Chapter 127 Appointment of the Chief Administrator

Chapter 127 Appointment of the Chief Administrator

Motivated by the desire to live a quiet and uneventful life, on New Year's Day of the third year of the apocalypse, Zhou Yun issued the appointment letters for the Chief Administrator and Deputy Administrator of Guixu City, and authorized the Chief Administrator to appoint officials for various functional departments.

In most official bases, the roles of military commander and civil executive are combined, often with a strong military influence.

Guixu City distinguishes between the roles of city lord and military commander, and under the city lord, there is also a Chief Administrator, an ordinary individual named Zhu Zhuan, previously a police officer.

Qin Mu, the general manager of Green Bird Pharmaceuticals, responsible for the lucrative Green Bird Pharmaceuticals and also a shadow psychic, despite his formidable abilities, holds the position of Deputy Administrator, which has sparked considerable debate among online followers of Guixu City.

Of course, most people believe that this ordinary Chief Administrator is just a symbol, but it undoubtedly endears the administration to many ordinary citizens.

Psychics privately note that Guixu City offers fewer perks and benefits compared to other bases, but the allure of medicine and king-level crystal cores is irresistible. Although the southern climate is still hot, psychics face no difficulties in outdoor living or missions.

Winter is slow to come, and psychics working in Guixu City to earn mutated drugs and king-level crystal cores live in relative stability, with good weather, no worries about food and drink, and reward exchanges handled efficiently. The decision to leave Guixu City is continually deferred.

Therefore, there are still more than six thousand psychics remaining in Guixu City, and the total population has reached one hundred and fifty thousand.

The number of functional departments is limited, mainly divided into infrastructure planning, scientific research and medical care, public services, political and legal security, administrative history and culture, etc., consolidating departments with overlapping functions and interconnected operations, such as unifying planning and infrastructure construction, electricity, etc., into the Infrastructure Planning Department.

The military largely handles city defense and public security, roles typically managed by the political and legal security department, with only a few, such as Shen Lan and Ge Chen, remaining as department heads, and additionally absorbing many legal experts to draft regulations for base management, coordinate and communicate with the military, and receive and feedback residents' requests for help.

Each department is staffed extensively to delineate responsibilities, and the workload is quite heavy.

The administrative history and culture department has a separate secretarial office, specifically assigned to coordinate all of Zhou Yun's work. Dong Kexin volunteered to serve under Guan Yuanfeng as the head of the secretarial office.

This significantly lightened Zhou Yun's workload, allowing him to focus on his research.

On a certain hot afternoon, suddenly and unexpectedly, dark clouds gathered, and after a storm, a blizzard began.

Snowflakes danced, blanketing the dark green cactus walls in white. The thorns and outer layers thickened and hardened, exuding a cold, profound, yet oddly comforting presence.

In mid-January, as the Spring Festival approached, Guixu City abruptly transitioned from midsummer to winter.

The newly established public service department, in conjunction with the military, mobilized community volunteers to address urgent tasks.

Ensuring the provision of heating, water, and electricity, checking road safety hazards, clearing road ice and snow, protecting trees, herbs, crops, etc., from the cold. Inspecting the city walls and being alert to the siege of zombie hordes outside the city.

Although busy, thanks to the previous full preparation, and for the sake of harvesting crystal cores, Guan Yuanfeng and Zhou Yun, these two major killers, had already cleaned up the zombie hordes on nearby roads once, so there is currently no worry of a zombie siege.

Snowy weather has a certain impact on the mutated cactus city walls, so they have additionally organized wood psychic ability users to nourish the city walls in sections every day to keep them alive.

The residents of Guixu City, in their safe houses, turned on the heating equipment, watching the blizzard outside, all with lingering fears. The previous city had already entered winter, and it was because they could not get sufficient protection that they risked moving to Guixu City.

