Chapter 47 – Small Base

The company commander in charge of this western small base was called Fei Xuelei, a tall, tanned, middle-aged man.

After he arranged for people to take the supplies Nie Yi and the others had brought, he led them into the secure base.

Among all the bases, B City secure base was really the base that was managed the best. Although all the powerful forces were centred there, it was precisely because of this that a balance was formed in all areas; every elite figure had contributed greatly to the development of the secure base… As for the other places… even if the leader of the secure base was a good person, they couldn’t necessarily rely on their own strength to manage a secure base.

This small base had received some assistance from B City secure base but still couldn’t compare with B City secure base in any aspect. In the course of the whole journey, Nie Yi saw dirty streets as well as many desperate people. He had even seen a few elderly people simply lying around in the corners of the streets with their eyes open, as if they were waiting for death.

Nie Yi had seen a scene like this one too many times and was long accustomed to it, but Zhang Zihai and the others hadn’t witnessed this before and couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong with these elderly?”

Fei Xuelei’s expression was a little ugly, and he finally said, “Their entire family is dead, so they’ve become like that.”

There were all kinds of people among the ones Fei Xuelei had saved from nearby. Some of these people had a very strong desire to live, able to survive under worse conditions and kill zombies, even if they had to die. Meanwhile, some were terrified out of their wits and only knew to hide in the secure base. There were even more who would succumb to their despair and choose suicide.

Seeing their loved ones become zombies, seeing the world outside become like this, many people couldn’t accept it at all. This was also why B City secure base had urgently portrayed Yu Shuo as a hero. When people were in suffering, they would need spiritual motivation.

B City secure base had motivated the people in the base through broadcasts, set up arrangements for elderly and children with missing parents to be together, and guided everyone towards hating zombies. These methods that were researched by experts allowed the majority of people to still have hope towards the future, but the small-scale bases couldn’t achieve the same.

Along the journey, they had once again seen some despondent people. Of course, not everyone was filled with despair. There were some who, despite being in a miserable state, exuded unswerving determination from their entire being. They went to and fro hurriedly with great strides, greeting Fei Xuelei when they saw him.

“We don’t have enough supplies here, so many people would go out in search of supplies; those people are among them,” Fei Xuelei said somewhat proudly.

B City secure base had long taken over some granaries the nation used to store food, as well as large-scale food factories, cold storages, and wholesale markets. As for food from places like supermarkets, they didn’t think much of them, but this wasn’t the case for small bases.

Nie Yi had long known this fact, and gradually felt that he was right.

The very first batch he saved, Xu Nan and the others, were all regular people burdened with a family to feed. After arriving at B City secure base, a relatively safe place, they weren’t willing to set foot in dangerous areas anymore; and the military ability users he had later encountered, they were all fighting for the secure base… Neither of these types of people were ones he wanted.

Nie Yi and his team were introduced to the many circumstances of the secure base by Fei Xuelei, who then brought them to a white office building in the middle. “This is where the doctors stay…”

Just as his voice fell, a sudden scream came from nearby. He rushed over while Nie Yi and the others followed closely behind him, and discovered that someone had turned into a zombie.

It was impossible for a small base to meticulously check the condition of every single person who entered, so contaminated things would be brought in sometimes. With the slightest inattention, someone may become infected and turn into a zombie.

Fei Xuelei’s expression turned cold. At the same time, a stone next to the zombie suddenly struck it and directly smashed that zombie into a black, meaty pulp.

Fei Xuelei was also an earth ability user, but he wasn’t the same as the earth ability users in B City who were experts in crafting earthen walls to block off zombies, utilising their abilities to clear the road or excavate moats. He was used to using his earth ability to kill zombies.

When Shao Zhenglan saw this, her eyes immediately brightened, but because Zhang Zihai had already learnt a lesson, the first thing he did was to burn that zombie until even the bones were gone.

“Was anyone hurt?” Fei Xuelei asked. The people mutually examined each other and finally pushed a girl out.

“Bring her to the isolation room,” Fei Xuelei said.

That girl didn’t resist at all, obediently following them.

Fei Xuelei explained, “We isolate the injured if it’s unconfirmed that they’ll become zombies.”

“B City is like this as well,” Nie Yi said.

Fei Xuelei smiled and soon brought Nie Yi into the hospital, asking, “Where’s Dr. Fang? Someone’s looking for her, bring her over quickly.”

“Dr. Fang? She’s currently doing an operation,” someone immediately responded.

“Then we’ll wait.” Fei Xuelei nodded, then looked at Qi Jingchen in Nie Yi’s embrace. “Is this child sick? We have all the basic medical equipment here; do you want to do a B-mode ultrasound?” He had long felt that the Qi Jingchen in Nie Yi’s embrace was a little strange, but had assumed that Qi Jingchen was sick.

