manynovel Chapter 56 Ambition
Chapter 56 Ambition
Lu Chen agreed to Zhang Zhenhua's request without hesitation: "No problem. If they don't want to stay when the road is cleared, that's my problem."
"Oh..." Zhang Zhenhua was a little surprised. From the beginning of this phone call until now, Lu Chen's impression on him was that he was cautious, pragmatic, and every request was based on clear calculations.
But the confidence in that statement wasn't feigned; it was as if he had already calculated a certain outcome, but the time hadn't yet come to reveal the answer.
He couldn't help but ask, "So confident? How far do you plan to develop this base?"
"Naturally, it will be developed into the second refuge in Wanshun City." Lu Chen bluntly revealed his ambition.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then Zhang Zhenhua burst out laughing. He felt amused by Lu Chen and wanted to say that the other person was ignorant and arrogant.
But what came out of his mouth was, "That's ambitious! I'll be waiting for your good news."
Just as he finished speaking and was about to hang up, Lu Chen called out to him again.
"Wait a little longer!"
"Is there anything else?"
"Ahem..." Lu Chen knew he had made a lot of demands, but he still shamelessly continued.
"There is one last thing. I told the other survivors that this is an official base, but they didn't believe me!"
"You need to help me solidify this title, otherwise it will be difficult for me to carry out my management work."
Zhang Zhenhua thought about it and realized that this was indeed a problem.
In the apocalypse, everyone is on edge and naturally suspicious of a suddenly appearing "official base".
Without official endorsement, Lu Chen's explanation alone is far too unconvincing.
"Okay! I will contact the radio station to inform the whole city about this and officially announce that Xiangyang Community has become an official security checkpoint in Xicheng District."
"That's not enough." Lu Chen shook his head. "There aren't many people who own radios these days. I'm afraid less than one-tenth of the survivors can even hear the broadcasts. The rest of the people don't even know about it."
"So what are your thoughts?" Zhang Zhenhua asked directly. He had gradually gotten used to Lu Chen's rhythm. When the other party asked questions, he never simply asked questions; he always came with an answer in mind.
"Your drones are great, and I just saw that the quadcopter even has a speaker!"
Looking at the drone not far away, Lu Chen continued, "Have the liaison officer fly the drone around the area and broadcast the message directly through the loudspeaker!"
"Especially the Sunshine Garden next door and the Green Bamboo Garden across the street. These two communities are the closest to us, and they have quite a few buildings. The number of survivors in them is probably no less than here."
"Let them know there's a base here. Hang red cloth on the windows, and I can go pick them up tomorrow."
He took a breath and continued.
"If there's still capacity left, we could fly around that old-style apartment building area to the west as well. The population density there is high, and we could probably rescue even more people there."
"No problem!" Zhang Zhenhua agreed more readily than he had before, which required almost no extra cost to him.
"I can have someone play it for you within a 3-kilometer radius."
Zhang Zhenhua waited a few more seconds, and after confirming that Lu Chen had no intention of speaking again, he finally hung up the phone.
He took off his headset and placed it on the control panel, picked up his teacup, took a sip of the now-cold tea, leaned back in his chair, his gaze still fixed on the densely packed heads on the screen.
A young man who can control zombies, along with 125 survivors, is going to build a second shelter in the West District. It's unclear whether this decision tonight will be a profit or a loss.
When Lu Chen walked back to the rooftop from the fire escape, the quadcopter drone that had been quietly resting on the ground took off again.
The drone hovered directly above the red cloth, at a height of about five or six meters. Wang Bowen cleared his throat and then pressed the speaker switch.
"Dear survivors, this is the Wan Shun City Shelter Base Liaison Team, No. 13, Liaison Officer Wang Bowen. On behalf of the Wan Shun City Military, we hereby issue the following formal notice to all survivors."
The crowd that had been whispering on the rooftop suddenly fell silent.
"After verification and confirmation by the Wanshun City Military Command Center, Building No. 3 of Xiangyang Community has now been officially established as an official security outpost in Xicheng District, numbered XC-001."
"The base is under the command of Captain Lu Chen, who is fully responsible for the containment and security of survivors within the West District."
"Starting today, any survivor heading to this location will be granted safe shelter. Survivors in the surrounding area are requested to inform each other and proceed in an orderly manner while ensuring their own safety."
"If you need rescue, please hang a red cloth in your window as a marker, and the outpost will dispatch rescue forces to meet you."
Wang Bowen's voice echoed in the air above the rooftop for several seconds before dissipating.
The 125 survivors gathered on the red cloth looked up at the drone that was slowly rising and preparing to turn and leave. Many of them had mixed feelings on their faces.
Many of them had been hoping for military rescue since the first day of the apocalypse. They hid for three days, huddled in their rooms listening to the groans of zombies in the corridor, their only belief being, "The rescue team will definitely come."
After being rescued today, seeing the hordes of zombies, piles of supplies, and orderly management in this building, I felt a little more at ease, but I still subconsciously felt that this was only temporary.
Once the military vehicles arrive, they will board armored personnel carriers, travel through streets teeming with zombies, and be transported to the shelter protected by high walls and heavy machine guns.
After waiting and waiting, a drone finally arrived. The voice from the drone told them one thing: This is the officers' base. You don't need to go anywhere else.
The rooftop immediately erupted in chaos.
"Is this the official base? Should we still go to the shelter?"
"Weren't they saying a military vehicle would come to pick us up? How come we're the ones stuck here?"
"There are only a few zombies guarding this place, can they really hold out?"
"I was wondering why no one had come to pick me up. It turns out that Xicheng District wasn't even in the rescue plan."
The sounds became more numerous and increasingly chaotic.
Lu Chen could understand these reactions; the level of safety he was in was indeed not as good as that of the official shelters at this stage.
Understanding is one thing, but it doesn't mean he's indifferent.
He needs these people to stay here, to provide him with gratitude points, and to "charge" the meteorite imprint.
If the outpost is developed well enough to make these people willing to stay, then the daily pre-meal thanksgiving will become a continuous source of energy for the meteorite imprint.
This is not a one-time harvest, but a continuous operation.
He pulled Gao Yuan to the edge of the rooftop, to a relatively quiet corner, and roughly recounted the core content of his conversation with Zhang Zhenhua.
The most crucial point: the military's ground forces will absolutely not be able to reach the West District within half a month.
"That's the situation," Lu Chen said. "You've seen how these people are feeling right now."
"You go and do some ideological work, and at least guarantee that these people won't cause any trouble for at least half a month. After half a month..."
He glanced at the red cloth fluttering at the edge of the rooftop, his tone calm.
"After two weeks, I believe the living conditions here will be no worse than those in the shelters."
Gao Yuan straightened his back even more than before. "Captain... no, sir. Don't worry, leave this to me."
"The military might not be able to send anyone for at least half a month. During this time, they can't go anywhere. As long as they stay here, I'll handle their thinking."
He patted his chest and said, "Back when I was working in the neighborhood committee, I could talk my way through even the toughest holdouts."
"These people have just been rescued, and their emotions are only temporary. As long as we explain things clearly, they will stabilize quickly, and they will definitely behave themselves within half a month."