Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again. - Chapter 329

Chapter 329: Sheldon’s base.
Hades unfolded his arms, stretching like a sleeping lion that was about to pounce. Sunshine put her hand on his arm. There was something about Sheldon’s arrogance. That quiet, entitled venom_ that made her skin crawl.

She could have easily used violence to put him in his place. But the billionaires were useful for now and he was not wrong, if they were handing over their resources and territories, they needed to feel like they had a say in how things were run.

“You are welcome to sit on the committee.” She said.

Sheldon smiled smugly.

Sunshine smirked briefly and cleared her throat. “But you have to carry responsibilities just like everyone else here. Sometimes we have meetings in the dead of night. All members of the committee participate in hunts and fights inside and outside the base.”

Sheldon’s smile quivered.

The others shrunk back, suddenly glad that they had not tossed their hats in the ring.

Sunshine continued. “Your resources are not provided for free like you make it sound. We are going to continue buying your seeds if we need them. Your money and influence has already secured you leadership positions as we expand into the towns and cities. Sitting on this committee is useless to you.”

Sheldon twisted his lips.

“I will be honest.” She said in a firmer voice, “All the final decisions to do with the base go through me. In a way, I am a dictator, but it is for the good of everyone. Fortress four stood firm while your bases fell that is a testament to how good a job Hades and I and everyone here are doing. We have more resources than all of your billionaire club combined.

We have technology that will dominate the next era of mankind. With or without you, we will remain strong and outlast the apocalypse. I cannot say the same for you and your bases without us. I respect your business abilities and opinions, but this is my base. My rules. My leadership.”

Her eyes roamed over the men. “Am I understood? If anyone has an issue with how I run things, the door is open and so are the gates.”

Silence.

It lasted five minutes.

“Good, then we have an understanding.” She declared and stood up.

The doors were opened and lunch was wheeled in. Hot generous meals and drinks like those of a five star hotel. As the food was placed around the table, Sunshine stood up.

She walked to the console and switched on the main screen. A digital map of the mountain flickered to life. It was divided into sectors each mapped out precisely. Her finger traced the jagged edge of the mountain ridge.

“As you eat, pay attention to the screen.” She announced. “This area.” She circled it. “Is what we control for now if we include the new bases, almost half of the mountain. We also control these six routes up or down the mountain. When we take Busker and these towns as part of our territory, the size will be big enough to be declared a district.”

“District one.” Jon said through a mouthful of food.

Dominic raised his hand. “What is on the other side of the mountain? At the back.”

“Before the apocalypse, there were two small resorts a bed and breakfast plus part of the forest and water reservoir.” Lisha pulled up the images that had been taken recently. “The area is small so it doesn’t qualify to be called a town. The bed and breakfast was taken down by a meteor but the two resorts survived.

We discovered recently that they are occupied. They have been turned into shelters. It is likely that the unknown superhuman that was caught on our cameras came from there.”

Kris shook his head. “They cannot stay there, they are a risk to Fortress…..district 1. If this is the base of our operations, the entire mountain must be ours. All the grass and birds belong to us.”

“I agree, we will have to relocate these people into the towns.” Carson stated.

Hadrian nodded. “We’ll have to apply force if necessary, in case they don’t want to move. Anyway, we are moving them to a safe area under our protection, not leaving them out in the cold. I say this in case our resident Priest has an opinion.”

Father Nicodemus arched his brows and remained silent.

Sunshine returned to her chair and Hades handed her a fork. “We start expansion on the mountain today, after lunch. A new bubble will go up, extending from our base, connecting to all the bases. The construction section will draw up plans to extend our walls into the other bases while installing gates. This way, we don’t need to move people here. As for the people living behind us, we can also move them out today itself and relocate them to Jon’s base. That part of the mountain can be used as a breeding base.”

The room buzzed with quiet awe and excitement.

“Does that mean that the mission to acquire Busker is postponed.”

Sunshine shook her head. “No. Dominic and Morris will lead teams to start hunting over there. All the meat must be brought back.”

“Yes ma’am.” Dominic answered.

Jon exhaled deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “This is a very nice plan, but…..there is just one small problem.”

All heads turned towards him.

Hades frowned. “Then speak, do not waste our time.”

The other billionaires could already guess what this was about, they lowered their heads.

“Fuck!” Kris mumbled.

Jon hesitated, then said. “It is about Sheldon’s base…..” his words trailed off with the wind.

A wave of confusion rippled through the room.

“This can’t be good.” Carson stated, leaning forward.

Jon blurted out. “Well, technically it is his base but he moved out of there. He’s been living with me, and a real headache I tell you. I….”

“Jon!” Hades shouted. “Cut the crap.”

Jon swallowed, and then explained. “Sheldon’s base…..became a dumping site. All those unwanted people from this place and our places were taken there.”

Carson scoffed. “You mean to say_”

“That you stupidly put all the people that hate you all in one place and gave them freedom.” Dominic scoffed.

Cory let out a laugh of unease. “When you say it out loud, it sounds like a dangerous thing.”

“Because it is!” Hadrian wanted to smack each one of them across the face.

Hades inhaled and exhaled loudly. “You are the dumbest set of people that I have ever met. You were supposed to keep them in line Jon. You told me you could do it.”

Jon sneered. “Oh come on Hades! You really wanted to me to shelter your rebels? They were trouble waiting to happen. And how dare you call me dumb when I won the award for most influential business man of the year three years in a row.”

“Yeah well, I have a trash bin full of them because I won six times.” Hades countered.

Sunshine shushed them. “Shush, babies. How did you even do this without telling us!” She turned to Jon, aghast.

Kris pointed at Sheldon. “It was his idea.”

“One that you all supported” Sheldon said, reaching for a glass of juice.

Warren thought of Brigitte, he considered her a victim of stupidity, she blindly betrayed Hades because Damien was her brother. But, he had asked Sunshine to forgive her and the option was already being considered. “And the Quinns?”

Jon’s voice dropped. “Safe at my base. I did not touch them.”

Hades’ eyes darkened. “When did you do this?”

“After the Quinns came in.” Jon answered. “I did not want to live with people you did not want. Let us concentrate on the present. I had some of my men over there, monitoring them. After the rat attack last night, I cannot get hold of any of them. What should we do?”

“That place is a prison, let’s call it what it is and leave it as it is.” Sheldon suggested.

The room turned into a suffocating silence. No fork or glass moved.

Father Nicodemus was the first to raise an objection. “A prison? Those people did not do anything to earn a prison sentence.”

Lisha interjected quickly. “Helena Drew did say she wanted her husband and Suni dead. We are not letting her back into our midst. That is where she belongs.”

“Actually, I like Sheldon’s idea. We should isolate that base and turn it into a maximum security prison. Where would we have put Scorpion if we arrested him? Certainly not inside the base prison.” Carson voiced strongly. “The apocalypse has given birth to more dangerous criminals than before. It is either we execute them all or put them in that base until we find another place that we can use as a real prison.”

“Execution, do you hear yourself Carson!” Sister Anna shouted.

“Why is she here?” Lisha asked, pointing at Anna.