Chapter 337

"Is that so... Really appreciate Commander Gong's concern! Hmm, you don't mind if we check, do you?"

Zhang Su felt it was necessary to be a bit cautious.

"No problem, Leader Zhang, please."

Xiao Xuejian had no objections to this and very readily made a gesture of invitation.

"Dakun, go take a look!"

"You got it!"

Pang Dakun took the order and, not taking the usual path at all, climbed directly over the perimeter wall.

"Young man has good agility!"

Xiao Xuejian couldn't help but praise when he saw Pang Dakun's nimble figure.

"Hehe, you're too kind, too kind."

Pang Dakun loved it when others praised him, but he didn't forget to do his job. He carefully checked the car inside and out, front and back, and then gave Zhang Su an "OK" gesture.

"Open the gate. Captain Xiao, please."

Inspection was one aspect, but the other party's attitude was also something Zhang Su needed to verify. Seeing Xiao Xuejian cooperate without any strange expressions, he gradually felt relieved. It was clear the other party was genuinely trying to show goodwill, but what was this for?

"Leader Zhang is too polite." Xiao Xuejian smiled and nodded. Seeing the mountain gate slowly open, he quickly sat back in the car.

Creak— rumble.

As the iron gate opened, Xiao Xuejian, who was just starting the car to move forward, suddenly saw a black hole the size of a fist aimed at him from a distance.

"Tan, tank?"

Xiao Xuejian frowned in disbelief as he looked inside the mountain gate. He rubbed his eyes and looked again—if it wasn't a Type 99 heavy tank, what was it?

Although the big iron hunk seemed a bit clumsy after the appearance of combat drones, it was still a king-level heavy weapon on land!

Gulp.

He swallowed hard, shifted gears, released the handbrake, and gently lifted the brake, starting the car cautiously. He was terrified that a sudden lurch would scare the other party, and if this "Cautious Brother" gave him a burst of fire, he would die unjustly.

Driving into Tianmayu, Xiao Xuejian saw the tank at close range, and the shock in his heart was even greater. Only a few days had passed, and they had already produced such a big thing. At this rate of development, would they have J-20s in another week?

While lost in thought, he parked the car steadily. Since he hadn't received permission, he didn't dare to drive rashly into the camp, so he stopped next to the tank. Seeing the group of people walking over in the rearview mirror, Xiao Xuejian quickly turned off the engine and jumped out of the car, throwing his gun onto the car to show his sincerity.

"Captain Xiao, you came so early, you haven't had breakfast yet, right? Want to eat something here? We have plenty of steamed rolls and corn buns, haha."

Zhang Su gestured toward the direction of the dining hall. One shouldn't hit a smiling face; although Gong Chengming's intentions were unclear, the person sent over was quite polite.

Xiao Xuejian shook his head and smiled: "I've already eaten this morning, thank you. Leader Zhang, why don't we... take a look at the supplies."

As he spoke, he walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. He saw boxes neatly stacked—a full dozen cardboard boxes. The back seats of the Journey were folded down, yet it was still packed to the brim.

"Whoa, you brought so many things. Commander Gong is too polite. I wonder what all these are?"

Zhang Su asked. He had seen the very expressive look on Pang Dakun's face when he was checking earlier, and he couldn't help but feel curious.

"Let me introduce them to Leader Zhang."

Xiao Xuejian moved three boxes down from the car and opened the cardboard one by one, saying: "These two boxes are heat patches—a kind of thing that generates heat when stuck to your undergarments. We men didn't use them much before, but heat patches are very convenient in winter; stick one on and you'll be warm all day. That box is various styles of hot water bottles. It's freezing cold, so some might have cracked; you should check them before using."

Zhang Su looked at the bags of perfectly packaged heat patches, his thoughts surging. In this freezing climate, such supplies were no less than a timely rain. Although they didn't have to suffer from the cold living in Tianmayu, one couldn't deny the importance of these supplies!

Not to mention anything else, sticking one on your body when going on a mission could indeed greatly increase comfort, indirectly improving various human physical indices, which meant increasing combat effectiveness!

"Come, help Captain Xiao move all the supplies down."

Seeing the other party start moving boxes again, Zhang Su called for people to help, saying: "Commander Gong is very thoughtful."

"Haha, Commander Gong is usually like a family head; he worries about many trivial matters in the alliance. Come, Leader Zhang, look, these three boxes are quite interesting. These are supplies brought by a survivor organization called 'Tardigrade' from the Beihe District when they came to our alliance to trade!"

"Tardigrade? A very strange name. Does it have any special meaning?"

Zhang Su was interested in the name.

Wang Xin was just about to speak, but seeing Xiao Xuejian stop his movements and clearly intending to explain, he didn't steal the spotlight.

"Ha, I didn't know what a tardigrade was at first either. Later, I heard a doctor who does scientific research in the camp—oh, that's Dr. Fu who was kidnapped a while ago—say it. A tardigrade is a type of arthropod, very small, about a millimeter, with incredibly tenacious vitality. Freezing, dehydration, starvation, lack of oxygen—they fear nothing. Compared to them, the 'undying cockroach' is just weak!"

