible, but it is merely a short-sighted solution.
Thomas really didn't want to introduce any marriage protection laws that would provoke the men in the camp who lacked women, at least not until the number of women increased further.
Therefore, Thomas, von, and Albert discussed this issue at length and ultimately came to a reluctant decision.
Let's wait for Gavin to come back and discuss this issue with him.
At that time, whether or not a marriage protection law is forcibly introduced to stop the increasingly serious promiscuity in the camp, it is possible.
Or they might simply ignore these problems, tacitly accept that promiscuity will continue, and treat any fights caused by issues between men and women that occur in the future as minor private disputes.
Let Gavin decide between these two options.
After all, both options have their own advantages and disadvantages.
While the former can establish and maintain correct physiological and moral views, it is destined to ignite the dangerous fuse of the gender imbalance.
While the latter would perpetuate the decline of moral values between men and women in the camp, it would certainly increase the camp's population in the short term.
Cough cough ————
In short, even though the camp had very few people, it was still smaller than the number of employees in a medium-sized company before the apocalypse.
But governing a country is not like cooking a small fish; who is it that just boasts about it?
When managing a company, everyone in the company has a goal; they just want to make money. The goal is clear, and so are the needs and responsibilities.
But now, the camp has grown to the size of a village or even a small community, and the goal of all the guys at the camp has become life itself.
Life is a very broad topic. Everyone has a different way of life and different needs, including the need for quality of life.
Faced with these countless demands, Thomas occasionally even entertained some rather dangerous ideas.
For example, he sometimes couldn't help but think that it would be better if the living conditions in the camp were much worse.
For example, there might be a shortage of food, a severe lack of tools, or the imminent threat of zombies.
In that case, the needs of all members of the camp would change from living to survival!
When people face survival pressures, their needs decrease again and again.
In other words, when the common people of America are starving and unable to learn, those very people will become the best citizens because their bottom line will keep dropping and their needs will keep decreasing.
However, Thomas ultimately couldn't bring himself to steer the camp in that direction against his conscience.
Moreover, Thomas knew even better that as the apocalypse dragged on, no matter how hard they, the administrators, tried, the camp was destined to lose its current quality of life over time.
By then, it might be three years, or it might be five years later.
Even if Thomas hadn't interfered, the camp members would have faced new survival challenges.
So what can Thomas do now?
We can only try our best to make that time come later!
And so, time slowly passed.
Seven days passed quietly.
It was another early morning, around 6:20 a.m.
Nikita then woke up from her sleep.
As soon as she woke up, she touched the soft, yielding body beside her.
So Nikita gently lifted the covers, trying not to wake Winnie, who was sleeping with her, and got out of bed by herself, putting on her slippers and heading to the bathroom.
However, her movements still woke Winnie, so Winnie also took a bath with her, got dressed and left the room, leading a large group of animals that had been waiting at the door for a stroll, and left the manor for the pasture.
After seeing the animals leave the room, especially after seeing the human figures in front of them.
The guards at the internal posts instantly perked up!
Good heavens, these are the boss's women out for a stroll. If something happens to these two women, they can't even imagine how bad Gavin's temper would be!
Most importantly, Gavin is leading a large group of people back home today!
Thomas told everyone about Gavin's impending return during dinner last night.
Last night, Gavin led a total of 97 people to camp near Brownwood, which is only about 175 kilometers away from the camp.
During the five-day return trip, Gavin's team suffered no losses and even gained a second expansion.
As they passed near the Estacado Plain, they encountered a team of survivors who were also relocating!
Unlike the fraternity, that group didn't suffer the same fate and become prey for biker gangs; they didn't even know what biker gangs were.
However, they were also listeners of the Gavin Camp radio broadcast, they just didn't contact Gavin Camp by radio.
Moreover, they were heading towards Gavin's camp, and they wanted to find an opportunity to secretly observe Gavin's camp and determine if it was really as wonderful as they had advertised on the radio.
I'll join Gavin's group once things are confirmed.
However, after meeting Gavin along the way, they were easily captivated by his charm and joined him, continuing their journey with the large convoy.
As the number of people increased, the time spent setting up camp and cooking each day also increased, and the distance they could walk each day was shortened.
Thus, the journey that took them only three days to arrive took them seven days to return home.
However, with only 175 kilometers left to their hometown, they will definitely be able to get home tomorrow, no matter how much it takes.
Therefore, Gavin notified Thomas and others in advance via radio, requesting the camp to be prepared to receive and properly accommodate hundreds of people at once.
This news ignited the passion of the camp members, reigniting their anticipation for Gavin's return, which had initially made them anxious.
The minor disturbances that had erupted at the camp in the past seven days quickly dissipated under the influence of Gavin's impending return, and the camp returned to harmony and tranquility.
The guards at the back post immediately increased their attention to Nikita and Winnie when they thought Gavin would be home today, to the point that they wanted to keep a close eye on the two of them at all times.
