"Are you done?"

"Yes" Nasir took his seat and all eyes turned to the young man sitting at the center of the rectangular big table.

This young man was Justin.

It has been two days since the last deadly battle and the tension in the building had reduced to a considerate degree.

This was their first official meeting— so to say. The past couple of days had been nerve-cracking.

Now, everyone was in the room, including the injured grandpa Philip who had recovered to a considerate degree. While the Pipe man— Steven was on seat.

He and Grandpa Philip were the oldest in the room. Pipe man's gaze lingered on the face of everyone in the room and sighed silently.

'Everyone in the room is STRONG'

On the right side of Justin was a woman. A young lady precisely. Kira.

She was the second most powerful person in the room. Though no one announced it, the pressure they felt coming from made them wary.

While on the left was Nika and beside him was an icy goddess— Susan.

Opposite her was grandpa Philip, who was still in a bandage. And below was Merab and the others.

This seating was done consciously or subconsciously based on their power.

However, no one raised a voice against it. What was on their mind was how to survive.

The last battle shook everyone in the room to the core. They realized danger was hanging over each person's head.

The self-righteous Mack had been quiet since he came back. While the icy Susan had barely spoken a word.

Even when Mack tries to start a conversation with her. She only gave perfunctory replies and left. He was lost by her behavior but controlled his emotions.

Hmm! Hmm!

Justin cleared his throat. Immediately, the tense atmosphere was raised by another degree.

Subconsciously, everyone straightened their back and pushed all the nonsensical thoughts to the back of their mind. Now, they were all ears.

He opened his mouth and began slowly.

"The first hurdle has been overcome as a group, a team, or a community. Call it whatever you like. But we overcame our first test."

"I congratulate everyone for surviving another day…" He paused and took a deep.

"But the test had just begun. Believe me."

Listening to the last sentence, swallow the lumps in their throat.

Though they were mentally prepared to face what was to come. Yet, hearing from the most powerful person in the room adds a bitter taste to their mouth.

"I'm not doing this to scare you or being arrogant. But telling you the facts."

"Survival is my utmost priority and that should be yours. Now…"

The word Now contains an unspeakable power. Those in the room felt as if the world was isolated from them.

The heart of everyone in the room skipped a bit. What sort of power is this!? They screamed in their mind.

Justin didn't release a bit of his sound power intentionally. This was one of the perks that come with being a Third Circle Existence.

Just getting a bit serious releases a sound power from his mouth.

"We need to structure this community and we need everyone's contribution. As I have previously said, we won't condone idleness, laziness, and unnecessary burden. As we move, everyone in the community should move. No one should be a burden to one another."

"We're still few but that doesn't stop us from having a solid structure that must be followed."

"What we need to survive and how to survive as a whole…." He paused a bit and added.

"Please let everyone voice their opinion."

For a couple of seconds, no one uttered a word but it was broken by a middle-aged man. Pipe Man.

"As you have rightfully said. We structure as a community. For a community to be structured, we need to have a hierarchy, then jobs, currency, and benefit." He concluded.

"Thank you," Justin said and looked at the face of the others.

"Anybody else." He added.

"What type of hierarchy?" Mack questioned.

"I don't know. I guess the leader can decide" The pipe man added.

"Before we talk about that. Let's talk about others." Justin said.

"Let's talk about our defense and resources. Only when we're alive can we think about benefit, hierarchy, and whatnot." Grandpa Phillip proposed.

"Good!" Justin nodded.

"Mack, you're from a military background. What do you think we should do with the limited weapons and men we have." He threw the load on him.

"We can create a patrol team that would guard all the entrances leading to the shelter and then we need a stronger team to be deployed in case of emergency…" Mack paused a bit, thinking for a bit before sighing.

"Most of them need training. Half of the ammunition would be wasted if they were not trained to hit their target. But I guess we can do that as time goes on."

"Alright. You shall be in charge." He announced.

"I need you to submit a draft of your operation by the end of today. Now, the issue of defense has been settled. Let's move on."

"Resources and Job." Nasir proposed.

"How many people are willing to work with ordinary people? Besides, how many ordinary people do we have?" Justin turned to him.

"60 and all of them are ready to work," Nasir responded calmly.

"Where is their data?"

Chloe gave him a folder. And quickly, he opened it and skimmed through with one glance.

He closed it and placed it on the table.

"Since the ordinary people had been assigned work. That makes it easy. Now, we need to deal with the threaded people."

(AN: threaded means those that are yet to evolve to First Circle existence.)

"We have 20 threaded brave men. How should we manage them."

"10 of them would be placed in security while the other 10 should be designated as hunters." Mack proposed.

"Then, the shelter defense wouldn't be effective." Susan talked for the first time.

All eyes turned to her, expecting her to continue.

"How could 10 people patrol three major entrances to the shelter? That's the major entrance. We don't know the hidden ones. Besides, are they going to work during the day and night won't be added?" She questioned.

"Night would be added," Justin answered. Though he had already understood what she was trying to say.

"Then, are ten men not going to sleep and have fun?"

Now, everyone understood what she was trying to say. Mack looked at her for a moment and smiled slightly. 'As expected of the woman I fell in love with. '

He understood the lapses in the security but she had beaten him to voice out his opinion.

"We don't need to deliberate on it," Justin announced.

"Nasir, add ten ordinary people to the defense team. I believe that should solve it." He said.

"Now for the hunting team as Mack had said. What do you think?"

****

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!

Report chapter

Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter