Chapter 700: Gathering Supplies

Inside Hongbin Building, the lights were bright, yet there were only two people in the private room.

He Yuzhu raised his wine glass, a smile on his face, but his tone was somewhat solemn: "Congratulations to you, you've been promoted again!"

Secretary Liu set down his chopsticks, looked at him with a strange expression, and frowned slightly: "Zhuzi, my promotion was something that happened several months ago. Your congratulations are too late. What's wrong with you today? It seems like you have something to say, but you're holding it back. We've known each other for so many years; if you have something to say, just say it. I can listen to anything!"

He Yuzhu downed the wine in his glass in one gulp and said: "Leader, I won't hide it from you—three months from now, in the Jidong area, I fear a massive earthquake will occur... the destructive power may exceed our imagination."

Secretary Liu's expression changed abruptly.

He stared fixedly at He Yuzhu, and a layer of fine sweat instantly seeped from his temples.

The two had known each other for many years; that previous great drought and that grain famine—every single incident had been predicted correctly by this man.

Hearing this now, his heart skipped a beat; he wanted to disbelieve it, yet he dared not.

"Can you be precise about the specific time?"

He Yuzhu pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice: "July, during the last few days of the month..."

Secretary Liu remained silent for a long time before speaking: "How great will the destructive power be?"

"The buildings in the urban area... basically none will be able to be saved!"

Secretary Liu slowly let out a breath and leaned back against the chair, feeling as if a giant boulder were pressing on his chest.

The two had known each other for over twenty years; some things did not need to be stated explicitly, and he already understood the gravity of the situation.

"Leave this matter to me." His voice suddenly turned hoarse. "If you can help me prepare some supplies in advance, especially medicine, that would be even better."

He Yuzhu nodded: "Liushi Trading has made quite a bit of money acting as an agent for electronic products over these years. I will have them take out all their assets, though at most we can only scrape together over a billion..."

"Over a billion?"

Secretary Liu's back was instantly soaked with cold sweat. That He Yuzhu actually wanted to prepare supplies of this magnitude was enough to show how terrifying that disaster would be.

He pressed: "Zhuzi, will the disaster... really be that serious?"

He Yuzhu nodded heavily: "I'm afraid even this is far from enough. However, in these few months, I will do everything in my power to go abroad and 'borrow' some supplies."

Secretary Liu's heart sank; he knew what He Yuzhu was going abroad to do.

"Zhuzi, be careful. Things are different now than before; they all have surveillance."

"He has his 'road to heaven,' and I have my 'ladder over the wall'." He Yuzhu smiled.

After finishing the meal, He Yuzhu did not delay in the slightest and headed straight for the Liushi Trading Company.

Shen Yan was in the office looking at reports. Seeing him push the door open and enter, before she could even speak, a map marked with dense notations was slapped onto the table.

"I'm giving you twenty tons of gold; you must spend it all within two months." He Yuzhu's finger pointed to several places on the map. "You are to purchase medicine, tents, canned goods, biscuits, and dry rations from both domestic and foreign sources, then stockpile them in these locations!"

Shen Yan leaned in to take a look, and her brows immediately knitted together: "So many supplies require warehouses; building new ones is simply too late."

"Then acquire existing factory buildings in the county. Spend a high price, find the most professional people to renovate them; the warehouses can be one-time use, but they must be able to withstand an magnitude-8 earthquake."

Shen Yan gasped, stared at He Yuzhu for a long while, and finally nodded: "I understand." She thought for a moment and then became troubled again: "But if you give me twenty tons of gold, I have no way to liquidate it directly here."

"You don't need to worry about that. I will have Zhao Ying and Jin Hai advance the funds, and I will transport the gold over as soon as possible."

He Yuzhu thought to himself that the batch of gold he had previously obtained from He Shen's home seemed to have been left by the heavens for him to use for disaster relief.

Shen Yan dared not delay any longer and immediately gathered her team, frantically placing orders domestically and abroad throughout the night.

He Yuzhu then dialed Liu Sanman's phone, his tone brief and crisp: "All food and canned goods, suspend exports, and have everything transported to the vicinity of Beijing to stand by."

