Yue Zhong’s aim was extremely accurate, and his concentrated line of fire hit the Yellow Jade Condors consistently, brass shell casings ejecting with each clack of the guns bolt. Unfortunately the body of the Yellow Jade Condor and its feathers were incredibly sturdy, and the bullets from the machine gun could only hit and ricochet off of their Evolved bodies.
The 3 Yellow Jade Condors were of course angered by the incessant attacks of Yue Zhong, and they immediately flapped their wings brewing up a dust cloud before shooting towards Yue Zhong with power reminiscent of a speeding arrow!
The dual-mounted 14.5mm machine guns had also adjusted aim and were currently spitting a line of fire at the Mutant Birds. Countless bullets which could cause even the armor of a tank to be pierced landed on 2 of the Yellow Jade Condors’ bodies violently. The repeated bullets caused small puffs of blood and feather matter to expel from the numerous impact zones. Feathers scattered, and blood sprayed from their wounds enraging the Yellow Jade Condors further.
Of course, one mustn’t forget that these Yellow Jade Condors were not Level 46 Mutant Beasts for nothing! The bullets that could easily cause an average person’s body to have 2 large and rather leaky holes only caused a superficial wound and dribbles of blood without actually penetrating their skin layer.
Nonetheless, it was enough to attract the wrath of the Yellow Jade Condors! One of the birds swung out it’s wing in front and steadily advanced while blocking the bullets of the dual mounted 14.5mm machine guns, causing a large amount of fresh blood to spurt out, before it used its incredibly sharp talons to grab the vehicle and near instantly pulverize it. With its wicked sharp hook-like talons, it pierced the machine gun-mounted vehicle, a “Screeeeench!” sound echoing out before spreading its wings to fly.
These Mutant Birds possessed immense strength, and usually hunted Mutant Water Snakes, as well as Black Scaled Boars while flying. One could imagine the necessary strength needed to haul away such huge beasts for food. Grabbing up such a vehicle was decidedly not a tough feat for them.
Just as the Yellow Jade Condor flapped mightily in an attempt to soar up into the sky, Yue Zhong who had already activated his Bone Encompassing Armor shot out a Bone Spear from his back and propelled himself up 8 or so feet becoming even with its head. Reaching the target zone, he pulled out his Stinger and quick fired 6 shots point blank at its head.
The 6 oscillating Stinger Bullets flew forth and penetrated the skull of the Yellow Jade Condor as expected. Unexpected was the spectacular explosion of the back of its skull, pulpy brain and Shiney bone bits flashing in the sun as warm meaty chunks sprayed forth upon destroying it. The Condor immediately fell from the sky, and landed with a heavy “Whump!” atop the gun-mounted vehicle.
Although the Yellow Jade Condor had a wingspan of over 40m, its body weight was only about 600jin and wasn’t even a ton, therefore it did not cause that much stress on impact with the armored exterior of the vehicle.
The warriors inside the vehicle also managed to escape safely due to quick movement upon seeing Yue Zhong leap high.
Yue Zhong had just disposed of the first Yellow Jade Condor when one of its comrades immediately shot towards him like a gale of wind, its exceedingly sharp talons opened and ready to grab him.
The speed of the attack from the Yellow Jade Bird was truly quite swift! It was to the point where Yue Zhong could not evade in time, and had no choice but to chop down with his Dark Magic Blade at the talons.
In the next instant Yue Zhong was sent flying by the immeasurable strength from the attack, like a discus that was thrown violently a few metres. These airborne Mutant Beasts may not be able to compare with the land Beasts in terms of defence, but their speed and strength was commonly found to be many times than that of their land counterparts.
It was precisely because the air Mutant Beasts attack speed was so fast, that Yue Zhong had been captured by the Green Eagle before he could even react, let alone resist. Speed was the advantage that these airborne Mutant Beasts had, and was coincidentally one of the perfect counters to Yue Zhong, who prioritized the enhancement of his Agility attribute.
Yue Zhong was sent flying back a few tens of metres once more, a gust of wind blowing him as one of the other Condors targeted him and immediately flicked its wings. The end result was an attack attempt towards Yue Zhong with its claws viciously spread!
Just as the Condor was about to slash Yue Zhong, Zhuo Yatong finished hoisting a PF98 120mm Anti Tank Missile Launcher, aimed at the Condor and pulled the trigger! A rocket shot out and exploded on the body of the Yellow Jade Condor with huge effect! With a ‘hong!’ the 40m Mutant Bird immediately burst into myriad different sized pieces under that explosion, the chunks flying every which way!
While the defences of the Yellow Jade Condor was shockingly high it could not compare to a Type 2 Mutant Beast, and naturally would not be able to resist the firepower from an anti-tank missile.
As these high level Mutant Beasts possessed some sort of intelligence, and seeing that its 2 comrades had been killed by Yue Zhong’s forces, the remaining Yellow Jade Condor let out an anguished shriek, before flying off swiftly into the horizon.
