Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Attempting to Grow Stronger
Opened the tank page, there weren’t many additional vehicles.
Because Nana had already told Ye Fan, most high-tech vehicles, like tanks, require physical buildings to be unlocked; the virtual tank factory’s authority is still low.
Two new tanks appeared.
Multi-purpose barrier-breaking vehicle: Cost 2000 Gold.
Mine-laying vehicle: Cost 6000 Gold.
The barrier-breaking bulldozer is a large military bulldozer, looking similar in tonnage to a mining vehicle but without the mining function.
This thing mainly removes roadblocks while also having the functions of a bulldozer, crane, and tow truck.
There’s a big problem in the apocalypse, and that’s the many road obstacles, especially when entering cities, without vehicles to open roads, moving is virtually impossible.
Just like Ye Fan when he came from Coal City to Chengguan Town, both the mining vehicle and Tiger had to be left there.
When he went to Lingshui to rescue his sister, he similarly couldn’t drive his vehicle into the city and had to proceed on foot.
If there were a few of these kinds of vehicles, it probably wouldn’t be so laborious.
Moreover, for base construction, this thing is indispensable.
The appearance of the mine-laying vehicle gave Ye Fan a big surprise.
Once the base is established, defense becomes a problem, who knows what scale of zombies might appear later, mines are definitely an excellent defensive weapon.
Although the cost of 6000 Gold made Ye Fan wince, luckily he doesn’t need to manufacture it immediately, he has a lot of things to replenish.
After producing 13 soldiers, Ye Fan still had 12300 Gold.
First, he needed to replenish the medical vehicles and mess vehicles.
Missing medical vehicles is certainly not feasible, no need for extra explanation, just the lack of mess vehicles is very inconvenient, solving soldiers’ meal problems isn’t easy, going to a battlefield further away and then returning for meals is too inefficient.
Medical vehicle 2500, mess vehicle 2000, directly produced.
Apart from these two vehicles, Ye Fan didn’t immediately equip the troops with transport trucks or the platoon leader’s Tiger as funds were scarce.
With the remaining 7800 Gold, he first inquired with several engineers about how many specialized engineers they would need.
The engineers originally asked him for 50 soldiers, but engineers are obviously more useful in this regard than soldiers, they told Ye Fan that 30 engineers with their cooperation would be sufficient.
Ye Fan immediately produced thirty engineers, spending 6000 Gold, and assigned them to the engineers.
The granary had already been taken, engineers had already stationed themselves and begun the construction of the base vehicle, warriors were currently helping, engineers could replace them.
With the remaining 1800 Gold, Ye Fan first produced a three-person heavy machine gun warrior group.
The battlefield requires heavy firepower, having them engage in battle sooner would allow them to level up quicker.
With the last 300, he produced a military dog.
Ye Fan was planning to establish a guard unit, but it’s also not feasible without a military dog; Xiaotian had been with him for a long time, and Ye Fan wanted to bring Xiaotian back, hence he produced a military dog to replace it.
Spending money like water, over ten thousand Gold disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Luckily, all the money spent wasn’t in vain, after waiting a while, two vehicles drove over from a distance, respectively the mess vehicle of the logistics support team and the ambulance of the medical team.
Engineers drove over in cars, these people not only had rifles but also had mine detectors, and each was skilled in labor.
Ye Fan met the newcomers, assigned the logistics support team and medical personnel their vehicles, then brought Xiaotian back to his side.
The newly produced eight Army Soldiers and five Conscripts replaced eight Three-star Army Soldiers and five Three-star Conscripts.
Luo Fei, the Three-star Soldier who first followed Ye Fan, returned to his side, becoming the temporary guard unit leader.
Wang Hu, Li Biao, Qian Xiaobing, these Conscripts also returned to Ye Fan’s side.
Ye Fan specially checked the newly emerged heavy machine gun warrior unit.
The three heavy machine gun warriors were equipped with N2 type 12.7mm heavy machine guns.
