Wasteland Commander-Chapter 378 - 69: The Emergence of Remote-Controlled Zombies
Jiangzhou, the conference hall was filled with smoke.
Zheng Jinnan led the smoking, and everyone around him also had a cigarette in hand, making the meeting room suffocating with smoke.
It’s not that these people had to smoke, but the meeting was exceptionally dull.
The annihilation of the 170,000 troops when the zombie horde departed dealt a heavy blow to Jiangzhou.
Originally, Jiangzhou had 500,000 elite troops, losing 100,000 at Red Maple Mountain, losing about 200,000 in the city defense battles, combined with this 170,000, almost completely depleted.
Although the reserves have quickly filled in, the decline in combat effectiveness is an undeniable fact.
Even the multinational forces here suffered heavy losses in the battle against the rat horde crossing the river, losing 30,000 out of over 50,000.
The only consolation is that the losses to the Jiangzhou Navy were not substantial.
But even that is of little use, the Dawn Army guards the Celestial River estuary, wanting to go to sea requires a detour, which is terribly troublesome.
Zheng Jinnan still did not let these foreigners leave, forcing them to stay and join him in advancing and retreating, this time, he was fully prepared.
After extinguishing the cigarette butt, Zheng Jinnan slowly began to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I won’t say much nonsense. This time the zombie siege exposed our inadequacies, but I must say, our primary enemy is not the zombies, but Ye Fan."
"The zombies have retreated, not sure what the Corpse King was thinking, but obviously, they won’t come again, we still face Ye Fan. This time, the Dawn Army made a push, and in our support of Loose Province, they took the entire province in just over ten days, proving that we are already comprehensively lagging behind our opponent."
"Don’t think that Ye Fan has nothing to do with you, this time everyone is already like grasshoppers tied on the same rope, otherwise one day when we Jiangzhou are finished, next will be your turn, there’s no doubt about this."
Everyone nodded, indeed, from the way Ye Fan dealt with those from Shanshen Country with a direct Mushroom Bomb greeting, it was evident his attitude towards those hostile foreigners.
Zheng Jinnan continued: "Now resuming hostilities is an unwise choice, we need to develop quickly, in terms of technology, we can’t lag behind the Dawn Army, we need support from high-tech, I need your support, tangible support."
The Shanshen Country people immediately complained: "Developing technology isn’t so easy, post-apocalypse, everything is in ruins, everywhere needs development, and talents are nearly all dead, we have already suffered heavy losses dealing with Ye Fan, really don’t want to continue stirring things up."
The Curry Country also echoed: "Exactly, Duke, you repeatedly promised us bright prospects, yet made us suffer losses like this, and we have yet to see hope of defeating the Dawn Army, if it continues this way, we Curry Country won’t accompany."
The Rakshasa supplemented: "You can’t always focus on dealing with Ye Fan, for our country, the zombie threat is more actual, I think you can’t ignore this issue, given the capabilities of the previous zombie horde, even if we developed well enough, they could attack again, would that mean we’re finished again?"
These words also brought frequent nods from some people, the previous zombie horde left too deep an impression, it was simply a nightmare, many even felt they might never be able to eliminate the zombies.
Zheng Jinnan stood up, his eyes sweeping over everyone.
"Do you think I don’t know the threat of the zombie horde? However, I tell you, I have my own ideas on this aspect, we also have unique achievements, if this matter is made public, the zombie threat will be a minor issue. However, I can’t share these achievements with you for now, as you are not yet my closest allies."
The Chicken Bowl representative scoffed: "Mr. Duke, you say you aren’t afraid of zombie threats, but just as the zombie horde left Jiangzhou, if it weren’t for their departure, we would’ve already become zombie manure, do you think your words are credible?"
James from White Eagle Country spread his hands: "Mr. Duke, how can one become your intimate ally then? Can you explain? If you can’t, I doubt the truth of your words."
Zheng Jinnan said: "I need technology support, military power support, your countries, many military industries have recovered almost completely, every country provides me with a technology, like main battle tanks, long-range rocket artillery, air defense missile systems, strategic bombers, at least fourth-generation fighter jet technology, etc., or large quantities of strategic materials. I’m not picky, as long as what you bring is valuable, I can tell you about my research progress."
This time, everyone collectively denied his words: "No no no, unless you show research results, otherwise we cannot continue to invest support."
Zheng Jinnan also knew, empty words won’t let these people take the bait.
"Alright, since you require, then I’ll show you something, but beforehand, let it be clear, if after seeing my things you still don’t agree to my terms, then... my anger you probably can’t bear."
