The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 233 - 229 This is Unscientific

Chapter 233: Chapter 229 This is Unscientific

The convoy had passed Bishkek from a distance, without stopping anywhere near the city.

Zhao Qiang was right; on their way, Gao Yuan and his group encountered zombies three times, but they were just scattered ones. The vehicles didn’t even stop; the trucks in front just plowed straight through them.

In the dead of night, the convoy stopped near a desolate gas station.

Following along the Ala-Tau mountain range, the area wasn’t uninhabited, but the density of villages couldn’t compare to the domestic situation. It wasn’t a no-man’s land, but it was still sparsely populated. After leaving the area near Bishkek where villages were relatively clustered, it would be dozens of kilometers before encountering another village.

When they came across a roadside gas station, it was certain they would stop to rest. Most importantly, they needed to see if there was any diesel left in the tanks.

As usual, it was Gao Yuan who scouted, and the result was predictable; the gas station was empty, not a person in sight.

The building was intact, and this was just a simple gas station with a small selection of merchandise for sale, but there was nothing left. A few cars that had long been abandoned were strewn beside the station.

After parking the vehicles and everyone alighted, everyone’s legs wobbled a bit.

"We’ll rest here for the night, everyone get some good rest. Liu Deguang, come with me to check if there’s any fuel left in the tanks."

For some reason, ever since the small incident in Almaty, Zhao Qiang had stopped giving orders. Although there wasn’t anything important going on, he had previously been the one instructing everyone on what to do, but now, he acted as if nothing was the matter, not saying a word.

If Zhao Qiang wasn’t taking care of things, naturally, Gao Yuan had to step in, even though he wasn’t quite used to it.

Liu Deguang staggered to the open space behind the gas station where two large tanks stood. Normally, fuel tanks should be buried underground, but nobody here cared about that—the tanks were just standing in the open space.

Approaching one of the metal tanks, Liu Deguang patted it, then went to the other tank and did the same before he declared with great joy, "There’s fuel, quick, bring down the empty barrels and the pump, let’s fill all the empty barrels."

"Diesel or gasoline?"

"Diesel."

After speaking to Gao Yuan, Liu Deguang said with a smile on his face, "This is great, we only had twelve barrels of fuel left. Now we can fill them all up. Captain, after thousands of kilometers, I’ll do maintenance on the two vehicles."

The most important supply was diesel - if the vehicles ran out of fuel, they would have to siphon it from abandoned cars. They were planning to start collecting diesel from the tanks of stranded trucks starting tomorrow, but unexpectedly, they found full tanks of diesel here.

"Maintenance now?"

"Yeah, right now. Just a simple maintenance, change the oil and the filters. It should take about two hours for both vehicles, enough before the night is over, so it won’t affect tomorrow’s use."

Everyone was exhausted, yet Liu Deguang still insisted on maintaining the vehicles before sleeping. Gao Yuan couldn’t help but be concerned, "Aren’t you tired? How about we do the maintenance tomorrow?"

Liu Deguang laughed, "This isn’t tiring at all. No worries, no need for help, I can manage by myself."

The empty barrels were brought over, and with fuel available, they certainly had to be filled first. Nobody dared to suggest resting first and refueling later—if someone did, they’d be despised to death.

The fuel dispenser was of course unusable, so Liu Chunxiao climbed atop the tanks, opened the lids and put in the oil pump.

"Remember this, don’t place the pump too deep to avoid sediment at the bottom of the tank. Turn on the power."

The people helping connected the power using the truck batteries, and the small oil pump began to work.

Wearing a headlamp and holding the fuel hose, Liu Deguang didn’t immediately use a barrel to collect the gushing diesel. Instead, he first dabbed some diesel onto his hand, sniffed it under his nose, then shone his headlamp on it to get a closer look before saying, "The quality’s quite good, we can use it with no worries."

One after another, the diesel barrels were filled and then immediately placed on the trucks, without any delay.

While refueling, Cao Zhenjiang asked from behind, "Is there enough fuel? Can we use it for heating and cooking?"

Liu Deguang hesitated, then said, "That’d be a waste, wouldn’t it..."

"Hey, what are you saying? Is cooking a waste? Give me some if you have too much. Otherwise, you want to keep eating self-heating rations?"

Liu Deguang shook his head, "Forget I said anything, use however much you want, there’s more than enough fuel here."

Cao Zhenjiang cheerfully began to help, and Gao Yuan didn’t need to supervise anymore. Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner; his presence hardly made a difference.

Yu Shunzhou, who was receiving the barrels on the truck and then stacking them, waved Gao Yuan over, "Brother Yuan, come here a sec."

Gao Yuan walked over, and Yu Shunzhou, standing on the truck, said in a low voice, "We don’t have much food left. We haven’t looked for food these past days; shouldn’t we pay attention to this?"

Gao Yuan looked inside and asked, "How much is left?"

"Four boxes of compressed biscuits, five boxes of self-heating rations. We’ve run out of canned food."

The trucks had to carry supplies, but also weapons—bullets, guns, rocket launchers, grenades. To facilitate resupply, everybody’s rifles were the same Type 81s. Though these days weapons and ammunition hadn’t been used, food and fuel were being consumed daily.

To resupply food, they would have to search in places where people used to live in abundance, but just as surely, there would be zombies in such places.

It’s best to keep moving if we can, that’s the consensus between Gao Yuan and Zhao Qiang.

