Huacheng Steel Group.

Wangbei Army Headquarters, third floor.

The parking lot downstairs is full of cars.

Most of these cars are modified civilian off-road vehicles, with protective steel plates added to the bodies, wire mesh installed on the windows, and even ramming horns added to the front.

The engines inside have all been altered; in the apocalypse, everything prioritizes safety and performance.

These vehicles belong to the leaders or deputy leaders of various Survivor Alliances.

They have come at the invitation of the Wangbei Army to discuss matters of dealing with the Dawn Army.

Inside there is a conference table, rectangular in shape, covered with a tablecloth and adorned with fake flowers, which is quite good under apocalyptic conditions.

Zhang Zhijian from Wangbei Army is currently speaking.

"Everyone, I believe you all are aware of the situation with the Dawn Army. Today we have gathered you here to jointly advance and retreat and to exert pressure on the Dawn Army to return our weapons and equipment."

The person from the Burning Corps is Wang Dashan, who lightly tapped the table with his fingers: "Did the Dawn Army really kill 300,000 zombies? I find it somewhat unbelievable."

Zhang Xiaofei, sitting next to Zhang Zhijian, remarked, "Dashan, I'm sure you've seen the Dawn Army's city. Given their fortification, it doesn't seem difficult to kill 300,000 zombies with just a few thousand defenders. After all, zombies lack intelligence and are merely living targets."

Many of those present had been to Dawn City and nodded in agreement.

From this angle, it seems that the Dawn Army's ability to kill 300,000 zombies is not particularly difficult.

They cannot imagine how terrifying the zombie hordes commanded by Wang Huining truly are.

Even less can they fathom the ferocity of the King Kong Zombie and the Crawler.

Zhang Xiaofei's remarks slightly eased their fear.

Zhang Zhijian asked Zhang Xiaofei, "In your view, what should we do now?"

Zhang Xiaofei stood up: "The Dawn Army can rely on their city to wipe out zombies, so even if we attack their city, we might end up bloodied. Therefore, I suggest we temporarily agree to their terms."

Zhang Zhijian shook his head: "Wouldn't that increase their arrogance?"

"No, Deputy Leader. This is just a temporary measure, mainly to retrieve our weapons first and then find an opportunity to deal with them."

Zhang Zhijian slightly furrowed his brow: "The alliance cannot gather 500 kilograms of gold now."

Zhang Xiaofei smiled slightly: "Everyone remembers gold, but maybe you've forgotten that what the Dawn Army mentioned was gold, silver, and jewels, not just gold."

"But we don't have jewels either."

"We don't, but someone does."

Zhang Xiaofei told Zhang Zhijian, "North of us, crossing the Shenlong River is the Rakshasa's Hai Shan Wei. That place was originally a port city specializing in jewelry and diamond business. The Rakshasa's cities are different from Qin Han, the area is big but sparsely populated."

"I've heard that over in Rakshasa, they looted two jewelry stores to restore military production, collecting many diamonds and such, but they can only use a portion. If Deputy Leader speaks to them, getting dozens of kilograms of diamonds shouldn't be difficult."

Zhang Zhijian widened his eyes: "Do you think diamonds are cabbages, dozens of kilograms?"

Before Zhang Xiaofei could respond, Wang Dashan from the Burning Army spoke: "Deputy Leader, don't shirk the responsibility. We all lack gold now, if you have this means, why not help us all."

Other forces also chimed in.

Among them, there is a force called Women's Army, led by Wang Juan, a very rare female Power-type Evolver.

She was originally an amateur weightlifter, and after evolving, her strength surpassed that of general male evolvers.

Standing at 1.79 meters, her arms are as thick as a bodybuilder's.

She founded this Women's Army to shelter women, citing the vulnerability of females in the apocalypse.

Of course, there are also males, but within the Women's Army, females are the dominant force.

However, this Women's Army is not entirely clean; Wang Juan conducts many clandestine deals with other forces, often using women as her bargaining chips.

Wang Juan told Zhang Zhijian, "Brother Zhang, you must help us sisters this time. Our Women's Army is weak; last time we gave the Dawn Army 100 kilograms of gold, turning in all our jewelry. We don't have the ability to gather gold and silver again."

"We're counting on getting those guns back. It's all up to you, Brother Zhang."

Saying this, she even deliberately winked at Zhang Zhijian, making him feel a wave of nausea.

But he still didn't easily agree, feeling he would lose face.

Zhang Xiaofei spoke again: "Deputy Leader, as they say, a real man can bend and stretch, this is just temporary. I believe the Dawn Army won't survive for two months."

"Oh, why do you say that? They have a strong city to defend, can our firepower destroy them?"

"Hehe, Deputy Leader, think, what if we could get tanks from the Rakshasa side? Could Dawn City still hold out?"

Zhang Zhijian waved his hand: "But whether Rakshasa has tanks or not, at least we can't get them now. We don't even have a single large transport ship; these few armored cars were barely acquired."

"Although we don't have a big ship, Deputy Leader shouldn't forget, winter is coming soon."

The group was stunned, suddenly realizing.

