NOVEL WEB Chapter 515: Western Alliance?
Days of incessant drizzle.
The air became saturated with moisture, a layer of mist clinging to the walls.
The second outer city's wall, due to the rainfall, was temporarily only twelve meters high.
Inside the outer city, the originally planned housing construction had not been started.
Outside the wall, although there were zombies, their numbers had not accumulated to a significant level, so the threat to the base was not that great.
One reason was the increase in the base wall's height to over a dozen meters, and on the other hand, the current Zombie Tide was not as ferocious in numbers.
Thus, the base was in a Level Two alert state for the moment, with about thirty people on the walls.
Every day, they tried to use crossbows to deplete some of the zombies, reducing their numbers outside the base. To everyone, all this had become routine.
People had grown accustomed to facing zombies and resisting them daily, improving their crossbow skills and shooting techniques considerably.
An Ya led some of the base's people, including the newly joined Xu Zhen, a former drainage engineer, to upgrade and refurbish the base's drainage system.
The recently planted crops could not be drowned; waterlogging could easily lead to root rot, so she and her group were in charge of the base's irrigation issues.
He Chao and his group were also assigned tasks.
Since it was raining, they were not going out on missions to gather supplies, but they couldn't just idle around, so Li Yu instructed them to do some manual processing work.
Li Yu was also busy, joining Dapao and the likes of Zhou and He Bing in the auto repair shop to modify the vehicles owned by the base.
The rest of the people in the base, apart from those on wall duty, all had their tasks.
Ensuring that every person had something to work on.
Because of the rain, everyone was busy inside their houses.
The rain continued for nearly a month.
During this month, several new couples formed within the base.
After a month of effort, the vehicle modifications undertaken by Li Yu and his team were finally complete.
Now, almost all vehicles had protective shields installed at the front, which could be deployed against the Zombie Tide.
The vehicles' bodies were also reinforced.
The population in the first outer city had started to grow.
With the addition of old Qin, He Bing, old Luo and others, the outer city's population had reached over a hundred people.
During the rainy days, many people in cooperative relations with the base would come in to temporarily avoid the danger of zombies.
Contributions to the construction of the second outer city were significant by these people, of course, costing the base nearly a ton of food.
There were about a hundred and fifty of these people, who at this time constructed makeshift tents on the outskirts of the outer city.
Upon entering the base, they had to surrender all their weapons, and they were constantly watched by several people.
Therefore, they were not able to cause any trouble.
In the blink of an eye, the plum rains continued for another two or three days.
One day, Luo suddenly sought out Li Yu.
"Director Li, would you want a tank or not?" Luo said, his words dropping like a boulder into a lake.
Startling Li Yu greatly.
"What, you know where there is a tank?" Li Yu asked.
Luo replied, "Yesterday, I heard He Bing mentioning you were modifying vehicles, and I remembered that in the southern military camp we escaped from, there were a few tanks that had not been driven out.
I asked old Bi, and he also remembered. The only issue is, there are too many zombies there, it's a bit dangerous."
Li Yu furrowed his brows and asked, "How many zombies?"
Luo answered, "At least fifty thousand, possibly more. And most of them are soldiers."
"Do you mean, most of them are in uniform, wearing helmets?" Li Yu inquired.
"Most didn't have time to put them on, but some did," Luo said after some thought.
Hearing this, Li Yu thought for a moment before asking, "Where exactly?"
"Southern region, Shaoshan military base," Luo replied.
Li Yu nodded and said, "The distance is not far, but the risk is too high. Facing over fifty thousand zombies, if we get surrounded, it's certain death. Tanks are good to have, but one must live to use them. We should consider this in the long term."
Luo was also aware of the high risk, so he just brought it up, knowing that they may not go for it.
After Luo left, Li Yu stared at the rain about to fall from the sky somewhat absentmindedly.
Originally, according to his plan, he didn't want the base to be too large; he just wanted to live peacefully in a corner.
However, after the apocalypse broke out, the thoughts and suggestions of family and friends, along with the invaders, made him realize that his previous thoughts were too naive.
The base's development and construction had always been gradual, building upon the existing foundation, and the development had been relatively slow.
This had its advantages and disadvantages, but until now, because of the low population in the base, the pressure on the food supply was not great.
The disadvantage was that if faced with a Zombie Tide of over a hundred thousand, the base might be unable to resist.
What made Li Yu reconsider his approach was Ma Di, who had been captured from the chemical plant.
From his words, Li Yu learned that after the outbreak of the zombies, a group of people had relocated to the west, and they hadn't made contact with them up to now.
It was unclear whether they were strong or perhaps already extinct.