Chapter 17 Consolidation

Shadow Base held its first meeting in the medical room to discuss the union with Farm Base. Currently, Farm Base had a grasp of the zombie situation at the summit church and intended to join forces with Shadow Base to take it over. This union would become a merger after the successful capture of the summit base.

After the merger, the base would have a total of eight members. Stone planned to implement a leadership structure, with Stone as the Great Commander and Maya as the Deputy Commander. Stone was in charge of internal affairs, including base construction, material management, resource coordination, personnel work, etc. Maya was responsible for external affairs, weapon distribution, team formation for outings, and scavenging targets.

Lin Wu trusted Stone, and he had no objections to Stone being the commander, but what he was dissatisfied with were the rules of the leadership structure. Whenever he entered the base, except for a melee weapon, all items would automatically be stored in the inventory. This rule was beneficial for the development of the base. When one went home to rest, others could use his flashlight and steak knife, signifying that there was no concept of personal property among the base members.

Eight people definitely couldn't practice individualism. What if someone got upset, swept the stores, and ran away? Or what if they resorted to violence during a dispute? Or what if they brought any Tom, Dick or Harry into the base?

Stone analyzed his own view of the game, and everyone thought Stone's analysis was very sensible. To live longer and better, it was essential to band together. Shadow Base only had four units; it was impossible to maintain a healthy survival with only three people. They had also witnessed Frenzy's power that day. If something like that showed up during the siege, three people probably couldn't handle it.

What about a collective system? Stone worried that some might form cliques. Where there were people, there were societies. Stone spoke frankly, the Farm Base had five people, and Shadow Base only had three people. After stabilizing the summit church, if they joined forces to expel the members of Shadow Base, the members of Shadow Base wouldn't be able to resist.

Maya didn't agree with the example Stone had cited. She asked what to do if there were two lazy people in the base? Expel them? But their two friends weren't willing to cast expulsion votes—one might be because of their friendship, another might be because the lazy ones' votes were needed to secure their own status and interests within the base.

Stone said patiently, "Lin Wu, this world needs you, but you can't expect the world to revolve around you. Occasionally, you also need to sacrifice and cooperate with the world."

Lin Wu agreed, "I have no objections. Just tell me what we need to do for the summit church."

To the right of the summit church were two large factories, to the left were five seven-story apartment buildings, and opposite the apartments were five supporting shops.

Maya said, "In this area, apart from ordinary zombies, there is a kind of Blood Zombie, which is basically no different from ordinary zombies, except that the infection rate is double that of ordinary zombies. There are many zombies inside and outside the church, including a kind of Mutant Zombie: Exploding Zombie."

Maya described the characteristics of Exploding Zombies. They were zombies with very big stomachs that would run and chase. When they fell down, they would explode and emit a poisonous gas with a radius of 5 meters. Life dropped rapidly within the range of the gas. Inhaling the poison not only caused poisoning but also infection, with longer exposure leading to higher levels of poisoning and infection. Each cloud of poison gas could exist for around ten seconds.

This was the first characteristic of Exploding Carnage. The second was that upon explosion, Explosive Carnage's loud noise would attract nearby zombies. Maya believed that a frontal battle was inevitable to take down the summit church.

Maya drew a diagram, "We need four people to guard the only passage to prevent zombies attracted by the explosion from flooding into the church. The other four must quickly clear out all the zombies inside the church."

Lin Wu said, "The infection rate of the Blood Zombies is so high that we might lose several people in this battle."

Maya replied, "We cannot rule out that possibility. If we are well-prepared, I believe the plan is highly feasible because we are going to use a special weapon."

Lin Wu asked, "What is it?"

"Molotov Cocktails," Maya took out a homemade Molotov Cocktail from her backpack. "Made at a crafting station, the materials are a third of a barrel of gasoline, rags, and bottles. Molotov Cocktails cover a range of 3 meters in diameter, and if a zombie on fire touches another zombie, there is a good chance the others will catch fire. As of now, ordinary zombies are certain to die once they're set on fire. Pay special attention that if Exploding Carnage touches the flames, it will cause a violent explosion, which can clear a range of zombies but also cause great damage to players."

Lin Wu said, "The more explosions there are, the more continuously zombies will come."

Maya said, "The purpose of using Molotov Cocktails is to relieve pressure on the defenders, creating more time for the people inside the church, not to eliminate the zombies. Once we take over the church, we immediately establish a base to create a safe zone and then work together within the safe zone to eliminate the remaining zombies."

Stone said, "Two units of gasoline can produce a barrel of gasoline, and one barrel of gasoline can produce three Molotov Cocktails. We need a large number of gasoline packs, the more, the better. In addition, we also need a large number of bottles and rags."

Maya said, "The first batch of revived players is about to return to the game. With the experience of their last deaths, I believe many of them will survive tonight. The more people there are, the more variables there will be. Therefore, I have decided to launch an attack on the church atop the hill at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. We will arrange for personnel tomorrow morning at the farm base."

Maya continued, "We need to set off for the church atop the hill at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, and everyone needs time to rest. Based on your injuries, infection rates, and each person's combat characteristics, I've made a timetable to maximize every single minute."

This felt so familiar, Maya reminded Lin Wu of his ex-girlfriend. She would even check the schedule for every space train in advance, calculate the time for farewells, and strive for seamless transitions, not wasting a single second, pushing the allocation of resources to the limit.

Everything was settled, with no issues.

Almost every farm around the farm base had a reserve of gasoline, always ready to fuel farm tools. Therefore, the farm base was responsible for the gasoline packs. Shadow Base took on the task of scouring the residential area, collecting bottles, rags, and melee weapons for making Molotov Cocktails. The search started at 4:00 p.m., with Little Knife and Stone as one group, searching the houses on the left side of the road. Maya rested while Lin Wu received treatment. At 11:00 p.m., Little Knife and Stone would come back to rest and receive treatment, and Maya and Lin Wu as a group would search the houses on the right side. The search would end at 4:00 a.m.; the injured would receive treatment, and those who were not injured would rest.

At 6:00 a.m., they would dismantle Shadow Base's buildings, leave 4 units of food, and pack the rest into base packs, with each person carrying one. Since Shadow Base had 4 units of food left, just enough for Little Knife, Lin Wu, and Stone to use, Maya would leave Shadow Base at 6:00 am. Around 7:20 in the morning, everyone would arrive at the church atop the hill, and Maya would take the supplies and ride her bicycle back to the farm base, joining the production of Molotov Cocktails there and preparing to consume the food assigned at 8:00 a.m. Around 7:50 a.m., everyone would gather outside the church atop the hill, and the battle would begin at 8:00 a.m.

The above was the plan arranged by Maya. Although today Lin Wu had taken Maya around in detours, she had still calculated the distance precisely and roughly estimated the time needed for the journey.