Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies Chapter 422: 420 She Has Obsessive-Compulsive Cleanliness

Chapter 422: Chapter 420 She Has Obsessive-Compulsive Cleanliness

“Dr. Song, why are all of you feeling unwell?” Sun Ziqing let out a “huh” before slapping his forehead. “I get it. It’s probably because the temperature rose yesterday, and you all insisted on heading out to enjoy the snowy scenery.”

Zhang Ruijie listened to him, glancing at the group of old, frail, and sickly people. He couldn’t help but smile inwardly, though he didn’t show it on his face.

He turned toward Song Qian, who was checking his backpack nearby, and suggested, “Captain Song, should we load the supplies first thing this morning?”

Song Qian tightened his combat gloves. “Yes.”

Zhang Ruijie said, “Why don’t we let the doctors rest down here? Once we’ve loaded all the supplies and are ready to set out, we can call them up.”

“They’re older, and it’s tough for them with us waking up this early,” He Tianyu chid in.

Song Qian pondered for a mont before agreeing, “Okay, sure.”

“Dr. Song, please rest well down here then,” Song Qian said, patting Sun Jingtao on the shoulder, “Old Sun, how about you stay down here too? If we need anything upstairs, you’ll be around to handle it imdiately.”

Sun Jingtao answered, “Alright.”

Su Dai glanced at Song Qian and grabbed Sun Jingtao’s arm. “Honey, I want to stay with you too… Anyway, we’ll have Xiao Xie and the others helping move the heavy items.”

Zhang Ruijie couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll handle your share.”

“Thank you, Brother Jie!” Su Dai quickly expressed her gratitude sweetly.

The group didn’t dawdle further. Apart from Sun Jingtao and his wife, along with the remaining elderly scientists, the rest headed upstairs in the darkness.

Upstairs, Ye Qing and Kong Wu were already awake, waiting for the others.

“Where’s Jiang Yan?” Zhang Ruijie finally noticed that Jiang Yan was missing from both the people downstairs and those upstairs.

Ye Qing replied casually, “She went… you know.”

The group refrained from asking any further.

Though they were supposed to pack supplies, the stock had been significantly depleted compared to before.

The main task now was bundling the already collected pinewood, pots and pans, and remaining food onto the sleds.

During their ti at the observatory, they hadn’t lacked firewood.

However, pinewood produces a lot of smoke, so Lin Xiaohui and Su Dai had simply made plenty of smoked at and dried roasted at from the animals they had previously hunted.

These food reserves still amounted to over a hundred pounds.

The rest was divided among everyone so they could carry a portion individually for ergencies.

Several warriors, panting heavily, began transporting the red sleds from upstairs. When Zhang Ruijie and He Tianyu saw them, their expressions shifted with astonishnt.

“Wait, these sleds look like they belong to Musen Base. How did you get your hands on them?”

“Fate,” Ye Qing replied coldly before seamlessly changing the topic, ignoring Zhang Ruijie’s probing expression. “Brother Jie, the temperature has risen quite a bit recently. I suspect there’ll be more people and animals foraging outside. Are you sure the markers you placed are still intact?”

Zhang Ruijie puffed out his chest confidently. “Don’t worry. Even if the markers have been compromised, I can get us back to the base without issue!”

“Good,” Ye Qing said and casually handed out a few torches to the group.

These torches had been crafted by Sun Jingtao and the others using pine branches during their stay.

The hollow tops of the torches were stuffed with plenty of wood shavings. Since pine branches are rich in resin, they caught fire quickly when placed over the flas and lit in less than a minute.

“Let’s go.”

So of them held the torches to light the way, while others began loading the supplies. Their coordination was decent enough.

However, the temperature was bone-chilling, the sleds were slippery, and everyone was stiff and numb from the cold. Their movents were slow and clumsy.

What should’ve been half an hour of work stretched into nearly an hour.

Zhang Ruijie’s n took the opportunity to feed the two musk oxen so water and dry wood shavings.

The horizon eventually began to brighten slightly.

