Rotting Land: Survive

Once everyone had collected their gear, each group went off to find a suitable spot to set up, and as soon as they’d picked a place, they got straight to work.

Li Zhong grabbed Wang Zhongyu, and Wen Quanxin helped them assemble the solar power equipment.

Since both of them had helped with assembly before, Li Zhong didn’t really need to explain the basic procedure.

The only difference this time was that, to cope with the special conditions in winter, Li Zhong specially added six caster wheels under the original fixed mounting rack.

That way, even if they ran into bad weather, the Survivors could easily move the whole solar power setup to a safe spot and avoid the risk of damage.

After all, solar panels are precious; crack even one and the power supply takes a big hit.

So Li Zhong absolutely had to keep them safe.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Li Guo was busy with his crew setting up the relay station.

He also grabbed people with assembly experience—Hu Xiaodong and Wu Chao—and didn’t make any changes to the relay station itself.

Because the strength of that thing mainly depends on height: as long as it’s high enough, the signal coverage area naturally increases.

Right now Xiao Zhang was basically playing nanny, taking Fangfang and He Jing around the village to play.

As for the rest, most of them had been gathered together by Xu Renjie; they had only one task: cut down trees and bring the logs back.

They picked the escort truck and the Jianghuai truck for hauling, and once those two were settled on, Luo Baocun was in charge of adding the necessary tow gear to the vehicles.

These weren’t cargo trucks meant for hauling freight, so if they wanted to drag back as many logs as possible, they could only rely on extra rigging to make it happen.

Once everything was ready, Old Xu left Lei Tong, Hua Biao, and Duan Chengwu behind for Old Lin to direct.

He also handed Old Lin one Type-64 copycat rifle and one double-barrel shotgun; once Xu Renjie left, all of the base’s defense rested on Old Lin’s shoulders.

Since the relay station hadn’t been fully installed yet, radio communication was bound to be affected, so Old Xu had to be fully prepared before he dared lead people out.

He went over everything that needed explaining, repeated all the reminders, and after a good bout of nagging, the tree-cutting squad finally set off.

Each crew handled its own job, and the once quiet village was suddenly bustling thanks to the arrival of the Survivors.

By midday, the tree-cutting squad’s engines were roaring as they returned in triumph.

After checking, they found they’d dragged back a total of eight thick logs.

Even so, that was still a drop in the bucket compared to what they’d need to block off the entire village.

For lunch, Wei Yang as usual prepared a pretty generous meal for the Survivors, just like Wen Quanxin had joked—old tightwad Zhao really did pluck some feathers this time.

Of course, Old Zhao wasn’t truly stingy; it was just that times had changed. Back when he kept a tight grip on supplies and rationed everything, he’d been forced by the situation.

Now things were relatively safer, and with everything waiting to be rebuilt, this was exactly when they needed to put in the effort.

If they couldn’t guarantee enough calories for the team, then construction progress would inevitably slow down.

In the end, it would be the team’s safety at risk.

Lunch was still set up on tables in Old Zhao’s courtyard, and after a teasing comment from Wen Quanxin, the Survivors now all called Old Zhao "Village Chief."

Old Zhao didn’t mind; what he was doing really wasn’t much different from a village chief’s job anyway.

During the meal, each squad reported its mission progress as usual, and to Old Xu’s surprise, the teams handling the three main tasks had actually finished their equipment setups.

"The solar rig is assembled; we’ll start running the lines this afternoon. We should have power tonight."

As soon as Li Zhong said that, the place erupted in cheers.

Nothing brings people more joy than electricity; having power means human civilization, and with electricity all kinds of tools become usable.

Old Xu had been worrying that they’d be short on electrical power and those charging chainsaws and such might not be usable.

Hand-sawing trees with manpower isn’t impossible, but the efficiency is way worse.

"The gas–diesel generator set is done on my end too. It’s in House 12 for now; we’re not running cables out yet. If anyone needs it, just go to 12."

The numbered houses were Old Zhao’s idea—first, to make management easier; second, to make it more convenient for people to drop by and interact.

As for Bi Dahu’s suggestion not to run power lines yet, that had already been discussed by Old Xu and the others.

Gasoline and diesel are non-renewable; every bit used is gone for good.

Now that they had solar generators, Old Xu felt they should save the fuel as much as possible for vehicles used on outside missions.

You could call that using things where they mattered most.

"On communications, the relay station’s up too, but we’ll have to field-test the signal." Li Guo reported honestly.

This was just as important for the Survivor Team right now. With a relay station, the next time they went out logging, Old Xu wouldn’t have to keep worrying about the base’s safety like today. One call and everything could be checked easily.

After the meal, everyone took a short break, and an hour later Old Xu gathered everyone in one place.

Since the three major projects were all done ahead of schedule, they could now throw the whole group’s strength into building the "Gigantic Deer-Horse."

As usual, he split the team into three groups.

Group One handled sawing and cutting—trimming the sleepers down to the right size.

Group Two did finishing work—they needed to sharpen and harden the cut planks so any Zombies or people trying to climb over would pay for it.

The last group did the final assembly. They had to tie the planks together with wire and hemp rope in the designated way, turning them into a true "Gigantic Deer-Horse."

It was definitely a big project, and once the groups were set, the Survivor Team got straight to it.

For a while, the buzz of chainsaws and the sounds of chopping didn’t stop; the small village basically turned into a lumber mill.

From 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., after a busy half day, the Survivors finally blocked off the three-meter-wide road at the village entrance.

Five hours to seal just one road into the village says enough about how hard this blockade work was.

And this was only the beginning. Once they got bricks and stone to build a real wall and started digging a moat, the workload would be massive.

But, as the saying goes, one radish, one hole. Old Xu didn’t plan too far ahead; he understood you can’t chew more than you can swallow.

So for him, the priority was to get the Gigantic Deer-Horse blockade done properly, instead of spreading themselves too thin and ending up accomplishing nothing.

And so, for the next week, the Survivor Team did nothing else; the whole crew just spent their days fiddling with that pile of wood, assembling and adjusting.

And it really did pay off—not only did it toughen everyone up physically, it also let younger guys like Wen Quanxin and Wu Chao get familiar with all kinds of tools.

Yue Guishan even joked half-seriously, "Looks like I’m going to lose my job in the future."

With everyone united and a week of relentless effort, the Survivors finally finished blocking off the village.

It was just wood and wire fencing, but compared to the unprotected village they’d arrived at, it was undoubtedly safer now. The big weight pressing on Old Xu’s chest finally dropped to the ground. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it with recommendation tickets or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)