Chapter 348: (EDT) Second Part - Cloning Factory
Having no idea that something might have happened to the safe zone, Zhang Qin Feng comfortably makes his way back to the Vermilion Empress. And even without making a detour here and there, the trip still took him five full days to reach their destination.
This explains how vast is the distance a simple patrol ship could cover compared to a regular fast boat.
And because the hangar side of the deployed Shipyard wasn't covered, the second Assailant-Class Patrol Ship they're building was opened for all passerby to look at.
From the degree of completion, it might take them another week to be ready for sail.
*Woo… Woo…*
The notice siren immediately caught the attention of those working on the deck. It seems that the monitoring operator had noticed his return from afar. The report was delivered throughout the Luna Device's open channel. Even Zhang Qin Feng got the message once he entered the reception area.
"Open the second ship hangar! Get ready to receive the boss!" Marvin ordered.
An additional ship hangar was immediately deployed just beside the second Assailant-Class Patrol Ship they're building. And thanks to the skillful maneuvering skills of the ship's crews, the landing went on smoothly without any discomfort.
Once the bridge to access the Vermilion Empress was deployed, the close to twenty people remaining in the ship disembarked with relatively light luggage and items. There's nothing much for them to bring out since most of the island they came across was either empty or abandoned.
"How's the trip north?" Marvin asked. He was the only one coming to receive Zhang Qin Feng since everyone else was busy with their own works.
Victor, Valerian, and Liam are temporarily based in the shelter to work alongside the local residents. As for Adam and Frank, the two of them were busy building the second Assailant-Class.
Only Marvin could go around as Zhang Qin Feng's representative of this colossal vessel out of these people.
"Not very positive, but should be steadily improved. We've found an island swarming with zombies, but I have some worries in my mind. Can you try to contact Hoya if he can come over to the vessel?" Zhang Qin Feng answered Marvin's question.
"That guy is on the ship earlier. Let me get in touch with him." Marvin quickly replied and got in touch with the shelter's representative, Hoya-2231.
A few minutes later, Hoya-2231 came down from the Vermilion Empress' command bridge. It seems he's been studying about the vessel and the deployment modules it had.
With both of them present, Zhang Qin Feng spoke out what he had in mind.
"I've found a relatively small continent on my way up north. The distance is about five days away from our current location. And the only problem we have now is the land is full of zombies." Zhang Qin Feng said and took two can of carbonated drinks out of nowhere.
Passing the two sugary drinks to Marvin and Hoya-2231, Zhang Qin Feng had another can on his hand as he opened it from a pull of the aluminum pin.
The primitive packaging caused Hoya-2231 to have some questionable opinions in this regard. But out of respect, the representative copied Zhang Qin Feng's action and pulled the pin.
And his opinion about this sugary drink changed the moment Hoya-2231 took a sip from the can.
"Delicious!" he said with a smile on his face. It seems that while these clones had maintained the personality, mentality, and skills from the original, they were not taught about the taste of food and leisure.
"Is there a reason for the worried face you're making, boss? Shouldn't you be happier after finding a good place like this small continent?" Marvin asked. He had a hunch that the situation was not as simple as it seems from Zhang Qin Feng's expression.
After all, he has been Zhang Qin Feng's subordinate for close to a year now. Apparently, he could roughly read if Zhang Qin Feng was relaxed, worried, or happy from his expression and manner of speech.
"You're correct. I should be happier, but I keep having this hunch that the place is not as easy as it seems. Furthermore, the number is close to tens of millions just at the shipping port alone. Do you think this is normal?" Zhang Qin Feng said as he finished the carbonated drink in his hand.
And using his bare arm strength, Zhang Qin Feng crumpled the aluminum can like it was nothing. The tin ended up looking even thinner than an eaten apple with only its stem and seeds was left.
"Hmm… This is indeed tricky. Based on your guesses, how many shelters do you think that small continent might have?" Marvin asked. Even he felt something was fishy behind this.
"If my guessing wasn't wrong, there should be around one to two shelters on that small continent. From your experience, do you think a Repopulation Shelter could do something like this?" Zhang Qin Feng's question was directed to Marvin.
And only Marvin or some of the others like Victor and Valerian could answer this question. The reason is that they're the few people that had all the accessing rights towards the Repopulation Shelter No; 205 located in Turbine Town.
As to Hoya-2231, this question is entirely foreign to him.
After all, the Cloning Facility here in Shelter No: 213 is relatively different from how the other facility should works. But in terms of effectiveness, Zhang Qin Feng's mind was leaning more towards the No: 213's facility.
His reason for this choice is that he could obtain more individuality from this facility than the others he had seen.
"If I must give you an answer using the information you shared, I can think of two reasons," Marvin said.
"The first reason is likely a particular malfunction on the system. This caused the facility to run on an automatic mode and keep delivering clones out until it went out of cloning resources."
"As for the second reason, it's because the system was set to do so. Based on everything I heard, the second reason is likely the culprit behind all the zombies around that continent."
"I hate to say this, but… Those people in the safe zone are in danger, and they're likely in the middle of a facility we called Cloning Factory." Marvin said.
Even Hoya-2231's expression changed when he heard the word "Cloning Factory."
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