Fine snowflakes drifted down lazily from the sky.

Ye Qing and Song Qian exchanged a glance and then looked toward the distance in unison:

Hopefully, their worries were unwarranted, and the signal flare He Tianyu fired last night had summoned their allies rather than enemy forces.

Once the supplies were loaded, Zhang Ruijie stared at the two snowmobiles with wide eyes.

“You even have these?!?” He reached out to touch one of the vehicle’s hoods, swallowing hard. “Can I ride one later?”

A nearby warrior let out a cold sneer and muttered to another warrior, “His calculations are practically jumping out at .”

“Sorry, no,” Ye Qing replied without hesitation, then countered with a question. “Besides, aren’t we expecting reinforcents? They should have better transport equipnt. Surely they’re not coming to us on foot?”

Yaoben Base had plenty of snow vehicles, snowmobiles, and sleds for transportation.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot,” Zhang Ruijie said sheepishly before taking his telescope from his waist and looking into the distance.

“Huh, why don’t I see anyone yet?”

“Could it be they didn’t receive last night’s signal?” He Tianyu walked over. “Should I fire one more flare while it’s still early?”

Zhang Ruijie frowned. “How many flares do we have left?”

“One,” He Tianyu answered, lowering his voice slightly. “I’ll fire it from right here so the positioning will be more accurate.”

“Alright.”

“Boom—”

“Whoosh—”

The second red signal flare streaked into the sky.

The group watched the flare, feeling their anxiety grow.

After another ten minutes passed, the telescope still showed complete silence.

Unable to bear the cold standing by the entrance, the group left two people to keep watch and returned inside.

“Should we head out on our own?” Song Qian glanced at Zhang Ruijie and tested the waters.

Zhang Ruijie furrowed his brow. “How about we wait a bit longer.”

“In that case, you wait here. I’ll go check the surroundings,” Song Qian said and brought Qin Lang along as he stepped out.

Zhang Ruijie’s gaze lingered montarily on the sniper rifles strapped to the two n but said nothing.

A few minutes later, He Tianyu, who was stationed at the entrance, finally spotted another flare through the telescope.

“Brother Jie, we got a response! They’re about three kiloters away from here!”

“Great!” Zhang Ruijie’s eyes lit up as he turned to Zhao Yougong. “Brother Zhao, in a bit, you can call Dr. Song and the others up.”

“Alright,” Zhao Yougong replied.

Zhang Ruijie scanned the area before frowning slightly. “Huh, why hasn’t Miss Jiang shown up?”

Xi Qin cast him a subtle glance. “Brother Jie, Miss Jiang doesn’t seem to be staying downstairs in the Seed Bank.”

Lin Xiaohui explained, “She has a cleanliness obsession, likes peace and quiet, and doesn’t enjoy being around too many people, so she stays upstairs alone.”

From AS District onwards, Jiang Yan had never shared accommodations with them.

Lin Xiaohui knew Jiang Yan disliked crowded environnts.

As for her cleanliness obsession—well, that was Lin Xiaohui’s guess.

After all, when a bunch of grown n gathered together, snoring, grinding teeth, and passing wind were practically unavoidable.

Even though the n’s and won’s quarters were separated by a distance, in the post-apocalyptic setting, people weren’t as particular.

Lin Xiaohui and Su Dai might have been able to deal with it, but Jiang Yan clearly couldn’t.

Mo Shiyao couldn’t handle it either, but she didn’t have a choice.

Jiang Yan, however, obviously had options.

“How about I go call her? In this freezing weather, a girl—” Xi Qin glanced at Zhang Ruijie and imdiately prepared to head upstairs.

Lin Xiaohui hadn’t even had ti to stop her when an ard-to-the-teeth Jiang Yan erged from the stairwell.

Seeing her, Xi Qin smiled politely, “Miss Jiang, good morning.”

The crease in Zhang Ruijie’s forehead smoothed out imdiately.

“Morning,” Jiang Yan replied lazily, looking like she hadn’t fully woken up yet.