CHAPTER 366: CHAPTER 15: HYDROELECTRIC STATION (PART 2)

’Pichi’ was also quite obedient, calling a few times over public channels, indicating he had no ill intentions and was actually quite eager to communicate with Avoni Town for mutual exchange of goods.

In recent months, planes from both sides have been landing on the roads of each other’s settlements, trying to find some goods that could be traded.

However, the outcome of the communication was not satisfactory. The residents of Farmville Town live by growing potatoes, and what they can export is ’potatoes’. But the ’Holy Light’ team is not lacking in potatoes.

However, the residents of Farmville Town were particularly envious of Avoni Town’s fuel, grains, medicines, and medical services. If the ’Holy Light’ team weren’t strong enough, those guys would have come to snatch them long ago.

There was, however, one thing the ’Holy Light’ team particularly craved, which was electricity supply—the Farmville Town happened to have a ’Xihu’ reservoir for irrigation, equipped with a ten-megawatt hydropower station.

Even during the dry season, the ’Xihu’ hydropower station could provide tens of thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity every day, originally supplying power to the surrounding towns and being an important part of the local power grid.

Zhou Qingfeng was determined to go and see if he could get his hands on that power station more than a hundred kilometers away. Even if he couldn’t, at least he’d manage to get a portion of its daily electricity generation.

Even just ten thousand kilowatt-hours a day could solve big problems.

Due to the considerable distance this time, there were not only numerous abandoned vehicles along the way, making land transportation inconvenient.

Additionally, highway robbers occasionally appeared on both sides of the road, or starving survivors would plant land mines by the roadside.

In such circumstances, the vertical take-off and landing electric ’Warthog’ was the perfect means of transportation.

The ’Holy Light’ reconnaissance team no longer used modified electric Pikas but had three armed ’Warthogs’ clearing the way, three ordinary ’Warthogs’ for transport, and could reach Farmville Town along the abandoned Highway 460 in half an hour.

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Farmville Town had become a fortress, with the survivors on the town using abandoned vehicles to surround the hundred-plus buildings, forming a metal wall to fend off external disturbances.

This kind of wall looked shabby and rusted, lacking any aesthetic appeal. Watchtowers made of wooden boards were built on top, with armed sentries above watching the surroundings with binoculars.

In the post-apocalyptic world, the fights between different forces over survival resources were brutal, leaving everyone on edge.

But to facilitate the circulation of supplies, the town had to allow outside survivors in, even if it was just to earn a little toll fee.

When the three ’Warthogs’ flew over Farmville Town, the first reaction inside the town was not joy but a chaotic frenzy like ants in a frying pan, scrambling for cover.

The town’s militia couldn’t help but sound the alarm, a group of armed personnel grabbed their guns and rushed out of the buildings, while another batch clutched their helmets and dove back into the buildings.

The town mayor already knew via radio that the ’Holy Light’ people were coming, but hearing the hum of ’Warthog’ engines overhead also made his scalp tingle uncontrollably.

The town’s residents were even more anxious, the braver ones looked around curiously, wanting to know what was happening; the more timid ones simply hid in the basements of their houses, not coming out until the noise had subsided.

The three armed ’Warthogs’ circled low a few times and then slipped away at low altitude, seemingly deliberately displaying the incendiary bombs hanging under their fuselage and the two machine guns under their wings.

Not long after, the ordinary ’Warthogs’ arrived over the town, chose a spacious area, and the eight fan motors suddenly exerted force, blowing dust and smoke on the ground as they prepared to hover and land.

On one of the armed ’Warthogs’, Chen Rui, circling, sneered: "These guys are still using human sentries, way too inefficient. We have long since been using infrared combined with phased array radar."

The first ordinary ’Warthog’ landed, and the fully armed Kongges and Jiang Menglong led a team to get off first.

The town mayor rushed over, glanced at the scene, and thought the Westerner Kongges was the leader, and stepped forward with a smile to shake hands, saying, "Welcome, I am Aik, the mayor of this town."

Kongges shook hands, announced his name, and emphasized his position: "Deputy captain of the ’Holy Light’ reconnaissance team."

Ah... deputy captain?!

Mayor Aik had no choice but to look at the taller Jiang Menglong next to him, shake hands and greet him. But Jiang Menglong also claimed to be the deputy captain.

It turns out the leader hasn’t come yet, but even this staged appearance was impressive—descending from the sky instead of traveling on foot.

