Doomsday Pillars

Chapter 70 - More Food

DDay +14

Two weeks had passed since Doomsday had started.

Alex's group had just returned to the Star Base, and even though they had been away for only a week, so many things had changed.

The Star Base was more crowded than before. Although the number of people matched with the smaller cities on Java Island, the walls and limited space made it feel tight to walk around.

<Star Base>

Size: 115 hectares

Population: 98,464

Guards: 5,000

Administrators: 1,000

Farmers: 20,578

Children: 9,198

Elders: 5,411

Construction Workers: 24,290

Scavengers: 27,311

Helpers: 9,321

Chefs : 500

Medics: 222

Researchers: 12

<Antiga City>

Leader: Major Sandi

Size: 45 hectares

Population: 59,255

Fighters: 50,000

Firearm Troops: 5,000

Guards: 500

Workers: 3,500

Others: 225

<Bay City>

Leader: Lieutenant Russel

Population: 10,350

Sailors: 6,500

Guards: 500

Workers: 3,250

<Gilimanuk Post>

Leader: Lieutenant Rangga

Size: 311 hectares

Guards: 2,000

Workers: 1,219

<Denpasar Post>

Leader: Captain Donny

Size: 171 hectares

Guards: 2,500

Workers: 1,088

Within these two weeks, the majority of Bali survivors should already be within these four safe areas. The Denpasar survival post was the frontline, facing the hordes from the south section, the Gilimanuk city would be the post connecting to Java Island, the Bay City and Antiga City which were only three kilometers apart from the army and navy base. The last one was the main base, the Starbase.

Construction wise, most laborers were still building the main base. There were about 190 warehouses built and another 110 more warehouses underway. The construction division focused their resources on building the big hall as the education center first as well as reassigned some workers in another post where the goal was to turn the city into a defense base. They mainly worked on walls, guard posts, and guard towers.

Today, Alex called for a small meeting between his seven managers. The main agenda was food. With their main base's current population, Alex estimated the food storage would be emptied within three months, including the food supply Alex had confiscated from the hotel.

Jane from the farming department reported that the first batch of potatoes would be available in two months and for the second batch, which would be made in the expanded area would be ready in three months, that should add another four to five weeks of food supplies. 

Devita, Alex's wife, mentioned that her scavenger division found new supplies and that should also add another few weeks.

Overall, there were about more than 200,000 people staying in Bali right now. The food supplies for the next few months should be fine, but with the continuous arrival of survivors, the consumption rate would also increase.

"How's the animal research so far?" Alex asked Doctor Rachel.

"Many domesticated animals had died from the plague and zombie attacks. Cows, sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens... you name it. The one that had survived, however, became extremely aggressive. There are some species of animals that have a higher survival rate, such as birds and fishes. However, there has been an increase in rats and cats sightings and some incidents involving them attacking. Another weird thing is that we can't find any trace of insects at all, which is disturbing. But the most worrying thing is the animals' behaviors. It's completely off the chart. Currently, we're still collecting more samples to get more accurate findings."

Alex already knew all of these findings in his previous life. In the next few weeks, the remaining humans would be facing these mutated animals and the rats and cats would be the first to mutate. Still, Alex was hoping these scientists could find a good reasoning behind it. Better yet, to domesticate some but if unable to, then kill them.

"I think we'll find the solution to our food shortage if we started fishing from the sea and hunting these animals."

"Rats and cats?" The ex-governor Agung said.

"Yes... let's leave it to our team of chefs to be creative about it. The fighters would be the ones to hunt these animals, and the supply department would still be the ones handling the foraging and transport of carcasses. As for the fisheries, there should be another sub-department to take care of this. Jane, do you think you'd be interested in this? I've heard your aquaponics have made some progress, haven't it?"

"Right, currently, we have about three thousand fishes within the pond. I'm still coordinating with the research department if there are any abnormalities in fishes' growth but if it goes smoothly, we should have ten thousand by three months. For other types of fishing... I'll probably organize some river and inshore fishing but not sea fishing at the moment."

Jane was then tasked to recruit a few hundred men with fishing experience to become fishermen. At first, she asked Alex if she could take from the farmers instead, but Alex believed the farmers already had a lot on their plates, so it'd be better not to multitask and prepare a whole new subdivision for fishermen.

"I'll leave you to handle the rest, Jane." Alex said. He turned to the rest and said, "Other than fishing, didn't the north section have a chicken farm breeding the Cemani chickens? The black ones? I believe this type of breed would've survived the plague, however they would've been more aggressive at the same time.

"Major Sandi, please prepare some of the guards to help the scavengers. Tony, prepare some steel cages for the chickens. If there're still some of them, hopefully, we'll still be able to eat eggs for breakfast in the future.

"Also, I need everyone to know that this mutated animal meat will be popular later once the supplies start coming in. Since I'm planning to open a market soon, we'll also need people to facilitate the trade markets."

"What are we trading?" Devita asked.

"Food coupons, luxury limited amenities like shampoo, toothpaste, soap anything at all. You can plan the market, its place, pricing, and target demographic. I think by one week we should have enough items and create a centralized market. So, make sure to task the scavengers to collect these items. Ah, speaking of which, Tony! Build the market area too as well, it'll be the best if you can build it near the storage warehouse."

"Okay, Alex," answered Tony.

"How's your luck with the vehicles," Alex asked Devita.

"We've only managed to find a few older model vehicles, so far. As for the transporter ships, the mechanics have managed to restore two."

"Great! Hopefully, they can get two or three more ships as soon as possible."

There was nothing more the education division could prepare right now, school had already started. As for the administration department, as almost all people had already been listed, he would take a look at it soon.

With that, the meeting had ended. Alex asked Dr. Rachel to stay behind before showing her the Amulet of the Sun. After two weeks, the amulet had created another pill. Alex then gave the shining pill to the doctor, and asked to research the pill and turn it into a medicine serum for multiple usage later. Alex placed high hopes in this project, and hopefully, the doctor could show some results soon.

Alex's next stop was to check how the fighter's training were progressing. He drove to Antiga to check the fighters and also the Navy in the Bay City.