Before the virus outbreak, Longquan Base was merely a small- to medium-sized military base in China. The reason it was quickly rebuilt after the outbreak was primarily due to its excellent terrain, far superior to many of the surrounding large military bases. Surrounded by towering cliffs on three sides, this alone could block 70 to 80 percent of the mutant animals.
But it is also for this reason that after the Longquan base developed to its extreme, it was almost impossible to accommodate more people and expand outward. The newly built military factories could only produce simple ammunition and weapons. Otherwise, the managers of the Longquan base would have to build their own survival base like a railway.
Even so, Xia Runrun could still see the cold and gleaming cannon devices on the base's walls.
The streets of the base are clearly divided into six areas. The sidewalks and bicycle lanes are combined into one, while the car lanes are scattered on both sides of the road. Instead, the road in the center has become a lane for mutant beasts to drive on. Anyone who has a large mutant beast that is more than one meter tall has to drive with the mutant beast on the central road.
Xia Ruanruan casually glanced over and saw over a dozen mutant beasts on the animal path. Some were neatly arranged, as if patrolling the base, while others resembled grocery shoppers before the outbreak, carrying large baskets in their mouths. Among them was a blue-gray mutant cat, and in its basket was a human.
The man sat in the basket with his head stretched out, and the handle of the basket was held in the mouth of the big blue cat.
Xia Ruanruan: "..."
I never thought that these days there are still mutant beasts carrying humans like buying groceries. She thought the small carriage woven from bamboo strips was a top-notch means of transportation, but she didn't expect it to be just a basic standard.
"Our Longquan base is pretty good, right? You really don't want to consider settling down in Longquan base?" Seeing the amazement on Xia Runrun and his group's faces, the officer immediately seized the opportunity to promote the base.
Whether in the shelter or in the survival base, those who have powerful mutant animals as partners are the most popular ones, not to mention the more than 60 mutant dogs in front of them, who look energetic and have good fighting power.
After all, even for a large survival base like theirs, which has its own military factory, it is not so easy to transport raw materials and other items from other places, especially some rare metals.
The weapons have too little lethality, not as good as the combat effectiveness of mutant animals. Their survival bases cannot produce weapons with strong lethality, so even the officials are worried to death.
“We don’t have any plans to do so for now.”
Xia Ruanruan shook her head, tilted her head back to look at the officer and said, "Thank you for the base's kindness, but there are still thousands of people in the shelter waiting for us to return."
The Longquan base certainly looked impressive, from the densely packed high-voltage power grids overhead, resembling fishing nets, to the clean, orderly streets. It was truly remarkable in today's climate, even if the entire city seemed devoid of any greenery, its surroundings filled with reinforced concrete structures designed to prevent overgrowth, creating a cold and solemn atmosphere.
All of this was done to maintain the safety and order of the base, preventing any wildly growing mutant plants and animals from infiltrating the shelter. The only green space in the base was the designated farming area, which was guarded 24 hours a day by soldiers in shifts to prevent any accidents.
"That's a real shame."
The officer nodded and pointed to the right. "Our logistics leader is over there. With so many of you coming, you'll need to discuss what you need with them."
"The base's foreign trade department is always cheaper than private individuals. You can try to tell us what you need so that you don't get hurt when you go to the market and trade with private individuals." The officer saw that Xia Runrun had to follow other people in the shelter to look for supplies at such a young age, and he couldn't help but remind her kindly.
Transactions at the Longquan Survival Base are usually divided into three types: one is the official platform for residents within the city, one is a private trading market where residents inside and outside the city can trade, and the other is the base's external trading department.
This external trading department is the country's welfare care for the survivors who can only struggle to survive outside the survival base. In the past, Old Man Yan usually brought things back to the base from here.
"Isn't the base afraid that someone will take advantage of the situation and try to take advantage of it?" Huang Haichao whispered to Yang Fan beside him. He always felt that if the base did this, it would breed many people who wanted to get something for nothing.
Yang Fan glanced at Huang Haichao unhappily. "If you can think of it, can't the base think of it? Didn't you see that when everyone enters Longquan Base, not only does everyone have to register and have their photo taken, but even dogs have to register and have their photo taken. With today's electronic identification technology, even if someone deliberately disguises themselves with makeup, they certainly can't escape the electronic monitoring."
