Back to the Apocalypse - Chapter 71

Chapter 71

After clearing up all the debris and cleaning up the prison, people began to do other tasks. First, they installed generators. The prison area was too large and the small generators were not enough, so Xiao Sa simply ordered that a site be cleared out as a power station. Yang Chonghui used to work in the electricity bureau, so his experience came in handy and the matter of electricity and power was handed over to him.

Regarding the water problem, Leng Han put forth some suggestions. He used to be a real estate developer, and he also had an architect amongst his staff. Xiao Sa was a metal ability user, and as long as they made some minor changes to the water pipes and installed a few more gates, and limited water supply, it should be fine.

Bai Jing declined to comment after hearing all this, and only sighed in his heart. Sigh, things like talent were really scarce. He had really found treasure when they ran into Leng Han and his group of people. Even the building of the external walls and houses could be handed over to him to handle.

Yang Wenhua’s mood was different. He had thought that when he came here with his subordinates and supplies, he could still be considered an important character no matter what. But only after making comparisons did he realize that besides fighting, his group really had nothing else to offer. In fact, for him to follow Xiao Sa meant that he had picked up a great bargain. Regarding occupying the base, from beginning end, he has been unable to offer any kind of help other than to clean! The feeling of being useless and idle was really not to his damned taste!

However, Xiao Sa did not allow him to feel left out for long. Assigning guards and securing the perimeter was handed over to him and Zhou Ji to handle, and at least he was given some taste of power.

Xiao Sa also had people sort out the office building at the front and partitioned many small rooms. After thinking for a long time about what to do with the empty rooms, he decided to assign them to talented people to live in. The most important thing they needed to find were scientists and researchers. In order for their base to be big and strong, it was not enough to rely on force alone. Research labs were also indispensable.

As for the remaining eight residential buildings, the prison had originally been well designed, and each building was not too far away from the rest. It was originally divided into five districts, the two women’s prison buildings were in one district, the high-risk prisoners building was in its own high security district, and the remaining five buildings were divided into three districts.

Xiao Sa also followed this division. The high security district was set aside for future convoys and visitors. The building that stood on its own became Area A. The rooms there were of a slightly higher grade, and there were single resident rooms. The two buildings grouped together became Area B as the environment there was about the same. Area C was allocated for ability users, and Area D was for the rest. Every room there could hold twelve people, and living quarters there would be allocated according to the materials they could provide. Water and electricity was also supplied differently according to districts, ranging from one to six hours a day.

The location of the main kitchen and library remained unchanged. Bai Jing added several pieces of equipment to the clinic, and a small hospital was planned there. They currently had two doctors – other than Liang Yi, one of the people that Leng Han had brought along was also a doctor.

There was also the large meeting hall, which Xiao Sa converted into a trading market, dividing it into dozens of small stalls. As for the small halls, one was reserved for their own use and converted into an office building, while the other was used to publish missions so that residents could earn points and rewards.

As for the workshops, they asked Leng Han for his suggestions. They left one of them alone and made no changes, while the other twelve were turned into an entertainment area, a restaurant, and several accommodation buildings. The base needed more people to in order to grow, and it was even more important for them to have all kinds of forces that could afford the price and rent out the whole building, which was better than letting them live scattered within the community. This also prevented conflicts from arising within the community when forces couldn’t see eye to eye for various inexplicable reasons.

The base’s rules and regulations also needed to be well ordered and communicated; no one should be allowed to fight under any circumstances. It was no big deal if they fought outside of the base’s territory, but within the base, they must be bound by the same regulations, which also served as a guarantee for the residents. Those who came for shelter also needed to be considered; how could they earn points, accept missions, what were the patrol times and what routes the guards took, all of these needed to be worked out in a charter.

Xiao Sa was very bold. In one big stroke, he handed all these decisions over to Leng Han. Leng Han had run a large company before, and unlike gangsters like them, he had experience with such things. He had always been a savage and arrogant person, and it was only necessary for him to grasp the general direction.

As for the warehouse, it went without saying that it had to be handed over to Bai Jing to manage. Other than the two warehouses that were displayed to outsiders, the rest of the materials were stored in Bai Jing’s space. Although he didn’t keep his control over the running of the base, he would definitely keep the lifeline in his hand. Wherever there were people, there would be struggles. Just because he did not like to scheme, it did not mean that he needed to be low profile. His position was very detached, but no matter who joined in the future, nobody would dare to look down on him.

Ten days later, the office building began to operate and the information tower was set up. Anyone within two kilometres of the base would be able to receive their signal. In addition, Bai Jing had already sent a telegraph to City B. No matter what, Bai Jingcheng was still his old man, and Bai Jing didn’t wish for him to collapse too fast yet.

As expected, Bai Jingcheng was not in a good position. Even if he had made preparations in advance, he still let the military overwhelm him. Bai Jing did not say anything, but told him to keep control over the supplies. It had already been a month since the apocalypse, and it would not be long before he could really get ahead when supplies started to become scarce.

Military? Bai Jing sneered. The Zhou family would no longer be worth anything when they were unable to bring out food.

