Chapter 154: Digestion and Preparation

"Hello, listeners, and welcome back to City Broadcasting Station. I am your familiar host, Bai Mengmeng. Over the past few broadcasts, the craze for this colorful Nüwa Grass in New City has been growing stronger and stronger..."

Hearing this familiar broadcast opening, Xie Han felt entirely at ease, which meant it was already eight o'clock.

Recalling the previous night, the migration convoy had marched for a full seven hours, barely reaching the highway area by four in the morning to set up camp directly on the asphalt. In Xie Han's view, had a wave of zombies not suddenly attacked midway, they might never have mustered the endurance to march continuously for seven hours on foot. As soon as everyone was settled, the exhausted citizens collapsed directly onto the highway surface, and the rhythmic sound of deep breathing rose almost instantly.

While the civilians could finally rest, the soldiers had to push through, standing guard along both sides of the highway to ensure the safety of the thirty-six thousand people. Fearing that lights would attract zombies, the entire highway had to rely solely on the faint moonlight for illumination, limiting visibility to less than ten meters. This added immense pressure to the guarding soldiers, who stood their posts with trembling nerves.

Fortunately, New City's luck was not too bad; the three hours until dawn at seven passed without incident. By the time they held on until now, the soldiers were exhausted to the absolute limit. Yet seeing the civilians still fast asleep, covering the surface of the highway, Xie Han could not bring himself to wake them. Instead, he ordered two Humvee Kings to race back to New City and dispatch the remaining trucks. Thirty-six thousand people, over a hundred trucks, and various other vehicles would need a full day to transport everyone safely back to New City.

This entire day of work could only be described as unimaginably tedious. Therefore, when the first batch of reinforcement soldiers arrived, Xie Han and the hundred or so guards were immediately relieved and sent back to New City to sleep. The quarantine protocols meant that Xie Han and his men collapsed straight onto the beds in the isolation rooms the moment they returned.

Who knew how much time had passed? In a hazy sleep, Xie Han felt something tickling his nose, a strange, itching sensation that forced him to stir from his deep slumber. Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Qi Feiwu's playful smile as she swept a furry little blade of grass back and forth across his nose.

Seeing Xie Han open his eyes, Qi Feiwu leaned down to plant a kiss on his cheek, smiling as she said, "You big sleepyhead, hurry up and get up."

Xie Han looked around; aside from the indoor lighting, the window glass showed pitch-black night outside. "What time is it?" Xie Han shook his somewhat numb head. Even back in college when he had spent several consecutive nights pulling all-nighters at internet cafes, he had never felt this exhausted.

Qi Feiwu flicked the furry little blade of grass and replied, "It's already nine o'clock in the evening. If I wasn't afraid of you starving, I wouldn't have bothered to wake you."

Xie Han was startled. He clearly remembered returning to New City at eleven in the morning. Calculated this way, had he slept for a full ten hours straight? Xie Han found it somewhat incredible. Given his physique, which far exceeded that of an ordinary person, he normally only needed five hours of rest each day to feel fully energized.

*Could it be that I overindulged the night before yesterday? Combined with staying up all night last night, that must have caused severe mental exhaustion,* Xie Han muttered to himself. That was probably the only logical explanation for his current state.

Qi Feiwu had brought meals along with her. She handed Xie Han a cup of water to rinse his mouth before setting out the dishes one by one. The spread was quite rich, featuring tomatoes, water spinach, bok choy, and a plate of canned meat. Xie Han wasn't particularly hungry, but remembering that Qi Feiwu had brought it all, he forced himself to clean out two bowls of rice and every single plate, leaving his stomach painfully full and prompting a sympathetic look from Qi Feiwu.

Since this was an independent isolation room and Xie Han was experiencing romance for the very first time, he naturally couldn't resist pulling Qi Feiwu into his arms for a passionate, wild kiss. Had it not been for the soundproofing concerns of the facility, Xie Han would have been tempted to consummate their relationship right there on the spot.

Qi Feiwu could certainly feel Xie Han's arousal pressing against her, her face flushing as she murmured, "Not the last two days. Down there... down there is still a bit swollen and sore."

Realizing that he was entirely responsible for this, Xie Han felt a twinge of guilt. He could only hold Qi Feiwu close and indulge in alternative intimacies.

Upon leaving the quarantine room, Chen Liu and the others certainly wouldn't wait outside to greet Xie Han. Who didn't know that Qi Feiwu had gone to deliver food to him? Would everyone seriously want a repeat of the previous night's soundtrack? Therefore, they all tactfully chose Xie Han's residence within the experimental base as the gathering point. Bringing back thirty-six thousand people in a single operation was, after all, a massive victory.

Given their relationship with Xie Han, while they were technically superiors and subordinates on paper, no one in private treated Xie Han as some aloof boss. Once inside Xie Han's quarters, they casually seated themselves. Chu Tianhe even went rummaging around, quickly unearthing the good items hidden in Xie Han's room, dividing them up and eating and drinking without ceremony. Xie Han could only smile bitterly, shaking his head as he collapsed gracelessly onto the bed, closing his eyes to announce, "Fine. Let's begin the meeting..."

