The two guards followed Lu Feng up, carried down the transceiver equipment and the walkie-talkies, and then respectfully followed him out of the base.

The base had changed significantly since the beginning. It had been renamed Qingfeng Base, and flags were now flying around its perimeter.

Of course, most Survivor Bases didn’t have names. Generally, only the more well-known ones bothered to name themselves.

For example, the massive City East Alliance and a few other large-scale Survivor Bases.

An organization the size of the former Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps could have established its own name and flown its own banner.

However, the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps had made too many enemies and never dared to do so. Naturally, any group smaller than them wouldn’t dare either.

Flying a banner was basically an invitation for factions like the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps: ’I’m over here, come and rob me!’

When Lu Feng reached the base entrance, someone had already rushed ahead to open the main gate for him.

Upon entering Zhuangyuan District above, Lu Feng saw that the entire area had been transformed.

The first time he’d come, the district was completely dilapidated, with fallen leaves scattered everywhere and overgrown with weeds.

But now, the fallen leaves had been completely cleared away, making the ground much tidier, and the weeds had been thoroughly cut down.

The surrounding walls were also being modified. They were being built higher, and rows of sandbags were stacked along the inner and outer bases to add thickness and reinforce them against Mutant Beasts.

If they were going to develop Zhuangyuan District for surface activities, the threat of zombies and Mutant Beasts would require special attention.

And all of this was, of course, to Lin Jiao’s credit. She was the one spearheading all the renovations for the entire base.

At that moment, Lin Jiao was at the main gate, directing a team as they worked on defensive modifications.

Seeing Lu Feng approach, Lin Jiao immediately came forward and said respectfully, "Boss!"

Lu Feng explained, "We were talking about the communication issue before. The base’s existing communicators either lack their own transmission equipment or rely on satellites, and they’re useless without the pre-apocalypse payment systems. I managed to get some retro ones."

A look of astonishment appeared on Lin Jiao’s face when she saw the walkie-talkies. Her reaction was probably comparable to how we might look at an old brick phone today, perhaps even more exaggerated.

"Boss, this technology is decades old," Lin Jiao said, surprised.

Lu Feng nodded and fabricated a story. "I know a gifted individual. He has a group of talented people who enjoy studying and producing this kind of retro equipment. They’ve made quite a few."

’He’d had his cousin artificially age these walkie-talkies and remove any manufacturing dates.’

"Boss, how do we set these up?" Lin Jiao didn’t question him. ’After all, what the Boss said is perfectly logical. It’s not like I can suspect he traveled back 100 years to get these, can I?’

Lu Feng had already taken out the signal transceiver and began to calibrate it. It was a very simple device to adjust.

He had learned how to do it once before, back when he was a hotel security guard before his factory job.

The hotel used them, and every guard had to learn how. It was crucial to know how to adjust the channel frequencies in an emergency.

For example, if the boss was fooling around in the hotel and his wife showed up, they had to switch to a special frequency to warn him.

The boss was a cunning man; he’d carry a walkie-talkie tuned to that special frequency whenever he was fooling around. The entire hotel security staff acted as his lookouts.

Soon, Lu Feng finished calibrating the transceiver. He handed a walkie-talkie to a guard. "Take this into the air-raid shelter. Once you’re inside, just use it to report back."

The guard was a little confused but still replied, "Yes, Boss!"

But the moment he spoke, an echo sounded:

"Yes, Boss!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

It came from the walkie-talkie, which had picked up the guard’s voice.

The guard immediately took the walkie-talkie into the base. Once inside, he reported, "Boss, I’m inside the base."

Lu Feng and Lin Jiao heard him perfectly clearly. Lu Feng immediately turned to Lin Jiao. "It’s working. I’ll calibrate the rest of the equipment, then you can distribute the walkie-talkies. Oh, right. I’ll also need to teach you about frequency security settings and how to lock channels. That’ll keep them from being used against us if they ever fall into enemy hands."

"Understood." Lin Jiao nodded. After Lu Feng showed her how to use the walkie-talkie, she called a guard over.

"Conductor Lin, what are your orders?" the guard asked, approaching immediately.

Conductor Lin was the title the base members used for Lin Jiao.

In any case, it was a title she had requested herself.

After all, when Lu Feng wasn’t around, she was the one in charge.

Lin Jiao handed a stack of the walkie-talkies to the guard. "Take a few men and deliver these to the Hidden Guards at their posts."

The guard nodded, immediately gathered a few men, and they left with the walkie-talkies.

In the past weeks, Lin Jiao had not only been modifying the district’s walls but had also established Hidden Guard posts near Zhuangyuan District. The only issue was that relaying information was difficult, so she couldn’t position the posts too far out.

