According to De Chao’s description, the Zhu Hong Business Association soldiers suddenly appeared a year ago. They were few in number but well-equipped. After arriving, they forcefully occupied the scavengers’ original camp and began to compel the scavengers to hand over half of their helium crystal points to them daily.
“Our original camp was not far east of the industrial park, a large, well-preserved pre-war building,” De Chao said, pointing east. In fact, these scavengers were not originally so miserable; their previous camp, after more than a year of construction, had already taken shape, and food in the camp was relatively abundant, but it was directly occupied by that group of soldiers.
Then Feng Jun asked about the detailed personnel and equipment situation of the Zhu Hong Business Association soldiers, but after listening to De Chao’s description, Feng Jun’s expression gradually became serious.
From De Chao’s words, it could be determined that the Zhu Hong Business Association had fewer than a hundred soldiers, but all of them were wearing uniform Wu Zu Mark III Power Armor and equipped with various types of armored vehicles. However, these did not pose much of a threat to Feng Jun, but according to De Chao’s description, the enemy seemed to possess a heavy tank of an unknown model, and the Zhu Hong Business Association only had one type of heavy tank: the N1 Tank. This tank was equipped with a plasma shield and a 240mm electromagnetic cannon; it was not an exaggeration to call it a Land Cruiser walking on land.
“I’ve told you everything I know. You won’t make things difficult for me and my companions, right?” De Chao finished explaining what he knew, then he prepared to turn and leave.
“Wait a moment, aren’t you going to take your reward?” Feng Jun called out to De Chao, tossing the helium crystal in his hand to him with a casual flick.
De Chao caught the helium crystal Feng Jun threw, somewhat incredulous. From the beginning, he hadn't expected Feng Jun to fulfill his promise, even though 160 helium crystal points was a huge sum for him.
“Thank you.” De Chao wanted to say something, but after a long pause, he only managed to utter “thank you.”
Feng Jun asked, “What do you plan to do next? Continue killing zombies here, paying protection fees to others?”
“We’ll see,” De Chao said with a smile. “If it really doesn’t work out, we plan to go south. They say the radiation is less there.”
“Are you interested in working for me?” Feng Jun began to try and win them over.
“Work for you?” De Chao said, somewhat surprised. “We don’t know how to fight. You must be a small leader of some faction, right? We just want to survive; we don’t want to become cannon fodder for others.”
Feng Jun looked at the scavenger camp behind De Chao, where the people had already tidied up their tents. By now, it was completely dark, and many people had returned to their tents. Only a few young people on guard duty were still outside on lookout, but there was also a woman with a slightly bulging belly standing in front of a tent, looking towards the two of them.
“Your wife, and she’s pregnant,” Feng Jun said.
De Chao turned to look at the woman standing in front of the tent, his eyes showing a caring gaze. “Yes, she’s due in three months, but I don’t even have a house. I can only try to hunt more zombies so I can exchange them for some clean food in Longmen Town when the time comes.”
“You can work for me, and then you can have a house of your own. I’ve always been good to my employees. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him,” Feng Jun said, pointing to Zhong Chen behind him.
To be honest, De Chao was already somewhat tempted. He had already acquired a scavenger’s life, and most importantly, his wife was about to give birth. As a prospective father, he hadn't even prepared a safe haven for his child. However, facing an olive branch extended by a stranger, he still maintained maximum vigilance, as slave traders could disguise themselves in any way.
“Let me think about it.” Zhong Chen was truly considering it, but he didn’t immediately accept Feng Jun’s invitation. Instead, he planned to go back and discuss it with the other scavengers.
“I believe you’ll give me an answer very soon.” Feng Jun didn’t say anything more and turned back to his own camp.
The information obtained from De Chao earlier was already quite accurate, and when the Zhu Hong Business Association soldiers left, he had arranged for two Wasp UAVs to track them. The returned information was also basically consistent with what De Chao had said: the soldiers’ stronghold, numbering around eighty, was found east of the industrial park, with each person wearing Wu Zu Mark III Power Armor. Of course, what Feng Jun feared most was that N1 Tank.
It could be confirmed that these soldiers were rebels of the Zhu Hong Business Association, judging from the images transmitted by the Wasp reconnaissance UAV. The side of the N1 Tank originally had a large symbol of the Zhu Hong Business Association painted on it, the red character for “Zhu.” But now this symbol was being painted over, with one side already completely covered.
This squad of soldiers was precisely the Zhu Hong Business Association unit responsible for resisting the Zombie Tide in front of the first defense line a year ago, and their Commander was precisely the Former Ming Empire Commander Hu Kun. After learning that he had become a pawn and his retreat route was cut off, Hu Kun immediately led his remaining troops south. Relying on the N1 Tank’s terrifying firepower and defense, he brutally carved out a Bloody Nest and then continued south until he reached this place. Although news of the Zombie Tide’s retreat later reached here, Hu Kun did not intend to return to Huaicheng District.
