Stashing Vehicles

The group stayed behind to rest in the service area for the night, followed by another torrential downpour, but the rain had finally stopped by daybreak.

Last night could be considered peaceful.

The service area had that one advantage: it was out in the middle of nowhere, and since this route had only recently opened, very few people knew about it, meaning no zombies came scratching at the doors in the middle of the night.

Xu Duoduo crawled out from under her blanket, sporting a head of messy hair. Qin Luo was right beside her, and just a bit further past him lay Chen Xiaofei.

Bai Shu and Wang Weihu had taken the second half of the night on watch, and right now they were over there directing the survivors to pack up their things. After witnessing the Doomsday Survival Manual last night, nobody wanted to stay behind; after all, Xenobiological Creatures were even more terrifying than zombies.

Xu Duoduo blinked her eyes. The plush blanket felt far too soft, and she reached out to stroke it back and forth, finding it immensely comfortable, until her hand slipped and brushed against Qin Luo's thigh next to her, waking him up instantly.

The two of them stared at each other with wide eyes.

Was it too late to say she hadn't done it on purpose?

Xu Duoduo immediately tried to pull her hand back, but Qin Luo grabbed it and squeezed her palm before finally letting go.

"Not bad, taking advantage of me bright and early?" His voice was raspy from just waking up, itchy enough to the ear that even calling her a little zombie felt a bit too embarrassing.

Then the little zombie played ostrich, pulling her own blanket right over Qin Luo's head in a bid to "destroy the evidence," figuring that as long as he couldn't see her, it wasn't awkward.

Xu Duoduo scrambled up, performing an instant disappearance right on the spot, though her actual plan was to go outside and see what Bai Shu and Wang Weihu were up to.

A muffled laugh came from behind her, prompting the little zombie to turn back and scowl in annoyance. The guy didn't even bother pulling the blanket down, just rolling over bundled up inside it to go back to sleep.

Hmph!

Bad guy!

Xu Duoduo knew they always liked to tease her and find amusement at the expense of a zombie like her.

They treated her like a kid.

Even though her brain sometimes felt a bit stiff when thinking things through, she wasn't a little idiot-she just had slow reactions. She turned and headed straight out toward the parking lot.

Bai Shu and Wang Weihu were leading Zhao Gang in repairing a vehicle. They had picked out the newest bus, having the survivors use rags and buckets to clean out the interior while the three of them worked on modifying the bus itself.

Liu Chunhui was with her daughter in the kitchen, boiling the remaining food to take along and kneading all the flour into steamed buns; she had stayed up all night doing just that.

Xu Duoduo watched them modify the vehicle for a bit. There was a repair shop in this service area with all the tools on hand, and bright and early as it was, they were bustling with activity.

Shishi stood on the damp ground in deep thought, looking over the parking lot, and then she began picking out the cleaner-looking vehicles to stash away. She wasn't picky about the type as long as there were no zombie corpses inside them, storing them all away because she had a feeling they would come in handy.

Since she was cherry-picking her takes, the others over by the garage didn't notice that a small fraction of the vehicles was vanishing.

Only Bai Shu, catching sight of the little zombie wandering around blindly by herself, almost screamed in fright. He looked left and right, only to find that Qin Luo really wasn't keeping watch over her, completely unafraid of this little thing getting swallowed whole in one bite by some mutant creature.

"Little Class Monitor, don't go running around blindly. Even though the zombies have been cleared out and we're out in the middle of nowhere, you still have to watch out for mutant animals."

When Bai Shu walked over, he realized Xu Duoduo was actually stashing vehicles, which gave him yet another shock. "Wait, just how big is your storage space anyway?"

Xu Duoduo had already moved from the sedan section to the truck area. In the blink of an eye, she stored away another large cargo truck. Hearing the commotion, she turned her head to take a quick look.

Recognizing Bai Shu, she lowered her head, tapped away on her tablet, and held it up. [I'm fine, I can manage. You go ahead, busy yourself, I'll be right back.]

