Gas Station 22

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Seeing how calm and at ease Rong Xianxian looked, Wang Qirui asked curiously, “Sister Rong, aren’t you angry at all?”

Rong Xianxian smiled. “Would being angry accomplish anything? With that time, we might as well think of a way to solve the problem.” If something like this was enough to make them angry, they might as well all die of rage in the future.

“How are we going to solve it? Have you thought of anything?” Wang Qirui’s ears instantly perked up.

“Whatever we do, we have to solve the problem of food first. With half our people absent today, why don’t we indulge ourselves a little?” Rong Xianxian took a small bag of salt from the large bag she had carried upstairs and tossed it excitedly into the air. “We finally have salt! We’re having roast meat today. One little sparrow each. Wang Lin, go make charcoal. Jiang Jie, prepare the sparrows.”

Because salt was in such short supply, everyone had been eating pickled and cured meat for a whole week. At last, they could have something fresh.

The small bird-monsters they had hunted earlier looked like sparrows. Once plucked, skinned, and washed, their meat appeared firm and smooth, tender and delicious.

They sprinkled on a layer of fine salt, spread on a layer of chili sauce, added another layer of cumin powder, wrapped the birds in foil, and placed them in the charcoal brazier, where the coals had already burned red.

While waiting for the meat to roast, everyone gathered in the living room for a meeting—not even little Luo Xuanxuan was excluded.

“What does everyone think about this outing?” Rong Xianxian sat in the principal seat on the living-room sofa, looking at everyone present.

Perhaps the formal atmosphere made him somewhat uncomfortable.

Wang Qirui raised his hand as if reporting to a superior, then sprang to his feet. “Sister Rong, I think the monsters outside are harder to deal with than the ones on the rooftop.”

Jiang Jie nodded in agreement. “Yes, I think so too.”

“Lately, we’ve always been the ones chasing monsters everywhere. This time, we ended up being chased by them,” Wang Lin added.

“When we fight monsters on the rooftop, not only are we familiar with the terrain, but we also have traps set up. We have Jiang Jie to thank for that—the traps he made played a major role. The monsters are in the open, while we are hidden.

“But outside, we are the ones in the open, and the monsters are hidden. Our danger instincts and our ability to enter combat mode still need work. So starting tomorrow, we won’t use traps in the mornings. We’ll go out twice a day: practical combat training in the morning, and hunting monsters and collecting loot in the afternoon. What does everyone think?” Rong Xianxian asked.

Wang Lin and Jiang Jie had no objections.

Cui Lie gave an approving gesture.

“I agree!” Wang Qirui enthusiastically chimed in.

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“Xia Kai should practice his lightness skill for a few days before joining the morning group.” Rong Xianxian patted Xia Kai, whose face was twisted with uncertainty.

Xia Kai had previously focused on practicing the Spirit-Drawing Formula, leaving less time for the Light-Body Formula. Hearing Rong Xianxian say this, he secretly let out a sigh of relief. Among those present, in terms of combat strength, he could only beat Xuanxuan and little Luo. He was not even faster than little Luo when running. Whenever they fought monsters together, he felt as though he was merely there to share in the credit. If he joined the morning session, he might only hold them back.

“All right. We’ve summed up our experience from this outing. Now we should discuss the threat posed by our neighbors.” Rong Xianxian turned her gaze toward Wang Qirui.

“Don’t look at me, Sister Rong. I don’t know what to do.” Wang Qirui thought she wanted him to give his opinion.

“Could it be that they were only making threats and won’t necessarily do anything?” Wang Qirui offered eagerly.

“It’s best not to count on luck.” Xia Kai frowned.

“That’s right. Don’t underestimate the malice in their hearts. If they trap us outside and let the monsters kill us, they can take our weapons,” Wang Lin added.

“The best solution is to quietly leave before they have a chance to join forces, gather everything we need, and return. Once the army comes to rescue us, our lives will be protected. In front of the army, they won’t dare do anything,” Rong Xianxian said.

