The day after the announcement was made, Shen Feng and his men were waiting by the dock early. By noon, a warship finally appeared from the end of the Yangtze River. Soldiers in white uniforms stood on the ship. Shen Feng saw them from afar and couldn't help but exclaim, "Warships are truly extraordinary, aren't they so imposing!"
The warship was tens of meters long, looking majestic. The soldiers on board wore uniforms, their eyes solemn. Shen Feng glanced back at his own men on the dock. They were standing in twos and threes. Although they had basic formations, their disarray was exaggerated. Anyone seeing them might think it was a gathering of second-rate ruffians.
Yu Renshu looked at the people on the ship and murmured, "I wonder if they can take me to Yanjing."
Shen Feng heard this and couldn't help but glance at Yu Renshu. It seemed that among the terms of the transaction they had made, Yu Renshu's condition was to be sent back to Yanjing. Unfortunately, Luzhou had no airport or airplanes, so returning to Yanjing would likely be difficult.
Speaking of which, Yu Renshu had never been able to contact her family and had no idea about their situation. It must have been difficult for her to stay in Luzhou alone.
Now, even if Shen Feng wanted to help Yu Renshu, he had no good way to do so. He didn't have an airplane, and he couldn't drive to Yanjing by land. It was thousands of miles away, and who knew what dangers they might encounter on the road? Therefore, Shen Feng couldn't comfort Yu Renshu.
The warship docked near the pier, and a steel ladder was placed on the edge of the dock. A young man in a green military uniform was the first to disembark. He walked up to Shen Feng and extended his hand with a smile, saying, "Hello, my name is Ke Yiming."
Shen Feng reached out and shook Ke Yiming's hand, smiling and saying, "Hello, I am Shen Feng. Thank you for transporting the supplies!"
Ke Yiming suddenly squeezed Shen Feng's hand, seemingly wanting to intimidate Shen Feng with this move, while saying, "I've heard a lot about you. It's a great fortune to meet you."
Shen Feng hadn't expected the young man opposite him to test him. Caught off guard, his hand was squeezed painfully. But Shen Feng was not to be outdone and began to exert force, smiling and saying, "You flatter me. I'm not worth such regard."
At this moment, Ke Yiming felt a powerful force transmitted from his hand. With a "crackling" sound from their clasped hands, he had no time to react before Shen Feng's grip caused him immense pain. If it continued, his hand would be broken. He quickly said, "So you're already a third-tier ability user. I didn't expect that!"
Shen Feng frowned, surprised that the other party was testing his strength. He then released his hand and asked, "How did you know?"
Ke Yiming smiled, rubbing his hand and saying, "I am a second-tier ability user myself. Generally, ability users of the same tier won't have much difference in speed and strength. But your strength far exceeds mine, which means you are a third-tier ability user. Thank you for going easy on me."
Shen Feng knew that the first evolution was called first-tier, and those with abilities were called ability users. Those without abilities were called evolvers. He just hadn't expected that a mere supply ship would have a second-tier ability user on board. Could the military's strength far exceed his imagination?
Afterward, Shen Feng asked, "What kind of supplies are these?"
"Three thousand rifles, a certain amount of ammunition, and fifty thousand grenades. I am conveying the state's instructions: in these extraordinary times, righteous people need to stand up, so please protect the peace of this region!" Ke Yiming said seriously.
Shen Feng quickly replied, "Of course, I will protect the people and restore production. Please rest assured."
Although only rifles and grenades were usable, Shen Feng was already very satisfied. In fact, with rifles, they could conduct large-scale operations. Although it was far fewer than the ten thousand guns Shen Feng had hoped for, three thousand was enough. Currently, Shen Feng had the confidence to retake other cities.
Afterward, Shen Feng had people start moving the supplies back to the city and invited the soldiers to have a meal. Ke Yiming agreed, seeing it as an opportunity to observe the internal situation of Luzhou. Satellites couldn't see everything, but he could enter Luzhou himself and carefully examine its layout, which might be useful in the future.
Ke Yiming knew that Shen Feng, despite being the city lord now, was essentially an ambitious man. He had seized power and status amidst the zombie outbreak and the emergence of ability users. Once the zombies were all eliminated, it would be time to deal with such ambitious individuals who had emerged. For now, everyone was playing it safe, but the future was uncertain.
Upon reaching the outskirts of the city, Ke Yiming saw people building city walls, and his face showed disdain.
Seeing his expression, Shen Feng asked, "Brother Ke, do you think building city walls is inappropriate?"
Ke Yiming did not hide his thoughts and said directly, "I personally think building city walls is useless. I can tell you that the military's plan is to eliminate all zombies within three years. If a city wall is only to block zombies, wouldn't it be useless after three years? Moreover, no matter how thick a city wall is, it is vulnerable to gunpowder."
Shen Feng heard this answer and asked, "Do the cities recaptured by the military not have city walls?"
Ke Yiming nodded and replied, "Indeed, they haven't built city walls because there's no need. Modern warfare is about information superiority. Zombies are detected a kilometer away, posing no threat to people. Building a Great Wall is too exaggerated. I suggest you stop immediately and have them all become workers, producing clothes and weapons. Isn't that better than building a motionless wall?"
"Besides blocking zombies, we also need to block mutated beasts!" Shen Feng shrugged and said, "Besides zombies, mutated beasts are also a serious problem. I think mutated beasts will emerge endlessly in the future, as the zombie virus has never disappeared, so animals will continue to mutate. Facing mutated beasts, we can't have no defense at all, can we?"
Ke Yiming shook his head slightly and said, "Mutated beasts do exist, but the probability of mutation is too low. There's no need to worry about these mutated beasts. However, it seems I can't convince you. Do as you please. If you want to build a city wall, then continue building it."
After this discussion about building city walls, Ke Yiming began to look down on Shen Feng. In his heart, he thought that Shen Feng was just a strong ability user in terms of combat power, but as a leader, he was only average. His vision was too short-sighted, which was truly regrettable. Building city walls was clearly a meaningless action, only consuming labor and food, and could only block some zombies. It was not worth it.
Later, upon entering the city, Ke Yiming saw children wandering aimlessly in the streets and shook his head again.
"They are short-sighted in organizing education and nurturing the next generation."
Walking a bit further, Ke Yiming saw many people from the logistics team carrying zombie corpses, which were to be thrown into the Yangtze River.
"To push the problem onto neighbors, to avoid epidemics in their own city, they throw corpses into the river, making downstream cities bear the risk of plague. It's truly shameless."
Shen Feng had no idea that his image had become synonymous with shamelessness in Ke Yiming's mind. He just wanted to inquire about the situation in other places. However, during the meal, Ke Yiming saw a table full of delicious food and his attitude turned cold. He made a few casual remarks and then became indifferent to Shen Feng.
Ke Yiming thought to himself, "The common people eat communal meals, but Shen Feng and the higher-ups are feasting on delicacies. They cannot share hardships and joys. It seems this fellow cannot achieve anything in the end. He is merely usurping a high position now."
Yu Renshu, seeing Ke Yiming's attitude, also showed displeasure. This young man sent by the military was too arrogant. His strength was not that great, yet he had a bad attitude all the way. She regretted inviting them to dinner. It would have been better to let them go back on their own after unloading the supplies. He ate their food but showed no good face. She couldn't understand his way of dealing with people.
Thus, everyone was silent during the meal. Shen Feng was too lazy to bother with Ke Yiming. After all, he probably had a lot of opinions about him, although he didn't know why. Since he disliked him, it was best for him not to try to curry favor with someone who was cold to him.
After the supplies were delivered, Shen Feng had Guo Pinming check them. Once he confirmed that no supplies were missing, Shen Feng signed the receipt. Ke Yiming then boarded the warship and returned to the Three Gorges. This time, Ke Yiming believed he had seen through the strength of Shen Feng's side, so his view of Shen Feng was particularly biased.