"At that time, anyone with a temporary ID card can easily check and find out who visited the base on what date and how much supplies they took away. They can also tell whether these supplies were given away for free or obtained through other exchanges. There are rules about how much supplies are given each time, how much is free, and how much must be charged."
Yang Fan slapped Huang Haichao on the shoulder, making him grimace. Then he curled his lips and chuckled, "Why else do you think Old Yan has to go to Longquan Survival Base once a year and then sit idle for several months? He even has to fly there in the middle of winter, even in a blizzard. Old Yan is not a fool. Wouldn't he specially choose a sunny spring day to make several trips at once?"
Huang Haichao suddenly understood.
"So that's how it is. Brother Yang knows more! Brother Yang is awesome!" Wu Wenhua gave him a compliment at the right time.
In order to better integrate into the new survival base, Wu Wenhua took his younger brothers with him.
Chu Hang glanced at the people around him and continued walking behind the officer...
The base's Foreign Trade Department is a small red brick building. While it's small, it's not particularly so. It stands 13 stories tall, but compared to the other buildings nearby, this red brick building is noticeably shorter. The most noticeable feature is the visible signs of heightening in the upper section, and the uneven coloring at the junction of the old and new sections. Before the outbreak, this building served merely as a temporary storage area for supplies.
There are probably quite a few supplies stored there. The security here is extremely strict. There is even a plastic grass playground at the corner for daily training.
When Xia Ruanruan passed by, she happened to see two groups of soldiers with mutant dogs practicing against each other.
One of them, who was a bit thinner, rushed forward with a tall mutant wolfhound, punching his opponent with his fists. The mutant wolfhound behind him also followed his master's steps and pounced on the opponent's mutant wolfhound.
"Come on! Let's have a good fight. If I can't beat you today, I won't be surnamed Zhou!" the thin man shouted.
"Bang!——"
The next thing that responded to him was an enemy as big as a sandbag. After only a dozen steps, the two men and two beasts on the opposite playground were already fighting in a group, and their punches were hitting each other's flesh.
"Ahem, the people in our survival base also need to train more and accumulate practical experience."
Perhaps it was because Xia Ruanruan's expression was too astonished, or perhaps it was because children are naturally affectionate, that the officer said a few more words of comfort, "Don't look at how fierce their fight is now. In fact, these two are good friends in the team... uh, close friends!"
In the final analysis, both sides are fighting with all their might in order to improve their own combat effectiveness, so as to protect the entire base and prevent themselves from being unable to resist when attacked by ferocious beasts and mutant beasts.
Xia Ruanruan: "..."
Xia Ruanruan silently looked up at the officer. This kind of training was good, but it was just... a bit of a waste of her best friend.
Her facial features were wrinkled and twisted into a ball. Xia Runrun subconsciously touched her cheek and looked at the thin man who had just been punched in the chin by her best friend and was quickly bruised. She felt a little toothache.
"Hey yo! Hey yo! Hey yo!"
A group of people, carrying wooden warehouses on their backs and patrolling the surrounding area at a trot, passed by Xia Runrun and his group without even looking at them.
However, the attention of Xia Runrun, Yang Fan and others was all attracted by this group of patrol members. Behind this group of patrol members, a group of white and fat mutant pigs, about three or four meters tall, followed closely behind and trotted forward.
The mutant pigs were grunting and shaking their fat, and you could tell from the looks of it that their food was very good.
"Pigs reproduce quickly, grow fast, are strong, and are not picky about food, so they are easy to raise! Don't be fooled by their fat, white, and quiet appearance, but they are all fighting pigs with wild boar blood!" The officer raised his head proudly, looking at the pigs with an especially kind gaze.
Xia Ruanruan: "..."
Xia Runrun tried hard to hide behind Chu Hang, so as not to be noticed by the group of fighting pigs in front of her. Being noticed by cats and dogs as their puppies would be fine, but not letting the pigs be her parents was her last stubbornness as a beauty-obsessed person.
Even if, even if they are white and fat, it won’t work.
