43: Chapter 43 Bunker

On the top level of the "Bunker," a massive overhead crane was slowly lowering the accelerator into the underground.

This part was being handled by more specialized engineering personnel.

After watching for a while, Chu Ge wandered off on his own.

However, as he walked along, the officers and soldiers would stand at attention and salute him, which puzzled Chu Ge.

Could it be that he had become famous overnight?

That wasn't right; the military was different from civilians and didn't have time to scroll through phones or computers.

He looked down and couldn't help but chuckle softly.

He was wearing his military uniform for the first time in ages, and the two bars and four stars of his Colonel rank were proof of his identity.

Chu Ge shook his head and continued walking forward.

In the distance, a few people who looked like officers were smoking together.

"Did I just see Colonel Chu?"

"Who?"

"Chu Ge, Colonel Chu! The most famous person in the military right now, you idiot."

"He came to the base?"

"Yeah, I think so. This base was built for him, after all. Isn't he supposed to personally oversee the installation of the key equipment?"

"Oh, oh, oh! Where? I want to go see him too. I've only heard of his legendary feats, but I haven't seen the man himself yet."

"He just passed by. He's really young; if it wasn't for the two bars and four stars on his shoulders, I wouldn't have believed it!"

"No kidding, could he be anything but young at 22?"

"Forget it, don't just stand there! We need to hurry and find the Brigadier General. He's been thinking about Colonel Chu constantly. If he finds out he was here and we didn't tell him, he'll skin us alive!"

"Hiss! How did I forget about that? Let's go!"

Several officers hurried toward the temporary brigade headquarters tent.

Inside a huge camouflage tent, several officers were gathered together.

Lu Nan was the Brigadier General of the 224th Combined Arms Brigade, and he was currently looking at construction blueprints.

"Damn it, I'm a soldier who carries a gun and fights wars. Asking me to review construction blueprints? Isn't this just nonsense?"

"There's no helping it. Rank suppresses rank. This is an order from the Group Army. It's not really a review; they just want to see if there are any suggestions for optimization. If not, they'll just proceed with the construction according to the Equipment Department's blueprints."

A staff officer next to him said after measuring the dimensions.

"That's what they say, but once it's built, if there are any unreasonable parts, do you think our Commander will beat me up?"

"This..."

"Alright, you staff officers, put military matters aside for now. Focus on getting this done over the next few days. The 'Bunker' base currently has a higher priority level than the Prism Tower. Don't you understand the stakes involved?"

"Yes! Brigadier General!"

"Report!"

"Come in!"

Brigadier General Lu's anger had not yet subsided.

Several Captain battalion commanders shoved each other as they walked in. Hearing the Brigadier General's tone, no one dared to be the first to speak.

"You brats, why aren't you down there watching? What are you doing here?"

"Um, report, Brigadier General! We saw Colonel Chu!"

"Oh, hmm? Who?"

"Chu Ge, Colonel Chu!"

"What? Where? Let's go!"

Lu Nan didn't waste any time; he grabbed his hat and dragged the few captains outside.

"Lead the way, quickly! If we can't find him in a moment, you're all going to be running a 5-kilometer armed cross-country race!"

When the captains heard that, they panicked and started sprinting, leaving the Brigadier General far behind.

"Hey, you brats, wait for me..."

Lu Nan's voice could no longer be heard in the distance.

Meanwhile, Chu Ge was touching the concrete and rubbing it carefully, feeling a bit curious.

"Are military building standards the same as civilian ones? They should be different, right? But I don't feel any difference when I touch it."

It would be a miracle if he could tell the difference; this wasn't his field of expertise, he was just bored.

"Whoosh," several officers rushed up to him and immediately stood at attention, with the ones running behind nearly knocking into the ones in front.

As the dust settled, a layer of gray had fallen onto Chu Ge's eyebrows and hair, instantly making him look like an old earth deity.

"Colonel Chu, hello!"

"Ah, hello!"

"You guys startled me, popping up like that!"

