Kai worked on another magic stone until he saw the outside turn dark, he stood up and remembered something. "I came a cross several medium to large bases on my way here, how come yours is such a success?" he asked the base leader. This base is in a secluded country side on the mountains. It shouldn't be this prosperous.
"I only focused on the mining operations at first. My family was staying in one of the bases you saw. When I came back home from the army with crippled limbs they left me in that retirement home and cut communication with me."
That time you allowed us to go an save whoever we want I found them and decided to bring them here closer to me because of my daughter. I want to be a part of her life. She is 8 years old. Her mother remarried and had a pair of twins."
Kai saw the eyes of the man who had saod to him. "It is not just the country that has abandoned us but our families as well." It turns out his soldiers have such background stories.
"The problem is the new husband is a business man and couldn't toughen up even at this time so their days in that base were not easy. He even sold 'time' with his wife to strong people so they can give him food." Lu Mo said taking out a cigarette and started smoking.
"I feared for my daughter so I took her away and built this place around her. A while later her mother came but she doesn't stay with my child. She can visit but that's it." He said.
"To answer your question, I wanted to make it better for my baby girl. I even took in the people on the streets so that she doesn't have to watch them suffer. When the others saw it they quickly adopted the same system in their bases."
"I see. Tell me about the orphanage situation." Kai asked.
"I have the kids staying there to prevent them from living on the streets. It is not just me, the other five bases as well. We decided not to have people sleeping in the open like we saw in the central base." Lu Mo said.
"How much space do you have? Do you need any assistance?" Kai had forgotten how nice his people are. Of Couse they will house everyone but it is not a bad thing. This makes him want to just have a boarding school instead of the orphanage part. Or he can just let them have a school as well?
"The space is very tight since even those with parents are sending their children there because it is safe and free." Lu Mo sighed.
"How is your sewage system?"
"The city was built after a detailed plan had been drawn up for all of us. So it is very good but the people are increasing which is why we are now sharing people." The base leader explained.
"How does that work?" Kai asked curiously.
"We migrate between the bases but I am very far from the rest which is why this plan is not plausible most times for me. But the others are able to."
"You can expand the city." Kai suggested.
"The weather is getting worse." Lu Mo said.
"Such cold weather, the moment the sun comes out it will burn skin and bones. The cold is better, one can wear warm clothes. If you don't want to be overwhelmed you should start the plan but you can also chase the extra people away." Kai shrugged.
"I will help you with the materials but you run a base so you have to pay for some of the materials. I have a construction firm in my space. This is all up to you but if you don't extend the size, you won't be able to keep the streets this clean." kai explained.
He had received the ore mined from the six bases even though he has not used it all yet but if he opens a school he can employs what comes out decent to work for him and sell the resulting items on the web page.
"In the mean time I will help transport the kids to my own school. I can't help you with the old and the crippled. But I will build you glass houses and give you a method of adjusting the temperature that will work even in the extreme heat." Kai offered generously.
"Also, get rid of the trees near the base. Plants are mutating as well and it is very hard dealing with them." Kai said while looking at the lush green forests around the Zhan base.
"Thank you leader." Lu Mo said in surprise.
The following day Kai allocated the equipment and men power for mining the magic stone. The magic stone mine is a distance away from the base so he will make facilities in this place to shelter the workers against beasts. The money for the expenses will come from Kai. After making all the arrangements he started helping with clearing the place for the glass houses.
Most of the land inside the base is occupied so they had to clear a place outside the base which will also allow them to reduce the number of trees in the vicinity. Kai is busy with practicing his carving and stone shaping. By the end of two weeks there was a wall in the back of the base the area is bigger than Kai had initially thought but he didn't shrink from the job.
He took three weeks and even gave each glass house soil and water tanks filled with spirit water. He gave them seeds and a few farming tools. Kai taught a few people how to build a glass house so they will go and do the same for the other five bases. He receives tax tribute from the bases so it is in his best interest for them to advance and prosper.
From here on what, he will not need to personally build these glass houses to the other bases. Coming back to the flat he found Bao looking upset. "It has been two days since you came back I didn't know if you were coming back."
"My word is not enough?" Kai said with a raised eyebrow.
"Only ghosts will trust you." Bao said with what should be a sneer.
When the stones are mined their form is in various shapes and still needs to be cut into shapes so inside Kai's space is a hill of mined stones some are as tall as a human while others are smaller than a fist. Kai has taken all the orphans in this place and is going to leave today.
