Chapter 442: The Air Fleet
Zhuang Mingxu, now fully aware of the situation, burst out laughing. Lu Weiyi, who had also figured it out, couldn’t hold in his laughter either—his psychic energy even shook the window open without a breeze.
“Who’s there?!” Ning Yuan barked, instantly turning to look outside.
Zhuang Mingxu opened the study door and scanned the living room. His finger hovered in the air, pointing straight at Lu Weiyi. Lu bit his lip, pretending to look innocent—but when Ning Yuan looked his way, he couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
Ning Yuan gritted his teeth, flung his sleeve, and muttered, “Very funny,” before storming back to his room.
*
After three and a half months of work—including relocating several nearby mountains and the effort of over 10,000 ability users—the sea around Half Moon Bay was finally filled in to the planned depth.
In the surrounding shallow bays, the base began raising small aquatic species again to supply food. Near the island, metal nets were installed to prevent mutated sea creatures from making landfall.
Some key areas were even equipped with electric fencing. Of course, the base couldn’t afford enough energy to power it 24/7. So, they sealed two lightning-type zombies in metal containment to serve as the power source.
Shen Xiuyin’s “head-ring restraints” had also been deployed. Initially used for water-type zombies, these were placed near the base’s main water source.
The well walls had special openings, and the water-type zombies—trapped in metal restraints—would automatically fire water blades when they heard the sound of water being drawn. The blades hit the metal walls, dropping clean water into the well below.
The zombies consumed crystal cores to slowly recover, only to be drained again in an endless cycle—providing the base with a sustainable water supply and freeing up many water-type ability users.
Wood-type zombies were even easier to use. Once locked in the cultivation zone, any seeds in their range would quickly sprout, grow, and be harvested. Then the cycle would repeat.
Thanks to this, Li Dongsheng was able to reassign 90% of his wood-type ability users to the farming zone, greatly expanding the base’s cultivated land.
Lightning-type zombies were rare. The only two were reserved for Shen Xiuyin’s research. They were originally intended for the weapons factory, but that required steady current. Since they couldn’t yet control the voltage precisely, the zombies were temporarily hooked up to the electric fence instead.
The single fire-type zombie had been designated for the base’s boiler room. Every home was now outfitted with central heating—just waiting for winter. Once it arrived, that zombie’s ability would power heating for the entire base.
To prepare for that, the base had already begun actively hunting more fire-type zombies.
Just then, two major news items spread across the bases—one good, one bad.
The good news: Capital Base had finally discovered why humans were facing declining fertility while animals were reproducing abnormally fast.
The bad news: A northern base confirmed that high-level zombies were beginning to regain consciousness—and even command other zombies.
These two revelations brought the long-delayed “Ability User Summit” back on the agenda. All major bases wanted access to the newest tech and hoped to form alliances with stronger partners for future support.
After discussions, the bases agreed to host the summit at Capital Base in October—right when temperatures peak.
By the time Half Moon Bay Base’s construction was nearly complete, Zhuang Mingxu had already negotiated a partnership with Capital Base. They would build an underground tunnel connecting the two. The tunnel was scheduled to be completed by the time the summit began.
Although they could have departed last, Half Moon Bay Base chose to leave early. Their crystal core supply was tight, and they hoped to clear out some zombies along the way—so they set off a few days in advance.
Lu Weiyi wasn’t good at dealing with people, and the upcoming summit required someone with enough authority to speak on the base’s behalf. In the end, the team decided that both Zhuang Mingxu and Lu Weiyi would go.
Compared to other bases where internal power struggles and interests were tangled, Half Moon Bay Base had far fewer concerns. Still, they wanted to give their squads a chance to interact with other bases.
The base notified all squads in advance, asking for volunteers of Class A or above abilities, with a cap of ten participants.
While the squads were buzzing with activity, the villa was also discussing who would join the trip. Aside from Lu Weiyi and Zhuang Mingxu, a healer was necessary. Usually, Xu Yi would avoid such field missions whenever possible, but this time he volunteered before Dean could even speak.
“You sure? It’s dangerous out there,” Lu Weiyi reminded him.
Xu Yi nodded without hesitation, completely unfazed.
Lu Weiyi looked at Zhuang Mingxu—he was hoping Dean would go, which would mean Antonio would accompany them too, boosting their combat strength.
Zhuang Mingxu glanced at Xu Yi, thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, Dean will stay behind at the base this time.”
“OK,” Dean replied with a slightly regretful smile, but was still easygoing as always.
This meant Antonio would also remain at the base. Lu Weiyi looked around and said, “Then let’s bring Li Zhuang, Xu Sa, Liu Rui, and Gu Qingzhi.” His gaze drifted between Ning Yuan and Gu Qingyue.
