Cheng Suming and the other two were about to leave, and Sheng Youbin and his mother also wanted to follow them.
Sheng Youqing said, "Mom, Youbin, both of you are not in good health, so it's not suitable for you to go out and look for supplies. Just stay here. When I find the supplies, I'll come back and let you know. It won't be too late for you to move with me."
Sheng Youbin wanted to say something, but then she said, "Youbin, after we leave, if any bad guys show up, you have to shoulder your responsibilities as a man and protect mom and the others. I'm not keeping you here to play around."
Sheng Youbin was silent for a while before he said, "I understand."
Cheng Suming and the other two took a large-capacity backpack, sack, gloves, tool kit, and mask from Cheng Wei's supply room, put them on, and went downstairs.
The Ge family members on the eleventh floor stood in unison by the window, watching their departing backs with grim eyes.
Sister Ge said quietly, "Only three of them left."
Ge Manfu sneered, "Don't worry, the remaining four are old, weak, sick and disabled, not to be feared, wait until they are far away before taking action."
After Cheng Suming and the other two went downstairs, Cheng Suming took out the mobile phone that he had charged last night from his arms, opened the map that had been downloaded in advance on the phone, and according to the area shown on the map, he took Yang Wentao and Sheng Youqing to the ruins of the central city, about an hour away from the Cheng family's old house, to look for useful supplies.
Before the end of the world, the Central City was the most prosperous commercial district in the entire Xingcheng. It not only had large department stores, but also had streets crisscrossed with a variety of commercial shops.
This area covers a very large area and had been plundered by countless waves of people before the earthquake. After the earthquake, except for two relatively low department stores that were tilted and leaning, all other buildings were almost reduced to ruins.
Fortunately, there were no corpses everywhere, and no large numbers of snakes, insects, rats or ants that feed on carrion, so there was no need to worry about contracting the plague by rummaging through the ruins.
However, many people also went here to rummage through the ruins, and many people fought each other for a few supplies, and some even lost their lives.
When they arrived at the central city area, there were already many survivors, covered in dust and dirt, carrying bags on their shoulders and holding hooks in their hands, wandering among the ruins looking for usable supplies.
Seeing them appear fully armed and wearing masks which were rare at that time, many people stopped to look at them, their eyes filled with complex expressions such as vigilance, curiosity, envy, etc.
Cheng Suming ignored their presence, looked at the map in his hand, stayed away from the ruins of supermarkets, shops, hotels and the like that sold food before the apocalypse, avoided arguments with others, and went straight to a shop that sold non-motorized vehicles.
Naturally, this place is full of ruins and has been searched countless times.
Wearing gloves, Cheng Suming moved away large rocks, steel bars and other construction materials, and picked out the rusty car frames, chains, screws, tires and other parts that were buried underneath.
Sheng Youqing saw that all the parts he picked out were for tricycles, and asked curiously, "Are you planning to assemble a tricycle to transport supplies?"
Cheng Suming pulled a twisted truck bed and said, "It's not one truck, but three trucks. Each of our three families will have one truck, and we will each carry our own supplies when the time comes."
Sheng Youqing walked over to help him pull it: "Will this work? These parts are so rusty, can they really be used after being assembled? Besides, the roads are now full of cracks due to the earthquake, and the road conditions are very bad. Even if the bike can be ridden, it will be difficult to walk on those roads."
"It's better to have a car than not to have one. As for the road conditions, we'll have to wait and see."
"Let me pull it." Seeing that the two of them had been pulling for a long time without success, Yang Wentao walked over, stretched out his strong arms, and pulled with all his might. A complete human-powered tricycle was pulled out.
The three of them lost their footing and fell backwards together, but fortunately no one was injured.
Sheng Youqing climbed up from the ruins and said happily: "This tricycle is actually in good condition, but the chain and frame are covered with a lot of rust. It looks very old. I don't know if it can be used."
