"Is controlling these animals also a special ability?"
"You could say that."
There would definitely be such abilities in the apocalypse, but their control over animals would not be this kind of contracted animal; it would simply be controlling the animals' nerves.
"Brother Lu, should we leave two city gates for the area we've enclosed?" Qin Ye looked at the safe zone they had cordoned off below.
"Wouldn't leaving two gates make defense inconvenient later?"
"No, we'll be recruiting more survivors from the surrounding areas. With more people, leaving two gates will be more convenient."
"Alright, where do you want to leave them?"
"There, leave a gate. After exiting there, there's a pre-apocalypse highway connecting to several towns in the south. We plan to restore the highway later."
With production at a standstill, building things like airplanes was impossible. Even if he learned to fly a plane later, it would be unrealistic for everyone to use them.
However, there were quite a few abandoned vehicles, and producing some parts for them wasn't too difficult. Many vehicles could still be used after repairs.
Lu Heng nodded and, following Qin Ye's indication, designated the positions for the gates. As for the material for the gates, it was best to use wood, with metal plates added to the outside, making them both lightweight and protective.
As for the mechanism for opening the gates, they would have to modify it themselves; Lu Heng couldn't do everything for them.
After circling around, it was almost dark by the time they finished the outer city walls.
Now, with Lu Heng's abilities, creating such a large area of city walls for them didn't cost too much energy. Lu Heng hadn't used the highest level to build the city walls for them; it was sufficient for their current needs and could resist zombie attacks.
"Find some heavy machine guns or similar weapons and set them up on the city walls. As long as the firepower is dense, thermal weapons are still useful against zombies."
"Well, we don't have any. We've been wandering around collecting crystals. There's no military garrison here, so it's hard to find those things."
They did have the usual weapons from the police station, and the higher-ups and those who frequently went out to kill zombies were equipped with them. However, the pistols didn't have silencers, which could easily attract zombies, so they generally didn't use them.
"In which direction is Wuming City?"
Sitting high in the sky, Qin Ye looked at the surrounding city. This was the first time he had seen the city he had lived in since birth from such a high vantage point.
"Over there." After confirming the direction with a compass, Lu Heng pointed it out to Qin Ye.
"Okay, I'll finish learning and come back as soon as possible."
Returning to the ground, Qin Ye was immediately surrounded by a group of young people, who asked about his experience in the sky.
Lu Heng, on the other hand, was taken away by Li Qiang.
"Brother Lu, we just went to see the walls you built. They're amazing! If we wanted to build walls of this caliber, it would take dozens of earth-element ability users. You finished this in less than a day. Let's go rest."
Li Qiang thought Lu Heng had exhausted his internal energy and intended to take him to rest. Such a massive project couldn't have been completed in a day even before the apocalypse.
Lu Heng didn't explain, but if he revealed his current level, it would surely shock these people again, and they likely wouldn't believe that someone had already reached such a level.
"Are all the people gathered? How many are there?"
"Thirteen," Li Qiang said somewhat sheepishly.
"So few?" Lu Heng was surprised. He hadn't expected that Li Qiang, who managed the survivors of such a large town, would only have thirteen trusted confidantes.
"These thirteen were carefully selected, but I certainly have more than just these whom I trust." Li Qiang understood Lu Heng's meaning, but he didn't dare to bring all his confidantes for Lu Heng to help upgrade.
Lu Heng nodded. As expected, he hadn't misjudged Li Qiang. Li Qiang still had some principles. However, thirteen people were enough. It all depended on how many levels Lu Heng could help them upgrade.
He was led into a room, where Lu Heng saw a group of people sitting or standing, chatting lively about the day's events in the town.
Upon seeing Li Qiang enter, everyone stood up and lined up together.
"Brother Qiang," they greeted Li Qiang, appearing very familiar.
"Yes, everyone sit. This is Lu Heng, Brother Lu, the one who helped us build the city walls today," Li Qiang introduced Lu Heng to his subordinates.
"Brother Lu," these people had also seen the newly built city walls and were very impressed with the person who could complete such a large project in a day. They all greeted Lu Heng.
"Mm. Are Qin Ye and these thirteen people separate?"
After quickly confirming the abilities and levels of these individuals, Lu Heng looked at Li Qiang.
"Qin Ye is still young, so I didn't include him."
Li Qiang didn't want to exclude Qin Ye from the upgrade, but after careful consideration, he felt it was better to upgrade the people in the room first. Moreover, Qin Ye would also be learning to fly planes with Lu Heng later.
Actually, Qin Ye primarily served as an advisor by his side. The knowledge he gained from the novels he read was of great help to him. However, when going out to kill zombies, Qin Ye's combat ability wasn't very prominent.
But Qin Ye's ability was plant-based, so he decided to prioritize upgrading those in the room who had greater offensive power as long-range natural element users.
"Call him over. Do you think only wind, fire, and ice abilities have strong offensive capabilities? Your understanding of abilities seems to be a bit off."
"Indeed, these abilities have greater destructive power in combat during the apocalypse. I was just... Zhang Dong, go call Qin Ye."
Li Qiang, seeing Lu Heng's expression, stopped himself from further explanation and spoke to someone in the room.
Soon, Qin Ye was brought over.
"Brother Qiang, what's up? Brother Lu. Hi, why are you all here?" Qin Ye first greeted Li Qiang and then smiled at the people in the room.
"Brother Lu mentioned earlier that he was going to upgrade our people. I felt awkward bringing too many people, so I chose about ten people with fire, wind, and ice abilities," Li Qiang said after glancing at Lu Heng.
"And then, Brother Lu said that your plant-based ability's combat effectiveness isn't inferior to theirs, so, alas..." Li Qiang chuckled somewhat awkwardly.
"Brother Lu, it's okay. My plant-based ability is indeed not very useful in daily combat. I..." Qin Ye didn't mind and looked at Lu Heng, explaining for Li Qiang.
"No need to explain. Haven't you seen the plants growing wildly outside?"
In fact, every ability was not weak. It was just that some people's comprehension of their abilities was poor, and they didn't understand their own abilities very well, making it difficult to transform them into various combat methods suitable for different situations in battle.