Chapter 169 - 160: A Port Base Defense Upgrade and Retrofit Blueprint (True)

Chapter 169: Chapter 160: A Port Base Defense Upgrade and Retrofit Blueprint (True)

Down below, Fu Yuanyuan’s eyes lit up when she saw Lin Zhixue. She hurried over, grabbing her arm and starting a conversation.

Seeing this, Lin Mo’s eyes narrowed slightly. He patted Lin Cong, who was heading down with the logistics team.

"Lin Cong, that girl’s name is Fu Yuanyuan. I need you to keep an eye on her today and report back to me tonight."

"Oh... Right!"

Lin Cong was a little surprised that his leader had suddenly given him a task, but he agreed immediately.

As Lin Mo watched Lin Cong head down, he clutched a red leather notebook in his hand.

A gust of sea breeze blew past, flipping open a page with "Lin Cong" written at the top.

Psychological State: Command-dependent personality...

FLAP FLAP FLAP~

The sea breeze grew stronger, causing the notebook to flap wildly. Name after name and line after line of text flew by like a flipbook, creating a living animation of the cruise ship’s occupants.

Lin Mo pulled his jacket tighter, hugged the red notebook to his chest, and walked into the ship’s interior.

...

"Sister Lin is amazing! She’s so decisive, assigning people just like that. She’s not only beautiful and kind, but capable too... I’m in love!"

Seeing Huang Zhiqiang’s lovestruck expression, Zhao Youcai said scornfully,

"Huang, is this lovesick crap all you think about, day in and day out? You’re giving me a headache."

Hearing this, Yu Dong couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Zhao Youcai. His mouth opened... and then closed again.

Fine.

"Dongzi, I think your points system needs something extra... like a ranking system."

"People who earn special achievements or make major contributions can level up. This would grant them more privileges, a larger daily resource allocation, and more say in how things are run."

"For instance, a massive contribution like saving a group of over a hundred people at the beginning of the apocalypse should definitely warrant a high initial rank."

Zhao Youcai’s mind was racing, trying to devise a plausible way to secure himself a spot at the top of this new capitalist food chain.

"We can hash it out with Qiao Ping and Lin Mo tonight."

When it came to this sort of thing, Yu Dong felt it was better to let the women handle it.

CLAP CLAP~

Yu Dong clapped his hands.

"The zombie corpses are all dealt with, and we’ve had enough rest. Let’s move out!"

The twenty members of the logistics team had not only carried all the zombie bodies to an open area outside but had also hooked up a hose to wash down the ground along the A Port defensive line, flushing all the charred residue and bits of flesh and blood into the sea.

The air at A Port smelled much better now.

"Wait a second!"

Sun Shan came jogging over with two other workers.

"We’ve been observing the terrain around A Port and B Port, as well as the route where you were just attacked. We ran a simulation to analyze the zombies’ likely paths of attack. To make it safer for you all when you go out, I’ve prepared a plan to upgrade our base’s defenses."

Yu Dong stopped and looked at Sun, listening to what he had to say.

Yu Dong had never doubted Sun Shan’s knack for building defenses or his practical skills.

"First, we’ll move all the remaining metal barricades from our inner defensive line. We’ll use a crane to bring over shipping containers and use them to seal this 500-meter frontline. We’ll leave two openings in the middle and install two large gates. For now, we’ll just make a couple of simple ones. Later, when we have time, we’ll find the right materials and forge two proper, heavy-duty gates."

"Then, we’ll move the metal barricades and sandbags over to Binhai Avenue to block the zombies coming from the nearby hotel district. There are too many of them over there, and they’re constantly trickling in. You can’t be fending off zombies at your back while you’re attacking B Port."

"Finally, I’m going to use an excavator to dig a deep trench in front of our container wall. Zombies that fall in won’t be able to climb out. We’ll bury some pipes in the sides and bottom beforehand to provide airflow. If a few zombies fall in, we can stand at the edge and spear them. If there are so many they’re about to overflow, we can get on top of the containers and toss down firebombs to burn them all!"

"With these upgrades, we’ll be able to handle anything with ease, whether it’s defending against zombies from the streets or getting chased back to the base by a huge horde. It will significantly increase our base’s security. Here, I drew up some plans, take a look." (See attached image ↓)

After looking at the diagram and the terrain of A Port, Yu Dong clapped his hands in approval.

"Brilliant! This is so much safer. We’ll only have to face the assault from B Port. And if we can’t win, we can fall back anytime, and most of the pursuing zombies will fall right into the trench."

Wang Dingbei was also full of praise. "Two defensive lines. An extra buffer zone gives us a greater margin for error. It’s a solid plan. What are we waiting for? Let’s do it!"

Sun Shan suddenly looked troubled. "I’m afraid we can’t do it today..."

Yu Dong asked, "Why not? Are we missing key materials? Does the design need more work? Or do you need us to clear out some zombies first?"

Sun Shan raised his hand and pointed to his watch.

"It’s already 5:30. It’s quitting time for us..."

Yu Dong: "?"

Wang Dingbei: "?"

Seeing Sun Shan and the other four workers all looking like they were ready to clock out and go home, Yu Dong felt a surge of anger.

"You spent the morning on ’team-building’ watching that whole spectacle. Working a little overtime this afternoon is perfectly normal, right? Finish moving the containers before you call it a day."

"Damn it! You evil, black-hearted boss!"

Sun Shan was forced to work an hour and a half of overtime with his crew and the crane operator.

Yu Dong and the group pushed the numerous metal barricades to the side of the road. Behind them, A Port was sealed off with shipping containers, leaving only two openings that were temporarily blocked with more barricades.

The process made a huge racket, which drew in another wave of zombies that they had to take care of.

With the logistics team’s help this time, others were handling the corpses and barricades. This took a huge load off the main group, allowing them to deal with the zombies much more easily.

By 7 PM, they had completed the simple defensive modifications. The sky was already completely dark, and Yu Dong reluctantly returned to the ship with everyone to rest.

「Third Floor, Dining Hall.」

Wang Dingbei, Yu Dong, and Lin Mo were eating at a table together, and the conversation turned to the points and ranking system they had discussed that afternoon.

"I think we should stick to just the points system," Yu Dong said, holding forth on the topic. "That ranking system Youcai mentioned... we can’t do it. We can’t allow special privileges on this ship, or it’ll corrupt the group!" The other two nodded in agreement.

Watching the three leaders pontificate, the chef, who had already finished cooking, hesitated for a moment. He then went to the cold storage, took out three thick-cut steaks, pan-fried them in butter, and plated them.

The waitress, Qi Wenwen, wearing black stockings, carried a tray with a bottle of red wine and three glasses over to their table.

"Please, enjoy."

Yu Dong and the other two said nothing, but now three steaming, fragrant, exquisitely prepared steaks and a bottle of red wine sat on their table.

The three of them, who had almost never had red wine before, looked down at the bottle, then back at each other.

...

PS: The attached image should only be visible on the Qidian app, right? For those of you on QQ Reading, can you guys see the image?

Oh, and for readers on QQ Reading, if you want to join the "Ice and Fire" fan group chat, you can come over to the Qidian app, find this book, and subscribe for just 1 yuan. You’ll be able to join the group via the link in the book’s description. It’s just a small hurdle to help screen out strange people who aren’t actual readers.