Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH55

Chapter 55

As Yi Qi drove the small truck over to block the entrance of the shop, Wei Cheng was also spending lavishly, buying yet another ten-level, fifty-meter extra-long heavy-duty rack.

The moment he tapped Confirm Purchase, 1,000 Twisty Coins disappeared, and both the safe house stockpile level and the Twisty Car transformation level rose to [275]. The entire storage warehouse expanded in size at once.

Now the ten-meter and six-meter smaller racks in the warehouse were used specifically for food and goods, while the two fifty-meter super-long racks were used specifically to hold the cement, mortar, steel pipes, and iron plates they collected.

Yi Qi said, “The back yard has high walls. It’s safe. You two stay here and collect the stuff. Shen Zheng and I will use the flatbed cart to load up the truck.”

Wei Cheng knew hauling cement bags was exhausting work. “Okay, Uncle Yi, Uncle Shen. Sorry to trouble you.”

“What trouble? I just hope we can bring back more and build our base sooner.” Yi Qi ruffled the crooked little sprout-bun on top of Guanguan’s head. “Want to carry cement with Uncle?”

Guanguan looked at his brother, then at his uncle. “Uncle Shen is with you. Guanguan stays with big brother!”

“Fine then.” Yi Qi draped an arm over Shen Zheng’s shoulder and deliberately teased the child. “Whoever slacks off is Little Pig Guanguan!”

“Guanguan is not Little Pig Guanguan!” The moment he heard that, Guanguan grabbed the green toy shovel and charged toward the sand pile that stood as high as a little hill.

Dust flew everywhere at once, and all three of them started coughing.

Wei Cheng hurriedly put a mask on Guanguan and said with a laugh, “Play with it for a little while if you want, but we’ve got bagged sand here. No need to waste energy loading loose sand.”

Guanguan had been choked by the dust too. He covered his mouth and coughed twice, but still gripped his little shovel. “Got it!”

Wei Cheng said, “Uncle Yi, don’t bully our Guanguan just because he’s a three-year-old.”

Yi Qi burst out laughing, and Shen Zheng shrugged his arm off, grinning. “Guanguan’s already working, and you’re still standing here laughing! I think you’re the real Big Pig Demon!”

“Come on, come on, let’s go work with the pig demon.” Yi Qi wasn’t offended in the slightest, pushing Shen Zheng’s shoulder as they headed out.

After the two uncles left, Wei Cheng began studying the contents of the building materials warehouse.

The yellow-green bags of cement mortar were stacked in neat rows, each bundle of thirty wrapped in a layer of plastic film. Nearby, the concrete bricks, red bricks, porous bricks, and hollow bricks were all bundled together with brick straps, about eighty bricks per bundle.

That made everything easy to move and easy to take.

There were thirty-eight shops here in total. Thirty of them sold masonry, steel, and construction materials. The remaining few specialized in things like water pipes, paint, and wooden doors.

Their preliminary plan was to take half the goods from these thirty-odd stores.

Wei Cheng opened the system panel and, without using any effort at all, sent one bundle of eighty heavy bricks straight into the safe house warehouse.

Since the two giant racks had plenty of space and the materials would have to be hauled back out again once they got home anyway, he did not bother planning the storage carefully. The faster he collected, the more addicting it became. Before long, the stack of concrete bricks that had been as tall as several village walls was already down to his waist.

He was just about to switch to collecting another type of brick when he noticed a little yellow bucket full of sand at his feet.

The little gray dog was wagging its tail, and the little gray Guanguan’s eyes were bright. Both of them were looking at big brother expectantly.

“Big brother! Look! Guanguan and Little Xing filled the yellow bucket all the way up!”

Wei Cheng could not stop laughing. He quickly pulled out some wet wipes and started wiping Guanguan’s hair, then wiped down Little Xing’s fur as well. “You two are amazing.”

It took an entire pack of wet wipes to get the two little things clean again.

“Stop loading sand. Come help big brother put things into the warehouse instead, okay?”

Wei Cheng opened the warehouse page on the system panel and lightly tapped the screen, enlarging the image of the new super-long rack. “We’ll put the cement on the very bottom shelf.”

