Chapter 37: The Strange Basement
Zhang Tuohai still couldn't verify whether the orange supply crates actually contained the items needed for the crafting blueprints.
However, he had the map, so he would find out once he located the remaining orange treasure chests.
He hurriedly crafted a reinforced solar charging panel.
Once the solar panel was finished, it looked like a piece of black glass attached to the roof of his vehicle.
The panel wasn't large; it resembled a sunroof.
"Not bad, it’s inconspicuous," Zhang Tuohai thought, feeling quite satisfied.
After completing the panel, Zhang Tuohai began scavenging the remaining vehicles.
From these cars, he found only two packs of bread slices, four bottles of water, and 600 units of gasoline.
He also found an additional pack of Snickers from the young man.
"Really poor—no wonder they went crazy when they saw the purple supply crates," Zhang Tuohai sighed as he looked at the supplies he had scavenged.
Adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, Zhang Tuohai extracted the car cores from the two white vehicles.
Those two secondhand cars immediately became piles of scrap metal.
When Zhang Tuohai was about to extract the car core from the young man's vehicle, he suddenly stopped.
He looked at the young man’s body, took out a hundred units of gasoline, and poured it over the car.
Then, he retrieved a windproof lighter, lit it, and threw it inside.
"There's nothing more I can do."
Zhang Tuohai took one last deep look at the burning secondhand car, got into his own vehicle, and turned to leave the abandoned factory.
As he exited the factory, Zhang Tuohai noticed that dark clouds were rolling over the cliffs outside the city, starting to advance toward the ruins of the city.
"System, what is the speed of the toxic zone's movement? Can you determine where the final circle will be?"
[Based on the current speed and direction of the toxic zone, it is estimated that in 15 minutes the factory area will be engulfed, with the final circle preliminarily determined to be in the mining area.]
"The mining area?"
Zhang Tuohai pulled out the map and immediately began searching.
The mining area was roughly in the northeast direction on the map, while the factory area was in the southwestern part, essentially forming a diagonal.
If he wanted to head to the mining area, he would have to cross the entire urban area.
"Not the best luck, but I can at least gather all the orange treasure chests."
Zhang Tuohai sketched a brief route on the map.
Following the distance order, he would now head to the residential area to look for the second orange treasure chest.
Zhang Tuohai drove towards the residential area.
Unlike the uniformity of the factory area, the residential area was varied.
There were two-story detached villas, four-story townhouse apartments, and various makeshift metal houses.
From these remaining buildings, one could see the living conditions of the former residents.
In contrast to the desolation of the factory area, Zhang Tuohai occasionally saw a vehicle passing by in the residential area.
These vehicles either sped by or parked at the roadside, with their owners rushing into various villas to search for items.
When these people saw Zhang Tuohai passing by, they revealed tense expressions, closely watching him, fearing he might come over and take their things.
Seeing their actions, Zhang Tuohai couldn't help but shake his head.
This city had been abandoned for who knows how many years. After such a long time, even if the villas had items left behind, they probably wouldn’t be usable now.
Even if they found some canned food, Zhang Tuohai wouldn’t dare eat it.
Who knows how long it’s been expired?
Zhang Tuohai now only trusted the items in the supply crates.
Ignoring those people, he quickly drove towards the location of the orange treasure chest.
Seeing Zhang Tuohai leave, those people let out a sigh of relief and went back into the villa to continue rummaging through things.
Zhang Tuohai drove through five or six blocks and finally found a four-story townhouse apartment at the edge of the villa and apartment area.
The apartment was built entirely of red bricks, the paint on the outside long peeling away, exposing the brick underneath.
The glass windows were shattered, with shards scattered on the road.
Such a dilapidated apartment was not popular; everyone preferred to search for supplies in the nearby villas.
When Zhang Tuohai parked his car at the entrance of the apartment, a young couple exited a nearby villa, happily carrying a stack of plates and cups.
Upon seeing Zhang Tuohai, they immediately showed signs of nervousness, hiding the stack behind them as if afraid he might steal from them.
Seeing their anxious demeanor, Zhang Tuohai couldn't help but chuckle.
He shook his head and pushed the door open to enter the townhouse apartment.
"Honey, why is he going into the apartment? Shouldn't we check it out too? Maybe there are good things inside," the woman said, clearly tempted after seeing Zhang Tuohai enter.
"Why bother? I looked at it from the outside; it's all broken and worn down, obviously a place for ordinary people. There's definitely nothing good," the man scoffed.
"But his car is nice, and he's wearing a coat and helmet. With so many good things, he must have a good eye. What if we find something in the apartment?" the woman hesitated.
"I'm telling you, he probably just got lucky to have that nice car. Those items are probably just stuff he brought from outside. I haven't heard of anyone being able to make helmets. Come on, I saw a villa over there that hasn't been searched yet. Let's go look; if we find something good, maybe we can have oil residue to eat tonight," the man said, pulling the woman toward the villa across the street.
Zhang Tuohai entered the apartment and found a corridor inside, with rows of doors on either side. Due to the lack of light, the corridor was somewhat dark.
He turned on a strong flashlight.
"System, which floor is the orange supply crate on?"
The map only indicated which building the supply crate was in but did not specify its exact location.
[Walk ten meters forward, the storage room door will be on your left. Open it, and there will be a pull handle on the floor inside that leads to the stairs to the basement. The orange supply crate is on the tool rack in the basement.]
Hearing the system's description, a look of excitement spread across Zhang Tuohai's face.
If the system hadn’t provided the specific location, even with the map, it would have been quite difficult for Zhang Tuohai to find the orange supply crate.
This hiding place is really too secretive!
After silently greeting the female relatives of the person who hid the supplies, Zhang Tuohai opened the storage room door.
As soon as he opened the door, a cloud of dust rushed out. Zhang Tuohai waved away the dust and followed the system’s hint to find the inconspicuous pull door leading to the basement.
Upon opening the pull door, a dark hole appeared in front of Zhang Tuohai.
A chill rose from the underground, making Zhang Tuohai shiver even though he was wearing a coat.