Everything was settled. Xie Minhang, Cao Lei, Leng Han, and Chen Dawei were in charge of governing. Chen Dawei had also become a small patrol captain. Qin Yi and Wang Xuebing, along with the rest of the level one ability users were also given places in the guard, but they were considered as special personnel. They formed their own group and were not under Yang Wenhua and Zhou Ji’s control, able to go wherever they were needed. In any case, everyone ultimately spoke with their fists, and the level one ability users’ statuses were similarly aloof and detached.

Xiao Sa resolutely strengthened the prison gate, and the first floor of the office building behind it has been converted into a consultation room, while the rest of the building was turned into a resting area for the guards. There were only a few people now, but in the future, there would be ten heavily armed guards, and they would change shifts every eight hours. When there were more people, they would need to expand their ranks and guard the gate tightly. There had originally only been one guard house, but now there were five. Not only were they equipped with monitors and computers, but also with air-conditioning. Of course, the computer network could only be used within the base and was an intranet line.

On the same day, news about the opening of the base spread out, and quite a few people came over after they heard. Most of them were residents from the nearby area. At present, food was not scarce, and the option to spend a little food in exchange for a house with water and electricity was one that made everyone happy. They just wanted to stay until the weather warmed up as they believed that their days would improve then. But what they didn’t know was that their mentality was doomed to be destroyed.

Day after day, the base started getting on track, and Xiao Sa did not dare to delay. He took advantage of the fact that the weather was still cold, and immediately announced a mission. He wanted to build a strong wall outside the prison and as well as houses for residents to live in. The base would issue points according to the work that was accomplished, and residents could use the points to exchange for food, buy and sell things, and even rent lodging.

As for how it would all be built, Xiao Sa couldn’t control it too much, and handed it all over to Leng Han. Fortunately, Leng Han’s subordinates had even brought along their friend and had rushed over in twenty days. It was only after they talked about it that they discovered that their original base had turned cold to the point where they couldn’t take it anymore. They had started to run out of everything, and the leaders of the base began to fight, taking what resources they could and leaving nothing but crying and wailing refugees behind.

After receiving Leng Han’s telegraph, they did not dare to delay for even a moment and hurried over, but the snow was too heavy and the road was too hard to traverse. Although the journey was not very long, it still took more than twenty days to get there. Seeing the environment here, they were relieved. Compared with the original base, it was heaven, and they even had two or three water system powers. As a result, it was much easier for the base to use water, and the construction of the city wall also managed to stay on track.

Since the base’s construction was getting better and better, Liu Wanfa finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and invested a lot of money in order to seek refuge, wanting to settle down in the base. He not only needed to do missions, accumulate points, and go out to collect materials, he also had to tithe 30% of his earnings every time. But compared to other people’s 50% or even 70%, they had already treated him kindly. Liu Wanfa felt a lot of heartache; in fact, he also really wanted to rely on Xiao Sa, but the other party hadn’t paid any attention to him. He finally rented a workshop and established a group called the Dragon Tiger Gang, which had now become the second largest force in the base.

When Bai Jing heard about it, he laughed happily. Then, he finally remembered that their base had not yet been named. After some discussion, Xiao Sa put his foot down and ignored Bai Jing’s objection, and Jing Sa City was born. Bai Jing shuddered every time he heard it – did they have to be so numbing? It even made his skin break out in goose bumps.

But on the whole, everything was going in the right direction.

A few days later, they heard some interesting news on the radio. The county next to theirs had established a survivor base. Their boss was one of the escaped convicts from the prison, and sent a telegram to them hoping to form an alliance.

Xiao Sa glanced at the telegram, and then tossed it far away. Even if it was an alliance, they still needed to consider who the other party was. The county next to theirs had clearly established their base just to grab rice from the same rice bowl and fight for them for resources. They were red-eyed with jealousy because they had enough forces and wanted a share. Who would care about them?

When they were free, Xiao Sa and Bai Jing acted like masters who only had to give orders and didn’t have to do actually make a move themselves. They spent every day going outside and returning late, driving the sledge around everywhere looking for danger. There were few zombies in winter, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any; the two of them used this as an opportunity to practice. The base was too wonderful, and life there was too comfortable. Although they also wanted to rest and relax, potential danger had not disappeared. Now that everything was peaceful, the most urgent task for them was improve their abilities.

They were lucky enough to meet a few mutant animals. Unfortunately, the level of their crystal nuclei was too low to be effective for Xiao Sa. These counted as personal assets, and Bai Jing was very shameless as he smilingly accepted them, then tossed them to Xu Lei and Qin Hao when they got back.

He also tried every possible way to feed Xiao Sa some spring water from the space every day. Although it was only a drop, Xiao Sa’s powers still changed. Even Bai Jing had not expected that a month later, without the help of crystal nucleus and only relying on talent and meditation, Xiao Sa would rise up to become a level two ability user naturally.

When the news spread, it caused a sensation at the base. Xiao Sa’s name was in the limelight for a while…

Bai Jing was envious, and ruthlessly also sent out a mission for jade collection. As a result, there was one more mission – jade could be exchanged for points and food.