Guanguan touched a cement bag, then tapped the projected image of the rack. The real-world cement instantly appeared inside the safe house.

“So fun!” Guanguan found it fascinating, lifting his damp little face. “Big brother, Guanguan wants to keep playing!”

Actually, Guanguan had done this before with food. It only felt so novel because he had never moved building supplies on such a large scale.

Wei Cheng smiled. “Then let’s go for it. Let’s try to clear out ten shops before lunch!”

Just as Guanguan was about to start, he suddenly wrapped himself around his brother’s leg. “Baby wants to go see whether One Uncle turned into Little Pig Guanguan!”

“You want to see whether he’s slacking off?” Wei Cheng picked Guanguan up and laughed. “Alright, let’s go check on them.”

And while they were at it, they could bring the two uncles some water.

When they got to the doorway, they found the two men hard at work, unloading and loading the truck.

Guanguan covered his little mouth and giggled. “One Uncle didn’t turn into a pig! He didn’t slack off!”

He toddled over, the two lopsided little buns on top of his head bouncing. “Uncle, drink water!”

Yi Qi and Shen Zheng were both drenched in sweat. Leaning against the truck bed, they smiled and said, “Thanks, Guanguan.”

Shen Zheng jerked his chin toward the warehouse. “How’s the cleanup going?”

Wei Cheng said, “There are still some bricks and cement mortar left. Guanguan and I should finish them soon.”

He looked up at the sky. “The two of us should be done pretty quickly. Once it’s past midnight, let’s drive the truck out of the city first, then once we get into the mountains, switch to the Twisty Car and head home.”

“Sounds good. Once we’re done loading the truck, we’ll go take a look and see which shops have the best steel pipes and iron plates.”

Time was tight, so none of them dared waste it.

Wei Cheng and Guanguan moved from one shop to another, truly experiencing what it felt like for goods to be collected until their hands went numb.

What was rare was that Guanguan stayed obedient the whole time. Even when it was time for his nap, the baby was still rubbing his red eyes, yawning, and continuing to gather things one by one.

Collecting items itself was not tiring, but they had to stand and walk around for long periods.

Maybe after today, Guanguan really would lose some weight.

Though most likely it would only be his little piggy hands that slimmed down.

The first super-long rack was already packed full. The steel and iron plates took up the most space. The bottom four levels of the second rack held not only bags of mortar and sand, but also several kinds of doors, windows, and yard gates.

The little wooden cabins would need their doors and windows replaced too.

Even though they were going to establish a core zone, Wei Cheng still wanted to treat every cabin equally and reinforce all the cabins’ doors and windows with the best materials.

As the sky grew dark, Wei Cheng and Guanguan stopped bothering to sort things by category. Anything the two uncles said was useful got tossed onto the giant racks.

At one in the morning, the four of them finally stopped, still not quite satisfied, and sat in the four-seater little truck munching on bread.

Guanguan took a huge bite out of the strawberry cream on top of his bread roll, smearing his already filthy little face even more.

Everyone was starving.

They simply ate bread, beef cans, and ham.

Wei Cheng wiped Guanguan’s little kitten face with a tissue and said, “This much stuff is enough not just to fence in one farm—even three farms would be possible.”

Shen Zheng swallowed his food and nodded. “If a base wants to develop over the long term, it’ll always need to keep repairing and replacing aging walls and barriers. Stockpiling extra materials can’t hurt.”

“All full?” Yi Qi glanced at the food still left on the seat.

Guanguan’s cheeks were stuffed full. He raised one hand, looking very sincere. “Sorry, wait a little. Guanguan still has one bite of canned food left.”

Wei Cheng patted the child’s fluffy little head. “It’s okay, take your time. Uncle Yi was just worried you hadn’t eaten enough.”

Guanguan swallowed the sweet cream bread first, then focused on finishing the last bite of beef from the can.

Wei Cheng, Shen Zheng, and Yi Qi did not say a word. They just sat there quietly smiling, watching Guanguan eat with such relish.

When he was done, Guanguan wiped his mouth with a tissue and even knew to throw the empty can into the black trash bag.

He patted his little belly and lifted his round face. “Big brother, tummy is all puffed up!”

Wei Cheng smiled. “If your tummy’s all puffed up, that means you’re full. We’re going home!”

