Base

"Boss, you called Old Merle over. What did you need?"

Leon tossed Merle a cigar and said:

"After three this afternoon, I'll be taking the convoy back to base. I won't be coming back for the next few days."

"I'm leaving the entire Combat Team with you, but you must guarantee everyone's safety here. Can you do that?"

Merle took the cigar, smelled it, but didn't light it. Instead, he slipped it into his pocket, patted his chest, and assured Leon:

"No problem, Boss. You have my word. I'll bring everyone back safe and sound."

Leon nodded, then added:

"You know where the base is now, right? Atlanta CDC. It's an hour and a half from here by car."

"On the way to transport the supplies, you'll also need to send a team to protect them. We have to prevent some fool from ambushing us. Our enemies aren't just Zombies—you should know that. Some people have no bottom line."

"Understood, Boss. Don't worry. I'll make the arrangements."

----Scene Break----

At three in the afternoon, Leon led the way in a blue off-road sports car. Behind him, eleven large trucks and two Oil Tankers gradually formed a long convoy, carrying more than a hundred tons of various Living Area supplies.

Under Leon's lead, everyone followed the Interstate Highway and arrived without incident at the outskirts of Atlanta CDC's plaza.

After reaching their destination, Leon didn't get out immediately. Instead, he drove the sports car around CDC, carefully inspecting the area.

Seeing no large horde, he casually took out two Zombies that had probably wandered here by chance, then returned to the metal gate of Atlanta CDC.

The drivers, movers, his little assistant Amy, and more than a dozen Umbrella Corporation employees were all waiting for him there.

There was a hint of disappointment on their faces. They felt that this Umbrella Corporation base wasn't as safe as Leon had advertised, but intimidated by his prestige, none of them dared to say anything.

There were no tall walls or thick fortifications, no machine guns or artillery shells, and no large number of personnel. How could these panes of glass stop the Zombies that had even defeated the army?

Leon didn't waste words. He simply drew the Silenced Pistol from his belt and fired an entire magazine at the glass some distance away. The rapid shots made the movers and drivers instinctively duck their heads.

Watching the bullets ricochet away without leaving even a mark on the Bulletproof Glass, Leon shrugged at everyone and said:

"Everyone, rest assured. This is a true fortress. Without artillery or Tanks, no one can truly hurt you here."

"It also has a complete water and power system. You can live a civilized, modern life here."

"Of course, if someone is still dissatisfied with an environment like this, I won't mind removing them and letting them live the life they want."

After saying this, Leon ignored the others. He glanced at his little assistant Amy and spoke to the sensor on the metal gate:

"Red Queen, open the gate."

"As you command, Master." A clear, ethereal female voice rang out.

After obtaining control of the Ground Buildings, Leon had changed the intelligent system to a mode he preferred.

Since this was the Umbrella Corporation, the intelligent system should naturally be called Red Queen.

Unfortunately, this intelligent system wasn't as smart as he had imagined. It could only perform simple voice-recognition commands and couldn't be given more advanced capabilities.

Beep!

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The metal rolling door quickly rose, revealing the glass sliding doors inside. Through the two glass doors, they could see a spacious, brightly lit modern Reception Center farther in.

"Come in. Follow me. I'll show you around the base first. This is where you'll be living for a long time to come."

Leon waved at everyone. Amy obediently followed half a step behind him, looking ready to await his orders at any moment.

The Ground Buildings of Atlanta CDC were roughly divided into three sections: the Tourist Area, Staff Area, and Underground Parking Lot.

The Tourist Area included the Exhibition Hall and Reception Center. It was a large modern landmark building occupying 3,000 square meters and standing around forty meters tall. Its design was elegant and visually impressive.

Its outer walls used a mixed steel-and-concrete structure. Most of them consisted of a transparent facade assembled from large steel frameworks and hundreds of expansive panes of Bulletproof Glass. The interior had four floors. The first floor was the Reception Center, while the upper three floors were the Exhibition Hall.

The exhibits displayed the entire history of Atlanta CDC, its achievements in various periods, and the contributions made by countless famous experts in medicine and biology. There was a wide variety of material, but it was all merely ordinary image-building.

The Staff Area included the Office Area and Living Area. It was an ordinary-looking, rectangular three-story office building occupying around 2,000 square meters.

The first floor was the Living Area. It had a large cafeteria, a huge Tourist Activity Room, restrooms, a bathhouse, a smoking room, a Warehouse, and other functional facilities necessary for daily life.

The second floor was a clerical Office Area made up of more than a dozen private offices and four large offices.

The third floor contained a conference room, screening room, Private Lounge, and entertainment room for receiving important guests. Its decorations were exceptionally luxurious, and Leon had designated it as his future private space.

The first two sections together occupied nearly 6,000 square meters, but their actual usable area totaled a full 15,000 square meters. It was a truly astonishing amount of space.

However, the largest of the three sections wasn't either of the first two. It was the Underground Parking Lot.

For some unknown reason, the parking lot at Atlanta CDC had been built on a massive scale. Each floor was exceptionally tall, and there were four floors in total. Each level was eight meters high and occupied 5,000 square meters, giving it a total actual area of more than 20,000 square meters.

Perhaps because all the staff had fled after the disaster, only twenty or thirty cars remained parked there, making the vast, empty environment feel even more desolate.

Regardless of the reason, being able to obtain such a vast and secure environment filled Leon, its owner, with extraordinary delight.

After giving everyone a brief tour of the base, Leon and the others arrived at the first floor of the Underground Parking Lot. This level connected to the parking lot's external exit, which was sealed by a large protective metal door made of three heavy Bulletproof steel plates. It was six meters high and ten meters wide, allowing vehicles of all kinds to pass through.

He instructed the dozen or so drivers and the movers from the Logistics Department:

"The first basement level has already been cleared out. It will serve as our Warehouse."

"You can drive the cars straight in later. Today's task is to move all the supplies from the trucks here. Miss Amy will be responsible for planning the layout."

Then he turned to Amy, who was standing beside him:

"Miss Amy, you're responsible for helping them plan the Warehouse layout. Classify each type of supply as carefully as possible, and leave enough space for passageways."

"Before long, we'll renovate this place and build walls, turning it into a professional Warehouse."

Leon glanced at the Rolex on his wrist. It was already five in the afternoon. He patted Amy on the shoulder and said:

"I still have something to take care of, so I'll leave first. After eight, bring them to the public cafeteria on the first floor to meet up."

"If anything urgent comes up, every monitor here is connected to the intelligent computer, Red Queen. Just call out Red Queen's name, and you'll be able to contact me."

"That's all. I'm heading out."

Ten minutes later, Leon carried a huge backpack filled with an astonishing number of glass test tubes. At the entrance to the Underground Research Institute, he met Dr. Melpha and Dr. Jenner.

Both doctors wore delighted expressions. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Leon, the three of them entered the conference room, where Leon pushed the backpack toward Dr. Melpha.

"Doctor, these are the virus samples you needed."

"I collected blood from more than forty humans and samples from over fifty Zombies at different stages of infection. Everything has been labeled."

"It should be enough for you to use for a while."

Melpha nodded and pulled the backpack over to her. She didn't rush to inspect it, but instead asked Leon:

"You were out exploring for four days this time. How did it feel?"

"I see you brought back fifteen people and more than a dozen truckloads of supplies. You must have had a fruitful haul."

Leon nodded. After thinking for a few seconds, he said somewhat absentmindedly:

"It was all right. Survivors were just extremely scarce. I only gathered more than forty people, and there are still several thousand tons of Living Area supplies waiting to be transported back."

"What!"

"Several thousand tons of supplies? Did you empty out several towns?"