What Cheng Qian was looking for were a military diesel stove and diesel canisters.
During army exercises, those were used for cooking fires.
Having spent so many years in the military, Cheng Qian knew very well that the layout of army camps was basically similar everywhere, only differing in supply ratios depending on the unit’s size.
Even a military airport, which at most is a battalion-level unit and far from full-strength, would still have all the essential setups.
After all, “[1]“small as a sparrow, but with all five organs” means that something may appear small or simple on the outside, but it is complete and fully functional, containing everything essential. It … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1790280_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1790280_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });small as a sparrow, but with all five organs”, the necessary equipment would always be there.
You could tell this just from the materials used in this outpost.
Cheng Qian had already thought along the same lines as Ke Bei.
When the army evacuated temporarily, they would definitely take the most important items: food, weapons, documents, and various supplies.
Heavy items, on the other hand, were usually abandoned.
Especially in the current situation, with mutated plants growing so fast that even the roads were blocked, particularly large or heavy supplies would likely be left behind.
Cheng Qian thought the chance of finding a diesel stove was small since the army would usually take it during relocation, but it wasn’t impossible.
What if there were extras?
Moreover, diesel canisters were usually stocked in large quantities; during an emergency transfer, they might not take them all.
Since his wife had suggested wanting some, there was no reason not to go check around.
They didn’t rush after sleeping for the night.
The next morning, the three of them got up early.
Knowing that once they left this place, they might not have another chance to sit down and eat properly for a while, the couple didn’t hurry. Instead, they sat with their son at the dining table and ate carefully.
Ke Bei took out two bowls of rice noodles from the space, along with a small bamboo basket of buns, each stuffed full of marinated meat.
Although the meat had been stored in the space for two days, it tasted just like it had just come off the stove, fragrant and tender, enough to make anyone’s mouth water.
Xiao Tian’s injuries were serious, and even now his mental energy hadn’t fully recovered; he still looked like a two-year-old.
Ke Bei didn’t dare give him anything too greasy, so she prepared a cup of milk powder, a meat floss bun, and washed a few small tomatoes for him.
After eating, she watched him drink the blood-supplement oral solution prescribed by the hospital, and only then did she pack up, ready to set off.
After retrieving all the items from the house back into the space, Ke Bei lingered for a moment, giving the small building one last look.
“Wait, are you thinking of taking this house with you too?”
Seeing his wife like this, Cheng Qian laughed.
He genuinely admired Ke Bei’s thoroughness, wherever she went, not a single trace was left behind.
Ke Bei caught the teasing tone in his voice, but she didn’t care at all.
In fact, Cheng Qian’s words hit exactly the right spot.
She ran her hand along the iron walls, a hint of regret in her voice: “I really would take it if I could, but the foundation is cast iron—I can’t dig it out.”
The meaning was clear, if she could have, she wouldn’t hesitate to uproot the whole house and stuff it into the space.
Cheng Qian didn’t expect that she had really thought about doing that, she had even studied the foundation structure.
The corner of his mouth twitched, and he quickly turned his head casually to hide the faint smile tugging at his lips.
Outside, the grass had grown even thicker. The small path that had been cleared through the brush yesterday was now completely covered with wild plants, leaving no trace.
The little house was entirely overrun by climbing plants; even pushing the door from the inside was impossible without first cutting through the vines wrapped around the exterior.
Cheng Qian spent a long time chopping, finally creating just enough of a gap for a person to squeeze through. Stepping outside and taking in the surroundings, he felt a brief moment of disorientation.
It was as if he were standing in a primeval jungle.
Looking at the massive trees all around, each one large enough to hold an adult in its arms, he couldn’t believe that all of this transformation had occurred in less than three days.
Fortunately, he quickly regained his composure, checked the sun’s direction, and then pointed ahead to Ke Bei:
“From what I remember, the camp canteen should be in this direction, with the kitchen behind it. I want to check the warehouse to see if there are any useful car parts, but going from here to the canteen and then to the warehouse would mean backtracking.
