"Lin Yuan ge, there are so many strawberries! Should we take them?" Wu Mengyao and Sun Qin crouched beside the strawberry pots, excitedly picking the fruit.
These things were usually so expensive; neither of them ate them often.
Lin Yuan was picking tomatoes with Zhao Anjing on the other side. After adapting for so long, tomato and egg stir-fry was something they could eat without any expression.
It was a shame there were no eggs now; they were all gone.
Even the compressed biscuits were gone. There hadn't been many of them to begin with; the canned food was more plentiful.
Once the hot water dissolved them, they turned into fragrant porridge, a combination of sugar, salt, fat, and carbohydrates, perfect for replenishing energy after training.
Speaking of salt, Lin Yuan suddenly remembered that the supplies only contained eight catties of salt in the seasoning box. At the standard intake of 6 grams of salt per person per day, this amount would last their 14 people for about 47 days.
It should be enough for the journey, but not for after reaching their destination.
He would check if there was enough space before leaving and take some more. If not, they would have to replenish it on the road.
Snapping back to reality, he found Wu Mengyao and Sun Qin looking at him expectantly.
"You can take a few pots with lots of fruit, but don't take too many, a maximum of 3 pots, alright?" Lin Yuan thought about it. Bringing a few pots of strawberries in the SUV carrying people would be fine.
"Hooray! Lin Yuan ge is the best." The two little ones were so happy they almost jumped.
The entire vegetable harvesting process was very fast, almost a destructive harvest where they picked and trampled at the same time.
But since they were evacuating anyway, they didn't care.
About forty minutes later, Lin Yuan and his group were on their second vegetable transport, and it was the last one. The vegetables on the rooftops of the two buildings had all been collected, mostly common vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, and bok choy.
They had packed three large boxes and a bag of strawberries.
Wang Zhihai and his team were also carrying out their welding work in an orderly manner, already working on the second frame, which was almost finished.
At this pace, it would be completed before 1 PM.
Lin Yuan, with nothing to do, paced back and forth near the entrance of the underground garage, thinking if there was anything he had missed. Then, as if struck by an idea, he asked Mu Qingtian to accompany him to the southern 3 buildings to knock on the doors again. There was no time to open these tightly shut doors.
After knocking on the doors of the three buildings, there was no response, only the frantic banging of zombies against the doors.
"It seems there are no more survivors. Let's leave." With a sigh, Lin Yuan called out to Mu Qingtian, who was waiting, to leave.
Returning to the entrance of the underground garage, Lin Yuan continued to pace, feeling inexplicably agitated.
But since there was nothing specific on his mind, he could only stand guard with his gun.
Time passed slowly in anxious waiting, each second feeling like a year.
"Brother Sun, any movement from that thing in the old town?"
"Captain, no movement, just that spherical object on the surface has grown a bit larger."
"Brother Sun, anything from the broadcast?"
"Captain, no new announcements, just the repeated broadcast of air raid times."
"Brother Sun..."
"..."
"Captain, this is the 10th time you've asked me... I'll inform you if there's any situation, don't worry."
Sun Haiping was almost in tears. Lin Yuan had asked him 10 times in just 15 minutes. He didn't know what was going on.
Lin Yuan, down below, suddenly came to his senses. What was happening to him?
Why was he so anxious? It wasn't normal. Could it be he was afraid of retaliation from that village bully in Qu City?
"Retaliation, retaliation, retaliation..." Lin Yuan muttered the words and suddenly remembered the draft of his plans in his room.
It had the planned destination written on it!
With this thought, Lin Yuan asked everyone to stop their work and asked, "Does anyone have any drafts lying around that mention our evacuation route or destination?"
The team members were confused by such a strange question, but seeing Lin Yuan's solemn expression, they all seriously recalled.
As a result, except for little Sun Qin, everyone else raised their hands. When they were in the rooms, they had basically discussed the evacuation route and plans, and had explored some of the routes themselves.
After learning where they kept their drafts and the like, Lin Yuan asked again before confidently taking the key and going upstairs.
"If there's anything else you've overlooked, tell me on the walkie-talkie."
After Lin Yuan left, the team members started discussing.
"Why did the captain suddenly ask this, and so seriously? In this apocalypse, is there anyone who could enter the community and specifically look at our blueprints?"
"It is a bit strange, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. In this world, no matter how careful you are, it's never too much."
"That's true. The captain is indeed very thoughtful."
"Alright, alright, let's hurry up and finish the work. It's almost over, let's go comrades!"
"Charge, charge, charge!"
Returning to the rooms where they had stayed, Lin Yuan carefully collected all the papers, including his own current ones and those from his previous room, placed them into two pots, lit them with a lighter, and kept stirring them to ensure a more complete burn.
Only when he saw them turn into a pile of ashes did the lingering anxiety in his heart completely dissipate.
Cut the grass and pull up the roots, leaving no future trouble.
As for the books in the rooms, Lin Yuan packed them all and dispersed them under the beds and cabinets in unoccupied rooms.
After confirming that no papers were left behind, he clapped his hands, satisfied, and left. The time now was 12:49, almost 1 PM.
He went to the rooftop to confirm that the laser positioning device had been marked on the nest mutant and gave Sun Haiping a few strawberries, telling him to hold on a little longer. They could come down once the vehicles were welded.
Now, he had to ensure that this positioning device wouldn't malfunction.
Back at the entrance of the underground garage, the protective frames for the vehicles had been welded. Now they had to weld these onto the vehicles.
The frames enclosed the vehicles from above. This process could be completed by supporting them with explosion-proof forks.
During this process, there were unavoidable bumps and scrapes, causing paint to chip off or dents to appear on the vehicle surfaces, but no one reacted.
Life was more important. As for where to weld, they even chipped off the paint to expose the alloy underneath before starting to weld.
This kind of welding was much faster. After the frames were welded, they broke the side windows, welded wire mesh into the frame gaps to serve as windows. The front windshield was not broken; instead, a few steel bars were welded onto the frames, leaving space for observation from the driver's seat.
The combination of aluminum alloy and steel bars made the weight less than if it were all steel.
This allowed for more supplies to be carried. The vehicle carrying people was definitely the one with the lowest rated load capacity. However, these four SUVs had the same rated load capacity, so they had to choose the relatively smaller one.
Loading supplies was very fast. Boxes were placed in the trunk and on the back seats, and smaller items were stuffed into the gaps.
The space in the five vehicles was sufficient. As for the pickup truck, it carried heavy items like weapons, ammunition, and rice.
All items were loaded onto the vehicles, including the 12 newly connected barrels of water.
Upon hearing the retreat order, Sun Haiping made a final check to ensure the laser positioning device was functioning normally, then rejoined the group.
The oil from the other cars in the underground garage was siphoned out to fill the five vehicles, even the pots were taken.
Lin Yuan stood in the shade of the leaves, recalling again to ensure nothing was missed.
"Everyone check your equipment and board the vehicles!" He waved his hand and got into the co-pilot seat of the pickup truck.
It was 1:23 PM. The weather was very hot, even the wind blowing was hot. Everyone was waiting for that explosion.