Outside the East Suburb Fortress.
Lu Feng’s eyes burned with intensity as he stared at the fortress before him.
Constructed entirely of reinforced concrete and outfitted with steel facilities, it was a spectacular sight. Its sheer size and depth made it comparable to a small city.
In a post-apocalyptic world where weapons were limited, taking a city like this—fortified with enough heavy machine guns, howitzers, and mortars—would require an army dozens of times larger, assuming no ability users were involved.
To be honest, as a base, this fortress was far more suitable than his manor community.
’How can I get my hands on this fortress?’ A thought sparked in Lu Feng’s mind.
After all, when the frenzied zombie tide caused by the Hexagonal Beast erupted, it wasn’t just the City East Alliance that was overwhelmed and destroyed; the other Survivor Bases in Celestial Sea City were also hit hard and suffered heavy losses.
With a fortress like this, they would have a much greater sense of security.
Zheng Lin explained, "This fortress was built in the early days of the City East Alliance. After the apocalypse, the soil became extremely acidic and unsuitable for farming. Only the East Suburban Area could still grow crops, so the City East Alliance specifically built this fortress to guard the East Suburb."
"The current Guard Officer of this fortress is from the Li Family, because the East Suburb is now under the Li Family’s jurisdiction. A while ago, the bandit problem in the East Suburb suddenly worsened, so the Li Family had to send people to suppress them."
"But the two groups they sent were both killed by those bandits. If you want this fortress, you’ll probably have to either seize administrative rights from the Li Family or become the fortress’s Guard Officer yourself."
Lu Feng nodded.
’The Guard Officer position is a bit like being appointed the defending general of an ancient city.’
’I wonder if there’s a way to get rid of the current Guard Officer and take his place.’
Looking at the crops planted all over the East Suburb, he felt it was a scheme worth considering.
He could transport grain in from the outside world, but as his population grew, he couldn’t rely solely on bringing food from reality.
Meanwhile, inside the fortress.
After receiving the news, a burly, bearded man walked out of the main hall and headed toward the fortress gate.
He saw Lu Feng’s group, along with Zheng Lin standing beside him.
Upon seeing the bearded man, Zheng Lin immediately said, "Chen Feng, this is Mr. Lu, newly dispatched by the Li Family to handle the bandits. You should have received the message."
Clearly, the two knew each other.
Hearing Zheng Lin’s words, Chen Feng said with a grin, "I did indeed receive the message. However, the bandit problem has been extremely severe lately. The East Suburb bandits were active even before you arrived."
"Therefore, until I can confirm your identities and screen your team for spies, I cannot allow you into the fortress."
"I’ve already had the southern encampment cleared out. You can station yourselves there for tonight. Tomorrow, after we’ve completed our screening, we’ll naturally let you into the fortress."
As he spoke, he was already rapidly assessing the weapons and equipment of the people from Qingfeng Base.
They were all equipped with simple rifles, likely standard-issue weapons from the City East Alliance. They didn’t even have a single machine gun.
From this, he had a pretty good idea: these were just cannon fodder sent by the Li Family.
The Li Family had indeed been busy with other matters lately and couldn’t spare the manpower, yet they didn’t want to give up their administrative rights over the East Suburb. So, they could only find this cannon fodder to hold the line and buy more time for their affairs elsewhere.
’Since they’re cannon fodder, I might as well get rid of them quickly.’
Chen Feng sneered inwardly.
Outside the fortress, Zheng Lin frowned slightly upon hearing Chen Feng’s words. He felt something was wrong, but if the bandit problem was truly severe, it wasn’t unreasonable for the other party to be cautious.
"Mr. Lu, let’s head to the southern encampment for now," Zheng Lin had no choice but to say to Lu Feng.
This fortress was specifically built by the City East Alliance to defend the East Suburban Area. Even with official documents, they couldn’t force their way in. Crucially, given the fortress’s defensive capabilities, every section was mounted with heavy machine guns.
Trying to storm it would absolutely result in heavy casualties. The only exception would be if Mr. Lu led a surprise attack with his ability users, but Chen Feng was an ability user himself, and he wasn’t the only one stationed here.
"Mm," Lu Feng nodded. He signaled his people to leave and head for the southern encampment. Even if he wanted this fortress, he would have to plan for the long term.
Watching Lu Feng and his people leave, Chen Feng didn’t bother to hide the cold sneer that touched the corners of his mouth.
As he turned and walked back inside, the sneer grew even more pronounced.
Returning to the main hall, he summoned a trusted subordinate and ordered, "Go tell One-Eyed Tiger that the men have arrived. They’re at the southern encampment. Their equipment is poor; they’re just cannon fodder. Tell him to make his move tonight. I’ll pretend to send reinforcements. If any stragglers escape, I’ll help finish them off."
"Also, tell him to pay special attention to that Zheng Lin. He’s an Elemental ability user. And there might be other ability users in this group. They must all be eliminated."
Upon receiving his orders, the subordinate hurried away.
Seeing this, Chen Feng raised his palm. A fine fuzz began to appear on his arm.
This was his beast transformation ability, which was stronger than that of an ordinary ability user.
With greater power naturally came greater ambition.
The area of arable land in this East Suburban Area was so large. As long as he underreported the records and harvests, he could amass a huge fortune and support many people.
What’s more, he had discovered a large, unreported tract of arable land in the mountains of the East Suburb.
