Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 995 - 430 Negotiation_2

Chapter 995: Chapter 430 Negotiation_2

What no one knew was that, amid the lively gunfire and brazen explosions of humanity, countless zombies from Central City were surging towards South City. In the north of South City, 65% of the territory was still in the hands of the undead. The reason why Little Tyrant could firmly occupy 35% of South City and even spare forces to launch a surprise attack on the Eastern Base was all due to the natural barriers.

The South City New District was originally a small county town, separated from the old city by four large mountains. Under urban expansion, some of these mountains had been transformed into parks, while some were leveled, and the main transportation hub connecting the new and old South City was the 1.2-kilometer-long South City Tunnel. Without this tunnel, the New South City could only be reached by detouring dozens of kilometers east or west.

Aside from the South City Tunnel, there was one more road, an overpass built over the park. Little Tyrant had already destroyed the overpass and used trucks to block the tunnel, also setting up sentry posts at the entrance to the tunnel. Sentry personnel could often hear the roars and destruction of zombies inside the tunnel, but they didn’t care.

Above the tunnel was the South City Botanical Garden. It was a mountain, not tall, with cliffs on both sides, and an astonishing view. Therefore, South City Mountain was preserved and developed into a botanical garden, acting as a patch of green in the city. Tourists could travel to the botanical garden from the stairs in the new and old South City, but now the stairs leading up the mountain from the old city had been destroyed by Little Tyrant’s men.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, if zombies wanted to reach New South City, they would have to detour from the east or west. The Alliance had already cleared most of the zombies within their territory on both sides, and considering the terrain and other factors, neither the east nor the west would pose a significant threat to New South City.

In the fierce urban battles a few days ago, soldiers from the Eastern Base who had broken into South City were trapped in a building not far from the tunnel. The assault group members hid in the South City Botanical Garden above the tunnel and launched attacks on the Eastern Base soldiers. Heavy artillery from the thermal power plant bombarded the botanical garden and the area near the tunnel fiercely.

Due to the stalemate in the battle, Little Tyrant had no spare troops or manpower to check the defense facilities, after all, he had already deployed defenses up to Yangshan Water Plant, and had to be ready for combat with the Eastern Base at any moment. During the negotiation period, scattered zombies had appeared in the streets of New South City. However, since the area near the tunnel was an earlier battlefield, all personnel had evacuated from the area, and no one noticed that an increasing number of zombies was entering the region.

The zombies weren’t waiting; rather, they had lost their target. In the absence of relatively intense sounds, they could only wander here, with only the occasional few lost zombies stumbling into the human world.

New South City was like a golden ingot, with the Day After Tomorrow River forming its large curved base, and the center of the ingot was where the tunnel was located. The negotiation site was at the lower left side of the "ingot," close to the Day After Tomorrow River by the Veteran Base.

...

The negotiations began at one o’clock in the afternoon. One advantage of starting negotiations at this time was that there was no need to worry about meals, since even the host had no surplus food. As everyone expected, Little Tyrant did not attend the negotiation in person, but sent a woman under thirty named Xiao Zhu to fully represent him.

Perhaps eager to return for dinner, the Eastern Base representative began to outline their demands after the tea was served, emphasizing the interests of the Survivor Alliance.

The Eastern Base put forward two major conditions. The first condition was to own the land south of the river valley by the thermal power plant, which had about one square kilometer of arable land. Details included ownership of the pipeline of Yangshan Water Plant, after all, the pipeline would have to run through the land they wanted. The second condition was for the three industrial parks they had previously occupied to belong to them, which meant the South Bridge connecting the southwest bank would also belong to them. By comparison, they had only given up the arable land north of the river.

Xiao Zhu clarified their side’s viewpoint, agreeing to the Eastern Base’s request for the land south of the river, but without deploying armed forces. Military vessels were not allowed to sail on the Day After Tomorrow River without the permission of the Alliance. This land would be managed by the Survivor Alliance, adhering to the laws of the Survivor Alliance, with all harvests belonging to the Eastern Base.

