Jiang Chuan held unconditional trust and obedience toward Chao Xun, so upon hearing her words, he didn’t ask further questions. He stood up, walked over to Su Jin’s group, and said, “The route will be changing shortly. Sister Xun and I need to search for supplies in the cold storage warehouses; make sure you follow us.”
Su Jin had no objections to following them; after all, her mission was to find Miss Chu and protect her until they reached the base. “Cold storage supplies? Jiang Chuan, it’s been over a month since the apocalypse began. Do you really think there are any cold storage warehouses left that haven’t been raided clean?”
Jiang Chuan found it difficult to explain. “You might not believe it, but I’m certain the goods in our warehouse are still there.”
Su Jin’s expression turned serious. “How can you be sure? And how can you guarantee the safety of this trip? I believe the best choice right now is to return to the base quickly rather than taking a detour to scavenge for supplies.”
The Central Base was the largest of the six major bases, home to over a million people. It had substantial stockpiles, and task forces were regularly sent out to search for supplies. Food would not be an issue within the base for some time.
Jiang Chuan replied, “It was Sister Xun who calculated it; searching for these supplies was also her decision.”
Su Jin frowned, though she did not oppose it further. She asked with lingering suspicion, “You say Miss Chu calculated it? What does that mean?”
Jiang Chuan smiled proudly. “You probably don’t know this, but Sister Xun has a special ability: as long as she calculates it with her fingers, she can determine good or bad fortune.”
Su Jin remained skeptical. “What kind of ability is that? It’s unheard of, though it sounds somewhat similar to the capabilities of someone who has awakened a precognitive ability.”
Jiang Chuan said, “Anyway, just know that Sister Xun is incredibly powerful. What she says will not be wrong.” His devotion to Sister Xun was blind adoration.
Su Jin fell silent for a moment before telling Wang Peng, “You drive; follow Miss Chu.”
Following his memory, Jiang Chuan drove toward the location of the warehouses. He couldn’t quite remember exactly how many there were because his unreliable father ran such a massive business, operating shops and leasing warehouses all over the country. However, he remembered that the warehouses were all in the same place, so they wouldn’t have to run all over the city.
Wang Peng drove behind him. At first, he was very vigilant, keeping his nerves taut—a standard state in the apocalypse. But as they drove further, he became more relaxed, even lighting a cigarette. All they encountered along the way were non-threatening zombies that didn’t even require his intervention; any of the other team members could handle them.
At this point, Chen Yi voiced her concern: “Vice Team Leader Su, if we really find supplies, will they all be put in my storage space?” Her space wasn’t very large—only sixty square meters—and it was already occupied by several things, including the ice coffin containing Team Leader Lou. She feared she wouldn’t be able to fit much more.
Su Jin spoke calmly. “Don’t worry, we’ll see when we get there. Since Miss Chu is the one who wants to go, perhaps she already has a countermeasure in mind.”
Chen Yi couldn’t help but think to herself that if it truly was a whole warehouse full of supplies, no amount of “countermeasures” would help if there wasn’t enough space.
Su Jin added, “If there are really too many supplies to move, we will find a way to notify people from the base to come and get them.” Supplies were precious; they couldn’t just walk away once they had found them. Thinking of this, Su Jin picked up her communicator again, but there was still no response. Her brow furrowed—could something have truly happened to the base? But most of the powerful ability users were stationed there; even with a zombie horde, the base would have had plans in place. There shouldn’t have been any major catastrophe. Reassured by this thought, Su Jin relaxed slightly.
Zhang Yuan and Jiang Qing cleaned up the non-threatening zombies nearby. Since the start of the apocalypse, today was the most comfortable day they had experienced: they were well-fed and didn’t need to fight zombies constantly or be wary of every ordinary person who might turn into a mutant.
Jiang Chuan’s voice broke the silence. “The Cold Chain Park is right ahead. Our family’s warehouses are inside. Everyone, be careful.”
The Cold Chain Park was a hub for storage warehouses. Aside from the original staff, many people must have had their eyes on these facilities over the past few days. It was clear that it wouldn’t be very safe inside. Although Sister Xun had calculated that the outcome would be favorable, in the apocalypse, relaxing one’s vigilance usually resulted in only one thing: death.
Jiang Chuan stopped the car and stepped out. With a serious expression, he took the lead inside.
Su Jin commanded, “Wang Peng and Chen Yi, stay by Miss Chu’s side and protect her well.” She then led the other ability-user team members and walked beside Jiang Chuan. Zhang Yuan and Jiang Qing followed. They weren’t cowards; to live long in the apocalypse, they had to constantly improve their combat effectiveness by killing more zombies.
Chao Xun, holding Qilin, walked at the very back.
There were indeed quite a few zombies in the Cold Chain Park, some of which were of high rank, but through the joint efforts of Jiang Chuan and Su Jin’s team, a portion of them were quickly cleared. During this time, Jiang Chuan checked the other cold storage units, but they had all been raided clean—nothing was left behind.
Wang Peng couldn’t help but gripe, “Darn it, who cleared out these warehouses? This is too dishonorable; they didn’t even leave a scrap behind.” Usually, when they scavenged for supplies, they wouldn’t take everything, choosing to leave some for others in need.
“Jiang Chuan, looking at the road we’ve traveled, every single warehouse has been swept clean. Are you sure yours will still have anything left?”
Jiang Chuan remained firm in his belief in Chao Xun’s words. “What’s the rush? I see it—the Jiang family sign is ahead, that’s it! Three warehouses, all ours! The warehouse doors haven’t been opened; the stuff inside must still be there.”
He quickly finished off the zombies in front of him and was just about to approach the three warehouses when Wang Peng grabbed him.
“Why are you in such a hurry? Haven’t you noticed how strange the situation is in front of those three warehouses?”
Jiang Chuan stopped and took a closer look, his demeanor steadying. “No zombies are approaching the warehouses.”
Wang Peng nodded. “I see your combat experience is still too low. This is clearly not right. There is only one possibility in this scenario: there is something inside the warehouse that even other zombies are afraid of. It could be extremely powerful. If you rush over blindly, you won’t even know how you died.”
Jiang Chuan looked at him with slight surprise. He had initially found Wang Peng quite annoying, especially since he had badmouthed Sister Xun when they first met. He hadn’t expected him to be so kind as to offer a warning.
“Thanks.”
Wang Peng smiled. “We’re all on the same team now. Next time you cook, let me have a couple of bites.”
Jiang Chuan was generous. “Sure, I’ll prepare a portion for you next time.”
Wang Peng rubbed his fingers together, feeling quite excited. Gourmet food… he could die for a taste of that!