Chapter 198 Xia Yue’s Trade!
Slightly weird spacing here, will try to change in the future.
Xia Yue looked towards Yue Zhong and laughed heartily, “I hope to join the new government as an official, with a rank not lower than major.”
The separation between the government and army ensured that those of higher positions would not be overcompensated from both sides. After Yue Zhong had carried out the reorganization of the the troops, he also began separating government officials from the military into 2 divisions.
However, due to the fact that they were in a war situation, the government also implemented a rank system. Officials would be compensated accordingly with their rank. Amongst the new government, the rank of a major would represent one of the core members.
Yue Zhong frowned and looked at Xia Yue. He slowly said, “Miss Xia Yue, I am truly grateful that you pointed out the compound to me at that time. However, I did guarantee your freedom as well as a smooth journey to Long Hai Survival Base at your request. We had a clear deal then, if you want to become an essential member of the new government, may I ask, what can you offer in return?”
Yue Zhong knew that Xia Yue was not a fool, he wanted to know what she could offer to exchange for a better life in the future.
Xia Yue pointed towards Gao Ying beside her and lightly smiled,“Gao Ying possesses the complex knowledge of reusing ammunition and he has plenty of experience in it. I assume that you do need someone of his calibre right?”
Yue Zhong’s eyes brightened, but then he shook his head, “I already have several people with knowledge in the reusage of ammunition under my wing; just based on this, it is not enough for you to become a major.”
After obtaining the base, the first thing Yue Zhong did was to scout for talents. In the midst of those thousands of people, there were 6 who possessed the skill of knowing how to reuse ammunition. Of course, none of them possessed actual experience.
After all, in China, the reusage of ammunition only helped for a short while during the Sino-Japanese War; in the age of new China, with the aid of large-scale manufacturing, the prior technology and knowledge were not worth advancing.
Currently, Yue Zhong had neither the power nor skills to make new ammunition; if he had the skills to, there was no need to rely on the complex re-usage of ammunition.
Yue Zhong’s refusal did not cause Xia Yue to even blink- she still maintained her charm and said, “What about an entire arsenal of armed weaponry, are you interested?”
Upon hearing Xia Yue’s words, Yue Zhong’s reaction was greater than that of seeing beautiful ladies. What he sorely lacked right now was weapons! Advanced weaponry! He could only improve the overall fighting capabilities of his team with enough weaponry.
Yue Zhong stared at Xia Yue and warmly said, “Deal! As long as you help me obtain that arsenal of weapons, I will arrange for you to be a government official with the rank of major.”
An exchange of a major rank for an entire supply of weaponry, this transaction was beneficial to him no matter how it was looked at.
Xia Yue looked at Yue Zhong while smiling brightly. As long as Yue Zhong obtained that arsenal of weapons, she could lead a comfortable life. Although she knew the location of weapon storage, she did not possess the capability to obtain it herself. By giving it to Yue Zhong, it would be most beneficial to her.
When Gao Ying joined the ammunition research department, he quickly imparted the technique and knowledge to the 300 people that Yue Zhong had selected to join the department. In the midst of these 300, the ratio of males to females was 50:50, and all of them cherished their jobs, as it meant that they would be able to earn their keep.
However, things were not that simple as Yue Zhong originally thought: while Gao Ying had taught the skills required, the core materials needed were beyond what Yue Zhong’s camp could produce on a large-scale basis.
Due to the fact that there were no specialists who could manufacture ammunition, Gao Ying could only head to the processing plants and lead the manufacturing of ammunition heads. The gunpowder and primer required also needed Gao Ying to assign people to manufacture. In a short time, it was not possible to start large-scale ammunition production.
When Gao Ying had finished assigning duties with regards to ammunition, Yue Zhong started his preparations for the assault on the weapon storage facility.
The location of the facility that Xua Yue was referring to lay between Long Hai City and SY City, somewhere in the mountainous area. It was about 300km away from Qing Yuan Country. If it was before the Z-Day, it would have been just a day’s journey; however, now that times had changed, the various transportation channels had been blocked, and there was the possibility of meeting with different types of accidents and situations. Yue Zhong could not afford to be hasty, and he wanted to be fully prepared.
Not long after, a huge fleet led by 2 IFVs left Long Hai City, consisting of a machine gun-mounted car, 5 fully loaded Dong Feng Warrior vehicles, 20 hummers, 15 other DongFeng trucks, 4 large modified tankers and 10 modified buses. It wa heading towards the weapons facility under the directions of Xia Yue.
“Captain Yue! There are cars blocking our way in front! There is also a large mob of zombies walking around. Please give your orders on how to proceed!”
