23: Chapter 23 New Directions for Base Construction

Before heading to the backup laboratory, Wang Jie decided to upgrade the base first.

Over the past few days, the mining vehicles had been working constantly, converting all the abandoned vehicles they could find in the surrounding area into funds. Combined with the income from killing zombies, he now had over 30,000 in hand.

Standing in the core area of the base, he opened the system panel to study the newly unlocked buildings.

[Ore Refinery: Requires 5,000 funds, 500 power]

[Effect: Increases mining vehicle collection efficiency by 50% and automatically converts collected resources into funds]

This one is good. With it, fund income can increase by half.

[Battle Lab: Requires 10,000 funds, 800 power]

[Effect: Unlocks technology research, allowing for the development of new weapons, new unit types, and new abilities]

This one is even more critical. If the Academy of Sciences has any advanced technology, perhaps it can be replicated through the Battle Lab.

[Radar Station: Requires 3,000 funds, 300 power]

[Effect: Expands detection range, capable of discovering enemy units within a ten-kilometer radius]

This is also practical. With radar, there's no need to fear being ambushed.

Wang Jie did the math; the three buildings together required 18,000 funds and 1,600 power.

He had enough funds, but not enough power—he currently only had 800 power.

He first built four Power Plants, spending 3,200 funds to bring the power up to 1,600.

Then, he clicked on the Ore Refinery, Radar Station, and Battle Lab in sequence.

The three buildings were constructed simultaneously, with blue light arrays flickering across the base. Thirty minutes later, three brand-new buildings rose from the ground.

Wang Jie first walked into the Ore Refinery.

It was a silver-white building that looked somewhat like a factory, containing several conveyor belts and a massive furnace. A mining vehicle was parked inside, dumping collected scrap vehicles into the furnace, and gold bars were being spat out from the other end.

[Ore Refinery Operational]

[Current Fund Output Efficiency: +150 per minute (Base +50%)]

Wang Jie nodded in satisfaction.

Then he walked into the Radar Station.

It was a domed building with a massive radar antenna on top, slowly rotating. Inside were several consoles, with screens displaying a real-time map of the surrounding ten kilometers.

The operator saluted: "Comrade Commander! The Radar Station is ready. Within the current detection range, there are twenty-three life signal clusters, three of which are of significant scale."

Wang Jie leaned in to look.

On the screen, his own base was a large green dot. Scattered around were many small red dots—zombie swarms. There were also several yellow dots—human settlements.

One of the yellow dots was exactly at the location circled in red ink.

The backup laboratory.

Wang Jie stared at that yellow dot for a long time.

There were living people there.

It might be Chen Jianguo, or it might be someone else.

But regardless of who it was, he had to go see.

Finally, he walked into the Battle Lab.

It was the most spectacular of all the buildings—three stories high with silver-white metal exterior walls and several massive antennas on top. It was filled with experimental equipment, computer terminals, and various incomprehensible instruments.

A Researcher in a white lab coat walked over—this was a Researcher automatically generated by the system, just like the soldiers, trained from the Barracks.

"Comrade Commander!" The Researcher saluted. "The Battle Lab is ready. The current research directions are as follows—"

He handed over a tablet computer with several lines of text listed on it:

[Basic Technology]

- Infantry Armor Reinforcement (Requires 5,000 funds, 2 hours research time): Increases defense of all infantry units by 20%

- Weapon Improvement (Requires 6,000 funds, 2.5 hours research time): Increases attack power of all infantry units by 15%

- Vehicle Armor Upgrade (Requires 8,000 funds, 3 hours research time): Increases defense of all vehicle units by 25%

[Special Technology]

- Gene Enhancement Serum (Requires 10,000 funds, 3x Mutation Cores, 6 hours research time): Grants soldiers extraordinary physical fitness, with a small probability of triggering special abilities

- Mind Control Device (Requires 15,000 funds, 5x Mutation Cores, 12 hours research time): Can control low-level mutants for personal use

- Energy Weapon Prototype (Requires 20,000 funds, 8x Mutation Cores, 24 hours research time): Unlocks laser weapon manufacturing

Wang Jie's eyes lit up as he looked at those "Special Technologies."

Gene Enhancement Serum? Mind control? Laser weapons?

These things sounded even more advanced than the research at the Academy of Sciences.

But he didn't have much funding now, and only a few Mutation Cores—from the five mutants killed last time, he had only collected three cores.

He thought about it and decided to research basic technology first.

"Research Infantry Armor Reinforcement and Weapon Improvement simultaneously."

The Researcher saluted: "Yes!"

Two countdowns began ticking at the same time.

Wang Jie walked out of the Battle Lab, looking at the busy soldiers and survivors, a strange feeling welling up in his heart.

What he was building wasn't just a base.

It was a civilization.

A civilization rising again from the ruins.