My Cherry Will Explode in the Apocalypse – CH96

Chapter 96: Calls for Aid from All Regions

After Su Ruizhe and Zhan Yun returned, they immediately set about getting busy with Zheng Jiahe and the other grown men on the team. Although the crops in Su Ruizhe’s space could grow extremely well without any special care, they couldn’t harvest themselves.

The last time Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe had sent grain to the base, the two of them had worked in the space for an entire day, to the point where they could barely straighten their backs afterward. Now that the space had doubled in size, there was even more grain to harvest, so they had to rope in all the male team members just to get everything done.

The men worked up a storm in the space all day long, finally finishing the harvest and piling all the grain onto the open ground. The next day, they directly transferred the grain from the space into the granary designated by Battalion Commander Zhang.

Watching the once-empty granary fill up to the brim in an instant with his own eyes, Battalion Commander Zhang was so excited he didn’t know what to say. He grabbed Su Ruizhe’s hand and thanked him over and over again.

The crops in Su Ruizhe’s space grew quickly, yielded abundantly, and weren’t affected by the outside climate at all. In just half a month, another batch of grain could be harvested, greatly easing the base’s pressure.

By now, in the eyes of Jiang Xuzhou and Battalion Commander Zhang, Su Ruizhe was practically a walking treasure trove. Jiang Xuzhou suggested moving them to a safer residence—ideally into the base headquarters itself—but Zhan Yun’s team declined.

Jiang Xuzhou didn’t force the issue. Instead, he quietly increased patrols around their residence and also reinforced the personnel of the law enforcement brigade stationed across from the mid-rise building, instructing the brigade captain, Xu Sihan, to keep a close watch and ensure Zhan Yun’s team’s safety.

Xu Sihan and the soldiers didn’t think much of it. In their view, Zhan Yun’s team was exceptionally capable and had made outstanding contributions to the base many times before, so it was only natural for higher-ups to care about their safety.

With the food problem resolved, the question of how to get through the long winter was put on the agenda.

The temperature continued to drop, snow fell incessantly, and every morning the accumulated snow was so deep that doors couldn’t even be opened. More and more people were needed for snow-clearing tasks.

But it was simply too cold. Ordinary cotton jackets and pants were no longer enough, and every day people were being frostbitten while clearing snow.

Despite the frigid weather, the zombies showed no sign of letting up, and the base’s city guard still had to maintain patrols—many of them also suffering frostbite.

In addition to these, ordinary civilians were constantly being sent to the infirmary after fainting from the cold. If it weren’t for Lin Jia, their secret weapon, the situation would likely have been far worse.

Winter brought short days and long nights. Although the solar generators could function normally as long as there was sunlight, energy supplies were already insufficient to support the long-term operation of air conditioners and heaters. Even the cafeteria could no longer provide heating from morning till night, and the cafeteria staff themselves were freezing.

More and more people began using fire basins for warmth, but coal was limited. The exchange office had long implemented purchase limits, and prices kept rising—yet supply still couldn’t meet demand. People started burning whatever they could find: waste paper, torn cloth, and eventually even setting their sights on tables, chairs, and wooden boards. If these hadn’t been base property, they probably would have been chopped up for firewood by now.

Fortunately, Su Ruizhe’s space contained quite a bit of cotton. Combined with cotton accelerated by wood-type ability users, Battalion Commander Zhang had the female workers in the logistics department work overtime to produce as many cotton jackets, pants, and quilts as possible to distribute to the populace.

At the same time, he also had fire-type and water-type ability users patrol together. Whenever they saw someone freezing badly, they would light fires and boil hot water to help them warm up. Song Chengshu also volunteered to join the patrols—after all, one of him was equivalent to two ability users.

Still, this wasn’t a sustainable solution. In the end, Jiang Xuzhou decided to adopt an underground cellar-style heating method. A batch of empty houses was built, and beneath each one, a cellar was dug according to the room’s size, complete with flues and air inlets. The fuel consisted of straw and wheat stalks left over after threshing grain. A single load of fuel could burn for a long time, significantly raising indoor temperatures and allowing people to gather in those houses to keep warm.

At the same time, the base added insulation layers to the walls, roofs, and floors of all buildings. Nearly all of the base’s earth-type ability users were mobilized for this effort—including Zhang Shuoliang, who was “borrowed” by Battalion Commander Zhang every single day.

With the weather this cold, even the well-equipped Southern Base was struggling like this—so it went without saying that bases in other regions were faring even worse, especially in the north. Before the apocalypse, winter temperatures there often dropped to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, let alone now. It was said that it had reached the point where pouring out a cup of hot water would see it freeze into ice within five minutes.

Before the apocalypse, northern regions usually had centralized heating. After the apocalypse, communications, transportation, even water, electricity, and gas had all been cut off—let alone heating. In those northern bases, people freezing or starving to death were everywhere to be seen.

By around February, the Southern Base began receiving telegrams one after another from major bases across the country requesting aid—among them even an urgent telegram from the Capital Base.

The Capital Base was the heart of the nation, heavily guarded by troops. It had technology, talent, resources, and military strength, and in the early days of the apocalypse it had been the top destination for countless capable people fleeing for survival. As such, after the apocalypse began, the Capital Base could be said to be the strongest of all survivor bases, without exception.

It was also the Capital Base that had first thought to use telegrams to contact garrisons across the country, ordering regional troops to establish bases nearby and rescue survivors.

As for technologies like soilless cultivation, the Capital Base had long possessed them, which was why the Wancheng Base had never sent an invitation to the Capital Base in the first place.

However, the Capital Base was also located in the north. The sudden plunge in temperatures caught it completely off guard. Local temperatures there had now dropped to minus fifty or sixty degrees Celsius, to the point where even vehicles could no longer be operated.

Although the base leadership had urgently implemented a series of emergency measures, the results were minimal. Without vehicles, transporting supplies became extremely difficult. There was a shortage of clothing, a shortage of food—shortages of everything. Every day, people were dying without anyone even realizing it.

When a base ran into trouble, the first place it usually turned to for help was the Capital Base. But now the Capital Base itself was struggling to survive. With no other options left, it had no choice but to notify major bases across the country of its situation.

Jiang Xuzhou had anticipated that the severe cold might affect regions nationwide, but he hadn’t expected things to deteriorate to such a grave extent.

The garrison at the Wancheng Base had even sent a direct telegram requesting to merge into the Southern Base. Although they still had food, they had made no preparations for extreme cold. Conditions there were now very dire, and they were already preparing to head south.

The other bases were mostly seeking assistance—some asking for winter supplies, others for food.

For example, the Yuecheng Base requested food. Temperatures there were still manageable, but being coastal, it was plagued by strong winds and tsunamis, suffering severe damage.

Bases capable of sending telegrams were generally those with military backgrounds. No one knew how many private bases and small survivor settlements remained scattered across the country, trapped in situations where their cries went unanswered.

As for the northernmost province, Hei Province, there had been no news at all—an absence that was deeply worrying.

One telegram after another made Jiang Xuzhou frown deeply. Without Su Ruizhe, perhaps the Southern Base itself would now be one of those desperately seeking help.

What should be done next?

How should the people coming from the Wancheng Base be received? Preparations would need to be made in advance.

As for the Capital Base, they naturally had to find a way to send some supplies over as well.

Jiang Xuzhou convened all members of the base’s leadership and held a meeting that lasted a full six hours. In the end, he instructed Battalion Commander Zhang to invite Zhan Yun’s team to come over.

Given the current situation, this was something that had to be discussed with them—and it looked like they might have to trouble them once again.

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