There was no need for excessive pleasantries with Zhao Kai. Zhao Kai, to some extent, understood Lu Heng, so their conversation was quite direct.
Lu Heng gave Zhao Kai a few more instructions, urging him to quickly arrange for his men to upgrade. He pointed out that once the army from Nameless City officially began its sweeps outside, the surrounding zombie crystals would be inaccessible to other survivors.
Without crystals, ability users could not upgrade. Venturing further from the base to kill zombies was impractical for them given their current combat capabilities.
"I've said all I need to. I can guarantee that people from Nameless City will not be clearing zombies in Pingcheng for the time being. You'd best hurry and arrange for the survivors within the city to sweep through."
"It's very kind of you, Mr. Lu, to look out for our Pingcheng. However, I've also heard from the soldiers below that when people from your Nameless City arrived, some of them could collect large quantities of supplies, much like how you produced those attribute-enhancing weapons out of thin air before."
Zhao Kai's face flushed red as he rubbed his hands together. He had only witnessed Lu Heng storing and retrieving items before, and they still hadn't figured out how he managed it.
But yesterday, someone had reported seeing ability users from Lu Heng's group also achieving this feat.
"This is a storage ring. Given our rather pleasant cooperation, I'll gift this to you. However, it requires a blood pact. Only after the contracted master dies can the ring be used by someone else. You'll need to think carefully about who to give it to."
Lu Heng's palm suddenly produced an ancient-looking ring, which he presented to Zhao Kai.
"This... those without a contract can't see it?"
"That's correct. However, there's also a type that anyone can use. That's called a storage pouch."
"Then, are these sold in Nameless City?"
Seeing Lu Heng's demeanor, giving them only one, while it was a gift, such a valuable item felt inappropriate to entrust to any single person. Yet, keeping it for himself meant he couldn't go out and collect supplies, which felt wasteful.
"They are not for sale yet. These items are not easily obtained. In Nameless City, only those of the rank of squad leader or higher are equipped with them."
"Then could you spare a few to sell to Pingcheng? If these things can truly store supplies, it would make our excursions outside much safer."
Previously, when venturing out for supplies, they couldn't carry much due to the constant threat of zombie attacks. Lugging so many items made it difficult for them to fight zombies.
"But we don't lack any supplies at the moment. What will you trade for them?" Lu Heng asked, looking at Zhao Kai.
"How about we give up on those two planes you were interested in? They aren't very convenient for collecting supplies outside anyway. Would trading the planes be acceptable?" Zhao Kai asked hesitantly.
"Alright then. But don't let this get out. I'm only trading them to you because Pingcheng has been friendly with me."
"Yes, yes, of course. Then, how many can we get for those two transport planes?" Zhao Kai asked, a hint of excitement and joy in his gaze.
Those planes were of little use to them here. With the base's gasoline reserves dwindling, the planes would become increasingly worthless without fuel.
Reading Zhao Kai's thoughts, Lu Heng smiled wryly, "I'll give you two more storage rings and one storage pouch."
"Okay, okay, I'll arrange for people to deliver the planes to you right away," Zhao Kai agreed enthusiastically.
"No need. I'll take the planes with me shortly. Just arrange for the pilots to go to Nameless City."
"You brought pilots with you?" Zhao Kai assumed Lu Heng had brought his own pilots, but he hadn't heard any news of anyone else entering the Pingcheng base.
Since the night before last, the Pingcheng base had not reopened its gates. After dealing with the zombie attack, they had focused on recovery and rest within the city.
"No, I know magic, so taking a few planes is no trouble," Lu Heng said with a smile, waving his hand. The two large transport planes on the tarmac vanished.
"This..." Although he had seen Lu Heng move grain from other granaries into the base before, Zhao Kai was still somewhat astonished to see two such large planes disappear entirely.
"Give me those planes of yours that are missing parts and cannot fly, and I'll give you two more storage pouches. Those can be traded and are more convenient for people to carry when going out."
"Good... good," Zhao Kai nodded mechanically. "Are you taking those planes today as well?"
"Yes. Let's go. Where did you put those ones?" The planes on this tarmac were all airworthy.
"They're all parked in the courtyard next door," Zhao Kai pointed in a direction and led Lu Heng over.
Under the watchful eyes of Zhao Kai and the others, Lu Heng effortlessly collected all the aircraft that matched the two transport planes into his spatial storage.
Looking at the now emptier tarmac, Zhao Kai and the others exchanged bewildered glances.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed that Lu Heng could take away so many items. If these were stored somewhere, they wouldn't be piled haphazardly, but parking them all without obstructing anything would take up considerable space.
"Um, I wanted to ask, can the storage ring you gave us hold this much?"
"More or less. Mine can hold more, but don't worry. You can just unload the contents of each storage ring back at the base after you return. Oh, and one more thing I almost forgot to tell you: these storage rings cannot store living creatures, and items with expiration dates, like some meats, will be preserved inside."
"So, it's like a mobile refrigerator?" an official who had been following along couldn't help but mutter.
"Essentially," Lu Heng agreed with a nod.
Satisfied, Lu Heng left Pingcheng and then visited Longcheng. Both were bases established by the military before the apocalypse, so they were bound to have many large transport planes.
As expected, Lu Heng was not disappointed. At the aircraft parking area in Longcheng, he saw many military transport planes.
"I need to borrow these planes. Please arrange for the aircrews who can operate them and send them to Nameless City tomorrow."
"You're borrowing all of these? Have you discovered some new supplies?"
It had to be said that Lin Zhongshan, having experienced the business world, had a much quicker mind than most.
"No. If we were to load up that many planes with supplies, do you think we could even bring them back?"
Putting aside the carrying capacity of these military transport planes, landing them required specific requirements; not just any location was suitable for takeoff and landing.
Furthermore, the noise generated by these machines was too great, making them more likely to attract zombies. It would be difficult for survivors carrying large quantities of supplies to safely return to the aircraft.