Chapter 66 Calmth
Dilan could already tell that the young man would break the rules he had just stated.
In fact, he was pretty sure that the young man, called Leon, didn’t even listen to him when he was announcing them in a loud and clear voice.
But that was fine with Dilan because the rules he had set up were quite easy to understand, and not exactly something out of the world.
He was pretty sure that it was not hard to abide by all of them, and that one shouldn’t do the things he forbade.
Anyone with morals wouldn’t need the rules to be enforced in the first place.
They would follow them as if it was the right thing to do subconsciously.
As such, the young man in Dilan’s eyes was another example of humanity at its worst like Max.
However, there was still a trace of hope within Dilan that maybe he was simply misunderstanding Leon’s gaze and intentions.
Because he hoped for the best, he averted his focus to remodeling the cafeteria.
There were 50 newcomers that needed a place to sleep, clothes, and a little bit of privacy for themselves.
Sarah explained to the women what they had to pay attention to, while Pierre helped the men to settle down.
Oliver and Ailee helped out as well, and for a change, Dilan chose to help in the kitchen.
His life had been a lonely one, even if he had a big family.-.
As such, he had learned how to cook.
“I had never expected to cook dinner for 70 people.” Bianne suddenly remarked while trying to small talk with Dilan.
He turned his head, only to see her stirring a ladle in a huge pot.
Ever since she had gained the [Art of Cooking] passive ability, Bianne seemed to have become obsessed with cooking.
But that was probably simply because she wanted to be of help to everyone.
Dilan felt that this was a great way to support the entire community.
However, before Dilan could say something, Sarah barged in the kitchen as she said in an exasperated voice.
“Dilan, can’t you do anything against these women?! I have no idea what is going on with them, but almost all of them started to cry… They’re so frustrating!!”
It looked like Sarah was not good at handling women when they were crying or sad.
Thus, Dilan could only smile drily before shrugging his shoulders,
“What do you expect me to do? Should I shout at them and tell them to stop crying? Let them cry and release their stress for some time. If you saw what I saw on the fourth floor, you wouldn’t act like this.”
He had witnessed the cruelty and animalistic behavior they were subjected to and as such, he knew that they would require some time to overcome their trauma.
Right now, they were just releasing the sorrow and pain, which they had accumulated during the last few days.
As such, it was only obvious for them to cry or even collapse, now that they saw the shimmer of hope.
There were quite a few people that seemed kind to them.
The nurses, all Ascenders and so on took great care of them, even though they would take away some of the scarce resources within the cafeteria.
A few Survivors might be against them, but the newly arrived Survivors were nervous, and clueless about what to do next which was why they were simply thankful for everyone’s help.
Even if nobody would have accepted them in the cafeteria, it was already a blessing to have been saved from the clutches of Max and his group of 12 followers!
Now that the threat was no more, they were slowly starting to analyze their new situation.
They understood that Dilan had accepted their entire group and that he was setting up specific rules in order to protect them!
In reality, Dilan would take in all Survivors, and set up the same rules even if he came across many more needy people.
It was important that there were a few lines one shouldn’t cross by all means.
Otherwise, one would leave the path of being humane, and turn into a monster in human’s skin.
After the Primordial Ascension occurred, far more monsters in human’s skin were bound to reveal their true selves simply because everyone believed that their strength allowed them to do things that were otherwise forbidden, both morally and legally!
Waving his hand away, Dilan added in a serious tone,
“Don’t think too much about it, Sarah. Just be happy that you didn’t face the same situation as them. Even if you might not believe that we are living well here, you should have seen what the situation outside the hospital looks like, let alone in places we found the Survivors.”
His seriousness silenced Sarah, who simply turned around to walk out of the kitchen again.
She was not sure what she had expected from Dilan, but after seeing a tinge of sadness and anger about the situation of the women in his eyes, Sarah concluded that he was feeling a little bit helpless as well.
Thinking about the eyes of some women, Sarah immediately regretted what she had said before. Thus, instead of complaining, she clenched her fists and mentally scolded herself before deciding to give her best to provide the women with as much support as possible.
After all, it was possible for her to gauge what had been going on on the fourth floor!
Bianne felt the same, which was why she returned to her work before she mumbled,
“Today, I will make the best dinner ever!!”
Afterward, she began to work hard, and within a mere hour, she had cooked an elaborate meal.
And that was only possible because the gas stove was still working. For how long it would continue, nobody knew.
As such, they decided to enjoy warm food as long as possible!
Dilan understood this as well, which was why he decided to be generous for one more day after he saw the massive amounts of food they made with only few ingredients.
“Take this, I’ll tell the others that food is ready.” Dilan thus said all of a sudden.
He handed Bianne the Ring of Yarad, thinking that it would be convenient for her to use it.
As long as she was inside the cafeteria, nobody would dare to take it from her.
Even if there was someone dumb enough to try it, Dilan wouldn’t hesitate to beat up this person.
Making an example out of the mistakes of others people was something he had to do in order to show that his rules were not just meant to be used for decoration.
But making an example was not something he had to think about, not right now, at least.
The sun wouldn’t shine on the cafeteria for long, and some corners had already gone completely dark.
‘It is really bothersome to live here without a generator. Well, it is not like we could do a lot if we had a generator right here. I’m entirely clueless about power grids and how they work. I would probably kill myself and everyone else if I were to experiment something.’
Looking around the group while leaving the kitchen, Dilan couldn’t help but wonder if they had an electrician here.
And even if there would be one, it is not like they had the blueprint of the cafeteria’s infrastructure either.
They were missing way too much information, which was quite frustrating.
‘We should really build up a proper community…In the following days, one of the highest priorities will be to figure out more about all Survivors, their fields of study, occupations, and also what kind of ability they got…I guess’
Dilan had quite a few things on his mind, including things about his Origin ability, the Survivors, the safety of the cafeteria, the permanent Gate on the second floor, and so on.
But for now, he wanted to forget everything, which was why he clasped together and cracked his knuckles.
This caused an extremely loud sound through which everyone flinched, before they looked at him, startled.
“Today all of us shall feast! Let’s have a great end of the day, and wake up full of energy, with new hope, and motivation to strive for more tomorrow!!”
After he said this, Dilan returned to the kitchen to help Bianne bring out plates of food for everyone.
That was not something he would usually do, but he wanted to give the new Survivors more hope that everything would become better, that they didn’t have to be afraid of the future as it had been the case with Max, and his followers.
It was just his attempt to help out, and there was nothing wrong with that.
Through this, Dilan was able to get to know more Survivors, and figure out a little bit about them, which was quite helpful.
A plan about what kind of group he wanted to form was slowly coming together in his mind.
The plan certainly required some improvements and time to set off, but it was fine for now.
Dilan was actually satisfied with himself.
Things seemed to get better over time, including his improvements in strength.
There were lots of things Dilan had yet to figure out, and there were problems they had to solve, but he was in no rush to solve everything at once.
After all, all of them were alive, and that was everything that mattered.
Little did Dilan realize that they were merely facing the calm of a storm that had begun to brew…a more devastating storm than anything he had ever faced before!