"You'll know if you try it." Cheng Suming took out a small bottle of cooking oil that he had prepared in advance from his backpack, and asked Yang Wentao, who was tall and strong, to put the tricycle on a slightly flatter ground next to the ruins.
He walked over and half-crouched in front of the car, opened the oil bottle, poured some oil on the chain, turned the pedal, and the chain started to move without any sign of breaking.
Cheng Suming stood up, got on the tricycle and pedaled a few times. As expected, the tricycle that had been soaked in water for a long time made a creaking sound, but it could still be ridden. After replacing the tires with new ones and applying oil to other rusty places, it should be able to be used.
The three of them searched around for usable tires, air bags, and guns, and spent more than two hours trying to assemble parts for two more tricycles.
Most of the assembly work was done by Yang Wentao, who lost his parents at a young age and grew up eating at many people's homes. When he was fifteen, he did all kinds of jobs to support himself, and he also learned the business of repairing bicycles from others.
Most of the tricycle parts they dug out were rotten due to being soaked in water, and they had to be replaced with sturdy parts to make the vehicle stable.
In the absence of welding equipment, replacing things like the frame is a very technically demanding task. During this period, Cheng Suming and Sheng Youqing were unable to help, so they temporarily separated from him to look for other supplies.
To be honest, Sheng Youqing didn't want to go with Cheng Suming. It was probably because her best sister was taken away by this pig, and she had been unhappy with Cheng Suming since two years ago.
She always felt that his appearance had taken away her and her sisters' happy time. Si Nan went out to play with her, and the time they spent together became less and less.
Now that she was reunited with Si Nan, she subconsciously wanted to compete with Cheng Su Ming. She didn't want to go the same way as him, but she was afraid that if she ran into trouble, she wouldn't be able to handle it alone, so she could only stay away from him, fearing that he was poisonous.
Cheng Su Ming was also unwilling to go the same way with her. This woman's hostility towards him was too obvious, and even a blind man could see that she was unhappy with him becoming Si Nan's husband.
It can be seen from the food-picking incident last night that this woman does not give him any face at all and only tries to be attentive in front of Si Nan.
If Si Nan hadn't repeatedly emphasized that Sheng Youqing was her friend for many years and that she would risk her life to save Sheng Youqing's family, he would not have bothered to pay attention to such a jealous woman.
In order to avoid being left alone and getting into trouble, the two of them walked side by side at a distance, even though they both disliked each other. However, when they saw supplies, they would still stand together.
Sheng Youqing discovered that under a ruined wall, there was a thick layer of stone slabs, steel bars and cement blocks, with some chopsticks, steel wool, socks, underwear and other things exposed on the bottom layer.
These things were covered by thick dust and could not be seen at all if one did not look carefully. Moreover, the stone slabs, steel bars and concrete blocks were very heavy and were piled up layer by layer. Some people came to look for them, but they could not move the heavy stone slabs, so they gave up the search. No one knew how much supplies were hidden under the ruins that had not been taken away.
Cheng Suming walked over to take a look, then picked up the map on his phone to check the location: "This ruin used to be a small department store."
"I don't know how tall this shop is, and whether the things inside have been soaked by water." Sheng Youqing squatted in the corner, pulled out a ball of steel wool, brushed off the dust, revealing a very new ball of wire.
Cheng Suming understood what she meant: "This building has fifteen floors. Most of the supplies were moved to the tenth floor and above before the end of the world. If nothing unexpected happens, these things are intact and have not been soaked by water."
"Then we're rich!" Sheng Youqing was delighted.
"It's hard to say. Let's not move here for now. Note this location and look for another place first. Then call Si Nan and the others to come over and pry the stone slab together and have a look."
The two walked around the area without finding anything big. They picked up a few relatively clean winter clothes and cotton shoes. When they passed a collapsed bridge tunnel, they saw about thirty men, women, young and old gathered there, cooking something in a pot.
