After making the selection, a prompt came through.
[Confirm the construction of a wind power plant, costing 50,000 gold, requiring a construction time of five hours. It will automatically complete in five hours. Please have the commander patiently wait.]
During the waiting period, Xiao Fan thought about the wind turbine blades, which were erected at the tops of very high mountains. He wondered if the survivors would find it strange upon seeing them.
The system also provided him a hint that the wind turbines would be built on the other side of the mountain, out of sight from the survivors. Only then was Xiao Fan reassured.
Five hours passed quickly, and the construction of the wind power plant was complete.
Xiao Fan went to the designated location for the power plant and placed it.
The moment the power plant was placed, wind turbines also sprang up on the other side of the western and northern slopes.
Even the high-voltage lines connecting to the base were instantly completed – this was the magic of the Red Alert construction system.
The wind power plant did not take up a very large area, roughly 20,000 square meters, with densely packed power lines and a control room.
The staff were also provided, and were highly professional.
They could even be self-sufficient in their living, with a cafeteria inside the power plant and people responsible for cooking, although the source of food still had to be supplied by Xiao Fan's side.
At the moment the power was switched on, all the electrical appliances in the base lit up simultaneously.
The refrigerators, water heaters, and electric cookers in every household could all be used!
The street lamps that had already been set up also lit up.
The searchlights at the city wall watchtowers could also be activated, although they were not turned on during the day.
The entire base seemed to pause for a second, and then erupted into cheers.
"The power's back on!"
Ever since the blackout, apart from some major survivor bases that could still rely on generators, everywhere else had been shrouded in darkness.
Some things don't seem that important when they're around, but once you lose them, you realize how precious those everyday things are.
People who had experienced the darkness knew how wonderful light was.
Those who had been hesitant about joining the base were now overjoyed with their choice.
Such a safe and large city, now with electricity restored – this was true bliss.
Many of the more emotionally expressive people even shed tears of joy.
While the people in the city celebrated the return of power, Xiao Fan was pressing on with the next task.
After the power plant was built, the next structure – the barracks – was unlocked.
[Barracks, cost 60,000 gold, can accommodate one battalion of troops.]
Ever since Xiao Fan obtained the Red Alert system, his soldiers had been sleeping in sleeping bags, without a fixed dwelling. Sometimes Xiao Fan felt guilty for not providing better as their commander.
So although the barracks would not increase his troop capacity limit, he still wanted to construct it immediately to give the soldiers a warm place to live.
Another 60,000 gold was spent, and the first barracks began construction.
During this process, Xiao Fan did not idly wait. He began constructing walls around the buildings in the inner city area.
These walls were simple, only requiring the basic wall structure and using construction materials, saving 90% of the cost at only 0.5 gold per meter.
He first built a wall around the base and the power plant, leaving entrances, and then started installing electric fences on top of the walls.
The electric fences required deducting steel resources. Now that the base had power, the electric fences could be used.
Three-meter-high walls with dense electric fences on top would dispel any thoughts of prying into the interior.
With the walls constructed, the interior areas were divided into distinct streets, although not entirely organized yet.
As more buildings were erected, the streets would become more orderly.
After finishing two rounds of walls, the barracks still wasn't complete.
With nothing else to do, Xiao Fan went to explore the outer city.
He headed to the center street intersection of the outer city.
According to Xiao Fan and the engineers' plans, there were several areas in the outer city that needed to be developed.
One was the tallest building, the Dawn Hotel.
Xiao Fan planned to build a 100-story skyscraper for the Dawn Hotel, making it a landmark of the City of Dawn.
Another was the Dawn Grand Theater.
After basic survival needs were met, cultural life also needed to be enriched.
To have a grand theater at this time would certainly be very progressive.
Not only would there be a grand theater, but Xiao Fan also planned to build a television station, and televisions would soon enter residential areas so people could watch TV again.
Additionally, there was a central business district area.
Although there could not be any high-end business districts at the moment, a city had to have this kind of core golden area.
Xiao Fan had come to this place, the center street intersection of the outer city. Although there was no commercial atmosphere yet, many farsighted people had already set their sights on this area. If the City of Dawn ever sold these plots, people would definitely purchase them.
Today, Xiao Fan was dressed casually in plain clothes and wearing sunglasses, wanting to see what the ordinary people of the City of Dawn were like now.
When he arrived at the center street intersection, there were many people resting and chatting.
Xiao Fan mingled among the crowd, appearing ordinary. But in the distance, on the watchtowers of the surrounding walls, soldiers were closely watching this area. If anyone dared to harm the commander, they would open fire and kill immediately.
Of course, the City of Dawn was still quite safe now.
Sitting on a temporary pile of bricks by the roadside, Xiao Fan lit a cigarette and listened to the conversations around him.
"Brother, where are you from?"
"I'm from Yan Yun."
"Oh, that's pretty far, isn't it? How did you get here? Did you encounter any zombies?"
"There would normally be some, but the Army of Dawn had gone to Yan Yun to clear the border routes. If they encountered zombies, they would just eliminate them. I actually lived near the border of Yan Yun and Yunzhou, so it wasn't too far. Seeing that it was safe here, I came over. Never thought I made the right choice."
"Our Yunzhou is still better, with Leader Xiao Fan here. The City of Dawn he's building is so beautiful and grand."
"You may not believe it, but Leader Xiao Fan was actually from Yan Yun. I heard it on the radio broadcasts back there."
"Really? I didn't know that. We can't receive Yan Yun's broadcasts here. Any major events happening over there recently?"
"No big events... Oh wait, there was one major event. There was a base called the Agricultural Market Base with over 50 armed personnel that was wiped out by zombies."
The people listening didn't seem to react much, but Xiao Fan, who had been intently focused, suddenly froze.
The Agricultural Market Base was wiped out by zombies!
It shouldn't have happened!
His instincts told him he had to get to the bottom of this.