Between the two water-type ability users, Ning Yuan had stronger combat capabilities, but Gu Qingyue and his brother Gu Qingzhi…
“Let Qingyue go,” Ning Yuan offered. “Ye Jia from the Frost Society is making a trip, and his water-type combat power is decent.”
Gu Qingyue looked at him gratefully. Gu Qingzhi’s recent health scare had made them both realize how much they didn’t want to be apart in this dangerous world.
Gu Qingzhi also breathed a sigh of relief, tightening his grip on Gu Qingyue’s hand. The two shared a look full of unspoken understanding.
“Alright, then we’ll add one more metal-type ability user,” Lu Weiyi considered the remaining team. “Between Zhang Peng from Team 2 and Lin Mo from Team 3, who’s at a higher level?”
“Lin Mo,” Lin Yimu responded quickly.
“Then he’ll come with us,” Lu Weiyi decided.
The First Team’s power was now fairly balanced, and with several squad members advancing to S-level, the remaining personnel were enough to handle any unexpected base incidents.
“Are you bringing the kids? Should Aiyi and Taotao come along?” Xi Shi suddenly asked.
Zhuang Mingxu and Lu Weiyi both turned to the two children, who had remained quiet. As they grew older, Zhuang Aiyi had become more mature, no longer clingy like when he was young, and could even help take care of his little brother.
After their departure, the combat force on the base’s central island would be limited. If anyone with bad intentions targeted the kids, the others—who had their own loved ones to protect—might not be able to intervene in time.
Meeting the boy’s hopeful gaze, Zhuang Mingxu said, “Let’s bring them—it’ll be safer. What do you think?”
“Fine by me,” Lu Weiyi replied nonchalantly.
“Thanks, Dad! I’ll behave and won’t cause any trouble!” Zhuang Aiyi said excitedly.
Once the travel group was finalized, and after Zhuang Mingxu had given brief instructions for the base’s operations while they were away, he turned to Lu Weiyi.
“Brother Mu, how many combat-ready personnel do we currently have in the base army?” Lin Yimu had been overseeing the army and warehouse logistics, and as the army expanded, he’d also taken over training new recruits.
“From the beginning, we trained them to be combat-ready at all times. We used pre-apocalypse special forces training methods. Everyone can be deployed instantly. We now have over 13,500 personnel available.”
“You told me before the army was divided into three regiments, excluding logistics?” Lu Weiyi tried to recall what he knew about the base army.
“That’s right.”
“Are they divided by ability type?”
“No.” Lin Yimu immediately realized Lu Weiyi had probably forgotten what he’d said earlier. Not wanting others to notice, he took the blame himself. “After discussing it with a few squad leaders, we decided to split the teams by ability users and non-ability users. Each regiment has mixed teams to ensure any unit can operate independently. They’ve all been trained this way, and I planned to report once we had some results.”
“We modeled it after the pre-apocalypse military structure. Ability users are grouped 10–15 per team, non-ability users 20–30 per team. They train separately but are coordinated to support one another. Each ability team pairs with a non-ability team to form a squad. Four squads make a platoon, two platoons a company, two companies a battalion, and four battalions a regiment. We have two regiments now—just under 9,000 people.”
“The remaining 1,000-plus are logistics—mainly mechanics and weapons specialists.”
Lin Yimu re-explained the unit composition to Lu Weiyi in detail.
“What weapons are everyone using now?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“Enhanced blades and daggers, plus crystal-core rifles and handguns,” Lin Yimu replied smoothly, clearly familiar with his domain. “But we don’t have enough rifles yet to arm everyone.”
“Manufacturing can’t keep up?” Lu Weiyi turned to Zhuang Mingxu.
“We’re short on materials. Even with Uncle constantly shipping them in, it’s not enough. And we also don’t have enough crystal cores.” Each gun requires a core to function—and that’s just the standard loadout, not including extras.
Lu Weiyi nodded, thought for a moment, then said, “We’ll figure out a way to fix the supply issue. Meanwhile, get your manufacturing team to expand. Also, start training specialized weapon units—machine gun teams, rocket launcher teams, tank crews, even air support teams.”
At those words, everyone in the room looked over. Even Zhuang Mingxu was caught off guard—he hadn’t heard anything about this before. He asked bluntly, “You’re planning to shift combat focus in that direction?”
“Yes,” Lu Weiyi affirmed without hesitation. “The residents can stay inside, but we can’t. If we don’t go out and engage with the outside world, we won’t understand how the mutated animals and zombies are evolving. Besides, our base’s energy supply is gradually shifting to crystal core energy—so we need those cores.”