Seeing the two of them appear, several middle-aged men stood up, holding iron bars, steel bars and other construction materials in their hands, and shouted at them angrily: "This is our territory. If you don't want to die, leave here quickly!"
Cheng Suming was not surprised. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't be nervous. There are only two of us. We will not pose a threat to you. I am a doctor and have been saving lives in the army. Today, I passed by here with the army's search and rescue team. I just want to ask you, in this area, are there any places where there are still trapped people who have not been rescued?"
The profession of doctor, whether before or after the end of the world, is like the profession of military or police, which will make people trust and rely on it from the bottom of their hearts.
The middle-aged man in the lead looked at Cheng Suming carefully. He saw that he was wearing glasses, had an elegant appearance, was dressed neatly, and looked healthy and strong in both spirit and body.
Unlike these ordinary people, long-term hunger has made them pale and thin, and in the absence of water, everyone is covered in dust and dirt.
With such a sharp contrast, if this man is really a doctor, he has made his way in the army with his own abilities and has no worries about food and clothing, so it makes sense that he has a normal body shape and wears clean clothes.
The middle-aged man thought for a while, then put away his guard and said, "To be honest, before the earthquake, in this area, in addition to the largest department store in the central city that was requisitioned by the government as a temporary shelter and gathered hundreds of thousands of people, many other vacant buildings, shopping malls, and shops gathered many private shelters of all sizes. When the earthquake happened, officers from the central city shelter issued warnings nearby, and most people fled. After the earthquake, they came back and dug up all the supplies buried in their private shelters, except for a few deep places that were not dug up. We stayed here to look for the supplies left behind. There shouldn't be many trapped people in the past two days, and if there are any, they are almost dead."
Cheng Suming's handsome face showed a harmless smile: "Thank you for your answer. After the military rescue, they will conduct a population survey in the city in a while. I hope you will support our work then."
Population screening means that new shelters will be built, and the army will once again take care of everyone's food, drink, and personal safety.
The middle-aged man witnessed many robberies and murders in the past few days. In order to protect their friends and relatives who had gathered together, and also for the few supplies, he could not sleep at night, was worried and exhausted. He had long wanted to leave Xingcheng, but he didn't know where to go, so he stayed here.
After hearing what Cheng Suming said, the middle-aged man felt that he had seen hope and found his backbone. After thanking Cheng Suming, he took the initiative to point to several areas and said to him: "These places used to be shopping malls, department stores, jewelry stores, movie theaters, etc., where few people gather. The things inside are buried deep underground and are difficult to pry open. If your army has equipment, you can try to move them. Maybe you can find a lot of useful supplies."
Cheng Suming looked in the directions he pointed, including the ruins discovered by Sheng Youqing. With some thoughts in mind, he turned around and called Sheng Youqing to go back and meet Yang Wentao.
Sheng Youqing followed him silently. Cheng Suming only used his profession as a doctor and pretended to be a military doctor to say a few words, and he was able to find out the possible hidden areas of supplies. It must be said that he was a very scheming and scary person.
No wonder Si Nan was coaxed into getting married in a hurry by him. If such a scheming and smiling tiger really wanted to plot against someone, I'm afraid no one would be able to resist him.
She involuntarily took two steps to the side, further away from Cheng Suming, to avoid being schemed and persecuted by him.
When they saw Yang Wentao, there were seven or eight people with bruised faces and bloodied bodies lying near him, and a dozen people next to him were looking at him with fear.
Yang Wentao was as strong as a bear, with blood all over his body. His centipede-like scarred face was also stained with blood, and he looked very ferocious with his murderous look.
When he saw Cheng Suming and the other man appear, he shouted with murderous eyes: "Get lost!"
The dozen or so people were frightened by his low voice, and without thinking, turned around and fled.
"What happened? Are you not hurt?" Cheng Suming walked over and asked.
Yang Wentao shook his head: "It's okay, the blood on my body is the blood of those blind people who wanted to steal our tricycle."
