After they left, Director Zhang stood at the highest point of Liberation City, watching their vehicles from afar, suddenly feeling a bit of regret.
He had originally wanted to send a few people to follow them, at least to find out where they were stationed, but then he feared being discovered. In his hesitation, Li Yu and the others had already gone far, and there was no longer any opportunity.
Inside the car, Li Yu watched Xiao Lata, who was staring blankly out the window after finishing her food. He felt a pang of sadness and wanted to say something comforting, but the words got stuck in his throat.
"Are Grandpa Liu and the others doing well?" Xiao Lata suddenly asked out of the blue.
Li Yu nodded.
"Before the apocalypse, they had just come there to recuperate. Now they're with my parents, and everyone is doing fine," Li Yu said.
Xiao Lata took a deep breath and said, "That's good."
Along the way, the two chatted casually, their conversation starting with pleasantries and then moving on to interesting childhood anecdotes.
The vehicles sped along, and time passed quickly.
After more than an hour, they were almost at the Gas Station in the town. It was already evening, and the glow of the setting sun illuminated the convoy, making it seem as if they were racing against the sunset.
The sun sank lower and lower, and the convoy's speed increased. They had traveled this road many times before, and the surface had been cleaned very well.
Ultimately, the convoy won, reaching the base before the sun set.
In the lingering light of the sunset, Xiao Lata and Second Aunt and the others saw a wall that looked like a giant dragon from outside the window.
When the wall was initially built, Li Yu had originally planned for it to be about 6 meters tall.
Later, Li Hongyuan was more thorough in his consideration, thinking that since they were building it, they should make the foundation more stable. The foundation was raised by about 0.7 meters, making the entire wall nearly 6.7 meters, which made it look even taller.
Adding more than a meter of high-voltage electric fence at the very top of the wall, the entire base appeared to be over 8 meters tall when viewed from the outside.
Especially because of its immense length, it always gave a sense of awe when viewed from the outside.
Third Uncle was in the watchtower. He had already been contacted before Li Yu even reached the base, and now he stood on the Weng City, opening the first gate.
The vehicles slowly drove in.
The Weng City gate closed quickly as the vehicles entered.
Because as dusk approached, there were already quite a few zombies lurking outside the base.
Thump! The first gate fell heavily. Just by the sound, one knew this gate was very sturdy.
But this sound also seemed to give everyone a psychological hint: they were finally home, finally safe!
Xiao Lata and the others began to survey the base. In the twilight, the area within this Weng City was at least 500 square meters, with several large trucks parked inside, loaded with various items.
In the center of the Weng City, a large pillar stood, with a powerful spotlight on top, illuminating the Weng City clearly.
Li Yu and the others got out of the car. Third Uncle and First Uncle came down from the Weng City. First Uncle was about to ask Li Yu how the trip was when he suddenly saw Second Aunt and Second Aunt and the others behind Li Yu and ran forward in surprise.
First Uncle and the others had believed that with so many zombies in the apocalypse and the long distance from the north, Second Uncle and the others would certainly not be able to return, and there was a high probability that they had met with misfortune.
They never expected that Li Yu's trip out would bring Second Aunt and the others back!
"You little brat! Why didn't you say anything on the walkie-talkie earlier?" First Uncle punched Li Yu.
Li Yu walked towards the riot vehicle, opened the door, and said, "When Second Uncle and the others were returning, they encountered many zombies and some bad people. Uncle protected them and was bitten by a zombie."
"Second Uncle was also cut in the chest by someone. Because there was no anti-inflammatory medicine, he later developed a fever and fell unconscious. I just gave him anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing medicine, and he's a little better now."
Upon hearing this, the joy on First Uncle's face gradually disappeared. He stepped forward and looked at him.
Then he said, "It's good that you're back."
Li Hongyuan, at the second gate, saw First Uncle wave his hand and then opened the second gate.
After the second gate opened, Li Hongyuan saw Li Yu and also Li Yu's Second Aunt. Suppressing his inner excitement, he quickly opened the third gate.
After the vehicles started, they drove directly towards the villa area of the residential zone. First Uncle, seeing Second Aunt and the others return, was a bit emotional, so he had Li Haoran and the others take over his shift.
As the base's population continuously increased, several more people were assigned to patrol duty.
Now, there were not only rotating patrol personnel but also rotating gate guards, plus monitoring personnel who constantly monitored the entire base from the control room. The overall security of the base had undoubtedly risen to a new level.
With the arrival of Second Uncle and the others, the base's population exceeded 50 people! And among those aged 16 to 65, there were almost 40 able-bodied men and women!
During this time, at Li Yu's suggestion, both men and women had to learn how to use crossbows and even firearms.
Since obtaining a large number of firearms from the armory last time, everyone had begun to familiarize themselves with them.
In recent times, whether it was 16-year-old Li Zhengping or First Aunt, who was inherently kind and Buddhist, they had all thoroughly realized the cruelty of the apocalypse and began to understand that to protect the base, they had to take up weapons and not be a burden.
Therefore, the entire base was an army of citizens!
Aside from Li Yu's direct relatives, there were also some people who joined the base later:
There was Xuan Xuan from Da Zhuang's family next door, who had been training exceptionally hard recently and said she wanted to protect Li Yu when she grew up.
There was also Uncle Lai's family of four, who had followed Li Yu for over a decade. Li Yu and Uncle Lai's relationship was not one of blood relatives, but it was closer than family.
There was also Yang Tianlong, who grew up with Li Yu, Yang Xiaozhu, who had a crush on Li Yu for many years, and Zhao Dapao, a comrade of Yang Tianlong, Li Tie, and Li Gang. During this time, his performance had completely won Li Yu's approval.
There were also Ding Jiu and several other workers who had originally participated in building the wall, whom Li Yu later rescued and then helped build the Weng City. Among these workers, Ding Jiu's daughter was a classmate of Li Hang.
As for the remaining workers, Li Yu had conducted some previous observations. When building the Weng City and facing zombies, they surprisingly did not retreat but actively stepped forward to resist the zombies, which slightly earned Li Yu's approval.
These people had been with them for some time and were relatively honest and loyal, but Li Yu still had not given them firearms.
Coupled with the return of Second Uncle and the others this time, the number of people in the base was growing.
But there was no chaos or conflict!
Because in the base, Li Yu held absolute dominance, which was due to multiple reasons.
One: Within the base, the core military force trusted him and obeyed him. He had the support of First Uncle, Third Uncle, Li Tie, Li Gang, Yang Tianlong, Zhao Dapao, and others.
Among the younger generation of teenagers, they also greatly admired him as their elder brother.
Two: The base had ample material supplies, and the overall environment was relatively peaceful. Everyone ate the same food, so it was relatively fair.
Three: The external threats. After going out a few times, everyone clearly knew how hard-won their current life was. The external threats, in turn, promoted internal peace.
With Li Yu, the core figure, rushing to the forefront in any situation, the people behind him followed him very well. Even those few workers, even if not for Li Yu, their families were still in the base!
Therefore, everyone in the base regarded the base as their home. Compared to Director Zhang's disorganized group, although the base had fewer people, in terms of strength, even without considering weapons and equipment, their combat power definitely surpassed them!
In the apocalypse, such groups, built on common interests and linked by blood and kinship, were exceptionally stable!
It was like in ancient times, why there were "iron-clad noble families" and "flowing dynasties"—it was the same principle.