Although repeatedly delayed, the winter, which appears particularly ferocious in the apocalypse, has finally arrived. Similarly entering winter, in the blizzard, they now have stable and warm houses to stay in, and some food earned from previous work, no longer suffering from hunger, not worrying about a zombie siege. In comparison, this winter is both prosperous and secure.

Most importantly, they still have a job that can provide a stable salary, and the workplace also provides hot free longan, red date, brown sugar, and ginger tea, which they can take back to their families and children in a thermos, a rare comfort in these apocalyptic times.

====

Outside the window, snowflakes swirl urgently, but inside the office, it is extremely quiet. Zhou Yun is sitting on the sofa, head down, flipping through and looking at research topics.

Suddenly, the door of the adjacent suite opens, Guan Yuanfeng, covered in ice and snow, strides in from outside, takes off his coat, shakes off the snow, and hangs it on the coat hook.

These two offices look like two large offices from the outside, but in fact, there is a door connecting them in the middle, and there is also a bedroom and bathroom inside, with two small meeting rooms opposite, convenient for them to convene meetings.

But the number of high-level officials in the entire Guixu City who can come to this floor for meetings is very few.

Zhou Yun looks up at him, his military uniform straight, his shoulders and back broad, his slim waist cinched with a belt, his long legs in boots strong and full of power, for a moment, he can't take his eyes off.

Guan Yuanfeng turns to see him staring at himself, his eyes black as lacquer, burning and staring, his originally serious face softens: "Haven't had lunch yet?"

Zhou Yun, thinking he had things to do in the afternoon, suppressed the urge to kiss him and smiled, "I was waiting for you. How did the inspection go? Is everything alright at the military camp?"

Guan Yuanfeng replied, "It's fine. There were some old billboards and high-rise buildings that were uninhabited and posed a risk of falling debris, so I had people focus on removing them. How about you?"

Zhou Yun said, "Today I came across an interesting topic. Take a look."

He handed the topic to Guan Yuanfeng. Guan Yuanfeng sat next to Zhou Yun and took it to read: "Design and Weapon Optimization Exploration of Military Protection Energy Systems Based on Psychic Energy."

He slightly raised his eyebrows, "It's good, but could it just be a concept? Previously at Central Base, experts at the military academy there were also researching and exploring this." He glanced at the name, "Luo Zhongyu?"

Zhou Yun smiled, "This person has an impressive resume. He worked at the military engineering institute, is very young, only thirty-five, and he's an earth psychic. Others with earth abilities either build walls like Little Tang, dig tunnels, or glide through the earth like Shen Lan."

"Luo Zhongyu's earth abilities include single-target skills like stone bullets, defensive skills like stone shields, and group attacks like flying sand and rolling stones. He's also skilled at molding clay figures, which is said to help him exercise control over his psychic abilities. It can be said he has a deep understanding of psychic abilities."

Guan Yuanfeng said, "Using earth and stone as weapons, the city lord of Mobei City, Liang, also does this. She can summon meteorites and named that skill 'Falling Star from the Sky'."

Zhou Yun laughed, "Indeed quite rare."

He flipped a page and pointed it out to him, "He said he found inspiration in the resonance array I created, believing it could store and transfer the energy of psychic crystal cores in large quantities. Then, under the activation of psychics with the same abilities, it could stably output to form a psychic shield or psychic cannon."

Guan Yuanfeng: "..."

Zhou Yun said, "Sounds interesting."

Guan Yuanfeng was somewhat skeptical, "The biggest problem with psychic energy as a power source is that the energy of a single crystal core is separate, and the energy contained varies. How can we store and combine them for constant output? When different people perform psychic resonance, if one is slightly weak or out of frequency, the connection will immediately break. When absorbing crystal core energy, interruptions are inevitable."

He was a strong psychic, very familiar with the use of psychic power, "When our special forces train, it's only after long-term training and developing a tacit understanding, with similar psychic levels and the same attributes, that we can barely combine our powers to deliver a strike, amplifying the attack. Later, we found it too troublesome. It's more flexible and adaptable to use psychic abilities separately."

