Chapter 37: Chapter 37, Hatching Nest
Gu Hang couldn’t help but accelerate the expansion of military forces due to an imminent matter, not to mention his personal anxiety over the weakness of his own direct lineage and his paranoia about being persecuted.
Previously, there had been an attack by ‘pustule monsters’ within the Governor’s Camp. Subsequently, Yan Fangxu led an investigation into the source of the monster attacks and discovered they were coming from a forest to the west.
Afterward, while Yan Fangxu took his soldiers for training, they used it as both a training exercise and an opportunity to exterminate these monsters.
They had no idea until they went there and were shocked by what they found. They encountered many monsters in that forest, not just pustule monsters. And they even discovered numerous monster breeding nests.
Gu Hang himself went to check it out.
The infested forest where the corrupted nests were densely packed had trees with bark already riddled with holes corroded by the secretions of alien creatures, emitting a strong stench of decay.
The breeding nest he saw was hidden in a damp and dark area of the forest, its entrance concealed by dense vines and thorns.
Upon burning away those vines and thorns, one could enter the nest. Parasitized trees surrounded the nest, creating a breeding ground that was dark and damp inside, filled with a strong alien odor lingering in the air.
In the corners of the nest, numerous alien creature eggs clung to the moist ground, with embryos of mutant monsters wriggling inside their semi-transparent shells. The eggs were covered in a thick layer of mucus, from which droplets occasionally fell, turning into pools of foul-smelling green pus. Cracks in the eggshells emitted eerie glimmers of light, casting sinister shadows on the walls of the nest.
At that time, Gu Hang ordered the destruction of the nest, burning it with fire and blowing it up from the inside.
However, that was just one small nesting site, and there was no telling how many more might be in the forest.
According to their subsequent assessment, if left unaddressed, a wave of mutant monsters would sweep towards Gu Hang’s camp, including the Abandoned Cave Society, in a few months.
By then, the cost to quell this wave would be unpredictable.
Fortunately, the situation was discovered relatively early, and there was still time.
Gu Hang needed to expand his army to ensure the safety of the camp. According to his plan, once the troops were reorganized, apart from the necessary guard forces, the other units would take turns clearing the monster nests in that forest.
The main goal, of course, was to nip the problem in the bud as much as possible.
Besides that, there was also the immediate benefit to be gained, which Gu Hang valued highly.
That benefit was the Earned Rewards points.
When Yan Fangxu led his troops to destroy the first alien breeding nest, Gu Hang’s interface showed the battle settlement.
No losses, two Earned Rewards points gained.
Afterward, he learned that there was a significant number of breeding nests within that forest.
His eyes lit up at the news.
You can call it a threat, and you would be correct. But in Gu Hang’s eyes, it was also like a huge gold mine!
He had gone to great lengths to develop his territory, bring in population, deal with light industry, heavy industry, construction industry, got his hands on everything, and had barely managed to double his monthly fixed income from the previous 12 to 25.
He was planning to persevere further and increase that number a bit more when he would receive his rewards at the end of the month, but he had stumbled upon such a gold mine.
Destroying one breeding nest for two Earned Rewards points meant that burning down ten would equal a month’s gains!
Why should I bother with farming… oh, farming is still necessary, these two matters don’t conflict.
However, precisely because there was something to gain, he paid it a bit more attention.
The First Automachinary Battalion had barely moved, with forces split to guard Valley Manor, the Governor’s Camp, and the Abandoned Cave Society.
The 2nd Infantry Battalion, on the other hand, was mostly thrown into the Strange Monster Forest—this name was newly coined by Gu Hang.
The battalion was left under the command of Captain Yan Fangxu, who was responsible for sweeping through the forest.
Over the past few days, seven nests had already been burned.
Captain Yan commanded the operations with caution; he would rather progress slowly and carefully to avoid losses as much as possible.
Conversely, Perbov, the former commander of the 2nd Infantry Battalion, was not too satisfied with this. In his opinion, during this time frame, let alone burning seven nests, he wished he could burn seventy!
How could he live up to the Governor’s trust without achieving the battle results as quickly and as much as possible?
Gu Hang was very satisfied with Perbov’s high combat enthusiasm.
Then, he chose to support Yan Fangxu’s command strategy.
The situation wasn’t so dire that it required filling gaps with human lives; Gu Hang had no need to order his soldiers to die unnecessarily.
The eradication of monsters within the Strange Monster Forest could still proceed methodically: eliminate the monsters, destroy the breeding nests, and take it slowly.
There were still several months ahead; even with Yan Fangxu’s cautious strategy, the problem should be resolvable.
Of course, as a leader, Gu Hang needed to be even more cautious.
Destroying those seven monster nests brought Gu Hang a total of 11 divine grace points.
He planned to recruit another infantry battalion from among the refugees and slave laborers.
With the Black Box Manufacturer, he could quickly produce enough weapons and ammunition to equip them; by spending divine grace points, he could also quickly train these newly recruited soldiers into qualified warriors.
In Gu Hang’s care, the rate of soldier production was exceedingly fast.
The Governor’s will was quickly implemented.
A recruitment office appeared in both the Abandoned Cave Society and the Governor’s Camp.
Residents of both places eagerly enlisted.
Of course, their reasons for enthusiasm were not the same.
The most eager were the residents of the Abandoned Cave Society; they had enjoyed a period of good days and fully cherished this time. They were willing to take up arms to defend the hard-earned results.
Next in willingness were the refugees who had just been allocated. They didn’t have any particular thoughts, purely attracted by the Governor’s generous treatment for recruiting soldiers.
Guaranteed food, two sets of military uniforms, weapons and equipment… These were enough to attract those refugees who had nothing.
Moreover, Gu Hang would also issue work points to them, which could be used at the distribution station to ‘purchase’ whatever they wanted. After two days of explanations, they clearly understood that work points were valuable.
Following Gu Hang’s instructions, of the 300 soldiers in the 3rd Infantry Battalion, 150 were selected from the refugees, 100 from the starship slave laborers, and 50 from the Abandoned Cave Society.
The composition of the personnel was complex, but Gu Hang himself hoped that the military, this great melting pot, could amalgamate soldiers of different backgrounds as much as possible.
The more effective melting pot, however, was the [Soldier Tag] System.
With a short duration of training, Gu Hang would have a qualified infantry battalion.
With three to four days of training and about six days of equipment production, this infantry battalion would be formed.
While busy preparing the troops and planning a strike in the alien woodland, Gu Hang also didn’t forget another matter:
How is the investigation of the cult situation in Revival City progressing?