Therefore, he wanted to be the Duke of this East Suburb, and he would absolutely not allow anyone to stand in his way.
As for that One-Eyed Tiger, he was the leader of the bandits currently running rampant in the East Suburb.
This was all his doing.
There’s a saying: "Nourish bandits to increase one’s own importance."
He had also engineered this to get rid of the Li Family members.
As for an idiot like One-Eyed Tiger, just give him enough benefits, and he becomes a very useful blade.
’After I get rid of this batch, the Li Family probably won’t send anyone else for a while, right?’
...
Besides building the fortress in the East Suburb, the City East Alliance had also constructed encampments on all four sides to protect it.
If a situation arose on any side, the encampments could quickly detect it and handle it first. If they couldn’t handle it, they would send a signal, and the fortress would provide support as quickly as possible.
Now that the Li Family had sent people from Qingfeng Base, Chen Feng had cleared out the southern encampment specifically for their use.
But when Lu Feng led his people to the southern encampment, his brow furrowed slightly.
The main gate of the encampment was destroyed, and even the defensive facilities were inadequate. He didn’t know if it had always been this way or if they had been deliberately removed.
’If an encampment like this were attacked, wouldn’t it be completely useless?’
"Something’s not right," Zheng Lin said, his brow creased.
"Yes, something is definitely off." Lu Feng was no fool. Chen Feng’s refusal to let them into the fortress, combined with the state of this encampment, couldn’t help but remind him of scenes from TV dramas back in his world.
In the old "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series, this kind of scenario was always about a commander wanting to kill someone with a borrowed knife. They would assign a general they disliked to a poorly defended and disadvantaged camp, deliberately leak the information to the enemy, and then fail to send reinforcements.
And just like that, the problem would be solved.
Why was the state of Cao Wei usurped by the Sima Family? It was because during that period, Sima Yi had treacherously eliminated many of Cao Wei’s generals using this very method.
The one who suffered the most tragic death from such scheming was Zhang He.
"It seems we need to make some preparations of our own," Lu Feng said, summoning Lin Jiao and the others.
...
In the East Suburb, there was a small town called Shangya Town.
Shangya Town was surrounded by rivers, which effectively blocked some of the Mutant Beasts that emerged from the mountains.
In the center of the town, defensive fortifications had clearly been erected, indicating the presence of survivors who had established a base here.
Outside the fortifications, menacing cheval de frise barricades were set up. These were sharp stakes carved from wooden logs. Numerous zombies were impaled on them, their intertwined roars chilling to the bone.
A figure on a hover-monocycle sped toward the town and was immediately stopped for questioning by hidden guards.
The figure was then led into the base.
Inside was a surprisingly large plaza, patrolled by guards who all exuded a thuggish air.
The main hall was even worse, filled with smoke and foul air. Groups of bare-shouldered bandits laughed heartily as they surrounded a crowd of ragged women and delicate, fair-skinned young men for their amusement.
The scene was utterly depraved.
The women were, of course, attractive; being bandits, they had naturally kidnapped them from elsewhere.
In this post-apocalyptic world, being powerless and attractive was like a cardinal sin.
After all, in this apocalypse, there were no moral constraints, no legal protections. It wasn’t like before the end, where a pretty face and a good figure meant you could be proud and aloof, with men fawning over you.
Even if you became a rich man’s mistress, he still had to provide ample money and gifts.
In the apocalypse, if someone was stronger than you and had cast aside all humanity and morals, they could just drag you into the bushes on the side of the road if they felt like it.
After all, everything was different in the apocalypse.
That’s why Celestial Sea City was fortunate to have the City East Alliance. Although the survivors there lived like paupers, there was at least a basic sense of order and rules.
After all, to enjoy rights and status, one first needs the guarantee of rules and order. Only with that guarantee can power be held high above others.
Places like these subordinate villages and towns were mostly hells devoid of any order or rules.
The figure soon met a burly man wearing aluminum alloy steel armor, blind in one eye. He was the leader of these bandits, One-Eyed Tiger.
"Speak. What does Chen Feng want now?" One-Eyed Tiger asked upon seeing the subordinate Chen Feng had sent.
Chen Feng’s subordinate immediately replied, "The people from the Li Family have arrived. They’re at the southern encampment. The defensive facilities there are almost useless. If you attack tonight, you can charge right in. You must eliminate all of them. Any ability users among them must be dealt with. Don’t let any of them escape."
Hearing this, One-Eyed Tiger bellowed to the men around him, "Everyone get ready! We’ve got work to do! Bring me back all the weapons, spoils, women... everything!"
At his command, the surrounding bandits all roared with excitement. For them, raiding had become a thrilling and stimulating affair.
...
Night fell quickly.
After leaving Shangya Town, One-Eyed Tiger led his men to a hillside from where they could see the southern encampment of the East Suburb Fortress.
From a distance, they could see the glow of fires within.
"Those people from the Li Family are all in there. Remember to finish the job quickly. The Guard Officer will coordinate with you!"
The speaker was the subordinate sent by Chen Feng. He didn’t forget to add a reminder, "There’s a man named Zheng Lin in their group. He’s an Elemental ability user. He must be dealt with first."
"He won’t escape," One-Eyed Tiger sneered. Under the cover of darkness, he led his men and crept toward the southern encampment where Lu Feng and his group were located.