The engineers and workers snapped salutes, immediately dispersing to begin fortifying Reliance Smart Supermarket.
Sandeep watched them go. "What's next, boss?"
Advik Bhardwaj stared at the horizon, where the ruins of the city loomed.
"Next? We expand. This is only the beginning."
Advik Bhardwaj stood on the rooftop of Reliance Smart Supermarket, overlooking the vast ruins of New Delhi. His arms were crossed, his mind working through the possibilities. The fortifications of Reliance Smart Supermarket were progressing ahead of schedule, and the place was shaping up to be a near-impenetrable fortress—but something was bothering him.
Reliance Smart Supermarket was good, but it wasn't enough.
Sandeep stood beside him, looking out at the landscape. "You look like you're planning something big again," he remarked.
Advik Bhardwaj didn't respond immediately. He was studying the Main Road to Delhi, a wide thoroughfare that ran parallel to the CDR Chowk Bay. On the other side of the Main Road, the entirety of the V3S Mall Complex stretched before them.
It suddenly clicked in Advik Bhardwaj's mind.
"This entire area… it's free real estate," he said.
Sandeep raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Advik Bhardwaj gestured toward the V3S Mall Complex. "The Leela Palace Hotel is part of a much larger compound. We're talking about an entire city within a city—multiple buildings, a massive mall, parking lots, storage depots, an IKEA, even call center hubs that were fully stocked with survival gear before everything fell apart."
Sandeep's eyes widened as he followed Advik Bhardwaj's logic. "So, if we fortify the this entire place…"
"…we effectively turn V3S Mall into a massive safe zone," Advik Bhardwaj finished. "The entire complex is bordered by water, just like a medieval fortress with a moat. If we block off Main Road, we can cut off all zombie threats from the mainland."
Sandeep let out a low whistle. "That's… genius. But it's a massive undertaking."
Advik Bhardwaj smirked. "Massive, yes. Impossible? No."
He pulled out his tablet, quickly opening the system map overlay. He zoomed in on Main Road of Delhi and CDX Chowk Bay marked key locations for barriers, defense points, and checkpoints.
"We're going to establish a fortified wall along the Main Road," Advik Bhardwaj explained. "That's step one. If we can block all access points leading into V3S Mall, we control everything within the perimeter."
Sandeep scanned the map and noticed something. "Sir…I don't think that by blocking the Main Road the V3S Mall complex would be secure. There is still a Main Road cutting through it."
He paused as he pointed on that Main Road. Advik Bhardwaj followed Sandeep's finger tracing along the line and nodded.
"The CDX Chowk Bay in Main Road. I didn't see that, nice catch," Advik Bhardwaj said, chuckling.
"Well sir if we are going to expand, we should expand beyond the V3S Mall Complex. Because there are two other huge facilities on either side of the complex."
Sandeep then pointed to the map again. "Let's take the V3S Mall Complex as the center of the base. On its eastern sector, there are Connaught Palace, Lotus Tower Complex, Lodhi Garden, et cetera. And in the western sector, there's JW Marriott Resort, Radisson Blu Hotel, and other high-end hotels. And I suggest that we extend the perimeter from the Main Road to Delhi to Main Road to Chhatarpur, that way we can get as many territories as we can without sacrificing much on safety."
As expected from real special forces, they really do think strategically and tactically. Sandeep's suggestion wasn't just ambitious—it was a game-changer.
Advik Bhardwaj studied the map carefully, tracing the boundaries of their proposed stronghold.
"If we do this right," Advik Bhardwaj said, his voice steady, "we'll control one of the largest defensible zones in CDX Chowk Bay. This isn'tjust about survival anymore. This is about taking the city back—turning this wasteland into a functioning civilization again."
Sandeep nodded. "So what's the plan, boss?"
"Well…we are going to take them one by one," Advik Bhardwaj said. "If we are to calculate the entire area where the eastern and western sector is accounted for. We are looking at over eleven million square meters of land. That is a huge chunk of land and by the number of our forces. I don't think we can really clear every zombie in the area if we are to take them all together."
"I follow you boss," Sandeep acknowledgedAdvik Bhardwaj's words. "So we are going to focus on the V3S Mall complex first?" he asked as he looked at him.
"I just realized something," Advik Bhardwaj said. "I think taking Reliance Smart Supermarket was a blunder on our part. We shouldn't really go to this supermarket when there is already a treasure trove near the Leela Palace Hotel. I'm sorry, I don't know the layout of the city. I should have studied the area surrounding our base before making such decisions."
"Don't be too hard on yourself sir," Sandeep replied, patting him on the back. "We all make mistakes sometimes. Let's not low our efforts here. Taking Reliance Smart Supermarket is still a huge success."
"I know—but I already deployed all the military hardwares in this supermarket. It's not like we can transport them from this location to V3S Mall Complex. All major roads leading to that complex is blocked by abandoned traffic—"
"Then why not put them into your inventory sir?" Sandeep suggested.
Advik Bhardwaj blinked. Sandeep's suggestion was so simple yet so perfect.
"You're right," Advik Bhardwaj said, opening the System Interface. "I can just put the vehicles back into the inventory and redeploy them at V3S Mall Complex."
Without wasting any time, he navigated to the Asset Management Tab, selecting every vehicle and heavy defense system stationed at Reliance Smart Supermarket.
[System Notification]
4 x M2 Bradley IFVs returned to inventory.
4 x BMP-3 IFVs returned to inventory.
2 x M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams Tanks returned to inventory.
3 x Avenger Anti-Aircraft Systems returned to inventory.
8 x JLTV Oshkosh returned to inventory.
1 x Industrial Diesel Generators returned to inventory.
30 x Barrels of Diesel Fuel returned to inventory.
200 x Solar Panels returned to inventory
Battery storage units returned to inventory
One by one, the military hardware disappeared in a blue glow, stored safely in Advik Bhardwaj's System Inventory.