Chapter 95: Tan Base
Xiong Tan and others were busy finishing the newly assigned mission. Currently, the base already has a towering building with more than 50 rooms.
Few residents from the Silent Knight base had even started to pour in. The base, which originally had no more than 10 people, was now filled with 40 people.
The demand for more rooms continued to rise, while the citizens started to feel a sense of peace in their minds. All of this was possible because of the newly installed electric grids.
Xiong Tan still remembered how everyone had gone back to sleep with heavy hearts and worries about the zombies breaking in, and how the very next day a silence greeted them.
At first, all of them became worried and started to think if a mutated animal tide was about to attack the base. It was another discovery that Burning Star had made.
As long as a base suddenly experiences the absence of zombies around its area, there might be two possible reasons.
One, the base has successfully cleared its perimeters by hunting daily and outnumbering the humans. And second... a mutated animal tide was about to roll in.
Zombies, being sensitive, would automatically evacuate the area the animals were about to attack.
However, when the base members of Fair Shallow Base checked out, they realized a strange electric grid had been installed around the perimeter, preventing and electrocuting all the troublesome zombies.
Even level 4 zombies were taken down by it. This caused everyone to rejoice.
Only later did they realize that for the grid to function, a lightning ability user had to input his superpower in a special box. To prevent anyone from tampering with it, the electric box was stored in a container that couldn’t be broken.
With the constant supply of food, shelter, and security, the base had solidified its foundation and even encouraged its citizens to invite more people.
What stunned everyone was still the cafeteria. It was like a treasure box everyone waited to refresh every day.
Some days, they found cup noodles, and other days it was compressed biscuits, canned meats, canned fruits, etc.
This type of generosity was only seen in giant bases like Burning Star or Starry Sky.
Many of the citizens even guessed that Fair Shallow Base was destined to be a big base and even started to enquire about the land. Some even put up a request to buy the land.
Xiong Tan, on the other hand, had a different worry that haunted him. The rising temperature. If he wasn’t wrong, then extreme heat was about to arrive.
And when that happened, things like transportation, fighting zombies, and even food production became a huge problem.
The most pressing matter was the heatstrokes, the insects, and the forest catching fire. The base was surrounded by the forest, which might catch fire easily...
Wiping away the sweat, Xiong Tan walked toward the mission board and happened to see a crowd standing around it.
Curious, he asked Yao Chun, now responsible for making furniture and sometimes taking up exploration tasks,
"What is happening?"
Yao Chun crossed his arms. "The boss has opened a suggestion box, and everyone is posting their requests."
"Doesn’t it happen always?" Xiong Tan asked as he rubbed his hands on his clothes.
"It does. However, this time the base leader’s attention was caught by rising temperature concerns, and he has issued a new mission. Everyone has to write down the thing they fear the most if extreme heat arrives, and he is even ready to give away 20 compressed biscuits as a reward."
Xiong Tan’s eyes brightened up as he heard Yao Chun continue, "If anyone can suggest any solution for the problems, they might even become the advisor of the base."
Yao Chun stared at Xiong Tan and sighed, "However, I think you shouldn’t apply. Did you forget the mess you had created 5 years ago?"
Xiong Tan fell silent before taking a deep breath. "Humans learn from their mistakes, and I did too. And if I meet him again... I will compensate him for sure."
Yao Chun shook his head. "Tan... you should know... one day this base will become famous, and at that time if you meet your second brother... he will expose your immaturity."
Xiong Tan clenched his fist and regretted ever falling for his second brother’s nonsense. "I know... I know... to repent, I even tried to find that person, but I couldn’t..."
With desperation, he looked at Yao Chun and said, "Chun, I want to become powerful, so that if he returns and asks for compensation... I can at least hand him over something useful."
"What if he asks for your life?" Yao Chun pressed.
Xiong Tan fell silent.
"Forget about him. He must have died by now. If you want power, just say so... don’t hide behind the excuse of ’I want to repent.’" Yao Chun walked away after dropping those cold words.
Compared to other, he had once been a member of the Tan base. At that time, Xiong Tan, being the eldest young master of the Tan family, had misunderstood his adopted brother and framed him for things done by his second brother.
The adopted brother was almost sentenced to death, so he ran away. And later onwards, the second brother of Xiong Tan revealed to him that the adopted brother was innocent all along.
The tragedy was... Xiong Tan and the adopted brother were in love, but Xiong Tan suppressed his feelings and treated the adopted brother coldly.
Whenever his second brother teased or even insinuated that Xiong Tan had feelings for the adopted brother, Xiong Tan, out of protective instincts, declined and even humiliated the adopted brother.
The adopted brother was a strange person too. He wasn’t some innocent, lovesick fool. He was evil.
Yao Chun had seen that adopted brother’s ruthless side and knew that the day the world disappointed him... he would become a devil no one could defend against.