After saying that, Zheng Jinnan didn’t give these people a chance to renege, he directly had someone play a video recording. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
It was a laboratory.
Inside the laboratory, many large glass vessels were placed, containing humans, zombies, and even Mutant Beasts.
Numerous people in white lab coats walked around, many tubes inserted into the vessels, various colored liquids continuously surged within the vessels.
Some instruments flashed red light, occasionally beeping incessantly.
Blood even flowed on the floor, the scene looked quite terrifying and eerie.
"What’s this? A biological laboratory?"
"This, this... Your Grace, are you researching zombies?"
"My God! That person is actually still alive, being soaked in formalin or something, what are you up to?"
Zheng Jinnan snorted: "Do you know how Jiangzhou passed through this zombie siege?"
"Wasn’t it your propaganda of military-civilian unity?"
Zheng Jinnan sneered disdainfully, "Nonsense! If military and civilian unity could win wars, why would we need weapons? Jiangzhou managed to escape disaster thanks to my goddaughter, Hua Wushuang."
"Hua Wushuang! That Level 3 Mutant?"
"Yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Hua Wushuang. Where has she gone?"
"I heard she offended you and was imprisoned. Does this retreat of the zombie horde have anything to do with her?"
The screen changed to show Hua Wushuang slicing off the Corpse King’s head in one swift motion.
This was the first time Zheng Jinnan had shown this to everyone, leaving them utterly shocked.
"So powerful? Hua Wushuang killed the Corpse King to make the horde retreat?"
"My god! I never thought that a Mutant could grow to such strength. Duke, is Hua Wushuang still alive?"
Zheng Jinnan shook his head, "She should be dead, but that’s not the point. The focus is on my research direction."
"For a long time, Jiangzhou has been conducting research on human mutation and evolution, zombie evolution, and even Corpse King evolution."
"Corpse King evolution is extremely difficult, and there’s been no breakthrough yet. But for human and zombie evolution, we’ve made significant progress. Hua Wushuang is the most successful example. She became a Level 3 Mutant, which proves our achievements."
"And now what we’re doing has made another phase of progress. Let me show you."
The screen changed again, displaying a zombie.
The zombie stood over two meters tall, with thick scales covering its body. It appeared to be an Armored Zombie.
This zombie was different from others; one of its arms was equipped with a six-barrel Gatling gun.
There was a massive ammo box behind it, filled with bullets.
Not far from the zombie, a person held a remote control, directly guiding the zombie to walk back and forth.
About a hundred meters away from the zombie was a row of targets.
With an order from the person controlling it, the zombie raised its arm and started shooting at the targets!
Ratatatatatata~~~~!
The six-barrel Gatling gun spun wildly, quickly shredding the targets to pieces. The shooting precision was astonishing.
This scene left everyone utterly dumbfounded.
"What the hell!"
"This can’t be real! How could a zombie use firearms?"
"Duke Zheng Jinnan! You’re too bold! Modifying zombies like this, if a Corpse King controls them, you’re playing with fire. This single zombie’s destructive power is probably much greater than a past horde of Armored Zombies."
Zheng Jinnan snorted, "Is that so? Then take a look at this."
This time, a King Kong Zombie appeared.
Compared to the Armored Zombie using the Gatling gun, this King Kong Zombie was equipped with a rocket launcher!
With a raise of its hand, rockets whooshed out, with immense power and high accuracy.
Another zombie appeared, using a flamethrower capable of spewing fire dragons a hundred meters long.
Additionally, the zombies had armored protection over vulnerable areas like the head and neck, and even machine gun fire couldn’t penetrate them.
These studies left people shocked and terrified.
The combat power displayed by these zombies was far greater than human troops.
If tens of thousands of such modified zombies were created, they could truly sweep across the world.
"Duke, why didn’t you bring out these things during the zombie siege?"
Zheng Jinnan waved dismissively, "Back then, the research hadn’t been completed yet. It’s only in recent days that we’ve had breakthroughs. And let me tell you, you don’t need to worry about these zombies being controlled by a Corpse King. They’re machine-controlled, computer-controlled. Once we breakthrough with Corpse King technology, we won’t need a human holding a remote control. At that time, a single Corpse King could control an army of weaponized zombies. Don’t you think this technology is worth investing in?"
The crowd exchanged glances, all internally overwhelmed with shock.
Properly utilized, Zheng Jinnan’s technology could even redefine world order.
They also desired such technology, so it seemed some matters indeed warranted cooperation with Zheng Jinnan.