He is going to pass by the oil and armory to clean it up first so he will leave the kid here and fly there. "I still need to go somewhere dangerous and I can't take you there so you will stay with the others a few days."
The boy is very uneasy. "How can I trust your words?"
Kai sighed when he heard the deep distrust from the boy's tone. "Bao, the truth is you have no control over what I do to your friends in my space because you are without strength to keep them safe and over power me. I have somewhere to go and I want you to stay there." Kai didn't say anything else and put Bao into his space because he went to the roof.
He took out June and flew in the direction of the oil depo but the place is covered in a thick gloomy fog. The sight gave Kai an ominous feeling so he decided to land a distance away.
Kai finds himself not able to see his surroundings because for some reason his spiritual power is paralyzed within the fog. "Interesting." He mused.
In any case, he will be going a way with whatever amount of oil remains in this place. He watched the place with the help of his scanning function.
Kai has consistently pursued both immortal spirit cultivation and advanced technology studies. This is because he is a curious person and some of the properties of both studies can cover for each other's short comings.
The scan shows a cluster of creatures wondering aimlessly but they don't seem to wonder outside the fog. It seems this place is under the protection of a powerful creature with a massive army in its disposal. The crazy thing is that Kai can read a few human like signals.
He pushed his scan to the limit and got back three images. The data says their species is high level zombie. It turns out when the zombies evolve to high levels they will look like humans if you ignore the extremes pale skin and dark cycles under their eyes as if they need hours of sleep.
These people can control so many zombies. It is as if they are silently building a great army so they can attack at the peak of their strength. If Kai had been a normal person he would have turned around and fled by now.
But Kai didn't come here to scout for the human army nor is he here to kill them. He is here to steal. He will be sure to ensure his presence is not discovered.
Making up his mind, Kai took back June and then put a cloaking device on himself. He took a special pill that will hide his aura and smell as well. The zombies hunt using their sense of smell.
After all these preparations he walked around making as little sound as possible. The zombies are not silent creatures, they roar in hunger while moving around looking for food. But it seems the fog is somehow controlling them to stay inside.
Kai found the thousands of liters in oil and with an earth spell all the tanks where swiftly moved into the space after cushioning the sound with a wind spell. It took all day and the next morning. When Kai finished he wanted to also take away the several oil trucks packed in the parking but hesitated. This action would undoubtedly expose him.
He decided not to get too greedy and went to look for those in charge. He found one in what looks like an old office. There is a bed, a wardrobe and a small table. The disturbing thing is the fresh blood on the office carpet. The zombie looks to Kai's position abruptly, scaring him.
Kai thought the zombie looked straight at him for a fraction of a second. Then it seems to not see him. It is wearing a clean long coat but the clothes underneath are dirty and old.
The zombie walked on the carpet and a sickening sound of someone stepping on wet carpet made Kai's stomach churn. The carpet is wet with fresh red blood which means even though these zombies are in the fog, they are still hunting humans for food.
He didn't want to see the zombie with dity hair and clean coat so he went to check on the other zombies. The second one is a young girl with clean clothes and even her hair smells like it is washed regularly. She has two zombies in the other room chained on the wall. She walked in the place with a bag dripping red blood.
Kai watched her take the back to the room with two roaring zombies. She gave the bag over and the two teenage looking zombies ripped it apart trying to get whats inside.
There is a wild animal in the bag. The two zombies ate the meat and even the bag because it had blood. The girl seems to be used to it. She then locked the door even though the two zombies are chained on the wall, she didn't seem to be secured.
She then jumped a building and entered a very clean home. This place has no heating or light but it is very clean. It seems this girl was obsessed with beauty or cleanness before she was turned.
Just as Kai is prepared to watch this girl for longer, a respunding roar came from the place where Kai had stole oil from. The zombies all roared frantically as if they are angry for their king. The enraged zombie looks scholarly in appearance. Wearing blue jeans and a pair of black shoes, a black shirt and a long black coat. Like the girl, this zombie is very neat.
As it roars, white thunder crackled around it burning some of the zombies to ashes. Kai's thunder has turned purple which is before it turns black then white. Holy shit this zombie is very powerful. It probably had plans for the oil and now that it's gone, some of its plans have now been disrupted.
Kai watched the zombies release roars that seem conversational. They are talking to each other by the look of things. The angry zombie looked at the two and walked away. They looked at each other and followed it.
Kai has a bad feeling as he looked at the three zombies that started sprinting toward something.
...