After a month of geological exploration, a plot of land of about thirty mu (about 2 hectares) was finally selected as the site for a small-scale munitions factory, located one kilometer southwest of the base.
Once the location was established, the basic construction of the base was completed, and everyone except for the soldiers responsible for patrol and defense was fully engaged in the construction of the munitions factory. Because the factory was to be located underground, the amount of excavation required was extremely large. Not only did earth-elemental ability users work on it, but also many people without abilities borrowed tools to join in the excavation, and both worked simultaneously.
At the same time, Xiao Wen requested a small army of fifty people from Yan Wei Guo, and began to dig a tunnel from the courtyard of the base dormitory towards the direction of the munitions factory under construction. In the event of an enemy attack, whether it be a zombie army that had pushed inland into the Tibetan region, or an attack by survivors, the defense perimeter of the base could be narrowed without cutting off the supply of the munitions factory.
Due to the much higher difficulty of underground construction compared to surface construction, the building materials inside the Warm Shelter were not enough to support the completion of the entire munitions factory. Therefore, after half a month, the space ability users except for Wen Le divided into two groups, leaving the Tibetan region to gather the necessary materials and also collect as much usable resources as possible.
In the blink of an eye, the first autumn after the apocalypse had arrived. Although the weather was still fluctuating between hot and cold, it could not affect the extreme pride felt by everyone at the base as the construction of the munitions factory was nearing completion. At the same time, the golden grains in the agricultural greenhouse had officially ripened.
Wen Le stood in the greenhouse, looking at the small patch of golden grains. She couldn’t help but remember the scene of the base going wild when the first batch of vegetables ripened.
In fact, everyone knew that the greenhouse would produce the food they would need in the future, but the visceral joy of seeing the green vegetables presented before them in large quantities could not be felt by just imagination.
Zhao Lei, the person in charge of the greenhouse, stood beside Wen Le, unable to conceal his pride on his face.
“Wen Shao, everyone has been working hard these past few months, and now we’ve had a great harvest. Do you think we should find a time to celebrate and take a break?” Zhao Lei turned to ask Wen Le.
Wen Le thought about it. Most of the teams that had gone out had already returned, and only the last three small teams had entered the Tibetan area. They would reach the base in a few days. The construction of the underground factory was expected to be officially completed in a week, which would be a good time for everyone to relax.
“Okay, the factory is almost finished, and we can wait a few more days. I’ll talk to Xiao Wen about it, and we’ll have a celebration after the construction is completed,” Wen Le said.
Zhao Lei left happily after hearing this.
Wen Le also left the greenhouse and ran into Xiao Wen on the way home. Wen Le walked up to him with a smile, and the two shook hands and walked slowly home.
A week later, the underground weapons factory was officially completed, with some machines already in place.
Although only one-third of the machines collected were put into use, after the technology group sorted and compiled the data, they decided to mainly produce light and heavy machine guns and ammunition, with the remaining one-third being small portable weapons such as rifles, pistols, and sniper rifles.
A certain amount of grenade launchers were also put into production. The firearms and ammunition produced this time were aimed at maximizing their effectiveness in defending the base.
No matter how they develop in the future, this small base is still their foundation. They can only stand a chance in the apocalypse if they guard this hard-won foundation.
At the entrance of the underground weapons factory, most of the leaders of the base had gathered and were just coming out from visiting the factory, all of them with smiles on their faces.
Although the machines had not started operating formally yet, they had all been test-run during installation, and they were just waiting for the last team to return from outside before the entire base could celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
After all, this could be considered an important step in arming their own base in the apocalypse.
After the tour was completed, everyone returned to the base leisurely with laughter and conversation.
Just as Wen Le, Xiao Wen, Han Ya, and Yin Chengyang were about to return to their rooms, a soldier rushed out of the conference room and ran straight to Han Ya, whispering a few words in a low voice.
Han Ya’s face changed, and he glanced at Xiao Wen and Wen Le, motioning for them to go directly to the conference room.
The four of them entered the conference room and went straight to the electronic screen.
The screen was currently displaying the location of the last team that had not yet returned.
Each team that went outside would be equipped with a positioning device on their vehicle, so as long as they entered a certain range, the main display in the conference room would show their respective locations.
This team was the last one to return, and according to the speed displayed on the screen, they should have been able to return to the base tonight, but at this moment, the light on the screen was no longer moving forward.
“When did they stop?” Han Ya asked the person in charge stationed in front of the display.
The person in charge looked at the record and then at the clock on the wall.
“They stopped an hour ago.”
“If there are any abnormalities, notify me immediately.” Han Ya stood up and exchanged glances with Xiao Wen and the others.
The four of them walked up to the conference table with serious expressions and sat down.
“Give me the information on the members of this team,” Xiao Wen said to the soldier who had just informed Han Ya.
The soldier went straight to the filing cabinet to retrieve the information. Detailed registration is required for each team before departure, so it’s easy to look up.
After quickly reading through the information, Han Ya said, “We have regulations for all our teams that go out. Since the range displayed on the locator is a safe zone without zombies, any team that enters the display range must drive overnight and can only rest for half an hour during mealtimes. This team has completed three missions, and this is their third time. The first two times were strictly in accordance with the regulations, so there is no possibility of the entire team forgetting the time.”
Wen Le took the team’s information that had been handed over and looked at the record of the twenty people.
Each team sent out by the base consists of twenty people, with two jeeps and one military truck. Of the twenty people, six are dedicated drivers, six are non-powered military personnel, one is a space-powered person, and seven are powered persons.
Each of the three vehicles is equipped with one light and one heavy machine gun. These six military personnel are specifically responsible for these six machine guns, so as to push the team forward in densely populated zombie areas and protect the convoy when the seven ability users protect the spatial ability user to collect materials.
