“Have you scanned your people first?” I asked before seriously adding, “any traitors?”

“None,” yet the unexpected response came from her, “we scanned everyone and all are clean.”

“All?!!” I couldn’t hide my shock from that. Even in the best situations there were one or two traitors in each group I met.

What was wrong here? Why did this place seem like an anomaly in all the places I visited so far in the apocalypse?

“What’s wrong?” John asked in doubt, “isn’t it something good?”

“It is,” I sighed, “now you are going to have contracts with me.”

“All of us?” Will asked and I simply shook my head.

“Only the three of you are enough,” I said, took out three contracts and signed them, “here, just sign your names and it will work.”

“Is it enough?” Lilith gave me a sceptical look. Of course going over and making everyone sign a contract was something good but it would consume much time.

Plus if I got the leaders, what was there left to fear?

“Do you know if there are any gaming groups nearby?” I asked without much hope. After all they were just new to join my forces.

“Do you want to add more players to the game or what?” Will snorted but I ignored him. Lilith spoke, and she was the most rational and practical one among the three to be honest.

“We have some sort of connection system with many players,” she said, and her words reminded me of what Leo once said.

He told me that there was such a connection before. But I got super busy delving deeper into this matter. “Like a common chat room or something?” I asked and she nodded.

“We can talk to each other, add one another as friends, or even block some annoying toxic dudes,” she said and I noticed how tired she was when she said the last part.

“Some dudes are just funny as hell, only with blocking them one can live in peace of mind,” Will said and I couldn’t relate to what he was complaining about.

“So you can talk to each other? Can you write something that all of the players can see?”

“We have something like a forum,” she nodded, and I couldn’t relate to what forums even meant.

“It’s a place where anyone can write anything and be seen by others,” she noticed my puzzlement and decided to explain in detail.

“But this forum is super crowded and busy with many posts per hour!” John shook his head, complaining about this forum.

“We can still pay to make our post pinned to the top,” Lilith said and the other two showed different reactions.

John’s face darkened and Will just snorted. “This will require us to pay one million coins. Come on, who can have such a wealth in this f*cking apocalypse?”

“Me,” I innocently raised my hand while adding, “I can give you this and make that post pinned.”

The three looked at me like they were hungry wolves looking at a fat sheep or something.

“What? Do you think I got this power while being poor?” I shortly laughed before adding, “without wealth, one can’t be strong no matter how special or hardworking he was.”

This wasn’t an attempt from me to boast or something, it was mere reality. Bitter or not, this was how things ran in this world.

“Just like our damn **ty past world,” John laughed before he added, “alright filthy rich man, give us two million coins and we’ll help you make this post.”

“Wasn’t it one million?” I frowned and he kept laughing and shaking his head, as if I missed something simple and obvious.

“It’s called fees bro, haven’t you ever heard about that?” he said and I knew what he was aiming for.

“So you are trying to gain from me?” It was my time to snort and laugh. That dude… he was still very green in this apocalypse compared to myself.

“Sure, there is nothing wrong about doing that,” he added, while the other two kept their silence.

“Have you read the contract you just signed? Or don’t tell me you are illiterate!”

“What?!!!” his face suddenly changed while my laughs went louder.

“It’s just I have total authority over you,” I shook my head, mimicking the pathetic act he just did, “I hold all the authority in ordering you to do something. Hell, even if I ordered you to go and beg others to gather these coins then you’d have no other choice but to comply.”

“You…”

“John, shut up please,” at this moment, Lilith couldn’t tolerate his stupidity. I watched her and Will reading through the contract before signing it.

These two realised how deeply bound they were to me. When John tried to do his little act here, I was pretty sure they were laughing at him inside their minds.

“I will do it,” Lilith said, “but what do you want to tell these people?”

“A chance,” my eyes flashed with determination, “a chance to not only survive but thrive with me. If anyone is willing, even if he or she is living away from here, they can still join my forces.”

“The same conditions?” Lilith asked.

“Can you help them in times of need? Even with the great distance between you and them?” Will asked the most important question, and I simply smiled in confidence in return.

“I just told you, didn’t I?” my smile went wider as I added, “wealth is the true power of this world. I can’t help them directly with my forces, but I can give them the means to become strong and mighty in this apocalypse.”

“You are going to sponsor them?!!” Lilith and Will said in the same breath, while John kept his silence, acting like a naughty kid that just got reprimanded by his father.

“Why not?” I said, “if they are going to sign the same contract as you got, promising to follow each and all my instructions, plus vowing to work as hard as they could to help other humans survive this sh*t, then why wouldn’t I help them?”

“But…” Lilith paused while Will continued:

“Many are living on other continents… Hell, I’m sure that almost half of them are in Asia and Europe!”

“That’s not a problem,” what he said didn’t change my mind, “as long as they are willing, I’ll welcome them all.”

“Are you this wealthy?” John finally couldn’t take it anymore, “if you are, then why did you act stingy just now with me?”

“You, pal, tried to outsmart me,” I laughed, teasing him more, “leaning to such dirty and twisted ways won’t work with me. If you just asked nicely and directly, you’d have ended up having even more than you dreamt for.”

“This is bull**!”