159 New Intelligence!

"The lord's intention is actually not difficult to understand," Shen Ruyan began to explain.

Currently, energy cores could be used as a source of energy.

In today's apocalyptic world, food might be the most important thing.

However, the surviving humans would surely find a stable source of food sooner or later—for instance, by cultivating the land themselves, or raising livestock, and so on.

Otherwise, supplies would eventually be exhausted one day, and wouldn't everyone simply starve to death?

Once the food supply became stable, the next issue to consider would be energy.

Using electricity required energy.

Manufacturing things also required energy.

"In the future world, energy cores will be the most stable and efficient source of power. They will have to pay hundreds or thousands of times the cost to buy the energy cores back," Shen Ruyan said with a hint of pride on her face.

At the mere thought of this future scenario, she couldn't help but sigh in genuine admiration.

Xue Feng's foresight was simply too far-reaching.

Most of the time, he thought much further ahead than she did, even as the strategist.

"But those people don't know how to generate electricity using energy cores," Wang Xinyu said, a look of confusion on her face.

The current energy-core generators were crafted using Nie Xiaoyue's unique, modified technology.

Other people did not know how to use them.

"It's very simple. We'll just sell the generators to them, at a high price of course," Xue Feng said indifferently.

"Sell them? Wouldn't that mean the technology would be leaked?" Wang Xinyu couldn't help standing up and shouting.

If other people also learned this technology, wouldn't that be a massive loss?

Only a moment later did Wang Xinyu realize she had lost her composure.

She hurriedly apologized to Xue Feng, explaining that she merely felt it was a great pity to do so.

"Actually, there's a very simple way to prevent them from stealing the technology: design the generators in such a way that tampering with them or opening them up will immediately ruin the device," Shen Ruyan said.

Many Western countries used to do this with the high-tech products they sold in the past.

They were purposely designed so that they could not be opened.

Once opened, there was no after-sales service, and they refused to take responsibility for repairs.

Moreover, after-sales services were typically exorbitantly expensive.

Often, the cost of a single repair was almost enough to buy a brand new piece of equipment.

The moment their engineers stepped off the plane, the compensation clock would start ticking—not to mention the cost of various replacement parts and other expenses.

"Can they really be designed like that?" You Haoyun also let out an exclamation of surprise.

"Of course they can, as long as we add a few useless circuits that will immediately burn out the moment the casing is opened! Furthermore, a generator can be programmed to have a functional lifespan of just three months," Nie Xiaoyue said, nodding as the person directly in charge of the technology.

With Nie Xiaoyue's words, the feasibility of this method was practically confirmed.

Setting a predetermined product lifespan was something many corporations routinely did anyway.

For instance, there was a well-known brand of camera from the island nation that sold for over twenty thousand.

One of its crucial components was deliberately made of plastic.

Its lifespan was programmed to break down after about twenty thousand clicks, which usually amounted to two or three years of use.

Once broken, it could not be repaired and had to be replaced entirely.

"Now is not yet the time to sell them. We'll talk about it when the right opportunity arises."

Naturally, Xue Feng had no intention of selling them right now.

The timing simply wasn't right yet.

At the very least, he needed to wait until the homeland technology was completed and all the zombies in Jiangcheng were cleared out.

Then, he could have other survivors provide supplies, intelligence, or physical labor.

[Ding!]

[The intelligence system has been updated.]

[1. At two o'clock this afternoon, a team of survivors consisting of six people, all of whom are ability users, will enter Jiangcheng from the southern part of the city.]

[2. Fifteen units south of the Jianghuai Villa direction, a Tier 3 mutant has appeared in Happy Residential Community.]

[3. In the underground parking garage of Happy Residential Community, fifteen survivors are on the verge of death.]

Xue Feng's eyes lit up.

He had been fretting over having nothing to do.

In Baicheng, Bai Lu'er was already wreaking havoc and leaving no supplies behind for him.

The only person who piqued his interest was Wang Jun.

He hoped Dong Feifei could quickly persuade Wang Jun to join his ranks.

Even if Wang Jun chose not to join his camp, he had to at least become an ally.

Among the three pieces of intelligence, the first one interested him the most.

Six ability users entering Jiangcheng?

Xue Feng didn't even have six ability users in his own base right now.

He wondered how these ability users managed to gather together.

Moreover, there were no ordinary people in this team; every single one of them was an ability user!

What on earth was going on here?

Unfortunately, the system provided no further hints.

It seemed that if he wanted to find out what was going on with these six people, Xue Feng would have to investigate on his own.

Fortunately, the remaining two pieces of intelligence pointed in the same direction.

Both were located in the southern direction, specifically in Happy Residential Community.

This saved Xue Feng a great deal of trouble.

After briefly delegating matters regarding the base, Xue Feng once again drove out in his doomsday chariot.

This time, Xue Feng only brought the black panther with him.

The panther's size appeared to have grown a size larger than before, standing well over a meter tall now.

Its fur was also glossier and sleeker than previously.

True to the system's description, it was indeed a pet capable of developing into a formidable combat force.

Xue Feng figured that the black panther's unique talent was probably the ability to digest massive amounts of energy cores.

If it hadn't consumed so many energy cores, the panther wouldn't have grown so strong.

Recently, the black panther had also made use of its abilities to track down several survivor groups hidden deep within the city.

No matter how deeply those survivor groups hid, it was impossible for them to escape the panther's keen sense of smell.

After getting into the vehicle, Xue Feng shoved an energy core into the black panther's mouth.

Then, he drove in the direction of the southern part of the city.

When he previously encountered the blood-corpses, the horde of corpses had marched all the way toward the south.

There shouldn't be any survivor groups left in this area.

They would have all been killed in the zombie horde.

Happy Residential Community was also located in that direction.

However, the system was now indicating that there were still fifteen survivors holed up in the underground garage of Happy Residential Community.

They were currently on the verge of starving to death.

Xue Feng estimated that they were likely survivors from the last zombie horde.

Upon spotting the zombie horde at the very first moment, they must have chosen to hide themselves away.

They had probably planned to emerge after the horde passed.

What they hadn't anticipated was the appearance of a Tier 3 mutant within the residential complex, which completely trapped them inside the underground garage.

The food they had managed to bring with them beforehand had long since run out, bringing them to the brink of starvation.

Of course, this was merely Xue Feng's conjecture.

He simply felt that this possibility was extremely high.

Otherwise, if these people had been in a state of prolonged starvation and unable to find food, they wouldn't have lasted until this day.

Counting from the time the zombie horde struck Jiangcheng until now, about ten days had already passed.

By now, a vast number of zombies in Jiangcheng had been cleared out, so another outbreak of a zombie horde was unlikely.

Naturally, this was just Xue Feng's estimation.

In the apocalyptic world, no one could predict what might happen next.

Before long, Xue Feng drove his vehicle to Happy Residential Community.

Happy Residential Community was an upscale neighborhood covering a vast area.

Moreover, its most prominent feature was the unusually large distance between the buildings, ensuring exceptional sunlight exposure for the homes.

Just as he parked at the entrance of the residential complex, Xue Feng heard a sound echoing from within.

"Roar!"

It was the roar of a Tier 3 mutant!