Chapter 183 - 182: War Preparations

Chapter 183: Chapter 182: War Preparations

Lin Fan bid the two farewell. Without standing on ceremony, he took Su Qing and the other two, drove off in an assault vehicle, and headed toward the residential complex.

He still had a lot to prepare before they left.

Lin Fan turned into an alley. He saw people bustling around the supermarket entrance, with supplies piled high everywhere. That, along with a bus, was completely blocking the road. He had no choice but to drive up onto the sidewalk and park a short distance from the store.

He turned his head to Xu Qian in the passenger seat and asked,

"Xu Qian, last time when you and Liu Bin were rescuing people building by building, did you go door-to-door, or did you just focus on saving the people you could find..."

"When we were there, we just focused on rescuing people. We didn’t open the doors to apartments that obviously had zombies inside or were completely silent..."

Xu Qian wasn’t sure what Lin Fan was getting at. He thought for a moment before replying uncertainly,

"But they probably didn’t have time to clear the buildings room by room afterward. They just left most of them after the rescues were done."

"Alright... Sister Qing, you three should grab a bite if you’re hungry. You probably won’t have much else to do this afternoon. I want you to go clear the buildings. Don’t worry about the supplies; leveling up is the priority..."

Lin Fan considered this for a moment, then nodded and said,

"Be quick and efficient. We don’t have much time. We need to get as strong as we can before we hit the road. After you clear a building section, use the walkie-talkie to call Liu Bin. Have him send people to collect the supplies... Go on."

After all, according to Ye Qingzhou’s new plan, the convoy had more than doubled in size.

Not counting Ye Qingzhou’s own vehicles, Liu Bin’s group had originally only prepared three buses, two trucks, two pickups, and one SUV.

The original plan was to merge with the military convoy, so they couldn’t afford to be too bloated.

But now that Ye Qingzhou had reorganized the convoy, Liu Bin and his people had more room to operate.

As an "Awakened One squad" capable of operating independently from him, Chu Zhaozhao and the others had to seize every moment to grow stronger. They weren’t just sailors on his flagship; they had the potential to become the iron wall that held this entire convoy together.

"Oh, right. Be cautious if you run into any Mutated Zombies. If you can, mark their location and wait for me. I’d like to get in on some of that experience, too. Prioritize clearing out the regular zombies."

Lin Fan suddenly remembered about the Mutated Zombies and quickly shouted to the trio who had just gotten out of the vehicle.

"Yes, sir! Colonel Lin!"

Chu Zhaozhao turned back, snapped her feet together, puffed out her chest, and mimicked the salutes she’d seen from Ye Qingzhou’s soldiers, giving Lin Fan a wobbly, crooked salute of her own as she shouted.

The gesture made Su Qing, standing beside her, chuckle in amusement as she lightly patted Zhaozhao on the head.

Lin Fan chuckled softly, watching the three walk off and slip into the complex through a first-floor storefront in a different section. Only then did he refocus and start planning his own next steps.

He pulled out his walkie-talkie and hailed Liu Bin.

"Brother Liu, are you guys back yet?"

"Brother Lin, we went to the gas station to refuel. We’re on our way back now, one moment..."

On his way back earlier, Lin Fan had seen Liu Bin and the others driving several SUVs from the other side of the barricade, heading for the gas station.

’I didn’t realize Yu Wentao and his two mechanics were so capable,’ Lin Fan thought. ’They’re pretty damn good at stealing cars.’

A few moments later, a long procession of vehicles came rumbling back from the mouth of the alley—a dozen or more in total.

Lin Fan then recalled that there were many SUVs in the gas station parking lot. There were also a few under his own building that hadn’t been smashed, not to mention the ones parked on the sidewalk along Tianshui Road.

It was just that before, Liu Bin and his group didn’t possess this "car-thief" skillset.

Modern cars all have keyless ignitions; you can’t drive them away even if you manage to pry the door open. They weren’t like old cars, where you could just hot-wire them by touching two cables under the steering column.

"Brother Lin! We’re back!"

Liu Bin hopped out of one of the vehicles. Yu Wentao had come back with them as well and gave Lin Fan a wave from a distance.

"This Yu Wentao guy is really something. Hot-wiring so many cars in such a short time... what a waste for him to be a soldier," Lin Fan joked to Liu Bin.

"Whoa, Brother Lin, you have no idea. Their unit has this device. You pry open the car, plug it into the OBD port, press a few buttons, and in ten seconds, it flashes the car’s system into a totally unprotected mode. After that, it starts with a single push. It’s incredibly fast..."

It was clearly a mind-blowing experience for Liu Bin, who recounted the "car-thieving" adventure to Lin Fan with animated excitement.

He’d been a soldier himself but had never heard of such a thing. It seemed like the kind of restricted-use treasure that only came out during times of chaos.

