Apocalypse Chapter 38: Industry Park

Chapter 38: Industry Park

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The next afternoon, Pan Pan arrived at Chu Qiang’s house riding an electric scooter as agreed upon. A large snakeskin bag was placed on the back seat of the pink electric scooter. Chu Qiang stood under the eaves with his arms crossed, looking cheerful. “You’re too polite, bringing something along?”

Pan Pan took off his helmet, revealing sweaty hair. Perhaps due to the high temperature, his complexion was somewhat pale. He smiled, “There are spare solar panels at home, so I brought some for you. You can install them right away.”

Chu Qiang raised his eyebrows and quickly stepped down the steps to help move the snakeskin bag. “Oh, thank you.” 

Solar panels were in high demand now. Even if they could only power electric fans, it was better than having no electricity at all.

Jiang Rong, who heard the commotion, came out and looked behind Pan Pan. “Didn’t you bring Auntie?”

Pan Pan smiled, “The house is a bit messy. My mom said she wants to tidy up before inviting everyone over for dinner.”

Chu Qiang understood, “Had a good time last night? I can imagine.”

Last night, Pan Pan showed no mercy. He beat up the relatives from his stepfather’s side so badly that they were left battered and bruised. Those power-hungry relatives who used to look down on them completely gave up their intention to seize Pan Pan’s family property. They wouldn’t dare to meddle with them anymore.

After holding in their grievances for over a decade, they finally vented it out. However, the whole yard was left in a mess due to the abilities. Especially the yard, where the abilities damaged the concrete pavement. Now Pan Pan’s yard was scattered with pieces of broken cement.

As they entered the living room, a cool breeze greeted them. Pan Pan sighed with relief; it had been a long time since he enjoyed the cool air from an air conditioner. Chu Qiang’s house must have a decent solar panel power output; otherwise, it couldn’t support running an air conditioner.

There was a whiteboard in the living room, and Chu’s uncle and the others sat on chairs beside it, waiting for Jiang Rong to start the meeting.

With Pan Pan joining, Jiang Rong’s team now had four espers, which could already be considered a small-scale esper team. Since they had a team now, they needed to establish team rules.

As soon as Pan Pan sat down, Jiang Rong handed him a piece of paper. “Take a good look at this. Not only do you need to remember it, but you also need to strictly adhere to it in the future.” 

The paper had two big characters written on it: Team Rules. These rules were set this morning based on the opinions of Guan Shao and Chu Qiang, outlining the requirements for those who had already joined or were going to join their team. The first rule was: team members must not indiscriminately kill innocents or harm ordinary people.

Pan Pan stared at the first rule for a long time, feeling more and more convinced that joining Jiang Rong’s team was the right decision. After carefully reading over a dozen rules, he clumsily folded the paper and put it in his shirt pocket. “I’ll remember.”

Jiang Rong never liked beating around the bush. When he used to lead meetings, he preferred to address the main issues upfront for discussion. The first meeting of the ability team continued this style. After brief self-introductions, Jiang Rong said, “Now that we have four espers in our team, there are three important issues we need to address.”

As he said this, Jiang Rong was actually a bit apprehensive. He had already included Guan Shao in his team of espers, but he didn’t know if Guan Shao had noticed. After stealing a glance at Guan Shao, he found Guan Shao was earnestly looking at him, seemingly not having any thoughts about the number.

Jiang Rong continued, “The first issue is that the distance between us is too far. Qiang is in the third village, Pan Pan is in the sixth village. Even if one of us encounters danger, the others may receive the message in time, but it would still take more than ten minutes to arrive.”

The first few seconds of an emergency could be crucial, not to mention ten minutes. Now that they had formed a team, they needed to figure out a way to shorten the distance. It would be best if they could all live within visible range of each other. This way, if there was an emergency, they could respond promptly.

Chu Qiang nodded in agreement. “Yes, I mentioned this to Xiao Jiang before. But it’s really troublesome to build roads. We don’t have a professional team, so it’s hard to build a proper road. Xiao Jiang, why don’t you move to our village? There are several households with vacant houses, you can choose any.”