Xia Ruanruan will never forget the scene when she went to the countryside and the enthusiastic pigs in the pig pen jumped out of the pig pen and chased her and nudged her buttocks. This extraordinary enthusiasm was really unbearable.
In fact, in order to avoid causing disturbances in the city and getting into unnecessary trouble, Xia Runrun wrapped herself up like a round dumpling from the moment she approached the Longquan base. She also wore a large woolen hat on her head, trying to bury her entire head in the hat. She even tried to speak less frequently, in order to prevent the mutant animals in the Longquan survival base from being particularly enthusiastic towards her. Fortunately, the journey was relatively smooth.
Except for a few mutant animals with more sensitive ears who pricked up their ears and looked at her twice, the vast majority of mutant animals did not react at all.
"Okay, we're here with the Foreign Trade Department. Leave the mutant dogs here and tell them not to run around. Come in with me..." The officer gave a few instructions to Xia Runrun, Yang Fan and the others, and told the soldiers following him to stay where they were. He then took Xia Runrun and the others into the house.
…
The name of the base's Foreign Trade Department sounds impressive, but in reality, it resembles a shabby social security checkpoint in a third-tier city. Rows of wooden tables and chairs surround two large counters. Inside, several uniformed clerks sit at computers, typing away and asking about rank. A few other people line up sporadically beside the counters.
There were more than thirty people in Xia Runrun's group. Even if one was left outside the door to watch the mutant dogs, there were still a total of thirty people. In addition, most of them were tall adult men, which made them even more eye-catching.
"Old Chen, come and register them. These people are from shelters outside the area and want to exchange some supplies from the base to take back." The officer knocked on the innermost counter, where a chubby middle-aged man with glasses sat.
Xia Runrun and the others couldn't help but look at each other subconsciously. This person seemed to be quite capable as he could still maintain his figure in such a day and age.
"Wow, there are quite a few of you. Where are you all from? Let me see your temporary registration cards."
The middle-aged man pushed his glasses up on his nose, smiling like a Maitreya Buddha. Without wasting a moment, he immediately got the topic back on track. "Look at what supplies you all want. If this is your first time visiting one of the eight official bases within six months, the base will provide you with 100 points of supplies for free. However, if you want more supplies, if the value exceeds 100 points, you will need to exchange them with the supplies you brought. Alternatively, you can choose to accept base missions from me and then trade after completing them."
On the counter, there was a clear exchange table of more than ten pages. The middle-aged man pushed the exchange table in front of Xia Ruanruan and others, and Xia Ruanruan and others were still allowed to discuss it on their own.
Mutated potatoes/1 jin - 1 point.
Lighter/1 - 10 points
Salt/250g
…
There are more than 30 people here, and each person can get free supplies worth 100 points. The lowest version of the 300w solar power generation equipment alone requires a full 1,500 points. As for the highest configuration 850,000w, the price is 1,000 times higher.
Xia Ruanruan: "..."
Xia Runrun looked at the string of zeros following the integral, her eyes becoming a little blurry.
The people who didn't quite understand whether it was easy to earn points in the base city were also a little dizzy.
"Oh! Are you interested in solar generators?" Although this middle-aged man looks fat and like a Maitreya Buddha, he has excellent eyesight and can tell at a glance what Xia Runrun and others want.
"This top-of-the-line solar generator is pretty good... It's the latest high-power model produced by our base, and its efficiency is much higher than ordinary solar generators. It can absorb more solar energy and convert it into electricity. Many citizens in our base have switched to this configuration... If you're interested, you can try it." The middle-aged man smiled cheerfully at Xia Ruanruan and the others, "If our family had enough points, I'd also like to try this."
"There is also this starch machine, which is also one of the most popular products in our survival base... With it, you can turn those starchy plants with a rough taste into vermicelli! The vermicelli is boiled and scalded... Slurp it up, it's smooth, fragrant and soft, and it also makes you feel full. This is happiness!" The middle-aged man pointed to the starch machine worth 288,888 points, his face full of intoxication.
Xia Ruanruan: ...
Everyone: ...
Is this happiness? Try to say this with all your heart!
Xia Ruanruan looked at the exchange list and thought about it. She decided to exchange it... The most important thing is that they really can't produce it...
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