Wasteland Commander

Wang Dashan and his group are exceedingly cautious.

On their way here, they have scrutinized every detail repeatedly and prepared numerous plans.

They initially thought Ye Fan would be evasive and refuse, so they even prepared many arguments.

Unexpectedly, Ye Fan agreed so quickly.

Furthermore, he proposed two seemingly clever conditions.

They believe that if Ye Fan dares to let them handle the Water Gate defense, it indicates that opening the Water Gate isn't easy.

However, occupying the Water Gate defense and still not being able to get through would be underestimating them.

After a brief discussion, none of them noticed any flaws in their plan, so they all nodded in agreement.

Wang Dashan then said to Ye Fan, "Leader Ye, we have come to a decision."

"Oh, so are you agreeing or not?"

"We agree to Leader Ye's conditions. The gold will be delivered within these two days, and the troops we're sending to assist in the defense will arrive alongside the gold. However, we hope Leader Ye can publicize our alliance's news."

"You mean announcing it through a broadcast."

"Yes, the Huacheng Survivor Alliance will also be broadcasting this thrilling news in the coming days, so we hope Leader Ye can cooperate."

Wang Dashan has thought it through clearly; he wants to first demonstrate to the people that no matter how formidable the Dawn Army is, they ultimately have to obediently join the Survivor Alliance.

It is also the best opportunity to establish the authority of the Survivor Alliance.

Ye Fan nodded, "Alright, let's do it. I have just had someone organize the agreement we reached into writing. The content of this agreement must be announced to everyone, word for word, to ensure transparency."

Zhuge Yunxue brought out the organized agreement for everyone to start signing.

Ye Fan was the first to sign his name and press his fingerprint, followed by Wang Dashan and the other alliance representatives.

Even though there are no legal constraints in the apocalypse and the document may not hold much binding power, the Survivor Alliance has always maintained the image of the leader of survivors in the Huacheng Region, and they can't readily break their promise.

Ye Fan sees this clearly, hence he has them sign and stamp the agreement.

But Wang Dashan and his group need to plan another scheme, to frame Ye Fan as a traitor and find an excuse to eliminate him.

Eliminate Ye Fan and absorb the Dawn Army.

As long as their troops take control of the situation, they can come up with any excuse.

The cunning individuals completed the signing, only waiting for the first batch of gold from the Survivor Alliance to be in place for the agreement to become effective.

As soon as the agreement was signed, it was delivered to the broadcast station.

On their way back, Wang Dashan and his group listened to the Dawn Army's broadcasted news through the car radio.

"Ye Fan, such a young man... haha."

Wang Dashan leaned back in his seat, feeling a sense of relief.

Since Ye Fan has shown no gratitude, arriving in Huacheng and not actively joining the alliance, they cannot be blamed for being ruthless.

Once the broadcast is sent, the alliance should also take action; the gold and armed personnel will be in place in about two days.

By that time, Ye Fan will no longer have the final say here.

*********

After sending off the alliance representatives, Ye Fan also carefully thought about the aftermath of this matter.

Compared to the Survivor Alliance's strength, the Dawn Army is undeniably weaker.

After all, the other side boasts an entire alliance, with a population of ten thousand and armed personnel exceeding a thousand.

A myriad of ants can bite an elephant to death, and these people are more like a pack of rabid dogs than ants.

However, if Ye Fan is given some more time, especially during this period of gold collection, he'll be able to expand his troops to a regiment.

By then, the balance of power between both sides will be reversed.

He needs to consider a way to make the opposing armed personnel voluntarily abandon the city.

Letting them occupy the front wall and Water Gate doesn't matter; they won't anticipate the Dawn Army has a second wall.

But it will take some effort to get them to voluntarily give up.

Should the number of scapegoat squads be expanded for a plot where foreign troops attack Dawn City?

However, Ye Fan thinks this isn't the best plan, so he decides to observe further.

If necessary, he can use this strategy, but he always feels something major might happen in the coming days.

********

The Dawn Army has welcomed a peak in survivor arrivals.

Within two days, over fifteen hundred survivors rushed in from all directions.

