Doomsday America

Chapter 165 New Logistics System

Hundreds of meters away, Joanna was thrown to the ground and untied from her ropes, but she continued to struggle violently.

Gavin's family has a tradition of using cowboy rope. Gavin's father prefers Manila hemp rope, which, although it softens and becomes heavier after being soaked in water, does not hurt the hands during normal use.

In comparison, polyethylene is stiffer, and although Kevlar rope is used in professional sports and is more expensive, it can easily cut the hands of novice cowboys.

Another characteristic of Manila hemp rope is its greater friction.

Although this type of rope does not chafe the hands, the friction between the ropes is much greater than that of Kevlar ropes used in competitions.

Although the knots have been untied, it will take the Bloodseeker quite some time to break free of Gavin's complicated bindings without any sense of reason.

Gavin and Joanna weren't in a hurry. They just sat on the horse, smoking, waiting for Joanna to break free on her own.

At first, when Joanna tried to break free, her eyes and face were turned in the direction the two had left.

Although Gavin and his companion quickly changed direction after moving away from the Bloodseeker's perception range.

But even if they didn't change direction, the Bloodseekers seemed to lose track of them before long.

Just like ordinary zombies can lose their sense of direction by bumping into trees or other obstacles.

After struggling with the rope for a while, Joanna no longer turned her face to the original position, but instead, as if she had forgotten about Gavin and the other person, she kept her head down and continued to deal with the rope.

After struggling for more than two minutes, Gavin and his companion's cigarettes had burned down to half their final length.

Joanna finally managed to free herself from the ropes and stand up.

Seeing this, Gavin quickly kept a close eye on her. Joanna got up and frantically turned her head to look around, like an owl searching for its prey.

After turning her head for more than a minute, Joanna finally took action.

She first bent over, her face contorted as she swayed her body, then stumbled and walked to the left.

After bumping into the stable wall, Joanna changed direction and continued her crooked walk along the wall.

Seeing this, Gavin shook his head regretfully.

"This doesn't look like it's targeted at anything. I was wrong. Bloodseekers shouldn't have the ability to find other zombie hordes."

Gavin calmly began his narration.

"Although I don't yet know what logic the Bloodseeker uses to move back and forth between its prey and its own horde of corpses."

"But whatever the reason, it should not exceed the scope of the five senses."

"Even if there are some parts that stand out from the biological ones, those parts should more likely originate from the mycelial network created by fungi."

“Even whales and elephants, which transmit information over relatively long distances, rely on sound waves for long-distance communication, and the logic of blood hunters may be the same.”

Gavin shook his head at this point.

Steve, who was listening nearby, seemed to understand but not quite, so he simply asked Gavin a question.

"Boss, so Joanna is useless now?"

"It seems so."

Gavin nodded, then pointed to Joanna, who was slowly pacing in the distance, completely disoriented and bumping around aimlessly in the stable, and began to explain.

"Joanna is now like an ordinary zombie, without any goals."

"Next, we'll approach her again and see how she reacts."

"If she still chooses to run away from us after seeing us, then there's a new possibility for her. We need to follow her for a while to find out what she'll lead us to."

"But if she sees us today and instead of running away, she chases after us like a normal hunter."

At this point, Gavin patted his hammer and sighed.

"Then we can send our old friend to rest in peace!"

"I see."

Upon hearing this, Steve nodded emphatically.

Then, he controlled Anne the White Horse to follow Octavian's steps and slowly walked towards Joanna.

When Gavin approached Joanna to within about 120 meters, Joanna still had her back to them and continued to fight against the fence blocking her way.

Seeing this, Gavin had already taken out the hammer.

After weighing the hammer in his hand for a few moments, Gavin sighed, then drew his dagger, grabbed it, and jumped off the horse.

Beside him, Steve made the sign of the cross on his chest, then dismounted with Gavin.

step……

One more step...

When the two were only thirty meters behind Joanna, they made no attempt to conceal their footsteps, and Joanna finally noticed them.

Joanna turned around, looked sharply at Gavin, and then charged at him with all her might.

Facing the charging Joanna, Gavin dodged her attack and plunged his knife straight into Joanna's jaw from below.

Gavin stabbed the knife into Joanna's head, pulling it out and pushing the slightly twitching Joanna to the ground. He then plunged the knife into the back of Joanna's head.

Seeing that Joanna had completely quieted down, Gavin took a deep breath and then pointed to the cowboy dormitory not far away.

"Steve, get me a jacket."

"As it should be."

