Chapter 77: Too Much Liquefied Gas, Had to Give It Up

“Right, going out in broad daylight draws too much attention. But at night, visibility is too low and it’s not safe either. Heading out early morning is the smartest choice.”

Jiang Yuan was the first to voice her agreement, and of course, the other two had no objections.

Just like that, the plan was set. Everyone returned to their own homes to rest and recharge.

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Early the next morning, Jiang Yuan got up at 3 a.m.

She put on her thermal base layers, stuck a few heat packs on her body, layered up with insulated inner wear, then donned a fleece-lined arctic expedition coat. Over all that, she added a raincoat.

The weather was bitterly cold—more layers never hurt.

She had already reorganized her storage space the day before, now it was just a matter of restocking like crazy.

Still, today’s top priority was upgrading equipment.

Once geared up, she made herself a bowl of hot and sour noodles. Her mom, worried as always, got up to heat two small buns for her.

Then she packed her backpack full of beef jerky and high-energy snacks.

A thermos was filled with hot water—just in case.

She left home at 3:50 a.m., as they had agreed to head out at 4:00.

Song Yi was already waiting for her at the door, as usual. Neither of them said much, moving silently downstairs.

On the 20th floor, Ye Mianmian and Zhang Kaiyang were also already waiting in the corridor, not making a sound. The group quietly descended.

They inflated the inflatable raft and slipped away unnoticed.

“I feel like today’s rain isn’t as heavy as yesterday’s.”

“Yeah, the wind’s died down too. Yesterday we probably couldn’t even stand upright outside. Now, it’s easy.”

Song Yi was scanning the surroundings with binoculars, not in the mood for small talk.

The outside situation was worse than expected—more collapsed buildings, murky waters filled with debris, and construction waste everywhere.

The current was swift. One wrong move and things could go south fast.

“Holy crap, Yuan-jie, look over there…”

Following Ye Mianmian’s pointing finger, they saw what appeared to be a corpse drifting past them.

Jiang Yuan just shook her head. They’d probably get used to scenes like this sooner or later.

Their first destination was the flower market, located directly west of Lushan Yayan.

They planned to head from there northeast to the building materials and furniture market, and then southeast to the highway service station—forming a neat semicircle.

It was the shortest route, though going the other way around would have worked too.

They all believed the service station would have more supplies, especially since it included a supermarket.

But it wasn’t safe to haul supplies through dangerous waters, so it made more sense to visit it last.

“There, that’s the place.”

The flower market was close, but their real target was the snack street right across from it.

The terrain there was higher, and since there were various shops below, the snack street had avoided flooding.

This time, Zhang Kaiyang smashed a window with a fire axe to gain entry.

They came in at the top floor of the snack street. The place was dead silent, and all four stayed on high alert.

It was just past 5 a.m. Still pitch black outside. They did a full sweep, confirmed there was no immediate danger, and finally relaxed a little.

“Ugh, it stinks in here!”

Zhang Kaiyang covered his nose—it was the stench of rotting food.

“With this many stalls, it’s normal. Stop whining and get to work.”

Each stall had a liquefied gas tank at minimum.

Most of the food had spoiled, but dry goods and paper products were still usable.

There was even a stall that sold bottled water and snacks, and Jiang Yuan headed there while the others fanned out.

This section was centrally managed, where all purchases were made with preloaded cards—cash was accepted to top them up.

Since it was a busy spot, she figured there’d definitely be cash stored there.

She easily unlocked the cash drawer—everyone was busy scavenging, no one paid her any mind.

Sure enough, it was packed with bills. Judging by the heft, there had to be close to 30,000 yuan.

Satisfied, she got to work. She grabbed a large woven bag and started sweeping up everything edible or useful.

The place was packed with drinks, alcohol, cigarettes, and lots of instant food—especially instant noodles.

After finishing her area, she spotted a withered succulent on the counter. She scooped the soil into her bag, then left it—no point in keeping it.

Everything collected here was group loot; she wouldn’t sneak any for herself—except the cash.

Across the way, Ye Mianmian had struck gold at a “Traditional Yunnan Rice Noodles” stall.

She was stunned—there were tons of dry goods: dried tofu strips, kelp, marinated items, and even five and a half big bags of dried rice noodles.

All of it edible after soaking.

Zhang Kaiyang’s biggest find was paper towels. Though low quality and a bit rough, they were bundled in massive bulk bags.

Jiang Yuan joined him to help, starting from the far end.

While the others were distracted, she quietly grabbed a bunch of disposable food containers and chopsticks—they’d be useful at home.

By the time they were done, it was already 6:30 a.m., still pitch dark.

Looking at the pile of loot, everyone felt satisfied. They had gathered a surprising number of gas canisters—about 25 in total.

“What do we do now? There’s no way we can take all this back in one trip.”

Jiang Yuan stated the obvious. They had pulled together every full or half-full gas tank they could find—none of it was easy to leave behind.

Song Yi looked troubled too. These things were heavy and hard to transport.

Everyone went silent. Liquefied gas was incredibly useful—but not essential for survival. Still, it felt painful to leave them.

“I have a suggestion. Hear me out.”

Everyone looked over.

“I think we obviously can’t carry them all. Let’s each take two and leave the rest behind.”

“What? After all that effort, just give them up? That’s so frustrating!”

Ye Mianmian wasn’t the only one—none of them wanted to abandon the tanks.

“Isn’t there another way?”

Zhang Kaiyang had pinned all his hopes on Song Yi and Jiang Yuan. He was completely out of ideas.

“Sigh… How about this—we move everything to the flower market across the street.”

“The flower market?”

“Yeah. Most people wouldn’t bother looking there for food.

Even if you could eat plants, after all this weird weather, nothing’s really alive anymore.

Let’s stash the stuff there and come back tonight when fewer people are around to transport it.”

It was a strategic retreat—the best idea she could come up with.

“I think it’s a solid plan.”

Song Yi agreed first, and Ye Mianmian nodded too.

At least it gave them some hope, right?

“Alright, let’s do it then!”