The Pirates Arrive

Upon hearing the commotion, Atticus and Blanche immediately turned off the electricity and deliberately said, "Honey, quickly hide the fish meat and rice. Don't let them find it."

The pirates outside understood Mandarin and their eyes lit up upon hearing this. They immediately called their companions over, saying, "Here, there's food here."

Other pirates who were banging on the door quickly gathered around. Blanche panicked and said, "There's nothing here. We've run out of rice and meat. Go to someone else's house."

The pirates outside became even more excited upon hearing this. About a dozen of them forcefully tried to break down the door, but after a while, they realized the door was sturdy and wouldn't budge. They had to try another method.

Someone pointed to the wall, "Climb over it."

Seeing that the wall wasn't too high, the pirates immediately abandoned their attempts to break down the door and instead began to prepare to climb over the wall.

Atticus stood by the electrical switch. When he heard them starting to climb the wall, he didn't rush to turn on the electricity.

At that moment, a person's head emerged from the wall. Blanche immediately urged, "Turn on the electricity quickly."

Atticus immediately flipped the switch.

"Ahh!"The person climbing the wall writhed in agony as electric currents ran through their body. Before long, the smell of burning flesh and an odd odor wafted through the air, and the pirates outside fell silent.

Atticus and Blanche didn't go outside to check; they stayed inside quietly waiting.

On the main road, the pirates were repelled, but Base K suffered heavy casualties, with bodies strewn everywhere.

Ignatius instructed his men to pile the pirates' bodies together, his face looking grim.

"Base Commander, we're worried about our home. We'll head back now," Arnold said, not staying long and preparing to leave with his gun.

Ignatius nodded wearily, his face filled with exhaustion. "Thank you for your help tonight. Otherwise, the losses would have been even greater.""We're part of Base K now, and when pirates attack, we can't just stand by. We're just helping ourselves," Arnold said before turning back.

Alexander was also worried about the situation at home. He quickly made his way back, and before they reached the door, they smelled something burning.

"What's that smell? Someone got electrocuted?" Alexander sniffed the air and confirmed that it was coming from their house.

The two of them quickened their pace and arrived at the wall, where they indeed found the bodies of a dozen pirates.

Alexander felt a sense of pride. "Our electric fence worked perfectly. It easily took care of them."

Atticus and Blanche came out upon hearing their son's voice, and the couple recounted what had happened.

"Thank goodness we turned off the electricity in time. Otherwise, they wouldn't have taken the bait," Blanche said with relief.

Arnold raised an eyebrow and praised, "Impressive!"

They had effortlessly dealt with a dozen pirates.

Their neighbors cautiously opened their doors and peeked out, carefully observing before stepping out. After confirming that there were no pirates, they approached the Allen family. Seeing the bodies of the pirates, they were both impressed and frightened.

Especially Florence and her daughter-in-law, who trembled at the sight of the submachine guns in the hands of the Allen brothers. They were terrified; previously, when they went to confront the Allen family, they didn't even receive a warning shot. Now, they dared not approach, fearing that the Allen family might seek revenge.

"Quick, go inform the Base Commander to have these pirate bodies removed. Having them piled up here is unsettling," someone hurriedly ran off to find help.

The Allen brothers emerged from the shadows, and the others noticed the guns in their hands. They collectively took a step back.

Alexander was momentarily taken aback, and Arnold glanced at them.As they were about to head home, a man stepped forward and asked quietly, "Do you still have guns? Can I buy one from you?"

In this world, it's too dangerous to be without guns; there's no way to protect oneself.

"We only have these two, and we're not selling them," Arnold replied curtly before striding into their home.

Not long after, the Base Commander arrived. Seeing the bodies of a dozen pirates and glancing up at the electric fence on the Allen family's wall, he seemed to be lost in thought.The electric fence seemed quite effective. What if they surrounded the entire base with it? But this thought vanished in a few seconds. Base K was too large, and even if they had electricity, they didn't have enough iron mesh and wires to cover the whole perimeter. It wasn't feasible. 

However, they could install electric fences around important buildings. If they couldn't withstand a pirate attack, they could retreat into the buildings protected by electric fences, at least to hold out.With this in mind, the Base Commander ordered his men to remove the pirate bodies and went to consult with others. They needed to designate an emergency refuge area, but they would have to wait until Hurley and Alice returned.

The Base Commander was always proactive, and when he discussed it with the other executives, they agreed.

"I suggest we enclose the office building and install electric fences. Additionally, we can use electric shocks to repel pirates..."

Ignatius initiated the discussion, and others followed suit, suggesting several ideas. For example, burying electric wires on the roads so that they could activate them when pirates attacked.

With a shortage of weapons, they could only set traps as much as possible. 

They couldn't do much on the sea, but on their own turf, they couldn't let the pirates run rampant.

The Base Commander noted down the feasible ideas to formulate a plan later. 

Setting traps required cooperation from all sides, especially considering the presence of spies within the base; they couldn't let the information leak out.

The next day, the base began bustling with activity as they started implementing these plans.The message was not publicly announced, and the people in the base saw the Base Commander unable to do anything, feeling anxious.

"Those pirates recently experienced an earthquake again. Their habitat has been almost destroyed. Now they want to take over our territory. What should we do?"

"What about the Base Commander? Can he come out and talk about the defense plan? Keeping silent really makes people feel insecure."

"If you weren't there last night, you wouldn't know. Our people here were beaten badly. If it weren't for two people coming out with submachine guns to turn the tide at the end, I'm afraid the base wouldn't have been held last night."

"That's it. Everyone, let's quickly pack up and prepare to escape."

"We're not cowardly, we just don't have weapons. Even if we rush to the front, it's just sacrificing ourselves, not worth it."

"Humanity is becoming scarcer after the apocalypse. As long as I'm alive, humanity will not completely disappear. Take care, everyone!"

No matter how the people in the base clamored, Ignatius didn't have time to deal with them.

It wasn't until the power grid in the office building was installed and ambushes were set up on the roads that everyone was gathered together.

"Everyone, calm down. We have come up with a good plan to deal with the pirates. You don't need to leave the base."

Others asked curiously, "What's the plan?"

"There are spies in the base. We won't publicly announce the specific plan. Please trust us. Oh, if you feel unsafe at home, you can come to the office building or the distant building. We've installed a power grid outside. Even if the pirates break in, they won't be able to get in." Ignatius said.

Upon hearing this, everyone became happy and hurried back home to pack.Having a safe place to stay, what else are they waiting for?

As soon as Ignatius finished speaking, everyone couldn't wait to run home, afraid that they would miss out on a place to stay if they were slow to pack.

Some people split into two groups, with one group going home to pack and the other running into the office building or the distant building to pick a good spot.

Ignatius saw them all running towards this side, and his head instantly started to ache. He thought at most half of them would come to stay.