Qingluan's eyes were blurred with tears as she looked towards those who had chosen to stay and stand with the stronghold, numbering around three thousand combat personnel!

"Look over there!"

Duan Lei pointed to the non-combatants, the women, the elderly, and the children, who were being protected in the rear.

"The entire stronghold has eight or nine thousand people who have chosen to stay and fight alongside you. With so many people supporting you, what more could you want?"

Seeing the survivors looking at her with unwavering resolve, Qingluan could no longer hold back her tears.

"Alright! Go take care of them. The fighting is our business, leave it to us!"

Duan Lei patted Qingluan on the shoulder.

Although Qingluan was a level three Awakened One and frequently ventured into cities to fight zombies, always at the forefront, this time the enemy was human. Killing people was a different concept than killing zombies, especially for a girl like Qingluan.

Duan Lei had no intention of letting Qingluan join the battle in the early stages!

"No! This is my base, and I won't let anyone take it from me! I will fight too!!!"

Qingluan suddenly wiped away her tears, her eyes turning red as she glared at Lin Qiang's forces, her eyes full of hatred!

This was her base, one she had intended to develop properly. But someone wanted to disrupt her peaceful life, and this filled Qingluan with immense anger.

"Fine! But you have to promise me that you'll obey my command during the battle and not rush in recklessly. You're the leader, and your job is to stabilize morale!"

Duan Lei shook his head helplessly.

"Don't get impulsive and charge in. If anything happens to you, it will be a huge blow to them! They're willing to stay mainly because of you!"

"Okay! I promise you!"

Qingluan took a deep breath.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of survivors had flocked to Lin Qiang's side. After this period of searching and rescuing, the stronghold base already had seventy to eighty thousand survivors.

With just a few words from Lin Qiang, almost all of them had surrendered, leaving only about a tenth willing to stay at the stronghold. It could be said that Lin Qiang's first plan was a resounding success!

"It seems their main defensive force is concentrated at the main gate!"

Lin Qiang ignored those who had come to surrender and instead focused on the stronghold.

Because the stronghold was so large, although Lin Qiang's forces had surrounded the entire area, his main strength was actually concentrated at the main gate.

Elsewhere, there were only two armed personnel stationed in vehicles spaced at intervals. With just tens of thousands of men, Lin Qiang simply couldn't completely encircle the stronghold!

"Yes! This is very advantageous for us. We have superior firepower and can directly attack, completely destroying their defenses in a single round!"

Zhao Dahai said to Lin Qiang.

"Actually, they have no choice. Now, they only have about three thousand combat personnel left, and they can't afford to defend other areas. They can only contract their defenses and fight us head-on at the main gate!"

As he spoke, Zhao Dahai glanced at the surrendered people and then looked at Lin Qiang, asking, "Boss Lin, should we start the attack? Let's try to take this stronghold today!"

"No! With so many people we can use, why waste ammunition?"

Lin Qiang also looked at the surrendered people and suddenly smiled.

"Although we have a lot of ammunition now, this is the apocalypse. Once ammunition is used up, it can't be replenished! So, we should save as much as possible!"

"So many people we can use?"

Zhao Dahai turned to look at the tens of thousands who had just surrendered, a look of doubt in his eyes. Although some of these guys were combat personnel, they had already left their weapons behind at the stronghold when they came over!

Could it be that they were going to give them weapons and have them participate in the battle too?

Zhao Dahai frowned because he felt that these people, having just surrendered, were not to be trusted. Especially with so many tens of thousands of them, if they turned against them, he was afraid they would be in big trouble!

"Of course!"

Lin Qiang sneered, and then ordered:

"Go, tell them that if they want to join us, they need to make a contribution first. Have them start lining up now and launch an attack on the stronghold! Anyone who dares to disobey will be killed!"

"What?"

Hearing this order, Zhao Dahai looked at Lin Qiang in astonishment.

"Let... let them attack the stronghold?"

"That's right!"

Lin Qiang laughed.

"Although some of these people have combat capabilities, they're useless to us because they're just a bunch of opportunists. Today, they can betray that woman, and tomorrow they can betray me. So, I don't want these people!

"In that case, let's just make the best use of their waste. Let them attack the stronghold. Although they don't have any weapons, they're after all people who came from the stronghold. I think the stronghold's defenders shouldn't have the heart to open fire on them, right?

"Then, we'll have our people mix in with them and rush up to kill those people. They don't dare to shoot, but we have no such scruples. That way, we can easily take this stronghold!"

"..."

Looking at the smile on Lin Qiang's face, Zhao Dahai suddenly felt a chill down his spine. Tens of thousands of people who had come to surrender to him because of his words, and he was just going to push them out as cannon fodder?

Although Zhao Dahai also felt that the other side really wouldn't dare to open fire, after all, these were unarmed ordinary survivors, but what if they did?

Moreover, just thinking about it, he knew that one side was using force to coerce, while the other side was on full alert. These unarmed people were being driven towards the other side, and the scene would definitely be chaotic.

At that time, he didn't know how many people would be trampled to death, and once the gunfire rang out, these tens of thousands of people would definitely explode instantly and flee in all directions. At that time...

Just thinking about that tragic scene, Zhao Dahai couldn't help but shudder.

Although he didn't consider himself a good person, because good people didn't live long in the apocalypse, he still couldn't bring himself to do something like pushing tens of thousands of people into the abyss!

At most, he would just throw his weight around in his own base, killing a few disobedient people, and grabbing some beautiful women.

"What's wrong? Feeling soft-hearted? Let me tell you, no matter what world you're in, you have to be ruthless. Those who worry too much are destined to not achieve great things! Understand?"

Looking at Zhao Dahai's terrified expression, Lin Qiang smiled slightly.

"And don't worry, as long as you're loyal to me, I won't let you be cannon fodder, because you have ability, and they don't. People without ability are of no use to me, so they can only die after being squeezed dry of their last bit of value!"

Saying that, Lin Qiang patted Zhao Dahai on the shoulder.

"Go, let those guys prepare, and then they can start charging. If anyone is unwilling, kill a few to establish authority. If there are too many who are disobedient, then kill a few more, a few hundred or a thousand is fine. In short, make them obedient!"

"Understood!"

Zhao Dahai quickly agreed, looked at Lin Qiang with a complicated expression, and then turned and left...