Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet

Chapter 17 The Gathering Horde of Corpses

After seeing the extensive underground passages, in order to avoid alerting any potential zombies, Lorraine told Diting to abandon the reconnaissance and return to the surface. Then, he closed the heavy blast-proof steel door and drove back to the dock.

After parking the car near the dock, Lorraine took out a data panel and instructed the ship's onboard AI to use a robotic arm to load the explosives and detonators into the watertight compartment at the stern.

Lorraine boarded the gunboat and looked at the brand-new 30mm machine gun, feeling that he no longer needed to hide from zombies.

"You're back! Isn't this cannon incredibly cool? Quick, say thank you!" Hearing the footsteps abruptly stop, Ouyang Nian peeked out from behind the cannon shield and looked at Lorraine with a smile.

Looking at Ouyang Nian's proud face, Luo Lin had only seen her like that when she introduced her proudest work.

"Tell me, what magical abilities have you added this time?" Lorraine asked with great certainty.

"You guessed it! Come on up, let me introduce you."

Lorraine climbed the ladder to the gun mount and stared into thought at the two ammunition supply systems located on the left side of the cannon.

"A specially designed dual-feed system, utilizing a unique mechanical structure, allows for alternating firing of ammunition from two different feeding systems by reducing the rate of fire."

Lorraine's eye twitched as he asked, "Can you guarantee that this dual-feed system won't jam after prolonged firing?"

"I had already considered this issue." Ouyang Nian reached out and disconnected one of the ammunition feeds, removed a mechanism, installed the ammunition feed system, and pushed it forward.

"OK, that's all. Now it's a normal dual-feed system, double the ammo, double the fun."

Lorraine was completely dumbfounded, watching the entire process unfold in less than 20 seconds. She gave Ouyang Nian a thumbs up and said, "You're amazing."

"Absolutely."

Lorraine looked at Ouyang Nian and asked, "How many 30mm shells do we have left in the warehouse?"

Ouyang Nian lowered his head and calculated the newly arrived materials, saying, "We've made 20 solid armor-piercing rounds, and we can make 15 high-explosive rounds, or 5 armor-piercing rounds. The copper paint we prepared earlier is enough; the main problem is the lack of steel."

Lorraine glanced at the time displayed on the dashboard—11:23—and said, "I'll rest for a bit, then go to the warehouse on the east side and fetch some materials."

"Then you keep track of the time; I'm going back to making more shells."

"No problem." Afterwards, Lorraine used the goggles to tell Di Ting and Tian Gou to stay on the shore, then returned to the cockpit, ate a bite of bread, closed his eyes, and crossed his legs to rest.

"Buzz—" Half an hour later, the vibration of the data panel woke Lorraine. He stood up, splashed some cold water on his face to wake himself up, and looked at the sun turning to the south—at this time, the activity of the zombie horde was at its lowest, making it a great time to go out and explore.

Lorraine grabbed a piece of chocolate, put a small cake and a bottle of water into his backpack, returned to the shore, started the truck, and drove towards the eastern warehouse area.

Upon arriving at the storage area, Lorraine precisely reversed the truck into the warehouse, positioning the rear of the cargo box right next to the loading dock. He opened the cargo box and let Di Ting and Tian Gou board the loading platform. Then, he had Di Ting check the depths of the storage area—after all, last time they came here, time was tight, and they only confirmed that there were no zombies near the loading platform before starting to load materials onto the truck.

After receiving the instruction, Diting lowered the tire and silently slipped into the depths of the warehouse.

Tengu stayed close to Lorraine, keeping a watchful eye on her.

Lorraine first loaded two cartloads of steel back onto the vehicle, then looked toward the composite materials area.

Before Lorraine could even get on the stroller, a series of alarms and an image popped up in the multi-functional goggles:

"Commander, abnormal movement of the horde has been detected. Contact with you is expected in 20 minutes."

The next scene shows the other side of the warehouse—a group of zombies moving along the road towards Lorraine under the midday sun.

Lorraine instructed Tengu to remain silent and on guard on the platform, awaiting the order to fire, while he lay prone on the roof of the vehicle, preparing to observe the approaching horde of corpses.

After confirming their safety in Lorraine, have Diting use a 9mm silenced weapon to kill 1-2 zombies in the lead position.

Two not-too-quite-loud "thud" sounds echoed through the air, but the horde of zombies didn't react at all. Even when the zombies that followed trampled it into a bloody mess, it didn't attract the attention of a single one of them.

Looking at the bizarre scene before him, Lorraine was certain that his previous guess was correct—there must be an even more special zombie king in the central area.

After all, the wolf king they encountered in the factory before needed to use howls to command the horde of zombies, and the zombies under its command were not like the ones before them; neither sound nor flesh could attract the attention of the zombies.

In order to alleviate the defensive pressure that may arise during the Blood Moon, Lorraine decided to reduce the number of zombies as much as possible.

"Listen, firing is permitted. Cease firing when 10 rounds remain and follow the horde of corpses."

"Received by Di Ting."

Gunshots rang out one after another, and then Di Ting was seen following behind the horde of corpses.

"Tengu, advance to the north. Head-mounted weapons are permitted. Fire from the flanks of the horde's path. Retreat immediately if the horde's movement changes."

"Tengu received."

Then the tengu ran to the road outside the storage area and hid in the roadside bushes.

At this moment, Lorraine focused her attention on the perspective of Di Ting. The image transmitted back by Di Ting showed the direction and distance of the celestial dog.

As the distance gradually decreased, Lorraine became increasingly nervous.

"Bang bang bang bang bang—" Two rounds of gunfire rang out, and the horde of corpses fell down like rice stalks cut by a scythe.

Seeing that less than half of the remaining horde of corpses remained motionless, continuing to move towards the center like puppets devoid of any senses, Lorraine felt a chill run down her spine at this horrifying sight.

Once the horde of corpses had moved away, Lorraine summoned back Tengu and Di Ting. Tengu remained by Lorraine's side as a guard, while Di Ting was assigned to patrol the area closer to the center.

Lorraine rushed into the warehouse and, with Tengu's help, began recording the types of items stored there. It contained not only various industrial raw materials but also some industrial products.

Looking at the solar panels recorded on the data board, Lorraine pushed the cart and, led by Tengu, found the area where the solar panels were stored, and moved away 8 rectangular solar panels.

These solar panels can meet all electricity needs except for industrial components.

With the Blood Moon approaching, Lorraine has brought a cartload of steel, a cartload of engineering plastics, and a large quantity of ceramic particles to strengthen the defenses—materials that can be used to make composite armor that is insufficient in terms of defense.

Lorraine then drove the truck, fully loaded with goods, back to shore. Before sunset, he used a robotic arm to hoist all the items into the warehouse, while the solar panels would be installed the following day.