Chapter 190: The new perimeter wall
Zhang Huai An checked on the new labor force while Three guided a few men to unload the day’s loot. Zhang Xiao Qiang turned and look at the bustling construction site in the distance, with a professional plan, Zhang Xiao Qiang’s old plans were all scraped. The newly proposed wall had been extended a segment outwards. The old perimeter wall was designed to be made out of bricks that piled up straight and sealed the entrance of the valley, while the new perimeter wall formed a large arc and enveloped the open area of the entrance, increasing the land available to the base by over a thousand square meters. The perimeter wall was also no longer 4m but 15, where the heavy machine guns were no longer installed at the top of the walls but with interior rooms built into the wall with small holes for the muzzles. This allowed a great preservation of fighting capability while the entire interior was interconnected with a large reservoir for water within which can be drawn out by various taps installed into the various machine gun rooms to allow the Combat Team members to quench their thirst in battles. There were many armories as well, with one installed at both sides and another in the middle, allowing for the Combat Team members to be able to retrieve ammunition when required. Aside from that, there was an infirmary, cafeteria, war room, dormitory and even an entertainment room. With the clear distinction made by levels, navigation within the walls could not be any clearer. The entire wall itself had the capability of being a small base. Additionally, another unique addition to the wall was its entrance. There were two sets of doors, one was for the entrance at the front of the perimeter wall, made with countless of steel plates welded together to form a thick and large steel door, it required electricity and machinery to be opened. After this large steel door was a 10m long passageway right in the center of the wall, surrounded by the strong and sturdy walls. Out of the passageway was a 100m empty space. This empty space was also surrounded by the tall walls like an ancient barbican entrance to a city, where an even thicker and larger steel door stood at the other end of the empty space. This was the true entrance into the camp which would usually remain open unless a battle occurs as the amount of power required to move the door was too large and it pained Zhang Xiao Qiang to use up the fuel.
Time passed and it was close to nightfall. The construction workers dressed in bright colors and safety helmets on the scaffoldings all climbed down, the rumblings of the vehicles and machinery turned silent. The survivors formed into groups with arms around each other’s shoulders and headed into the base, some of them talking loudly, some whispering in each other’s ears. The hubbub of the crowd turned into a loud ‘buzz’ as the loud sounds produced by the machinery all stopped. They were all happy, everything had settled down, they had plenty of food, they were no longer lacking in water and could even take baths under certain requirements. It was as though they have returned to the state before the apocalypse where they would frequent between the construction sites and their home. Aside from having no salary, the meals were not as abundant and the after-work activities were much less, everything else remained the same.
In less than a week after surrendering and following Zhang Xiao Qiang, from their leaders down to the women that were played by them, these survivors were already in the midst of assimilating into Zhang Xiao Qiang’s main team. In his camp, the men had no need to worry about the lack of food and being forced to leave the camp to hunt and fight zombies or snatch food that had turned moldy. The women that did not have spouses no longer needed to exchange their bodies for the remaining food left behind by the other men, while the women with spouses no longer needed to worry about their other halves not returning in the night, afraid that they would have died outside and they would have to cater to the other men. Even the lowest of the ladies never want to do such things, so everyone was satisfied. Some of the men who did not wish to risk their lives sold their strength for work, they desire to live in safety in the camp. As for the young or more courageous ones, they were envious of the combat team members who were armed to the teeth and yearned to join them. Maybe they wanted to obtain the power to chase after women, maybe they wanted to obtain some spoils to have more stable lives or maybe they simply had the wish to kill zombies. All of them had their reasons and every time Zhang Xiao Qiang appeared, they would try to showcase themselves in the hopes of getting Zhang Xiao Qiang’s attention to pick them to join the combat team. What they did not know was that every time they tried to show off themselves in front of Zhang Xiao Qiang, it made him on edge. He did not know what they were trying to do, seeing the bunch of half-naked men flexing their muscles in front of him with coquettish glances at him, it was truly a horrific sight, forcing Zhang Xiao Qiang to no longer dare to enter the construction site, afraid that he would be targeted by gay men.
After dinner, Yang Ke’er brought the girl and Yuan Yi back to the room. Yuan Yi had calmed down during her recovery period and no longer looked as though she was arrogant. She became much gentler, but Zhang Xiao Qiang’s attitude remained the same, he was still a male chauvinist. Every few days, he would throw a few things to Yang Ke’er, things that he heard were useful for ladies. These things were naturally given respectfully by the three assistant machine gunners. There was even once when Zhang Xiao Qiang noticed a razor amongst the things hoarded by them and even then, he still had no clue what they wanted it for.
With her Garand Rifle slung on her back, Shangguan Qiao Yun stood behind Zhang Xiao Qiang quietly, having seemed replaced Yuan Yi’s position, she stood behind him and observed his back view. Shangguan Qiao Yun was another problem for him, her clinginess gave him a headache. He felt that he had already revealed his ugliest side to Shangguan Qiao Yun, after that day, he no longer felt comfortable towards her. The secret of Shangguan Qiao Yun’s body no longer made him afraid of her, just that it had turned into a habit for him to maintain a distance from her.
The little girl’s mother came out from the kitchen and cleaned the table. Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at her and saw that she was no longer as dirty as when he first met her, she was extremely clean and kempt. A woman at 30 years of age could be considered to be in her prime, and she looked elegant, but Zhang Xiao Qiang felt extremely uncomfortable whenever he saw her. The first impression was so bad that Zhang Xiao Qiang did not wish to look at her. At the same time, the mother behaved extremely carefully in front of Zhang Xiao Qiang, she cleaned his house properly without any traces of dust. She knew that the special treatment given to her was because of her daughter, so she was even more prudent in her work.
Seeing her appear, Zhang Xiao Qiang immediately stood up and headed out. Upon leaving, a small figure collided with him, a small body nudged into his bosom and caused Zhang Xiao Qiang to retreat a step. After looking properly, he realized that it was the boy of the lady called Xu Meng Zhu. He was dressed in sky blue exercise clothes, his hair as messy as before, his body as dirty as before. His entire hands and face was covered and stained with dirt, who knew if he had intentionally rolled about in the mud, but Zhang Xiao Qiang had never seen him clean before.
The young boy stared at Zhang Xiao Qiang with his bright eyes without saying a word, then lowered his head and scampered beneath Zhang Xiao Qiang’s arm and rushed straight to the kitchen. Zhang Xiao Qiang shook his head and no longer cared about him, leading Shangguan Qiao Yun out. On that day, when Zhang Xiao Qiang saw how beautiful Xu Meng Zhu was, he could not resist but ordered to have her kept by his side, but after doing so, he became depressed. He did not know of any arrangements for her, but upon thinking about her proclamation of being born from a traditional Chinese medicine family and had some knowledge of it and could differentiate between drug ingredients. From her perverse old man, she obtained all sorts of drug ingredients and an old medicinal bamboo scroll. Xu Meng Zhu absorbed everything that was written in the book and spent her days inside her own room researching the bamboo scroll and even ignored her own child. Being ignored, the young boy started to play with his kite in the camp and made himself look like a dirty monkey. The moment he got hungry, he would run over to look for food like a wild child. Zhang Xiao Qiang could not be bothered with him. In his eyes, young boys should be like that, and somewhat recalled being similar to the young boy at that age.