Chapter 69: Soilless Cultivation
That evening, just as Zhan Yun and the others were driving and preparing to leave the base, they were stopped by a young soldier named Cui Jianchao.
“Captain Zhan! Captain Zhan!”
Cui Jianchao had awakened a speed-type ability. Later on, whenever the base leadership needed errands run, they liked to send him. This time, he dashed over to them in a flash—sent by Commander Zhang.
“Little Cui? What’s up?” Zhan Yun stopped the car, rolled down the window, and leaned out to ask.
“Commander Zhang would like to see you,” Cui Jianchao said, wiping sweat from his brow. Luckily he ran fast—otherwise Captain Zhan and his group would probably have already left the base.
“Alright.” Zhan Yun immediately turned the car around and headed toward base headquarters.
Commander Zhang was already waiting in the reception room at headquarters. When he saw Zhan Yun and the others arrive, he greeted them with a broad smile.
“Captain Zhan, you’re here.”
“Commander Zhang, are you looking for us because there’s a new mission you need our help with?” After exchanging brief greetings, Zhan Yun asked bluntly.
They had worked together many times by now, so Commander Zhang didn’t bother beating around the bush and went straight to the point. “Yes. We’ve heard that the W City Base has developed a soilless cultivation technique. Combined with the abilities of wood-type ability users, it can greatly increase crop yields. We’re planning to send a few technicians over to learn it. However, the route from our base to W City Base hasn’t been cleared yet, and we’re worried there might be dangers along the way. Also, Little Su’s wood-type ability is the strongest in our base. Since we’d rather not trouble multiple parties, we were hoping you could accompany them. You could provide protection along the way as well.”
After hearing this, Zhan Yun glanced at Su Ruizhe with an amused smile. “Little Zhe, what do you think?”
Su Ruizhe: …
What did he think? He didn’t think much of it at all! His ability was now entirely devoted to weapon conversion—he couldn’t stimulate crop growth at all! The fruits and vegetables he produced all grew naturally inside his space. Going to W City Base, he wouldn’t be able to help with cultivation in the slightest!
Seeing his beloved glaring at him with dagger-like eyes, Zhan Yun quickly changed his tune. “But Little Zhe’s ability is special. It would be a waste to use it on low-level crops anyway. Commander Zhang, you could just select one or two other wood-type ability users to go along.”
“Alright, alright.” Commander Zhang also felt that using such a special ability for farming would indeed be a waste, so he immediately agreed.
“When do we leave?”
“The sooner the better. Since you have no objections, we’ll depart tomorrow evening at six. But there’s one thing I should mention—Dr. Yang is highly educated, technically skilled, and very dedicated to research. It’s just that his temper is a bit… uh… peculiar. I hope you’ll be understanding.”
“That’s fine.” Zhan Yun could understand—people who did research and academic work these days usually had a bit of temperament.
Since they were heading out on a mission the next day, Zhan Yun and the others decided not to leave the base that day. They went back to rest instead. The road to W City Base was unlikely to be peaceful.
The next day, when Zhan Yun and the others gathered at the base gate, they met Dr. Yang. His name was Yang Mingyu. He wore glasses and had a baby face, making him look quite young, but he was actually thirty years old. He held dual PhDs in biology and chemistry and was exceptionally intelligent. He was the main person going to W City Base to study soilless cultivation techniques. Accompanying him were two young assistants, one male and one female.
Dr. Yang was traveling in a motorhome. It was said that his family was quite well-off and that the vehicle was originally his own, though he had since modified it into a simple mobile laboratory. Even on the road, he couldn’t stop himself from conducting experiments…
In addition to Zhan Yun’s team, the base also dispatched two military trucks as escort. This time, the person in charge was Guan Hong. Li Ming had another mission and didn’t participate in this operation.
Guan Hong had previously worked with Zhan Yun and his team once before and was well aware of their capabilities, so he treated them with considerable courtesy and consideration.
There were also two wood-type ability users traveling with them. The older one was a recruited ability user known as Old Yuan. He had originally been a farmer, was honest and straightforward, and was the most skilled at stimulating plant growth in the base. The younger one, Little Jiang, was a soldier who had only recently awakened his wood-type ability and was still not very proficient in controlling it. Normally, such a mission wouldn’t have fallen to him, but the base simply didn’t have many wood-type ability users. If all the more capable ones left, the base’s vegetable supply might suffer, so in the end, they chose Old Yuan and Little Jiang.
