The basement door opened.
Jiang Chen watched as the 170cm man dashed into the room, smashed the “cell” door lock open with the gun and hugged his wife crying. The woman’s top was exposed and her eyes appeared to be lifeless, but she seemed to be moved by the crying sound as her eyes gradually regained its clarity and tears of sorrow gushed down.
“I really can’t bear looking at this,” Jiang Chen muttered to himself. His tone was somewhat complicated.
“What are you going to do with the captives?” Sun Jiao glanced at the door imprisoning Zhou Xiaoxia.
“Public execution.”
There was no need to hesitate.
For authority, for order.
Jing Chen paused for a moment before continuing, “But before that, I want to meet our old friend.”
Upon hearing this, a mischevious smiled appeared on Sun Jiao’s face.
–
Zhou Guoping slumped into prison dejectedly. He was clearly aware of his impending doom but his heart still held a glimmer of hope. He did not care who he was fighting with for he was confident in his intellect. However, when he saw the face from the small window of the cell, his confidence instantly vanished and his face lost all of its blood.
“Oh, remember me?” Jiang Chen asked with a smile. Although he never saw him before, Zhou Guoping must have known him.
Zhou Guopin swallowed hard and slowly nodded.
“Do you remember Hu Lei?”
It had been a while, but he was the first person he killed in this world.
Jiang Chen faintly remembered the feeling of astonishment while staring at the skull that burst open by a gunshot.
“It was you who killed him, wasn’t it?” Zhou Guoping smiled, but that smile was uglier than crying.
“That’s right, I had no reason to let him go.” Jiang Chen’s tone was very calm.
“Then why are you wasting time on me?” Zhou Guoping smiled bitterly.
Jiang Chen grinned and settled his hand on the window pane.
“You have two options here. First, tell me everything you know. If it’s useful enough, I might consider sparing you. Of course, I’ll ask the same question to other people, so you better tell the truth. Second, well, I don’t think I need to explain it.”
“I choose the first one,” he chose without hesitation. He didn’t want to die even if he might still do after unraveling everything.
“You better start,” Jiang Chen said with a smile.
To save his own life, Zhou Guoping spilled everything he knew. Jiang Chen was able to gather a lot of useful information from his revelations.
The first one was the supply.
Other than the four modified machine guns and the bullet production line they had plundered, there was also a zombie electricity generation in the basement of the laboratory.
It used the organic material of zombies or mutants such as fat or protein as raw material to produce electricity.
It was a great thing since winter was fast approaching. Since Fishbone Base’s electricity was powered by solar, they would definitely experience a decrease in energy production. With this zombie electricity generator, they would not need to worry about energy problem anymore.
It was indeed surprising that these bandits were able to hide such good stuff.
In addition to supplies, Jiang Chen also heard some interesting information.
“Those mutated humans came from Jia City and are now stationed at the Seventh Zone. They initially wanted to absorb us but our boss refused it since no one wanted to become a eunuch. The first wave only had five people in them and we successfully killed all of them, but we didn’t expect that a big group would show up.” Zhou Guoping laughed bitterly. “It was a disaster, our boss’ skull got smashed in half.”
He was wondering why he didn’t see the leader of the Huizhong Mercenaries; looked like he was killed in a crossfire.
“Where is the Seventh Zone?” Jiang Chen frowned. The details of the topography in the apocalypse was quite different to that of the modern world.
Zhou Guoping looked strangely at him.
“Between the highway of Wanghai City and Jia City is a light industrial area where few people reside. Not a lot of zombies but some powerful mutants.”
Jiang Chen scratched his chin thoughtfully.
“Do you know what their purpose is in coming to Wanghai City?
Another bitter smile appeared on Zhou Guoping’s face.
“No, there was no room for negotiation between mutated humans and humans, and in my opinion, aside from not eating human flesh, they are basically just mutants who can use guns.”
The metaphor did sound strange to Jiang Chen, but after thinking about it, that really seemed to be the case. They could eat anything that humans couldn’t eat and they could eat things mutants didn’t even dare to eat, even the rotten meat on Roshan. They could enter a nuclear pit with just their body, any vaccine virus would no longer affect them.