In truth, Xie Han knew very well what Chen Liu, Xu Qiang, and the others wanted to know, so he picked out the key highlights to recount. Hearing that a single command vehicle had practically secured the entire valley basin, everyone stared at one another in sheer disbelief.

Xu Qiang blurted out, "Commander Xie, isn't that a bit too exaggerated? That's a base with over thirty thousand people, and you just took it like that?"

"It really was like that," Xie Han replied, recalling how surreal it had felt at the time. "Think about it. With the armor of the command vehicle, their crude weapons couldn't possibly inflict any real damage. Of course, this also had a lot to do with Qin Biao's final cooperation. Otherwise, amid the massive chaos, even if we had managed to capture the place, we wouldn't have been able to control so many civilians. They would have scattered to the winds, and who knows if we could have kept even half of them."

Everyone knew about the situation with Qin Biao, especially when recalling his one hundred women, causing Chen Liu and the others to break out in cold sweat.

"We've already registered the identities of the people from the valley basin. And let me tell you, their previous professions cover all walks of life. Their integration means that virtually every factory in New City is now operating at full capacity."

What Xie Han cared about most was the absorption of talent for the Doomsday Corporation. In his mind, the corporation's role as the core hub for technological decoding and research was the single most crucial link in his entire master plan. Fortunately, among this new batch of personnel, over thirty individuals met the corporation's criteria, vastly strengthening its scientific research capabilities.

Xie Han's success this time greatly boosted the confidence of Xu Qiang and the others.

Xu Qiang asked, "Since those people are so backward, could we just directly conquer them?"

Xie Han shook his head. "Think about it. With New City's current capacity, can we sustain an even larger scale? As the saying goes, you eat a meal one bite at a time. The thirty-six thousand people from the valley basin are already enough for New City to digest. Haste makes waste—do you understand this principle?"

The pressure on logistics was immense; the total population of New City had now reached eighty thousand. Feeding, housing, and providing for everyone was enough to give Chu Tianhe a headache.

He chimed in, "The boss is right. Indeed, if we want to expand the population further, it will take at least two months. By then, we'll have just harvested, dried, and stored our grain. Moreover, two months will allow this new batch of citizens to fully assimilate into New City, significantly reducing our management burden."

"Therefore, for the next two and a half months, we will maintain our current strategy. With the increase in personnel, I believe it's also necessary to expand our administrative officials. Select some individuals from the records who were former government officials and observe them. If they pass the probation, integrate them into New City's management tier. Remember, New City's law enforcement is carried out under military discipline. Any corruption or lawbreaking will be dealt with by military law."

New City was currently in a period of rapid development, and on this front, there could be no ambiguity whatsoever. Otherwise, once such a corrupt culture took root, it would become impossible to eradicate.

With the strategy confirmed and remaining unchanged, the second expedition required a few days of preparation. Consequently, Xie Han spent nearly all his time glued to Qi Feiwu over the next few days. The two of them appeared everywhere together as a couple, openly announcing their formal romantic relationship to everyone. In truth, their coupling was what everyone had hoped for; at present, Qi Feiwu was the only one in the base worthy of Xie Han. If they didn't end up together, who else could possibly match them?

Their affection continued to heat up day by day. Xie Han even entertained the idea of having Qi Feiwu move into his quarters to experience the legendary cohabitating lifestyle. However, considering his current secrets, he ultimately held back. In any case, Qi Feiwu lived in the very same building just two or three minutes away, so cohabitation didn't strictly matter.

After a few days of blissful living, the second trade caravan was fully prepared. This trip was largely similar to the previous one, though the volume of vegetables was slightly reduced while everyday consumer goods were increased. This was based on sound logic: over the past four years, various bases had long established cyclic food chains. While surplus wasn't common, eating a half-fill was achievable, and vegetables weren't severely lacking, making produce less of a hot commodity.

Consumer goods, however, were entirely different. Not every base possessed its own factories like New City to manufacture such livelihood items. Judging solely by the valley basin, consumer goods were exceptionally scarce.

Moreover, considering potential dangers, this mission learned from the previous lessons. The convoy's armed escort was doubled, with five soldiers equipped per truck. These soldiers were all outfitted with cutting-edge individual gear from the experimental base, making their combat effectiveness in the apocalypse exceptionally formidable. Not only that, but the caravan also added five weapon transport vehicles to guarantee heavy firepower output.

With this configuration, the caravan's overall firepower was more than three times greater than on the first trip. What puzzled Xie Han even more was that among the five weapon transport vehicles, one looked particularly special. Its flatbed was a size larger than the others, tightly covered by a tarp. The twenty-meter-long flatbed, combined with its massive circular chassis, made Xie Han realize something.

"This is the ultimate trump card we prepared for you." Xu Qiang patted the lengthened transport vehicle proudly. "See this carriage bed? It took Master Yang and Master Wang four days of hands-on modification specifically to transport the fuselage of the Skywarden."

