"Think you can just walk away? Not even going to apologize after falsely accusing us? Tell you what, we’re not unreasonable. Just give me that pocket watch in your hand, and we’ll call it even!"

A man with a greasy face blocked Lydia Magnus’s path. He looked to be in his fifties, with a lot of gray hair. Perhaps because of the past two years of going from feast to famine, his face was terrifyingly gaunt—nothing but skin and bones.

His eyes were somewhat bulging, fixed intently on the pocket watch in Lydia Magnus’s hand.

One look was enough to tell the watch was once priceless. Although it wasn’t worth much now—it probably wouldn’t even trade for a pack of instant noodles—the sight of something he could have never even dreamed of owning before was enough to stir his greed.

Besides, even if it wasn’t valuable now, who knew what the future held?

"Absolutely not! Why should I give it to you? You’re the ones who started this, and you hurt him! It makes no sense for us to be the ones to compensate you."

Lydia Magnus glared at him while tugging at her clothes, hiding the pocket watch within her sleeve. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The two sides were at a standoff. As Claire Xavier’s condition worsened, Lydia Magnus grew more and more frantic.

’This pocket watch is the only thing my mother left me. I keep it with me as a memento. How can I just hand it over to these people?’

But Claire’s condition would only worsen if she continued this standoff.

She bit her lip, her heart filled with resentment. ’In the past, I wouldn’t have given nobodies like this a second glance. With my status as the young lady of the Magnus Family, everyone who saw me had to be respectful.’

’She had never been subjected to such harassment before!’

Life in the apocalypse over the past year or two had certainly been harder, but thanks to Stella’s warning, she had stockpiled a lot of supplies. Combined with the lingering prestige of the Magnus Family, she hadn’t truly suffered.

If the recent flood hadn’t completely submerged her family’s villa and washed away all their remaining food, she wouldn’t have fallen into such a state.

This was the first time she had ever been confronted by such lowlifes, and she was at a complete loss.

Just then, Claire Xavier lost consciousness completely. Lydia Magnus couldn’t support him, and his body slumped to the ground—

"Claire—"

Her expression changed, and she knelt down to support him.

The man in his fifties, however, continued to speak. "This guy was protecting you so fiercely. He must be your boyfriend or husband, right? He’s in critical condition, and you won’t even part with a single pocket watch. I really feel sorry for the fella."

Lydia Magnus said nothing, so frantic she was on the verge of tears. She didn’t want to say another word; she simply reached back to take off the watch.

No matter how reluctant she was, Claire Xavier’s life was more important now.

"What are you doing? We told you no troublemaking, but you insist on defying the rules, is that it?"

"What happened here? This man is seriously injured. Are you trying to cause trouble on our base’s turf?"

Just then, two base members in blue uniforms rushed over, one of them shouting angrily.

The faces of the men surrounding Lydia Magnus changed. The man in his fifties quickly said, "Officers, don’t misunderstand. We don’t know what’s wrong with these two newcomers. They came up trying to extort us, claiming we hurt her boyfriend and demanding compensation. We have no idea what’s going on."

"We all know the base’s rules; why would we cause trouble? They’re clearly the ones trying to extort something from us."

The men chimed in one after another, shifting all the blame onto Lydia Magnus and her companion, making themselves out to be the victims.

The onlookers who knew what had really happened said nothing to explain the situation for the pair, merely casting sympathetic glances at Lydia Magnus and Claire Xavier.

No one was willing to offend one group of people for the sake of strangers.

Besides, this gang was known for being difficult. Although Meridia Base had rules against causing trouble, petty villains could be relentlessly persistent and impossible to guard against. No one wanted to provoke people like that.

"Nonsense! Do you think we didn’t see what happened before? You think you can just do whatever you want on this boat? We know what happened. You were clearly the ones using the fact that you boarded first to pick on newcomers, and you even hurt him."

Hearing this, the men’s faces changed. Their leader shot a dark glare at the surrounding crowd...

’Who was it? Who ratted us out?!’

"What are you looking at? Are you thinking of causing more trouble right in front of us?"

"We wouldn’t dare, we wouldn’t dare! Officers, we’ve truly been wronged. We’re honest people; we’d never dare do such a thing."

"That’s a lie! The moment we got on the boat, you stopped us. You threatened us, demanding we pay you a protection fee, or else you’d make our lives miserable on board."

"When my boyfriend and I refused, you surrounded us, your words full of threats. Then you took advantage of a moment when my boyfriend was distracted to stab him with a knife, and you wouldn’t let us leave."

"Officers, every word I’m saying is true. Their knife should still be on them. If you don’t believe me, you can search them."

The men’s faces fell. The two base members exchanged a glance, and one of them immediately stepped forward to conduct a search. Sure enough, he found a dagger on the man, still stained with blood.

The two Meridia Base members’ expressions hardened. "We’ve already told you, this isn’t a place for you to run wild. Since you won’t abide by the rules, please leave."

Seeing that they could no longer argue their way out of it, the men began to beg for mercy. "No, we were wrong! Don’t throw us off! If we leave now, we won’t survive!"

"We promise we’ll never do it again. Just spare us this one time!"

But their pleas had no effect. If they let them off this time, others would simply assume Meridia Base was a pushover—that if you broke the rules, all you had to do was beg and you’d face no consequences.

If that happened, the rules they had previously announced would no longer hold any sway over anyone else, and the resulting chaos would undoubtedly be disastrous.

Before this rescue mission, they had already considered that after two years of the apocalypse, many people might have let their true natures run wild. They were saving survivors, yes, but they had no idea what kind of people these survivors had been or what their temperaments were.

Without strict rules, there would be endless trouble.

"We advise you to leave on your own. If you continue to cause trouble, you will have to bear the consequences."

After the two Meridia Base members spoke, they made a "go on" gesture toward the men.

The men’s faces were grim, but none of them moved.

’They didn’t believe it. If they refused to get off, could these guys really throw them off by force?’

Seeing their non-compliance, the two base members wasted no more words. One of them simply fired his gun.