8: Upgrade base

Li Xiao stood with his hands on his hips for a while. To be honest, although this world was gamified, he was truly risking his life.

And it was very clear that one person's strength was absolutely limited; making allies and advancing and retreating together would definitely be the mainstream in the future.

But whether Liu Nian was worthy of his trust remained to be seen.

After all, bullets were merciless, and even with many troops, it was hard to guard against a sneak attack.

Ye Ming worked until midnight, first gathering fifty units of fuel, then continuing to collect steel.

Unexpectedly, he received a big surprise in the morning: someone actually offered twenty units of rare ore for his MK48 Heavy Machine Gun!

So, at nine o'clock in the morning, Li Xiao finally gathered enough resources to upgrade his base.

"Let's go! Head back!"

After returning to the base by following the map, Li Xiao quickly opened the base information panel. After investing all the required resources, he pressed the upgrade button.

Then he heard a sound of machinery turning, and the original concrete bungalow was enveloped in a layer of light film.

After about ten to twenty minutes, Li Xiao heard a system prompt.

"Base has been upgraded to Level 2. Available building: Barracks."

The main base building, after upgrading, transformed from a small bungalow into a two-story building of fifty square meters.

At the same time, he found that the surrounding woodland had been directly cleared into a flat concrete ground, covering a full two hundred square meters.

"Uh... is that it?"

Li Xiao shook his head. Sure enough, he shouldn't have held too much hope. This was comparable to a self-built house in the countryside; it still couldn't be called a base.

He checked the newly available Barracks in the system and found that it was just an auxiliary building, mainly to provide daily living quarters for his troops.

One Barracks would cost twenty units of steel and an additional fifty Star Coins, and could house ten soldiers.

It included facilities such as a toilet, shower, and even lockers, occupying about sixty square meters.

"You say this is a game, yet every aspect is so real. You say it's reality, yet the system's capabilities completely subvert scientific understanding."

Li Xiao felt confused, unable to distinguish between game and reality.

"I'd better use today's conscription order first."

Li Xiao claimed the conscription order from the base information panel and used it immediately. He still had plenty of rations, enough to support two more soldiers.

The first conscription order yielded another Engineer. This burly man named Jiang Lang, carrying a felling axe, gave off a strong sense of security.

Li Xiao was currently in dire need of an Engineer, and Jiang Lang's arrival would allow him to upgrade another level before the safety period ended.

Then, the second conscription order produced a soldier with the Scout profession, named Zhao Feipeng.

If infantry soldiers like Di Yun belonged to frontal offensive and defensive units, then army scouts were a sharp-edged force specifically serving as the eyes, ears, and surveillance probes for infantry or armored infantry.

They often acted discreetly but possessed exceptional skills and formidable combat power.

Zhao Feipeng's basic equipment was consistent with Di Yun's, the difference being that their rifles and pistols were fitted with suppressors, and they carried low-light night vision devices, allowing them to conduct nighttime reconnaissance and sentry missions.

"Ye Ming, you and Jiang Lang will continue to Wu Feng Town to collect resources. If you encounter enemies, do not engage; you must make an emergency retreat!"

"Understood!"

To enhance their survivability, Li Xiao added the remaining four hundred hit points from last night's kills to them.

This gave Ye Ming six hundred hit points and Jiang Lang three hundred hit points, greatly increasing their chances of survival if attacked.

Meanwhile, he didn't let Di Yun and Zhao Feipeng idle. Yesterday, he had already gained some understanding of the situation to the northeast and had not found any other bases nearby for the time being.

Today, he had to conduct reconnaissance to the southwest. The safety period was about to end, and the real challenges in this world were just beginning. For the sake of his life, he had to be extremely careful.

Having dispatched all his troops, Li Xiao found himself somewhat idle on the second floor of the base command center. So, he opened the chat interface again.

Now, no matter which channel he randomly selected, almost everyone was discussing how difficult it was to collect resources and how formidable the Black Hawk Empire's troops were, yet there was no mention of the Life Pool.

This made him wonder if the Life Pool was a standard feature for all time traveler (transmigrators).

Of course, the chat channel wasn't entirely filled with unhelpful complaints and nonsense. At least he discovered that ammunition and food were now scarcer resources than others.

Because players had already started upgrading their bases, only to find that besides making the base slightly more aesthetically pleasing, the upgrade seemed to have no practical use.

Instead, due to frequent engagements and food shortages, many players could only huddle within safe zones, waiting for opportunities.

The issue of food was actually easier to solve. They found that the ecological environment of this world was surprisingly good; whether in forests or rivers, wild game and fishery resources were quite abundant.

Yesterday, while traveling, they encountered herds of muntjac and wild deer, and pheasants and wild rabbits were also scurrying about in great numbers.

Such a sight would be very difficult to witness in most parts of the original Earth, even with wildlife protection laws in place for so long, it would be hard to restore it to the excellent condition of Hanhai Star.

However, the problem of ammunition was not easy to solve. Each soldier was born with only one basic load of ammunition.

In modern warfare, if not in close combat, hitting and killing an enemy with one or two hundred rounds from a certain distance was considered skilled. But even if the enemy died, the bullets dropped might not be enough to cover what had already been consumed.

Therefore, there were a great many orders in the trading center for exchanging resources for ammunition.

After a day of fighting yesterday, Li Xiao had captured over a thousand rounds of rifle ammunition, but spread out, it wasn't even one basic load per person.

So, he couldn't afford to exchange bullets for resources.

By noon, Jiang Lang had returned to the base first. He brought back forty units of steel, which was the harvest of two Engineers in one morning.

Li Xiao immediately put the Barracks into construction. This way, when the troops returned in the evening, they would have a place to rest, which was good for their physical recovery.

At the same time, he also learned that one of Liu Nian's Engineers was collecting resources in Wu Feng Town. According to the consensus reached with Liu Nian earlier, he could collect one hundred units of steel today.

However, since the other party had one less Engineer, Liu Nian's share couldn't be fully utilized. Naturally, he was happy to help by taking the resources that the other party couldn't process.

It didn't take long for the Barracks to be completed. This Barracks was essentially a large-scale version of the Level 1 Base Command Center, with a Syrian battlefield-style interior design.

Upon entering, there were five iron bunk beds, all with grass-green sheets and cotton quilts. The bathroom and shower occupied fifteen square meters, and lockers were against the corner, with racks nearby for storing firearms and equipment.

"This looks a bit like a military camp," Li Xiao said, exiting the barracks with satisfaction.

For lunch, he still ate field rations. There was nothing he could do; he currently had no time to think about food and could only improve it when conditions were better in the future.

Shoving the last soda cracker into his mouth, Li Xiao was about to drink some water when he suddenly heard Zhao Feipeng's shout from outside the woods. He quickly ran out.

Zhao Feipeng ran breathlessly to Li Xiao and urgently said, "Commander, we found a Black Hawk Empire material Transit Yard six kilometers to the south!"