Reborn Cave Queen of the End Times novel Chapter 71

Chapter 71 Dangling the Carrot

A sudden light flared in Zain’s eyes.

James played it cool, acting noncommittal as he spoke. “Our boss, Mr. Wright, is just a softie at heart. He couldn’t stand seeing real talent get thrown out like trash, so he took those dozen or so teachers in. And let me tell you, they’re the real deal. You can tell they’re all top-tier university grads. Teaching kids is like a walk in the park for them.”

Right then, Zain was hit by a massive wave of regret.

When they were fleeing the city, and those teachers wanted to join his crew, he’d rejected them on the spot, thinking they were just weak links and dead weight with zero stamina.

He never imagined that what he’d discarded as garbage, Leonel would treat like gold.

And they really were gold.

At that exact moment, Zain had to admit to himself that he was just a regular blue-collar guy. When it came to vision and the bigger picture, he wasn’t even in the same league as Leonel.

James added, “Right now, those teachers give daily lessons to our people when they have downtime. They’re finally putting their skills to use.”

“Lessons? What lessons are you even teaching?” Zain asked, curious.

“Hey, look at our camp. We’ve got plenty of underage kids in our unit,” James replied with a smile. “We’ve got five 17-year-olds, three 18-year-olds, and six 19-year-olds. They were all students before the world ended. The apocalypse forced them to drop out, but now that we have teachers, we’re getting them back on track. Except the curriculum now leans heavily toward survival skills. For instance, they’re learning how to operate boats, drive speedboats, fix engines and machinery, and manufacture explosives. Down the line, they’ll learn agriculture, crop cultivation, weaving… Basically, if it’s useful, we teach it.”

Zain’s eyes grew even brighter. “You guys planned all this out?”

James slurred slightly, acting drunk. “You bet we have. How else do you think we turned this whole hill into a fortress? We’re planning to build our own base.”

Zain felt his heart pounding. He was incredibly tempted.

“It’s a shame your camp is just a bunch of guys. My daughter is a young girl, and…”

“What are you talking about? Did you forget about the four female teachers?” James interjected. “The women are the ones exclusively running the classroom. The male teachers only pitch in when they have a break from manual labor.”

Zain nervously fidgeted with his fingers, gripping and ungripping his hands.

He wanted in. Badly.

The young guys on our side are all talented, every last one-otherwise why would Mr. Wright have picked them and kept them close? Take Xavier Quinn, the one with the thinnest résume. Seventeen this year. so, what a little over five years older than your girl. Already a gold medalist in chemistry, recommended straught into college. Shame the apocalypse hit, or he’d be there already.” James muttered. “Ah, look at me running my mouth. I can’t talk… I’m wasted. I gotta head back.”

Seeing James really was leaving. Zain hurried to stop him. Why don’t you just crash here tonight?”

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