Self-heating rations taste much better than compressed biscuits, but because they’re tasty, almost every day since leaving the Guisui Shelter we’ve been eating them, and now there are only five boxes left, just enough for fourteen people for three days.

We do have plenty of compressed biscuits, though. If we eat for energy instead of by appetite, the four boxes should last us ten days.

But there’s a problem, you can’t wait until you’ve eaten everything before you start looking for food, having no reserves at all is just asking for trouble.

Besides, we’ve already grown sick of the sight of compressed biscuits.

Gao Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Hmm, it’s time to look for supplies. I’ll go talk to Boss Zhao about it."

Zhao Qiang was deep in thought; Gao Yuan approached him quietly and whispered, "Boss Zhao, we’re running low on food. We can easily replenish water on the road, but food isn’t so easy to come by. I’m thinking that after we come across a village tomorrow, we could search inside for something to eat."

Zhao Qiang nodded first, but then shook his head and whispered back to Gao Yuan, "I’ve taken stock, and I have a clear idea. Based on our normal consumption, we can last another six days without any problems, and at minimum consumption, we can go for half a month. So I think we should avoid unnecessary complications and make the most of the safe travels to cover more ground."

Gao Yuan said, "But I can’t stand eating like this continuously. I... I can’t even take a dump anymore, it’s making me constipated. Plus, I’m always eating the minimum amount. If I ever had to exert myself fully, then our food would only be enough for me to eat... two meals."

Gao Yuan was aware of his hearty appetite, so he felt a bit embarrassed about what he said.

Zhao Qiang let out a breath, "When it comes to supplies, you are the biggest variable, but..."

After hesitating for a bit, Zhao Qiang finally looked determined and whispered, "It’s just that I’m feeling uneasy. I have this constant feeling that something is going to happen, so let’s try to minimize unnecessary activities for the next couple of days."

"Ah?"

Gao Yuan would never take Zhao Qiang’s feelings lightly.

Who was Zhao Qiang? He was an expert in security, always working to protect the leaders. His sense of danger was almost supernaturally keen.

Call it a sixth sense or a premonition, if Zhao Qiang felt there was danger, then it was almost certain there was danger because no one else in the world had a sharper sense of danger than him.

Even his becoming the team leader was largely due to his keen sense of danger.

And you’d better believe it. Throughout history, an untold number of times people have avoided disasters because of some ominous premonition—the list is endless.

With a worried tone, Gao Yuan said, "Boss Zhao, don’t scare me. What do you think feels wrong? If things aren’t right, we shouldn’t stay here. Let’s refuel and get moving quickly."

Zhao Qiang shook his head and said, "We don’t need to leave immediately. The feeling isn’t that strong, but I always feel a sense of emptiness inside. Yeah, let’s stay here and rest up properly; I’d rather conserve energy and be well-prepared for any danger."

Having said that, Zhao Qiang looked at Gao Yuan with a bit of surprise and whispered, "I said I had a bad feeling, not that I’ve spotted any danger. I didn’t expect you to be so nervous."

Gao Yuan replied seriously, "If you’ve got a bad feeling, then it’s bad. A few days before the aliens arrived, I felt terrible too, fidgety for no reason, just unbearably restless."

Zhao Qiang was even more surprised and asked, "Oh? Do you often get these feelings?"

"Not usually, just occasionally, and it’s not certain that something will happen every time. But before the aliens came, I was indeed inexplicably fidgety for several days," Gao Yuan explained.

Zhao Qiang took a deep breath and said, "Well, that means your premonition for danger is quite strong too. Other professions aside, in our line of work, that’s considered a talent."

Some people are busy, so naturally, others are on guard duty. The military doctor, Wang Ning, was on guard with a rifle, listening to Gao Yuan and Zhao Qiang’s conversation. Wang Ning couldn’t hold back any longer and whispered, "Listening to you talk... I always think something’s going to happen, but we’re still fine for now, right?"

Zhao Qiang smiled without responding, but Gao Yuan said, "Doctor Wang, let me ask you something. Don’t you believe in premonitions?"

"Hmm, no, I really don’t. It’s not scientific," replied Wang Ning.

Hearing the word "scientific," Gao Yuan immediately said, "Speaking of science, how would you explain a phenomenon that everyone believes in without any scientific rationale?"

Without hesitation, Wang Ning said, "Any phenomenon can be explained by science!"

Gao Yuan continued smiling, "I’m saying there is one, and you’ll definitely acknowledge it."

Wang Ning replied defiantly, "Let’s hear it then."

Gao Yuan whispered, "Luck, whether good or bad. Do you acknowledge the existence of luck? If so, explain it to me scientifically."

Caught off guard, Wang Ning was speechless.

"Nothing to say, huh? Looks like you do believe in luck. So if you believe in luck, why wouldn’t you believe in unscientific things like premonitions? Regardless of whether it makes sense, you have to admit some people have a strong sixth sense," Gao Yuan pointed out.

Wang Ning took a breath then said, "I didn’t say premonitions don’t exist, I just said they’re not scientific... Forget it, just pretend I never said anything, I never said anything."

Gao Yuan smiled, then turned to Zhao Qiang and said, "In that case, let’s not stay here any longer. Let’s refuel and leave, until you feel at ease again."

Zhao Qiang looked at Gao Yuan thoughtfully for a moment, then replied earnestly, "Okay, let’s fill up and set off immediately."