Thankfully, these monsters were infertile.
“Didn’t you catch a captive?” Zhou Guoping asked warily.
Jiang Chen glanced at him.
“No, you already said they are like mutants. Have you tried catching a Death Claw?”
Zhou Guoping forced a laugh and scratched his nose.
“Boss, do you think my information is enough to exchange for my life?”
Jiang Chen stared at him with a faint smile on his face which made his heart tremble.
To kill or not to kill?
“Although I did cause some minor problem for you, it was only because I was standing from Huizhong Mercenaries’ side. Now that Huizhong Mercenaries have been destroyed by you, even if you kill me, I would just be an extra body. You definitely could spare my worthless life. Trust me, my ability won’t disappoint you.” Seeing the look on Jiang Chen’s face, Zhou Guoping carefully opened his mouth.
“Oh? Tell me how are you useful?” Jiang Chen watched him while laughing.
“I know the Songjiang area very well, I have more or less an understanding of most of the smaller survival camps and gathering place for the survivors. My eloquence and scouting ability are also quite impressive, it definitely wouldn’t be a waste of your nutrient supply. On top of that, I’m wearing an electronic collar or slavery chip, which means you won’t even need to worry about my loyalty,” Zhou Guoping carefully worded his explanation because it had to do with his life while observing the change in Jiang Chen expression.
It would just be an extra body if he killed him, at the very least he could serve as a cannon fodder. Although the bandits must be eliminated, this person seemed to be useful.
After giving it some thoughts, Jiang Chen made the decision and laughed when he saw the apprehension on Zhou Guoping’s face.
“Great, you’ve managed to convince me, so I’ll spare your life. I hope you can persuade the others for me.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Guoping was quite ecstatic and immediately knelt on the ground without a semblance of dignity.
“Thank you, glorious leader, for sparing me!”
Jiang Chen looked disdainfully at him and lightly coughed.
“Call me boss, I’m not a bandit.”
“Yes, Boss!”
…
After settling his affair with Zhou Guoping, Jiang Chen headed to the door that was imprisoning Chu Nan.
He looked at the man who was no longer crying to get out and knocked on the door.
Hearing the knock on the door, Chu Nan raised his head and a bitter smile appeared on his face when he saw that it was Jiang Chen.
“Could you let me go now?”
“Sure, do you want me to open the door now?” Jiang Chen took out the key and waived it, and asked, “May I ask where you’ll be heading next?”
Chu Nan fell into a short silence.
“I don’t know but I definitely can’t go back to Liuding Town.”
Jiang Chen asked in a casual tone, “Would you like to come to my base?”
Hearing this, Chu Nan lifted his head and looked at Jiang Chen a few times.
“Didn’t you say you don’t need a pilot?”
Jiang Chen shrugged, “I’ve changed my mind. Although I don’t have a plane right now but soon, I’ll definitely get one.”
Chu Nan suspiciously looked at him, some uncertainties still lingered in his heart.
“I don’t even know what kind of organization you belong—”
“The bread you ate last time, three meals a day.”
“Deal!” Chu Nan shouted immediately without the least bit of hesitation.
“Aren’t you going to consider it?” Jiang Chen burst out laughing.
“Hehe, what is there to consider?” Chu Nan mocked him.
Funny, food every meal. Although Liuding Town provided B-grade nutrient supply for a pilot like him and even if it was grade A, it didn’t taste better than the actual food.
Jiang Chen nodded and remarked, “Good, in two days, I’ll send you to the Sixth Street to be implanted with the slavery chip, you’ll be a member of our Fishbone Base then.”
Finished, Jiang Chen turned round to prepare to leave, but—
“Wait,” Chu Nan stopped him suddenly.
“What’s the matter?” Jiang Chen turned around and looked at him in bemusement.
“That…” Chu Nan hesitated for a moment, “What are you going to do with those women?”
Those women?
Jiang Chen could not help but ponder on it.
He had almost forgotten about this problem. Thinking about it, these women that had been practically broken by the bandits were extremely tricky to deal with. Take them back? What’s the use of keeping these people? Fishbone Base was not a welfare home.
