Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH54

Chapter 54

Wuqing City.

On the desolate, ruined streets, skulls and wrecked cars lay everywhere. In the distance, the high-rises of a shopping mall still bore blackened scars left behind by a great fire.

To avoid the zombies, they kept changing their route forward. But the closer they got to the city center, the more zombies there were.

A few zombies lunged over and slammed against the windows.

Not wanting to stir up major trouble, they did not shoot them. They simply sped away.

Inside his helmet, Guanguan’s peachy little face puffed up in anger as he pointed his little water gun at the window. “Biu you! And biu you too! Don’t grumble at Guanguan!”

The zombies could not bite him, so they immediately became furious and flailed their claws.

Just then, a dense mass of zombies wandered out from the side intersection. Shen Zheng shouted, “Hold tight!”

With that, he gave the steering wheel a light turn and floored the gas. The car drifted out like a slick little fish.

All the zombies chasing after them were scattered aside.

The car sped faster and faster, and the zombie horde gradually disappeared in the rearview mirror.

Everyone inside the car tilted uncontrollably with the motion. Guanguan had almost been flung away just now.

Fortunately, Brother had been holding him the whole time.

But he was not scared at all. Grabbing onto the little handle, he widened his eyes and said, “Uncle Shen is so amazing!”

Shen Zheng even found time to answer him, “Hahaha! When Baby grows up, Uncle will pass down all his skills to you!”

Wei Cheng kept watching the direction the zombies were appearing from, while holding a detailed, precise map of Wuqing City.

This map clearly marked every building location in downtown Wuqing, but compared to the ranch map, it was only an ordinary version. After all, it could not tell them the number of zombies and survivors here.

Even so, it had cost them a full 50 coins, which showed that maps and guns and ammo were rare goods in the apocalypse.

Frowning, he said, “Uncle Shen, three hundred meters ahead, turn right and stop.”

Shen Zheng had no objections. After finding the right spot, he stopped the car steadily.

This place was the entrance to a park. On both sides grew lush green flowering trees with dense canopies, hiding them well. Down ahead stretched a long flight of steps.

The rear was safe for the moment. Even if the zombies inside the park caught their scent and came this way, it would take them some time to climb the steps.

“Look at the map.” Wei Cheng got out of the car and spread the map across the hood. “We’re only one street away from the building materials market. Straight ahead are an elementary school and a shopping street, and to the right is a residential area. The zombies will only get more numerous. If our car forces its way through, it could very well be flipped over by the horde.”

“We can’t go forward, and there’s a zombie horde chasing us from behind.” Yi Qi suddenly understood. “You want to cut through the park?”

Wei Cheng nodded. “That’s right.”

Shen Zheng agreed. “I think it’ll work. Before the virus outbreak, there was extreme heat and black fog. No matter how you look at it, the park should’ve had fewer people than those other places.”

Wei Cheng then looked at Guanguan, who was still standing at attention with his little water gun, and smiled lightly. “What does Little Private Guanguan think? Will it work?”

Guanguan’s chubby face tightened with seriousness, and he nodded solemnly. “It’ll work super invincible perfectly!”

“Then let’s go!”

The group quickly checked their equipment.

While adjusting his clothes, Yi Qi said, “If we run into those bastards from Watcher Community again, I’m stripping their riot gear right off them!”

What they were wearing now were one-piece outdoor protective suits. The material was hard and slick, which could help prevent zombie claws from piercing or scratching them to some extent, but compared to military riot gear, it was nowhere near as good.

Shen Zheng punched him lightly. “Big brother, don’t jinx us! Spit, quick!”

Last time, those people had not only stolen the medicine and medical equipment Shen Zheng and Yi Qi had risked so much to find, they had also brutally killed more than ten new hunters from Highland Shelter. That showed exactly how ruthless and vicious they were. If they ran into them again, there would probably be another vicious battle.

Obediently, Yi Qi said, “Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey.”

Then he scooped up Guanguan, who was watching the excitement, and said, “Baby, come on, spit for Uncle too.”

Thinking it was fun, Guanguan bobbed his head and said, “Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!”

Wei Cheng handed them guns and ammunition and smiled. “No need to envy them. Once we build our base, we’ll have even better equipment than riot gear.”

The moment they heard that, Shen Zheng and Yi Qi were both thrilled. “Really? Then what are we waiting for? Let’s charge!”

Wei Cheng took the lead, Shen Zheng stayed in the middle protecting Guanguan, and Yi Qi covered the rear.

The group carefully made their way down the steps.

The park was very quiet. There was only thawing, refrozen snow on the grass, with no traces of zombies wreaking havoc.

None of them dared relax. They moved quickly along the riverbank, and Shen Zheng simply picked Guanguan up and ran with him.

The park was not small. After a broken, stop-and-go run of nearly thirty minutes, the four of them finally saw the building materials market across the road.

Above the ground parking lot was a giant sign: Wuqing City Jingang Building Materials Wholesale Market, and beneath it, in smaller characters: Wood doors and interior fitting, cement and ceramic bricks, steel construction materials…

Across from the old-style building materials market was also a huge furniture mall.