Feeling the gazes from the sentries coming from different directions, Winnie, panting heavily while hugging her big cat, pouted unhappily and spoke to Nikita, who was surrounded by more than thirty dogs.
"Nikita, we're practically turning into animals in a zoo! Even from a distance, I can feel their gaze!"
"But that's their concern, Winnie. We're closer to Gavin, so we can't avoid it. You know, as the camp grows, Gavin's status rises, and so do ours."
Nikita responded softly, then pointed to the distant grasslands towards the large group of dogs.
In an instant, the dogs and foxes charged fiercely into the grassland and disappeared without a trace.
Unlike cats, which like to hunt mice around the manor, dogs and foxes have a stronger hunting instinct and are equally athletic.
They prefer to follow the tracks of wolves, often traveling dozens of kilometers to join the pack in attacking rabbits and marmots scattered across the grassland.
Although the number of wolves and dogs seemed rather sparse compared to the vastness of the grassland.
However, the presence of these animals at least ensures that large groups of rabbits will not proliferate and crater the grassland within a radius of nearly two kilometers around the camp.
Of course, this cannot be guaranteed for more distant locations, so riders need to be aware of potential potholes on the ground at any time when they are further away.
Those potholes can affect not only a horse's legs, but also motorcycles and even some lower-quality pickup trucks, which can be damaged by the bumps and jolting.
As the pack of dogs gradually disappeared into the distance, Winnie's thoughts weren't on the dogs and wolves, but on the people in the camp.
So she pouted again, threw the cat in her arms to the ground, and snorted in dissatisfaction.
"Hmph, you're just flattering them. How long has the boss been gone? A mere ten days—well, actually, ten days is a long time. I miss him so much—"
At this point, Winnie's own momentum faltered slightly, and a deep longing and instinctive unease appeared on her face.
However, just a moment later, Winnie put on a dissatisfied expression again and continued to pout.
"In short, it's only been ten days, but look at the chaos in the camp. Some people have already started to challenge Thomas's position. I heard them arguing fiercely last night, and it was only when Old Feng rushed over from the gym with his gun that they were able to calm things down."
"These adults are always like this. Before the apocalypse, I watched a lot of adults arguing endlessly over a bunch of trivial things."
"Even now, God, America is gone, but those adults are still arguing endlessly about who's in charge."
"Someone wants to support Charlie and put manpower into building the textile industry. The textile machines that WeiTao's field staff brought back in the last few days will allow us to prioritize the ability to be self-sufficient in clothing."
"Some people want to support Ivan the Great, and ask us to allocate at least forty people to work on the power plant every day to restore it completely."
"Some people want to put everything else aside and focus all their efforts on defense. They recommend that Thomas send everyone to dig moats, build more bunkers and watchtowers, install more machine guns, and set up more machine gun posts."
William refused to expand the construction of the fortifications. Instead, he wanted to recruit three to five additional staff members to be dedicated to camp management. They wanted to ensure that no one in the camp would have the opportunity to use drugs or slack off.
"They each have their own inclinations, and most importantly, they are all actually right—that's terrifying!"
"I can already sense Thomas's difficulties. His prestige comes entirely from Gavin, so he can only work within the lines drawn by Gavin before he left. He simply cannot make final decisions on those choices that could affect the camp's future for at least several months or even a whole year."
"And the scariest thing is that there is no wrong answer to this multiple-choice question. Everyone's suggestion is correct, but no one can clearly explain how to choose."
"No one knows what kind of crisis we should address first in the coming years."
How do we solve a problem that has no wrong answers?
"After all, Thomas can't prove who's wrong, but if everything is right, he also can't decide who's right, because if everyone's right, then everyone's wrong, and if everyone's wrong, then nobody's wrong."
At this point, Winnie couldn't help but shake her head, letting her ponytail spin behind her.
Just as she was stunned, several gunshots suddenly rang out in the distance, and the gunshots stopped after more than thirty shots.
The gunshot jolted Winnie and Nikita awake, alerting the remaining adult wolves and the mother wolves tending to her cubs.
A moment later, the sound of a sentry came through the walkie-talkie.
"Madam, this is Johnny. We have just dealt with two stray zombies that wandered into the camp within three kilometers of the forest last night. No zombies survived, so please do not worry."
"Received, all done."
Nikita took out her walkie-talkie and responded, then hung it back on her waist and reached out to pat Winnie's head.
"Kid, we're not in a position to talk about the camp's future. That's Gavin's right. All we need to do is take care of ourselves and not cause them any trouble."
"This time, Gavin has been away for quite a while, but once he returns, the problems that have been bothering us these past few days will be solved. After all, he's Gavin, and everyone is waiting for him."
"But I've been pretty exhausted lately. The marriage law Thomas mentioned is giving me the creeps. After all, I studied law. I'm also waiting for Gavin to come back so I can talk to him about my troubles. Sigh."
"I really wish you could ride a rocket and jump right up to me."
"As long as he's there, there won't be any more difficulties, right?"