72: Step by step

The steel outline of Lujiang Base began to take shape in the morning light, like a tenacious fortress rooted in the ruins.

Not long after the base was initially established and communications were restored, Jiang Xin decisively broadcast a notice to the entire country via radio.

His steady, powerful voice pierced through the static of the airwaves, clearly conveying hope:

"This is Lujiang Base! We are located in the Industrial Park of the Lujiang City Economic Development Zone and have built a military base with a complete defense system! All survivors or groups capable of migrating are welcome to come and seek refuge! Repeat, Lujiang Base opens its doors to all compatriots! At the same time, the Red Alert Legion will officially launch the combat plan to recapture the entire territory of Lujiang City from today!"

This message was like a stone thrown into a stagnant pool, stirring up a thousand ripples in the circle of silent and desperate survivors across the country.

The geographical layout of Lujiang City clearly emerged in Jiang Xin's mind: The winding Lujiang River, like a green ribbon, divided the main urban area in two, while four bridges, like the spines of giants, spanned across it, maintaining the connection between the two banks.

The Economic Development Zone was located on the east bank of the Lujiang River and belonged to the outer suburbs of the Old City District.

The core target Jiang Xin was aiming for was the approximately 120-square-kilometer city center area—that place had once been the bustling heart of six million people, where the brilliance of gold and jewelry flickered among the rows of shops.

Several well-known Chinese jewelry brands had as many as two or three branches in this city!

If he could steadily bring it under his control, he would not only complete the tasks assigned by the system and gather more population, but also obtain massive gold resources sufficient to support the development of the base!

However, the road to obtaining resources was not smooth.

The County silver mine was like a stable spring, injecting a trickle of 1000 gold into the base every day.

Coupled with the combat battalions led by the three battalion Commanders, Zhang Lei, Tanya, and Chen Hao, acting like three sharp combs, carefully combing and collecting scattered supplies in the peripheral areas every day, they could barely scrape together about 1500 gold.

A drop in the bucket!

Jiang Xin knew deeply that this amount of resources was far from enough to support a Red Alert Base that was rapidly expanding and needed to cope with the threats of the doomsday.

He and the steady and capable Zhang Long sat in the base command headquarters, coordinating the overall situation like traders.

The three battalion Commanders turned into sharp blades for expanding territory, radiating outward from the industrial park, clearing scattered zombies while gathering survivors who were like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.

The Air Force brigade's hind and chinook never stopped for a single day, circling over the city, turning unstorable ammunition into torrential rain of fire, smashing fiercely into areas with dense Zombie Horde—if not used, it would be a waste anyway.

The efficiency was astonishing.

In less than ten days, Lujiang Base had become like a huge magnet, attracting over ten thousand ragged and sallow-faced survivors.

Mountains of various supplies were transported back to the base, along with 40,000 funds collected.

With the surge in population, the originally deserted residential area quickly became lively, the production lines included with the large base began to operate, and the crying of children and the conversations of adults in the base composed a rare movement of vitality in the doomsday.

Lujiang Base Residential Area Supply Collection Point

The queue wound on, voices were noisy, and the air was filled with a mixture of disinfectant and sweat.

This was a distribution center for information flow.

"Hey, have you heard? Yesterday, the army brought back several batches of aircraft and rescued over eight hundred people!" A tall, thin man wrapped in an old cotton jacket stood on tiptoe and said to the person in front, his face full of pride.

"Do I need you to tell me that?" A bearded middle-aged man beside him sneered, dusting off his cuffs with rough fingers, "Which day does Lujiang Base not have hundreds of people pouring in? Look at this line, it's longer than yesterday!" He pursed his lips, signaling to the longer line ahead.

"That's different!" The tall, thin man retorted, his voice rising a few notches, "The broadcast said it! Everywhere else in the country, people are now cowering in corners like quails, but only our Lujiang Base dares to brandish blades at the millions of zombies in the city center! Listen, the National Government's commendation! 'Red Alert Legion is brave and fearless, worthy of being a model for the doomsday'! Tsk tsk, just listening to it is uplifting! I feel full of energy!" He puffed out his thin chest.

"Yes!" A woman holding a child chimed in, her eyes shining with hope, "Our place is the toughest in the whole country! I heard that the sub-base in Yongjiang County is already packed with forty or fifty thousand people, and our Officer Jiang is kind-hearted and is planning to send planes to pick up some of them."

"Having said that," a young man wearing glasses pushed up his frames and asked doubtfully, "We've never heard of such a large military base in Lujiang City before, have we? These steel walls, these planes and cannons, where did they pop out from?"

"Hey, have you forgotten what our country's nickname is?" A man looking like a worker beside him patted his chest and said proudly, "Infrastructure maniac! Understand? Building such a base is just a matter of minutes!"

"Right, right, right!" The tall, thin man nodded repeatedly, his eyes full of the light of memory, "Last time I was rescued by the army from that broken supermarket outside the city, I happened to run into their main force setting out! Good heavens! Those tanks, the gun barrels were thicker than my waist! Those armored vehicles, the ground shook when they ran! And those helicopters, flying right over the rooftops, that was majestic! It made my blood boil!"

"What's that compared to!" A yellow-haired young man in his early twenties with slightly faded hair squeezed over, with an exaggerated look of longing, "Have you guys seen Major Zhang Lei? The base's number one expert! The 'ice fire divine lord'! I saw him with my own eyes last time riding that Fire Qilin, 'whoosh' and he flew back from the sky! That Qilin, covered in fire, just like in the movies! Major Zhang was standing on its back, in that battle armor and cape, tsk tsk... too damn handsome! If I were a woman, I'd risk my life to marry him!" He licked his lips and made an exaggerated hugging gesture, drawing a burst of laughter and disdain from those around him.

"Just you? A toad wanting to eat swan meat!" A middle-aged woman spat unceremoniously, "You're not even fit to carry Major Zhang Lei's shoes!"

"Hey, what do you think," the young man with glasses asked again, "Our base has so many experts, Major Zhang Lei, Captain Chen Hao, Blaze Ash, Yang Yi, and the others, all of them are fierce beyond human, so why isn't any of them on that 'Top Ten Experts in the Country' list?"

"It must be that our Commander is too low-key!" The bearded middle-aged man said firmly, "Look at Adjutant Zhang Long, I've seen him a few times, that aura, one look and you know he's a tough character. But what about our real Commander, Officer Jiang? He's like a dragon, seeing only the head but not the tail! I still don't even know what he looks like!"