Chapter 600: The Camp

"Brothers and sisters, good morning!"

Zhang Su walked through the crowd, greeting everyone with a smile, then leapt up and stood atop the tank, looking down at all of them from a high vantage point.

"Cough, cough—everyone be quiet! The camp's development depends on material supplies, so our efforts to gather resources must not stop. Starting today…"

Once the crowd fell silent, Zhang Su began assigning tasks for the coming period.

Current material reserves are quite abundant; aside from the original Tianqi Group and Niuyazi faction, who contributed almost nothing, the other divisions have all provided substantial resources, with the barracks and Daqiao Fortress Village standing out the most.

The barracks provided ordinary supplies in a standard manner, but their weapons were unmatched, capable of arming many more fighters, while Daqiao Fortress Village primarily supplied grain—just the grain they brought in could sustain over seven hundred people for a month! Even so, Zhang Su still suffered from grain anxiety, for a simple reason: this damned weather won't warm up, so farming is impossible, and even building new greenhouses would take time.

Therefore, resource gathering must not stop—we must go farther and deeper, digging up the grain buried in the ruins.

Collection of miscellaneous items, raw materials, and machinery has also been added to the schedule.

With the population growing, Satellite Villages One, Two, and Three have all been activated, increasing storage capacity—anything useful must be brought back; until industrial production resumes, many items will prove unexpectedly useful.

"Since none of you are familiar with this area, the Yama Legion will lead the teams. Any objections?"

Zhang Su lacked comprehensive knowledge of each division's combat personnel, so he needed trusted leaders to lead the teams while he slowly gathered intelligence.

Any objections?

Everyone shook their heads, saying in unison: "No objections!"

Those who had once led their own camps knew well: their former glory had faded, and it was not yet time to reclaim it.

Wu Baokang, Wu Daqiang, Liu Yao, Yang Xinqi, Meng Changwei, and others blended into the ranks, showing no discomfort with their changed status—especially Meng Changwei and Yang Xinqi, who now looked visibly relieved, having shed their burdens.

"Good. Since there are no objections, I hope no unpleasantness occurs during external missions. The camp is our home, and its growth depends on all of you. March out!"

"March out!"

Ding Yongguo watched the teams preparing to depart, hurried over to the tank, and looked up: "Boss Zhang, assign me to a team—I need to find tools and equipment, or when will my forge ever open?"

The old blacksmith wanted to set up his forge as soon as possible.

"Hah, so many things going on, I forgot this. Dachao, come here…"

Seeing Ding Yongguo's enthusiasm, Zhang Su didn't stop him—he immediately assigned him and Zheng Ziwen to Guo Dachao's resource-gathering team, to personally collect the tools needed for the forge.

"Boss Zhang, Boss Zhang, give us some work too—we've already cleaned our rooms!"

Right after arranging Ding Yongguo and Zheng Ziwen, Wang Zhetao dragged Wang Guangjun up to Zhang Su, full of energy and eager.

Zhang Su didn't particularly like Wang Zhetao's overly goal-driven nature, but the man wanting to work was understandable. "Old Wang, are you sure your condition allows you to go out? Can you handle danger?"

Wang Guangjun turned his head to hear Zhang Su's question and nodded firmly: "Brother Zhang, don't worry—I'm not the timid milkman I used to be."

As he spoke, he thumped his sturdy chest, his scarred face lending strong credibility.

"Brother Su, let Old Wang join my team."

Tan Huajun stepped forward.

Behind her stood over a dozen men, from the Survivors' Alliance and the Civilization Protectors—these tough men were the warriors who fought to the end in the Lègòu Mall just days ago, all having witnessed Tan Huajun's perfect marksmanship; to say she was their savior in some way wasn't an exaggeration—they sincerely admired her.

"Alright, Old Wang, you and your son go with Old Tan to haul grain!"

Tan Huajun's mission to gather nearby supplies was low-risk—just exhausting…

Zhang Su mainly handled the assignment of external tasks, but internal affairs were equally vital—this fell to Yu Wen, who now sported dark circles under his eyes as he organized personnel and distributed duties.

To avoid oversights, after last night's banquet ended, he returned home and worked through the night, drafting plans item by item, line by line, until past three a. ., organizing everything in meticulous detail.

First came internal organization: yesterday afternoon's brief time only allowed people to tidy their rooms just enough to sleep; the three satellite villages would spend another full day cleaning up.

During this time, Yu Wen would select dedicated logistics personnel from the workers, primarily older individuals without combat ability, then assign them more specific tasks.

Though each village had only slightly over two hundred people, keeping it running normally during this cold, perilous time required far more than just ensuring sufficient supplies—it needed maintenance across many areas; seemingly minor issues, if left unattended, would slowly pile up into major problems.

Clothing, food, shelter, travel, eating, drinking, defecation—neglecting any one of these was unacceptable. Take the simplest task: emptying latrines. If no one was assigned to it, within a week every household would be in filth.

Another crucial task: selecting a fengshui-worthy site nearby to bury those who died fighting the zombies.

Yu Wen had learned that Cao Duoliang, once of the Little Eagle Society and later an infiltrator in the Tianqi Group, had basic knowledge of fengshui—he was perfectly suited for this task.

Integration of combat personnel had not yet begun; this work could only proceed after the new members of Tianmayu had fully stabilized. But within the Yama Legion, no one had relaxed—before the teams departed, Zhang Su issued an order to resume training, meaning external missions were limited to before lunch!

Zombies were growing stronger for unknown reasons, and people's hunger for power was intensifying; many had previously dismissed Ju Wuying's martial arts with indifference, but now they were desperate to learn. It wasn't realistic to expect everyone to match Ju Wuying's strength, so Zhang Su set a goal: everyone must at least reach half of Ju Wuying's combat capability—but he didn't say it that way. Instead, he demanded that each person be able to hold their own against Ju Wuying in a one-on-three fight.

Why not one-on-two? Because Ju Wuying was accustomed to fighting with the white mist, which she couldn't turn off—her ability was too overpowered.

When the Yama Legion heard this standard, many stayed silent, but a few openly expressed disbelief and wanted to test it immediately; however, since training was scheduled for the afternoon, they had to wait.

Seeing the fierce internal competition within the Yama Legion, combat personnel from other divisions felt intense envy—they too wanted systematic combat training. In this perilous world, everyone craved the ability to face danger.

Unfortunately, the Yama King had said nothing about training ordinary combatants, and with so many urgent tasks at hand, they could only postpone asking about it for now.

(End of Chapter)