Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Fortifications! Laser Gun

Lu Feng’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the bank.

Where would you find the most gold? A bank, of course. Banks have special vaults, and those vaults store gold bars.

In normal society, of course, no one would dare take gold bars from a bank. You’d get shot for it.

But things were different in this apocalypse. No one was in charge; you could take any gold bars inside as you pleased.

Thinking of this, Lu Feng said to Lin Jiao and the other three, "Let’s go check out that bank!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Lin Jiao and the other three exchanged glances. They immediately knew Lu Feng’s objective.

The four of them had wanted to suggest finding a safe place to settle down, or perhaps even checking out the City East Alliance.

Now that their boss had spoken, they could only nod in agreement.

Even though they had already left the Department Store, the salary this boss paid was a rare opportunity.

Out here, it would be very difficult for them to find a job that paid so well.

After entering the street, the group immediately turned onto a more secluded road, heading in the direction of the bank.

Generally speaking, the more remote the road, the fewer people would have been there before the apocalypse. In theory, this meant there would also be fewer zombies.

As long as no one lured zombies this way, it was unlikely they would come here on their own.

However, it was farther than it looked. Although the bank was visible to the naked eye, the group crossed several streets and still hadn’t arrived.

It took them a full half-hour of walking before they finally got close to the bank.

But the scene in front of the bank made Lu Feng pause.

Rows of defensive fortifications had been erected in an area circling the bank’s entrance.

They were clearly built by someone.

Lu Feng frowned. The scene before them seemed to indicate that the bank might have already been occupied.

However, after observing for a long time, they didn’t see any sign of people inside the bank.

"I’ll go take a look." Lin Jiao, holding her steel spike, crept toward the fortifications.

They watched as Lin Jiao crossed the fortifications and entered the bank. A short while later, she came back out and waved at them.

This meant it was all clear inside the bank.

Lu Feng immediately led Xu Bin and the other two across the fortifications and into the bank.

The bank was completely empty. It was clear there were also some fortifications inside to defend against any situation outside, and moreover, another layer of defenses had been built behind the surrounding floor-to-ceiling windows.

You could say the bank had almost been turned into a semi-fortress. If it was just for dealing with zombies, this would definitely be more than enough.

Just then, Lin Jiao walked up holding a notebook and reported, "Boss, a Salvation Army squad once tried to establish a base here, which is why they built these fortifications."

"Salvation Army?" Lu Feng was surprised.

He had been electrocuted right after starting to play "After the Apocalypse," but he had read a lot about the game’s background lore.

The Salvation Army was a military force left over from the era of the government.

After the government organized the aircraft carrier migration, sending a select group of exceptional personnel into space, government power collapsed, and the world descended into utter chaos.

However, a surviving faction of the military attempted to save everything, calling themselves the Salvation Army and undertaking many futile efforts.

Their ideals were too idealistic; they wanted to restore everything to how it was before the apocalypse.

Unfortunately, times had changed.

Lin Jiao said, "That Salvation Army squad did indeed intend to make this their base, so they built the defenses here very meticulously. You could say that with these fortifications, they could easily fend off zombies and even some Mutant Beasts."

Lu Feng asked doubtfully, "How do you know? And what happened to that Salvation Army squad?"

Lin Jiao held up the notebook in her hand. "It’s an officer’s management log. It’s written in here. As for why they left, they had a conflict with the City East Alliance. You know, many factions don’t like the Salvation Army!"

Lu Feng nodded. After the apocalypse, government power had collapsed, creating an opportunity for ambitious people to rise. The City East Alliance, which Lin Jiao and the others kept mentioning, was one such faction that had risen after the apocalypse.

Most of the city’s survivors were there. The people in control of the City East Alliance were no different from local warlords; they could make their own rules.

The Salvation Army’s ideals were in direct conflict with theirs, so why would they possibly like the Salvation Army?

You could say that most factions after the apocalypse were like this.

