GBP Chapter 40, First Mission (2)
Chapter 40, First Mission (2)
The walkie-talkies at the command center were always on, and Qin Yuan and the other seven could hear the conversation from the trading market. Anyone could tell that all of this was a lie.
Wang Qiang knew this in his heart, but he really couldn't dismiss so many people at once. Moreover, because Qin Yuan and the others were suspected of carrying the bacteria, the survivors were hoping that they would never come back. In fact, when he approved this mission, he had this thought in mind to some extent.
After all, this is a time of crisis, and he needs to personally handle everything big and small in the base. When the defensive wall was being built, he had been constantly urging progress in the early stages, but it was still very slow. Later, because Beijing issued a prevention and control warning, he personally led all the cadres and staff to the front line, which accelerated the construction of the defensive wall and allowed those who wanted to slack off to have a good opportunity to do their thing.
But he simply didn't have that much energy left. As the commander of a city-level security base, he had only slept for less than six hours in the four days of the virus rain. Sometimes he really wanted to give up.
Although he now realizes he made a mistake and almost lost two excellent supply team leaders, what can he do now? The provincial command won't care about them, and he can't find a reliable assistant in the municipal command. He's in a difficult situation.
The matter ended with Wang Qiang dismissing Li Jun from his post via walkie-talkie. It was fine to lose Li Jun, but not everyone involved could be dismissed, since the base still needed to operate.
Qin Yuan and Lin Yun were still angry after hearing this, but there was nothing they could do.
The seven of them ate some compressed biscuits and water in the truck, making do with a simple lunch. To ensure that no supplies were wasted, they drove the truck around the entire market and finally determined that this supposedly beneficial project was a joke.
Since they were already outside, none of the seven wanted to go back to the base anytime soon. Besides, if Qin Yuan and Lin Yun went back to the base without finding anything, they would probably be even more looked down upon.
So, on Gu Nanfeng's suggestion, Qin Yuan and Lin Yun drove to the gas stations they had encountered along the way. Gas stations usually have convenience stores and fuel depots, so they could at least get some food and gasoline from the convenience store to take back, which could be considered as completing a supplies scavenging mission.
Lu Yuan exchanged glances with his four partners. If they couldn't get supplies from the gas station either, since they had been taken care of by Qin Yuan at the base for the past few days, they would find a secluded place and he would give Qin Yuan and Lin Yun some supplies so they wouldn't be looked down upon when they returned.
The other four silently agreed, and so they ate the mints Lu Yuan gave them, getting jostled all the way to the last gas station they saw on the road.
They arrived at the gas station in a few minutes. Qin Yuan drove around for a while but didn't find any zombies. Lu Yuan found it strange. In the post-apocalyptic novels and movies he read, there were always zombies everywhere. How come they hadn't seen many zombies since leaving school, especially after the second viral rain? The dense hordes of zombies that came out to get rained on seemed to have vanished after the rain stopped.
Qin Yuan and Lin Yun were the first to get off the vehicle. After confirming that it was safe, they opened the cargo box door for the five people.
The five got out of the car, and Yang Xiao and Zhong Qiang, gripping their Tang swords, walked towards the glass door of the convenience store. The glass door was closed; normally, it would open with a sensor when someone approached, but Yang Xiao and Zhong Qiang didn't open it after they walked over.
"Is the gas station also powered by the municipal electricity?" Lu Yuan, who followed behind, peeked inside. The convenience store's glass door wasn't even broken, and it was fully stocked, showing no signs of being looted. "Wow, they even have iced cola!"
Upon hearing Lu Yuan's voice, Gu Nanfeng and Pei Sihao immediately stopped Qin Yuan and Lin Yun, who were about to make do with refueling the truck. Then, Gu Nanfeng shouted in Lu Yuan's direction, "Step back, stay away from the convenience store!"