“He’s unwell, but taking medicine is useless,” Nie Yi said.

“So it’s like that.” Fei Xuelei nodded, then brought up the matter of leaving for B City secure base. “With this many people setting off together, will we encounter any dangers on the road?”

“Of course we will,” Nie Yi said without the slightest hesitation, then abruptly added, “After Commander Fei reaches B City secure base, do you plan on staying there?”

Fei Xuelei had actually lived a long time in his last life, but since he didn’t join any secure base nor did he join them, and was continuously killing zombies instead, news of him had gradually subsided.

“Why are you asking this?” Fei Xuelei asked. After a moment, he said, “I’m going to visit my hometown.”

Fei Xuelei had been thinking about his parents and relatives in his hometown. If it weren’t because there were so many people here now and he truly couldn’t leave, he probably would’ve gone home a long time ago. However, even if it was like this, he had already decided to wait until these people were settled down, then he would immediately look for his relatives.

The secure base had always told them that the soldiers had to protect the civilians, and that all the civilians were their family, if they protected other people’s relatives well, others will do the same for theirs as well… Despite this, he still wanted to go back and take a look.

His wife who was always waiting for his return home, his daughter who wasn’t in touch with him often, and his parents who were always very proud of him…

“We also want to go out and look; we can go together with Commander Fei.” Nie Yi smiled and said, “As for how to return to B City secure base, let’s gather the people in the base and train them.”

A year after the apocalypse began, humanity began to research many ways to fight against zombies, and he remembered all of them.

“Someone’s looking for me?” Right at this time, a woman’s gentle voice rang out. Everyone raised their head and saw a middle-aged woman with very heavy eyebags and a lot of wrinkles on her face walking over.

“Mom!” Ping Shengchao stood up frantically and called out.

“Xiao Chao?” Seeing her son, Mother Ping was instantly excited. “Xiao Chao! You’re okay! It’s great that you’re okay!” By the end of the sentence, Mother Ping already had a sobbing tone.

Ping Shengchao was also very moved. “Mom, where’s dad?”

“He’s right behind!” Mother Ping said and looked back. Sure enough, a man dressed in a large, white gown like Mother Ping walked out.

This man also had wrinkles on his face, but when he saw Ping Shengchao, those wrinkles smoothed out. “Xiao Chao, weren’t you in the south? How did you come back?”

Mother Ping and Father Ping were extremely emotional. Before the apocalypse, Ping Shengchao was in the south. After the apocalypse happened, the magnetic fields had changed, and everyone soon lost all forms of contact. They heard that a layer of black fog had appeared in the sky and caused many airplanes to crash, and only helicopters could be used. Unfortunately, the ground was still littered with zombies… They had even thought that they would never see their son again in this life.

“It was Boss who brought me here,” Ping Shengchao immediately said.

The Ping parents looked at Nie Yi gratefully. Nie Yi looked at the two of them and couldn’t help remembering his own relatives. If his grandparents and mother were fine, he certainly would have also received a warm welcome when he had reached the secure base.

Shao Zhenglan, who had still been pondering over the new usage of the earth ability, saw this scene and felt a bit dejected. Qi Yaoyao’s eyes were also filled with tears, while Zhang Zihai and the others all had complicated emotions.

They all had family, but it wasn’t likely that they could reunite with them.

“Find a place for us to rest.” Nie Yi was the first to retrieve his gaze and immediately spoke to Fei Xuelei.

Nie Yi spoke as if he was speaking to a subordinate, but Fei Xuelei didn’t notice at all. He nodded and said, “You guys rest over at my place ba. The houses here are filled with people. Even though we brought back a few construction workers, building a house isn’t something that happens overnight, so we could only build fortifications first.”

Fei Xuelei’s residence wasn’t wide, but fortunately, it had a set of two rooms and two living rooms. Fei Xuelei slept in a bedroom, Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen slept in another, and the rest made their beds on the floor of the living room and dining room.

Fei Xuelei still had many things to do, and when he returned in the evening, he saw that his house was filled with people lying all around.

Because he had considered the large number of people, he had specially allowed them to use the master bedroom. The room had a floor made with real wood, as well as a two-meter bed. Logically, seven or eight people could sleep in it, so there was no reason for everyone to squeeze outside…

“Commander Fei returned?” Nie Yi walked out of the master bedroom and spoke with a smile.

“Why didn’t you guys make a proper arrangement? If there isn’t enough space, some of you can still sleep in my room,” Fei Xuelei said.

Nie Yi understood Fei Xuelei’s meaning. He probably thought that Nie Yi gave himself special privileges. However, if he couldn’t even let Qi Jingchen sleep and live well, then he might as well ignore the lives and deaths of other people, much less create a team!