The Yellow Jade Condor that had its head exploded by Yue Zhong’s Stinger dropped another Level 3 Skill Book for Sniper Specialization, and 300 survival credits; this time Yue Zhong did not stand on ceremony and proceeded to learn the Sniper Specialization skill.
The Sniper Specialization Skill obviously complemented Yue Zhong’s Night Enhancement ability. It allowed him to become a hunter in the night, not just seeing in the dark but with superior aiming skills allowing him to provide more pressure for his future enemies with his varied methods.
The 2 Yellow Jade Condor corpses also gave 2 blood essences and 2 nuclei, adding up to a pretty bountiful drop.
After the episode with the 3 Yellow Jade Condors, there were no further provocations or attacks from the Mutant Beasts for the rest of their journey.
Upon returning to Ning Guang County, Yue Zhong immediately proceeded to consume the blood essences obtained from the Black Scaled Boars and Yellow Jade Condors.
“Congratulations on gaining 4 points of enhancement in Vitality!”
“Congratulations on gaining 2 points of enhancement in Vitality!”
“Congratulations on gaining 1 point of enhancement in Vitality!”
After swallowing the 3rd blood nuclei of the Black Scaled Boars, there were no further benefits.
“Congratulations on gaining 1 point of enhancement in Vitality!”
After consuming the Yellow Jade Condor’s blood essence, it was the same result. He had consumed too many blood essences from the Mutant Beasts, and low levels or ranks of Mutant Beasts could not help his enhancement, only a Type 2 and above rank Mutant Beast might be of use.
The remaining blood essences were kept aside by Yue Zhong, as he intended to distribute them to Ji Qing Wu, Zhuo Yatong, Tong Xiaoyun, Lu Wen, and Guo Yu, letting them gain more enhancements to their Vitality.
Vitality was essential in the defence against possible infections and poison as well as their regeneration capability. It allowed the person to be more resilient to sickness and injuries, and provided faster recovery, hence it was an important attribute. However, in the current world where danger was omnipresent, most people opted to enhance their Strength, Agility, Stamina and Spirit, the 4 main combat attributes, few people would choose to spend their precious enhancement points on Vitality.
Yue Zhong mobilized his troops for a few more trips back and forth to the armory, bringing everything back, and while they faced the occasional ambush from low level Mutant Beasts, there were no further attacks from any strong ones. This gave the troops a sense of security and there was even a detail that was sent to specially collect the Mutant Beasts meat back to Ning Guang County.
The total amount of meat from the 11 Black Scaled Boars amounted to a few hundred tonnes, combined with the Mutant Water Snakes and Type 2 Mutant Water Snake that Yue Zhong had killed earlier which was also a few hundred tonnes, Ning Guang County and Qing Yuan County had no food shortages in the short future. Yue Zhong also readjusted his policies. The meat from the Black Scaled Boar went to the frontline troops. The meat from the Mutant Water Snakes went to factory works. And the Type 2 Mutant Water Snake and Mutant Black Scaled Boar meat went to the higher ranking officials from Yue Zhong’s government.
At the same time, Yue Zhong started a military academy and prep school in Ning Guang County. He took the principal posts of the military academy, while the lecturers were those officers under him, and when they were not on active duty, they could give lectures on their battle experience and impart knowledge of modern weaponry.
The school on the other hand, was established and took in all the children, thus allowing them to continue with their interrupted education. Without the constant imparting of fundamental knowledge and communication skills, The Establishment would have no future. However, the difference of the school with the schools prior to the apocalypse was that, in addition to their culture studies and learning, they had to undergo basic military education as well as some physical training. Due to the fact that the school promised the attending students enough good food and even meat, most survivors opted to send their kids to school. Inside the school, regardless of background, be it a farmer’s kid, children of former white collared workers, even the precious children of government officials, they all played and learnt together, without any form of segregation.
Within Ning Guang County, the majority of the survivors took up tailoring as a profession, making use of the Mutant Beasts’ hide to sew armor for the soldiers. Although the hide was tough, human machinery had ways of punching holes into them and chainsaws could be used to cut the Evolved skin. While experienced designers came up with armor ideas, and the pieces were sewn together by the workers tirelessly, making enough armor for a huge number of soldiers was only a matter of time.
Another group of survivors were rounded up, and dug up trenches all around Ning Guang County. As well as building up some fortifications, mainly to defend against zombies and mutant beasts, they also provided a means of attack against human enemies. The workers who did their work diligently could also enjoy meat from Mutant Beasts, therefore most of the survivors who chose to do the manual labor, did so quite willingly.