At his explanation, it dawned on Lin Fan. It just went to show you needed specialists for certain jobs. With a device like that, replenishing or swapping out vehicles on the road would be much more convenient.

"Find a place for the people on that bus in the back. Let them stay here for the night, get some sound sleep..."

Lin Fan nodded, entrusting the survivors to him, then asked,

"Where’s Wu Haitao? I need to talk to him."

"Don’t worry, two building sections are plenty for a few dozen people. They can stay wherever... Haitao? He and Brother Wang went to the hardware store on the other side of the complex to bring back a batch of materials. They’re figuring out how to reinforce the buses now. Little brother Chu Zhaotian is with them, too. Let me go find him..."

Liu Bin glanced around but couldn’t spot them in the crowd, a confused look on his face.

After all, they were short on walkie-talkies, making it impossible to contact everyone at a moment’s notice. Lin Fan had also forgotten to ask Ye Qingzhou if he had any spares.

"No need. Chu Zhaotian has a walkie-talkie. I’ll call him."

Since Chu Zhaotian was with them, that made things simple.

"You go get busy. Get everything organized, and don’t let things get chaotic. By the way, ask Yu Wentao and his guys if they have any spare walkie-talkies. We’ll get a batch out to you."

"You got it..."

Liu Bin nodded, then turned and jogged back to the convoy. He started coordinating the buses, directing them to pull further in to make room for the SUVs to enter and load up with supplies.

Meanwhile, Lin Fan moved away from the crowd, took out his walkie-talkie, and called, "Zhaotian?"

"Big Brother, it’s Zhaozhao!"

Before Chu Zhaotian could reply, Chu Zhaozhao’s voice instantly crackled over the radio.

"You’re looking for trouble, aren’t you? Sister Qing, confiscate her walkie-talkie," Lin Fan growled into the radio.

"Nyah nyah nyah..."

Chu Zhaozhao continued her taunts from the other end of the radio.

Since civilian walkie-talkies didn’t have a cross-band function, everyone in Lin Fan’s group was on the same channel.

A few seconds later, Chu Zhaotian’s voice came through.

"Zhaozhao, stop fooling around! ...Brother Lin, what’s up? We’re over by the clinic. It’s more spacious here..."

"Okay, I’m on my way."

Lin Fan put down the walkie-talkie and headed for the clinic.

He made his way through the crowd and past two buses before spotting another one parked near the clinic entrance, with a few people gathered around it.

"Brother Lin, this..."

Chu Zhaotian spotted him from a distance and waved.

As Lin Fan got closer, he saw an old-fashioned truck parked there, loaded with a huge pile of steel plates, rebar, and wire mesh. A small diesel generator sat beside it, CHUG-CHUG-CHUGGING away.

"Brother Lin, did Zhaozhao and the others go off to level up?"

Chu Zhaotian’s expression was calm. Since killing zombies was useless for him, he figured he might as well do something he was capable of and find a new role for himself.

For instance, he was now wearing a pair of safety goggles, looking the part as he learned cutting and electric welding from Wu Haitao.

"Brother Wu and the others are trying to figure out how to reinforce the bus, so at least the zombies can’t tear it to shreds."

"Brother Lin..."

Wu Haitao, Wang Yuanhua, and a few other men came over to greet him as well.

Wu Haitao, wearing his goggles, had just been squatting on the ground measuring some wire mesh. Wang Yuanhua, meanwhile, was lifting a bundle of rebar from the truck and tossing it to the ground.

Without any heavy lifting equipment, he was the only one besides Lin Fan who could move such things.

The other men were in charge of doing the actual cutting, while the final welding was left to Wu Haitao.

Each person had their own role, efficiently forming a small, makeshift modification shop.

"Whoa, that’s a lot of material. Wang Yuanhua moved all this? It must be several tons..."

Lin Fan said with amazement, looking at the various metal materials on the truck.

Wu Haitao quickly gave Wang Yuanhua the credit, saying graciously,

"Hey, it’s all thanks to Brother Wang. He killed a dozen zombies and moved all this material. We’re just giving him a hand."

"Brother Wu, you’re too kind. You’re the one with the real skills. All I know how to do is lay tile..."

Wang Yuanhua scratched his head.

"I just got lucky and ended up with a bunch of strength. Can’t help with much else..."

"Alright, you two, stop with the pleasantries. Don’t mind me. Get back to what you were doing, and hurry."

Lin Fan clapped them both on the shoulder, then said to Chu Zhaotian,

"Zhaotian, get me some paper and a pen."

"You got it!"

Chu Zhaotian, Wang Yuanhua, and the others acknowledged him and went their separate ways.

A moment later, he returned with a notebook and a few pens.

"Brother Lin, what’s this for?"

Chu Zhaotian asked quizzically as he handed him the pen and paper.

"Designing some new weapons..."

Lin Fan took the pen and paper and began to draw.