So I suggest we go to the warehouse first, then head to the canteen on our way back, it’s along the route we’ll take anyway. What do you think?”
“Sounds good,” Ke Bei replied decisively.
With the route agreed upon, the rest was simple.
With their previous experience, no matter how overgrown the grass and trees were, they no longer posed any serious threat.
As before, Cheng Qian led the way, scouting ahead, while Ke Bei followed behind.
The only difference today was that Xiao Tian was sitting on Cheng Qian’s chest.
Ke Bei had offered to carry their son herself, but Cheng Qian refused, saying she needed to let her legs recover.
Back on the bridge, Ke Bei’s right leg had been slashed with a deep cut. In theory, someone with her abilities would recover faster than an ordinary person.
But in reality, from the time of the injury until now, she had never had a long enough period to rest properly.
On the contrary, the repeated running and fighting meant she kept using her legs, so the wound not only hadn’t healed, it had reopened multiple times, making it worse.
Moreover, yesterday when she jumped down the rope ladder, her left knee had been bruised badly by a stone. Although the wound wasn’t large, it was in the worst possible spot, right in the center of her knee, the very place that stretched with every step.
Both legs injured at the same time, it wasn’t fatal, but it was incredibly painful. Every step was a torment.
So when her husband refused to let her carry their son, she didn’t argue further and obediently followed behind Cheng Qian.
The vehicle unit was right behind the parking area, very close to the outpost, and the couple found it with almost no effort.
It was a three-story building in an L-shape. The first floor contained individual garages, while the second and third floors housed the soldiers.
Along the L-shaped side, there was a row of smaller rooms with rolling shutter doors. Smaller than the garages, these had to be the warehouse Cheng Qian was looking for.
“What are you looking for?” Ke Bei asked curiously as they stood outside the warehouse.
“Spare parts and consumables,” Cheng Qian replied. He grabbed a screwdriver and fiddled with the rolling door for a moment. Before Ke Bei could even see what he was doing, the lock was already undone.
Compared to her own attempts at lock-picking, his skill was on a completely different level.
Cheng Qian pushed the door open and stepped inside first. “I’ve been here before. Many of the off-road vehicles in the camp use parts compatible with ours. If we can grab those, we won’t have to worry if something happens on the road.”
Confident, he walked into the warehouse, but quickly, his hope turned to disappointment.
The warehouse didn’t contain the car parts he had expected. Instead, it was filled with soldiers’ training equipment.
Items like riot shields, steel forks, tactical vests, stab-resistant clothing, cut-resistant gloves, and the like.
Since these weren’t combat-ready supplies and weren’t used heavily, the stock was limited, only about a dozen sets in total, taking up just one corner of the room.
The rest of the warehouse was full of various airport maintenance tools, cleaning supplies, and electric floor scrubbers.
Coming with such high hopes, only to find so little of what they needed was a definite blow to their morale.
Cheng Qian’s face openly displayed his disappointment.
But Ke Bei was completely different, she was thrilled.
After living through so many years of the apocalypse and searching endlessly for supplies, no one could guarantee a full haul every time.
There had been far too many fruitless trips; finding anything at all was a victory for her, regardless of the amount.
So unlike Cheng Qian, Ke Bei eagerly walked over to the items and, with a big sweep of her hand, collected them all into her space.
Afterwards, she even let out a satisfied sigh.
The way she looked, like a little dog who had just gotten a meaty bone, instantly amused Cheng Qian.
He couldn’t help but walk over, pat her head, and say with a laugh, “You’re easy to please, so little can make you this happy.”
Ke Bei didn’t dodge. She tilted her head, looked up at him, and said in a mock-serious tone, “That’s because you’ve never suffered in life.”
Cheng Qian was momentarily speechless at her retort, unable to find anything to argue back, so he just shook his head with a smile again.
After leaving that warehouse, they checked all the others as well.
The army had indeed left a lot behind, but most of it was large machinery, which was practically useless to them.
The tires and other car parts Cheng Qian wanted were nowhere to be found.