Cheng Suming said "oh" as expected, without even looking at it.
The robbers who were lying on the ground groaningly got on a tricycle, pointed to an area and said, "Let's go there and take a look."
Yang Wentao whispered "OK" and rode a tricycle to follow him.
The two grown men didn't even ask Sheng Youqing if she could ride a tricycle, and just handed the other tricycle to her.
Sheng Youqing looked at the backs of the two people leaving, feeling depressed. She knew that neither of them was easy to mess with, and she had to push the bike even if she couldn't ride it.
Fortunately, when she opened the hot pot restaurant before the end of the world, she bought an electric tricycle to facilitate her trips to the frozen goods wholesale market to purchase goods. She was familiar with the operation of the tricycle, and it only took her a minute to successfully master the human-powered tricycle and pedal the wheels to catch up.
After Cheng Suming and the others left, Si Nan asked Cheng Wei and the others to lock their doors and not go out unless necessary. They should call her if there was anything. Only then did she feel at ease to go back to her room, lock the doors and windows, and go to bed to catch up on some sleep.
She didn't know how much time had passed. When she finally fell asleep and was half asleep, she heard the screams of Cheng Wei and Sheng's mother, as well as several quick and short knocks on the door, asking her to wake up.
Si Nan woke up from his dream, put on his coat immediately, ran to the door quietly, and leaned through the peephole to see what was happening outside.
It would have been fine if she hadn't looked at it, but when she did, she was so scared that she shivered. She didn't know which pervert was lying at her door, staring into the cat's eye with his big cow-like eyes.
She didn't need to guess, she knew that someone took advantage of the absence of Cheng Suming and the other two grown men to steal the supplies.
"The eldest lady of the Cheng family and that old woman have all gone to the supply room inside. Don't hesitate, find a way to pry open the door."
"Why are you in such a hurry? They are already trapped in the jar and can't escape. The other two are still hiding in the room. Pry the door open for me. Kill the disabled one and leave the woman here. We will have some fun later."
"This... Ge Wanfu, this isn't a good idea. When we discussed it before, we agreed to just take the supplies, occupy the room, and drive them away without harming their lives."
"Why, are you still thinking about the so-called kindness of your employer? Stop being so hypocritical here! You can commit betrayal and robbery, so what difference does it make whether you kill people or not. If you don't kill them, do you want them to go out and complain to the Cheng family, and let the Cheng family come and deal with us?"
......
There was noisy chatter, completely unconcealed. Si Nan listened for a while through the door, and felt the group of people impatiently prying the door open. She calmly walked back to the power switch in the room, turned off the power, and pulled the double-layer light-blocking curtains on all the windows. The room suddenly fell into darkness.
She adjusted to the darkness for a while and could barely see the outline of the furnishings in the room. She slowly felt her way to a standing air conditioner leaning against the wall on the left side, about five meters away from the door. She took out the only four crossbows from the space and loaded five iron arrows on each crossbow in the dark. Then she took out two cans of chili powder and put them in the pocket of her clothes. She then took out two stun batons and tied them to her back, one on the left and one on the right, and waited quietly for the gang to pry open the door.
There were lights in the corridor, and the appearance of that group of people scared Cheng Wei. Not long after Si Nan turned off the lights in the room, Cheng Wei also turned off the diesel generator in the supply room.
The rumbling sound of the generator stopped and the corridor became dark, which scared the group of people.
They fumbled for some spare flashlights to open the doors, and nearly a hundred people were divided into four groups to pry open the doors of the four rooms.
The people who pried open Si Nan's door were not sure if there was anyone in the room. After they pried the door open, the two leaders carefully scanned inside with flashlights. They didn't see anyone and were about to leave when they suddenly heard a woman's frightened gasp coming from the room.
The person who pried the door open immediately shouted: "There's a woman hiding here!"
"Catch her!"
