Liao Youzhi said, "Let’s each send five men to investigate the situation to the north!"

"Agreed."

"Okay."

Li Zongkai and Yang Xinqi readily agreed, but Liu Yao had some issues. He raised his smoking cigar and said, "Hey hey, Leader Liao, I agree that everyone sends people, but you all have big families and businesses. Don’t you know my situation? I can’t afford to send five people, at most three!"

The Survivor Alliance has the largest population among the four factions, now expanding to nearly four hundred people. The Guard Team, Vanguard Corps, and Search Team together have seventy to eighty people, and with some external combatants, they have just over a hundred combat-capable individuals.

The Apocalypse Corps led by Yang Xinqi occupied a car sales area located between the city and suburbs, with quite a good environment. Now it has nearly two hundred people, but relatively few combatants, only around forty.

Li Zongkai’s situation is not well known because his Civilization Guardian is located quite far, also in the North City area but at the eastern end. It is only known that the number is not less than one hundred.

The Little Eagle Association is the smallest, with only over seventy people. Despite the "eagle" in the name, it is not fierce at all; more than half are elderly, women, and children who can only pick up trash and search for supplies. The actual combatants are less than thirty.

Liao Youzhi shrugged helplessly and said, "Director Liu, in matters like this... our Survivor Alliance has no problem. What do you say, Younger Brother Gong?"

"I can do that."

Gong Chengming nodded slightly with a smile.

"So you need to ask Chairman Li and Old Yang. If they agree, it’s settled."

Liao Youzhi smiled and pointed at the two.

"Don’t ask me, I certainly won’t agree!" Yang Xinqi directly shut Liu Yao’s mouth.

"I’m not asking you!"

Liu Yao’s anger surged as he took a deep breath and looked at Li Zongkai, saying, "Brother Li, could you take care of your younger brother?"

"In reconnaissance missions, whether it’s one more or one less doesn’t matter much, but when it gets serious, your Little Eagle Association better not drag us down!"

Li Zongkai looked at Liu Yao playfully.

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely go all out!"

Liu Yao patted his chest loudly, leaving a handprint on his wool sweater.

"Alright, the plan is settled. Time waits for no one; we’ll pull the team together at mealtime and set off under cover of night. Chairman Li, we also need you to sponsor a batch of night vision equipment."

A grin appeared on Liao Youzhi’s grim face, and in the well-lit restaurant, he seemed frightening in dimmer conditions.

"This should count as a contribution from our Civilization Guardian, haha."

Li Zongkai was not stingy. In the end, Civilization Guardian would benefit from this operation too, so he couldn’t have too many personal motives.

"Alright, alright, everything is settled, and everyone’s happy. Come on, let’s eat and drink!"

Usually, eating doesn’t matter at all; the meeting would end when discussions were over, leaving behind a large table of delicious dishes that the restaurant staff could pack up and take home or throw in the trash.

But things are different now. After the talks were finalized, it was time for a real meal, and none of the leaders of the factions would want to waste a table of good food. Everyone ate, drank, and chatted about the past, present, and future in a relaxed atmosphere.

During this time, they also wrote down a list of investigators. Because the Civilization Guardian, Little Eagle Association, and Apocalypse Corps all brought people, they quickly pulled together an elite investigation team.

On the fourth floor of Lego Mall, Zhang Xin was leaning against the railing smoking a cigarette, looking down at the dark first and second floors, as well as the dimly lit third floor. No one knew what he was thinking. Suddenly, he heard a sound from the stairwell behind him, and his heart skipped a beat.

Before long, Zhang Xin heard dense footsteps climbing the stairs, along with the sounds of two people talking. It was so chaotic that he couldn’t distinguish the words, but he knew the speakers were Leader Liao Youzhi and Deputy Leader Gong Chengming.

He extinguished the cigarette, returned to his room, and pushed away the woman who threw herself into his arms. Holding the walkie-talkie used for internal communication in the alliance, Zhang Xin’s expression was conflicted and tense.

"Should I send the message now...?"

Zhang Xin glanced at the time and patted his waist where his gun was holstered. It had been ten minutes since the two leaders returned, and if there were any action, there should have been a notification. But the walkie-talkie was silent. Checking if the walkie-talkie was on, he suddenly remembered that if there were significant action, it would be announced through a loudspeaker, not a walkie-talkie.

Another ten minutes passed with no activity; only occasional coughs and distant moans echoed intermittently from downstairs.

"No news? No news is the best news... just wait."

Zhang Xin gently put down the walkie-talkie, his heart forever restless. He even secretly hoped Liao Youzhi would announce tomorrow’s attack on Celestial Horse Island, so he could rightfully defect without this inner conflict!

Three convoys left Lego Shopping Mall one after another, lighting the roads in both east and west directions. A few minutes apart, two convoys headed west and after traveling some distance, converged into one another, unclear if it was due to conflict or some other conspiracy.

After the three convoys left Lego Mall, several more cars slowly departed, heading toward the north. Surprisingly, all four cars drove in the dark without turning on their headlights, moving not too fast at a speed of thirty to forty kilometers per hour.

That night, many in the Four-Part Alliance struggled to sleep, endlessly contemplating things in their minds.

In contrast, the people of Celestial Horse Island didn’t have so much on their minds. After eight in the evening, couples were dating, others were reading or studying, and those wanting to rest were already in bed preparing to sleep. Zhang Su was busy with a few people in the mountain valley!

In less than four hours, after dinner, Wu Lue and Liu Tianji completed the remote ignition device, and Yu Qing had made many bombs, ranging from small to large in power, suitable for different scenarios.

Through a simple test, the remote ignition device successfully ignited the fuse, causing the bombs to explode. If a powerful bomb were needed, a small amount of Ascension Original Liquid could be added to a small plastic container attached to the bomb.

This is the new name Zhang Su gave to Venom Liquid; just a drop of Ascension Original Liquid guarantees an instant ascension.

"Brother Su, we need to conserve the long-distance remote device; this is the only one we have. Unless we dismantle all the extra walkie-talkies, we can only make five of such long-distance ignition devices."

After the test, Liu Tianji reported with some concern to Zhang Su. Given the current camp conditions, triggering the detonator remotely wasn’t difficult, but the limited communication modules made mass production of long-distance devices unfeasible. It was different if the range wasn’t so demanding, say within a hundred meters, whereby several could be built.

Zhang Su looked at the device in his hand, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "No problem, when the time comes to plant the bombs, just think of a way and reuse them!"

Considering in advance, set the fuse a bit longer and protect it with non-signal blocking material, ensuring there shouldn’t be any problems. Later, more communication modules need to be collected to create more remote ignition devices.

These bombs are the main weapon for the future protection of the camp and can be used flexibly when attacking certain places, absolutely indispensable.