Unlike those wearing slave collars, Hu Kun was a free man, and the Zhu Hong Business Association, as the primary power in Huai City, did not rely on slaves but on its own strength and inheriting most of the Ming Empire’s legacy. After Hu Kun was abandoned, he had nowhere else to go and did not want to return to the Zhu Hong Business Association, so he directly became a rebel.
After De Chao returned to the scavenger camp, he called a few leaders together to discuss Feng Jun’s offer to win them over. But although everyone was tired of the hard life of scavengers, most people did not agree to join this suddenly appearing unknown force. They had heard many cautionary tales: yesterday they were still eating and drinking with their new boss, and today they were already wearing slave collars and locked in cages.
Just as De Chao was about to completely abandon the idea under the persuasion of his friends, the sound of vehicles and machinery roaring outside the camp once again. De Chao quickly looked out of the camp and saw a large contingent of soldiers arriving under the cover of night.
It was the main force led by Song Zhan. Because the road was truly difficult to travel and Song Zhan was commanding so many people for the first time, they were four hours later than expected, but it was just right. If they had arrived early and immediately attacked the Blood Nest in the industrial park, it would certainly have alerted this nearby rebel force of the Zhu Hong Business Association. Although they had a numerical advantage, the enemy possessed an N1 Tank, and a direct fight would put them at a disadvantage.
Tonight, Feng Jun planned to set up camp on the high slope first, and specific actions would wait until tomorrow. The sudden appearance of a large number of soldiers startled the scavengers again, but Feng Jun had already thought of this. He specifically had Zhong Chen lead people to reassure the scavengers and kept a certain distance between the soldiers and the scavenger camp. As for whether De Chao would accept Feng Jun’s invitation, that was up to him.
Song Zhan originally thought Feng Jun would blame him for his marching speed, but unexpectedly, Feng Jun didn’t mention it after he arrived. Only after detailed questioning did he learn that there was a rebel force of the Zhu Hong Business Association here, and this rebel force also had an N1 Tank.
When Feng Jun asked Song Zhan if he was confident in easily taking down the rebels, Song Zhan narrowed his eyes, stared at the holographic map, and after a moment of thought, said, “Taking down the rebels is not difficult. Although their Power Armor performs better, ours isn’t much worse. The key is that N1 Tank. It’s not an exaggeration to call that thing a Land Cruiser. Not to mention its ridiculously thick armor, once the plasma shield is activated, we can’t even penetrate it standing there. To destroy that guy, we’d have to bring out our two Titan Power Armors at home to have any hope.”
“Uh~ I mean, what if we don’t destroy it? Is there a way to capture that tank? Or does this tank have any weaknesses?” Feng Jun asked.
Feng Jun was very interested in this N1 Tank. If he could find a way to keep this tank, it would greatly enhance the strength of his army.
Song Zhan scratched his head and said, “This thing has almost no weaknesses. Once the plasma shield is activated, it’s virtually immune to all physical weapon attacks, at least from ground-based weapons. Even if it runs out of ammunition and stands there letting us shoot, we still can’t break its defense, yet it can come over and crush us at any time. Only large electromagnetic cannons or energy weapons mounted on naval vessels can directly destroy it. However, it does have one weakness: before it starts up, just throw a few EMP grenades into its cockpit. The interior of the N1 Tank has almost no defense; once its internal operating system is paralyzed, it’s just a giant iron coffin.”
Feng Jun directly tapped Song Zhan on the forehead: “You don’t need to tell me that. The key is how to throw them in.”
Song Zhan rubbed his head and said, “How about I give it a try?”
“You try? How do you try?” Feng Jun even suspected if Song Zhan was drunk and if he needed to curb his subordinates’ drinking habits.
Song Zhan gestured a few times on the map, marking a few locations, then said, “Infiltration operation, then. The Wasp reconnaissance UAV has been circling near their camp without being detected. They are also short-handed, and their patrol teams cannot cover the entire camp, and they probably don’t have UAVs for reconnaissance. They probably don’t know about the arrival of our main force yet. The rebel squad that just returned from here probably reported the presence of the Imperial Guard, but they didn’t expect us to have follow-up troops, and their Commander didn’t take this matter seriously. Since that’s the case, infiltrating under the cover of night and directly paralyzing the N1 Tank would be best. Once they discover the traces of our main force tomorrow, they will definitely be very nervous, and it will be troublesome to try and confront them head-on once the shield is activated.”
“Are you confident?” Feng Jun was somewhat skeptical of Song Zhan.
“Trying is better than doing nothing at all. Trust me, boss.” Song Zhan patted his chest, his eyes full of confidence.