Steve nodded, then found a coat and, along with Gavin, draped it over Joanna's shoulders.

Then, Steve picked up a shovel and pointed to a few brightly colored oak trees at the edge of the horse farm.

"Bury her over there."

"Ah."

Gavin nodded, then picked up Joanna's body and dug a hole next to the oak tree.

After clearing the shallow pit, the two placed Joanna inside and continued filling it with soil.

Once only the grave mound remained under the oak tree, the two stopped what they were doing and silently looked at Joanna's grave.

They said nothing, remained silent for a few minutes, and then rode back to the manor.

Digging the hole and burying the person took more than an hour, and it was almost 10 o'clock by then.

One by one, the men woke up and lay listlessly in the hall to continue resting.

Upon seeing Gavin return, Eugene, rubbing his hangover-induced head, asked Gavin from a distance in the middle of the hall.

"Boss, are we going to Richard Town this afternoon?"

"Damn it, I haven't been drunk for more than ten days, but this time I feel so awful, ugh..."

In the end, Eugene even gagged.

Seeing Eugene dry heaving, Gavin chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey buddy, weren't you going to have a drinking contest with me? Why are you losing now?"

"I remember you didn't drink much last night, did you? Did you drink three bottles of whiskey? No, right?"

"Boss!"

Eugene, suppressing his urge to vomit, said to Gavin with a wry smile.

"I drank a full sixteen glasses of whiskey, three bottles of beer, a large glass of red wine, and two glasses of sparkling wine!"

"And this is just what I can remember; there's probably much more I can't remember!"

"I admit, boss, you can really drink, but I'm not bad at all, God!"

At this point, Eugene quickly picked up his wine glass and took another sip of red wine.

What to do when you're hungover and feeling tipsy?
Of course, I'll have another one to really clear my head!

Doris brought Gavin a drink as well. Gavin glanced at it and saw it was that pale green mint juice again.

Doris has actually noticed that she likes this drink?
Gavin nodded in surprise to Doris, then took the drink and took a sip.

Doris then approached Gavin, rubbing her eyes which were already wet with tears, and said to him apologetically.

"Sorry, Gavin, I overslept, I..."

"It's okay, I'm glad you had a lot of fun last night."

Gavin interrupted Doris's apology, gently patting her on the shoulder to signal her not to take it to heart.

While Gavin was comforting Doris, Li Qing and Thomas suddenly came out of the printing room on the third floor.

Upon seeing the crowd and Gavin in the hall below, Li Qing was slightly taken aback, then quickly called out to Gavin.

"Boss Gavin, Thomas and I have some good news for you!"

"Wait, Li, let's go down and report to the master. Don't make too much noise."

Thomas interrupted Li Qing's shout, and the two then went into the hall, walking through a large group of field explorers who were lying on their sides.

Thomas approached Gavin, took out his phone, showed Gavin the photos he had taken the night before, and pointed at the phone as he spoke to Gavin.

“Sir, I didn’t drink too much last night, so after returning to the manor, Li Qing and I spent some time talking with the astronauts’ families.”

"After hearing about our feat of taking down nearly a thousand zombies in one fell swoop, and the party we had last night, the astronauts are especially envious of our life."

"So, they taught us a few things, like transmitting photos wirelessly. I just sent them three of our photos!"

At this point, Thomas pointed to three photos, and Gavin looked at them and nodded in satisfaction.

Lao Feng wasn't the only one taking photos yesterday; after all, everyone has moments they want to capture.

However, compared to Lao Feng's preference for capturing every wonderful moment, Thomas's photography style... is actually a bit like AFP!
Well, after all, Thomas has some French royal blood in him, so it's normal for his photos to have a darker filter.

In short, while Lao Feng prefers to capture one vivid moment after another of the guys, Thomas prefers to focus on the whole picture.

The first photo he sent to the astronauts was taken from the back of the convoy.

In the scene, several vehicles were parked sideways, with the not-so-neat backs of the field staff, office staff, and a few logistics personnel involved in the operation interspersed among the vehicles.

Gavin, meanwhile, rode atop the handsome Octavian, his gaze fixed firmly on the crowd.

Behind Gavin, in the background of the photo, hordes of zombies are running.

The zombies in the distance and the silhouettes of the crowd in the foreground make Gavin appear like a god.

With the dark empire-themed filter chosen by Thomas, Gavin looked so good he wanted to give a speech in a pub!

As for the other two photos Thomas chose, they were also group photos, one of which showed people standing in front of a pile of corpses listening to Gavin speak.