Jiang Rong gave Chu Qiang a knowing look, and Chu Qiang quickly realized his mistake. “Oh, yeah, it’s not that easy…”

In terms of both housing quality and living environment, Jiang Rong’s current living conditions were several times better than living in the village. With Little Fairy standing outside the yard, even the mutated plants and animals had to detour.

But if they were to move, where could they move to? They couldn’t all live in Jiang Rong’s house, right? Not to mention whether Jiang Rong’s house was convenient or not, it couldn’t accommodate so many people.

Pan Pan lived the farthest among them. If he and his mother wanted to leave, they would have left long ago. It was precisely because they were reluctant to leave the house they had built together that they persisted until now. If Pan Pan had to move, all the grievances they had suffered before would be in vain, and the intimidation they had established last night would be meaningless.

The first issue stumped everyone, and they fell into a brief silence. Pan Pan scratched his head, troubled. “It seems… quite troublesome.”

Jiang Rong didn’t need everyone to come up with answers right away. After a pause, he pointed to the various materials visible in Chu Qiang’s house. “The second issue: the market has already opened, and there will be more and more things to exchange in the future. We need to establish a dedicated warehouse to stockpile these items. The warehouse location should be safe and concealed, not easily discovered or breached.”

Otherwise, their efforts would be in vain. The items they painstakingly stockpiled would end up benefiting others, not themselves.

Chu Qiang had already considered this issue yesterday. “I originally wanted to use the vacant houses in the village to store goods, but upon further thought, it didn’t seem appropriate. We really need to build a warehouse.”

However, building a warehouse was a major problem. Where to build it, how big to build it, how to construct it, how to ensure security, how to guard… The more they thought about it, the more challenging it became.

Chu Qiang sighed, “Indeed, it’s a troublesome problem.”

Regarding the market, Jiang Rong also felt there were some issues that needed improvement.

Through yesterday’s first market opening, he found some problems. “The market opened too late, and the lighting was insufficient, making visibility poor. It not only wastes electricity but also allows people to take advantage of the chaos. If we want to build a safe and reliable market, we need to open it during the day. We also need to find several reliable people to maintain order.”

When it came to the phrase “taking advantage of the chaos,” Ruan Hanyu, sitting on the side of the stairs, flashed a pained expression in her eyes. She hadn’t intended to join in the meeting, but seeing everyone so engrossed in it, she found a small corner to sit in. Yet, upon seeing the rules of the ability team, she hadn’t left since.

Ruan Hanyu was one of the victims of the robbery. Hearing Jiang Rong’s words, she clenched her hands tightly and nodded slowly. Jiang Rong and the others were so good. They opened the market to benefit ordinary people, but unfortunately, there were people who trampled on their intentions.

Chu Qiang nodded, “Xiao Jiang is right, but we’re just starting, so we have to explore slowly.”

Jiang Rong surveyed the room and slowly spoke up, “The third issue is the most serious and urgent one: we have too few people.”

Upon hearing this issue, everyone present was momentarily stunned. Jiang Rong continued earnestly, “We only have four espers now, which is too few considering the heavy tasks we face. If there’s an accident, our entire team could be wiped out. We need trustworthy people and reliable teammates.”

Whether it’s building houses, repairing roads, or running the market, their time and energy are limited. People are undoubtedly the most important aspect of base construction.

But most of the people they knew and trusted were already in the living room. With a total of just over ten people, what could they do? The other ability teams outside easily had a dozen or more people, and Jiang Rong’s team of four would be crushed if they encountered them.

The atmosphere grew heavy, and the people in the living room fell silent. They understood the reasoning, but where could they find reliable people in such a short time?

The ability team needed to go outside to gather supplies, facing much more danger than ordinary people. Chu’s uncle sighed heavily, “I regret that my old bones are no longer useful…”

If he were twenty years younger, even if he wasn’t an esper, he would have taken up arms and joined Xiao Rong’s team. But now, with age catching up, he was lucky enough to be able to take care of himself without causing trouble for the children.

Hearing his father say this, Chu Qiang forced a smile, “Dad, don’t say that. We met Pan Pan just by opening the market yesterday. Maybe if we continue, we’ll meet more espers.”

Jiang Rong comforted, “Yes, Uncle Chu, don’t worry. I tend to take things seriously when I think about them. It’s called being prepared in good times, but it can also create anxiety. We’re not at the end of our rope yet.”

