Qin Luo and Bai Shu each held up one side of a curtain with one hand, screening off the back row.
Xu Duoduo changed into her spare combat uniform behind the curtain they held up. Only when she was done did she pick up the wooden whistle hanging around her neck and blow it once.
Only then did Qin Luo and Bai Shu put the curtain away. Qin Luo added, "All changed? Come here. I'll carry you over. The back row's damp-don't stay there."
As he spoke, he reached over and lifted Xu Duoduo into the middle row. There was plenty of room there, with two separate seats and more than enough space for four people.
Xu Duoduo went from having the spacious back row to herself to sitting beside Qin Luo.
Bai Shu didn't react much. After putting away the curtain, he began editing the mutant snake-person video Xu Duoduo had just sent him, preparing to post it on the forum.
The little zombie felt much fresher after changing clothes, but her hair was still damp. Qin Luo couldn't stand leaving it that way, so he took a clean towel and dried it for her, rubbing her head with one hand while swiping across his tablet with the other.
"There's a service area twenty kilometers ahead. Let's check it out and stop there for a while."
After saying that, Qin Luo tossed the tablet into his Storage Space Card and devoted himself to rubbing the little zombie's head. With both hands over the towel, he gave Xu Duoduo's head a thorough rub. It looked rough, but he actually controlled the pressure very carefully.
The rubbing made Xu Duoduo sleepy, and her body began swaying from side to side.
Qin Luo even told her to hold still.
Wang Weihu and Chen Xiaofei immediately acknowledged the order. Their four-man squad had always worked in sync. If Qin Luo said to stop, he must have had a reason. His ability was Thunderstorm, which made him particularly sensitive to the weather.
Before they reached the service area, hail began pelting down with a deafening clatter. If this hadn't been a modified off-road vehicle with shatter-resistant windows, it probably couldn't have withstood hailstones the size of basketballs!
Xu Duoduo's eyes were practically glued to the window. The hail outside looked like it could genuinely kill someone, and the clanging never stopped.
Driving wasn't easy, either. The vehicle shook slightly, but all four men inside had military backgrounds. Road conditions like these were a breeze for them.
Wang Weihu even accelerated through the stretch of hail, crushing broken ice beneath the tires.
They came across several cars parked beside the road and slowed down to inspect them from inside their vehicle, honking as they went. Once they got closer, they discovered that everyone trapped inside was a zombie. Chen Xiaofei casually tossed out a few small bombs, blowing the cars behind them onto their sides, and they drove straight off.
The second half of the journey was bumpy, but they reached the service area without much trouble.
There was no hail here, nor any rain, but the sky was terrifyingly dark. Zombies lurked in the service area, too, and shuffled toward them at the sound of the vehicle.
Wang Weihu ran over a few more and drove straight toward the gas station. "I'll get out and see if there's any fuel left. Qin Luo, open the fuel door."
"Sure," Qin Luo replied. He leaned into the driver's seat and operated a control, opening the fuel door on the side. "Xu Duoduo, stay in the car. Once we've finished refueling, press this switch. Got it?"
Xu Duoduo nodded immediately and blew her wooden whistle once more. Qin Luo ruffled her hair again before turning to get out with the others.
The door slammed shut with a bang, and all four men were outside.
Chen Xiaofei followed Qin Luo toward the service area's main building to clear out the zombies. They moved extremely fast, and gunshots rang out every so often.
Wang Weihu and Bai Shu stayed outside the vehicle to refuel it and check how much fuel the gas station had left. Everyone had their own job.
Xu Duoduo waited until Wang Weihu signaled to her, then closed the fuel door. Next, she pushed open the middle door and jumped out. Luckily, she didn't fall.
She did give the two men a fright, though.
"Little Class Monitor, what are you doing down here? Stay in the car. We'll let you out when it's safe."
"It's not safe here. Be good and wait in the car. You're worth more than we are now."
Of course she was. A spatial ability with an enormous storage space was worth far more than the ordinary kind.
Although they had seen Xu Duoduo slaughter the Mutant Monkey Group with a chainsaw, neither of them could let anything happen to her. They tried coaxing her back into the car.
But Xu Duoduo wouldn't listen.
Bai Shu was getting a headache over her refusal to listen to either of them, thinking things would be easier if Qin Luo were here.
Xu Duoduo had no time to pay attention to them. Seeing Wang Weihu filling a fuel can he had found inside the gas station, she reached toward it.
Bai Shu immediately lost it. "For heaven's sake, you can't touch that with your bare hand!"
Xu Duoduo had already touched it and was drawing the gasoline straight into her space. With her one remaining hand, she awkwardly tried to gesture an explanation.
She took a can of food out of her space, put it back, then pointed at the fuel can.
Wang Weihu understood. "Little Class Monitor, you're storing the gasoline directly?!"
Xu Duoduo gave a restrained nod. Paired with her expressionless face, it made her seem cool and aloof, though her tousled, medium-short hair actually left her looking rather dopey. Once she had explained, she focused on collecting gasoline.
Bai Shu exclaimed that it was incredible. "Storing it directly really is awesome! Keep at it, Little Class Monitor! We'll stand guard!"
Xu Duoduo nodded again like a chick pecking grain and diligently collected the gasoline.
All she needed was to let her fingertip touch the gasoline, just as she had done when collecting water in her kitchen back home.
Since they were at a gas station, they couldn't use fire nearby. Whenever zombies approached, Wang Weihu and Bai Shu dealt with them physically, sending them flying with a kick apiece.
Later, Bai Shu even found time to fetch a few more cans and set them out. Xu Duoduo only had to make the rounds and collect the fuel, though running back and forth was a little inconvenient.
By the time they had emptied the gas station's underground fuel tanks, both men and the zombie wore satisfied smiles.
Xu Duoduo obediently washed her hand clean while Bai Shu and Wang Weihu guarded her.
"Tired, Little Class Monitor? There's still plenty of stuff in the gas station's convenience store. Shall we collect that too?"
Xu Duoduo nodded almost instantly and headed over on her own. She loved stockpiling more than anyone! Stockpile, stockpile, stockpile! Take everything I can!
The thought that there must be more supplies elsewhere in the service area put her in a wonderful mood.
Bai Shu and Wang Weihu also found having an enormous mobile warehouse incredibly satisfying! The two men and the zombie began working together. Wang Weihu swept everything along the store's walls onto the floor and gathered it into a pile for Xu Duoduo to collect all at once.
Bai Shu stayed beside Xu Duoduo to protect her, while she put every shelf she could directly into her space. In less than a minute, they emptied the gas station's little convenience store. Most of the goods were cups of instant noodles and drinks.
All those flavors of instant noodles looked tempting! There were biscuits and snacks, too.
Wang Weihu remarked, "Who knows whether they'll even make instant noodles anymore? We'll stock these up. It'll be great to still have instant noodles when we get hungry later."
Bai Shu wholeheartedly agreed.
When they had first joined the military, nothing had beaten a big cup of instant noodles after training.
After collecting everything, Xu Duoduo looked at the several newly filled compartments in her multifaceted Rubik's Cube Space and felt a little more secure. Gasoline, in particular, was an important resource worth a great deal in the early days of the apocalypse!
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