“Commander Fei, I’m a selfish person. If I myself can’t live well, I wouldn’t help other people,” Nie Yi smiled at Fei Xuelei.

Fei Xuelei originally was still unable to understand, but he ended up seeing the faces of acknowledgement on the people around Nie Yi… Zhang Zihai and the rest all expressed that they were already used to Nie Yi… Ah, no, Qi Jingchen has special privileges. If Qi Jingchen didn’t have special privileges, they would instead feel baffled.

Wasn’t it said that they had to share joys and sorrows with subordinates, only then would they obtain love and respect? How come this Nie Yi was walking on a completely abnormal route? When Fei Xuelei saw that Nie Yi was eating the best food and using the best things, he was soon about to be driven mad by anger.

On the contrary, Nie Yi continued to be very calm.

Sharing joys and sorrows with subordinates, this really was a good way to have a good relationship. This would allow his subordinates to rely on him and trust him, but in truth, there was still another method that was even better.

It was to build himself up, making him stand out from the masses.

Those emperors of the ancient times, did they share their joys and sorrows with the common people, with the officers and soldiers? No. In reality, the life they lived was completely different from the commoners they were ruling. However, they were still held up extremely, extremely high. In the eyes of commoners, they were unattainable Mandates of Heaven, so it was expected for people to vow their loyalty and devotion to them, and risk their life and blood for them.

Nie Yi’s goal was precisely that.

Of course, he didn’t plan on being the ‘emperor’ himself, but for Qi Jingchen… In their last life, they had done this extremely successfully.

At that time, he had frightful strength and was the first person below Qi Jingchen. Even though countless people had wanted to assassinate him, no one was successful. The him who would even burst into a secure base to kill them again and again if provoked, had willingly revered Qi Jingchen as his master… So as it should be, Qi Jingchen was placed on an even higher pedestal, somewhere they needed to look up to.

At that time, Qi Jingchen had actually treated him like an equal. However, during the middle period of the apocalypse, they had gone through a rough patch of being chased and killed, so he straightforwardly pushed Qi Jingchen to the highest degree. As expected, their life after that was much better. Later, the strong users only needed to spot Qi Jingchen before they would subconsciously flee, not even daring to show hostility…

This title “Dark Lord” was frightening and awe-inspiring. It had also attracted several people into seeking refuge from them, but unfortunately, everyone died later.

This time, after Qi Jingchen awakens, they would have even stronger power… So what if it was a dark ability? He would make everyone hold Qi Jingchen to the absolute highest position! Make everyone unable to harm Qi Jingchen, as well as removing the need for Qi Jingchen to be stained by blood.

The next day, Nie Yi unyieldingly assumed control over the various matters of the secure base.

Fei Xuelei had been dissatisfied at first, but seeing the proposals, as well as the various reorganisation methods provided by Nie Yi, he immediately stopped arguing…

He had always known that he wasn’t an expert in managing a secure base, but he didn’t think that not only was he bad at managing a secure base, he wasn’t good at army drills either!

The drills Nie Yi had produced were really good. If it could be as useful as what Nie Yi had described, they might really be able to reach B City secure base.

After Nie Yi took over the matters of the secure base, he had the soldiers of this secure base as well as all of those who frequently went out in search of supplies gather at the empty space outside the secure base. This time, it wasn’t the same as when he had trained Xu Nan and the others, where he only wanted to pick a few useful ones from among them and have them work for him when they reached B City secure base. Instead, he really wanted to train a team that solely belonged to him. Therefore, at the very start, he rejected those that had close relatives with them, as well as those who fundamentally couldn’t follow them when they left.

Currently, he was only someone who hadn’t even established his own secure base. Even if they could bring along a few family members, bringing too many people was impossible.

Of course, he couldn’t say that he wanted to get his hands on these people right now; moreover, he wanted manpower, but not the old, weak, women or young of the secure base. Therefore, he must send the people of this base to B City secure base.

While on this journey, it just so happened he could train these people.

There were already a lot of people gathered below. Nie Yi placed Qi Jingchen at the side, then had Shao Zhenglan pile up an earth slope and slowly walked up. “Today, I called you here because I have a very important matter to tell you— The zombies outside are evolving.

“You all know the situation of this secure base. For now, we can still persevere, but after that, we might not be able to continue holding on. If you want the old and weak to survive, you have to bring them to B City secure base. And to bring them to B City secure base, there must be people protecting them.

“The reason I called you all out is because I want to cultivate a group that can protect them and can kill zombies. The only demand I have from you is only one thing: To obey me.”

Just when Nie Yi’s words fell, someone immediately spoke up, “Why?”

Baobao Notes

Someone offered to retranslate this in Indonesian, here’s the link!