Su Han and Bai Qilan drove back, while Zhu Xiong and his team stayed at South City No.2 Middle School to clean up the place.
Although there weren't many supplies, the hundreds of monster corpses, dozens of live Eye Beasts, and the Hundred-Eyed Monster all needed to be transported back.
All the way back to the Shanhu Villa District, Guo Wutao and Zhao Yaqian had been sizing up the entire camp.
Large swathes of wasteland had been reclaimed, and crops were now planted on them, mostly staple foods like corn, potatoes, and wheat, with the remaining portion being vegetables and fruits.
Counting the previous accumulation from the Lamp Trees and after integrating Wanzhou Manor from Wan Yuzhou, the camp now had a total of 23 Lamp Trees.
Lamp Trees were planted one per inhabited villa, while the rest were distributed near the cultivated fields, illuminating the fields and supplying the plants with the light and energy needed for growth.
Thanks to the continual nurturing of the Lamp Trees in Shanhu Villa District, each tree bore Lamp Tree Crystals, and together with the crystals seized from Wan Yuzhou's camp, the camp now had about 40 crystals or so.
Twenty of those Lamp Tree Crystals were in use, with eight in constant use for patrolling and searching for supplies, while the remaining twenty-plus were stored in the warehouse, or more accurately, as Su Han's fusion materials.
However, he hadn't had the chance to continue with the fusion yet.
It was precisely because of the existence of the Lamp Trees and their crystals that even without the Ancient Worm Tree, the whole of the Shanhu Villa District wouldn't be completely engulfed by the mist.
Guo Wutao looked at the scenery before him in surprise because the development of the entire camp was not much worse than their own at Southern Prosperous Chemical Plant.
'Basic agricultural production has been established, and if the fields are successful, they can fully support a thousand or two thousand people, and based on the size of the Shanhu Villa District, many more fields could be expanded.'
In his heart, he calculated the situation of the Shanhu Villa District; even though the post-apocalyptic fields lacked fertilizer and selective breeding, the environmental Spiritual Energy compensated for these deficits.
Even the estimates of Tian Jiaxuan and Bai Qiuwen suggested that, under the intergenerational Evolution of the plants, the yields could be even higher.
Thus, one acre of land could support more people.
But the prerequisite was being able to fend off monsters' invasions and those raiders.
However, Guo Wutao clearly wasn't worried about this, as Su Han alone was more than capable of repelling most crises.
'However, this is a good thing.'
The stronger the Shanhu Villa District became, the better the effects of cooperation and mutual benefit.
At present, they still held an advantage. Apart from not being able to catch up with Su Han in terms of individual strength, they should be superior to the Shanhu Villa District in areas like research and Industrial Recovery, such as injectors, Evolved Kind research, and so on.
The group arrived at Villa No. 9, where Wang Hu and others did not follow, but were arranged by Yan Meiyu to rest in another villa temporarily.
Some of the combat team members had sustained minor injuries on the way and it was a good opportunity for Cao Yubao's medical team to take care of them.
Once everyone had settled down, Yan Meiyu had tea brought in, and for a moment, the living room of Villa No. 9 bore a striking resemblance to the pre-apocalypse days.
Only three people were on Su Han's side: himself, Bai Qilan, and the chief steward, Yan Meiyu.
Guo Wutao's side also had three people: himself, Zhao Yaqian, and Cheng Zhenyong.
Guo Wutao was an outspoken warrior, and this regulation was fair, unless a monster had specific skills like the Eye Beast. Otherwise, they would trade based on rank.
However, what he didn't know was that there was a calculation behind Bai Qilan's proposal. If some of the serums traded included Angel Envoy's serums, it meant setting a contingency in place.
If both sides cooperated well, there would be no issue, and they would promote mutual progress. But if they turned against each other, then apologies would be in order.
As for whether South City's camp would do such a thing?
Setting aside the fact that their strongest were currently Zhao Yaqian and Duan Jie, and their Angel Envoys were still lacking in strength, Su Han naturally wouldn't use them. On the side of Shanhu Villa, Bai Qilan, Zhu Xiong, and Yan Meiyu exceeded them in strength, so the likelihood of needing the serums was small.
Moreover, mass production was an issue.
The existence of the Ancient Worm Tree, as well as the Eye Beasts and Tree-born Worms, gave Bai Qilan a glimpse of the possibility for mass production, which the other side didn't possess. Stay tuned for updates on M V L
Once the topic of serums was settled, Guo Wutao handed over a blueprint to Su Han, saying, "This is designed by a student of Professor Tian Jiaxuan, a new model of crossbow arrow blueprint, entirely made of metal, with a strength twice that of regular crossbow arrows.
If we can produce it, the range should be between 300-400 meters, its power comparable to a rifle, and the firing speed also improved over regular crossbows."
He revealed a subtle smile and said, "The blueprint can be updated. If the metal properties can meet the standards, they can design even stronger items. What do you think?"
He's seen my metal control.
Su Han realized inwardly. He had used metal control in front of Zhao Yaqian and others before, along with those all-metal standard crossbows. Clearly, this piece of intelligence had been deciphered by their people into useful information.
It meant that the metal controlled by Su Han couldn't be ordinary metal. Its ductility and strength must have changed to create such crossbows.
Guo Wutao and his colleagues were certainly tempted. Right now, with great difficulties in manufacturing firearms, they must still maintain some control over weapons as a transition before a strong survivor force is fully cultivated.
Without a doubt, metal crossbows were transitional weapons, pioneers for new territories.
"I can make it. How many do you want?"
Su Han smiled slightly, looking at Guo Wutao. With full understanding between them, Guo Wutao tentatively said, "A thousand crossbows, thirty thousand arrows?"
"You're asking for a lot, Director Guo. Just for a blueprint, you want all this?"
Seeing that Su Han didn't agree, Guo Wutao was not embarrassed but simply said, "If we're talking about that quantity of crossbows and arrows, what else would you like in exchange? We can trade serums for them, and what about chemical bombs, equivalent in power to hand grenades."
"A thousand bombs, plus an additional blueprint, a large city-defense crossbow arrow blueprint, which can also be mounted on vehicles."
"I'll ask Professor Tian and his students. If possible, we want to add ten city-defense crossbows."
"Deal."
Su Han didn't make any further conditions. Metal manipulation was a matter of moving his hands, as simple as it could get.
Pushing for advantages was to secure benefits, but not going overboard solidified the foundation of cooperation. At least from the current perspective, Guo Wutao was sincere.
"The third aspect of our cooperation," Guo Wutao took the lead in the conversation before Su Han, "as the name implies, is mutual support within our means, preserving the seeds of survival. Actually, we have another purpose for coming here, which is to ask for your assistance in attacking a place."