Zhou Yun said, "Science is all about solving these problems. Finding a reliable container... like shadow hemp?"

His mind raced with thoughts, "Anyway... we can try this psychic shield first. I was just thinking our cactus walls aren't strong enough." It was probably around the fifth year of the apocalypse that Central Base completely lost control over the increasingly powerful local bases, and base wars became very frequent. They didn't have much time.

He pressed the bell on the table, and Dong Kexin knocked before entering. Zhou Yun smiled, "Sister Kexin, could you help me arrange a meeting with Luo Zhongyu? I'd like to see him this afternoon."

Dong Kexin smiled, "What about the lab visit this afternoon?"

Zhou Yun thought for a moment, "Let's arrange to meet at the lab."

Dong Kexin said, "Alright, I'll have someone arrange the vehicle."

Guan Yuanfeng instructed, "Be careful. Have the escort team follow. With the snow, we can't rule out someone trying to take advantage of the chaos."

Zhou Yun glanced at the time and smiled at Guan Yuanfeng, "Shall we have lunch now?"

Dong Kexin said, "I'll have the canteen get it ready." She turned and left.

Zhou Yun stood up, and Guan Yuanfeng took a down jacket from the hook and draped it over him. Zhou Yun didn't refuse. They walked downstairs side by side, and Zhou Yun asked, "What's the plan for the afternoon?"

Guan Yuanfeng said, "Finished the inspection today. I have a meeting in the afternoon."

Zhou Yun nodded, and they chatted as they entered the dining hall.

The dining hall was shared by the staff of the military headquarters and the base's administrative officials. It was past the peak dining time, but the canteen was still filled with the aroma of red date and ginger tea.

The senior managers had a separate small dining room. When Zhou Yun entered, he only saw Zhu Zhuan and Qin Sheng. "Where's Qin Mu?"

Zhu Zhuan said, "He went to the herb garden. The snow is heavy, I'm a bit worried, wanted to go check. He said I'm not a psychic, it's dangerous outside now, zombies and mutated beasts will come out, better not to leave the city, let him go."

Zhou Yun nodded, glanced at Zhu Zhuan, thinking in his heart that the animal experiments were basically done, now it's winter, less work... seems like we could consider the matter of crystal core transplantation.

He had two candidates in mind: Zhu Zhuan and Jiang Rongqian, both of whom were naturally in good physical condition. However, Jiang Rongqian was married with children, and the experiment required the consent of his family. Considering confidentiality, the best candidate was still Zhu Zhuan.

But they would start with Ge Chen first. After half a year of recuperation and strictly avoiding the use of his psychic abilities, his body was no longer as weak as it had been. They could consider removing his current crystal core and immediately transplanting a water crystal core of the same attribute.

He fell into deep thought, but Qin Sheng, oblivious, blurted out urgently, "Team Guan, Dr. Zhou, I don't want to be the head of the Psychic Management Department. It's too troublesome."

Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow slightly, "What's the matter?" The Psychic Management Department was set up under the Public Service Department, mainly managing all the psychics in the city, registering them, and providing long-term or temporary work tasks.

Qin Sheng said irritably, "Every day, people come to me demanding special treatment for psychics or complaining that psychic tasks are too hard and the rewards too small. All these trivial matters end up on my desk, and it's driving me nuts. I'm not cut out for this management stuff. Let me work under General Guan instead! Or even Brother Shen Lan—wouldn't that work?"

Zhou Yun smiled, "Didn't your brother teach you a few tricks?"

Qin Sheng said, "My brother told me to be decisive and beat those who don't obey into submission. It sounds like a joke, but he's so busy, he doesn't have time for me." He added sourly, "When he's busy, he disappears for days. Zhu Zhu probably sees him more than I do."

Zhu Zhuan couldn't help but laugh.

Guan Yuanfeng said, "Exactly, that's the way."

Qin Sheng: "..."

