Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet

Chapter 18 Pre-Battle Preparations

As dusk fell, Tiangou and Diting were hoisted back onto the ship by a mechanical arm, and then Lorraine also experienced being a flying acrobat.

Having witnessed all of this, Ouyang Nian approached Lorraine after she landed, asking, "But how did the aerial acrobat feel?"

Lorraine shook her head. "It's not good. It's uncomfortable not being able to step on anything, and it feels like I'm about to bungee jump but I don't know if the rope will break."

"Never mind then." Ouyang Nian said with some disappointment.

Lorraine gave Ouyang Nian a disdainful look before saying seriously, "This afternoon I went out to verify a hypothesis. There is indeed a zombie king in the central area, and it is highly likely to be a powerful individual undergoing a second mutation."

"What happened?" Upon hearing this, Ouyang Nian stopped joking.

Lorraine told Ouyang Nian about the strange scene she had witnessed that afternoon.

"To test the waters, I had Tengu and Diting fire with 9mm guns. The result was that neither sound nor the smell of flesh and blood could attract the attention of the zombie horde."

Lorraine sighed and continued.

"You'll have to work overtime tonight and give these two little guys a thorough check. They have their own design, so you can check and adjust them as needed."

"Tomorrow I'll cut down some dead trees and set up some along the shore to reduce the number of zombies beforehand, so they don't all rush in at once and become difficult to deal with."

Ouyang Nian looked at Lorraine curiously: "Why don't you run?"

Lorraine reluctantly showed Ouyang Nian the information on the data panel: the fuel was almost used up, with only 15 units left.

"The remaining fuel probably won't be enough for us to go very far, and with the addition of industrial components, the ship's weight has increased dramatically, and its speed has decreased."

"So now we can only get fuel through kill rewards?"

Lorraine nodded helplessly. "Yes, I didn't see any fuel storage on the map of the industrial area. Even if there are some in the underground air-raid shelters, how long would it take us to move them all?"

The good news is that the kill rewards consist mainly of items we used to kill zombies and other urgently needed items.

"Okay, I'll take care of things here. You go and get some rest. The task tomorrow morning will be up to you."

"Don't worry, the bag will be fine."

Seeing Lorraine still standing there, Ouyang Nian kicked him and said, "Go to sleep now."

Watching Lorraine's departing figure, Ouyang Nian muttered, "Once I'm on your pirate ship, do you think I'd jump ship and run away, leaving you to face the crisis alone?" He then called for Tengu to come and inspect it.

It was another night of listening and keeping watch, and apart from the increasingly red moon, nothing else happened.

"Buzz buzz buzz—" The vibration of the data panel woke Lorraine up. He changed his clothes and went up to the deck, looking at Ouyang Nian, who looked like a panda after staying up all night, and laughed out loud.

"What are you laughing at?" Ouyang Nian handed over an axe and a machete. "Get back to work. There are 50 solid armor-piercing shells and 50 high-explosive shells in total for the 30mm shells. The light composite armor plate is being made in the machine. I've set it up, and it will stop by itself when it's ready."

"Understood. Go and get some rest. You'll have a tough battle to fight tonight."

"You don't need to tell me. I almost forgot, Di Ting is charging in the lower cabin, and Tengu's cushioning is having some issues, so have it keep an eye on the surroundings for you on the ship later."

Afterwards, Lorraine loaded the logging tools into the small boat and rowed back to shore. Tengu stood guard by the side of the boat.

After confirming from the perspective of the Tengu that there were no zombies around, Lorraine first parked the truck away from the entrance and exit, and emptied some fuel from the tank to use as ignition.

After clearing the area, Lorraine swung his axe and chopped down all the dead saplings near the fence, dragging them all to the vicinity of the entrance and exit.

He used a machete to cut off all the small branches of the dead trees and piled them aside. Then he cut the main trunk into several sections of roughly the same length, arranged them into cone-shaped structures, and placed them separately at the entrance and exit.

Next, he stuffed the dry branches, which he intended to use as accelerants, under the cone-shaped structures distributed around the perimeter. Lorraine then took out an oil drum and poured oil onto each cone to intensify the fire.

After setting up the bonfire, Lorraine returned to the ship and directed the robotic arms to fix the produced composite armor plates in various places to strengthen the ship's defenses.

Lorraine first welded several composite armor plates onto the original gun shield of the 30mm gun, greatly improving the survivability of the gun at the cost of a slight decrease in turning speed; then he added gun shields made of steel plates to the DShK heavy machine guns on both sides.

After upgrading the defensive capabilities of each firing point, he filled the outer wall of the cockpit with composite armor plates, and then filled the outer perimeter of the foredeck and the upper part of the storage area with composite armor plates.

By the time the armor plates were laid, the sun had risen to its highest point.

Lorraine, hands on his hips, admired his work and said, "Even if the wolf king pounced again, it wouldn't be able to smash a hole in the foredeck. Even if acid is spat at us, it won't immediately render us incapacitated."

Looking at the celestial dog standing guard to the side, Lorraine thought: Now that we have Di Ting and the celestial dog to help us, as long as this zombie king doesn't throw anything, we are invincible.

At this moment, Ouyang Nian crawled out of the cabin, looked at Lorraine standing on the deck with her hands on her hips and the armored vehicles laid out on the ship, and teased, "Hey, the laborers are pretty fast. I'll give you an extra chicken leg for lunch."

Lorraine rolled her eyes at Ouyang Nian and said, "Come and see if there's anything we're not fully prepared for?"

Ouyang Nian circled the ship for a long time and said, "If you're worried about the machine gun being destroyed, you can add another heavy machine gun in the position of the main gun."

She glanced at the armor plates scattered all over the floor and continued, "When you encounter the Zombie King, use the heavy machine gun in this position to draw his aggro. If he jumps up, he'll land right on the armor plates, saving him from crashing into the ship and making it difficult to repair."

"It's up to you now."

Before long, a heavy machine gun with a gun shield was installed in the original position of the main gun. Now all the work was completed, and they awaited the arrival of night.

As night fell, a roar was heard, and the newly mutated zombie began to prey on other zombies.

As time went on, more and more mutated zombies joined the hunt. In an instant, the entire area seemed to have turned into a hellish arena, with dark red blood flowing everywhere.

Seeing that the mutated zombies had devoured all the ordinary zombies but were still weak, Lorraine said, "Should we take this opportunity to give them a good beating while they're down, reduce their numbers, and get some kill rewards?"

"Let's do it then," Ouyang Nian replied, then threw the Molotov cocktail away.

"Bang—" The sound of the bottle exploding rang out, and the prepared bonfire was ignited by the Molotov cocktail. The flames gathered the few remaining zombies, and before Lorraine could even fire, the zombies were already fighting amongst themselves.