The colonel looked at Li Guofeng, seeking confirmation with his eyes.
Li Guofeng immediately stood at attention and saluted, respectfully replying, "Reporting to Colonel Wang! The situation is exactly as Mr. Bai Wu described. Our squad was trapped in an underground facility in the city after the passage was destroyed while returning from a mission, and we were out of ammunition and food. If it weren't for Mr. Bai Wu's righteous help, we would probably have perished there sooner or later. Mr. Bai Wu is our savior!"
Xiao Zhao and the other four soldiers nodded vigorously, confirming that what the company commander said was true.
Colonel Wang Tiefeng's expression finally softened completely.
He took a deep breath and gave Jiang Wu a solemn military salute: "Mr. Bai Wu, on behalf of the Huaxia Dragon Base, I thank you for saving our soldiers! You are a friend of our base!"
He paused, a look of emotion and disbelief on his face. "And... your ability to tame this giant bird is truly astonishing. Our base has also tried to tame mutated beasts, but with little success."
His words elicited murmurs of agreement and curious glances from the surrounding soldiers.
Taming mutated beasts, especially such magnificent flying mounts, is something they've always dreamed of achieving.
Unexpectedly, someone actually succeeded!
Jiang Wu smiled calmly: "It was just a lucky break that I gained Xiao Jin's approval. It's very intelligent, and I consider it a partner. More importantly, Colonel Wang and Company Commander Li brought back some important mission items and are quite tired. Should we arrange for them to hand over their duties and rest first?"
He appropriately displayed friendliness.
Wang Tiefeng immediately reacted: "Of course! Look at me, I was just too surprised. Company Commander Li, you've worked hard! Take your squad to the medical station for a check-up immediately, then get some rest! The mission briefing will be later!"
"Yes, sir! Thank you, Colonel!" Li Guofeng and the other two saluted again.
Wang Tiefeng then looked at Jiang Wu, his tone becoming much warmer: "Mr. Bai Wu, you are our honored guest. You can rest well here; we will provide the best food and rooms. As for your...partner,"
He glanced at Xiao Jin, who remained quietly in place yet still attracted everyone's attention. "We can let it stay on this playground for now. We will send people to guard it and ensure that no one disturbs it."
Jiang Wu smiled and shook his head, saying, "Colonel Wang, when I'm not with Xiao Jin, it prefers to roam freely. Let it fly around nearby. When it first arrived, it was curious about everything here."
Being unfamiliar with the place and its inhabitants, and unaware of the situation, Jiang Wu wouldn't let Xiao Jin stay in one place indefinitely.
What if there are some fools here who want to do something to Xiao Jin?
It's better to avoid trouble.
It would be better to let Xiao Jin roam freely.
Wang Tiefeng seemed to understand something and nodded repeatedly.
The next second, Jiang Wu whistled.
The whistle means that Xiao Jin is free to move around.
Little Jin understood perfectly; it immediately took to the air and let out a joyful cry.
Looking at the giant bird circling in the sky, Wang Tiefeng exclaimed, "Mr. Bai, your... partner is absolutely something that everyone in this world dreams of right now."
Jiang Wu smiled but didn't say anything.
Wang Tiefeng smiled and said, "Mr. Bai, this way please."
Jiang Wu nodded.
Under the watchful eyes of countless curious and envious gazes, Jiang Wu, accompanied by Wang Tiefeng, walked in one direction.
This direction leads to the main urban area.
Following Wang Tiefeng across the cordon of Platform 3, Jiang Wu finally stepped into the survivor base built on the summit of Dragon Ridge Mountain.
The road underfoot was paved with a mixture of gravel and cement. Although it wasn't exactly smooth, it was cleaned very thoroughly.
It is clear that there are dedicated personnel responsible for daily maintenance.
Every few dozen meters, you could see a person wearing an orange vest with a shovel, shoveling the snow piled up in the corner into a cart.
Noticing Jiang Wu's curious gaze, Wang Tiefeng explained, "The base is heated by geothermal wells at the foot of the mountain, supplemented by some solar panels."
“It’s cold in winter, and if the roads are covered with snow and ice, it’s easy to slip and fall, so people come out to clear the snow before dawn every day.”
Jiang Wu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the buildings on both sides.
Most of the houses here are low-rise buildings made of poured concrete, with the tallest being no more than fifteen meters.
The exterior walls were completely undecorated and a dull gray.
There weren't any particularly large windows; they were all small windows.
From the outside, they look more like firing ports.
In addition to the glass, these small windows were also fitted with wire mesh.
Furthermore, all of these doors have been fitted with various steel plates.
This is clearly to defend against the impact of mutated beasts or mutated insects.
Some of the low-rise buildings are strung together with steel cables, on which clothes are hung to dry. The colorful fabrics flutter in the cold wind, adding a touch of life to this gray site.
“Those are residential buildings, each unit is about 20 square meters and can house three or four people.”
Wang Tiefeng pointed to a row of neat low buildings on the left, "Because of the limited materials we obtained, we could only build these low buildings. However, they are all very sturdy. Normally they are low buildings, but if mutated beasts and mutated insects invade, they can also be transformed into bunkers."
Jiang Wu nodded and asked curiously, "What do people here eat? Li Guofeng told me there are over 500,000 people here."
Wang Tiefeng replied, "The base operates on a rationing system. Adults receive eight liang of rice per day, while children receive half that amount, along with various wild vegetables. Although it's not a wealthy place, at least we can eat our fill."
He pointed to a square cement building in the distance and said, "That's a food processing plant. Depending on the situation, we will organize thousands or even tens of thousands of people to go down the mountain to collect edible food and transport it back to this food processing plant for processing."
“We have specialized experts who can handle those mutated plants, removing the toxic ones and turning the slightly toxic ones into non-toxic ones.”
"In addition, we also have a special hunting team that goes out to hunt down smaller mutated beasts and mutated insects, which also yields some meat."
After glancing at Jiang Wu's level-three snakeskin robe, Wang Tiefeng said with a smile, "Mr. Bai, yours must also be made from the skin of a mutated beast, right? We also have a specialized equipment manufacturing facility here that collects the skins and shells of the mutated beasts and insects we hunt and makes them into armor."
Just then, the roar of machinery came from ahead.
Jiang Wu looked up and saw an area enclosed by wire mesh not far away, with several simple factory buildings inside, and wisps of white smoke rising from the chimneys.
Outside the factory, a dozen people in blue overalls were busy around a large machine tool, and there were many polished steel bars and iron plates piled on the ground.
“That’s one of the small repair shops in the city, mainly responsible for repairing the city walls and modifying weapons,” Wang Tiefeng continued to explain. “It used to be a car repair shop. Later, we moved all the equipment from the abandoned factories nearby. Now we can make some simple crossbows and machetes, and occasionally repair damaged firearms.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com