Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Mutation
Ye Fan heard Gao Dongliang’s words and was immediately delighted: "Oh, have you contacted survivors?"
"Yeah, I’ve basically figured out the surroundings of Coal City."
"Let’s talk in the office."
Ye Fan immediately brought Gao Dongliang to the office, and Gao Dongliang introduced to him.
"Currently, around Coal City, there are five large bases, more than a dozen medium and small survivor gathering points, and a few small teams, but those small teams aren’t valuable, they have too few resources."
"The large bases include the Hot Spring Base, Daqing Mountain Prison Base, Dazhuang Village Base, Hardware Mansion Base in Sishui County, and the Coal City Airport Base."
"Do you know who the leaders of these bases are?"
"Yes, the leader of the Hot Spring Base is named Dai Yu, nicknamed Croaker, said to be a sharpshooter, and their base has the most people. In Daqing Mountain, it’s Xing Hai, and their base is the most secure. In Dazhuang Village, it’s Chen Hao, at Hardware Mansion there’s Liu Long, and the leader of the Airport Base is named Qin Yumo, seems to be a woman, quite mysterious, hasn’t spoken in the broadcasts."
At this point, Gao Dongliang said, "Ye Fan, I said in the broadcast that we’re the Lingshui Town Base, and the leader is you, is that okay? Otherwise, people keep asking where I’m from."
Ye Fan nodded, since they wanted to trade with survivors, they had to say who they were, saying his name didn’t matter, after all, almost no one knew him.
"Ye Fan, I looked at the materials lacking in those bases, they’re short on everything, like medicine, weapons, ammunition, diesel, coal, clothing, basically everything, but when I mentioned trading gold and silver, I was mocked, especially by that Liu Long at Hardware Mansion who even called me an idiot. Only some medium and small base people said they wanted to trade with me, but currently, they don’t have much gold, silver, or jewels, they want me to set a trading time, and during this period they will start collecting."
"No hurry to set a trading time, just let them collect. Here’s the plan... Everyone who collects gold totaling more than five kilograms can trade with us. They need to give me a list of the materials they currently lack; we’ll start collecting materials tomorrow. Once we have the gold, the trading location can be set by them, as long as it’s in a middle ground between both parties."
"What about setting the value of goods?"
"You research into that, remember one thing, don’t lose out. Right now, everyone is lacking not gold, but other materials. Gold isn’t as important as food to them at the moment, don’t assign too high a value, the cheaper the better."
"Alright, I’ll draft a list for you now."
Gao Dongliang picked up a pen and quickly wrote a list of materials, all needed by the survivors.
Ye Fan took it and glanced over; he didn’t have much in terms of materials, only some firearms.
These firearms were seized from Jiang Shilong and those from Daqing Mountain Prison Base, including some police pistols and a few rifles.
And a Type 36 assault rifle, left behind by a fallen soldier; once the guns leave the hands of Red Alert Soldiers, they become regular firearms, losing the automatic bullet refresh function.
These firearms weren’t much use to Ye Fan, and the bullets were scarce, so they should be used for trade.
He called in the soldier standing guard outside the door.
Three combat platoons took turns guarding; now it was Second Platoon Leader Shen Ruihui guarding outside Ye Fan’s door.
"Ruihui, make some copies of this list, then distribute them to the survivors in the Grand Hotel. Tell them children under fourteen and elders over fifty-five can stay to cook, the rest will join the troops in action tomorrow, the troops will deal with zombies, and they need to collect items on this list. Let them use the three heavy trucks."
"Yes, Sir, I’ll do it right away!"
Shen Ruihui took the list, gathered many soldiers to copy it, and quickly made a large stack, which he distributed to the survivors at the Grand Hotel.
After a while, Shen Ruihui returned, and Ye Fan asked about the situation.
"Sir, most of the survivors are alright with it, especially the students who support you, but among the original survivors, a few think they shouldn’t have to do this."