But this trip was only for cement, iron sheets, and steel pipes. They had no need for those fancy pieces of furniture.

There were no zombies on the crisscrossing roads either.

A little out of breath, Shen Zheng said, “How come there aren’t any zombies?”

Wei Cheng thought for a moment, his gaze settling on the building materials market. “The park entrance has stairs. If there were zombies, they’d only run toward the exits. And the exit faces the building materials market. I’m guessing there are survivors nearby.”

As for whether the survivors were inside the building materials market or in the furniture mall across from it, there was no way to know.

Yi Qi said, “You stay here. I’ll go in first and scout things out.”

Shen Zheng set Guanguan down and said, “I’m going with you.”

After thinking for a moment, Wei Cheng did not stop them. The danger ahead was unknown. They were a team, and they needed to work together. If things really turned bad, they needed to preserve enough strength to save people, instead of having the whole group wiped out at once.

Wei Cheng said, “All right. Guanguan and I will wait here. If something goes wrong, rapid gunfire will be the signal.”

Shen Zheng and Yi Qi agreed. The two of them pressed their hands to their pistols, swept the area with their eyes, and quickly ran across the road.

“Brother.”

Guanguan held his brother’s hand and tilted up his little face. “What did the uncles go do?”

“They went to scout the way for us first. They’ll be back soon,” Wei Cheng bent down and said.

“Brother, don’t worry. Nothing will happen.” Guanguan stood on tiptoe and gently patted Brother’s head in a very grown-up manner.

Wei Cheng smiled softly. “Mm.”

Time passed second by second. The building materials market remained quiet. There was no gunfire and no zombie howling.

At first, Wei Cheng and Guanguan obediently waited in the grass. But as the two uncles still did not return, he grew more and more uneasy.

Could they have been disarmed and detained by survivors?

Wei Cheng kept looking toward the main entrance. Finally, he said, “Guanguan, we’re going to find them!”

Just as they were about to cross the road, they suddenly heard a rapid set of footsteps.

Very soon, two excited figures appeared beneath the giant sign, waving at them.

It worked!

Wei Cheng scooped Guanguan up and ran over, asking in a low voice, “Uncle Yi, Uncle Shen, what’s the situation inside?”

Guanguan covered his little heart with one hand and said anxiously, “Guanguan was worried right here!”

Shen Zheng snatched Guanguan out of Wei Cheng’s arms, delighted. “Good baby, Uncle was thinking about you too.”

Yi Qi said with a grin, “There are thirty-eight big storefronts in total. We checked them over quickly. Aside from rotten skeletons, we didn’t see any survivors. Further back there were around ten zombies. We were afraid of attracting more, so we only used crossbows and knives to deal with them.”

The moment they stepped inside the market, they had seen narrow lanes lined on both sides with all kinds of colorful storefronts.

Wei Cheng’s gaze swept over every corner of the market. There was not a single sign of anything unusual.

So where were the zombies that should have been in this area?

Yi Qi said, “Come on, I’ll take you first to the biggest cement shop here.”

Guanguan was especially excited in an unfamiliar place. His dark, shiny eyes looked everywhere, though he did not dare run around and only clung tightly to Brother’s leg.

Wei Cheng collected himself and patted Guanguan’s little helmet.

No matter what, they had arrived safely at the building materials market. Now all they needed to think about was how to take away as much as possible.

Looking at the small truck parked in front of the custom woodwork shop, Wei Cheng said, “Later, let’s find a way to drive that truck over.”

Yi Qi grinned and jingled the keys in his hand. “Great minds think alike. I’ll go get the truck. You all go inside first.”

This store really was bigger than the others. The signboard was packed with words—every kind of sand, stone, brick, and also ready-mixed dry mortar.

The moment they stepped inside, they smelled the heavy scent of lime. On both sides of the passageway, bags were stacked all the way to the ceiling, leaving only a narrow path through the middle. When Shen Zheng opened the back door, they saw an outdoor construction materials yard filled with piles of bricks in all colors stacked as high as village houses, along with sacks of sand.

Guanguan said happily, “So many treasures!”

Shen Zheng said, “Since we’re already here, let’s first move bricks and haul sand, then go take a look at the nearby Jingang construction stores!”

Wei Cheng was excited too. There were enough construction materials here to fortify the ranch.

Guanguan jumped up and waved his chubby little fist. “Brother, Guanguan wants to carry all the mud until it’s empty!”

“Empty it all? Then you’ll become Cement Worker Guanguan?” Wei Cheng laughed. “The shelves in the safehouse warehouse probably can’t hold it all anymore. We need to upgrade the shelving first.”

This was an opportunity too good to miss. The more they could take, the better.

There were thirty-eight big storefronts. If they did not empty at least half of them, all the fear and tension of this morning would have been wasted.

Author’s Note:
Cement Worker Guanguan: a day of hauling cement.

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