Zhou Yun advised him, "Let the lower-level staff handle daily affairs according to the rules. If anyone challenges you, just beat them out. Among psychics, strength is everything. If your fists are strong, you're in the right. Those who don't fall in line can get out of Guixu City."

Qin Sheng: "..."

He stared at Zhu Zhuan in shock, "Wait... don't you guys always go on about building a civilized base or something..."

Everyone laughed.

Zhu Zhuan said tactfully, "Building a civilized base is important, but sometimes you need a firm hand."

Qin Sheng looked to Zhou Yun for help, "I'm not cut out for this bureaucratic stuff. Let me switch roles. I think it would be great if Shen Lan took over this role. I'll just go work under my brother!"

Zhou Yun said, "Give it a shot. You'll be fine." In his past life, he was the renowned ruler of Beiming City.

Qin Sheng visibly wilted.

The cafeteria lunch was neither great nor terrible—just average. After lunch, Zhou Yun headed straight to the lab. That afternoon, he met Luo Zhongyu, hashed out some ideas, and finalized the experiment. The venue and funding were secured, crystal cores were provided, and he was tasked with submitting a personnel list and a detailed plan.

After everything was settled, he discussed with Yao Lao. Winter was less prone to infections, and with some free time finally available, they could proceed with Ge Chen's surgery. He first had Qi Shuhong give Ge Chen a full physical to check all his vitals.

Once everything was set, he headed back to Yunding Mountain Villa. As he stepped into the villa, the aroma of lamb soup hit him.

Comet dashed over and circled his feet. Zhou Yun grinned and patted its head, "Tired from today's patrol, huh?"

In the kitchen, Guan Yuanfeng was serving up the lamb soup. Zhou Yun noticed sugarcane in the soup and was surprised, "Where’d you get that?"

Guan Yuanfeng said, "On today's patrol, I spotted someone selling sugarcane on the roadside, so I had some bought. They said it goes well in lamb soup."

Zhou Yun smiled, "That's true. Tossing in some water chestnuts would make it even better... though this is usually a summer dish. Now that it's the apocalypse, the weather's gone haywire."

Guan Yuanfeng nodded, "Yes, the sugarcane seller said it suddenly snowed, so he had to harvest quickly and sell it off. Quite a few people bought it."

Zhou Yun nodded, "The sugar factory will buy it, but the price might not be satisfactory since this variety isn't specifically for sugar production. By selling it like this, he can probably get a higher price than selling to the factory."

He picked up a spoon and took a sip, "Your cooking skills have improved."

Guan Yuanfeng asked, "Really?"

Zhou Yun asked him, "Haven't you tasted it?"

Guan Yuanfeng said, "I asked Kexin, the chef, for the recipe. She looked it up on the spot, so I'm not sure how reliable it is. It tastes fine to me, but it feels like it's missing the rich flavor of lamb—it's a bit too light."

Zhou Yun replied, "It's a different way of doing it." It was quite to his taste. As he sipped the soup, he slowly discussed with Guan Yuanfeng the plan to perform surgery on Ge Chen: "First, we need to see how his physical condition is. His body was damaged by drugs before, so we can't rush into surgery recklessly."

Guan Yuanfeng was somewhat pleased: "As long as there's a chance to save him, that's good."

Zhou Yun said, "I can't say it's a hundred percent certain. Given his physical condition, it might only be eighty percent, but there's no life-threatening risk. It's just that the psychic core transplant might not succeed." If the transplant fails, it can always be removed later. After all, he has now fused with psychic ginseng, which significantly increases the safety of the surgery.

Guan Yuanfeng looked at him curiously: "How confident were you when you took the risk to perform surgery on me back then?"

Zhou Yun smiled without answering. He already knew the outcome before operating, so it was a sure thing. If fire crystal cores could be successfully transplanted, there was no reason why compatible attributes wouldn't work. He couldn't possibly be worse than those incompetents at the Psychic Research Institute.

His thoughts quickly shifted: "It's getting cold—time to give the Psychic Research Institute some trouble. Might as well stir up some trouble."