After descending the steps, Bai Zemin came across a considerably small rectangular room of about 15 m2. The walls had been built with rustic wood and it definitely hadn't been put up by an expert as parts of hard earth could still be seen on the other side.
Even so, the lighting and general ambiance were not too bad.
Inside the room were about 10 large boxes of ammunition; some ammunition was shotgun shells, some were pistol ammunition, some was light machine gun ammunition, and some was rifle ammunition. The red, orange, yellow bullets were stacked neatly inside the lock boxes.
There are also several nails driven into the wood and using these for support, there are no less than 100 small and medium caliber firearms, the heavier ones being held by strings or wires to keep them from falling.
"There are actually less than I expected." Bai Zemin sighed as he spoke softly. His voice pressed by the small space of the place underground.
"How long do you think this amount can endure?" Nangong Yi asked with a frown.. He was a normal business worker before the apocalypse, so his knowledge of war tactics, military forces, armaments and the like was by no means outstanding.
"It's hard to judge just from a glance." Bai Zemin shook his head as he grabbed a handful of Type 45 pistol ammunition and dropped it back into the box. "I don't even know how much is the daily ammunition consumption these guys have on this base, so it's hard to estimate. However, this amount of ammunition definitely can't last more than half a month."
The small arsenal stored here was naturally incomparable to the amount of ammunition and weapons that Bai Zemin's faction found when they opened the military camp pointed out by Wu Yijun. After all, even if the Baiquan Town police station had been accumulating ammunition for years it was naturally impossible to compare to a military camp.
Looking at the hundred or so guns hanging on the wall, Bai Zemin realized that the only reason these guns were here gathering dust was precisely because of the shortage of ammunition. Kang Rong could have recruited another hundred men and armed them properly, but the already scarce bullets would become scarce at a much faster rate and by then the weapons would be nothing more than a pile of steel, scrap metal that would only be good for melee blows.
Humanity was still too weak after all. It was simply impossible for humans to survive in this new world without the modern weapons that were built in the past. When a human died, then there was no way to make up for that loss, and for a human to be born it took 9 months and years for that child to become a soldier. On the other hand, the beasts had a much higher reproductive rate and the zombies could add all those who were infected by the vicious mana to their numbers.
No matter which way one looked at it, humans were truly at the end of their rope.
* * *
A large group of trucks, tractor-trailers, and other types of heavy vehicles moved forward forming a small caravan of roughly five steel monsters driving along the base.
The survivors quickly moved out of the way of the groups of heavily armed men with serious expressions and murmurs began to spread, wondering if something bad had happened.
Not only was it strange to see so many armed men gathering together, but it was even stranger to see vehicles driving in groups. Because gasoline had become an extremely valuable resource, unless one was a high-powered official inside the base or a powerful soul evolver capable of finding a large amount of resources on their own, no other survivor had the ability to bear the expense of owning a vehicle.
Who in their right mind would be willing to trade precious food that could keep them alive for a tank of gas? Definitely no one! It was known that 99% of the survivors did not want to leave the safety of the base despite the bad conditions in which they were living, since the outside world was much more dangerous. Therefore, these survivors did not need any vehicle that after all would only become a black hole that would swallow all their property little by little.
Not knowing whether something bad had happened or not, the survivors watched as the vehicles disappeared in a cloud of dust. They all wondered which faction had moved them.
...
Bai Zemin and Nangong Yi observed from the side as the men moved the ammunition boxes and firearms to the cargo vehicles.
After they found the arsenal where Kang Rong was hiding the guns he had, Bai Zemin contacted Shangguan Bing Xue using a military radio to inform her that they had found the goods and to request that she send a group of people with cargo vehicles to move the heavy equipment.
Thanks to the fact that almost all of Kang Rong's armed troops had gathered during last night's attack, 100% of the team leaders had seen Shangguan Bing Xue so they knew that she was one of the people in the company of the new leader. Precisely because of this, it was easy for her to search for some people and instruct them to move to the indicated coordinates.
As they moved the weapons and ammunition boxes, it was clear that none of the men present, not even the team leaders, were aware of this seemingly normal but very valuable location. Their faces filled with confusion expressed how disbelieving they were, and as they endured the rancid smell of the surroundings, they made quick and simple work of it.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the vehicles departed towards the privileged area that was approximately 1 hour away from this site.
Survivors who saw the vehicles returning after almost three hours were surprised to see the large boxes on top of them, some of those who were more informed about it naturally realized that the contents inside the boxes were ammunition or firearms.