"Alright, I'll arrange it immediately!" Liu Sanman agreed readily.

After hanging up the phone, he rushed without stopping to the Red Star Rolling Mill and placed an urgent order—bulldozers, excavators, as many as they could build, the faster the better.

Just when everything was busy and He Yuzhu was so occupied he couldn't even touch the ground, the Deaf Old Lady suddenly passed away.

Yi Zhonghai took the lead and established a funeral committee in the courtyard.

He Yuzhu found him, took five thousand yuan out of his pocket, and his voice was somewhat low: "The old lady didn't spare her affection for me in her life, and she helped look after my daughter and He Yulu. You help me handle her funeral arrangements; I'm too busy right now to help you... make the funeral grand."

"Don't worry, I will handle this matter well!" Yi Zhonghai took the money. "The old lady left word before she passed; she left two rooms, one for you and one for me."

He Yuzhu shook his head: "My family isn't short of rooms; take them all."

Yi Zhonghai felt a bit uneasy and rubbed his hands: "I only provided her with a few meals daily; you've been the one helping her the most all these years..."

"I really don't need them." He Yuzhu's tone was flat, yet it carried a firmness that brooked no refusal.

Yi Zhonghai then nodded and agreed, sighing lightly: "If you don't want them, then I'll give them to Yi Xiaotian."

He Yuzhu nodded slightly without saying more.

After finishing the arrangements for the Deaf Old Lady's funeral, He Yuzhu requested half a month of leave from the factory and headed straight for Hong Kong.

He handed over all the gold obtained from He Shen's old residence to Zhao Ying and Jin Hai to increase the intensity of the supply procurement.

After settling things, he did not rest; taking advantage of the night, he snuck directly into the British Army's supply depot and swept the supplies inside clean.

The British Army's reserves were limited, and this little bit was far from enough.

He Yuzhu gritted his teeth and simply used the fake identity Su Qing had prepared for him to board a flight to Tokyo.

It was late at night when he arrived in Tokyo; the city was brightly lit, and traffic flowed like a weaver's shuttle.

In 1976, the "small days" (Japan) already had a highly developed economy, and supplies were shockingly abundant.

He Yuzhu did not waste time and immediately snuck into the warehouse of the M Military stationed in Japan.

He now basically used the method of tunneling to enter, avoiding some unnecessary trouble.

He Yuzhu took everything useful in the warehouse—medicine, canned goods, compressed dry rations, tents, first-aid equipment... and swept it all into his space. He didn't even spare the gasoline and diesel, moving it all away cleanly.

Immediately after, he quietly snuck into several large machinery enterprises of the "small days" and cleared out everything useful inside as well.

He Yuzhu broke into over a dozen large supermarkets and food warehouses in succession, sweeping instant noodles, bottled drinking water, cooked food, rice, flour, and oil... all into his space.

In just a few days, the space was piled full of machinery, medicine, food, and various scarce supplies.

He Yuzhu made a rough estimate; these things were enough to support over a million people for several months, so he decided to leave.

As things neared the end, his actions ultimately caused a stir.

The Self-Defense Force began a city-wide martial law, setting up checkpoints at airports and docks to strictly inspect all entries and exits.

He Yuzhu, however, was not the least bit flustered.

He had no intention of using the regular channel at all; instead, he found a secluded beach, swam out a distance under the cover of night, and once he was certain no one was around, he released that American-made patrol boat from his space and sailed away silently.

Once out at sea, he did not remain idle either.

Along the way, he filled the Large Fish Pond in his space to the brim once again.

By the time he returned to Si Jiu Cheng, it was already mid-June.

He Yuzhu did not rest for a single moment and immediately rushed to Jidong to inspect the progress of the warehouse construction that Shen Yan was responsible for.

Dozens of large warehouses had already been built, and the supplies procured by Liu Shi Trading were being transported inside in a steady stream.

He Yuzhu selected a dozen or so of the largest warehouses, dismissed the personnel from Liu Shi Trading, and replaced them with Ershuan's men.