NOVPUBChapter 44: Chapter 44 Accidental Gains
Chapter 44 -44 Accidental Gains
The next day, Duan Shumei’s bombs were ready, and today they were to take them to find a place to experiment.
It wasn’t possible to do this in a crowded area, but after some discussion, they decided to get a vehicle and head to the farthest reaches of the city. No one went beyond that point, so they could experiment with the bombs. After setting them off, they might even blow open some passable routes, and they could possibly scavenge for supplies moving forward.
They found a small truck by the roadside, pried it open, then used a torch to melt the gas in the tank. Lu Ruisheng popped the door and started the truck using his skills, and after an hour, they finally got it running.
They all got on the truck and headed towards the city’s outer limits.
Since there was no traffic, the main road was easy to navigate, and they arrived at their destination in a little over half an hour.
Upon arrival, Cheng Yang took over the vehicle, instructed to keep driving around the area to ensure the truck didn’t stall while the others quickly went about their business.
Chen Shaonan and Duan Shumei had explained the usage, properties, and other details of the grenades before they had left, so there was no need for further discussion now.
However, it was the husband-and-wife team who took the lead in the field test.
Chen Shaonan threw a grenade ahead, then everyone lay flat on the ground, covering their ears and counting down: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
With a loud bang, snow exploded into the sky.
Lu Ruisheng shielded Gu Pan beneath him, so she wasn’t covered in much snow, but everyone else was blanketed in a layer.
Everyone got up, shaking their ears, all bursting with excitement because the test was successful. n𝚘𝚟𝚙𝚞𝚋.𝚌o𝚖
However, to ensure the explosive power, they tried it again against a nearby tree. The tree wasn’t too thick and was blown down. They sawed up the tree, delighted at the thought of taking it back to burn for heat.
Looking at the patch of cleared snow, they moved forward, setting off a few more grenades. They did this partly to test the stability of the grenades and partly to check if there were more places ahead or the possibility of securing more supplies without wasting resources.
Moving on, they spotted what appeared to be factories on both sides. The military hadn’t cleared snow in this area because there were no residences nearby.
The sight of a sign reading “Processed Food Factory” caused them all to leap for joy, and they hurried inside.
Once inside, they noticed the snow in the center of the factory had been cleared, and the warehouse door was open.
Lu Ruisheng observed and then said, “There was a helicopter here, probably the military. Let’s go in and see if we can find anything left behind.”
They hurried into the factory, and fortunately, there were some unfinished products still on the production line—not yet fully packaged and piled in baskets. They used the factory’s carts to push them outside.
Although they did not find the vast store of meat they had hoped for, there was enough to last several months. One must be content with what they have.
As they pushed their carts out, they saw a security booth and a security guard who had frozen to death.
No one was in a position to judge—capitalist exploitation, perhaps? But who would have guessed it would be the apocalypse? The need to prevent fires by keeping someone on watch was normal.
The security guard had quite a bit of food with him when he died.
After all, besides someone reborn like Gu Pan, who would have imagined someone could freeze to death indoors in the twenty-first century?
They wrapped the security guard in a blanket and burned the body, considering this encounter a form of fate. Of course, it was also to reduce the chances of virus spread in the future.
After taking out the processed food, they moved on to the neighboring factory, an ice cream factory.
The storage of the ice cream factory was full, but who can live day-to-day on ice cream?
Still, with food and transportation available, they grabbed whatever was edible. Who knows when they might need ice cream as a lifeline?
So they got more carts from the warehouse and hauled out the ice cream, cart by cart.
Waiting for Cheng Yang to come back, they loaded up the truck with a portion of the haul and then went back for the rest—there was just too much, an entire cold storage they couldn’t possibly clear in one go.
But they could only load as much as they could today. The grenades earlier had caused a big commotion, and by nightfall, people might come out of curiosity to see what was happening, which would also lead them to the factory.
So, Gu Pan planned that after everyone had taken their share, she would sneak back with Lu Ruisheng and put the rest in her “Space.” With three more months of extreme cold weather to endure, the aftermath of the plague would bring extreme heat, and these goods could be traded for gold bars.
Cheng Yang and Chen Shaonan, Chen Lang, and Feng Zhekai went back first to unload. Gu Pan and the others moved the remaining stuff to the door to save time, so the truck didn’t need to wait too long.
On the second trip, everyone returned because there was no more room in the mortuary. They did not dare to make too much noise, fearing discovery.
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng went back with the second group but soon the truck stalled and wouldn’t start, so they had to abandon it.
Gu Pan told everyone that she and Lu Ruisheng were going back to the ice cream factory to get two pushcarts, and then they would take turns pushing them back.
After the two returned to the ice cream factory, Gu Pan put the remaining ice cream into her “Space,” and then they tied a few carts together and pushed them out. The icy ground actually made pushing the carts easier.
It didn’t take long before they rejoined the main group.
Later, Gu Pan took Duan Shumei and Lu Xuerong to check the remaining ice cream while Lu Ruisheng and some men hurried back with the haul.
It was dark by the time they finished.
The next day, they visited the ice cream factory again, although Gu Pan knew nothing was left. Still, the others held out some hope and wanted to check.
When they arrived, they found footprints from more than one group of people. It looked like at least three different groups had come and gone, and a fight had taken place. Everyone was puzzled as to why all the ice cream had disappeared.
Gu Pan had to keep quiet and lower her head because the rest of the ice cream was in her “Space,” and any fights had nothing to do with her.
Afterwards, they returned to the mortuary, moved out and burned the bodies, as they took up space and posed a risk of disease once the weather warmed up. Burning them was the responsible thing to do.
They used the newly cleared space in the freezers to store supplies, avoiding food due to discretion, considering it was the apocalypse and people were less squeamish about such things.
After taking care of this, they experimented with Shock Bombs and Smoke Bombs, both successful experiments.
Having been busy all day, it was evening by the time they returned.
After getting back, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng went out again, taking a motorcycle to Guo Gang’s cellar, where they left two boxes of ice cream with a note.
Then they visited Tian Zhenzhen, whom they hadn’t heard from in a long time. Gu Pan still had concerns.
Upon arriving at the entrance of Tian Zhenzhen’s neighborhood, they found someone on guard duty, preventing people from entering at will.
Gu Pan gave Tian Zhenzhen’s name and address and then someone used a walkie-talkie to communicate with someone inside, who went to look for her.
