Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Construction Plans
Coming down from the second floor, the students below had already received the news that Ye Fan was going to take them away.
These children were very pitiful. None of the hundreds of people here could see their parents again.
A few days ago, many people were emotionally shattered. Fortunately, with some classmates together, supporting and encouraging each other, they managed to get through the toughest times in this apocalypse.
But under Smith’s command, their days weren’t easy.
Smith was very strict when he was the director of discipline and now takes these students even less seriously. His foreign teachers are in charge of management, and when it comes to collecting supplies, these students are just laborers.
Moreover, whenever there’s danger, some students are abandoned as bait to attract zombies, allowing others to escape.
The precarious days made these students feel hopeless.
Fortunately, someone had come to rescue them now, and it was Ye Luo’s brother, who also went to school here and is now a dignified military officer.
Seeing the soldiers armed to the teeth, a strong sense of security arose in the hearts of the students, and many even cried tears of joy.
After Ye Fan came downstairs, many students took the initiative to greet him, calling him Brother Ye.
Compared to the group of survivors from his hometown, Ye Fan actually felt closer to these junior classmates.
They were just high school students, not yet in society, with simple personalities, making them easier to manage and more approachable.
In time, when these students grow up, they could become the backbone force in his base.
"Alright, classmates, you don’t have to worry about anything now. I will take you away from the small town. Although the place I’m living in isn’t big now, everyone can bear with it for a while. I’m researching base construction, so just rest easy, and I promise to build you a safe and comfortable new home in this apocalyptic world."
The children clapped enthusiastically, their palms turning red.
"Alright, let’s set off; we’re going home."
Under the army’s organization, the students began to evacuate, filing out of the swimming pool.
But one team did not leave.
That was the platoon led by John.
They didn’t even appear in front of the students. After completing their mission, this team departed.
Ye Fan assigned them a task.
Which was to find a place with a radio and settle down.
They were to set up camp, collect supplies, and then contact other survivors.
Based on the identity Ye Fan gave them, they were members of the foreign consulate’s guard, stranded in a foreign land unable to return home, becoming a mercenary unit here.
To ensure this team’s survival, Ye Fan also specially equipped them with personnel.
Before leaving, Ye Fan assigned them a sniper, two military dogs, two medics, and two logistics support team members, all appearing as white people, of course.
These seven combat units cost Ye Fan 2000 Gold, but this combat platoon reached full strength, with thirty-two combat units fully equipped.
They would strictly follow Ye Fan’s commands, never acting rashly, and once their funds reached 5000, they would quietly send it back to Ye Fan.
Ye Fan knew these Red Alert Soldiers would absolutely meet his requirements. As long as this platoon of soldiers didn’t venture into dangerous areas, survival would not be an issue.
After some time, the personnel of this platoon could even reach Three-Star level, inevitably proving useful in the future.
With over fifty others, protecting three hundred students, Ye Fan set off on the road back to Chengguan Town.
Passing through the zoo, fortunately, Ye Fan had burned some bodies when he left, not attracting new zombies or mutant beasts, making this a safe passage into Lingshui Town.
Occasionally, a few scattered zombies appeared, and the soldiers would immediately rush over, taking them down effortlessly with bayonets.
Xu Haoran, leading the engineers and a few soldiers, had gone ahead, and by the time Ye Fan caught up with the main force, he had procured three large trucks.
These were heavy cargo trucks, each fully loaded, capable of carrying over a hundred students.
In this abandoned stream of vehicles, finding three usable large trucks was not easy, but with the engineers there, the repair speed was swift, fixing up the trucks located on the outskirts and bringing them out.
"Alright, everyone on board!"
The students squeezed into the trucks’ cargo areas, standing together like sardines.
Ye Fan then returned to his Fierce Dragon off-road vehicle, leaning back against the seat, pondering issues.
These three hundred students returning to Chengguan Town, Donghua Grand Restaurant there was truly too crowded.
Obviously, that location was no longer suitable as a base site, and the rudimentary Wall would hardly provide much protection against a zombie attack.
The new base had to be constructed quickly, but the issue of location kept revolving in his mind.
The place had to be a bit bigger, firstly to reserve a certain space for his internal base.
This internal base referred to Ye Fan’s Red Alert building area. He didn’t know how large these buildings would be in reality, but it wouldn’t be small.
For example, a Power Plant, in the game, takes up a small area, but in reality, a tiny piece certainly wouldn’t suffice.
There’s also the Barracks. Thinking about the barracks, Ye Fan asked Nana.
"Nana, do you know how large a barracks covers?"
"Sir, a barracks is a place for soldiers to rest and reside, with exercise areas, training zones, shooting ranges, canteens, etc., inside. The specific area size can’t be determined yet, but you should know one thing, sir. The capacity limit for a barracks is one battalion."
"Oh! That’s how it works?"
"Yes, the game is a game; reality is reality. In the game, one barracks can spawn troops infinitely, but in reality, your Red Alert Soldiers are living people and cannot be endlessly packed into one barracks. Hence, after the system upgrades, one barracks serves as one battalion’s living quarters, with designated spots for beds and accommodation, so you, sir, need to upgrade to Battalion Commander authority quickly to determine a battalion’s staffing, lest after building the base vehicle, the barracks cannot produce due to lack of staffing."
Ye Fan thought for a moment: "What if I want to build a regiment’s worth of troops?"
"That would depend on the staffing for a regiment, but at least three battalions are needed, and a regimental headquarters has to be set up for a Level 1 unit, which means four barracks are required."
"Sir, if you want to establish a regiment-level force, initially you cannot accomplish this in the virtual buildings, just like you have only one Power Plant. In the virtual world, you also have only one barracks, so before the physical buildings exist, your troop limit is one battalion, excluding vehicles."
Ye Fan nodded, roughly understanding the situation.
Soldiers also need living space, the barracks being their rest and living area, one battalion roughly comprises four to five hundred people.
A living area for four to five hundred people is quite a big place.
Moreover, the terrain should be flat, allowing for building placements and not being situated in mountainous areas.
What’s more, he intended to construct far beyond just a Power Plant and Barracks, not to mention how large a Mining Complex might be; a radar couldn’t merely be just one radar, right? It should be a radar station.
A Tank Factory also couldn’t just be a workshop slightly larger than a tank, so its footprint wouldn’t be small either.
Furthermore, Ye Fan had a concern about the Air Command.
The Air Command actually serves as an airstrip, and fighter jets in reality can’t take off vertically like helicopters in the game. They require an airport, runway, hangar, control tower, etc., so how large would that be?
Not to mention the system upgrades might introduce many other buildings, like a field hospital.
There must also be living space for survivors, as they cannot be allowed into the core area which holds his secrets.
"I need to find a large enough, relatively flat location that is close to mineral resources to utilize the Mining Complex; it’s not easy to find such a place."
Ye Fan had devised a plan, and upon returning to Chengguan Town, the first thing he intended to do was to clear the zombies.
He would level Chengguan Town to collect resources for himself.
A town with thirty thousand people wasn’t small; the number of zombies exceeded twenty-five thousand, which should bring a considerable income, accelerating the development of Tank Factories and base vehicle construction.
The time spent pondering passed quickly, and before Ye Fan realized it, the vehicle had left Lingshui, crossed through the wildlands, and returned to Chengguan Town.