Lin Zhongrong stayed at Dayan Mountain at night. He went to talk to Zhuang Xuzhi for a long time, and finally the two reached a consensus on formally establishing a peace base.
Lin Zhongrong suggested establishing the organization on his daughter's birthday—what a meaningful date! Zhuang Xuzhi, however, thought now wasn't the right time. He thought he should wait until the zombies were completely wiped out before calling all the bases. Furthermore, there were too few official members in the base right now. At least after the new recruits were fully recruited, some preparations needed to be made. Such a major undertaking as establishing a base couldn't be handled so hastily.
"Besides," Boss Zhuang said sternly, "Commander Lin, it's already dark."
Yes, it was already dark, and Lin Zhongrong had to regretfully give up this significant day.
He took advantage of the night to circle the mountain, causing everyone on night duty to stare at him, as if he were up to something bad. Lin Zhongrong was both angry and amused: "Why, are you still worried that I'll cause trouble?"
The squad leader on duty tonight had previously served under Lin Zhongrong. The two 300-man regiments, despite lacking special abilities, were all elite personnel, so Lin Zhongrong was no stranger to them. The squad leader chuckled and said, "Captain Lin, our base rules prohibit running around at night. Why don't you go back to bed?"
There is a house on Dayan Mountain specially used to entertain guests. The people brought by Lin Zhongrong live there, but Lin Zhongrong doesn't want to live there. After thinking about it, he strolled towards the valley on the mountain.
The mother and daughter were still awake, counting the jade materials he had brought for Lin Man. When they saw him come back, Chen Yu's face was dull, and Lin Zhongrong was embarrassed. Lin Man smiled and waved at him, "Dad!"
Lin Zhongrong smiled immediately. His daughter was indeed considerate. He sat over and asked, "Are you satisfied with these jades?"
"The quality is very good, but the pieces are not very big." This time, Lin Zhongrong brought several large boxes of jade materials, but none of them were as big as the ones Lin Cheng sent last time. Whether they were uncarved jade materials or jade pieces that had been carved into ornaments, the largest one was only the size of a basketball.
Speaking of this, Lin Zhongrong's face turned a little unhappy. It was all because of that kid Lin Cheng. All the big pieces were collected by him last time. This time, he spent a lot of effort, and with the some he got from the Dongyang base, there were still no particularly large pieces of jade.
That's right. It's been eighteen years since the apocalypse. Jade and other things that depreciate immediately after the apocalypse have been destroyed. It's hard to collect intact ones, let alone large ones.
"You use it first, Dad will continue to look for it for you." If that doesn't work, isn't there still the jade's place of origin?
Lin Man asked, "Dad, is there really someone willing to spend a lot of money to buy this kind of weapon?"
Lin Zhongrong had just told her that the four major bases in the north, including Tuanyuan Base, wanted to order new weapons from her, now collectively known as supernatural weapons. A small knife like the tactical straight-handled knife could fetch her a large sum of goods, while a long sword like Lin Cheng's was being offered at alarmingly high prices, including valuable resources like oil and coal.
Lin Zhongrong let Lin Man decide for herself whether to do this kind of business. Lin Man was naturally very tempted, but after thinking about it, she felt that it was not very reliable: "Aren't there all the zombies now? The population in the country is so small, there is no place where there is a need for fighting, right? Ordinary weapons are enough. Why spend so much supplies for a knife?"
Lin Zhongrong said, "Don't underestimate people's pursuit of strength. Otherwise, why would they be willing to take such a huge risk to raise zombies? And do you know how long it has been since a new baby was born?"
Lin Man shook his head: "It seems like two or three years?"
"It's been over three years. For over three years, there haven't been any newborns nationwide. There's not even any news of pregnancy. It's been similar abroad. Do you know what this means?"
Lin Man thought for a moment and asked, "Does this mean that humanity is going extinct?"
Lin Zhongrong didn't give a direct answer. Speaking of this topic, he felt very heavy-hearted. "This is a difficult problem that humanity must focus its efforts on overcoming. However, this incident will affect many people's mindsets. Some will give up on themselves, while others will live through today without caring about what tomorrow will bring."
Lin Zhongrong's words were still rather implicit. In fact, the concept of "unique" has not only appeared in people's minds in the last three years.
Many years ago, when animals and plants became increasingly scarce, the birth rate began to decline sharply. No matter how hard people tried, they could not have offspring. Panic and despair shrouded people's hearts. However, at that time, people could hardly support themselves, and the issue of offspring was put behind the issue of survival.
Now, the zombies will be completely eliminated, and new food has appeared - the sweet potatoes flowing out from Lin Man. Once the threat to survival no longer exists, people's attention will inevitably return to reproduction, and many problems that are not conducive to harmony and stability will inevitably arise.
"Dad, are you saying that we are going to continue to cause chaos?"
"It's hard to say, but what Dad is saying is that when it's difficult to have offspring, many people will pay special attention to themselves. It's not surprising that someone with a lot of resources but no heirs would trade them for a desired weapon to reach a higher level."
