Doomsday Pillars

The supplies and equipment division did not look to be interesting and seemed less important than other divisions, but was in fact the most crucial and also the hardest to manage out of all the divisions from this base.

This division employed more than 60,000 personnel, the largest number of people after the military.

More than 30,000 scavengers personnel to explore outside the base to find supplies.

More than 20,000 trader personnel for stock handling and the distribution of goods.

More than 10,000 cleaning personnel to maintain cleanliness and provide other a.s.sistance.

More than 5,000 other personnel such as chefs, tailors, craftsmen, and others.

This was the division that maintained the stability of the headquarters, and with the explosion of population that had occurred, this division was also the most confused. Reading the report and seeing the condition of the warehouse full of organized workers, Alex appreciated his wife"s hidden talent.

For all the inhabitants of the Starbase, it was miraculous that all their daily necessities were fulfilled. Food, health, shelter, clothing and safety. In return, each of the residents must contribute. Some functioned as farmers, teachers, soldiers and others.

At the first week of the Doomsday, it was not difficult to manage the citizens who had just ran away and sought safety at this base, but over time, the residents started to look for other things beyond just a bed and a plate of warm food. It is human nature to look for something more and for the survival of a community, the system needed to be clearly defined and rules must be enforced.

At present, dozens of trucks approached the storage warehouse. Hundreds of scavengers personnel brought back their findings. For mutated animal, they were taken directly to the back of the warehouse to be cleaned and processed. Other items would be pa.s.sed to trade personnel to be organized and redistributed. These scavengers unit usually worked in a group of 100 to 200 people. They were also equipped with weapons and accompanied by militia forces. At the end of the collection, one of the warehouse chiefs would give the group a number of coupons according to the results they get. The collectors were seen very happy because they managed to get a bonus coupon for today.

These coupons were the currency used by residents of the Starbase. At first, these coupons were only used for food exchange but as time went on the function of these coupons grew.

Alex walked through the bustling market. Around were rows vendor stalls of food, weapons, clothing, medicines and others.

1 kilogram of fresh orange: 6 coupons

Thai rice 1 liter: 4 coupons

Frog mutation Satay sticks 5 pieces: 1 coupon

AK-47 Rifles: 9 coupons

Ammunition box 556 mm: 20 coupons

2 bottles shampoo: 1 coupon

Lizard skin protective clothing (XL): 13 coupons

Whiskey: 12 coupons

Cigarettes 1 carton: 15 coupons

Every resident, young and old receives two coupons every day, but for residents on probation or in punishment only receives 1 coupon per day. As for people with a higher position or people who contributed, they receive more coupons.

Fighters, hunters and scavengers must give their findings to the headquarters. Items, mutated animals, spirit stones, etc. The more they find, of course, the more their contributions will increase. But if they are found embezzling their findings, then they will receive severe punishment. Of course, this rule only applies during their work hours. Anything they find outside of their work hours, they can keep it for themselves.

In certain cases, such as an emergency, the members may consume the spirit stones with the permission of the unit leaders.

Each resident contributes to produce equipment that can be sold, while each resident receives a coupon every day to buy this equipment. This is how the Starbase has run its economy for the past 2 months.

Alex and the group entered the main equipment warehouse. The office where Devita works every day. Inside this building, Alex met two familiar people.

The first person was Vonny, sister of Devita. Vonny was a.s.signed as Devita"s a.s.sistant. She"s responsible for the accounting of all these supplies. The other person had a bulky body named Bayu, a former Black Snake gang leader. He was now the head of security for the inventory division. These two people were Devita"s right and left hands in managing this division.

The main building was divided into several sections. This building, in actuality, was a place for storing valuable items and Alex"s personal ordered items.

Mutated animal storage room. This enclosed s.p.a.ce held stacks of cans that contained the best mutated animal flesh. Devita didn"t know the level of various kinds of mutations, so she placed here most items she wasn"t familiar with. At present, she cla.s.sified most of them on how difficult the fighters and hunters according to their reports. Only mutated animals, which proved to be difficult to eliminate were stored here. 

Alex read some of the descriptions listed on each shelf. After reading a few, Alex estimated that the meats stored here were mostly high level one stage animals; some were even level two animals. Alex believed that in order to get all these meats, dozens or even hundreds of men has suffered. The total collected was nearly 100,000 cans. This amount was enough to have 10,000 to 20,000 fighters reach the high stage or even the peak of the mortal realm.

