It must be said that the feeling of holding power is truly excellent. Feng Jun has completely taken control of Longmen Town. The plan to construct the city walls is also proceeding in an orderly manner. Next, he will absorb the captured personnel and further expand his military strength from the original residents of Longmen Town.
Grain trade with Huaicheng District has been ongoing, continuously exchanging countless helium crystals and weapons for Feng Jun.
The next step is to cultivate his forces and search for the whereabouts of the gene seed.
Sitting in his office, Feng Jun was playing with two golden walnuts.
The Huaxia people have an inexplicable interest in playing with walnuts. The two golden walnuts in Feng Jun’s hand were found and brought back from the ruins by Song Zhan’s subordinates.
Longmen Town has now been renamed Longmen Town by Feng Jun, because he felt that the words “Iron Nail” were too petty, so he simply changed the name to Longmen Town.
Currently, there are only two most sought-after jobs in Longmen Town. The first is to participate in the construction of the city walls, because this job is less dangerous and provides full meals, and one can receive three pieces of flatbread a day.
The other job is to join the militia recruited by Feng Jun and participate in clearing the surrounding zombies. Seventy percent of the collected helium crystals must be handed over. Although this job is a bit dangerous, it also provides three full meals a day.
Feng Jun consciously arranged the construction of the city walls for two groups of people. One group consisted of the soldiers originally under the captured Chen Jianbin. Although these people were wearing slave collars, Feng Jun naturally provided them with better quality food. Not only could they eat wheat flatbread for every meal, but they could also have a bowl of meat soup a day.
Although this bowl of meat soup was made from the cheapest canned luncheon meat Feng Jun brought, it was already an incredibly rare delicacy for slaves in the wasteland.
The other group consisted of ordinary vagrants recruited from within the town. These people usually made a living by scavenging or hunting ordinary Mutated Creatures.
After hearing that building the city walls provided food, they all came to sign up. After reaching a certain number, they would be separately arranged to the construction site and intentionally mixed with the captured slaves.
Whenever it was mealtime, Song Zhan would personally lead the soldiers to deliver food to them. However, the food for these recruited free people was much worse than that of other slaves wearing slave collars. They could only receive three pieces of flatbread a day, and the rest of the time, they were given unpalatable energy bars.
Whenever someone asked, “We’re both working on building the city walls, why do they eat better than us?” the soldier on guard would show the slave collar on his neck and say, “Can you compare with us? We are the boss’s people.”
This is a method Feng Jun came up with to quickly expand his power. Although he could recruit soldiers by employing them, the loyalty of slave collars is the most reliable, because once he dies, the collars on their necks will immediately explode.
So this method is the safest.
Although slavery sounds backward, it is an effective means of expansion in the wasteland.
The next step is to further expand his army. Song Peng has already begun to plan the army’s organization. Although it is impossible to have all soldiers wear slave collars, the officers and leadership must still be kept in his hands.
“Boss, we have cleared two surrounding areas and collected approximately five thousand helium crystals. The number of soldiers has exceeded one thousand, and people have been signing up these past few days,” Song Peng walked in and reported the progress of the past few days to Feng Jun.
“Hmm, don’t recruit for now. Start incorporating those captured slaves into the soldier ranks. Those who perform well and have leadership potential can be promoted to squad leaders or team leaders. Remember to prioritize promoting soldiers wearing slave collars,” Feng Jun said.
“Understood, my boss.” Song Peng saluted Feng Jun. Feng Jun’s arrangement did not bother him at all, after all, Feng Jun treated him well.
The most important thing is that following Feng Jun means having meat to eat. In the wasteland, there’s no need to overthink things; being able to eat and drink well is enough.
After Song Peng left, Feng Jun took a few guards and drove out of town. These past few days, to pass the time and to practice his marksmanship, Feng Jun often went out in the afternoon to practice shooting zombies.
Because if he encountered danger, Feng Jun couldn’t always rely on someone to rescue him.
The scavenging these past few days has been very effective; the number of zombies near the town has decreased significantly.
Feng Jun often had to drive for a while before encountering a few zombies.
Finally, Feng Jun chose a street with fewer zombies and stopped the car. The zombies here were relatively scarce.
Feng Jun, fully equipped, got out of the car. His mechanical exoskeleton had been replaced with a modified version purchased from Huai City.
Not only did slender metal bones adhere to his arms and joints, but metal bracers extended from his shoulders all the way to his wrists. His thighs and torso were equipped with protective and external weapon modules.
A forty-millimeter caliber laser shoulder cannon and a miniature dense rocket launcher were configured on his shoulders. A retractable dagger was configured on his right arm, and a miniature storm magazine with five hundred rounds of ammunition was configured on his left arm, capable of firing five hundred miniature rounds within one minute.
Micro-thrusters were installed on his back and legs, allowing for short-distance jumps and landing cushioning.
Originally, Feng Jun wanted to come out wearing Power Armor, but after several attempts, he felt that Power Armor was more difficult to master and had very poor flexibility.