With her mind set on hoarding things, Xu Duoduo couldn't even spare the focus to speak, having to type as concisely as possible, which inexplicably gave off a very cool vibe.

Bai Shu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "No way. If something happens to you later, our team's pantry is going to be in jeopardy. Go ahead and stash your cars, I'm going to get Qin Luo."

Xu Duoduo wanted to tell him not to, but Bai Shu had already triggered his communicator, calling Qin Luo awake. "Are you going to keep your first love in line or what? If she gets snatched away by a mutant creature in a minute, I'm not taking responsibility. I'm over here modifying the bus."

Sigh.

The little zombie sighed.

Not bothering with it anymore, Xu Duoduo turned and packed up every large vehicle that caught her eye in this parking lot, feeling like they'd be worth a fortune just sold as scrap metal at a base later on.

The Doomsday Survival Manual clearly stated that all resources were crucial in the apocalypse.

It was just that in the early stages, their top priorities were still rescuing people, salvaging food, and gathering medicine; other supplies had to take a backseat for now, picked up purely as they went.

Some items were too large to take, so they would dismantle key parts to bring along instead.

No sooner had Xu Duoduo finished stashing this side than Qin Luo arrived. The guy was tall with long legs, covering the distance in just a few strides, and the moment he reached her, he hoisted her up. "Done stashing? Save some space for other things."

Qin Luo scooped her up and tucked her against his waist as effortlessly as if he were grabbing a small plush toy. "If we get the chance with vehicles around here, other teams can collect them. Our targets are food, firearms, and medicine, alright, baby?"

He announced they were heading back. "Don't wander too far from your teammates. Your nerve is getting bigger by the day, wandering around all by yourself. I thought you were looking for Bai Shu and the other guy."

Xu Duoduo glanced back at the parking lot. If she hadn't already stashed all the ones that caught her eye, she would have liked to struggle a bit more, but alas, her current combat strength was no match for Qin Luo, so she simply gave up and let him haul her back inside.

The moment Qin Luo carried her in and set her down, Chen Xiaofei woke up too. Squinting his eyes and sporting a bird's nest of ruffled short hair, he fawned the second he saw Xu Duoduo, whining, "Little Class Monitor, where did you run off to this early? I'm starving!"

Liu Chunhui happened to be carrying out several large bowls of handmade noodles, and hearing that, she asked, "Who's hungry? I've got noodles right here, hand-rolled this morning, delicious and chewy!"

The other survivors wore expressions of utter familiarity, showing just how used they were to waiting for food.

The second Chen Xiaofei heard there were hand-rolled noodles, he stopped asking Xu Duoduo for food and scurried over to Liu Chunhui instead. "Auntie, I want a bowl!"

The water they used here hadn't been contaminated yet; it was all pumped well water.

It was just that their water usage was limited.

Qin Luo instructed Liu Chunhui, "Before we leave later, bring along as much water as you possibly can."

There was no guarantee they would find clean water sources on the road ahead, and water was one thing they couldn't go without.

At those words, Liu Chunhui nodded repeatedly, saying with a face full of gratitude that she appreciated the reminder. "I've still got plenty of flour, I boiled a huge pot. There's more if this isn't enough."

Over there, Yang Cong was still complaining. "Aunt Liu, today's noodles are way too mushy."

Before Qin Luo could even open his mouth, Chen Xiaofei snapped at him first. "You've got food and you're still whining? I'll have you gnawing on grass roots next time to see if you're still crying out."

"Have they always been like this? You two shouldn't be too soft-hearted, you're spoiling them rotten." Qin Luo frowned as he glanced at the group of people over there.

Most of them were youngsters, led primarily by Yang Cong, along with two male followers and three girls-six people in total, and not a single one of them did any work.

Qin Luo had assumed Liu Chunhui and her husband were just being kind-hearted, but Liu Chunhui only offered an awkward smile. "They gave us quite a bit of money, so the two of us figured we'd earn a bit extra..."