Chapter 183: New Arrangements
“Sir.”
Inside the conference room, several of the camp’s main leaders were respectfully bowing to Zhou Ming in greeting.
“Sit.”
His tone was calm and emotionless. Seeing the change in Zhou Ming, everyone felt an indistinct sense of unease in their hearts.
It was as if a bloodthirsty, ruthless giant python were coiled beside them, instinctively causing an inexplicable sense of dread.
Among the group, only Li Hu, Li Bao, and Qiu Tieyi sat down without hesitation after hearing the order.
Seeing this, the others also followed suit and sat down.
As for Zhou Ming’s change, among everyone present, only Su Ningfeng seemed to have guessed the reason.
However, after carefully observing in secret, he slowly let out a sigh of relief. The other party’s coldness only remained on the surface.
If Zhou Ming were truly like those people he had seen before, who regarded human lives as livestock or materials, then Su Ningfeng would have had to worry about how he and his daughter would survive in the camp in the future.
“Regarding the incident involving the external operations squad, I already know about it. It should be that our recent actions touched the interests of certain people. When the Internal Affairs Department next receives supplies provided by the base, have our collaborators help collect intelligence on the forces around the base.”
“The matter of absorbing the Wildfolk will be put on hold for now. Priority should be given to developing the camp’s strength first, otherwise this kind of thing will happen again.”
As for the attack on the external operations squad, Zhou Ming did not rush to seek revenge, planning instead to first clarify the situation.
If the opponent was weak, he would retaliate. If the opponent was strong, he would endure for the time being.
Zhou Ming would not act rashly for the sake of so-called face without understanding the other party’s background.
“Yes.”
Lin Hai and Lu Tao responded in unison after hearing Zhou Ming’s arrangements.
“First, talk about the changes in the camp over the past half year.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the head of the camp’s Internal Affairs Department, Lu Tao immediately began introducing the changes over the past half year one by one.
“Reporting to you, sir, the camp’s current population has already exceeded one thousand…”
As Lu Tao gave a detailed account of various data changes, Zhou Ming gained a clearer understanding of the camp under his control.
After that came the reports from Lin Hai, Qiu Tieyi, and the others.
An hour later, everyone’s reports finally ended.
After briefly pondering the information provided by everyone, Zhou Ming issued the following orders.
The External Affairs Department’s external operations squads were to have their organization disrupted and restructured into three hunting battalions and one special operations squad.
Each hunting battalion would have one hundred people, divided into three companies, with each company further divided into three squads.
Each battalion commander would be assigned two deputies, and each company commander one deputy.
The special operations squad would remain at thirty people, with one captain and three squad leaders.
Personnel would be strictly selected from the hunting battalions, regarded as reserve members of the Snake Guards. Whether in firearms shooting or martial arts and other aspects, they had to meet the requirements proposed by Zhou Ming.
Then there was the inspection office responsible for discipline within the camp. Originally under the management of the Internal Affairs Department, it would now be independently established as the Inspection Department, responsible for punishing those who did not follow the rules.
After all, with the camp growing larger, there would always be people harboring petty schemes. Moreover, without rules, there could be no order—this was the most basic requirement of any force.
Zhou Ming assigned Li Bao to be in charge of the Inspection Department. Since the other party had accepted his bloodline modification, Zhou Ming was not overly concerned about loyalty.
As for the Training Department and the Research Department, Zhou Ming also made some adjustments.
For the former, with Li Bao no longer present, he needed to recommend a deputy with solid firearms shooting skills to assist Qiu Tieyi.
For the latter, among the absorbed Wildfolk, several research talents had been discovered. Although they were still inferior to Su Ningfeng, serving as assistants would be no problem, such as teaching the children within the camp.
Taking advantage of the incident involving the external operations squad being attacked, Zhou Ming temporarily put aside his own research. Besides planning to relax his mood, he also used this opportunity to simply handle the camp’s affairs.
Although he usually acted as a hands-off leader, the general direction of the camp’s development still needed to be controlled by him.
After handling all matters, Zhou Ming only kept the Su father and daughter, instructing the others to withdraw for the time being.