Although Xie Han had already guessed it vaguely, hearing Xu Qiang confirm it still left him momentarily stunned. "I actually thought I guessed wrong. I didn't expect you guys to really do it." He lifted a corner of the tarp, and sure enough, the fuselage of the Skywarden had been securely hoisted inside.

Xu Qiang explained, "There was no other choice. You know Feiwu's personality—she wanted us to provide you with more security. After thinking it over, the Skywarden seemed to be the only suitable option. So after consulting with Brother Chen Liu and the others, we came up with this idea. First of all, the Skywarden's wings can be completely folded and retracted into the fuselage, which makes transport much simpler. When modifying this flatbed, we even took takeoff into consideration, specially widening it so the Skywarden can launch directly off the transport bed."

Indeed, the Skywarden possessed vertical takeoff capabilities. When needed, the transport vehicle simply had to stop, unfold the wings, and launch directly from the flatbed. The design of the combat jet runway focused on rapid response, capable of catapulting the aircraft away in seconds. Utilizing the launching momentum to instantly bring the jet's speed to eight hundred kilometers per hour, it could immediately initiate attacks upon unfolding its wings—the most effective pre-apocalypse anti-ambush design.

Xie Han's astonished expression gave Xu Qiang a sense of achievement. He continued, "That's not all. Aside from the Skywarden's basic air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, its triple-bay weapon design gave us room to improvise. While the first bay is loaded with air-to-air missiles, we've filled the second bay with ten cluster bombs, and the third bay holds contact incendiary bombs—though homemade, the weapon bay can only fit three of them."

Xie Han understood incendiary bombs, but what on earth were cluster bombs?

Noticing Xie Han's bewildered expression, Xu Qiang chuckled again and explained, "Cluster bombs are actually similar to cluster mines, except landmines are planted on the ground while cluster bombs are aerial munitions used for carpet bombing. However, regular cluster mines can't compare to them. Upon detonation, a single cluster bomb scatters over eighteen hundred thumb-sized submunitions, blanketing an area of over five hundred meters."

"Eighteen hundred?!" Xie Han was deeply shocked. He knew the destructive power of high-explosive munitions; even at just the size of a thumb, each could produce an explosive yield comparable to a millimeter artillery shell. Imagine eighteen hundred of them detonating simultaneously—it would instantly create a vacuum within a five-hundred-meter radius where not a blade of grass survived. It was undoubtedly the most devastating area-of-effect aerial bombing weapon from before the apocalypse.

Xu Qiang spread his hands. "We had no choice; Feiwu kept a close eye on us, so we had to equip you with the very best New City had to offer. But I'm telling you, these cutting-edge weapons from the experimental base cannot be replenished—every one you use is gone for good. There are only three supplies of cluster bombs. Even when a million zombies attacked, I didn't take them out, but now... humph, bad friends indeed! Feiwu nagged me for ages for the sake of her boyfriend!"

Seeing Xu Qiang shaking his head, sighing, and giving him a quirky look, Xie Han didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What is that expression supposed to mean? If you have complaints, you can always go find An Xiaowei. I imagine she, having lost her brother, would be quite happy for you to take his place."

Xu Qiang's face flushed slightly, and he wryly replied, "You should understand what I mean. Treat Feiwu well and don't let me down. As for An Xiaowei... heh, I know how to pursue my own happiness; you don't need to worry about that."

"Good. If that's truly the case, then I'll just have to tell Dr. Wang to prepare more Nüwa Serums so you two can definitely pop out a chubby baby." Xie Han seized upon Xu Qiang's remark to make a grand joke. "Qiangzi, if you aren't ready for a child just yet, I still have a few boxes of condoms left—I can lend them to you first."

Embarrassed and annoyed, Xu Qiang cursed with a smile, "Go die..."

Xie Han turned serious. "Qiangzi, you're nearly thirty, right? It's about time you thought about your own future. An Xiaowei is at her most vulnerable right now, so you really need to put in some effort. Otherwise, once she steps out of the shadow of her brother's death, she'll undoubtedly become a powerhouse, and making a move then will be much harder. I know all your energy is currently poured into training soldiers, but major life milestones like this still need to be seized."

Xu Qiang silently nodded. "Commander Xie, I'll handle everything properly. Finding a woman you adore in the apocalypse isn't easy; I won't give up."

Xie Han patted Xu Qiang's shoulder and smiled as he left the caravan. To some extent, Xie Han felt a lingering sense of guilt toward Xu Qiang, so An Xiaowei's appearance could at least serve as an extra source of motivation for him. Since the caravan wasn't departing until the next morning and likely wouldn't return on the same day, Xie Han deeply cherished the remaining hours, stubbornly clinging to Qi Feiwu for the entire day.

Time did not stop for Xie Han's reluctance. Early the next morning, he still had to drag himself out of his comfortable bed and leave behind that haven of tenderness.

*(Damn it... ¥, maintaining the power grid takes a whole day, what a pain. Still, I won't be foolish enough to run dozens of kilometers away to write like yesterday. I literally carried a diesel generator away from a friend's shop... Wahaha, I wonder if the ice cream inside his freezer will be fine without power? Sweat!!! Hurry up and cast your votes!! Two chapters back-to-back...)*