’Now with these walkie-talkies,’ she thought, ’the Hidden Guard posts can be positioned much farther out. That way, we can monitor not just the immediate vicinity of the base, but a much wider area.’

’We’ll know if anything happens in the region, or if any survivors are passing through.’

After setting out, the guards soon entered a building 3,000 meters away.

Just as they arrived, two people emerged from within.

One of them asked, "What are you doing here?"

The guard immediately produced a walkie-talkie and handed it to him. "The Boss got these. Conductor Lin ordered us to deliver one to every Hidden Guard post and have you radio back once you’ve received it."

The man took the walkie-talkie in surprise and tried speaking into it: "Conductor Lin, this is the Linhai Secret Outpost!"

Lin Jiao’s voice came through. "Understood. Continue your watch and keep the channel open."

This left the two guards from the outpost completely astonished. It wasn’t that they had never seen a walkie-talkie, but after the apocalypse, they were useless without a transceiver to provide a signal.

’The main thing is, this walkie-talkie is so retro. If it weren’t the apocalypse, this thing would probably be a collector’s item worth a lot of money.’

"Yes, Conductor Lin!" the man immediately replied.

Then, the delivery guard said, "It’s yours now. I’m off to the other Hidden Guard posts."

"Right. Be careful on the way," the man replied.

Clearly, the former members of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps were in a completely different state than before. Or rather, their mindset was clearer. After all, they no longer had to roam around hunting for survivors to rob and kill, as they had in the old days of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps.

Even in an apocalypse, human nature isn’t something that can be completely extinguished, despite what some post-apocalyptic novels might say.

Besides, many of them had originally been living peacefully with friends in their own survivor outposts. They were found by the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps and either forced into slavery with electronic shackles or implanted with Pulse-Rupture Chips, forced to become combat personnel, forced to kill, and forced to prey on others.

Even then, they were usually only half-fed. Only when they secured a major haul in battle would they get to eat their fill for a few days.

Now, things were different. They could eat their fill every single day.

They no longer had to live the way they did in the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps. As a result, they had no objections to their new boss’s rule; in fact, they were staunchly supportive.

...

Back in Qingfeng Base, Lu Feng and Lin Jiao received a succession of replies from the various Hidden Guard posts. This confirmed the communications network was established. From now on, any activity could be reported instantly via the walkie-talkies.

Just as Lu Feng finished with the walkie-talkies, a hover-truck pulled up outside. After its identity was confirmed, it drove into the compound.

A few members of Qingfeng Base were on the truck.

Seeing that both Lu Feng and Lin Jiao were present, one of them leaped from the truck and ran up to report, "Boss, Conductor Lin, we had an excellent haul this time! We found a large gold shop and a jewelry company warehouse filled with jadeite."

"Good work. You’ll get extra rations tonight," Lin Jiao said, smiling and nodding.

She hadn’t forgotten that her boss needed things like Gold, jade, jewels, and technology. To that end, she had formed and armed a special squad over the past half-month specifically to go out and search for these valuables.

Clearly, their efforts were paying off.

Lu Feng’s eyes lit up at the report. ’Looks like taking over this base has other benefits besides just building my doomsday research facility.’

Lu Feng climbed onto the hover-truck. The first thing he saw was a bag stuffed full of Gold. He took a look inside and saw all kinds of jewelry.

Lin Jiao climbed up after him. "Boss, they’ve already brought back a fair amount of Gold from previous runs."

Lu Feng immediately gave an order, "Melt all this Gold down into bars, same specifications as last time."

’With Master Kai as a contact and the last transaction going so smoothly, I don’t mind selling more to make some extra money on the side.’

’After all, Master Kai’s connections are completely secure. There won’t be any trouble, and the money is clean!’

"Right away, Boss!" Lin Jiao nodded immediately.

Lu Feng then turned his attention to another bag, which was filled with chunks of jadeite!

[This is a piece of extremely high-quality jadeite: an ice-type, sun-green jadeite. It was incredibly valuable before the apocalypse and part of a private jade collector’s collection. Unfortunately, in the apocalypse, it is worthless!]

[This is a piece of extremely high-quality jadeite: an ice-type, beauty’s blood jadeite. It was incredibly valuable before the apocalypse and part of a private jade collector’s collection. Unfortunately, in the apocalypse, it is worthless!]

...

Lu Feng used his Exploration Skill on one piece of jadeite after another, instantly receiving information on each of them!

’Every single piece of jadeite is incredibly expensive. Did these guys just rob a jade collector’s entire home?’

’Then again,’ he thought, ’no matter what kind of collector owned these before the apocalypse, they’re just trash now. Which makes them treasure for me to scoop up.’