By the time they reached the last warehouse, he was already feeling a bit drained.
But it wasn’t a total loss.
In the corner of one warehouse, Ke Bei found five 50-liter military jerry cans and ten 20-liter explosion-proof plastic barrels.
She was overjoyed, treating it as a treasure.
Meanwhile, Cheng Qian, watching his wife beam at the pile of barrels, rolled up several large tarps that had been draped over the shelves and collected them together.
After gathering everything from the warehouse, at Ke Bei’s insistence, the three of them even went through the second and third floors.
She collected all the bedding, pillows, and mats that the soldiers hadn’t taken from their dormitories and stored them in her space.
“These things will go moldy and useless if left here for long, it’s such a waste. The rainy season will come soon, and the weather will suddenly turn cold. We can never have too many cold-weather supplies.”
Ke Bei explained as she took the items out.
“Alright, we’ll follow your lead,” Cheng Qian answered obediently.
With nothing else useful left in the warehouse, the three of them set off toward the mess hall.
It was already around 8:30 in the morning, and the sun had risen high.
The fierce sunlight beat down on the ground. There wasn’t even a hint of wind in the bushes, and the heat was suffocating, just a few steps made them sweat profusely.
Last night while sleeping, Cheng Qian had noticed that a layer of prickly heat had appeared on Xiao Tian’s body, especially around the neck, armpits, and the folds at the thighs, all bright red.
On top of that, the areas on his arms where he’d been injured were reacting to the heat, the skin around the wounds had turned a pale color and curled outward, showing early signs of inflammation.
It pained him to see.
No matter what, today he wouldn’t let Ke Bei put the child in any non-breathable windproof clothing. He only dressed him in thin, ordinary cotton long-sleeve clothes and pants.
This kept the child more comfortable, but the adults had to be extremely careful to avoid even the slightest scrape.
So as they walked, Cheng Qian was especially vigilant, keeping one hand protectively over the child, afraid of any accident.
Yet even with all that caution, a serious danger almost occurred.
As they left the vehicle section and passed through the previous playground, about to turn toward the mess hall, Cheng Qian suddenly felt a gust of wind sweep past.
Before he could see what it was, Xiao Tian in his arms suddenly shouted, “Watch out!”
Then he reached out and grabbed the back of Cheng Qian’s neck, pulling down with all his strength!
Cheng Qian staggered forward instinctively, and at that moment, a green object flashed past his scalp!
A few strands of hair were cut off and floated down.
Cheng Qian’s pupils constricted sharply.
At the same time, Ke Bei’s blade had arrived!
The sickle, carrying a cold edge, whistled past right by his ear. Its chilling presence brushed against his cheek, and he felt a stabbing, cutting pain as if the blade had grazed him.
Reacting immediately, he rolled on the ground with Xiao Tian in his arms, narrowly escaping the arc of the blade.
At that moment, Cheng Qian finally saw the green shadow clearly.
He realized it was a bright green, spindle-shaped insect leg!
Sharp serrated spines ran along its length, like a curved blade with teeth.
A praying mantis!
A half-meter-long praying mantis!
All around them, the greenery was dense.
The mantis crouched on a branch just above their heads.
In this environment, it blended perfectly with the surroundings, its camouflage was so effective that it was almost impossible to spot without getting close.
Ke Bei’s strike had been too frantic and missed the mantis entirely.
It leapt forward a few steps and vanished from their sight within moments.
The commotion had disturbed its companions hiding in the surrounding grass and branches. Rustling sounds echoed everywhere as insect shadows flickered around them.
Praying mantises don’t usually attack recklessly.
They prefer to stay hidden, then strike suddenly when humans are unprepared.
A mantis grown dozens of times its normal size, its spiked legs were like large serrated cleavers. Even a glancing blow could easily take a chunk of flesh.
If one of those legs struck the neck or a major artery…
Just thinking about it sent chills down the spine.
Cheng Qian tightened his hold on Xiao Tian and stood up, gripping his double-edged machete. Every muscle tensed, his eyes cold and sharp.