"Oh, who are these people?"
"Mainly those with some connections to your family, they think they should assume managerial positions."
Ye Fan sneered, "What nonsense, go tell those people they have three choices: one, follow the troops to collect resources; two, pick up weapons and fight zombies, without being provided a gun; three, leave this place and go wherever they please! We don’t keep freeloaders here!"
"Understood!"
Shen Ruihui left again and returned after some time, "Sir, the task is completed!"
"What did they say this time?"
"They might have wanted to say something, but they didn’t dare."
Ye Fan nodded, not daring is good. He would have his sister and Qu Xiaoming keep an eye on these people, if anything happens, he definitely won’t be lenient.
These people wouldn’t cause a ripple, but perhaps when there are more survivors, some of those with powers might think they deserve better treatment, like those power users.
But Ye Fan wouldn’t relent on this; each person should be used to their full potential. He doesn’t need survivors to form any armed forces to conquer, Red Alert Soldiers are enough, survivors should focus on other livelihood tasks.
The night deepened, Ye Fan lay down to rest. Tomorrow morning, his troops would set out again, aiming to clear Chengguan Town within two days.
********
In a gutter, Wang Huining slowly opened his eyes.
"Am I still alive?"
A twinge of pain came from his arm, clearing his mind a bit.
"That’s right, my hand was grabbed by a zombie, and then I cut it off myself. I have to inform Boss Xing."
Standing up, he felt a bit strange; his arm didn’t seem to hurt as much?
Lowering his head to look, he was dumbfounded.
There were signs of scabbing on his arm, but traces of black blood oozed out from it.
"This... why is the blood black? Have I turned into a zombie?"
"Then why can I still think?"
Wang Huining was scared. He saw a puddle in front and quickly went over to check his reflection.
In the puddle, his image had changed drastically.
His originally bald head had enlarged a lot, and the proportions of his head and body were somewhat out of balance.
His face had more reddish spots, a sign of evolving into a zombie.
However, it seemed he hadn’t completely turned into a zombie; it was as if something went wrong during the mutation, making him a semi-zombie.
If human-to-zombie transformation is a 100% change, his condition could be described as 50%.
He opened his mouth to see his teeth had sharpened a lot, a hallmark of zombies.
Wang Huining was a bit stunned; he had no idea what to do in this situation.
With this half-human, half-ghost form, could he still return to the Daqing Mountain Prison Base?
Feeling dejected, he suddenly heard a noise behind him.
Turning abruptly, he saw a zombie farmer wobbling toward him.
Although Wang Huining was a power user, he was not very strong in combat. Seeing the zombie so close, he was almost scared to paralysis and quickly stumbled to run.
Losing balance due to a missing arm, he accidentally fell, and the zombie was already in front of him.
Frightened, Wang Huining waved his good arm at the zombie, blurting out, "Stay back!"
Something strange happened.
The zombie actually stopped.
********
The next morning, Ye Fan’s team set out.
The heavy machine guns on the armored vehicles and Fierce Dragon Vehicles gleamed with a cold light, instilling awe.
Military dogs trotted along beside Ye Fan, ready to instantly sense and rip apart anyone harboring bad intentions towards the commander!
A hundred fully armed soldiers, along with over three hundred survivors, gathered on the street between the police station and the Grand Hotel.
Ye Fan stood before the survivor team, saying loudly, "Today your task is simple, just follow behind the troops, we clear an area, and you collect valuable items in that area and load them onto the vehicles. Items like gold and silver jewelry must be handed over; no one is allowed to keep any private stash. The more you contribute, the better treatment you will receive in the future. Any attempts to leverage me or my family for preferential treatment will not be tolerated; those are the rules. Do you understand!"
"Understood!"
The students responded especially uniformly, and the other survivors also shouted out, faced with such a scene, no one dared to challenge Ye Fan’s authority.
Ye Fan was somewhat satisfied, waving his hand: "Move out!"