Leave them here? Let them go? It would be no different than killing them.
“In fact, it would be useful to take them back to the base,” Chu Nan proposed when he seemed to have seen his hesitation.
“Oh? What use?” Jiang Chen gave Chu Nan a meaningful then burst out laughing, “You’re not looking for a woman to get rid of your virginity, are you?”
Chu Nan was frozen for a second before he quickly reacted furiously.
“Fu*k, my name is Chu Nan, I never said I’m a virgin.” [Chu Nan is homonym of virgin]
Chu Nan paused for a while before continuing, “If you don’t have the chip implant technology, then you guys must be a small new survival base.”
Jiang Chen looked at him in surprise, that analysis was reasonable.
“Yes, so?” Jiang Chen asked noncommittally.
“In the wasteland, the survivability of male is far stronger than female. So it’s easy to imagine the ratio. I don’t know about Sixth Street, but there are a lot of bachelors in Liuding Town,” Chu Nans said seriously.
“Like you?” Jiang Chen laughed.
“That’s right,” Chu Nan nodded his head without avoiding the question then continued, “In Liuding Town, they run an official brothel to help survivors alleviate their stress and meet their physiological needs. It would not only decrease the possibility of crime, but it would also increase camp stability.”
“Is that right? Everyone in my Fishbone Base is implanted with slavery chip, do you think I need to worry about stability issues?” Jiang Chen asked him.
“I have been implanted with that kind of chips before. Even though the name is a bit different, I think the function is pretty much the same. Let me put it this way, although you can monitor the privacy of everyone and control their life and death, you could not dictate their emotion.”
“So?” Jiang Chen processed the information.
“Unless you keep everyone in the state of perpetual hunger so that they don’t have spare energy to think about anything else than survival, you can’t expect a group of bachelors not to have hope for the next day. It might be okay for a while, but there will definitely be problems in the long run. Especially in a wasteland covered by radiation dust, everyone’s mental state is nowhere good to begin in,” Chu Nan laid out the facts bluntly.
Mental state? Jiang Chen had not considered this point. He seemed to have only been paying attention to his own mental state.
For example, when he first went back to the modern world from the apocalypse, he immediately went to Sanya to experience a lavish life.
The ghetto in the Sixth Street, those unemployed survivors were in a constant state of hunger so they would not have any desire to “breed”? On the contrary, in Fishbone Base, because the hunger and clothing problems had been resolved, they would naturally start thinking of other things?
Perhaps it was precisely like what Chu Nan had said. Unless everyone were perpetually hungry, it would be unrealistic to expect them not to have new desires. Even if Jiang Chen could control their life, he could not control the emotion of everyone. After all, not everyone had the philosophy of a monk.
Although when he bought the refugees (slaves), he deliberately selected those who had a family and controlled the gender ratio. But regardless how hard he tried, the male population far exceed the female population because of the expansion. Should he let the single guys masturbate with one another? It obviously not going to work
“That is, you think I should open a brothel?” Jiang Chen’s expression was a bit peculiar. This was something against his principle.
“Of course, there are other means,” Chu Nan paused as he had sensed Jiang Chen’s disdain towards that idea then added, “For example, use these people as a “reward” and award them to bachelors who made contributions to the base.”
“Reward? I don’t approve of this inhumane approach.”
“Humane?” You think this is before the war?”
Jiang Chen paused and fell into silence.
“If you really have moral codes you have to follow, you can enact laws to protect the rights of these people. For example, prohibit intentional harming and reward those who can help these people regain their sanity to join the force. In short, since you are the leader, then you can make these rules, the key is on you decide.”
After listening to him talking, Jiang Chen looked at him in astonishment.
“I couldn’t tell but sounds like you know a lot”
“Hehe, I just read some books whenever I’m bored.” Chu Nan scratched his nose.
Just as Jiang Chen was about to leave, he abruptly halted and casually asked, “By the way, do you think these Nth handed people would be wanted?”
Chu Nan was at a loss and looked at him perplexedly.
“Why not?”
Jiang Chen was speechless.
Is this the legendary generation gap?