As the two shouted, a group of people rushed into the door.
Sinan hid behind the vertical air conditioner and calmly identified each person's figure in the flickering light of the flashlight.
She didn't want to see their faces clearly, but to see their position clearly and make sure to kill them with one blow.
About twenty people rushed into the room, most of them were men, with four or five women among them.
Si Nan raised the crossbows with both hands, and used the arm strength he had trained for a long time to pull them up. He placed the two crossbows against his chest to withstand the recoil, and then aimed at the heads of the two men who came in first and pulled the trigger.
"ah--!"
The people in the room only felt a flash before their eyes, and heard two men's short screams. Then the two leading men fell to the ground and twitched continuously. There was an extremely short and small iron rod stuck in the middle of their heads, and blood was gushing out. It looked extremely weird.
"That woman is armed! Everyone be careful!"
Someone shouted, and everyone who had come in hurriedly left the room.
They had never expected that the seemingly weak woman was hiding in the dark and could take lives with one strike. This was much more cruel than their conspiracy to steal supplies!
They were all relatives and family members working as servants, gardeners, drivers, cooks, and other occupations. Before coming to the Cheng family, they were either living in temporary shelters set up by the government or struggling to survive in their own homes.
Although they had shed some blood for some supplies and to survive, it was far from the point where they would take lives over a disagreement.
Now they met a woman who was even more cruel than them. They panicked and rushed to the door, giving Si Nan the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
Amid the continuous screams and falls, Ge's husband ran out of the room with shaking hands and feet, and shouted in the dark corridor: "Ge Manfu, what the hell are you doing! Hurry up and bring people over, the woman in this room has killed people, she has killed many people!"
Ge Manfu, who was leading people to pry open the door of the supply room but couldn't pry it open, was shocked when he heard this: "Which woman? How dare she kill someone!"
"The one you want to have sex with! Stop talking nonsense and come and restrain her. She seems to have a cold weapon. I..."
Before he could finish his words, a short scream came from his throat, and then he fell heavily to the ground.
Ge Manfu opened his eyes wide and saw a woman with disheveled hair standing at the entrance of the passage, holding two strange crossbows in both hands, shooting arrows at anyone who tried to attack her.
Her archery skills were extremely accurate, and each arrow hit the center of a person's forehead or heart, killing him instantly.
When she had finished shooting all the arrows, she put the crossbow on the ground, pulled out two stun batons from her back, and with an expressionless face, she whipped the people who were trying to catch her.
She moved nimbly among the crowd, bending, lowering her head, dodging to the side, swinging her stick, raising her legs, and kicking sideways. Each movement was smooth and seamless, and her attacks were fast and fierce. Every strike would knock someone down, accompanied by ear-piercing screams.
The others who were originally planning to catch her shrank back in fear when they saw this scene. “Please spare us, beauty! We didn’t mean to rob you. We just came here to join in the fun. We have no intention of harming anyone!”
"Oh? You just came here to join in the fun? Do you think I believe you?" Si Nan stepped on the wrist of a man who was stunned by the electric baton and crushed it with his feet. When the man cried out in pain, he said calmly, "Leave the mastermind behind, and the rest of you who don't want to die, leave quickly."
Everyone hesitated for a moment. They were afraid of the ruthless woman, but they wanted to get the supplies more. However, if they really went against that woman, they might lose their lives.
Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Ge Manfu immediately said, "She is just one person, and she is a woman. No matter how many weapons she has, what can she do? There are so many of us, are we still afraid of her? Come on, kill her, and we will divide the supplies of the eldest lady of the Cheng family equally!"
In response, he heard two more screams.
No matter what Ge Manfu said, the gang, who had no weapons and only had iron rods, steel bars and building materials, and whose family members and women were already timid, all ran away in a swarm.
Si Nan let them go, holding the electric baton in both hands, standing in the middle of the aisle, and smiled strangely at Ge Manfu and his family: "It's your turn next."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