The next room was the weapons room. Special type long-range guns, the latest machine guns, rocket launchers, etc.. These firearms were stored for special circ.u.mstances and were not too many.

"We have more or less the same amount stored at Antiga"s military headquarters."

The total number of firearms in the report were not too many. With weapons that had been distributed to elite troops and first division troops, all that was left were only enough to arm around 60,000 personnel. Because of this amount, almost all of the new troops could only be given handguns while the cadets and militias were armed with melee weapons. The amount collected was actually a lot, especially more so when considering that firearms are very rare in Indonesia. Unlike in the United States, where weapons shops can be as numerous as fast-food restaurants.

Knowing this need, the headquarters iron factory was incessantly producing melee weapons. Swords, machetes, spears, and s.h.i.+elds. With the current speed of production, it was only a matter of time the residents would be armed with at least half-decent weapons, they would not have to fight using brooms and pans.

Alex then paused to look at the weapons made by the craftsmen.

"Next time, don"t make models like this again."

Alex began to draw as he designed a large machete almost 1.5 meters long, and a large s.h.i.+eld.

Actually, with the arrival of the Doomsday Pillars, these weapons would be replaced with artifact weapons, but artifact weapons were not easy to obtain. These manufactured weapons would only prove useful for the first year. These giant machetes and s.h.i.+elds were not easy for ordinary people to handle, but peak stage mortal fighters would not find too difficult to use. When people start to break through the earth realm, normal weapons like these would be too fragile to use.

The next place to visit was the artifact armor section, this division have been producing protective clothing made from mutated lizard skin, hundreds of clothes that have already been made. But productions of these clothes were starting to be constrained because of the dwindling number of lizards found. Moreover, during the last two months, not one fighter had managed to find a mutated snake to use its skin for clothing.

"What about the python"s skin? Is there any progress?" asked Alex.

"We"re still holding off on using that. Actually, there isn"t a single weapon that can cut it, the skin is just too hard."

When Alex went to the monkey forest, he and his group managed to kill 4 snakes. One mother snake and three child snakes. The tailors succeeded in painstakingly making around 600 snakeskin armors from the three snakes which were then distributed between the Wolf Army led by Jerry and the Tiger Army led by Donny. However, the skin of the mother snake could not be processed at all. The skin of a second stage mutated animal would be very useful for increasing the defensive capabilities of the special forces.

Alex turned around as he looked at Arief with a broad smile.

"..."

Arief, a deathsquad special forces colonel, a metal spirit enhancer with the special ability of increasing the sharpness and quality of the weapons he held. At that moment, the man was forced to carry out the task of helping the tailors.

Next They entered a section of the hangar that was almost as big as a soccer field. They pa.s.sed through corridors packed with war vehicles, APVs, tanks, artillery vehicles, mortars, etc. Before walking to the next place, Farell approached Alex.

"We have not yet decided what are we going to do with the American troops and the Midway wars.h.i.+p. I went inside and found many weapons we can use. Unfortunately, the dozens of airplanes sitting on top of the deck cannot be used "

Alex thought for a moment and said, "Just take what we have won from the bets, no more."

"Understood."

The last room the group visited was a heavily guarded room inside the inventory building. As soon as Devita pushed the door, the rays of the sparkling spirit stones welcomed them. The room, which is about the size of a basketball court, was filled with spirit stones.

Alex immediately asked the question everyone was waiting for. "How many?"

Vonny opened her notebook. "81,864 spirit stones"

"..."

A very large number, but still very small compared to the current number of troops. Alex needed as many spirit stones as possible. He had given the inventory division instructions before to buy any amount of spirit stones from the residents and never sell them back. In the future, these spirit stones would be one of the foundations for the successful development of this base.

"What"s the biggest obstacle right now?" Alex asked his wife

"At present, 40 percent of the population"s consumption is still dependent on the collection of goods, but after two months of constant scavenging, except at the red zones, almost all of the areas nearby have been successfully explored. If we don"t find another solution soon, within 7-8 weeks we will start starving."

Alex was not too worried about food, the Doomsday Pillar had a way to fix the upcoming food crisis for residents in the future. But Alex did not want to be too reliant on the Doomsday Pillars in terms of food, instead, he wanted that they be independent on securing food. For that to be accomplished, he took one more look at the reports and began to think about increasing the population again in the future. Alex then asked to immediately expand the area of ​​potato fields to triple of its current size.

Also, Alex asked the goods search team to be increased 3 times as well. Alex planned for the goods search team to send out expeditions outside the island in the future. 

It was late afternoon and there was still another division yet to provide its report.