The convoy set off. The two military trucks drove in front and behind, protecting Dr. Yang’s motorhome in the middle, while Zhan Yun and the others’ off-road vehicle followed at the rear as usual.
The convoy headed due west and soon entered the HX Expressway. In fact, once they transferred from the HX Expressway to the JT Expressway and crossed Yingtianmen Bridge, they would more or less be within W City’s territory.
However, there were many abandoned vehicles on the highway, making progress far from smooth. From time to time, they had to clear scattered zombies from the roadway, which was extremely time-consuming.
Before the apocalypse, the trip from the Southern Base to W City Base would have taken only three or four hours. Now, it would probably take two or three days.
Fortunately, they had the new bullets, making zombie clearing much easier. Fire-type ability users in the military were specifically responsible for burning the zombie corpses and collecting crystal cores. Zhan Yun and the others barely had to lift a finger.
They rested at gas stations along the way during the day and continued traveling at night. After two days on the road, they even encountered several vehicles also heading toward W City Base. Seeing that they appeared to be military, those vehicles followed along behind them.
At around three in the morning on the third day, they finally reached Yingtianmen Bridge—only to find that the approach to the bridge was blocked. Guan Hong initially thought it was just abandoned vehicles and planned to have people move them aside. But when he got closer, he discovered that there were people inside those cars.
Guan Hong knocked on the window of one vehicle. Seeing that he was in uniform, the person inside rolled down the window and looked at him warily.
“What are you doing here? Why is everyone blocked up like this?” Guan Hong asked in surprise.
“We’re lining up. W City Base requires you to hand over supplies to enter, and it takes a long time to inventory them,” the man replied, glancing at Guan Hong. “You’re not from W City Base?”
“We’re from the Southern Base. Are there special rules for entering W City Base? Could you tell me about them?” Guan Hong said, pulling out a small pack of individually wrapped soda crackers and handing it over.
The man accepted them with a big smile, tore open the package, and started eating right away while explaining.
It turned out that W City Base was different from the Southern Base. It hadn’t been converted from a military district but was established jointly by several factions. Although there were local military forces stationed there, they couldn’t fully dominate the base.
W City Base did accept survivors, but unlike the Southern Base, it didn’t accept everyone unconditionally. Each person had to pay three jin of grain to enter, and the base did not provide food or lodging. After entering, survivors had to solve their own living and housing problems. However, W City Base offered slightly better treatment to ability users. Ability users didn’t need to pay entry supplies at all. Once inside, they could join an ability-user combat team, which took care of food and lodging. As a result, Wan City Base was very popular among ability users. Ordinary survivors also felt safer there due to the higher number of ability users, which was why they chose to join Wan City Base.
Not all the vehicles blocking the road belonged to newly arrived survivors seeking refuge. Some belonged to ability-user teams returning from missions. These teams had to hand over half of the supplies they collected, so inventorying their goods took even longer.
Guan Hong listened in a daze—he hadn’t expected W City Base’s rules to be so strict.
But since they were on a mission and wanted to learn the new soilless cultivation techniques from W City Base, they could only endure it and wait in line.
Finally, after more than half an hour, the vehicles ahead gradually crossed the bridge, and it was almost their turn.
But just then, the sound of zombie howls suddenly rang out.
“Zombies! Zombies are coming!”
Instantly, the crowd descended into chaos. People scrambled into their cars, trying to flee, but vehicles blocked them from all sides, leaving nowhere to escape.
“What are you panicking for? Don’t move!” Someone suddenly shouted through a loudspeaker while firing shots into the air.
The crowd gradually quieted down, all looking toward the source of the voice.
It was a man wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, standing atop the cab of a large truck and shouting at them. Around him were seven or eight people holding guns, with lightning bolt symbols painted on their arms. Their expressions were relaxed, showing no panic at all.
“It’s the Thunder Ability Team—the Thunder Ability Team!” Some people from W City Base had already recognized them.
Zhan Yun raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at them with interest.
The howling zombies slowly gathered, about a dozen or so in number, likely attracted by the crowd gathered here.
Those people raised their guns and began firing, but their aim wasn’t very good. After about five minutes of shooting, they had only killed a small portion. Several zombies, baring their claws and teeth, were already closing in on the outer vehicles.
“Ahhh!” Someone screamed and ran toward the bridge entrance, and the crowd once again fell into disorder.
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