The last picture is of Gavin defeating Manus in a wood-chopping contest, with the crowd cheering.

This choice is very appropriate, as it allows astronauts to understand the changes in the world, see the strength of the camp, and help relieve their psychological stress.

So Gavin patted Thomas on the shoulder and praised him softly.

"Great shots, Thomas, and the selection is excellent too." "You can take these photos and discuss them with Lao Feng. I gave him some suggestions this morning."

"Besides that, do you remember the suggestion you made to me? I'm very interested in the task board you mentioned. Let's try it out starting this afternoon. Let's implement a task system in the camp and see if it can replace the current division of labor!"

At this point, Gavin patted Thomas on the shoulder.

The current camps do indeed use the most primitive division of labor system, which means that each member's work is directly assigned based on their individual skills.

If you can repair cars, then repair cars; if you can forge iron, then forge iron; if you can weld, then weld; if you can cook, then cook!
While there's nothing inherently wrong with this, in reality, many people don't possess any particular skill or expertise.

Just like Susan, the homebody.

Such people are more difficult to categorize.

In addition, for those who have already been assigned work.

If there's no need to repair cars today, then mechanic Wells will be out of work and will be idle.

In this situation, Gavin either has to assign him work again, or he can only stay idle or have to find work on his own to avoid wasting human resources.

In short, while the division of labor may seem clear, it is not actually suitable for a team that seeks diversity.

Because Gavin alone would never have the energy to assign each person in the team something else to do besides their assigned tasks.

As for the task-based system...

That's quite simple. Thomas suggested that he would summarize the main tasks of the camp for the next day or the following days every night.

Then mark all kinds of tasks on the task board.

Logistics personnel can choose the jobs they like based on the tasks on the task board and the minimum number of people required for each task.

Every day after breakfast, when the logistics staff receive a task, Thomas would give them a task acceptance card in front of the task board.

Logistics personnel with this card can submit their task cards to receive lunch.

At the end of the day, or after a task is completed ahead of schedule, Thomas checks the results and progress of each task to determine the members' work achievements and prepares work completion cards for the employees.

Only after receiving this card are logistics personnel eligible to hand it in to receive dinner.

However, if someone only collects task cards for three consecutive days but fails to obtain completion cards...

Then he'll have to skip meals for a day.

If a member is suspended from eating three times in total.

Then he'll have to be locked up in the basement for three days.

This is the operation that Thomas and Gavin came up with together after Susan appeared!

Susan, this lazy and eccentric girl blooming on a farm in central Texas, truly taught Thomas a lesson from Gavin.

Therefore, after a period of discussion, Gavin and Thomas came up with a reward and punishment system that could barely be used as a transition and to lay the foundation, and that could be used in conjunction with the task-based system.

The core issue is whether Susan has food to eat.

No work, no food – that's the change Susan brought to the camp.

However, there is another problem here. While food is important, given the current situation in the camp, not letting people eat is indeed a punishment, but letting them eat is hardly a reward!
Therefore, Gavin and Thomas also designed an additional reward system, namely a special material application system!
The core of this reward system is each member's need for special supplies!
As for what constitutes special supplies?

To put it another way, since the introduction of reward and punishment systems, many things that were originally in unlimited supply are now gradually becoming limited.

Although Gavin has not restricted the supply of tobacco, alcohol and beverages, most of the other special supplies have been stored in his warehouse.

Bella and Winnie, Gavin's two assistants, were a great help in this regard.

In short, from now on, whenever a logistics member accumulates seven task cards and completion cards, he can submit his request for a specific type of material on the material requisition form.

After he submits his request, both the field staff and the office staff will receive this form.

If someone wants to raise rabbits, the field staff and office staff will go and catch them.

If someone wants a masturbation sleeve or a vibrator.

Field and office staff will also search for them in villages and homes both inside and outside the territory.

There's no need to worry about the logistics department accumulating too many sets of cards, causing headaches for both field and office staff.

Gavin and Thomas also discussed this at length.

On the one hand, the task cards for the day's work in logistics need to be handed in during mealtimes. If they want to accumulate task cards, they must complete at least two short-term tasks in a day.

For example, a certain number of trees must be cut down, or a trench of a certain length must be dug.

Only by working harder can they accumulate task cards.

In addition, will this affect long-term tasks that are continuous and need to be done every day, such as cooking?
No, for daily essentials like cooking, Thomas will randomly give Doris an extra task card from the task set after she finishes her work each day.

In short, at the beginning of the apocalypse, in Gavin's makeshift camp, even gold could not serve as an equivalent to measure the camp's future monetary system.

