243: Chapter 243 Zong Zhengyue joins the rat-raising army

The first basement level wasn't very large, and he quickly saw a huge hexagonal pattern imprinted on a thick iron door.

Yan Zhengping walked up to the iron door.

"Verifying identity... Identity confirmed. Click!" The door had an identity verification camera and a small screen. As the prompt sounded, the door opened.

Yan Zhengping and Yan Fangfang entered one after another.

This was a long, downward-sloping passage. The ground of the passage was treated for anti-slip.

It was equipped with many lights, and its width and height were substantial, so there was no feeling of oppression.

After walking about one or two hundred meters, they reached another door. After another identity verification, the two successfully arrived inside the defensive works.

It was very spacious inside, with nothing but lighting, ventilation, and signage. The walls, floor, and ceiling had all been specially treated, making them very smooth and clean.

The entire area was a square of about 100 meters by 100 meters, with no central support columns.

They weren't curious about how such a space was supported without load-bearing columns because they had already grown accustomed to it.

In Oriental Chen's underground base, such structures were everywhere.

In Oriental Chen's words, those columns were a compromise, a compromise of perfection to reality.

Although he was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but be curious. For such a massive project, he hadn't seen a single spade of earth removed from the military camp, nor had he seen a grain of sand or a bag of cement brought in. Moreover, he hadn't seen a single worker or a piece of construction equipment. How exactly was such a project completed?

One should know that the Mosang Ark Base mobilized nearly 400,000 people and countless types of construction equipment, yet it still couldn't achieve such construction quality and speed.

"How on earth did you manage it?" Yan Zhengping picked up the phone and asked with admiration.

"Commander Yan, isn't it enough to achieve the goal? The process isn't important," Oriental Chen said.

"Alright!" Yan Zhengping no longer dwelled on it.

"Then that's settled. I'll send you some locators later. Wherever you need to add an entrance/exit, just place a locator there, and I'll take care of the rest," Oriental Chen said.

"Anywhere?" Yan Zhengping confirmed.

"As long as it's within the military camp's range, anywhere is fine," Oriental Chen gave a definitive answer.

"That's good!" Yan Zhengping was very satisfied.

"Oh, right, are the other five Military Sub-districts completed?" Yan Zhengping asked.

"That's right, all six underground defensive works have completed the first phase of construction. You can proceed with arrangements," Oriental Chen said.

"Okay, I understand," Yan Zhengping hung up the phone.

...

When he returned to the office, Zongzheng Yue was already waiting inside.

"Old Yan, how many crystalss can you produce each month?" Zongzheng Yue asked eagerly.

"Not many. Currently, each Military Sub-district has a breeding scale of 100,000 rats. On average, they can produce about 20,000 crystalss per month. We've calculated that harvesting at a ratio of basically 5 to 1 allows us to broadly maintain the balance of the rat population," Yan Zhengping said.

"You mean every Military Sub-district is raising them? Your Southwest Military Region must have turned into a breeding base, hasn't it?" Zongzheng Yue nearly dropped his jaw.

"It's not that bad. These cages just take up space; in reality, they don't require many people to manage. The soldiers still train as usual every day," Yan Zhengping explained.

"Then why don't you get more cages? Why bother with those temporary shelters? Anyway, you don't need to worry about their health; you just replace them with a new batch every few months. Wouldn't it be better to just raise them outdoors? It saves both space and resources," Zongzheng Yue said.

"Do you think I don't want to? There are two reasons:

First, food is limited. These eaters consume a lot of food every day. What would I use to feed them without enough food?

Second, as I told you before, I occasionally have zombie bat attacks here. If there are no protective measures, they would probably be wiped out in one night," Yan Zhengping explained.

At the mention of zombie bats, Zongzheng Yue also fell silent.

He understood Yan Zhengping's helplessness; without enough crystalss, there wouldn't be enough equipment, and thus no way to deal with these bats.

Moreover, the biggest problem with raising rats was food. What's the point of raising them without food!

Zongzheng Yue was dejected, his excitement for nothing.

He had already monopolized the scraps from the Huatong Chamber of Commerce. If he wanted to raise rats himself, he would have to find other ways to solve the food problem.

"It's hard!" Zongzheng Yue shook his head, thinking to himself.

"Why are you sighing so much?" Yan Zhengping asked.

"Old Yan, I'm not like you; I don't have that kind of wealthy destiny," Zongzheng Yue said sourly.

"Don't be so disheartened. Xiao Chen said he's working on the food problem. Since he mentioned it, is solving the problem still far off?" Yan Zhengping whispered.

"Really?" Zongzheng Yue looked at him, asking for confirmation.

"Believe it or not, my cages are being welded overtime, just waiting for his word," Yan Zhengping said.

"Good! That's great! Old Yan, arrange for a few technical personnel to stay at my Southeast Military Region for a few days; I'll also prepare cages first," Zongzheng Yue said.

And so, Zongzheng Yue also resolutely joined the army of rat breeders.