Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 531 - 524: First Stop - Refueling (Part 2)

"How’s the fuel loading going?"

"Three barrels of gasoline, two barrels of diesel." Li Zhong replied after checking the numbers.

Upon hearing this, Xu Renjie, after a brief consideration, made a decisive command: "Don’t just stand there, hurry up and refuel!"

"What about the supplies in this vehicle?" Tang Xiaoquan insisted.

Xu Renjie replied in a deep voice, "Finish refueling first, I’ll handle it!"

Seeing Old Xu’s confident demeanor, Tang Xiaoquan couldn’t say much more and could only continue filling up the barrels.

Meanwhile, Xu Renjie also parked the vehicle next to the gas station, took a fuel nozzle, and started refueling the tank.

Before long, two unaware beasts staggered out from the bathroom next to the gas station.

One was even wearing a "Sunshine Express" uniform; as soon as these two "goods" appeared, Hu Xiaodong raised his recurve bow high, the shiny arrow aimed directly at one of their heads.

Just as Hu Xiaodong was about to release the string and kill the beasts, a large hand pressed down on his left arm holding the bow.

"Let me!" Wei Dazhuang said in a deep voice, then two scythe blades appeared in his hands.

Without waiting for Hu Xiaodong’s response, Dazhuang moved forward to confront the incoming beasts.

Hu Xiaodong helplessly shook his head, yet he did not put down his bow and arrow, remaining fully on guard in case Wei Dazhuang needed emergency assistance.

Unfortunately for the beasts, Wei Dazhuang didn’t give him the chance; he easily took them out with two swift cuts.

The commotion by the restroom drew the attention of the survivors by the gas tank, but those familiar with Wei Dazhuang like Tang Xiaoquan merely glanced and didn’t concern themselves further.

Only Li Zhong was stunned in place, utterly amazed. From the beginning of the apocalypse until now, he had never seen anyone face these beasts with such calm and indifference.

Even the "tyrants" from his previous company didn’t possess the ferocity of the man before him!

Wei Dazhuang shamelessly flicked the lingering blood from his blades, then sheathed them onto his back.

Meanwhile, after about 10 uninterrupted minutes of loading, the survivors finally completed loading 17 barrels of oil.

Roughly estimated, it must be at least 350-400 liters of fuel.

After placing all the fuel onto the urban management vehicle, Old Xu instructed Tang Xiaoquan and others to remove the battery and spare tire from the POLO car.

Meanwhile, he took out the maintenance toolbox from the POLO car.

The reason was simple: the POLO car was hardly useful for transport or getting around. Rather than letting it waste away in the wild, it’s better to take whatever could be used.

As for the toolbox, Xu Renjie just opened it and found what they needed at the moment.

"From now on, no one should touch the fuel nozzle again!"

After receiving affirmative responses from everyone, Old Xu drove the urban management vehicle to face the Jianghuai car head-on.

Then, he lifted the hoods of both cars, confirmed the positions of their batteries, and used battery wires from the toolbox to connect the vehicles following the positive-to-positive, negative-to-negative order.

Once the preparations were complete, Xu Renjie climbed into the urban management vehicle and revved the accelerator, increasing the RPM until it stabilized between 2500-3000.

After maintaining this for about 5 minutes, Old Xu thought the charging should be enough. He rolled down the window and signaled to Hu Xiaodong to try starting the Jianghuai car.

Without a word, Hu Xiaodong put down his bow, jumped into the car, and decisively turned the ignition key.

"Vroom!" The familiar roar sounded again, and after a brief car body vibration, the Jianghuai JAC started without disappointment.

To ensure it wasn’t just sheer luck, Hu Xiaodong repeated the start-up several times to confirm everything was fine, then stopped the car. He then helped Old Xu pack up the toolbox and filled the JAC with fuel.

After a brief discussion, the survivors decided that Hu Xiaodong and Wei Dazhuang would drive the Jianghuai JAC.

At the same time, the survivors squeezed all supplies except fuel and tents into the JAC cabin.

After all, the weather can be unpredictable. Although Wang Zhongyu added a temporary rain shelter to the urban management vehicle, it’s ultimately a makeshift "shoddy project" and can’t withstand heavy rain.

Therefore, to prevent the supplies from getting damaged due to sudden weather changes, the survivors unanimously decided to move them to the Jianghuai JAC with its metal cabin.

Once prepared, the survivors set off again. Old Xu drove off first as the lead vehicle, with Hu Xiaodong closely following behind.

Both vehicles drove onto the highway and immediately headed back the way they came. Next, they needed to bypass the blocked highway, detouring to DZ County.

The cars sped in reverse order, a move that would have been reckless in the past.

However, now, no one would bother them about this violation, and neither Old Xu nor Hu Xiaodong would face any penalties.

After more than 3 hours of driving, the inside of the cars remained eerily quiet. No one spoke, and the bumpy roads discouraged any desire for chatter or jokes.

Finally, the familiar landmarks of DZ County came into view, a huge road sign indicating they’re only a hundred meters away.

Entering the county, the streets on both sides were still desolate, devoid of life. Fallen autumn leaves covered the road, swirling with dust as the wind blew, causing an inevitable feeling of melancholy to well up inside those who saw it.

As the saying goes, "the scenery evokes emotion." Tang Xiaoquan, already in a bad mood, was even more distracted by the decaying scene.

Seeing his brother’s forlorn expression, Wang Qiang sighed and cursed: "Damn this apocalypse, it turned a perfectly good Earth into this mess! I don’t even know who created this damn virus. If it’s a natural occurrence, fine, but if it’s a man-made one, that person deserves to be damned!"

Spoken without intent, listened with care, Xu Renjie, being part of the military, had seen and heard far more than the young people around him.

Therefore, he never considered that the virus was a natural phenomenon. Across the globe, both military and corporations have too many unspeakable secrets and too many actions undertaken for so-called profit against morality.

Thus, Old Xu had already concluded in his heart that spreading such a near human-extinction virus on such a vast and swift scale must have been a human act! (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote and subscribe on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)