In that instant, the glass door of the convenience store opened, and six or seven zombies, seemingly out of nowhere, rushed out and pounced on Lu Yuan, Yang Xiao, and the others with incredible speed. Their gaping mouths sprayed saliva everywhere. These zombies were completely different from the ones they had encountered when they came out of the school dormitory!
The zombies charged straight at them. Even with Yang Xiao's quick reflexes, he couldn't escape unscathed. Lu Yuan suddenly pulled a shield from his spatial storage, completely enveloping the three of them in a 360° shield—it was even transparent. The charging zombies could see them, but they couldn't scratch or tear them apart. However, although they were furious, they didn't choose to fight to the death. Instead, they turned and ran towards Qin Yuan and Gu Nanfeng.
Lu Yuan then tossed another ball-shaped object towards Gu Nanfeng, who caught it easily. Lu Yuan then shouted, "Press it to open it!"
Gu Nanfeng quickly pressed a switch on the sphere, and the four of them were now enveloped in a 360° shield. This was something Qin Yuan and Lin Yun had never seen before, but it was clear it was advanced military equipment, perhaps even still under research.
Without time to think, the two took advantage of Gu Nanfeng's momentary lapse in attention and drew their pistols, loading them. Just as they were about to fire, Lin Yun froze. Could they even fire a shot from inside the shield?
While he and Qin Yuan were still looking at each other, Pei Sihao behind Gu Nanfeng had already set up his crossbow and fired a "bang" that blew the head off the nearest zombie!
Inside Lu Yuan's shield, Yang Xiao also raised his crossbow and fired a shot, but it didn't hit the head; it hit the zombie's neck instead. He then fired another arrow, which finally hit the head.
After Qin Yuan and Lin Yun reacted, they fired two shots, taking down the two zombies in front of the door. Then they noticed that Lu Yuan and his group's transparent shield flickered twice and disappeared, and the remaining three zombies quickly turned around to attack them. Qin Yuan and Lin Yun quickly fired, killing two of them. Just as Qin Yuan reloaded his gun, Pei Sihao fired a crossbow bolt, and the zombie fell in front of Zhong Qiang.
"Dad Lu, you have such a powerful protective shield, why don't you equip me with a ranged weapon too? Otherwise, I can only watch from behind!" Zhong Qiang was somewhat dissatisfied that he could only stand behind and watch without a crossbow.
"I know, I know!" Lu Yuan was actually itching to do it too, but it was easy to explain that he pulled out two shields from his pocket. However, if he pulled out two crossbow bolts, there would be no way to explain it.
"What is this? It's so powerful!" The shield in front of Qin Yuan and the others disappeared, and they came out. Qin Yuan couldn't wait to ask.
"Ah, it's Gu Ge's little gadget. I didn't expect it to actually work!" Pei Sihao gave Lu Yuan and Gu Nanfeng a look. Although he hadn't said much since arriving at the base, he was usually the quickest-witted among them. He immediately came up with an excuse, otherwise Lu Yuan wouldn't know how to explain where this high-tech gadget came from.
Zhong Qiang also saw Pei Sihao's eyes and knew that he had said something wrong because he was too excited. Fortunately, Qin Yuan and the others were far away at the time and probably didn't hear clearly, so he quietly shut his mouth.
The group peeked out from the gas station convenience store and, after confirming there were no zombies inside, began moving the bottled water bottles piled up at the entrance.
Qin Yuan also told Lin Yun to start refueling the car. Then the two of them found a few oil tanks nearby and used another gas pump to fill up the tanks, taking as much oil as they could.
While Qin Yuan and his group were filling their fourth barrel of oil, Lu Yuan and his group finally finished moving the pile of bottled water stacked in front of the convenience store and then began moving other boxes of food.
After they filled the truck bed, Lu Yuan felt he had developed some biceps and was about to show off to Zhong Qiang when Qin Yuan, who was standing next to him, was dumbfounded. "The truck is full. Are you guys going to lie on the roof?"