167: Recapture of Nanzhuang City

The twenty-meter-high city walls held the zombie horde firmly outside the city.

Occasionally, a Mutated Zombie would use its ability on the city wall, but due to the distance, everyone easily dodged it.

Furthermore, because there were so many of them and they stood so densely, it became difficult for them to evade attacks from the city wall.

Slowly, the sun had already set in the west.

The zombies outside the city began to thin out.

The bodies of the zombies piled up five or six meters high outside the city wall.

After a full day of fighting, everyone on the city wall had become incredibly exhausted.

Their mental energy had been depleted and recovered several times.

"Kill them!" Qin Shilei jumped outside the city and went to kill the remaining zombies at close range.

Survivors who still had strength also slid down ropes and rushed towards the scattered zombies.

When the sun completed its descent behind the western peaks, the zombies outside the city were finally completely eradicated.

At this point, the zombies in Nanzhuang City were basically wiped out, meaning Nanzhuang City was recovered.

Under the dim night, countless figures slid down ropes to the outside of the city wall.

They pulled out their swords and slashed at the heads of the zombies beneath their feet.

"Turn on the lights!" With Zhang Cheng's command, countless battery-powered lights illuminated the city wall, making the area outside the city as bright as day.

"Stop!" Zhang Xiaoli shouted loudly from the city wall, hoping to stop the survivors attempting to secretly dig for crystals.

Some hesitated for a moment, quickly collected the crystals from the zombie heads, and then stood up.

Others acted as if they hadn't heard Zhang Xiaoli's shouts and continued to quickly dig for crystals.

"Anyone who continues to dig for crystals will be killed without mercy!" Qin Shilei's icy voice resonated through the surroundings.

More people stopped their actions and stood upright.

However, a small portion of people still silently continued to dig for crystals.

"Die!" Qin Shilei transformed into an afterimage and rushed towards a middle-aged man who was digging for crystals.

A cold light flashed, and the man's head flew into the sky, rolling into a pile of zombies.

"I also killed some of these zombies just now, so isn't it fair to dig for some crystals?"

Those who were still digging for crystals were startled, quickly straightened their bodies, and spoke loudly.

"Now, immediately return inside the city wall," Qin Shilei said in a deep voice.

Those people looked at each other, and finally, awed by Qin Shilei's power, they obediently climbed back inside the city wall.

Qin Shilei instantly teleported back onto the city wall and instructed Zhang Cheng.

"Arrange for the Panshi Battle Group to go down and dig for crystals, then take twenty percent of the crystals to reward the citizens who participated in killing the zombies based on their contributions."

"City Lord Qin, we also contributed just now, shouldn't we also get a share of the spoils?"

The survivors who had fled into the city and later climbed onto the city wall to participate in killing zombies asked cautiously.

"Hmph!" Qin Shilei sneered, "If I hadn't opened the city gate, I'm afraid you would already be corpses down there. How dare you still ask for spoils?"

The voices demanding spoils immediately stopped.

Everyone looked somewhat embarrassed and prepared to leave.

"City Lord Qin, I wonder if I can still enjoy the benefits of a citizen if I join Hope City now?" Someone suddenly asked in a low voice.

"How shameless! Now that there are benefits, you want to join? What were you doing before!" Countless disdainful voices immediately rang out around them.

"Haha," Qin Shilei chuckled, "Alright, as long as you abide by the rules of Hope City, I welcome you to join. I have always treated my citizens very favorably."

Is this also allowed?

Those who had fled into the city felt they couldn't keep up with Qin Shilei's thinking, but they eagerly said, "City Lord, I also want to join."

"Alright," Qin Shilei readily agreed, turning to Zhang Cheng and saying, "Uncle, arrange for someone to register them and issue citizen badges."

After collecting two crystals from each person, Zhang Cheng processed their entry into the city.

Once everything was settled, Qin Shilei cleared his throat and said, "I have always been very generous to my citizens, so now all of you go outside the city and dig for crystals."

Those people swarmed down, excitedly taking out their weapons to dig for crystals.

"I forgot to tell you."

Qin Shilei spoke again, "Because you were not my citizens when you killed the zombies, you cannot enjoy the spoils of war. However, in consideration of your diligent efforts in digging for crystals after becoming citizens, each of you will be rewarded with three crystals."

"Ah!" Everyone was instantly dumbfounded.

They had just paid two crystals to join Hope City, and now they would get three crystals for digging for crystals.

So, after all that hard work digging for crystals, they would only earn one crystal.

No, they might not even earn one crystal; they might even lose some.

Since they had joined Hope City, should their relatives still in He Shan District also join?

If they were to join, wouldn't that also cost crystals?

"Uncle, send someone to keep an eye on them. Anyone who dares to embezzle the spoils will be killed without mercy!"

Qin Shilei's murderous voice once again entered everyone's ears, sending a chill through their bodies.

At this moment, Shi Yutang walked up to Qin Shilei, bowed, and said, "Thank you once again for saving everyone's lives. Let our people also go down and help you collect the spoils. I promise not to embezzle a single cent from you."

Qin Shilei nodded, "Alright, thank you for your trouble."

There were simply too many zombie corpses outside; if they relied solely on the few thousand people of the Panshi Battle Group, they probably wouldn't finish digging even by tomorrow.

Some people who had not joined Hope City, to repay Qin Shilei's life-saving grace, also voluntarily climbed outside the city to help collect the spoils.

After five or six hours, all the spoils were finally collected.

As for the zombie corpses, the system would automatically refresh them after twenty-four hours, so Qin Shilei didn't need to worry about them.

Zhang Xiaoli's willow tree, however, was desperately absorbing various nutrients from the zombie bodies before the refresh.

Commander Kong looked at the soldiers who were gazing at Qin Shilei with admiration, and suddenly felt a sense of weariness.

In this cursed apocalypse, individual strength was infinitely magnified.

Perhaps only an invincible force like Qin Shilei could better lead everyone to survive?

His only son was dead, and his daughter seemed to be leaning towards the other side.

He didn't know if the central government still existed, and the military here had fallen apart under his leadership.

Did his persistence still have meaning?

"Qin Shilei, can you promise me that if you ever ascend to power over the world, you will continue to use the national title of Great Xia Country?"

Commander Kong suddenly said to Qin Shilei with solemnity.

Qin Shilei smiled and said, "I have never thought of becoming a monarch, so how can there be talk of ascending to power over the world or changing the national title?"

Commander Kong did not speak, but continued to look at Qin Shilei very seriously.

"Alright!" Qin Shilei pondered for a moment, then also solemnly replied, "If I truly ascend to power over the world someday, I will definitely continue to use Great Xia as the national title."

He thought to himself, "Great Xia, that name is quite good."

If that day truly came, why would he need to change it to another national title?

Besides, this national title would give the people here a stronger sense of belonging. Using it as the national title would also make it easier to win them over, so why not?

"Commander Shi, I now, in my capacity as General Commander, order all military soldiers to merge into Hope City. From now on, City Lord Qin shall be revered!"

Commander Kong turned to Shi Yutang and commanded sternly.

"Understood!" Shi Yutang saluted in response.

Commander Kong then spoke to Qin Shilei, "Qin Shilei, are you willing to accept the position of General Commander?"

Qin Shilei looked at him for a while, then stood at attention and saluted, "Everything according to the General Commander's arrangements."