On that highway, the entire fleet under Yue Zhong had come to a halt: at a distance of about 200m in front, there were many abandoned cars and zombies shambling around aimlessly.
The reason for zombies appearing here was that these were the previous owners of these private vehicles and they were trapped here. When the world was turned upside down, a huge majority had scrambled in an attempt to flee the city by private transportation. Unfortunately, the moment there was a pile-up, they left their lives here.
Yue Zhong came down from one of the Dong Feng Warrior Vehicles, gazed at a blocked tunnel in the distance and furrowed his brows. These various blocked tunnels were costing him a lot of time. If there was no blockage, this journey of 300km would have been smooth sailing, completed in a day itself.
The various zombies around the blocked highway started struggling and making their way towards the fleet as they became attracted to the sound of the vehicles.
There were over 100 zombies in total and among them, there were even 16 L1s and 6 S1s.
“Liu Yan, take the 1st Company and handle them! It would be best if you don’t use any guns!” Yue Zhong took one look at the hundreds of zombies and gave his command to Liu Yan.
“Yes! Captain Yue!” Liu Yan drew the Replica Tang Sword hanging at his waist and shouted at the warriors of the 1st Company, “Brothers, let’s charge!”
“Kill!” The warriors of the 1st Company drew out their Replica Tang Swords in sync and shouted with valor; their aggression surged as they advanced towards those zombies.
The 1st Company was formed by various elite warriors after the reorganization of the previous smaller Teams 1, 2, 3 and 4, and they were extremely well-adapted to melee combat. Under the lead of Liu Yan, they quickly made their way into the middle of the horde, slashing their blades nonstop as if they were mowing their lawns. They beheaded many zombies as they went without a single scratch on themselves.
Against these normal zombies, the members of the 1st Company did not even need to utilize any special skills.
“Kong Tian Yu, clear the road!” Yue Zhong ordered.
“Yes! Captain Yue!” After receiving the command, Kong Tian Yu shouted towards the 2nd Company, “Brothers, follow me!”
After he finished speaking, Kong Tian Yu brought his men and started to clear the vehicles on the road carefully. Amongst those cars, there were still a number of corpses trapped between or within them. When the team encountered these zombies, they would immediately cut off the zombies’ head viciously. After clearing the zombies, those evolvers who focused on their strength helped push the cars to the sides. This was followed by warriors who carried equipment to suck out the fuel from these cars and load them into fuel tanks.
The absorbing of fuel from these abandoned vehicles was an important and necessary step when searching for resources. In the short-term, fuel was a non-renewable resource- Yue Zhong’s strength was partly due to his conservative measures as well. Other than the officials of the government and military, no one else had vehicles that they could use as they liked.
Currently, in Qing Yuan County, the preferred mode of transport was by bicycle. Many workers opted to cycle their way to work. These bicycles also naturally became an indispensable and preferred mode of transport within Yue Zhong’s establishment. Many felt proud to own one.
In truth, be it in Qing Yuan County, Big Stone Town or Stone Horse Town nearby, all those abandoned cars would usually be stripped and dismantled, and any sort of parts and engines would be brought back. Even the steel casings could be brought back to be recycled and processed. The spare tires would also be brought back for other uses. However, they came across these cars during an expedition, Yue Zhong prioritised the recovering of the fuel only; he could only ignore the other usual practices for now.
The cars were pulled aside one by one and emptied of their fuel.
Right at this time, a giant approximately 3.5m tall with thick arms and feet walked out of one of the highway exits. It had a body covered with extremely hard scales and its eyes were filled with intelligence and were emitting a terrifying aura. It held a mutated cow’s carcass in its right hand and its mouth was smeared with fresh blood.
[Level 45 Type-2 Infection Evolved L3. It possesses strange strength and extremely tough scales. It possess the Infection ability, and can turn a living being into an infected one.]
Yue Zhong received the notification the moment he laid eyes on that L3.
That L3 also saw Yue Zhong and his troops; it tossed the half-eaten carcass of the mutated cow aside, before striding forward towards them with big steps.
Yue Zhong looked at the L3, pointed his finger at it and magic flames appeared out of thin air. He rapidly shot a fireball at the L3’s body.
With a ‘boom’, the L3 received the fireball directly, yet its body only shook slightly; its steps did not waver, and it continued advancing towards Yue Zhong. There was not even a single burn or scratch on its face.
Due to its height of 3.5m, with every step the L3 took, its stride was twice that of normal humans and its speed was seemingly faster than an S1 by 3 times.
“All units standby!” When Yue Zhong saw that the L3 was unharmed by that fireball attack, he gasped silently. After giving the order, he rushed towards the L3 with haste.