So what exactly is an equivalent?
It's people!

It's a job that anyone can do!

This is the only thing of value in the apocalypse!

The mission card system is essentially another camp economy system. However, Gavin and Thomas downplayed the value of the cards and emphasized the authority and interpretive power of the administrators.

After this system has been in place for a while, other minor bugs like Susan's will inevitably emerge.

However, in general, the simpler the system, the easier it is to implement and the easier it is for people to get used to it.

Although this set of rules, which mainly targets logistics, is rudimentary, it also has many advantages such as ease of use and transparency.

Gavin felt that this system would work without too many problems as long as the team size was less than 300.

As the number of people increased, Gavin had to start building a real management team and delegating power layer by layer in order to maintain the stability of the camp.

And now...

Seeing that Gavin had finally made his final statement on the implementation of the task system, Thomas smiled with delight and then said to Gavin.

"I understand, sir. I have already meditated and deduced this set of rules and made ample preparations!"

"I'll go make the task board right away. After noon, we'll have a preliminary trial. If there are no problems, we can officially launch it tomorrow!"

"It doesn't have to be this rushed, Thomas. Take care of yourself."

After hearing Thomas's words, Gavin exchanged pleasantries with Thomas, then watched as Thomas, filled with excitement, led Li Qing to the printing room.

Watching the two figures disappear into the distance, flight instructor Sean, rubbing his forehead, asked Gavin a question from the sofa.

"Sir, what rules did that guy mention? What extra rules have we been given?"

"Yeah, boss, I thought you'd tell us guys the rules first!"

Just as Sean finished speaking, Eugene chimed in, chuckling as he teased Gavin.

Hearing Eugene's teasing, Steve took a swig of his drink, then raised his hand and pointed at Eugene a few times in the air.

"Don't be stupid, Red Hair. How could the boss treat us unfairly?"

"That's right, Red Hair. If you follow the boss, I'll have 100% experience. As long as you don't use your brain and just obey, the boss can bring me the championship and prize money."

At the second-floor guard post, Madison also shouted to Eugene.

Upon hearing this, Eugene immediately made an indifferent expression, then looked at Gavin expectantly.

Gavin sat on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and crossed his legs as he spoke.

"That's a new set of rules prepared for logistics. What, are you going to switch to logistics and adapt to the new rules?"

"No, please don't! I've done something stupid, boss, please give me some face!"

Eugene hurriedly waved to Gavin, which earned him a burst of laughter from both the field and office staff.

Amidst the laughter, in the distance, the door to the ward was pushed open, and Arturo, supporting Abel, walked out of the ward!

The scene interrupted the laughter of the crowd, who all looked at the two in surprise.

Abel was seen shuffling along, her face flushed, struggling to walk, and she called out to Gavin from a distance.

"B...BOSS!"

"Haha, well, you actually managed to get out of the room so fast, damn it! Should I congratulate you, Son of the Beach!"

Gavin yelled an insult at Abel, a sound that actually relieved Abel.

Then, supported by his gangmate Arturo, he struggled to reach Gavin.

Gavin glanced at his pajama bottoms, pointed, and continued to berate him.

"Are you sure you can get out like this? What did old Bert say?"

"Damn it, I even suspect you like this, and think this kind of scene can enhance your masculinity?"

"Pfft hahaha!"

"Mazefak Haha~"

"Shit, hahahaha!"

"Boss, you're hilarious, holy crap!"

As soon as Gavin finished speaking, everyone around burst into laughter, which made Abel scratch his head awkwardly.

Arturo helped Abel into the midst of the joke, feeling extremely embarrassed himself, but since he had no hair, he could only scratch the scorpion on his face.

Abel listened nostalgically to the unrestrained laughter around him, a sound that reminded him of his life in the gang.

He actually felt a bit nostalgic.

Bearing these memories with him, Abel smiled wryly and said awkwardly to Gavin.

"Boss, I didn't want this to happen either, but when Dr. Albert treated me, he also circumcised me..."

"Oh my god, my foreskin wasn't long at all, but he's already had it removed, so there's nothing I can do!"

"grass……"

Upon hearing this, Gavin's laughter abruptly stopped.

The laughter around them stopped abruptly, and everyone stared blankly at Abel.

At the same time, Gavin couldn't help but curse.

"What's wrong with Old Bert? He actually has a buy-one-get-one-free deal?"

The hall was instantly filled with laughter once again.

Amidst the laughter of the crowd, in Richard's town...