At this moment, a weak voice came from the direction of the stairs, “Um, Jiang Rong, I have something to say.”

Turning to the sound, Ruan Hanyu’s bruises had not yet faded. Seeing everyone looking at her, she instinctively retreated, hiding her legs behind the handrail. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito, “I, I’ve awakened an ability. Can I join your ability team?”

Yesterday, lying in bed, Ruan Hanyu had felt an inexplicable strength within her body. When she woke up this morning, she found that the water cup on the bedside table had frozen over.

In fact, Ruan Hanyu had noticed something unusual about her body after the Great Crisis. Her fingertips often dripped water, regardless of how hot it was outside. At first, she thought she was sick, with her fingertips dripping water and feeling cold, possibly quite severely ill.

However, after yesterday’s events, a clear thought emerged in Ruan Hanyu’s mind: she had an ability.

As she spoke, Ruan Hanyu extended her right hand. A few drops of water faintly appeared in the palm of her hand, almost imperceptible at first glance. But as the drops grew larger, everyone could see a large, transparent water sphere forming in her hand.

A layer of frost formed on the surface of the water sphere, changing shape in Ruan Hanyu’s palm until it gradually elongated into a two-foot-long ice blade with sharp ends.

This was the second time Ruan Hanyu had created an ice blade after waking up. Holding the ice blade emitting cold air, she shook with anticipation as she looked at Jiang Rong, “Can I join?”

Chu Qiang was so shocked he could hardly speak, “Wow! Ruan, you’re amazing!”

He had been wondering all along who had saved Ruan Hanyu. Now the answer was finally revealed: Ruan Hanyu was an ice-type esper, and she had saved herself. Having such an esper on a scorching hot day was simply fantastic. How much money would be saved on air conditioning!

Jiang Rong smiled and nodded, “Welcome, Ruan Hanyu, to become the fifth member of our team.” With that, he led the applause. As the applause rang out, Ruan Hanyu smiled with tears in her eyes, “Thank you.”

Pan Pan shifted to the side, “Ruan, come sit here.” 

Ruan Hanyu wiped away her tears and slowly but confidently sat down beside Pan Pan. Chu Qiang reached out to Ruan Hanyu across Pan Pan, “Ruan, welcome to join us!” 

Ruan Hanyu reached out and shook Chu Qiang’s warm and powerful hand, “Thank you all.”

She was so lucky to have met Jiang Rong and his team in her predicament. They gave her a place to stay, allowing her to feel warmth and goodwill even after the Great Crisis. She was willing to contribute her strength and hoped to help Jiang Rong and his team.

The applause lasted for a long time, until Jiang Rong waved his hand, “Now that we have five people, our strength has increased. Now, let me talk about our next goal: the D City Photovoltaic Industrial Park. We need to go there and find some solar panels.”

Although there were solar panels on his house’s roof, enough to meet the daily electricity needs, other households had been without power for a long time. In the continuous heat, some of the weaker individuals were accelerating their deaths.

Solar panels were the most urgently needed items in the market now. Seeing Pan Xiaoyuan bringing unfinished panels yesterday, Jiang Rong once again had the idea of finding solar panels.

To build the base, they needed people. If the base environment was too harsh, why would anyone be attracted to it? With enough solar panels, at least half of the trouble with electricity would be gone, and their competitiveness would also improve.

Upon hearing the words “photovoltaic industrial park,” Pan Pan’s face grew even paler. Hesitatingly, he raised his hand, “Brother Jiang, are you talking about the industrial park on Jianglong Avenue?”

Jiang Rong nodded slightly, “Yes, there’s a large photovoltaic company there that specializes in solar panels.” 

The solar panels on his house’s roof were bought from there. At that time, he had visited the warehouse over there, and it was filled with solar panels. During this period, someone must have visited the industrial park, but the supernaturals haven’t been able to form large-scale teams yet. With so many solar panels there, they can’t possibly take them all.

Pan Pan hesitated even more. “I know, brother Jiang, the solar panels at my house are from the photovoltaic industrial park. After graduating, I worked at Lean Optics Electronics over there. After the Great Crisis, my home lost power, so I went back and took some to assemble myself.”

Jiang Rong asked back, “Lean Optics Electronics? You worked there before?”

