manynovel Chapter 54 Negotiating Conditions
Chapter 54 Negotiating Conditions
As Lu Chen pressed the answer button, a deep male voice came through the receiver.
Without any pleasantries, the other party got straight to the point: "Comrade Lu Chen, you are currently the most outstanding superhuman in Wanshun City. Among other superhumans, the one who has saved the most survivors has only rescued 23 people, which is far from your level."
"I have a difficult task for you, and I wonder if you would be willing to accept it?"
Lu Chen thought to himself: Just as I thought!
Being valued means taking on more responsibilities, but that's what he wants... No missions, no military achievements; no military achievements, no voice.
However, he still needed to maintain a proper balance. His tone was neither overly enthusiastic nor dismissive, and he calmly took over the other person's words.
"I wonder what task Colonel Zhang will assign me?"
Zhang Zhenhua didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I might as well be frank with you. In the West District, our military doesn't yet have the capability to directly conduct rescue operations. At the current pace, it will be difficult to cover your location within half a month."
He paused for a moment, then emphasized his words.
"But since you have such capabilities, I hope to establish a temporary base in your Xiangyang Community to house the remaining survivors in the entire West District."
"At the same time, I hope that you can continue to rescue other survivors as much as possible, so that more people can live."
Lu Chen's hand holding the phone tightened slightly. He had thought that the next task was to cooperate with the military to hand over the existing survivors and then wait for further instructions.
But Zhang Zhenhua's meaning is very clear now: the military can't come for the time being, and someone in Xicheng District needs to step up and take on the responsibility of housing all the survivors.
If this task were given to another superhuman, they would probably refuse outright.
No matter how strong a superhuman is, they are still just one person. When there are many people, there is a need for management, resource allocation, order maintenance, and security.
During the day it's alright, but at night when the red moon is in the sky, the zombie activity level soars. Even a single elite zombie sneaking in is enough to plunge the entire stronghold into panic.
But Lu Chen wasn't afraid of any of these problems. He had plenty of manpower; he had 28 zombies, and even the weakest of them were at the Da Zhuang level.
With his physique, he could do whatever he wanted in Xicheng District.
He also has no shortage of management skills. Shen Qingci can detect the good and evil in people's hearts and can see who has a problem at a glance. In addition, there is Gao Yuan, a management talent who has been working in the street office for several years. The logistics operation has become smoother and smoother.
However, if you want to maximize your profits, you'll definitely have to engage in some back and forth.
Lu Chen's face showed a troubled expression, and his tone became heavy: "Colonel Zhang, this mission is probably very difficult!"
"Rescuing the survivors from these few buildings alone has already taken a lot of effort. Expanding further outwards will require a significant amount of supplies, equipment, and manpower."
He was only half telling the truth when he said that he did put in a lot of effort, working from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with only one meal break in between.
As for supplies and manpower, he actually has no shortage of them.
But he needs to consider the future; accommodating the survivors of the entire West District is a different matter from accommodating just one neighborhood.
Once the stronghold is established, the shortages of food, water, medicine, and ammunition will increase as the number of people grows.
Hearing that Lu Chen didn't directly refuse but instead said "difficult," Zhang Zhenhua was overjoyed.
The fact that they didn't outright refuse but instead set conditions indicates a willingness to cooperate. And as long as there's willingness, the conditions are negotiable.
"Of course I know about the difficulties." Zhang Zhenhua's tone also switched to negotiating terms.
"But don't worry, we'll give you an extra 1000 military merit points. Combined with the 125 people you rescued, you'll have a total of 2250 military merit points. That's enough to arm a dozen or so people to the teeth."
He paused, his tone suddenly becoming serious, "Not only that, I can also give you three Crimson Spirit Cores to facilitate your breakthrough in your abilities."
Lu Chen felt the name sounded familiar, and quickly remembered it.
When I browsed the official website of Project Dawn before, this name was at the very top of the list of items that could be exchanged by people with superpowers.
Crimson Spirit Core, a newly discovered mutated plant after the Red Moon, can enhance supernatural abilities. At the time, the page only showed a picture and a brief description.
"Crimson Spirit Core?" Lu Chen's voice held a hint of doubt. "Isn't this thing used to enhance supernatural abilities? Can it really help with breakthroughs?"
Zhang Zhenhua seemed to have anticipated this, saying, "What you see on the official website is only preliminary information. These mutated plants are all newly acquired by us, and we are still exploring many of their characteristics."
"It would be a waste to use Crimson Spirit Essence directly to enhance one's abilities. Its true purpose is to help those with abilities break through their limitations."
"Actually, you'll understand when your superpower is close to its bottleneck. For a normal superpowered person to break through, their own superpower reserves are not enough to directly break through the bottleneck. They must use these rare mutated plants to supplement extra energy in order to have a chance to break through smoothly."
"These are the latest research findings from the capital. Several powerful ability users there have already achieved their first breakthrough, all with the help of Crimson Spirit Core or other mutated plants."
Lu Chen held his phone, his expression turning somewhat strange.
He recalled the scene when he broke through last night. When he was breaking through the bottleneck, the speed at which his internal energy was consumed was extremely fast. If it weren't for his mental power accelerating the absorption of the Red Moon energy, his own energy reserves would have been depleted long ago.
So this is the normal way of things. It's not that his ability reserves are poor, it's that everyone's are. The Crimson Spirit Core and other mutated plants are the external forces used to fill the gap.
However, now that this issue has been raised, he can only tell the truth: "Colonel Zhang, my superpower... I broke through last night. Now I can control a maximum of 30 zombies. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to rescue so many survivors in such a short time today."
There was a full two seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.
"Huh?" Zhang Zhenhua's voice lost its composure for the first time, turning into surprise. "How did you do that?"
"I don't know. Maybe my ability is a bit special!" Lu Chen's tone was very calm, as if he were talking about something insignificant.
The matter of the meteorite mark must be kept to himself, but his ability to control zombies was already strange in everyone's eyes. Being able to control zombies, possessing zombies, and then adding the ability to "break through on his own without external objects" is just adding another layer to the label of being strange.
Zhang Zhenhua remained silent for a moment, but did not press the matter.
In the apocalypse, superpowers come in all shapes and sizes, and there are always a few that are completely unreasonable.
He wasn't a scientist and didn't intend to dissect and study every superhuman; he was more concerned with another issue.
"You're not refusing, so does that mean you agree to take on this mission?"
"I agree," Lu Chen answered first, but then changed the subject, "However, I still want the Crimson Spirit Core. Shen Qingci is not far from breaking through."
"Alright. I won't let you suffer any losses." Zhang Zhenhua's tone carried a hint of a smile. "I can give you a promotion, directly to captain."
"Not only that, I will also allocate three combat squads to you. Of course, you know the situation in the West District, so getting there won't be easy, but I will try my best to get them there within a week."
Upon hearing about the benefits offered, Lu Chen's eyes widened slightly.
According to information published on the official website, ordinary superhumans can obtain the rank of second lieutenant after completing the preliminary tasks.
Someone like him, who rescued over 100 people on his very first mission, would have been directly promoted to lieutenant. But Zhang Zhenhua has given him the rank of captain... which is indeed an exceptional promotion.
More importantly, what he was given was not a nominal position. The transfer of three combat squads meant that he was given direct command of troops.
With formal combat capabilities, Xiangyang Community, once a temporary outpost, was no longer a civilian self-help point, but a formal outpost within the military system with established organization, combat power, and a command system.
This is exactly what Lu Chen needs most.
Having real power within the military system means that he can mobilize more resources and do more in the subsequent rescue of his family.