“We’re not going to the mess hall. We leave immediately,” Ke Bei said quickly.
Compared to their lives, things like fuel cans were meaningless.
She bent slightly, both hands tightly gripping the wooden handle of her sickle, eyes scanning the surroundings, alert and wary.
It was clear she was just as wary of these creatures.
From that point on, the three of them moved with even greater caution, every step carefully observing their surroundings.
Even in this state, they were repeatedly attacked by several rounds of mantises, but fortunately, each time they narrowly avoided disaster.
Finally, they exited the airport compound. By now, two hours had passed, and the three of them were drenched in sweat.
Following the route they had planned, they walked for another hour.
Perhaps because they were getting farther from the river, the plants here were no longer as wildly overgrown as at the airport. Beneath the knee-high weeds, traces of the old road could still be seen.
Under the scorching sun, which felt like it was cooking them alive, they finally spotted the roadway.
“Let’s get the car out and drive,” Cheng Qian said.
After checking the surroundings and confirming there was no one around, he stopped.
Ke Bei pulled out the SUV.
From the moment they had set off along that small path yesterday to now, a full twenty-four hours had passed. At last, they were back in the car.
They were already very close to the intercity highway, and before long, their vehicle merged into the bustling stream of traffic.
Even though they had only been off the main road for a day, the couple noticed that the vehicles on the road today looked far more battered than yesterday.
Some were marked with dents and scratches, others had crooked headlights, missing bumpers, and a few even had shattered windows.
It was unclear what dangers they had faced in the meantime.
Yet, despite all this, everyone had chosen to travel without hesitation, and the direction of all the vehicles was remarkably uniform—
They were fleeing Tianshui.
The traffic was massive and moved painfully slowly.
On the highway, all the vehicles lined up in two lanes close to the inner side, moving forward almost inch by inch.
The greenery on both sides had extended its branches onto the roadway, occupying the outermost lanes.
And it was growing recklessly; it wasn’t hard to imagine that soon, the remaining two lanes would also be overrun.
Under these conditions, everyone’s resolve only strengthened: go as far as possible, just leave, everything else was secondary.
Cheng Qian drove slowly along the flow of traffic. In this situation, rushing wouldn’t help; they could only move with the crowd.
Xiao Tian sat in his specially configured safety seat in the back, squirming and tugging at his clothes with all his might.
“Mom, I want to take this off!” Xiao Tian tugged at his shirt, his face full of irritation.
Cheng Qian glanced at him through the rearview mirror.
Seeing his son drenched in sweat, he felt an instant pang of concern.
“Take it off, take it off. You don’t need to wear so much in the car.” Without a second thought, he agreed.
Ke Bei didn’t comment on this, but instead turned the air conditioning up a bit and took a bottle of ice-cold orange juice from the space, opening it and handing it to Xiao Tian.
Only then did she speak, stopping him: “Not yet, let’s see how things go first.”
Seeing her husband was reluctant, she didn’t push. She placed a straw into the cold soda and brought it to his lips.
Then she pointed ahead and explained, “Look at how dense this traffic is. Who knows if it might attract something dangerous? It’s too risky. If needed, we’ll turn at the intersection up ahead, don’t dawdle here.”
At this point, the route they were taking was the shortest road to Anshuo. Taking a turn would mean a longer detour.
Moreover, using the smaller roads could bring unknown dangers, and if the road disappeared, they might have to continue on foot.
That’s why, even knowing it would be slow, Cheng Qian had chosen to follow the flow of traffic.
But Ke Bei’s reminder suddenly made him recall the scene on the village path, when they had encountered mutated dogs—
Being in such a large group, it was indeed easy to attract the attention of mutated animals, increasing the likelihood of an attack.
“Alright, you’re right. We’ll turn at the intersection ahead,” he immediately agreed.
He then took a big sip of the soda, feeling instantly refreshed.
Ke Bei also took a long drink, cooling herself down, then rummaged through the space and asked, “Do you want rice balls? There’s tuna, pork floss, seaweed, and gooey cheese. Which one do you want?”