Lin Jiao then added, "So, it was this Salvation Army squad that moved the food from the Department Store. The intel the City East Alliance got wasn’t wrong."

"After getting the food from the Department Store, this Salvation Army squad didn’t want to prolong their conflict with the City East Alliance, so they chose to leave and find a base elsewhere."

This made Xu Bin exclaim excitedly, "So you’re saying these fortifications are ownerless now? We can use this place as a temporary base? Otherwise, if we go to the City East Alliance, we’ll just be crammed into shacks in the slums, or we’ll have to use food or crystal cores to rent a place."

Chen Tao and Chen Hao nodded.

In the apocalypse, it seemed like you could live anywhere, with empty houses all around. But you never knew when a Mutant Beast might break into one of those houses. Even a mutant insect could be deadly.

Generally, a camp like the City East Alliance was relatively safe. They had high walls built around the perimeter, people on patrol, and crucially, enough power to handle a crisis.

Lin Jiao said, "Boss, we really can stay here for now. Besides, even though that Salvation Army squad left, they left some good stuff behind."

"What good stuff?" Lu Feng asked curiously.

Lin Jiao walked to a storeroom inside and came out holding two tube-shaped objects, one long and one short.

Their shape was clearly that of firearms, but their design was completely different from modern guns.

Lin Jiao explained, "The latest weapon products from before the apocalypse: an HL Laser Rifle and an HL Laser Pistol. These are incredibly rare. Many survivors would kill to get one. Compared to old-fashioned bullet-firing guns, these are not only low-noise but also highly accurate, and most importantly, powerful. The problem is, you can’t get them anywhere outside of former military sites. That Salvation Army squad left two of them inside."

Laser guns.

They were common in movies. Lu Feng couldn’t help but be curious. He took the pistol and used his exploration function to examine it:

[This is a high-tech laser firearm with better performance than old-fashioned guns. However, this laser gun has no energy left and cannot be used!]

"This gun is out of energy?" Lu Feng frowned.

Lin Jiao explained, "These laser guns do need energy to fire, but right now, we have no way of finding a power source for them. That’s probably why these guns were left behind. However, I have heard that crystal cores can supposedly recharge them."

Hearing this, Lu Feng immediately took out a crystal core from his backpack space.

[This is the crystal core of a Mutant Beast Slaying Dog. It is quite valuable and can be used as currency or an energy source. Energy Value: 13!]

After searching the laser pistol for a bit, Lu Feng found a charging port.

He tried holding the crystal core against it. The next moment, the spot on the laser gun that represented its energy level actually lit up.

It seemed these crystal cores really could recharge the laser gun’s energy.

A moment later, the laser gun’s energy was fully charged, showing a total of ten bars of energy.

He used his exploration ability to inspect the crystal core again:

[This is the crystal core of a Mutant Beast Slaying Dog. It is quite valuable and can be used as currency or an energy source. Energy Value: 11!]

Apparently, charging the laser pistol had consumed 2 points of the crystal core’s energy value.

Lu Feng looked at the laser pistol again, now full of excitement. He aimed at a wall and tried firing a shot.

The next instant, a beam of laser energy shot out from the pistol, striking the bank’s wall in a flash.

There wasn’t a loud impact, but a bowl-sized hole was blasted into the wall. The power was incredible, far surpassing that of a modern handgun bullet.

Furthermore, after firing one shot, the ten energy bars had decreased by one, leaving only nine.

’So, 2 points of crystal core energy gets you 10 shots from this laser pistol?’

Seeing the bowl-sized hole in the wall, Lin Jiao was clearly eager to try.

Lu Feng wasn’t stingy. He tossed the crystal core in his hand to Lin Jiao.

Lin Jiao immediately pressed the crystal core against the laser rifle’s charging port. In a moment, the rifle’s energy bar was also full.

Lin Jiao went to the bank’s entrance, aimed the rifle at a tree across the street, and fired. The tree was pierced straight through. The point of impact exploded into fragments, and the tree toppled amidst a shower of flying leaves.