Upon reading the new board that Daz had just set up, many citizens were pleased, shocked, or very angry. The varying responses interested Daz. He took a quick second to read his new bulletin board and make sure he didn't forget anything.

[The Five Basic Laws and Punishments of Fort Skip

Law 1: Do not murder other citizens. Punishment: Death.

Law 2: Do not attempt to intentionally hinder any fighters participating in the attacks. Punishment: Death.

Law 3: Do not sexually assault any citizens. Punishment: Death.

Law 4: Do not physically or mentally abuse another Citizen. Punishment: Imprisonment for 5-20 days (time will vary depending on severity) and half of your merit points will be used for the good of Fort Skip.

Law 5: Do not steal from other citizens. Punishment: Confiscation of all stolen goods, imprisonment for 2-10 days (time will vary depending on severity) and half of your merit points will be used for the good of Fort Skip.

All laws are subject to change as Fort Skip gains more stability and as new incidents occur.]

This bulletin board sent the nearby citizens into a wild frenzy and Daz stood there, patiently listening to all of them howl and rage at his new declaration of laws.

"Death as the punishment for three of the 'laws' and imprisonment for the other two?! This is insane! He just wants to kill us!"

"Yeah! How can we live with these kinds of punishments?!"

"We should leave this crazy place!"

"I can't live under a dictator like this!"

However, not everyone was against Daz's laws and punishments. Some could see the reason behind this change since without rules, anarchy was a thing to be expected, or so these people thought.

"You guys are being unreasonable."

"Yeah, why are you getting so riled up? The punishments only apply if you break the rules. Does that mean that you guys were planning to kill, steal from and rape us?"

"Right. Even if the punishments are a bit harsh, it's necessary considering how the world has changed. In fact, I think Daz is being very lenient since these are only five big laws that were obvious in normal society anyway except for the attack-related one."

More and more similar voices sprung up, and gradually, the ones voicing out their displeasure at the new laws were drowned out.

Daz smiled at the fact that more people supported him than didn't and he slowly raised his arm. Gradually, everyone quieted down when they noticed Daz's arm, so he spoke once more.

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"As everyone has already said or heard, you will only be punished if you break a law. I am sure that with time, we will establish more laws to ensure our community can remain a safe and peaceful environment, but for now, you are only required to follow these five laws and use your common sense to get by," Daz said with an alluring tone, drawing the crowd into his words.

He paused for a moment and lowered his arm before he clenched his fist and said, "However, if any of you break the laws, regardless of who you are or used to be before the apocalypse, I will make sure you face the appropriate punishments. If you can't agree to this, then leave. I won't stop you."

Only the sound of saliva being swallowed could be heard from the gathered crowd. How could they contest with what Daz had just said? He was right. They didn't have to stay. This base was his, and it was well within his rights to decide rules for everyone to follow, in fact, Daz was being very lenient with even bothering to set out rules.

They had all heard about Matt's group whom Daz and Rimmy had crushed, from Dorian and the teenager, Fiona. A group run by fear where the women were sexually assaulted and the men beat into submission. And that was only two days after this apocalypse had started. They could hardly imagine how bad it might become in some places.

A few moments later, Daz left. Thankfully, no one spoke up about his new laws after that since they were far fairer than Daz could have made had he chosen to do so. The world was now one ruled by strength, and luckily for Daz, he was one of the strongest survivors on the planet.

Some might have seen Daz's implementation of his laws as being too early, but Daz knew, he knew that the governments and militaries would be the first things to completely collapse in the apocalypse.

The governments would be hit the hardest. A few of the military bases might become superpowers in the near future thanks to their weaponry, but how long would that last them? Daz wasn't sure.

In fact, there was a military base in Waterford's city, on the opposite side of it. If you could say that Fort Skip was at the western edge of Waterford, then the Military base would be on the eastern edge.

Daz fully intended on going to that base to take all of their supplies, and potentially absorb any survivors staying there. Daz was confident that even without Rimmy and Crusher at his side, he could take over a military base regardless of if it still housed trained soldiers or not.

In fact, he was hoping that those soldiers would join him. He needed to set up an order of guards to enforce his laws and look after his citizens' welfare. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but there was so much for Daz to do in order to become a true Lord, and setting up a functioning guard was only one part of that.

'So much work to do, so little time... I need more capable people like Lyle who I can just give all of the tedious work to while I focus on gaining more power,' Daz thought while he headed towards his rain shelter.

He felt like doing some crafting. Last time it helped clear his head and it was surprisingly fulfilling creating simple objects, not to mention Daz wished to continue to gain the God of Crafting's encouragement. Twenty-five thousand merit points was nothing to sneeze at.

'That's another thing I have to think about... what can I do in the next twenty-two hours that will get the attention of a few more Gods?' Daz felt like this would be a key point in increasing his strength.

While he was unhappy at the Gods' interference in his attack, he couldn't argue that the rewards were amazing and that most of his merit points had come from Gods in one form or another.

When Daz had arrived at his rain shelter, he could see two people already there. One was the former Construction Supervisor, Sandy, while the other was the young daughter of Waterford's Mayor, Fiona.

"Ah, there ya are kiddo. We saw you head over here earlier but when we got here, we saw that you were gone, so we waited for you, and it looks like ya came back, as I thought you would," Sandy said with a hearty smile that made it look like he was gloating at Fiona.

"Shitty old man... so what if you were right?" Fiona mumbled under her breath. As it were, she was in the middle of trying to persuade Sandy to leave the rain shelter and search the base for Daz since she didn't believe that he would come back anytime soon.

"Well, do you two need me for something?" Daz asked in confusion.

Fiona took a hesitant step towards Daz and opened her mouth. "Please save my father!"

Daz was shocked into silence for a moment. Why on Earth did this young girl, who when they had first met held a fearful and mistrustful gaze in her eyes towards him, suddenly ask Daz to save her father, the Mayor of Waterford?