“Today happens to be the day the army is carrying out an operation, and most of the monsters have been drawn over there. So we’ll leave this afternoon after lunch.” Wang Lin fully supported the plan Rong Xianxian had made.

The others agreed as well.

“Come, everyone, take a look.” Rong Xianxian removed a map from the living-room bookshelf. It was a hand-drawn map of the surrounding area.

“This is the residential complex. This red dot marks our building. These green dotted lines show the underground parking garage. If we want to avoid being watched from the tenth floor, we have no choice but to go underground. There’s no electricity now, so only the areas near the entrance and exit of the underground garage have any light. Everywhere else is pitch-black. We’ll try to stay along the lit areas. Our destination this time is the gas station.” Rong Xianxian pointed to the three large red words on the map.

“We can’t hide here forever. Everyone must have people they’re worried about. Once we’re strong enough to look for them, we’ll need a vehicle. That means we must store gasoline.” In her previous life, Rong Xianxian had only wanted to wait for Ning Qingyun to come and protect them. In this life, she would return home and find her parents, to see whether they were safe.

“Hmm, if we come out through this exit, the gas station is only one wall away. That’s very close!” Xia Kai pointed to an exit marked on the map.

“That exit is a reserved ventilation shaft. People occasionally pass through it, but the stairs are almost vertical, and vehicles can’t get up them.” Rong Xianxian glanced at the exit. She had often used the underground route on rainy days before, so she knew this exit fairly well.

“Then we can park the vehicle here and transport the supplies inside little by little,” Wang Lin said after comparing the distances from this exit and the others.

Rong Xianxian also favored this plan. With the scent pouch in her possession, she could secretly store extra gasoline when the time came.

Once they had settled the plan, they ate lunch.

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They gathered their weapons, put on protective gear, and prepared to leave.

To improve the safety of the operation, Rong Xianxian decided that everyone would go.

She prepared three days’ worth of food and water for little Luo and Xuanxuan, assigned them their studies, and instructed them to work diligently. No matter what sounds they heard, they were not to make a peep. Then she locked them inside the safe room in the master bedroom.

The six of them quietly made their way downstairs to the underground garage. When Rong Xianxian opened the door and saw the cool, imposing off-road vehicle before them, Wang Qirui’s mouth fell open.

“Good heavens, this car must be incredibly expensive! Sister Rong, let me drive. I have a license.” Wang Qirui quickly scrambled into the driver’s seat.

Wang Lin gave him a speechless glare, as though he were the only one who had a driver’s license.

The journey went smoothly. Although a few monsters occasionally ran past, none of them came over to cause trouble. They parked at the selected exit, and the six of them climbed cautiously up to the surface.

Flowers filled the air with fragrance and grass grew thickly beneath lush trees. The place was separated from the gas station by only a single wall.

Cui Lie tentatively tossed a stone over the wall. Nothing happened. He climbed over and gestured for the others to follow.

In barely more than half a month, the unattended gas station had already taken on a desolate, ruined appearance. Several battered cars were twisted and deformed, clearly victims of a monster attack.

There were also patches of dried blood near the vehicles. The bloodstains continued into the gas station, where there was a small convenience store. It mainly sold rice, flour, cooking oil, snacks, seasonings, gift boxes, bottled water, soft drinks, and other goods intended to attract customers and encourage them to load money onto their accounts.

The moment they entered the store, they saw large patches of dried blood everywhere, scattered skeletons, and torn scraps of clothing. Everything showed that a fierce battle had taken place there. No one knew what kind of monster had attacked them.

Rong Xianxian sighed inwardly. In her previous life, she had witnessed scenes far more horrifying than this. Since her rebirth, she had been living a peaceful, comfortable life, and seeing such a sight again made it feel as though an entire lifetime had passed.

Heh. The world was still the same world. It would not change simply because you hid yourself away.

Their main purpose in coming here was to find gasoline. The group spread out, searching for fuel cans.

As Rong Xianxian searched, she secretly slipped things into her scent pouch whenever the others were not looking.

Suddenly, a low sound of sobbing came from the employees’ lounge around the corner.

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