Yue Zhong even brought along Chen Jianfeng, the previous mayor of Long Hai Survivor Base over to Ning Guang County to be in charge of establishing a functioning government. During the extended period of Yue Zhong’s absence, Chen Jianfeng had not done anything unusual, and instead he had wholeheartedly worked side by side with Chi Yang providing loads of valuable insight into the county’s successful operation. Therefore, after conquering Ning Guang County, Yue Zhong decided to switch him over, and let him handle the affairs here. While Chen Jianfeng did bring along with him his bad habits and behaviour from when he was a politician, he did possess the ability and if it wasn’t for his help, Qing Yuan County would have been engulfed in pandemonium by Lei Cheng.
TN: Chen Jianfeng – Chen Yao’s uncle, ex-leader of Long Hai who gave command to Lei Cheng (bad guy deserter of Long Hai)
Not long after Chen Jianfeng’s arrival in Ning Guang County, he managed to establish a form of law system, working together with different department heads to ensure the smooth governance of Ning Guang County. The entire County also slowly regained its previous security and day-to-day bustle.
On top of all this, the warriors under Yue Zhong also started expanding out and began Mop Up work in the villages of the near surroundings. Those zombie-filled villages were slowly cleared out by Yue Zhong’s troops, turning up huge resources as well as a large number of survivors who were then sent to join Yue Zhong’s establishments. Under the constant training and battle, the other battalions consistently forged themselves, gaining morale and fighting spirit.
Little Greenie had also finished its prior Evolution, as it returned to Yue Zhong’s side, it immediately gobbled up the nuclei from the Type 2 Mutant Black Scaled Boar, Type 2 Mutant Water Snake and the rest of the Mutant Black Scaled Boars, before it once again entered into a hibernative state, entering the upgrade phase towards its next evolution.
TN: What a glutton. The author also conveniently kept Greenie in the sidelines.
“Commander Yue, I need to purchase 3000 tonnes of rations! Whatever you need, please state your demands!”
During Ning Guang County’s frequent meetings, Lǚ níng had tried to find and negotiate with Yue Zhong, and it was her fourth attempt currently.
In this entire month, Yue Zhong had kept Lǚ níng waiting by the wayside, while engaging in various activities for the establishment ignoring all 3 previous attempts from Lǚ níng.
This time, Yue Zhong looked at Lǚ níng and said warmly: “I want to take a look at SY County’s survivor base, why don’t you come with me?”
Now that Qing Yuan and Ning Guang County were both slowly chugging along on the right track and were developing well, Yue Zhong wanted to take the initiative to observe SY County’s Survivor Base.
With regards to the SY County Survivor Base, Yue Zhong only had an inkling of its in’s and out’s based on his subordinates. After the apocalypse, the ones with the strongest survival rates were those who had received military training, and SY County was a place that had over 7,000,000 people in the past! It even once commanded a regiment.
During the initial stages of the onset of the apocalypse, the army was conducting an exercise between two of its elite regiments. While they lost over half of their warriors who became zombies, as well as numerous ranked officers who turned and as a result, the loss of command, the remaining soldiers managed to rally under the command of the next highest ranked officer. In response they managed to fend off their ex-comrades-turned-zombies. As they continually fought them off over time they grew in strength and became a recognizable power in the region.
When the government of SY County had requested aid, this huge power launched their assault on SY County, killing a large number of zombies inside, and in an entire month’s worth of fighting, they managed to clear 700,000 zombies and regained control over SY County. With SY County as the base, the army then went around clearing the villages and absorbing survivors.
It was precisely due to the participation of this strong army, that allowed SY County to protect its survivors all this time, providing a form of haven for over 150,000 people.
While the granary within SY County should have had more than sufficient rations, prior to the apocalypse the overseer of the granary had engaged in black market dealings and sold off a large amount of rations. He had hoped to buy back the rations at a lower price when the opportunity was right, which resulted in a large space of the granary being empty. The remaining small store in the granary was broken into by large herds of Mutant Rats which ate almost any available grain, thereby throwing SY County into a food shortage issue.
If the overseer had not sold such a huge amount of food, SY County would not be facing such a difficult situation, after all SY County used to be a huge import and export powerhouse. If it was known that such a reputable food county was facing its own food problems, it would truly be ironic.
Facing Yue Zhong’s words, Lǚ Níng could not reject his proposal, and the next morning, surrounded by his escorts, Yue Zhong made his way towards SY County together with Lǚ Níng.
Under Lǚ Níng’s guidance, Yue Zhong’s entourage managed to enter SY County without that many problems.
SY County openly prided itself as the successful conqueror of Shaoyang County. Truthfully, it had only begun to clear the Downtown area, and some minor clearing of some of the nearby zombie-filled villages.
A huge number of survivors were gathered under SY County’s banner, and within a few areas inside the city there was a natural water channel that acted as a barrier. The survivors within SY County Base only had to ask for the support of a few soldiers to guard the channels, and it could cause the zombies from the north to have difficulty advancing. As the zombies were mainly advancing southwards, with the defence of SY County, Tao Zhengyi had led a carefree life as a tyrant for a while. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were starting to lack rations, they wouldn’t have sent Shen Xue and her troops to attack.