Moreover, this type of heavy machine gun also had accessories like carts, sleds, metal shields, etc., with the whole gun weighing over 100 kilograms.
The bullet count of 3000 rounds wasn’t much, but this thing upgrades quickly, on the battlefield the next morning, it might become One-Star by noon.
According to Ye Fan’s Battalion Commander authority, a battalion can produce ten heavy machine guns.
Each platoon is equipped with one, then the battalion’s direct troops have another one.
However, as funds are tight right now, producing one is enough.
There are still three days until the start of the trade meeting; in these three days, Ye Fan plans to sweep Chengguan Town, then gather from several surrounding villages, collecting as much as possible.
All the units quickly entered status, doing what needed to be done, while Ye Fan arrived at his Iron Armor.
This guy is custom-made, truly living up to the name Iron Armor, feels like it could fit a tyrannosaurus inside.
Ye Fan didn’t reclaim this tyrannosaurus, it could be used by the Company Commander in the future.
He got on the vehicle, still sitting in the second row, Wang Hu and Li Biao serving as the driver and machine gunner.
Upon getting up, he discovered that the vehicle had a central control console, which also had intercom equipment.
"Nana, can this intercom be used?"
"Yes, sir. In the future, the central intercom in your vehicle can communicate with armored personnel carriers and other special vehicles, facilitating your command during battle; the intercom range and radar range are the same, your current radar range is five kilometers, and the intercom range is also five kilometers."
Ye Fan nodded, now he could communicate with the armored vehicle whenever needed.
Having sat for a while, the comfort was fairly decent, especially the seat he was in, lacking that stiff feeling.
Satisfied, Ye Fan got off the vehicle, observing the busy troops, thinking his own strength could use a bit of improvement.
He had two plans: one to practice shooting, and another to research the crystal he extracted from the brains of mutant beasts.
This thing is quite rare, he only obtained one from the mutant beast, even the armored zombie didn’t have any.
Even the iron armor with signs of evolving to a higher level in the meteorite crater didn’t have any, it only had some blue substances which hadn’t coagulated into crystals.
However, he didn’t know how to use this thing, so he decided to notify Engineer Han Jing to make a return trip.
Han Jing returned from the granary to the police station, Ye Fan’s desk had this crystal laid out.
"Sir, you called me?"
"Yes, come over and have a look. Can this thing be consumed?"
Han Jing approached, picked up the crystal and examined it, opened the toolbox, took out a magnifier, a probe, metal tweezers, etc., and donned white gloves, examining the crystal like it was archeology.
After about ten minutes, Han Jing informed Ye Fan, "Sir, there’s an unknown energy within this, consuming it is beneficial to the human body, but the effect cannot be determined, and the method of consumption needs discussion."
"What? Is there a difference between before and after meals? Isn’t it all ingested? You should first make sure it isn’t harmful."
"It shouldn’t be harmful, there aren’t any detected harmful substances here, but such things without precedent; sir, if you can wait until the Combat Laboratory is built, a method should be found, the current conditions are insufficient."
"Then it’ll take too long, alright, you go ahead and be busy."
"Yes!"
Han Jing departed, and Ye Fan prepared to try it.
Han Jing already confirmed that consumption wouldn’t be dangerous and would be beneficial, so he didn’t want to wait, with the upcoming trade conference, if he could strengthen himself a bit, his security would also increase significantly.
He held this egg-sized crystal up to his mouth, a faint fragrance entered Ye Fan’s nose.
Recently, Ye Fan had consumed mutant beast meat several times, the taste was indeed great, and it made Ye Fan feel noticeably stronger.
This crystal felt like the essence of mutant beast meat, the more he smelled the aroma, the stronger it became.
"Give it a try, just a taste."
Ye Fan hesitated for a moment, though he still felt a bit uneasy inside, it couldn’t overcome the desire to become stronger, so he closed his eyes and took a bite.
This thing felt like rubber, like jelly, he planned to take a bite, but due to his habit of eating mutant beast meat in large bites, combined with its slippery nature, he ended up swallowing it in one go.