Among them, more than five hundred survivors brought gold.

According to the Dawn Army's requirements, possessing five hundred grams of gold qualifies one as an inner-city resident.

Just from this income alone, Ye Fan gained another two hundred and fifty thousand gold.

After spending three hundred thousand Gold to build the Tank Factory, he now has nearly four hundred thousand on hand.

Guards at the city gate register every incoming survivor.

Those qualified for the inner-city access go directly in, while the unqualified stay in the outer city to begin construction, provided with free food by the Dawn Army.

During questioning, each survivor is watched by military dogs with alert eyes.

The results of the interrogation are sent to Ye Fan.

Flipping through the list, Ye Fan clucks in appreciation.

"Quite the effort, ah. Out of fifteen hundred survivors, a thousand are undercover agents, and among the five hundred with gold, four hundred and fifty belong to them."

Zhongjing next to Ye Fan said, "Chief, among the four hundred and fifty in the inner city, over twenty are Evolvers, disguising themselves as ordinary people to come in, likely to undertake special missions."

"Oh, what mission? To conduct a decapitation operation against me?"

Zhongjing chuckled, "That would be difficult. Didn't you notice their expressions after entering the city? They came in confident, but didn't expect we have another wall beyond the inner city. They are probably diligently studying how to break through our second wall, since after all, the chief has already said they are only responsible for the first wall's defense."

Ye Fan resides in the commander's mansion in the core area, naturally not worried about sudden attacks by them.

"Remember, those entering the inner city are strictly forbidden to leave, to prevent them from leaking internal information."

"Understood, they have no time to disclose anything now; their defensive troops are probably nearly here. Even if they discover a second wall, they have no choice but to toughen it out."

Zhongjing was right; the Survivor Alliance's defensive troops arrived, and Wang Dashan and his group returned with the troops.

The six hundred troop contingent is intact, arriving in a fleet of off-road vehicles.

Even the Wangbei Army brought an armored vehicle.

It's not a domestic model but a Rakshasa vehicle.

The vehicle isn't new; it seems recently overhauled, with some parts apparently replaced temporarily.

Upon arrival, Ye Fan accepted their one hundred kilograms of gold and then withdrew the troops from the front wall, handing over defense to them.

Wang Dashan entered the city in high spirits but was dumbstruck by the sight of the second wall a kilometer away.

"What? There's another city inside the Dawn Army?"

Zhongjing, responsible for reception, calmly said, "What? You mean we can't have a city within a city?"

Wang Dashan was momentarily speechless and could only grumble, "I don't mean that. I just didn't expect the Dawn Army to have such strength. The construction of the city within a city is truly surprising."

Saying this, his eyes wandered everywhere.

It seems that once the battle flares, their forces will need to break through from the front wall to the side wall, and the combat between them is likely to erupt on the narrow wall.

Those watchtowers are a problem that must be addressed.

The Dawn Army has laid a trap, but Wang Dashan is struggling to express his discontent.

He can only grit his teeth and swallow this bitter fruit, for the Dawn Army numbers are few. They have already infiltrated many quietly, still holding the absolute advantage.

However, the plan was thrown off, and the initiation time pushed back slightly.

The Dawn Army occupies the gate; he has to wait for the Frogmen to arrive, advancing along the Star River and sneaking through the Water Gate to smuggle weapons in.

Otherwise, those infiltrators wouldn't have weapons and wouldn't form combat strength.

Estimates are the attack will commence by late tomorrow night.

********

A tricycle sped rapidly towards them from afar.

This vehicle was produced by Ye Fan to chase supply boxes and hasn't found much use since, so he let Shen Ruihui take it out on patrol.

Unexpectedly, it brought back vital news.

Shen Ruihui rushed through a side door into the core area riding the motorcycle.

Until reaching the commander's mansion, sprinting all the way to Ye Fan's room.

"Chief! Major discovery!"

"About a hundred kilometers away from our Dawn Army, I discovered a massive horde of zombies!"

The Tank Factory has just completed production, and Ye Fan, excited and ready to deploy, was stunned.