General Chen had specifically sent Ke Yiming to deliver the supplies to see what kind of person Shen Feng was. Upon his return, Ke Yiming directly reported, "Shen Feng is just a slightly stronger ability user. Other than that, there's really nothing special."
General Chen could only shake his head helplessly upon hearing this answer and thought, "It seems that sending a bodyguard to observe the opponent's leader is not a good decision. I shouldn't let him go again. He didn't bring back any useful intelligence."
Originally, General Chen's intention was for Ke Yiming to observe Shen Feng's character after going to Luzhou. After all, once the zombies were dealt with, the enemies would become independent ambitious individuals, and people like Shen Feng would need to be eliminated. However, he didn't expect that Ke Yiming would only test Shen Feng's strength and make no progress in understanding Shen Feng's mission.
As for Shen Feng, he opened the boxes containing the firearms and touched the cold rifles, filled with excitement. Men had a deep obsession with guns, and he, nearing twenty, was touching a gun for the first time. His happiness at this moment was understandable.
Shen Feng asked Guo Pinming beside him, "How long do you think it will take to train a qualified team?"
Guo Pinming immediately replied, "If it's about learning to shoot, a day is enough. But if it's for combat, it might take several months."
Shen Feng shook his head helplessly and said, "No, that's too slow. I must take the entire city before winter, otherwise, it will be difficult to organize agricultural production next year. Therefore, we don't have that much time. It seems we need to discuss this."
Guo Pinming said helplessly, "If we use killing zombies for training, the progress will definitely be fast, but the ammunition won't be enough. There are only about a million rounds of bullets. With millions of zombies in the city, our killing power is insufficient."
"In that case, cold weapons are also necessary!" Shen Feng was stumped when he heard about the insufficient ammunition. He had thought that with guns, he could easily sweep through the zombie ranks, but now it seemed that cold weapons could not be abandoned, especially since bullets were scarce.
In fact, Shen Feng also planned to manufacture guns himself, but unfortunately, he couldn't find anyone in the entire city who knew how to make guns. Even searching the library only revealed the principles of gun manufacturing, but there were neither design blueprints nor specific steps. To make guns, he would have to start from scratch. If he waited, it would take years to see guns.
Shen Feng couldn't wait for years. If he waited for years, the rice would have already turned into crispy rice, and all the zombies would have been killed. Having guns at that time wouldn't be of much use.
Therefore, in the short term, if Shen Feng wanted ammunition, he could only rely on the military for supply; otherwise, he couldn't obtain it.
Late at night, Shen Feng was in his office handling official business. In fact, for most matters, he only needed to sign. Zhou Xiaoxiao and Tu Xuhuai would write up all the plans. Shen Feng would sign and agree if he had no questions. If he thought something was not right, he would send it back for revision. As for a secretary, Shen Feng dreamed of having one, but Chang Jianyi wouldn't allow it.
As Shen Feng was lost in thought, Yu Renshu knocked on the door and entered. She looked around the office and asked, "Where is Chang Jianyi? I haven't seen her these past two days."
Shen Feng casually replied, "She has something going on and is in a bad mood. She won't appear these days. If you're looking for her, come back in a few days."
Shen Feng didn't intend to tell anyone about the existence of ability potions, as abilities were too rare. He had learned a lot of information through the underground network. Even one in ten thousand people might not have an ability user, which was extremely rare. Moreover, the method of becoming an ability user had never been publicly disclosed. Therefore, it was best not to tell anyone about the ability potions, lest someone develop malicious intentions.
"Why would I be looking for Chang Jianyi? I came specifically to find you!" Yu Renshu pulled over a chair and sat next to Shen Feng, looking at him with tender affection.
Shen Feng quickly moved aside and said, "Men and women should not touch each other. Please be mindful of yourself. I still have things to do. If you need to see me, please come during the day tomorrow."
Hearing this, Yu Renshu immediately laughed, "Are you afraid of me?"