“Sir, this is the genetic structure diagram of the Ironthread Snake. With the materials you previously provided, one-third has now been completed. The remaining parts have many difficult points, so progress has slowed somewhat.”
After everyone left, Su Ningfeng handed a thick document envelope to Zhou Ming.
Zhou Ming attached great importance to this matter, which was also the reason he kept Su Ningfeng behind.
After Inkband, Vermilion Jade, and Silver Scale evolved into high-tier Ferocious Beasts, their strength did not continue to increase after using resources.
For this abnormal situation, Zhou Ming naturally conducted specialized research.
The bloodline potential of the Ironthread Snake was limited. Under normal circumstances, it could at most evolve into an ordinary low-tier Ferocious Beast—this was the limit of the Ironthread Snake’s evolution.
The reason Inkband and the others could evolve into high-tier Ferocious Beasts was mainly due to several factors: Zhou Ming’s spiritual power feedback, secondary mutations, their experience in the experimental plan involving Star-glow Spirit Liquid in Snake Valley, and the assistance of various resources.
Other Beast Knights or Shepherds mostly began with low-tier Ferocious Beasts. Cultivating or excavating the potential of their Beast Taming bloodlines was much easier.
In fact, many methods for cultivating Ferocious Beasts had already formed complete systems over the hundreds of years of Alliance history.
This was also why many Beast Tamers controlled the same types of Ferocious Beasts—because selecting a Beast Taming partner itself was a field of study, and was a mandatory basic course upon entering Beast Taming universities.
Whether it matched the profession to be chosen in the future, whether the difficulty of cultivating the Ferocious Beast was high, how strong its bloodline potential was…
Being a Beast Tamer was not as simple as casually implanting a spiritual seed into a Ferocious Beast’s spiritual consciousness.
It had gradually developed into a complete academic discipline.
This was also why Beast Tamers from Beast Taming universities had a higher success rate during class advancement compared to wild Beast Tamers.
However, Zhou Ming’s situation was special. Improving the strength of his Ferocious Beasts was not that easy.
If he wanted his Ironthread Snake swarm to continue improving in strength, artificial induction of mutation and bloodline fusion were indispensable—and both required the genetic structure diagram of the Ironthread Snake.
“The remaining one-third must be completed within next year, no matter what difficulties there are.”
“If you lack any resources, bring it up. I will find a way to resolve it.”
After learning about the progress of the Ironthread Snake genetic structure research, Zhou Ming immediately issued a strict order to Su Ningfeng.
“Yes, sir. I will definitely complete this task.”
Seeing the changes in Zhou Ming, Su Ningfeng gained a deeper understanding of him and naturally would not attempt to bargain.
“Mm. Su Mei, how is the progress of Mu Ye and Ding Mowen, the two you are teaching?”
Mu Ye and Ding Mowen were the two boys previously discovered to have Beast Taming talent.
In the wilderness, with no resources and no dedicated instructors, being able to sense the Spiritual Sea relying only on the widely circulated Basic Meditation Technique was enough to demonstrate their talent in Beast Taming.
It could be said that they had undergone the wilderness’s selection. Zhou Ming naturally valued them highly, which was why he had the already-advanced Apprentice Beast Tamer Su Mei personally teach them.
Although she herself had not received systematic Beast Taming education, her father had taught her all the knowledge he once learned. Coupled with her own experience in condensing a spiritual seed and the basic Beast Taming books provided by Zhou Ming, this was why Su Mei was assigned to teach the two.
“Sir, at the latest, they will condense their spiritual seeds and advance to Apprentice Beast Tamers within next year.”
“That’s good. If any Ferocious Beasts are needed, have Li Hu cooperate in capturing them.”
“Yes.”
After understanding the progress of the Ironthread Snake genetic structure diagram and Mu Ye’s group, Zhou Ming finally allowed the Su father and daughter to withdraw.
As for Zhou Ming himself, he did not plan to return to the lakeside pavilion.
In the dark underground, engaging in various dark experiments for a long time, he had also sensed changes in his own mentality. He planned to relax his spirit and prepare to explore the cave.