After saying this, Chu Ge smoothed back his hair; the handsome Chu Ge couldn't let his hairstyle get messed up, no matter where he went.

"You guys, move aside! I can't even get in!"

Brigadier General Lu shouted anxiously from behind. Only then did everyone remember him and hurriedly clear a path.

The person who arrived was none other than Brigadier General Lu Nan.

When Lu Nan saw the young man, his eyes went wide. He quickly reached out, grasped Chu Ge's hand, and shook it excitedly.

"I, I finally get to see a real, live Colonel Chu!!!"

"Ha, haha, well, that's quite a thing to say."

Chu Ge was being shaken until he was dizzy.

Finally, Lu Nan let go, his eyes shining brightly. He adjusted his military uniform and gave a standard military salute.

"Report, Colonel Chu. Brigadier General Lu Nan of the 224th Combined Arms Brigade, A Group Army of the Army, reporting to you!"

"Hello, I am Chu Ge."

"Haha, Colonel Chu is truly as young and handsome as the legends say! It's a pity my daughter is still too young."

"..."

"By the way, my brigade headquarters is right up ahead. Colonel Chu, would you mind coming over to sit for a while?"

"Sure. I estimate the installation and debugging will take a while, so I'll go bother Brigadier General Lu for a bit, haha."

"Let's go!"

One look at Lu Nan and you could tell he was a Northerner, possessing a forthright and casual temperament.

Chu Ge entered the tent and was surprised to find that the table in the middle wasn't displaying a sand table, but rather construction blueprints.

"Brigadier General Lu, have you guys turned into a construction corps?"

"Haha, you can say that again. Just thinking about it gives me a headache."

"Commander Leng is really forcing you to do something you're not prepared for!"

"Uh, only you, Colonel Chu, would dare to say that about our Commander Leng, and I bet if you said it to his face, he'd still be laughing."

"It's not that exaggerated, haha."

"It's not exaggerated at all. You don't know how Commander Leng talks about Colonel Chu in front of us."

Lu Nan rambled on and completely spilled the beans on everything Commander Leng had said during the last military region meeting.

"Then should I tell Commander Leng about your 'construction corps'..."

"Don't, absolutely not! If Commander Leng hears that I mentioned this nonsense that has nothing to do with military development to you, he'll tear me apart."

"Ah, haha!"

"Commander Leng said that everything you're working on now are major weapons of mass destruction, and anything you bring out is strategic-level."

"Later, when you have time, if you just tinker with something, I bet what we have in our hands will become nothing more than fire pokers."

As Lu Nan said this, he took out a pistol and threw it on the table.

Chu Ge looked at the pistol on the table and fell into deep thought.

"Previously, because my pockets were empty, I had to use my resources wisely, so I was picky and chose only a few military industrial developments."

"It's different now. I still have 27,000 Glory Points in my pocket. After deducting the 10,000 points for the aerospace carrier, I still have 17,000 Glory Points left. I need to consider allocating the direction of development."

Thinking of this, Chu Ge snapped back to reality and saw that everyone was silent, just looking at him.

The room was very quiet; everyone was holding their breath as if they were afraid of disturbing his thoughts.

"Well, I might as well tell you, Brigadier General Lu. In the future, our military will focus its direction on outer space. As for the flowers and plants here on Earth, there's really nothing worth looking at, don't you think?"

"Huh? Yes, that's exactly what Commander Leng said too!"

"Don't believe me? In a year at most, once the mecha warriors are formed and the Prism Towers are built, current strategic weapons will become scrap metal. No one will dare to provoke China. By then, it will be time for us to seize resources from outer space."

Chu Ge's purpose for using his resources wisely was to first deal with the few rogue nations on Earth that were like flies, pull out their teeth, and then let them fight like dogs among themselves while he went off to build greenhouses across the Milky Way.

"Does Colonel Chu mean preparing a space force and establishing extraterrestrial bases?"

"More or less. Of course, this is a complex system engineering project. We need to solve problems one by one, for example, like this."

After Chu Ge finished speaking, he picked up the pistol on the table.