Once the third outer wall is completed, the plan is to build a landing highway for cargo planes, which would greatly improve the mobility of resources. The construction of departmental buildings also has to be considered, as hundreds of survivors are expected to be transferred there. Lastly, the central zone of the base must be completely rebuilt.
This is because the central area must become a complex command zone that can communicate with all the bases within their domain. With this, the second walled area will be responsible for carefully constructing housing for thousands of people while also creating hundreds of greenhouses.
Finally, the third immense wall—covering a vast area of land—must be developed for crop cultivation. As many crops as possible are needed to sustain the organization's food supply, ensuring higher food productivity.
An increase in residential buildings is also necessary. The central base is currently at full capacity. Therefore, in the coming days, at least five hundred people will be transferred to be trained by Sam Valdez as soldiers.
It is also planned to relocate certain zones outside the walls—such as livestock pens, barns, greenhouses, and less important car garages—and use the original areas to build more dormitories to accommodate additional survivors.
An important point is that the interior of the base will not be moved for now, and the new dormitories will be built directly outside, where the new survivors will be placed.
However, after careful consideration, Jason felt this wasn't a good idea. First of all, livestock were susceptible to certain diseases, some of which could even threaten humans—so moving the animals outside was the best choice for now.
And people have thoughts—if livestock are raised inside the walls while others are forced to live outside, it would be easy for them to start thinking there are social classes divided by the base's walls.
Then there's the issue of sustainable development. In this regard, some long-term factors need to be considered—for example, energy. Everyone knows that although gasoline can be stored longer than expected, one day it will deteriorate and lose quality. When that happens, the base's energy supply will be affected. Therefore, solar panels must be increased.
Everything else is fine—the most important thing is the laboratory, which must never lose power.
As for weapons and ammunition, it's obvious that the CRM and the Federation already have the capacity to manufacture their own, and this issue must be resolved as soon as possible—at least in the central base.
There are factories and millions of rounds that have been collected from all the military bases in Atlanta, so a weapons factory must be built at the central base.
There's also the matter of infrastructure—more water wells, more agricultural facilities. They have a large amount of livestock, which should be utilized as soon as possible—not only for food. Short distances can be traveled on horseback, farmland can use draft animals, and chickens and ducks can be released after a fenced area is built.
In any case, the goal is to create a self-sufficient ecosystem—a beautiful and ideal place that will gradually become a stable, sustainable post-apocalyptic city. Only by laying a solid foundation can they advance toward a greater goal beyond the states.
To create such an ecosystem, it's inevitable that some detailed problems must be solved—such as the base's circulation system.
Minor aspects like human and livestock waste, household garbage, minor illnesses, and even summer mosquitoes must all be addressed.
The smaller the detail, the easier it is for it to cause big problems. Time is needed to solve these issues, which involves building many facilities—such as septic tanks, waste collection systems, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing plants, and more.
As for the larger aspects, there are even more things to consider—like the water cycle. This water cycle isn't nature's, but the base's own system. As everyone knows, well water can be used directly, and the surrounding soil acts as an excellent natural filter.
However, not all the water currently used in the base comes from wells. There's a small stream next to the base, which also serves as the moat. Water had always been drawn from the moat before, so establishing a filtration system and building a water tower within the base must now be added to the agenda to make daily water use more convenient.
Of course, there are other aspects that must be improved over time—these will only continue to enhance the base's performance.
The last thing to mention are Jason's strange ideas—one of which involves using the greatest resource available today:
The undead!
That's right—the undead.
In the original history, almost all communities regarded the undead as a scourge to be avoided at all costs. But Jason believed that if used properly, the living corpse was actually the greatest resource of the apocalypse.
Walkers had three advantages: manpower, biogas, and compost.
It was hard to imagine why everyone abandoned such an important resource.
As a sort of perpetual-motion machine, walkers could be used for heavy labor—even for generating electricity. All that was needed was to attach some gears or pulleys.
Cut off the corpse's arm, remove its teeth, hang a bell in front of it, and—like a mule pulling a millstone—it could provide endless benefit.
Biogas was also a very good renewable energy source. Since walkers would eventually rot, microorganisms already played an important role in their decomposition. If they were dismembered and thrown into a biodigester, clean energy could be produced.
If biogas could be produced, then composting was naturally possible. Of course, some people had already been composting for a long time—now it was just a matter of increasing the scale.
Everyone read through the materials seriously, sometimes exclaiming, sometimes marveling. The originally tedious plan now looked like a fascinating novel, and they were all deeply intrigued.
But they also understood why their commander had looked so troubled when he walked in. There was so much to do—it was no wonder he seemed burdened.
Still, it was all for the base—for making everyone's lives better, no matter how hard it would be.
Seeing that everyone had basically finished reading, Jason straightened up.
"Since you've mostly gone through the contents of those files, I want to hear your opinions."
After some negotiations, a detailed development direction was drawn up. Seeing everyone in high spirits, Jason struck the table lightly.
"All right, these are the tentative plans for the next large-scale development phase. We'll improve as we go. Tasks have been assigned—everyone will be busy starting tomorrow."
People responded one after another, though one person hesitated to speak.
Just as Jason was about to point at him, he spoke again.
"All right, I have to head out tomorrow. Daryl, gather two people to go with me. Negan, T-Dog—you two are coming as well. That's it. Let's have dinner together tonight. We'll hold the welcome party here at the base."
"Wow!"
The crowd dispersed, and a small stage had already been set up in the outer plaza, along with several grills.
Food was no longer scarce at the base, though not abundant enough to make wine—but the reserves were large. Members of the group had scavenged all kinds of liquor from corners of the city, enough for the people in the base to indulge for a while.
However, the base's regulations were strict during normal hours—drinking was not allowed to interfere with work, and it was strictly forbidden for those going on missions.
Only on occasions like today could they enjoy a proper drink—but even then, it wasn't wise to look at Guillermo's expression too closely.
Several musical instruments were placed on the stage, and some team members even brought out a piano from one of the rooms.
When everyone entered the courtyard, night had already fallen. The yard was surrounded by thousands of people—even the surrounding walls were packed.
It was the first time newcomers like Ezekiel had seen such a large-scale event at the base, and the scene left them stunned.
Their original team had only around a hundred people under Arturo, and Negan's group had barely more than twenty.
Now everyone believed there were easily over twenty thousand survivors.
It had been a very long time since any of them had seen thousands of people gathered together in one place.