[Speed: 10m/s]
[Energy: 13%]
There was enough energy, and the speed would be sufficient.
Jiang Chen let out a sigh of relief, no longer increasing the output of the turbine engine.
“Be more gentle!” Disgruntled, Lin Lin twisted her body and threw a dirty glare at Jiang Chen who was “lifting” her.
Jiang Chen turned on the speaker. “Shut up, don’t move.”
“My ears.” Lin Lin covered her ears in pain, not daring to stare at Jiang Chen again.
There was no mistake; the volume increase had been on purpose.
In the end, Jiang Chen hadn’t pulled the trigger, and the girl remained ignorant of her close brush with death.
While it would be useless for him to establish a biosphere, it was not completely without benefit.
From another perspective, this was the space colonization program’s sub-project. Space? Although it was still a bit far, it was better to save it for now.
Seeing the girl finally kept her mouth shut, Jiang Chen ignored her and glanced at the goods attached to the back.
The survival base had plenty of supplies, even air-sealed compressed crackers, so Jiang Chen was not interested in taking that moldy food. The only thing that surprised him was that even as a digitalized human, Lin Lin still had to eat.
He thought she only needed to be recharged.
Ultimately, the loot this time was nothing short of amazing.
The hummingbird drone production line could produce plate-sized multipurpose drones attached to fire extinguishers, guns, and monitors—the standard drone used by the PAC.
Even if you combed through the entire Wanghai City, you probably wouldn’t be able to find the same production facility. It came as a genuine surprise to find this within the survival base. During the war, military production lines were the primary target, but in civil survival bases, most would not come installed with them.
The Sixth Street did sell drones, but most of them were handmade from recycled materials.
Once Yao Yao designs a drone alert system, the drones could then take over patrolling duty around the base. He could even build a fleet and equip them all with machine guns. Imagine, if anyone dared to look for trouble at the Fishbone Base, they would be met with a swarm of drones. What sort of expressions would they have?
And then there was the processor inside his storage dimension. If he created a virtual reality game, Future Technology’s trillion dollar market value would have another zero. Of course, it was asking for a death sentence if he brought it out into the modern world. The super computer that was advanced by more than one hundred years was drastically different from Little White, who had few practical applications. Secret agents from all over the world would try to sneak into his office. It was important to consider when to add that extra zero.
The other minor equipment that he brought along was at the request of Lin Lin. It seemed to be testing equipment? After Jiang Chen ridiculed the junk, saying that they could only be sold for a few crystals at best at the Sixth Street recycling station, she looked at him disdainfully.
Mhmm, well, as Jiang Chen pretended to leave, she immediately cried out to apologize.
The bookshelf-sized production equipment was three tons.
Together with the weight of the weapons, the maximum weight fortunately did not pass the T-3 power armor’s limit of five tons. Lin Lin, who weighed at most 43 kilograms, was negligible.
As a non-combat digitalized human, she was lighter than most people, especially since she didn’t have the weaponry component attached to her body.
–
Shouts of joy and whistles erupted, nearly penetrating the cold armor.
The zombies had retreated.
The hibernation chambers were destroyed, and bacteria would no longer be produced from this deep pit.
The survivors viewed Jiang Chen as a hero, and the cautious and suspicious looks in their eyes were long gone, leaving only heartfelt respect.
Honestly, it felt great to be looked up to.
Through the screen, he smiled at the people cheering for him before returning his attention to the monitors.
After exiting the deep pit, his feet hovered above the ground.
He controlled the engine switch, gradually decreasing the engine output and allowing the goods to gently touch the ground.
He made sure there was no error in his control. He sighed, then decreased the engine output to the minimum before dropping to the ground himself.
Sun Jiao ordered the survivors to lift the loot onto the armored vehicle. With most of the bullets consumed, there was plenty of room.
Naturally, everything still could not fit. To make room, Jiang Chen announced that the loot was to be divided up among themselves, which received a wave of cheers.
Truthfully, the survivors were mentally prepared for these people in power armors to keep the crystals to themselves—this was common practice in the apocalypse. The promise was only a joke in front of absolute force.
Because it was a defensive battle, everyone showed signs of a hard-fought battle despite the casualties being kept to a minimum. Only seven people died after meeting strong mutants like Roshans. As for the soldiers in power armors, they emerged unscathed since the zombies in the rural area could not break through their defenses.
130 survivors arranged themselves into groups with the largest made up of eight members, the smallest one. Everyone received the crystals that were rightfully theirs according to the plan and record. Each group sent out a representative to obtain their fair share of crystals from behind the armored truck.
The total loot was four hundred thousand crystals, minus the 50% cost of ammunition.
Fishbone’s profit was one hundred forty thousand crystals—almost the entire trade figure from last year. It would be a good way to make money every month if the zombies with the x2 bacteria weren’t wiped clean.
After splitting the loot, Jiang Chen and Sun Jiao walked off to the side.
They removed their helmets.
“Who is she?” Sun Jiao wore a dangerous smile on her face as she gestured at the tightly wrapped Lin Lin.
“Me? I am the elegant digitalized human Lin Lin. Thank me, inferior creature.”
The aggressive voice immediately issued a shriek when she met Sun Jiao’s deadly gaze. Lin Lin curled up at the back, hiding behind the man she once called a devil.