“Meat! I want meat!” Xiao Tian shouted first.
“And you?” Ke Bei looked at Cheng Qian.
Before he could answer, a sharp siren suddenly sounded outside.
The noise grew louder, cutting through the traffic directly toward them.
Both of them looked out the window and saw a convoy forcing its way through the traffic behind their car.
Through the window, they could clearly see that the lead vehicle had two people in military uniforms.
They didn’t speak, but their expressions and actions radiated an unmistakable disdain for everyone else on the road.
Seeing this, a flash of shock crossed Cheng Qian’s eyes.
The convoy was getting closer and closer.
And those people were becoming increasingly brazen.
The road was already crowded, cars bumper to bumper, with no space to cut in.
The only way to overtake was to drive through the lane overtaken by overgrown greenery.
But that lane was filled with branches shooting out from the roadside, each branch at least finger-thick, some as thick as an arm.
They were interwoven and dense, forming almost solid walls of wood.
It wasn’t just difficult to drive through, the branches could easily smash the glass, creating real danger.
Yet this convoy was entirely made up of modified off-road vehicles. They relied on their tall, sturdy cars and blaring sirens, and no other vehicle dared to challenge them. They forced their way between the two lanes.
This pushed the outermost line of cars to the side to avoid collisions.
Cheng Qian and Ke Bei watched as one car was squeezed toward the roadside and slammed directly into a branch, shattering the windshield.
“Bastards!” Cheng Qian slammed his fist on the steering wheel in fury, muttering under his breath.
The two people in military uniforms clearly struck a nerve with him.
The anger in his eyes was nearly combustible.
Only when the convoy came close enough for him to see their faces did he take a deep breath and slowly exhale, explaining to Ke Bei: “Those people aren’t real, the uniforms are wrong, there are no arm patches. They’re not real soldiers!”
Ke Bei remained much calmer, showing not a single word of comment on the situation.
She handed a pork floss rice ball to their son in the back seat, her expression serene, as if she had long since grown accustomed to this kind of thing.
Seeing Cheng Qian so angry, a hint of surprise flickered in her eyes.
After a moment, she understood why and spoke in a resigned tone to reassure him: “Don’t overthink it. I know they’re not soldiers. That’s a convoy from various factions trying to grab people. You’re surprised because you’ve seen so little, later, you’ll see a lot more.”
“Factions trying to grab people?” Cheng Qian repeated instinctively, his brow furrowing tightly, hearing this for the first time.
“Yes. The apocalypse has come, people are dying. Various factions naturally want to get to the people they want before they die or are taken by rivals. They’ll find a way to rescue them first and hold them in their hands. It’s also a way to expand their strength.”
Ke Bei’s lips twitched as if she had just remembered something, and she looked at Cheng Qian: “Wasn’t there also a helicopter sent specifically to pick you up? And it even allowed family members. You were chosen too.”
Cheng Qian: “……”
How could that be the same thing!
Seeing what he was thinking, Ke Bei smiled faintly: “What’s different? This is a world where the strong eat the weak. The capable rule, and the lives of ordinary people are worth less than ants. But those with ability… they can do whatever they want.”
She spoke calmly, even smiling slightly, but her eyes remained locked on the convoy outside, filled with a cold intensity.
As the convoy drew closer, Xiao Tian in the back suddenly screamed.
He jumped up as if startled, pulling on the child seat strapped to the rear, making it creak loudly.
Terrified, the child struggled wildly.
He lunged forward desperately, reaching out for his parents to hold him, his anxious face turning purple-red, tears filling his eyes.
Yet he bit his lip tightly, not daring to make a sound.
“What’s wrong? Xiao Tian, what’s wrong? Ke Bei, look at the child!”
Cheng Qian was shocked, forgetting the road entirely, turning to unbuckle his son’s seatbelt, speaking urgently.
At the same time, Ke Bei had also lost her composure.
She didn’t even reach for Xiao Tian in the back, her gaze fixed rigidly outside, on the convoy that was passing right alongside them.
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