Apocalypse Showdown: Carrier Conquest

Chapter 43: Every Second Counts

"She wants coal? What’s she offering in exchange?"

Cheng Yali recounted the story of the fifty tons of instant food, though she admitted that Huang Mengying might have been exaggerating. Still, the temptation of fifty tons of instant food was immense. According to Zhou Lin's descriptions of the apocalyptic timeline, the value of those fifty tons would be unimaginable in the future.

"She’s probably just talking. Even if she has it, she won’t easily hand it over to us," Zhou Lin shook his head. After several encounters with Huang Mengying, he knew she wasn’t simple.

"How can someone manage to turn a nearly bankrupt food factory into a thriving business in just three to five years?"

"She knows about my large-scale coal purchases," he continued.

In reality, it wasn’t just coal. At the time, Cheng Yali had no time to carefully plan. There was just too much to procure, and efficiency and cost were the main concerns. Even though she knew it might bring trouble later, there was no better option.

Zhou Lin pinched the bridge of his nose, making up his mind to go out.

"Why go out now? It’s so cold and dangerous out there, and we’re not lacking anything..." Cheng Yali started to protest.

"Not lacking now doesn’t mean we won’t lack later," Zhou Lin interrupted her.

Seeing that her objections were useless, Cheng Yali frowned and went to find Zhou Li and Wu Xue, planning to give Zhou Lin a lesson.

But little did she know, Zhou Lin was already one step ahead.

Without any excess baggage, Zhou Lin didn't need much preparation to go out. The night was pitch dark, and who could see him leave the neighborhood?

"Quick, tell the boss! The man from Building 8 is out again."

Shao Hang, who had been sleeping soundly in bed, was immediately woken up. However, when he grabbed the night vision goggles, Zhou Lin had already walked out of the community gate.

"D*mn it!" Shao Hang slapped his leg. "Didn't I tell you to lock the gate properly? Forget it. When the shelter people arrive tomorrow, we’ll seal off the entrance..."

"Boss, sealing the gate won't help. A lot of snow in the community is already higher than the wall..." one of the guards pointed out.

"Who cares about the gate? It’s much easier to walk through the snow," Shao Hang shot a glare at the guard who spoke and shoved the night vision goggles back. "I’m punishing you with another eight hours on shift!"

Outside the community, without the shelter of buildings, the cold wind was noticeably harsher.

Zhou Lin looked back at the dark silhouettes of the buildings, with only a few windows showing light.

In the eternal night, darkness was the dominant theme. It had only been about ten days, but the once bright lights now seemed like a distant memory. Perhaps humanity would never see that brilliance again. Even after the endless night passed, the world would not be kind to humankind.

"This is why I need more supplies!" Zhou Lin, after boosting his morale, strapped on his snow skis and headed toward the logistics park.

The snow had buried the roads, and even the rivers were unrecognizable. Fortunately, after his abilities evolved, his night vision also improved. What was once only visible up to 100 meters was now clear within 200 meters, and even at 200 meters, he could make out outlines.

This ability alone was enough to make Zhou Lin nearly invincible, as everyone else was as blind as a bat in comparison.

Even people like Xu Zhiyuan’s team, who relied on high-powered searchlights, would likely not see as clearly as Zhou Lin.

To ensure safety, convoys had to follow strict satellite navigation, as the risk of vehicle and personnel loss was high.

Since going out was a challenge, Xu Zhiyuan’s team would stop every time they passed a potential building or area with people or supplies. They would gather what they could and recruit when necessary.

Now, nearly everything was in short supply at the shelter, meaning anything related to daily life was valuable. Truly high-value targets, like grain storage or supply warehouses, were reserved for elite, professional teams, often made up of soldiers and led by experienced scouts or specialized mountain troops.

Zhou Lin was just a few hundred meters from the logistics park when he spotted such a massive convoy.

"Am I too late?" Seeing the "lights" of the logistics park, Zhou Lin grew anxious. He had expected the authorities would not abandon the logistics park, but he hadn’t expected them to come so quickly. He figured that while the logistics park was important, it would still be behind grain warehouses or supermarkets in priority.

He wasn’t entirely wrong, except he hadn’t considered the number of troops stationed in the area.

Though Jazhou City didn’t seem like a major military hub, it was a legitimate military stronghold. The army alone had several brigades stationed nearby, and with other units combined, there were probably close to 100,000 soldiers.

With Asharan's generous military budget over the past decade, even the army wasn’t lacking in equipment. When the disaster struck, local troops were mobilized immediately, and the Jazhou disaster relief headquarters was able to deploy dozens of convoys to act simultaneously.

Some things that seemed impossible were possible with government involvement.

At the time of the disaster, the logistics park’s inventory was in the hands of Lieutenant Colonel Wang Pingping, the convoy leader.

"Hasn’t the 38 tons of dehydrated vegetables been found yet?" he asked, frustrated.

Digging had been underway for half an hour, but despite the efforts, the exact location of the warehouse remained elusive due to the thick snow and lack of tall buildings for reference. If it hadn’t been for a series of coincidences, Zhou Lin might not have found the dehydrated vegetable warehouse at all. But now, with his powers, he had managed to sneak into the warehouse and retrieve the supplies without anyone noticing.

Without Huang Mengying as a burden, Zhou Lin was free to take box after box of dehydrated vegetables, emptying the warehouse in less than ten minutes.

Even with his enhanced abilities and evolved physical strength, after clearing out the entire warehouse, Zhou Lin felt a wave of dizziness.

He didn’t bother calculating how much he’d taken, only knowing that it was time to leave.

Just two minutes after he crawled out, beams of light converged on the warehouse. Vehicles arrived shortly, and within minutes, they started to organize a work area.

When Wang Pingping, who had heard that the dehydrated vegetable warehouse had been located, arrived, he immediately had a bad feeling as he saw the ventilation window that Zhou Lin had smashed open.

He quickly ordered people to enter through the window, but the news they brought back made him almost drop his hat.

"Who was it? Who got there first?"

He couldn’t fathom how so much food could have been removed from the warehouse, especially since the main door was locked. Had someone taken thirty to forty tons of dehydrated vegetables through that small window?

His face grew grim as he realized that there was a much more serious issue at hand than the missing food.

"Continue the work," Wang Pingping gestured to his team and hurried back to the command vehicle. He had to report the situation to his superiors immediately!