Pan Pan nodded. “Yes, I used to work in the solar panel workshop doing research and development.”

Before the Great Crisis, City D had a nationally renowned new energy base, where many large enterprises were born. Among them, Lean Optics Electronics was one of the best, and this company’s solar panels were sold domestically and internationally every year.

Jiang Rong had been inside once before. If you didn’t drive inside the factory area, you’d have to walk until your legs gave out. Finding out that Pan Pan was an employee of Lean Optics Electronics, Jiang Rong was quite surprised. “Isn’t this great? You’re a professional, having you makes me feel relieved.” 

There are hundreds of types of solar panels; it’s hard to tell the difference if you’re not a professional.

However, Pan Pan’s expression became even grimmer. “Brother Jiang, can we not go to the photovoltaic industrial park?”

Chu Qiang asked in confusion, “What’s wrong? Pan, have you encountered some difficulties?”

Pan Pan struggled to stand up, clumsily unwrapping the bandage wrapped around his left arm. As the bandage was peeled off layer by layer, a bloody arm full of holes appeared in front of everyone.

Each hole was the size of a fingernail and lined up in a straight line on the outside of Pan Pan’s arm elbow. It was unclear how long Pan Pan had been injured, as scabs were forming on the outer edges of the holes. The gray-black scabs couldn’t cover the entire wound, and in the middle, you could still see the flesh oozing yellowish fluid.

Even though Pan Pan had applied a thick layer of white medicine near the wound, a foul smell still emanated from it. Seeing such a horrifying wound, everyone’s faces changed. “How did this happen?”

Wang Chunlan hurriedly walked over with a medical kit. “Sit down quickly, let me reapply the medicine and bandage.”

The process of applying medicine was painful, and Pan Pan was sweating profusely from the pain. He gritted his teeth and said, “There’s a monster in the photovoltaic industrial park, I don’t know if it’s an animal or a plant. It looks like a plant, but it moves incredibly fast and feeds on blood and flesh.”

The wounds on Pan Pan’s arms and thighs were left by that thing. As soon as he encountered it, he was sucked in. Fortunately, he reacted swiftly and cut off the vines entangling him in time; otherwise, he would have lost his life.

No one had seen such a thing before, and they all found it unbelievable. Chu Qiang furrowed his brow, “What kind of thing is this?”

From the moment Pan Pan revealed his wounds, the color drained from Jiang Rong’s face. He had seen such wounds in his previous life, and it was on supernaturals. Because ordinary people, once they met it, would be sucked in and in an instant, they would be drained of blood and flesh, leaving only skin and bones.

Supernaturals called it the Bloodthirsty Vine, which appeared only after the Black Rain. It looked like a bramble, but hundreds of times larger. It was blood-red all over, with thorns on every vine. These thorns would pierce deep into the bodies of mutated animals or plants and then cruelly absorb their blood or sap.

Its speed is extremely fast, even a mutated dog like Lele can’t escape unscathed under the vines. Moreover, it fears neither knives nor guns. Ordinary vines cannot survive once severed from their roots, but the bloodthirsty vine has no roots; it can roll everywhere. If a severed vine exceeds a foot in length, it can become another independent bloodthirsty vine. Because of this trait, in places where there are bloodthirsty vines, neither animals nor plants can survive.

As long as espers discover bloodthirsty vines in the wilderness, they will ruthlessly exterminate them at any cost. They say if bloodthirsty vines are left unchecked, they will eventually dominate the entire world.

In his past life, he followed espers on missions and witnessed firsthand a bloodthirsty vine strangling a mutated water buffalo. The poor buffalo was entwined by the vines and, after a miserable cry, turned into a dried-up skeleton.

That scene left Jiang Rong with a profound shadow. For several consecutive nights, whenever he closed his eyes, he would recall that scene.

Such a terrifying plant unexpectedly existed in the photovoltaic industrial park. Thinking of the mutated water buffalo’s tragic death in his past life, Jiang Rong’s scalp was already numb.

Seeing Jiang Rong’s grim expression, Guan Shao thought he was frightened. Concerned, he said, “Pan Pan said he encountered this thing at night. It’s possible he didn’t see it clearly. Anyway, let’s first go and check the reality.”