So Feng Jun still chose the easier-to-use mechanical exoskeleton.
After a few days of training, isolated zombies no longer posed any threat to Feng Jun.
The tactical dagger popped out and directly inserted into the zombie’s eye socket. One kick directly crushed the zombie’s head.
He fumbled around in its brain for a moment and found a peanut-sized helium crystal. After wiping it clean with tissue paper, Feng Jun put the helium crystal into his storage space.
Recalling when he first transmigrated, a slightly larger group of zombies could send Feng Jun back to his original world.
Now, ordinary zombies would only be abused when they saw him.
The guards did not follow Feng Jun continuously; he did not want to always be under someone else’s protection.
The few guards were arranged in a tall building in the distance. If he encountered danger, even if they couldn't see him, they could call for help via radio.
The exoskeleton’s intelligent system can predict Feng Jun’s next move based on the helmet he wears and his movements. With a light leap, Feng Jun jumped onto the third-floor balcony. After a few jumps between floors, Feng Jun climbed onto the rooftop.
Today, he planned to practice his marksmanship thoroughly. Since injecting the strengthening agent, he had clearly felt his eyesight was much better than before. Originally, Feng Jun had slight myopia, though he rarely wore glasses in daily life.
The T-type strengthening agent cost him a full 400 helium crystals. It should have brought him more than just enhanced vision.
Although Feng Jun very much hoped that he could evolve abilities like superpowers, currently he was just much stronger physically than before.
After setting up his gun on the rooftop and adjusting the scope, Feng Jun began to adjust his breathing according to the mechanical exoskeleton’s prompts, searching for targets within his field of vision that he could shoot.
Feng Jun was carrying an M64 multi-purpose assault rifle this time, which could fire different ammunition by changing the barrel.
Ordinary kinetic rounds, explosive rounds, sniper rounds, and radiation rounds. Compared to the precision and lightweight nature of laser weapons, Feng Jun still preferred the feel of kinetic weapons.
He especially liked to shoot with explosive rounds. These bullets would explode directly upon hitting an ordinary zombie, and in most cases, the zombie would be blown apart, leaving only two legs. The only drawback was that these bullets were relatively expensive; a single ordinary explosive round cost ten helium crystal points.
Zombies and Mutated Creatures are both born from mutations caused by piye bacteria. Both reproduce large amounts of piye bacteria within their craniums or nervous systems.
Some powerful zombies and Mutated Creatures can also undergo mutations. Creatures and zombies after a second mutation are collectively referred to as Mutants.
The Roadblock Feng Jun saw outside Huaicheng District last time was a Mutant evolved from a zombie, already beyond the scope of ordinary zombies. Even some of its internal organs and flesh had regained vitality and were no longer rotten.
However, these powerful Mutants generally live in the center of city ruins. Only when a Zombie Tide breaks out will these powerful Mutants follow the Zombie Tide out of the city center and launch attacks on human settlements in the wasteland.
The number of zombies in this area was not large. After a few shots, Feng Jun had no more targets to shoot at.
Just as he was about to put away his gun and go back, a zombie with an unusually large head entered the field of view of his scope.
This zombie’s body was still rotten and tattered, but its head was twice as large as a normal zombie’s. So much so that it needed to support its head with one hand, but its facial features were very compact.
It was a bit like the “Compact Guy” Feng Jun had seen in his original world, with its eyes, nose, and mouth almost squeezed together.
Seeing such a large head swaying in the scope, there was no reason for Feng Jun not to shoot.
But just as Feng Jun pressed the trigger, this big-headed zombie seemed to be suddenly attracted by something, abruptly turned, dodged the bullet, and ran in the other direction.
Feng Jun was still quite unskilled at shooting moving targets. He fired several shots in a row, all of them just grazing the big head’s scalp.
An inexplicable anger rose in his heart. Without calling his guards, he followed with a single leap.
With the exoskeleton’s assistance, Feng Jun effortlessly leaped across the rooftops. He kept trying to aim at this big-headed zombie, wanting to blow its head off.
But whether this zombie was cheating or Feng Jun’s marksmanship was truly poor, after emptying a magazine, Feng Jun still hadn’t hit the zombie.
Unknowingly, Feng Jun had already moved far from his initial shooting location, deep into the city outskirts.
Finally, the wobbling big head accidentally stumbled and fell to the ground. Feng Jun was overjoyed at the sight.
“Good boy, let’s see you run.” He raised his gun, ready to blow its head off.
Suddenly, a beast’s roar came from not far away, accompanied by explosions and the sound of collapsing buildings.
Feng Jun turned his scope towards the source of the sound, to a street not far away.
Several buildings collapsed, raising a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, a bald, muscular man over five meters tall emerged from within.
This should no longer be called a human; it should be a Mutant evolved from a zombie.
Its entire body was pale, without a trace of blood, and there were several ulcerated areas on its skin, through which vivid red muscles could be seen.
Its pale eyeballs contained a bundle-like blood-red pupil, and the corners of its mouth were split all the way to its ears, revealing dense, sharp teeth inside.