"Can they live in such cold weather now?"

Lu Yubo chimed in and asked. In his understanding, once winter arrived, all kinds of insect pests were gone.

Xiao Xuejian smiled and said: "Dr. Fu gave me an example, saying that tardigrades can live for several days at minus two hundred degrees. Six times the pressure of the ten-thousand-meter-deep seabed can't crush them. Some astronauts sent tardigrades into outer space, and they lived for ten days without any protection! I was stunned..."

"That's right, tardigrades can withstand hundreds of times the lethal radiation dose for humans, but their resistance to high temperatures is relatively limited; they cannot exceed one hundred and fifty degrees."

Wang Xin added.

Zhang Su couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth and said: "You call that limited? Minus two hundred to plus one hundred and fifty degrees, and they aren't afraid of nuclear radiation. Good, good, good. This organization using 'Tardigrade' as a name has a very good meaning."

Wang Xin nodded and echoed: "Haha, it's very hard to kill them in the normal ecological environment on Earth. Unless the sun explodes, they won't kick the bucket..."

"Exactly, unlike these guys, who are just weak. Leader Zhang, look..."

After answering Zhang Su's question, Xiao Xuejian opened the box. Zhang Su and the others looked inside and found some fresh food products, which, of course, were frozen solid in the extreme cold.

"Prawns, abalone, crab, hairtail, and some other seafood. They're all quite fresh."

Xiao Xuejian took two swimming crabs out of the box and knocked them together, making a clanging sound.

In the apocalypse, the value of food is no longer divided by previous values, but by how much energy it provides. In the past, seafood was expensive; a pound of plump swimming crab cost nearly two hundred. If you only calculated the price of the meat, it would be seven or eight times that. Ordinary working-class families would only grit their teeth and eat it once a year, but now, it was somewhat flashy and impractical.

But then again, for those who are starving, crabs are flashy and impractical, but for a camp like Tianmayu that currently has no food crisis, it is a high-end enjoyment.

Gulp.

Although it was a bit embarrassing, Wang Xin, Wu Lue, and a few others couldn't help but swallow their saliva. Just seeing the seafood frozen in ice, it felt as if their mouths were already filled with the delicious taste, and they couldn't help but salivate.

Zhang Su was doing okay, just sighing in his heart that Gong Chengming really had a lot of tricks and the things he sent were interesting enough. He looked at his companions with a bit of helplessness and said to Xiao Xuejian: "People from the Beihe District can come to Qincheng to trade now. Come to think of it, Beihe is only twenty kilometers from Qincheng, closer than a trip from here..."

In terms of distance, Qincheng urban area is not far from the Beihe District, but the population along the way is relatively dense, unlike heading north, where it is sparsely populated.

"A while ago, we found a batch of broadcasting equipment and strengthened the signal transmission. More distant places can also receive it. Funing, Changli, and Lulong all have survivor camps responding. If it weren't for this damn climate, the trading network centered on Qincheng could slowly be perfected."

Xiao Xuejian shrugged and revealed a piece of explosive news.

Qincheng's three districts and four counties are not big, but they aren't small either. If survivors from every area could move around, it would definitely be more beneficial than harmful for future development.

Zhang Su suddenly realized and smiled: "So Commander Gong sent you here to do some promotion, haha."

Qincheng has only four counties in total. According to Xiao Xuejian, the other three counties have now established contact with the alliance, so only Qingxian is left without any movement. And the largest force in Qingxian, the Green Dragon Corps, has already been destroyed, and Tianmayu has already become the leader...

Xiao Xuejian walked to the last few boxes and said with a smile: "Leader Zhang is right, there is indeed that aspect to it. However, Commander Gong hopes even more to make friends with everyone. Surviving in the apocalypse, having more friends means more paths."

There was nothing wrong with the other party's words, but Zhang Su felt something was fishy. The other party deliberately emphasized "Commander Gong" rather than saying "the Survivor Alliance" or "Leader Liao Youzhi," which made his heart stir slightly. He decided to ask in detail later, so he didn't follow up.

"By the way, Captain Xiao, I'd like to ask, roughly how many survivors are there in Qincheng now?"

Zhang Su asked a question he was very concerned about.

Xiao Xuejian thought for a moment and said: "There's no way to count the exact number, but based on my analysis of the contacts, the number definitely won't be less than three thousand. At the border of Changli and Funing, there is a large safety camp, presided over by the former boss of the Funing government office. Some brothers went there to scout, and the population is at least five hundred!"

Xiao Xuejian was not stingy with information at all, having the air of telling everything he knew.

Zhang Su nodded slightly. What the other party said had some basis. Qingxian is the area with the smallest population and the largest area in Qincheng, a typical case of vast land and sparse population. Conversely, there are many more people in Funing and Changli, so it's not surprising that large safety camps have appeared.

As for the "government office boss," it has no meaning at all nowadays. Relying on this title might bluff surrounding survivors, but it has no deterrent power for other survivor camps!

(End of chapter)