280: Taking over Yueyang base

After receiving some of the final payments from several major military regions, Jiang Xin's funds were replenished. Without any hesitation, he immediately built another powerful kirov airship.

By now, he had three kirov airships under his command. The three airships were deployed to Western Hunan's Yueyang, Jiangcheng, and the South of the Ranges front lines as strategic deterrent weapons.

Meanwhile...

On the same day that the sea beast crisis broke out in the Jiangcheng waters and the fierce battle was in full swing, another operation quietly unfolded at another key node in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

Zhang Lei personally led an elite force, boarding the Lujiang kirov airship and ten apollo aerospace fighters for a long-range raid, paratrooping directly into the important port of the Yangtze River's main stream—Yueyang Port. Besides the Lujiang itself and its airborne forces, Zhang Lei also brought a mecha unit battalion, ten chinooks, and twenty hind attack helicopters, a powerful air-ground integrated lineup. (Yueyang Port is about five or six hundred kilometers from Hongdu Port, within the range of helicopters.)

The operation went exceptionally smoothly. Using the biological infrasound interference device on the Lujiang to suppress the zombies and mutant beasts in the port area, and with Zhang Lei, the "ice fire divine lord," personally overseeing it, the cleanup of zombies and scattered mutant beasts in Yueyang Port met almost no decent resistance and was quickly cleared.

Immediately after, through remote system operation, Jiang Xin selected an area in Yueyang Port and deployed a large base. This apocalyptic port city quickly rose from the ground. Jiang Xin also built four Red Alert shipyards for Yueyang Port Base, providing a solid hardware foundation for the future formation and stationing of the naval forces.

With Yueyang Port Base initially established, Zhang Lei immediately ordered the main forces of the Red Alert First Army Group stationed in Jiangzhou to prepare to travel to Yueyang by water, achieving rapid troop deployment and strategic connection. At the same time, relying on the existing forces and city defense forces, he prepared to connect with the largest existing survivor gathering point within the scope of Yueyang City.

This survivor stronghold, known as "Yueyang Base," was not a monolithic entity. It was a conglomerate formed by a mixture of multiple forces: mainly including the Yueyang University Town Base dominated by students and teachers, the Yueyang Armed Police Detachment and Special Police Detachment Base centered on disciplined forces, and several other large-scale civilian groups. In the Western Hunan Military Region's mediation and military deterrence, these forces were integrated to jointly establish themselves on the ruins of Town A in Yueyang County, only dozens of kilometers away from Yueyang Port. The entire base had about 50,000 people, making it the most populous survivor stronghold in Western Hunan besides the provincial capital, the Changsha.

There were two third-rank experts in the base, forming a delicate balance and confrontation. One was Wang Gui, a ruffian expert who rose from the common people, with a violent personality and ambitious nature; the other was the top expert of the Armed Police Detachment, Hua Feng, who stuck to his duties and favored order. The two each recruited a group of followers, engaging in overt and covert struggles and mutual suspicion. Had it not been for the Western Hunan Military Region's mediation, this fragile alliance would likely have collapsed long ago.

Zhang Lei brought his adjutant Zhang Qing, the fierce general Yang Feng who had just been promoted to the third rank, Natasha, and a team of elite Red Alert Soldiers to this Yueyang Base.

As the group stepped into the base's outskirts, an indescribable stench hit them, a mix of decaying garbage, accumulated excrement, and the aura of despair.

This base, established in a remote town, was extremely chaotic in its management. As far as the eye could see, there were sallow and emaciated survivors with numb eyes, huddled in crude shacks. Garbage and human waste were piled randomly in open areas, with swarms of flies and filth everywhere. This was a world of difference compared to the orderly bases under the Red Alert Legion's rule.

Natasha's icy blue eyes swept across this filthy scene. Her delicate nostrils wrinkled imperceptibly, and a flash of undisguised disgust and displeasure crossed her cold face.

A team of officers and soldiers wearing old-style armed police uniforms and relatively neat equipment ran to meet them, forming a sharp contrast with the listless survivors around them. The leader was a man with a lean, muscular build and sharp eyes—it was the armed police expert, Hua Feng.

"General!" Hua Feng stood at attention before Zhang Lei, giving a standard military salute, his voice booming. "Hua Feng, head of the Yueyang Armed Police Detachment, reporting to you!"

"Mhm, hello." Zhang Lei returned the salute, but his eyes sharply scanned the chaotic environment around him, his brow furrowed, his tone carrying clear reproach. "Captain Hua Feng, why is the base management so chaotic? The people's livelihood is so withered; as the official defense force, how are you fulfilling your duties?" This level of chaos was truly rare among the official or semi-official bases he had seen.

A complex expression of shame and helplessness appeared on Hua Feng's face, and he lowered his head. "General... I am incompetent and have failed my duties."

"Speak clearly, what exactly is going on?" Zhang Lei's voice grew a few degrees colder.

Hua Feng took a deep breath and reported with suppressed indignation, "General, inside Yueyang Base... it's roughly divided into two factions. One is the 'Order Faction' supported by our armed police and special police; everyone can still remain optimistic, actively participating in defense, farming, and training, striving to maintain basic order. The other faction... is the 'Hedonist Faction' led by Wang Gui."

He clenched his fists. "Wang Gui has over two hundred Evolvers under him, all of whom are aggressive, bullying thugs. They have recruited and coerced a large number of young and strong people to form private soldiers, acting tyrannically in the base. They enslave ordinary survivors, forcing them to go out and scavenge for supplies for their own squandering and enjoyment. They've built a so-called 'Safe Zone' where they indulge in wine and women, completely disregarding the lives of others!"

"And you just let this Wang Gui run wild like this?" A cold light flashed in Zhang Lei's eyes, and anger rose. In the apocalypse, power was indeed supreme, but such blatant oppression and depravity, especially occurring in a base with a certain organizational foundation, made him extremely displeased.

"General, please calm your anger!" Hua Feng quickly explained, his voice bitter. "I am incompetent... That Wang Gui has a rare Fire Dragon Transformation Superpower, domineering and fierce. My Superpower rank and combat ability are indeed slightly inferior to his. Although there are many experts in the Western Hunan Military Region, if taken individually, they might not necessarily win against Wang Gui. The military region needs to rely on his power to help defend Yueyang and deter zombies, but they also worry that a forced purge would trigger internal strife and cause heavy casualties... Therefore, they have been unable to make up their minds to solve him completely. They can only apply pressure on a macro level to make him restrain himself. But... he is still the 'local emperor' whom no one dares to control in the base."