Effectively, the Eastern Base would have taxing rights over this land.

The next phase was haggling. The Eastern Base stated that they needed arable land for agriculture to maintain base operations. The land along the river in South City was the richest in Day After Tomorrow City, and the Eastern Base wanted this land for their right to survival. With a total population of less than fifteen hundred in the Survivor Alliance, having the arable land north of the river in South City would mean they would not have to worry about hunger.

To summarize, there were three negotiation points. The first was the management rights over the land south of the river, which after some back-and-forth was tentatively established that the Eastern Base could deploy a management force of no more than 20 armed personnel, with watercraft only to be used for transportation.

The second point of negotiation was the Yangshan pipeline, including Yangshan Reservoir and Water Plant. This involved potential future toll issues. In principle, both parties agreed that the Yangshan pipeline and the like would belong to the Alliance, but they would not maliciously cut off water supply, and no charges would be incurred within ten years. Specific details still needed to be drafted.

The third negotiation point was about the three industrial zones. Xiao Zhu did not understand the Eastern Base’s pursuit of industrial zones. A basic truth: without energy, factories cannot operate. A participant from Veteran Base, which had occupied the industrial zones for the longest time, revealed the secret: there are a large number of manual machine tools and lathes within the three industrial zones.

These machine tools are usually powered by electricity, but they can also be operated manually. The most common type is, of course, the wooden hand-operated machine tool. This expert explained that after some modifications, manual machine tools would be capable of mass-producing bullets. Of course, this presupposes the availability of sufficient metal and coal.

It was unclear whether this expert was there to cause trouble, but after his explanation, the negotiation fell into a deadlock. At Xiao Zhu’s request, both parties agreed to a temporary recess of two hours for Xiao Zhu to ride a bicycle to meet with Little Brick for a discussion. The Eastern Base also contacted the headquarters to report on the progress of the negotiations.

Lin Wu said to the bald man: "Looks like you’re treating us to dinner."

A delegate from the Survival Alliance said, "How about some roasted sweet potatoes? We’ve just collected a batch of them a few days ago."

Lin Wu pointed: "That’s good, that’s good."

Shana said: "Hey, you’re just an attendant for the observer, don’t talk out of turn."

The bald man was not interested in their small talk and called the expert outside the tent: "Little Brick, if my information is correct, you have a pretty good relationship with the Eastern Base, and you were very insistent on attending this meeting. By divulging Eastern Base intelligence openly at the meeting, what are you planning?"

Little Brick answered with a light smile: "I’m just telling the truth."

The bald man said: "The commander recommendations at Veteran Base won’t take place until tomorrow, and I’m still the current commander. I order you to tell me the reason."

Little Brick looked around, noticing several veterans watching the situation, and asked defiantly: "And what if I don’t accept your order?"

The bald man drew his handgun and aimed it at Little Brick: "An order, by definition, is a demand that cannot be refused. In times of crisis, defying an order is met with immediate execution."

"You wouldn’t dare?"

As soon as the words fell, the bald man pulled the trigger without hesitation. Everyone heard the shot and came out of the tent, only to see Little Brick lying in a pool of blood. The bald man glanced at everyone: "This is an internal affair of Veteran Base, please do not interfere. Throw this traitor into the river to feed the fish."

"Yes." Without question, two veterans approached, removed Little Brick’s clothes and equipment, picked up the body, and carried it toward the river.

The officer in charge from the Eastern Base made no comment, and said to the bald man: "Regarding the sudden leak of information, headquarters has requested that we suspend talks. The new negotiation session is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and we will wait for your response on the landing craft."

The bald man and Xiao Zhu had no objections to this, and after shaking hands, the four delegates from the Eastern Base left the negotiation site escorted by the veterans. Seeing this, observer Shana felt embarrassed to impose for a meal, took Lin Wu, and both returned to the railway, cranking up the handcar to head home for dinner.

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