Once everything was cleaned up, Shen Zheng started the truck and drove toward the main gate of the market.

They had only gone a short distance when they encountered a few wandering zombies.

But the truck had a high chassis. The moment those zombies got close, they were dragged under and crushed into paste.

Seeing that, Shen Zheng sped up. He only wanted to leave the city as fast as possible. Once they entered the forest, they would be completely safe.

Suddenly, a blinding beam of light flashed ahead.

“Watch out!”

The sudden screech of brakes was sharp enough to make the ears ring.

The little truck was forcibly stopped by a row of tire spikes. Everyone was thrown forward and sideways by the inertia before they could react.

“Guanguan!” Wei Cheng’s first instinct was to throw himself over the child, shielding the shivering Guanguan beneath him.

Violent, urgent banging sounded from outside the truck. “Get out! Get out!”

Shen Zheng was still rattled. Yi Qi was already pulling out his crossbow and about to jump down when he heard Wei Cheng’s low, sharp warning: “They’ve got guns! And numbers!”

If they provoked them, bullets through the glass would mean Shen Zheng and Yi Qi would die first.

Yi Qi forced himself to calm down. Only then did he realize there were more than twenty adult men standing outside.

The middle-aged man at the front shouted furiously, “If you don’t get out right now, I’m opening fire!”

Two loud shots cracked in the air, the bullets striking the tires. The whole little truck jolted violently.

Everyone’s attention was fixed on Shen Zheng and Yi Qi, so Wei Cheng secretly slipped both of their gun pouches into the safe house without anyone noticing.

The moment the doors opened, they were yanked roughly out of the truck.

A big hand reached toward Guanguan, but Wei Cheng twisted aside while holding him and snarled, “Don’t touch my brother!”

The man frowned and looked down at the large, chubby child in black clothes in Wei Cheng’s arms.

Damn, he had thought it was a stuffed backpack full of supplies.

Like criminals, they were made to stand there with their hands raised while the beam from flashlights shone directly into their eyes so they could hardly open them.

“Don’t be scared, Guanguan,” Wei Cheng said in a low voice. “Nothing’s going to happen.”

Guanguan’s soft, chubby body pressed tightly against his brother’s leg.

“What’s on the truck?”

“About ten bundles of steel pipes, and about ten bags of bricks and cement.”

“Why are there two kids too?”

“Did you find anything in their backpacks?”

“No guns. Just two crossbows and arrow bags, plus a few loaves of bread and some canned food.”

“Uncle Zhong, they probably aren’t from that bunch of beasts from Watcher Community…”

The man called Uncle Zhong let his gaze travel over them before fixing it on Wei Cheng’s face.

He pointed at Wei Cheng. “Search him first.”

Wei Cheng’s face stayed calm as he let the two men go through the pockets on his body.

“Uncle Zhong, the boy’s got no knives and no gun. Just a pack of children’s wet wipes and an Ultraman toy.”

The Ultraman toy was probably something Guanguan had secretly stuffed into Wei Cheng’s pocket.

Uncle Zhong waved a hand, and the others understood, moving on to search the other three.

One teenage boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen, had not even gotten to Guanguan’s pockets yet when Guanguan suddenly pressed his little hands together and burst into giggles.

The boy said, “Be serious! I’m searching you!”

Guanguan scratched his cheek. “Big brother, you touched Guanguan’s tickly spot!”

The boy said, “Then hurry up and turn out your own pockets!”

“Okay!”

Guanguan reached into his pockets.

One pocket held two little Ultraman toys. The other held two packets of caramel biscuits.

The boy looked left and right, then whispered, “Wow, you’re amazing. How’d you find this brand of caramel cookies? They’re seriously so good!”

“Here, you eat them!” Guanguan, already very socially savvy, shoved the biscuits at the older boy, then said timidly, “Big brother, later can you just hit Guanguan, not Guanguan’s big brother…”

“Don’t worry. My Third Uncle won’t hit you,” the boy said, swallowing hard, but he did not take either the biscuits or the Ultraman toys.

Wei Cheng had been staring at Guanguan the whole time. He was certain this group would not do anything to them, but when he heard Guanguan say that, his heart still softened unbearably.

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