CHAPTER 337: CHAPTER 4: DIVISION (PART 2)

Omar used to be a survivalist, charging a night vision device using solar power, barely able to see the modified pickup trucks used as cover hundred meters away.

Those pickups were extremely powerful, generally over eight hundred horsepower, with torque over ten thousand Newton meters. With armor and machine guns, they were unstoppable, effectively serving as armored vehicles.

Five pickups circled a two-story house in the middle, seemingly with an observation post on the roof, but no lights. Omar couldn’t discern the situation on the other side, contemplating whether to let the ’allies’ scout first.

This waiting lasted several minutes without any movement, no one made a move.

Instead, Marco was drenched in cold sweat in front of the monitoring screen, hurriedly calling Zhou Qingfeng and others to handle the situation.

The pickups had military-grade night vision devices, powered by large batteries over a hundred kilowatts, with power far exceeding those used by individual soldiers—power is king in electronic devices.

At the same distance, the exploration team’s night vision devices could see further and clearer.

Upon arriving, Zhou Qingfeng took just a glance and decisively ordered: "Treat such unexplained snooping as hostile acts and fire several short bursts with the machine guns. After all, killing them isn’t illegal."

The exploration team’s remote-controlled machine guns came with laser rangefinding, the weapon station linked with the machine guns, controllable from within the pickup.

The alert team members on the vehicle focused on the night vision display, selecting targets with a remote control like in a video game, locking in...

Before the pickup trucks opened fire, some daring or curious survivors took the initiative to test the exploration team’s bottom line by firing first.

The piercing gunshots echoed through the night, bullets whizzed past, striking the armored plates of the modified pickups with a few crisp clangs.

The exploration team’s twelve members were startled, everyone immediately questioned via radio, the communication channel filled with incessant shouting, extremely noisy.

The more chaotic, the more shouting, until the channel was blocked.

"Stop yelling like a bunch of rookies, shut up." Zhou Qingfeng grabbed the microphone and shouted, "Report casualties if any, otherwise look for any suspicious target and open fire!"

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Upon hearing gunfire in the night, Omar knew there was trouble. He quickly ducked his head, avoiding the probing street corner.

In the next second, the machine guns on the opposite pickups fired, five medium-caliber M240s spouted half-meter-long flames.

The 7.62mm full-power machine gun rounds went ’tat-tat-tat’, several short bursts with a dozen bullets shattered the corners of the wooden house’s walls.

Omar had already dodged, yet still got pricked by wooden splinters, unable to open his eyes. He felt horrified, hands on the ground, rolling and crawling away.

He escaped quickly, while others who fled slowly ended up dead on the spot, lying on the ground.

After the gunfire ended, several robotic dogs darted out swiftly, circled the firefight scene seeking any missed enemies, executing supplementary shots.

The entire process lasted less than three minutes before stopping. However, the night was dark, even with night vision it was hard to control the full situation, leaving the exploration team bustling and chaotic.

That night, the sentries doubled, robotic dogs lurked a hundred meters away, drones patrolled the surroundings every half hour until dawn.

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The next day, Lady Lela, who had joined the exploration team, woke up and tidied her bedding, only then learning a minor skirmish occurred last night.

"Someone fired at the exploration team at midnight, and the pickup-mounted machine guns counterattacked, killing a few." The speaker was another woman who had joined, in her thirties, named Joanna.

Yesterday, more than a dozen survivors joined the exploration team, all elderly, women, and children unable to hold out any longer, having no other concerns for survival.

For the team’s safety, these people were placed in the basement of the shelter house after dinner, sleeping deeply at night, unaware of the outside situation.

Lela felt relieved knowing the exploration team was unharmed. She was tired of the wandering and distressed life, eager to settle down. If the exploration team was repelled, it would be disastrous for her.

"The men in town are worthless, deserved to die."

Joanna nodded, agreeing with this viewpoint, then whispered: "What do you think the exploration team took us in for? Could they be after us?"

Lela understood what this meant.

The hardship made the men beastly, women without support faced tough times, selling their bodies became the only way to survive.

Similarly, the exploration team members were cooped up in the shelter for a year, yesterday couldn’t help but linger their gazes on the few women, seemingly interested.

Lela shrugged, sighed: "Doesn’t matter, let those men do whatever they want, as long as my child and I survive."

Joanna’s lips twitched, unclear what she was thinking.

During breakfast, the food provided by the exploration team was finally not potatoes but baked bread.

Several children ate greedily, occasionally bursting into laughter. The sheltered adults sensitively noticed differences in treatment.

Because Lela received twice as much bread as others. At the dining table, Zhou Qingfeng enthusiastically conversed with her, "Lady, you’re Mexican, right?"

"Uh... I’m actually from Guatemala, somewhat distant from Mexico." Lady Lela’s skin was relatively dark, neither white nor black.

"Oh... I see, Latin American." Zhou Qingfeng continued eating his breakfast, pushing his condensed milk to her.

Lela felt somewhat flattered, secretly wondering if this young Asian was interested in her faded beauty.

Zhou Qingfeng continued: "I used to employ a batch of Mexican immigrants, good people overall. Although you’re not Mexican, I suppose it’s similar.

You’re the first to join us, mature enough for your age. I hope you can lead ten or so people."

Lela was thrilled, having been starving and desperate yesterday, daringly seeking help from the exploration team, ready to die if necessary.

Unexpectedly, she found salvation.

Though unclear about the specific tasks, she promptly agreed: "Okay, Victor, I’m willing to be a leader, surely able to manage the team well. Ready to do anything you ask."

Joanna, a fellow younger woman, sat nearby, nearly dying of jealousy. She approached Lela purposely to foster closeness and alliance.

But in a short while, the leader called ’Victor’ elevated Lela, yet completely ignored Joanna within arm’s reach.

The two women seemingly had a class difference.

"Rest assured, we won’t require you to undertake very dangerous tasks. Your job is simple, helping collect reusable materials around the town.

For example, plastic products.

We have rudimentary pyrolysis equipment, able to produce kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel through atmospheric distillation.

Hence, we need a lot of plastic cups, buckets, toys, gathering these items as raw materials for fuel production."

Zhou Qingfeng was truthful, having discussed the fuel issue with ’Gray Shark’. While solar power generation was favorable, it couldn’t meet all energy needs.

Large-scale chemical production had collapsed, so only small-scale chemical production could provide fuel.

Before the apocalypse erupted, Zhou Qingfeng imported several ’traditional refining’ equipment sets from ’Dongda’.

The equipment had low capacity, high pollution, with extremely harsh working environment, but not makeshift trash assembled from random oil drums, it was legitimately manufactured by a petrochemical machinery factory.

As long as the raw material supply was adequate, the ’traditional refining’ equipment could produce two to three tons of various types of fuels daily, supporting a team of a thousand for regular use.

The shelter actually stockpiled a few fuel tanks, up to two thousand tons of high-quality fuel, but these belong to the diminishing supplies category.

The shelter tribe previously had no external exploration or expansion needs, none considered activating the refining equipment. But now it’s different.

If sustainable fuel supply can be ensured, slight quality compromises are acceptable, at least resolving the issue of ’availability’.

Learning her task was merely picking up plastics and recycling materials, Lela felt relieved, it’s at least legitimate work, with low labor intensity, surely adaptable.