For example, someone who still has oil can't possibly use it all, and since they don't have children, keeping it would just give it away to others. It's better to trade it for a long sword to show off, or equip themselves with a stronger army to make life more comfortable. This is also a form of the mentality of enjoying instant gratification.
Lin Man was a little confused. So most of her current clients are wealthy people who have money but no children?
But never mind, it’s enough to know that the market is still huge.
She decided to take the orders. The first batch of orders were from Lin Zhongrong's friends. These people were decent people and were not the type to go to the newspaper office after getting new weapons. So after Lin Zhongrong and Lin Man agreed, she queued them up first. Of course, there was no extra money for each person.
Their requests were also different. Some wanted long swords like Lin Cheng's, and some wanted custom-made ones. For example, someone wanted a nine-section whip, which she could never make. There were also those who wanted large machetes. Due to the size of the jade material, let alone large machetes, she could only make three or four long swords like Lin Cheng at most.
So she had only one meaning for those strange requests: find the jade materials yourself, carve them, and send them to her. Of course, this way she could charge less.
For such a big item, the compensation she wanted was not only oil and coal, but also a person with special abilities.
Lin Zhongrong said, "You want someone with special abilities?"
Lin Man nodded: "It's just a loan." She thought about it and thought that since Lin Cheng knew her secret, there was no need to hide it from her biological father. So she told Lin Zhongrong that she could absorb superpowers and that making superpower weapons also required a lot of energy.
Lin Zhongrong thought of the last time he came to Dayan Mountain, which was also his first time. He displayed his supernatural powers and felt like his energy was being sucked away by something. It turned out that it was not an illusion, but was sucked away by his own daughter.
He was not unhappy at all, but very proud. Others had to spend time to recover their energy, but Lin Man could absorb it from others. His daughter was different!
If he had known this, he wouldn't have worried about the difficulty of controlling people with special abilities and wouldn't have included any of them among the 600 people he sent. Now that he was talking about sending people, Lin Man refused to take them.
So the topic of conversation turned to super powers. Lin Zhongrong generously released the super powers of his fighter plane for Lin Man to absorb, such as electric batons, electric nets, electric cages, and electric boxes. In the end, he was exhausted and his super powers were almost used up. He had never been so tired even when fighting zombies.
Guan Guan happily absorbed a large amount of spiritual energy, and his body expanded a lot, even bigger than its original largest state. He spun around happily in the space.
"Lin Man, I love you as my father!"
Lin Man smiled and said, "I like it too."
Lin Zhongrong looked extremely exhausted, and it was not a good idea to let him walk down the mountain at night, so he stayed here with good reason that night. Of course, he slept in Lin Man's room, and Lin Man went to sleep with Chen Yu.
"Come and go to bed quickly. You guys never stop talking. It's already past twelve o'clock." Chen Yu closed the door to block the cold wind outside, added some firewood to the kang, and poured hot water for Lin Man to wash his face.
After Lin Man hurriedly washed up, she undressed and went to bed. Sitting on the warm bed, covered with a soft cup, she squinted her eyes comfortably, thinking about the conversation between her and her father just now. Although her mother had been by her side and even made them a midnight snack, she had not said much. She leaned over and asked, "Are you still blaming my father?"
Chen Yu glanced at her and turned off the light: "Don't worry about adults' affairs."
Lin Man: “…” So this is why she wants to become an adult earlier.
In the darkness, Chen Yu whispered, "Just get along well with your father. What happens between us won't affect you."
"Oh." Lin Man stared at the still-glowing lightbulb on the ceiling. Ever since her house was rebuilt, she'd pulled up the electrical wiring and turned on the lights. Right now, the base wasn't getting enough electricity, so aside from some important offices, only hers could use electric lighting. It had to be said that electric lights were much more convenient. When the weather warmed up, she could build a power station on Dayan Mountain. If a power station proved too difficult to build, she could always build a few biogas tanks.
Conditions are getting better and better now, and Lin Man is no longer at the age to worry about whether her family will end or not. She just feels that the situation is very good and her relatives are all by her side. There is nothing to worry about some conflicts. As long as they are getting better and better, that is enough.
"Okay, but no matter what you think, I support you." She said to her mother, and then her consciousness entered the space.
In the space, Guan Guan was still beautiful. It was now a huge ball. Lin Man circled around it and found no difference from before: "Guan Guan, there is enough spiritual energy. Can you really return to your original appearance?"
"Yes, yes!" The big white ball popped up its head and nodded repeatedly. "Whenever I use my spiritual energy, I become smaller and weaker. It's too uncomfortable. I don't want to just muddle along anymore. Please help me. As long as I can cultivate a physical body, I can help you even more."
Lin Man nodded. One of the main reasons why she was doing the supernatural weapon business was to get more spiritual energy. Guan Guan had helped her so much, and she really wanted to do something practical to really help it.
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