Jiang Rong nodded slightly, once again looking at the wound on Pan Pan’s arm. A chill was spreading in his heart. He believed Pan Pan was not lying. If possible, he also didn’t want to encounter the bloodthirsty vine. But if they couldn’t eliminate the bloodthirsty vine in the photovoltaic industrial park in time, his base would be reduced to nothing.

After resting at home for a night, the next morning, Jiang Rong and Guan Shao set off for the photovoltaic industrial park.

After getting into the car, Jiang Rong began sketching on a piece of paper. On the paper was a simple layout of the Lean Solar Electronics factory, with the warehouse marked with a pentagon in the northeast corner as their target. The area near the warehouse marked in red was where Pan Pan encountered the bloodthirsty vine.

Judging from Pan Pan’s description and the distribution range of the bloodthirsty vine, this bloodthirsty vine should not have advanced yet. This was good news; it proved they still had a chance to defeat the bloodthirsty vine.

However, Pan Pan encountered the bloodthirsty vine more than ten days ago, and Jiang Rong didn’t know what the bloodthirsty vine looked like now.

Jiang Rong searched for the best route and retreat plan on the sketch paper to avoid being ambushed by the bloodthirsty vine. The places marked with green on the paper were where he planned to plant the seeds. The whole sheet of paper was filled with red and green, making it dizzying to look at.

After a while, Guan Shao said calmly, “Jiang Rong, look, this road has been cleared by someone.” 

All the wrecked vehicles were arranged on both sides of the road, leaving a passage of nearly three meters in the middle.

Jiang Rong looked up and replied, “Possibly done by espers.”

In fact, the one who cleared this road was none other than himself. At that time, he cleared nearly a dozen kilometers of road to pick up Chu Qiang and his family.

Guan Shao admired, “If we knew which esper did this, we must recruit him into our team.”

Jiang Rong turned to Guan Shao, “Hmm?”

Guan Shao nodded towards the road ahead, “To clear such an orderly road in chaos, this person must be meticulous and secretive.” After a pause, he added, “A master.”

Jiang Rong smiled, “If that esper hears you praising him like this, he’ll be very happy.”

After half an hour of driving, they arrived at the gate of Lean Solar Electronics. The once bustling factory area was now deserted, with only scattered vehicles and solar panel components left.

Guan Shao turned the car around, just in case they couldn’t beat the bloodthirsty vine and needed to escape quickly by car.

Jiang Rong opened the car door, and a rotten smell mixed with heat hit him in the face. After looking at the sketch paper in his hand, Jiang Rong confirmed the direction, “We’ll go east of the office building and circle around to the northwest warehouse.”

Guan Shao responded and opened the trunk. He took out a gun and quickly walked to Jiang Rong’s side, saying, “I’ll lead the way.”

As soon as they entered Lean Solar Electronics’ gate, Jiang Rong felt a chilling atmosphere. It was too quiet here. Quiet to the point where you couldn’t hear the cicadas or birds chirping. The sound of their footsteps echoed, becoming the only sound in the vast factory area.

Facing the office building directly ahead, they needed to turn from the main road on the east side of the office building to the warehouse location. After walking east for several tens of meters, Jiang Rong saw the first flowerbed and whispered, “Wait a moment.”

With that, he casually threw a bramble seed into the flowerbed to the east. The bramble seed quickly sprouted and climbed up the wall of the office building. The Lean Solar Electronics office building was taller than the factory building. As long as the brambles could climb to the roof, Jiang Rong could overlook most of the factory area.

Jiang Rong’s gaze slowly rose along the path where the brambles climbed. After scanning around, he didn’t find any traces of the bloodthirsty vine. According to Pan Pan’s description, the bloodthirsty vine was concentrated behind several factories to the north, so it was normal that he couldn’t see it for now.

Just as the two were about to continue walking forward, Jiang Rong saw a bright red light flashing before his eyes. The next moment, the newly grown bramble vine was torn apart, and green tendrils fell in front of them like rain.

Jiang Rong’s hand clenched suddenly, and a trembling voice escaped from his throat, “It’s up there!”

A chilling pressure came from above their heads, and countless red vines hung down from the white office building’s roof. They covered the entire building like a sky, wrapping it up.

 

 

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