The rumor that the base had found ammunition and firearms spread far and wide and the survivors began to cheer loudly, feeling relieved since the more firepower the base had, the safer their lives would be and the less they had to fear external dangers.
Bai Zemin was not bothered by this bizarre rumor and did nothing to stop it. Although this result was not an expected one, it was also not bad for calming some of the more anxious people and suppressing possible latent problems.
After discharging the boxes, Bai Zemin simply dismissed the armed men and ordered them to return to their guard positions while he along with Nangong Yi moved everything to the basement of the villa.
Inside the living room, Bai Zemin, Nangong Yi, Nangong Lingxin, and Shangguan Bing Xue gathered.
"So, did you girls manage to contact Beginning Village?"
Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and replied indifferently, "It was somewhat troublesome, it took more than 2 hours before the radio waves finally connected with each other. We already reported the situation here and a team of 20 soul evolvers led by Kang Lan and Fu Xuefeng will leave today in this direction. Oh, apart from the 20 soul evolvers, there are also several drivers in around 20 buses. "
"I see... Although 20 buses is far from enough, I guess we can somehow make do with the vehicles here at the base." Bai Zemin nodded in satisfaction and a slight smile appeared on his face.
Luckily the communications managed to connect or else things would have been a bit thorny, and at least 2 days of time would be lost as a team was sent towards the village to report back the situation in North Camp.
As for Fu Xuefeng coming, Bai Zemin did not find it unusual at all since he had told the two women to inform him that his older sister was found alive among the survivors at the base. The young man was surely eager to be reunited with his relative and would definitely not miss the opportunity to come no matter what.
"You've done a good job, you two." Bai Zemin praised.
Nangong Lingxin smiled shyly as if she was a little girl accepting the small praise gladly.
On the other hand, Shangguan Bing Xue simply nodded calmly seemingly not caring too much.
"Are you okay?" Bai Zemin frowned slightly and asked in confusion. From today when he woke up, he felt that something was wrong but since Lu Yan was present he couldn't worry about such matters back then.
Shangguan Bing Xue would most likely join her group 100%, aiming to unify the entire country under a single total regime. When such a thing happened, she would immediately become the most important general under Bai Zemin's leadership; she was not only very powerful, but she was also extremely smart, cunning, and able to adapt to circumstances. Therefore, what he least wanted was for unnecessary problems to arise that could easily be avoided beforehand.
"You mean me?" Shangguan Bing Xue looked a little surprised. She asked back, "Why wouldn't it be okay?"
Bai Zemin looked at her for a moment, but finding it impossible to study her poker face, he simply shook his head and stood up, "If you're okay, then all right. On the other hand, I need to get the team leaders together. Tonight an important meeting will be taking place between the leaders of Kang Rong and Lu Yan's faction. I need to attend in order to gradually begin to take real control of the entire base. Shangguan Bing Xue, you are left in charge of this place in the meantime."
"Ok." She replied simply and concisely.
Nangong Yi opened his mouth to say something, but after a moment, he decided it was better not to say what he was going to say right now and fell silent.
"Huh?" Bai Zemin looked towards the entrance of the villa, and even though there were walls in the way, the sound of footsteps was too obvious to be ignored.
Shangguan Bing Xue and the others noticed it too, but everyone was calm as they were obviously not enemies.
"Whoa! So big!"
"Big Sister, your house really is great!"
"So many pretty paints!"
...
Several voices created a rather messy symphony as the door to the villa opened and, judging only by the voices and the small sound of short footsteps, all of them were children except for one adult who accompanied them silently.
Bai Zemin and the rest looked at each other in confusion before walking towards the entrance. When they got there were speechless.
A group of about ten children ranging from 5 to 12 years old were looking at the decorations in the main hallway of the villa with sparkling eyes. Although their clothes were clearly somewhat worn, they were all clean, and from the color of their skins, it was obvious that they received considerably good nourishment.
Seeing the group of adults suddenly appear, the small children immediately felt self-conscious and hurried to hide behind the accompanying adult. They all looked on with caution and a bit of fear since even though they were still young, all of them had already seen with their own eyes how adults could become crueler than the beasts that roamed the outside world.
"This is..." Bai Zemin did not know what to say, and therefore could only stare at the beautiful woman accompanying the legion of small creatures.
Evangeline, dressed in tight clothing that practically acted as a second skin to her charming curvaceous body, stepped forward and said calmly, "These children have been under my care. They all lost their families and when I found them they were in extremely precarious situations, some even seconds away from death. I hope you can give me a villa to put them up in... As for their food, you don't need to worry about that. I'll take care of it myself."
* * * * * * *
Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3