Here They Come
John, fearing that Henry might change his mind, quickly shouted "Deal!" and immediately sent over a trade request. 53 [Laser Trip Mines] at 50 Energy Cores each summed up to 2650 Energy Cores. After subtracting the 600 to make up the Energy Cores, the rest was converted into 300 units of supplies.
Although John was now a major supplier, he also had a large population to sustain and couldn't afford to be too extravagant. He directly traded 1789 units of water, meat, and carbohydrate food to Henry—oddly enough, not rounding up to make the numbers even. John gave a sheepish smile as he placed the supplies on the trade interface.
Henry also added the guns, ammunition, and Laser Trip Mines to the trade interface. John hastily clicked to confirm the trade, but there was no response from Henry's side. This caused John's recently settled heart to rise again...
He cautiously asked, "Um... Henry, what's wrong? Is there something going on?"
"Do you have any steel? If you don't need it, could you give me some?" Henry suddenly asked.
"Just a second, let me check!" John turned to a teammate responsible for military supplies, who nodded and whispered in John's ear, "We collected 200 tons of steel at the steel plant before!"
John nodded and said, "We still have 100 tons of steel, and we don't need it for now, so I'll give it all to you!"
After saying this, he added the 100 tons of steel to the trade interface and clicked confirm again. "Can we trade now?"
"Um..." Henry hesitated for a moment, then continued to ask, "Do you have any Frost Flowers?"
John was baffled: "What flower? What's a Frost Flower?"
"Oh, if you don't have it, never mind!" Henry meant that if it wasn't available, he wouldn't insist on it.
John, worried and confused, thought that the absence of Frost Flowers might halt the trade. He quickly said, "No, no! I mean... if I find it, I'll definitely give it to you, how about that?"
Saying this, he turned to the team members behind him and ordered:
"Tell all squads, any Frost Flowers found must be handed over immediately, and it's classified the same as food!"
"No hoarding allowed, did everyone get that?"
The soldiers, who were previously eating and chatting, heard John's shout and immediately stood up, saluting in unison.
"Yes, Captain!"
"Alright, continue eating!"
John gave the order, then turned back with a beaming smile to look at Henry.
108 assault rifles, ten fully-armed squads!
With these weapons, they wouldn't fear encountering hordes of zombies anymore; they could even take on small-scale zombie tides head-on!
Just imagining such exhilarating battle scenes made John's heart race.
"Alright then! Thanks, John!"
Henry smiled, nodded, and confirmed the trade.
Both parties obtained what they needed and then closed the video link.
"Awesome! We've got guns!"
After turning off the video, John jumped up excitedly.
"This cost me a fortune, so everyone use them sparingly!"
"Tomorrow, we'll take down the city exit where nearly ten thousand zombies are located!"
"Once we're out of the city, our target destination won't be far!"
"But remember, don't fire unless you're sure. Every bullet you shoot, that's Energy Cores!"
...
On Henry's side, he received 600 Energy Cores.
Including those cleared from setting traps...
He now had a total of 1687 Energy Cores.
He started manufacturing [Automatic Sentry Towers]!
Ding! You have used [Energy Cores]*500, [Steel]*500 kilograms!
Ding! You have used [Energy Cores]*500, [Steel]*500 kilograms!
Congratulations! You have obtained [Automatic Sentry Towers]*2, now stored in your storage space!
Henry then clicked on [Powerful Corrosive Bomb Blueprint] and began production!
Ding! You have used [Corrosive Liquid]*10, [Corrosion-Resistant Leather]*20, [Steel]*100 kilograms!
Congratulations! You have obtained [Powerful Corrosive Bombs]*10, now stored in your storage space!
Henry stepped out of the villa, storing it back into his storage space. Then, he set up [Automatic Sentry Towers] on both sides of the bridgehead.
Squeak and creak!
The sentry towers automatically generated metal supports that secured onto the large pillars at the bridgehead. Two fist-sized black gun barrels extended from the front of the towers. The barrels swayed slowly from side to side, now in alert mode, ready to blast any mutant that came into range into smithereens!
Henry placed a sufficient amount of C4 explosives on the bridge surface. After running to a safe distance, a loud boom echoed.
Dust filled the air!
The surface of the grand bridge was blown open, creating a gap over ten meters long. Such a distance, even for the agile Crawlers, was impassable.
Now, everything was set for tomorrow's great battle!
Worried that the zombie tide might arrive early, Henry did not dare delay. He returned home and harvested the mature Meat Potatoes into his storage space. Then, he and Snow moved to their new home, the first-class protective villa blocked on the bridge.
"Woof-woof~"
Snow seemed very pleased with their new home. After entering the villa, he stood by the huge floor-to-ceiling window, tail wagging excitedly, fascinated by the river view. Usually, he would just stare at the plants in the yard, but now the river intrigued him greatly.
"There's going to be a fierce battle tomorrow!"
"Eat up today, get plenty of food, we're going to the battlefield!"
"Remember, don't bite that green guy, it's corrosive!"
"Your fur can't withstand it either!"
Henry petted Snow's fluffy head, smiling as he spoke. He didn't mind whether Snow could understand or not.
"Woof-woof!"
Snow seemed to notice something, his tail suddenly wagging faster. A zombie slowly emerged from the river and started approaching the villa step by step.
Huh?
Henry only paused for a moment before he understood.
It's true that zombies are averse to water. Previously, building 8 was situated in the middle of a water body, which spared it from many zombie incursions. Zombies generally don't voluntarily enter the water, but that doesn't mean water can eliminate them.
This particular zombie had fallen off the grand bridge. Zombies can't swim or float. They move slowly along the riverbed until they leave the water.
Seeing Snow's stance, it looked like the little guy spotted some food and was getting greedy!
Swoosh! Pop!
Suddenly, a glowing orb flew by, striking the zombie right in the head. It exploded on impact. As the zombie's body fell backward and started to dissolve into a mist that faded away, Henry also received a notification of automatic collection.
"Woof..."
Snow's tail drooped, his face full of disappointment.
"Don't worry, tomorrow you can eat as much as you like!" Henry said, smiling as he petted Snow's fur.
The night passed without further incident.
The next day, as the first rays of sunlight squeezed through the gaps between the buildings and streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window, a distant explosion was heard from the direction of the north river.
"They're here!" "They're coming!"