The first ’Warthog’ dropped off four people and flew away. Then the second and third ’Warthogs’ landed in sequence, delivering half of the reconnaissance team.

"I am Marco, the captain of this reconnaissance mission." Marco, looking mature, finally got off the ’Warthog’ and announced himself as the representative of ’Holy Light’.

Only then did Mayor Aik burst into laughter, inviting Marco and the reconnaissance team members to head to the town hall—a three-story building that wasn’t particularly grand.

As for Zhou Qingfeng, he didn’t appear with Marco and his group. Instead, he got off the ’Warthog’ two kilometers outside Farmville Town, mingled with a group of survivors entering and exiting the town, and paid a supply fee to enter the town.

The supply fee was not fixed in form, it could be a bottle of gasoline, a can of food, or a few bullets.

Zhou Qingfeng paid five nine-millimeter pistol bullets to get in, and then he found that although the town was small, it had everything necessary. There were a couple of streets intersecting, and there was even a restaurant and a bar.

The bar had no drinks, only boiled potatoes served, without salt, and it seemed likely that the town was even short of salt.

A few haggard-looking women were idling in the bar, and, upon seeing unfamiliar faces appear, mustered the courage to solicit flesh business. But they looked especially haggard, and few were interested.

The scrawny Tang Wen didn’t look like a bodyguard, lacked any aggression, so he didn’t follow with Marco, instead staying with Zhou Qingfeng.

A middle-aged prostitute approached, and Tang Wen stepped forward and tossed a few bullets on the table, pointed at a seat, indicating he wanted to ask some questions.

"You guys are quite generous, original bullets." The middle-aged prostitute swept the bullets off the table with ease and took them. After inspecting the bullet casings, she said in surprise, "You’re here for the hydropower station, aren’t you?"

The United States has a very high ownership rate of firearms, and a frighteningly large amount of ammunition in private hands. Many doomsday survivalists casually store tens of thousands of rounds at home, even treating them as value-preserving commodities.

When the apocalypse truly descended, countless firefights caused a sudden surge in bullet consumption, adding to bullets becoming hard currency, many survivors began reloading bullets.

Zhou Qingfeng had a set of semi-automatic bullet-reloading machines, with bullet heads, primers, and propellants all pre-purchased, allowing them to be reloaded by recycling casings.

However, the quality of reloaded bullets varies greatly, and they often bear obvious marks of weapon extraction on their appearance, so they are not very well received and when used as currency have to be discounted.

The middle-aged prostitute was adept at reading people and could guess eight or nine out of ten about the two strangers from their clothing, speech, and actions.

Zhou Qingfeng also became interested, "Besides us, who else is interested in the hydropower station?"

The middle-aged prostitute smiled and winked, fixing her gaze on Zhou Qingfeng, "It seems you won’t need our services. But if you treat us poor women to a meal, I can tell you anything you want to know."

Zhou Qingfeng glanced at the bar counter’s menu, "Potatoes?"

"There’s nothing else but potatoes now," the middle-aged prostitute said with a bitter smile, "There is brandy and whiskey in the bar, but I suppose you wouldn’t be so generous as to offer us a drink."

Zhou Qingfeng indeed wasn’t that generous, nor did he want to be taken advantage of. He paid the bill with bullets, allowing the prostitutes in the bar to have a potato meal, and then obtained some vital information.

Firstly, many forces had their eyes on the ’Xihu’ hydropower station, especially the ’Richmond Guard Team’, who were determined to obtain it and had already sent people to negotiate, wanting the residents of Farmville Town to join them, adopting a very strong stance.

Secondly, a major from the ’Richmond Guard Team’ led a platoon and appeared outside Farmville Town in armored vehicles.

The town’s men, fearful of military armored vehicles, had no choice but to allow the opponents to enter the town for supplies. That guy enjoyed himself in town, slept with a few prostitutes, and probed about the situation in Avoni Town.

Lastly, everyone in town knew a ’Holy Light’ team was occupying Avoni Town, having recently repelled attacks from several hundred survivors nearby, and was developing well.

Only, rumors of ’Holy Light’ using white slaves had also spread, causing quite a bit of indignation among the town’s white men, though they were helpless.

The middle-aged prostitute finally stared into Zhou Qingfeng’s eyes and asked, "Your Asian features are quite rare, you must be one of the ’Holy Light’ team?"