This kind of deployment has never resulted in a complete military loss for any team participating in the base’s missions. There are certainly losses, but they are still within an acceptable range.
Some teams may return to the base later than expected, as there are many unpredictable factors when entering zombie-infested areas. Most of the late returns are due to searching and rescuing survivors along the way, which delays time during the rescue process.
However, the military truck was originally equipped for survivors to ride in for each team.
But this is the first time there has been a problem with the locator range, and they cannot afford to ignore it.
“How about sending a vehicle to meet them?” Wen Le frowned. “We can’t figure out the reason just by speculating here.”
Xiao Wen and Han Ya were about to nod in agreement when they were interrupted by a sentence from Yin Chengyang.
Scratching his head, Yin Chengyang said, “Who knows what the reason is? It can’t be that our invisible neighbor, the military district in the hiding area, has discovered us, right?!”
As soon as Yin Chengyang finished speaking, the faces of the other three turned pale.
During this period, each team that entered the hiding area went smoothly, and Han Ya and the others were initially worried about being discovered by the military district, but it had not happened, which made them forget that there was such a great god sitting next to the base.
Seeing that his one sentence had caused the other three to have such terrifying expressions, Yin Chengyang twitched the corners of his mouth. He was just speaking casually.
“Go and get Captain Yan and the others,” Han Ya called out to Yin Chengyang, who was about to sneak away.
Yin Chengyang paused for a moment before running out. The atmosphere in the conference room was too oppressive, and he didn’t want to be a scapegoat.
Yan Wei Guo and Bai Yang rushed over, and after learning about the situation, they were almost certain that the team that was still shown to be stationary on the monitor had been hit by Yin Chengyang’s words.
“What’s your plan?” Yan Wei Guo asked Xiao Wen.
Xiao Wen glanced at Han Ya and said, “First, send troops to bring that team back. They are not far from our base. Since that team has been discovered, our base will be exposed in a few days. If we don’t send troops to retrieve them, even if they haven’t been detained, they will try to delay time and dare not return directly. But this is just a matter of a few days, and there’s no need to sacrifice a whole team. At the same time, the underground arms factory should start production immediately, and we should be prepared for the worst!”
Yan Wei Guo nodded. Although the situation was not optimistic, it did not affect his admiration for Xiao Wen. For such a long time, whether it was a big or small matter, Xiao Wen’s decisions were almost always optimal. As a young leader, Xiao Wen was a very rare talent. Equally outstanding as his decision-making abilities were his personnel management skills.
Yan Wei Guo looked at the several people sitting around Xiao Wen.
There was Han Ya, who was resourceful;
Yin Chengyang, who was laid-back but had a strong ability to rally people;
Mo Yan, who was quiet and low-key but also exceptionally rigorous; although he was a doctor and rarely involved in decision-making, he could use gentle and healing language and behavior to resolve extreme emotions when Xiao Wen and the others were in a state of extreme emotion, enabling them to quickly calm down;
Zhou Quan, who was able to grasp people’s psychology extremely accurately and could even reverse-engineer the opponent’s psychology in any situation;
Lin Yan, who was not prominent in normal times but could tear apart the encirclement like a ruthless sword in critical moments, and these were all talented individuals.
Perhaps they would shine even brighter if placed under someone else, but there were many types of talent, and Xiao Wen’s greatest strength was to tightly connect these individuals together.
Yan Wei Guo understood that it was not because they were exclusive to others; if they were exclusive, Lin Yan, who was added later, would not have been pulled in. It was just that these few people were just right; one more person would be too many, and one less person would not complete the team.
As the leader and decision-maker, Xiao Wen relied on Han Ya as an analyst who listed all the situations; Lin Yan as a promoter who speculated on the most likely process and results based on people’s psychology; Yin Chengyang as an actor who could fully implement actions with his straightforward personality and rallying power, whether it was defense or offense; Mo Yan as a connective hub between thought and action, strictly executing Xiao Wen’s decisions and making adjustments based on the actual situation, compensating for Yin Chengyang’s inflexibility; Zhou Quan as a pacifier, who was a doctor and had a deep understanding of Xiao Wen and their personalities.
With his gentle language and actions, he could resolve the extreme thoughts of others, allowing everyone to calmly judge right from wrong.
In this regard, even Lin Yan, a psychologist, was inferior to him. Many people in the base were willing to go to Zhou Quan to relieve their emotional suppression or extreme thoughts.
Meanwhile, Yan Wei Guo looked at Wen Le, the boy opposite him, who appeared gentle even though he was frowning, and a smile flashed in his eyes.
He has met too many people in his lifetime, but Wen Le is definitely a strange one. To exaggerate a bit, if Zhou Quan and Lin Yan had ever questioned Wen Le, he would have suspected that this child had a split personality.
Having heard from Zhou Quan and others about Wen Le’s actions since the beginning of the apocalypse, perhaps relying on the survival resources in the space, Wen Le is almost always gentle and soft, but occasionally shows a few moments of cold-bloodedness and cruelty as if he were a completely different person. It’s as if he lives a peaceful life during peacetime, but immediately transforms into the most ruthless survivor in the apocalypse when extreme danger arises. This makes Yan Wei Guo feel very uncomfortable, but he also feels that survival in the apocalypse should be like him.
So when Yan Wei Guo and Bai Yang were chatting, they said that Wen Le is a sword, a sword with a scabbard. When danger arises, he points the sword directly at the enemy, but he keeps his edge concealed during normal times.
And the scabbard is tied to Xiao Wen’s waist. Anyone who is an enemy of Xiao Wen will be pointed at by the sword.
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the update!!