“My slave. The overall situation is a bit complicated.” Jiang Chen glanced at the resentful Lin Lin and explained briefly to Sun Jiao about their encounter underground.
“Ahem. In case you’re misunderstanding something, I have to be clear. She is only my captive.” Jiang Chen added with a pained smile. He immediately knew what Sun Jiao was thinking when he saw her expression.
“Oh? So I can torture her however I like?” Sun Jiao gave a mischievous stare at the girl who was not returning the nicest look either.
Stared down by Sun Jiao, Lin Lin shivered. She curled up more tightly while trembling.
“W-what do you want to do? I-I control.”
“Ahem,” Jiang Chen interrupted, “be nice to her, but don’t let her leave the mansion.”
Sun Jiao looked questioningly at the frightened Lin Lin before turning to Jiang Chen, full of questions.
He sighed, and after warning Lin Lin with a stare, he whispered into Sun Jiao’s ear, “Project Garden of Eden… it can restore the land.”
Hearing his words, she paused for a moment before narrowing her eyes and looking at Lin Lin.
Restore farmland? Then wouldn’t that mean Fishbone’s advantage would no longer exist?
Although it was a lucrative proposition, she subconsciously thought about it from Jiang Chen’s perspective. The way she looked at Lin Lin was no longer friendly.
“Do you need to?”
“No, but we are lacking scientists in the base. Just keep her here for now. It won’t take long before she realizes the cruelty of the world. By that time, even if we forced her to go, she won’t.” Seeing that Lin Lin was already shaking, Jiang Chen sighed.
“Okay.” Sun Jiao nodded and gazed at Lin Lin with hidden motives. “If you dare to escape… hehe.”
Lin Lin’s face was full of fear, and her legs began to shake uncontrollably.
She was starting to regret her decision to leave the virtual world. The expression on this woman’s face made her feel as though she had just escaped from a wolf’s den and into a tiger’s.
She didn’t understand. She possessed the technology to save this world, but she was still being treated like this. She had deigned to help these poor people struggling in shambles and deserved praise from these low creatures.
Feeling mistreated, Lin Lin pouted and tears of humiliation rolled down her cheeks.
With her experience of the world, of course she wouldn’t understand. If Jiang Chen were to allow her freedom to yell out on Sixth Street, “I have Project Garden of Eden in my head!”—
Mhmm. Not just her brain. Even if it was in the intestines, people would dig it out.
“Let’s leave this for later. Put the Death Claw into the trunk. We can do some research on it. Crystals have been distributed already. Now, let’s go home.”
Hearing home, a smile surfaced on Sun Jiao’s face, and she nodded.
“Mhmm, let’s go home!”
–
In a victorious march, they walked cheerfully and upright through the streets littered with bodies.
Survivors embraced and dance as they shouted and laughed freely. They left their sorrows behind to bring victory home.
The danger was eliminated. Soon, the zombies would be no more on this street. Even if the zombies in the city center were to smell the blood, it would take them weeks to reach this location.
It was their first victory over the zombies.
For many years, they hid in the shadows, curled up inside fortified buildings. For once, they united under the same flag and launched an attack against the terrifying zombies.
And they emerged triumphant.
At last they could stand tall on the streets. They could shout without being afraid of alerting the zombies because they were taken out.
Honor was an enchanting trait.
They started with power and ended in victory.
Once engraved in the heart, even the smallest person could work up the courage.
Of course, this was only from the context of Jiang Chen’s absolute power. Without it, these people could never be so united.
“Should we incorporate them now?” Sun Jiao asked in the private channel.
Jiang Chen’s team still maintained the arrow-shaped formation. Soldiers in power armor surrounded the armor vehicles that were in the middle as they followed behind the survivors.
Lin Lin had been tied up by Sun Jiao without any consideration for her feelings, thrown into the back of the armored truck together with the junk.
As for her negligible protests?
Fine, if she could maintain her forceful stand for more than three seconds, perhaps Sun Jiao would consider backing down. But with a temper unmatched by her courage, Lin Lin’s habit of provoking other people before immediately backing down only encouraged other people to take advantage of her.
Somehow she seemed to have no idea about this? Perhaps because other people had always compromised with her before. But in the apocalypse, who would bother? Who would care? A bad attitude was always something nurtured, so Jiang Chen kept his eyes closed when Sun Jiao tied her up.
It was time to teach her a lesson.
“No. For now, it’s going to be a problem if we bring them back to the base. I also need them to promote our forces in their respective groups.” Jiang Chen laughed as he watched the spirited survivors with their full pockets.
“So you’re purposely escorting them home?” Sun Jiao chuckled with him.
“Showing off our force is always better than using it.”
“Noooooo!”
A heart-shattering scream suddenly sounded from the front of the crowd.
Jiang Chen paused, and after exchanging a look with Sun Jiao, walked forward.
The survivors made a circle, frozen in silence. The man who moments before had been chatting delightfully now kneeled before the door with sorrowful eyes.
“What happened….” Just as he was asking, Jiang Chen bypassed the crowd and suddenly noticed something behind the door.
It was a boy’s head with its eyes popped out.
Blood was flowing everywhere.