After Xie Dong left, Lin Qiao picked up his report and started reading carefully. It seemed that the situation was still under Wu Chengyue's control. The people from the other base weren't able to cause any trouble for now.
At that moment, Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui, who represented the base as leaders; Moli, He Lukun, and Xiao Licheng as vice-leaders, were all present in the conference room in Sea City Base. Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong represented Huaxia Base. After the massive zombie attack, Hou Guozhong got promoted, and was now a chairman. Li Zhengye, the last leader of Sky Fire Base, and Mo Quan, the Deputy Chief under his command, Du Kunsheng from Heilong Base, and Bao Chengzhi from Mongols Base, were also on the scene.
Only the two newly emerged bases—All Beings Base and Green Mountain Base—didn't send people to attend that meeting.
Wei Haichao was sitting in a guest's seat as he looked at Xiao Yunlong and said smilingly, "We have made you a great offer. We made those winter clothes and quilts ourselves, with the cotton that we grew in our base."
'You can't grow cotton, so you have to accept our deal. You have no choice'—That was his hidden meaning.
Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui surely understood his meaning. They both stayed calm and looked at Wei Haichao without taking his words seriously.
Every time they made a deal with Huaxia Base, a long negotiation was inevitable. People always complimented themselves and depreciated others to try and gain more profits.
"We have prepared a sufficient amount of vegetables and grains to trade for the supplies that you just mentioned. As for the soil remedy, we cannot give it to you," said Zou Shihui blandly.
He was facing a few level-seven powerful men from the other bases, but his vibe stayed strong.
"What do you want in exchange for that? We are from the same country after all. It's something that can save the mankind. Why won't you share it with us? Are you gonna wait until some foreign bases make you a target?" said Li Zhengye from Sky Fire Base with a frown, accusing Sea City Base people of being too selfish and cold-blooded.
"Chief Li is right. I heard that the Japanese people are making some moves. The apocalypse has triggered frequent earthquakes, and all sorts of mutated creatures have been worsening their situation. Their country is no longer suitable for living. They are planning on invading our place, and they'll soon take action for it," said Wei Haichao.
"As far as I know, it's not gonna be easy for them to come across the sea. Airplanes are more energy-consuming than ships by tens of times over. And if they take ships, they'd be facing the horrible mutated creatures in the sea. They would need to abandon a lot of their people if they want to move to our place, and they won't be able to bring many weapons and tools. In that case, they would have no chance of surviving even if they managed to set foot on our land," Xiao Yunlong said expressionlessly.
After the apocalypse, earthquakes and tsunami happened with high frequency. The people who lived on the islands or near tectonic plates were living a much harder life than the people on the mainland.
It was highly dangerous for them to give up on their homeland and move into the mainland. Besides, they didn't have enough energy to power their planes.
Wei Haichao and Li Zhengye were only trying to scare the Sea City Base to give them a sense of crisis, and make them agree to work with the other bases. If their plan worked, the situation would turn other way around, and Sea City Base would become the one who needed help.
Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui were both clearly aware that Wei Haichao and the others were telling lies. Making the deal happen wasn't even their real purpose. They mentioned the soil remedy the whole time but never offered a fair price.
What they had really been trying to do was to buy more time, so that their people could complete the secret mission.
They knew that Sea City Base wouldn't accept their offer. Clearly, they named a very low price deliberately.
"So, since you didn't bring enough supplies, we have no choice but to deduct the amount of food that we were going to sell you," Zou Shihui had no mood to continue that meaningless conversation. If Wu Chengyue didn't have to hide to deal with those 'rats' who attempted to steal from his base, Zou Shihui wouldn't need to sit there and cover for him.
He wanted to go back to his lab to study the soil and figure out a way to grow healthy food. He had tons of work to do. The last thing he wanted to do was waste his time with those people.
The deal could still be made. Those people should take the food they need and go back where they came from instead of trying to steal the so-called soil remedy.
Du Kunsheng who stayed silent the whole time listened to the conversation between Wei Haichao and Xiao Yunlong with a sullen face, showing no sign of saying anything.
He was only there to help. The deal that he made with Si Kongchen didn't require him to help Wei Haichao. He only needed to be on the scene to show the attitude of Heilong Base.
They had been in Sea City Base for a few days. However, the people that Wei Haichao brought in secret didn't even manage to enter Sea City Base, not to mention if they could accomplish their mission or not.
A slight trace of scorn was detected from his eyes. 'Do these people think that they have a chance to suppress Sea City Base while Wu Chengyue is too crazy to control the overall situation? The other Sea City Base people aren't stupid!' he thought.
Du Kunsheng had thought about the changing situation in the country and felt that Sea City Base seemed to have some secret cards. There were eight bases in the country, but now, half of them were gone. Hades Base, Earth Dragon Base, and Hidden Cloud City Base had been decimated, while two of the three leaders of Sky Fire Base had gone missing. Huaxia Base and Heilong Base suffered massive zombie attacks; Mongols Base suffered no losses, but it had always been the weakest base among the eight. Mongols Base had a small population, an awful environment, and was always short of supplies.
Currently, only Sea City Base, All Beings Base, and Green Mountain Base were in stable and safe terms. All Beings Base should be relying on Sea City Base. So, Du Kunsheng figured that Sea City Base must have some secret power that had been keeping itself from suffering severe losses.
He believed that even if he had to make Sea City Base his enemy, he needed to leave some wiggle room for himself.
That was his hunch.
On the other side of the base, Wu Chengyue had been staying in his house the whole time. However, he knew everything that was happening in his base.
"Locate them and find out how strong they are. Since they attempted to sneak in, we should make them disappear silently." Wu Chengyue was sitting behind his desk with Wu Yueling held in his arms. The little girl was holding a large rabbit, which had been shaved.
It was getting warmer and warmer, and the rabbit had long fur. Wu Yueling liked to hold it all day long, which made it feel very hot. At last, the rabbit refused to let Wu Yueling hold it again. So, Wu Chengyue shaved the rabbit.
Wu Yueling was looking at the shaved rabbit and feeling complicated. But, someone else was in the room, so she didn't show her feelings on her face.