"Winter is coming, Shenlong River will freeze, and it seems this winter will be very cold, so tanks can even travel on the river surface. When that time comes, we can buy whatever weapons we want from Rakshasa."

"If necessary, we can even invite the Rakshasa to join our Huacheng battle."

Zhang Xiaofei eloquently spoke in front of everyone: "Isn't the Dawn Army impressive? Then let them face our alliance's six forces plus the Rakshasa. This can be called... Ice and Snow, Seven Chill Allies."

Wang Dashan from the Burning Army immediately nodded: "Well said, Xiaofei, the seven chill allies, let's see if Ye Fan can withstand it?"

Zhang Zhijian was finally swayed by Zhang Xiaofei's words.

The plan is feasible.

"Alright, I can give it a try, but we also need to see if the Dawn Army agrees."

Zhang Xiaofei quickly opened the broadcast and started negotiating with the Dawn Army over the radio.

Very quickly, both parties reached a consensus.

The Survivor Alliance agreed to pay the Dawn Army two hundred and twenty kilograms of gold, with the remaining gold being exchanged for diamonds and jewelry at a discounted rate.

But Ye Fan took advantage of them on this issue.

In the apocalypse, while gold still holds some value, much of the jewelry is worthless.

For instance, pearls, or rubies.

Other than looking good, they don't have much use.

So Ye Fan unapologetically bargained, drastically lowering the price of the jewelry.

Zhang Zhijian agreed as well, knowing that there was plenty of jewelry on the Rakshasa side. They could potentially trade a lot of it for some steel.

The deal was struck, and Zhang Zhijian set out.

He needed to go to Rakshasa personally to have a conversation with Rikov.

********

After reaching an agreement with the Survivor Alliance, Ye Fan was in a state of excitement.

With all this jewelry, he believed the total value in money would exceed the value of five hundred kilograms of gold in the end.

At that point, the power plant and the airport could be brought into the production sequence.

In these past few days, the Dawn Army also experienced a recruitment peak.

Having learned that the Dawn Army wiped out three hundred thousand zombies, and with the Survivor Alliance having to bow their heads, many survivors from the surrounding area left their homes and headed towards Dawn City.

Logistical matters became busy all of a sudden.

After a major battle in the Outer City District, the war-torn land quickly started to be leveled.

Luckily, the main street remained intact, and the basic infrastructure on either side quickly got underway.

Ye Fan even had no time to hunt zombies because winter was approaching. Once it froze, the solid ground would make construction impossible, so he had to get as much done as possible before winter arrived.

The entire army personally joined the construction efforts.

Ye Fan, therefore, added another platoon of engineers to increase production efficiency.

Each day, significant changes occurred in the Outer City District.

One after another, temporary prefab houses sprung up, and streets received swift basic repairs.

Even the walls of the Outer City District were included in the construction plan.

This wall was to be taller and longer than the one in the Main City District.

According to Ye Fan's plan, the battlefield area of the Outer City District reached sixteen kilometers.

Twice the size of the Main City District plus the core area.

The construction of this wall was a key project.

Ye Fan demanded that the Outer City District's wall be built to a height of eight meters and a width of four meters.

It needed to be wide enough for vehicles to drive on.

Of course, such a large project couldn't be completed in a short time; the foundation was being laid now.

Within the guaranteed four meters of width, they would build as high as possible.

Even if it were only three meters high, it would still be able to withstand a wave of zombie attacks.

Rushing against time and progress, the whole of Dawn City was in uproar.

The newly arrived survivors were immediately put into the construction work after registration.

Ye Fan, accompanied by several guards, walked through the construction site.

"Sir, the Survivor Alliance sent a message; they will arrive here within the next day or two."

Shen Ruihui reported the news to Ye Fan.

"Oh, have they collected enough gold and silver?"

"They have collected enough, and a lot of it is diamonds and jewelry."

Shen Ruihui said with some pride, "They had no choice but to collect it. For us at the Dawn Army, this batch of weapons is nothing, but for them, it's their savings, and they rely on these weapons to get by."

Ye Fan chuckled: "I'm afraid these people don't have good intentions. Once they get the weapons, they might start harboring unnecessary thoughts."

Shen Ruihui was dismissive: "Sir, you're overthinking it. The Survivor Alliance is not noteworthy in our eyes, only the Wangbei Army seems to have a bit of strength, the other, like the Burning Army, is nothing to worry about."

"Oh right, there's also the Women's Army, could a bunch of women really stir up trouble? Here we have the Giant Cannon; if they dare to come, Sir, you could teach them a lesson with one blast."

Ye Fan blinked his eyes twice and turned to Shen Ruihui: "It seems Squad Leader Shen is quite free."

"If there's anywhere that needs manpower, I am always ready." Shen Ruihui was not apprehensive.

Ye Fan nodded: "Currently, Xiaoba needs feeding, you go handle this task. Remember, Xiaoba enjoys chewing slowly, the logistics support team prepared some buns specifically for it, just feed them one by one, twice a day."

"Haha! This task is so easy; Sir is really considerate of me, I'll go right away."

Just as Shen Ruihui left, a few jeeps appeared on the horizon.

The Survivor Alliance had arrived.

********

ps: This is the second regular update, there will be more updates later today.

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