Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet

Chapter 23 Re-equipping

"Let's retreat first, go back and change our gear before coming back," Lorraine said, patting Ouyang Nian on the shoulder.

"Call Di Ting back, then we'll retreat."

"Listen carefully, retreat, and meet at the main gate."

"Received." After confirming the anomaly, Di Ting returned to the main gate in silent mode.

Lorraine and the others arrived at the factory's main gate first, and after waiting for 3 minutes, they successfully met up with Diting.

On the return journey, Di Ting led the way, followed by Tian Gou, while Ouyang Nian and Luo Lin carried their spears on their backs and returned to the dock at full speed.

Back at the dock, Lorraine put the submachine gun back in the armory and then took out a flamethrower and two fuel canisters.

Ouyang Nian then took out a can of thermite and a magnesium strip from the warehouse.

"What is this thing?" Lorraine asked curiously what was inside the dusty jar in Ouyang Nian's hand.

"I had nothing better to do, so I made a can of aluminothermic resin myself. The temperature of a regular spray can isn't high enough to burn through the bolt," Ouyang Nian said, shaking the can in his hand with considerable pride.

"This stuff can definitely melt the door bolt without anyone noticing."

"So what is this strip-shaped object?" Lorraine asked, somewhat alarmed.

"Magnesium strips. Used to initiate the aluminothermic reaction," Ouyang Nian said, pointing to the magnesium strips in the sealed bag.

"Phew, thank goodness you put them separately." Lorraine breathed a huge sigh of relief; he had thought it was a lump of thermite.

"Give me the machine gun, and you carry this flamethrower on your back. You can hang the fuel tank on Tengu later."

"No problem." Having experienced wearing it for the first time, Ouyang Nian quickly put the flamethrower on his back this time, keeping only a pistol on his person.

The two disembarked and hung the fuel canisters on either side of the Tengu.

This time, the team headed straight for the iron gate on the tracks.

Upon reaching the iron gate, Lorraine removed the spear from his body, stepped onto Ouyang Nian's hand, and with Ouyang Nian's help, climbed to the top of the iron gate.

Lorraine straddled the iron gate, surveying his surroundings. After confirming it was safe, he took the thermite and magnesium strips and climbed down into the factory.

Lorraine poured the thermite powder onto the bolt, inserted a magnesium strip, lit it, and quickly turned around.

With intense burning, the rusted bolt was successfully burned through, and with a creak, the iron door was reopened after an unknown period of time.

Di Ting quickly went forward to scout the north side of the courtyard, while Luo Lin took the fuel canisters from both sides of Tian Gou and attached them to Ouyang Nian's back, connecting them to the spray gun.

"I've already switched this to short-boost mode. After pulling the trigger, it will spray for two seconds, and the recoil will be even more intense," Lorraine explained as he installed the fuel tank for Ouyang Nian.

"If you need to switch modes, turn this 180 degrees counterclockwise." Lorraine pointed to a ring near the nozzle.

"Understood." Ouyang Nian gave a thumbs up.

"Commander, we've discovered the exit of an underground passage. There are human defense signs above it," the Diting transmitted back.

"The gate was locked, but the bottom was damaged."

Upon hearing this news, Lorraine's heart tightened. "The Listening Device is using a thermal imager to observe the passage; we're going there immediately."

Then Lorraine said to Ouyang Nian, "This time it's your turn to lead the way, be careful."

"Leave it to me!" Ouyang Nian took the lead and walked at the front of the group.

Upon reaching the exit of the underground passage, Ouyang Nian aimed a flamethrower at the passage and remained vigilant. Lorraine, on the other hand, searched nearby for the broken half of the gate.

Suddenly, Lorraine stepped on something round and round. When she lifted her foot to look, she saw that it was indeed a small, broken section of the fence gate.

Looking at the irregular gnawing marks on the surface, Lorraine knew that these were caused by mutated rats.

Seeing Luo Lin throw down what she was holding with a serious expression, Ouyang Nian asked, "What's going on?"

"Bad news, there's a swarm of rats. And the kind that can bite through steel bars. The skeleton we saw earlier was probably gnawed clean by rats a long time ago, and they hadn't evolved the ability to bite through steel bars."

Then Lorraine pointed to the underground passage and said, "The reason there are no zombies around here is probably because they were all eaten clean by the rats. I don't know why, but they were forced underground, which caused them to evolve the ability to gnaw on steel bars."

"What's the next step?" Ouyang Nian asked.

Lorraine gritted his teeth and said, "I'm going to call the gunboat over. The enclosed area with the gantry crane should be a shipyard. I want to go in and see if we can modify ships there."

Lorraine swallowed hard, organized his thoughts, and continued, "After all, our ship is about to be overloaded, and we also need to stockpile materials for ship upgrades. As long as the equipment inside is still usable, we can assemble a transport ship."

"You're in charge of the warehouse now, what's your opinion on this?" Lorraine looked at Ouyang Nian. "If you think the risk is too great, I'll think of another way."

"I think it's possible, but there are two conditions." Ouyang Nian narrowed his eyes and said, "First, don't call the ship over. Second, I'll tell you when to withdraw."

"No problem." Lorraine breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew through the intelligence system that there was a modified sand transport ship inside, he couldn't say it directly, nor could he knowingly venture into an unknown area.

The two men and two dogs then returned to the factory's main gate and repeated their trick, melting the bolt on the gate.

After opening the factory gate, the two inspected each of the construction vehicles parked in the square. They finally selected the loader that was in the best condition.

Di Ting scouted ahead, Ouyang Nian drove the loader, Luo Lin stood on the roof of the vehicle, and Tian Gou followed from the side.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the dock, Lorraine raised his binoculars and indeed spotted the sand-carrying ships moored in the dry dock.

"I see a ship docked in the dry dock. We don't need to figure out how to modify it ourselves, but the problem is that it's a dry dock. To get it out, we need to go to the main control center, open the gates, and connect it to the waterway."

Ouyang Nian climbed onto the roof of the vehicle and looked at the thin wall, saying, "This is easy. It'll break with a single impact. You drive the car, and I'll stand in the shovel."

After saying that, Ouyang Nian kicked Luo Lin out of the car and then took over the loader. He cut an opening in the wall just large enough for the loader to pass through.

"It's up to you now. Just like driving a car, don't mess with the other control levers." Ouyang Nian jumped into the shovel of the transport aircraft with the flamethrower on his back.

Lorraine placed Diting on the roof of the loader and had Tiangou follow beside the vehicle to provide fire support.

After everything was arranged, Lorraine stepped on the gas, and the loader roared into the shipyard.

The vehicle's rooftop probe surveyed the surroundings and found no heat sources near the dock. Only broken skeletons stretched outwards from the shipyard's control room entrance.

"Looks like these rats are all hiding in the control room. Ouyang Nian, what do you say?"

"Of course, it's grilling rat sticks at the secret food serving window."