Chapter 45: Xinjing Temporary Capital

"Are you serious? You're the leader of a base, and you're giving up such a huge foundation?" Su Qing put down the water cup and looked at Lu Chen carefully for a moment. "Is your base in trouble? Just tell me if you need anything, and I'll do my best to help you."

"Just kidding." Lu Chen straightened himself and continued, "I remember you said before that your base can produce clothes and quilts on its own, right?"

"Yes, but the output is a bit low."

"Can I place an order with you?"

"Hmm... We've only just managed to get enough for the base, and there's no surplus left. If you need it, we'll have to rush. And if you need it urgently, I'm afraid the output won't be very much." Su Qing briefly calculated the current production capacity in his mind, then frowned. "The most difficult thing is that the roads are now blocked by snow, and the blizzard is still going on. There's no way we can deliver it to you."

"Prepare as long as there's any left. I'll take as much as you can. The price will be based on the current market price. I'll find a way to pick it up after the snow stops."

"There are also grains, vegetables and meat. Are you still selling them?"

Su Qing opened the warehouse and looked at the inventory. Although the weather had affected the output, she had intentionally stored more food before, so she was not short of food.

"How much do you want?"

"I'll take whatever you can offer."

She knew that the Luchen base had a large population and the daily consumption was enormous. She was afraid that it would be difficult for him in such a difficult time. She nodded and said, "I'll try to leave more for you."

The two chatted briefly about the details for a while. Lu Chen watched Su Qing yawn several times in a row in the video, her eyes a little red, and said, "It's late, go to bed."

"Ah...oh..." Su Qing was a little tired. When she heard Lu Chen say this, her eyes were blurred and she reacted for a long time.

"Things are complicated at the Extreme Climate Base right now. Be careful of people taking advantage of the chaos to cause trouble. Although you have some skills, you still need to pay more attention to safety and be careful about everything. If there is anything that is difficult to solve, call me."

"Oh...I'll pay attention."

"goodbye."

"Goodbye..." Su Qing was about to hang up when he suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "Hey! I see your hands are covered with wounds, remember to treat them."

After that, she hung up the video.

Lu Chen glanced at the black projection screen, then raised his hand and waved it in front of his eyes. He didn't pay much attention to the tiny cracks.

Su Qing hung up the video, then stood up and filled all the charcoal braziers on the ground with charcoal. Then he gathered his scarf and walked to the window.

The snow outside had stopped, but a thick layer of snow had accumulated in the yard. The temperature was still very low, and she frowned as she looked out the window.

Heavy snow blocked the roads, trapping everyone. After the apocalypse, productivity was extremely low, and supplies were severely scarce. This was pushing humanity to the brink of extinction...

…

A furniture store in a certain city

Chen Wei was huddled in front of the fire, wrapped in a thick quilt. On the fire was an iron rack with a blackened pot hanging on it. Hot water was boiling in the pot, cooking thin white porridge. She frowned and stirred the porridge from time to time with the spoon in her hand.

After a while, there was a noise outside, and soon several people opened the door and walked in, carrying a pile of wood on their shoulders.

"It's snowing outside again. This damn weather really doesn't allow people to survive." Du Wenming piled the wood in his hand in the corner of the room.

"It's too cold, please move aside and let me warm myself by the fire." Xiang Cheng put down his things, rubbed his numb hands and squeezed in front of the fire.

Seeing her teammates coming back, Chen Wei lifted the blanket and put it aside. She picked up the bowl on the ground and scooped up the porridge with a spoon. "The porridge is ready now. Let's eat something to warm ourselves up."

There were five people in their group. They originally came out to look for supplies, but they encountered heavy snow and couldn't leave. Their captain realized something was wrong and found a furniture store as a temporary place to stay.

After that, the snow fell heavier and the temperature dropped. The few people were extremely grateful for the captain's wisdom.

The furniture store was seldom visited, and most of it still maintained its pre-apocalyptic appearance. When they arrived, there were only a few zombies wandering around, and they were easily dealt with.

There are three floors here in total. They found a relatively spacious room on the second floor, moved in three thick mattresses, and collected quilts and blankets from various model rooms and placed them in the room. They also sealed the windows with thick quilts and nails, leaving only one corner unsealed so that a window could be opened for ventilation.

They had previously found a 5-jin sealed bag of rice in this city, and relied on the furniture in the furniture store to burn fire for warmth, so they could barely get by. They had planned to leave as soon as the snow stopped, but they didn't expect that the snow outside continued to fall for several days, and the snow was getting thicker and thicker. Now they were trapped here and couldn't move.

Chen Wei handed the bowls of porridge to everyone one by one, then looked at Zeng Zhi with a worried look on her face, "Captain, even if we save our food, it will only last for another week. What should we do?"

Zeng Zhi took the bowl, blew on it, and quickly drank a few sips. When he felt a little warm, he looked at everyone and said, "The snow outside is now more than a meter thick. Even if the snow stops, we won't be able to leave for a while. Now we can only find a way to continue looking for food here."

The city had been evacuated long ago. They had searched for a long time before the snow fell and had only found a few usable supplies. Now they were trapped here, and it was difficult just to get out, let alone find edible food supplies.

For a moment, everyone was silent. In the extremely cold weather, even if they were close to the fire, they still couldn't feel much warmth. Under the light of the fire, everyone's faces were pale, and deep in their eyes was a deep despair for the days to come.

In the past year of the apocalypse, they have experienced too many life and death situations. The zombies did not take their lives, they survived the intrigues and dangers in the base, and they survived the lack of supplies and hunger. But now they are going to be cut off by the heavy snow?

"Okay, don't be so depressed. Although the conditions are a bit difficult, this heavy snow is not without its benefits. At least it makes it difficult for the zombies to move. I just went to the third floor and took a look. Most of the zombies outside are frozen. This way, we don't need to spend too much energy hiding. We just need to find a way to dig a path to collect supplies."

Zeng Zhi looked at the team members and had to force himself to cheer them up, "This is the Trade Plaza, I think there will be something useful here!"

…

Northwest Region-Xinjing Base (temporary capital)

The once barren Northwest was chosen as the new temporary capital after the apocalypse because of its vast land and sparse population.

Fewer people means fewer zombies.

Although it is dry and rainy here, it has a large national grain reserve warehouse and is rich in important resources such as minerals, oil, natural gas, coal, and non-ferrous metals.

After repeated research, the upper management finally decided to relocate and build a large base here.

There were not many people who migrated here at first. Together with the base and the people who came here later, there are now more than 100,000 people. Because it is heavily guarded, this is the only place in China that maintains social order before the end of the world.

However, where there are people, there are always struggles for money and power. Many of those who can follow are officials, wealthy people and gentry. After the end of the world, most resources cannot be regenerated, and the base distributes materials according to work. The rich are still prosperous with the materials they had when they came, while ordinary people work hard to survive and barely make ends meet.

On the surface, everything here seems harmonious and peaceful, but there are undercurrents surging inside.

Xinjing Troops Temporary Command

A middle-aged man in a heavy military coat pushed open the door of the communications room and asked the people inside, "Have you contacted Qin Yu? Is the communication with other places connected?"

Seeing the newcomer, everyone in the room stood up and saluted. Then someone reported, "Commander, the heavy snow has interrupted the signal. We've been sending it 24 hours a day, but we still can't reach anyone."

A week ago, their military special channel received an encrypted message. After deciphering it, they found that it was a message from Qin Yu, who they thought had died long ago.

Qin Yu said that there were only four people left in their team now, and Professor Gu was safe and sound. They had left the capital and were currently staying in a small base. There was a laboratory in that base for Professor Gu to conduct research, and they were unable to leave for the time being.

After that, there was no news from Qin Yu. They tried various methods to contact Qin Yu again with great difficulty. The two sides had just briefly exchanged the latest situation when they encountered extreme weather of blizzard. Subsequently, all signals on various channels were interrupted. Not only could they not contact Qin Yu, they could not even contact other bases.

"Chief! Our supplies have been seized again!" A man pushed open the door and ran in, shouting at the middle-aged man with an angry face.

Bang!

"Damn it! They actually dared to confiscate my things!" Qin Ming slapped the table beside him with a loud noise, which scared everyone in the room.

"Go get a team of people, grab some weapons, and follow me to the logistics department."

After saying that, he turned around and left with the visitor. When he reached the door, Qin Ming turned around and said to the people in the room: "Comrades, thank you for your hard work in keeping in touch. Tell me as soon as there is any news." After saying that, he left quickly.

"Yes! Chief!"

Seeing that the man had gone far away, the people in the communications room breathed a sigh of relief. Their leader had looked like he wanted to eat someone just now.

Several people held their military coats tightly together. After opening the door continuously, they felt that the room had become much colder. They added some wood to the brazier on the ground, and then returned to their seats. Thinking about what they had just heard, they couldn't help but start chatting.

"Alas, the Logistics Department has the audacity to withhold our military supplies again. So many people were against handing over our military supplies to those government agencies, and now, even with our own supplies, we're still being controlled by them."

"This has happened several times. Every time they say that supplies are tight and the civilians need to be given priority. We are soldiers and we need to be patient and obey the orders from above. Damn it, I have nothing to say if the supplies are used for the civilians, but I have seen military supplies being bought and sold privately several times at the base and embezzled by those bastards. I can't stand this!"

"We're the ones doing the dirtiest, most tiring, and most dangerous work, charging into battle, rescuing people, searching for supplies, and clearing out the zombies. Those government officials sitting in offices only know how to fight among themselves for power and profit. Aren't soldiers human beings? What's going on now? Without warmth, people will die!"

Originally, their troops were under the direct command of the commander-in-chief. However, when the end of the world came, the commander-in-chief was unwilling to leave to guard the capital, and several leaders in the power center stayed behind. In the end, the capital was not defended and all of them died.

With only a few members left in the old leadership team, a new temporary leader was elected. A soldier's duty is to obey orders and follow commands, and to obey whoever commands. However, the military simply believed the nonsense of those political players, and after suffering several heavy losses, they realized that no one is a fool and will not allow others to bully them.

It is now difficult for the military and the government to maintain superficial harmony as they fight for power.