Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 698 - 687: Where Should We Hide It?

Wang Qiang has been in a great state lately, completely shedding the air of despondence he had when he left the factory. This can be attributed to Yang Xue’s daily hand-held radio contact.

This gesture filled with love has warmed Wang Qiang’s heart, even while he is out in the suburbs.

Now Wang Qiang just hopes today passes quickly, so he can start his journey home tomorrow morning.

Tang Xiaoquan did not receive any caring messages from Wei Yang, but there’s already an unspoken understanding between them, rendering such gestures unnecessary to maintain their relationship. At this moment, Tang Xiaoquan also feels an overwhelming urge to return home.

On the other hand, old Zhao doesn’t have much of a feeling. For him, the main purpose of this trip is to find a second shelter for the villa companions, and as things currently stand, he has already accomplished this task well. So, getting back to help Lin and Xu handle the bandits is the top priority.

The three trips out depleted the fuel, making the outbound team low on gasoline. To make sure they have enough for the return trip, they decided not to continue searching for supplies.

Today, their plan is to continue reinforcing the protection of their base, especially around doors and windows using leftover wooden strips. Additionally, they need to address how to properly hide the gathered supplies.

Old Zhao certainly doesn’t want the supplies he worked so hard to gather to end up benefiting others. Although the place is remote, no one can guarantee it won’t be discovered by other survivors.

If that happens, those guys would really hit the jackpot.

So, the location for storing the supplies must be carefully chosen. After discussion, the village was immediately ruled out as a storage site because, from a common-sense perspective, if survivors come here, their first step would be to search the nearby houses for supplies.

Given this, old Zhao and the team obviously wouldn’t be foolish enough to leave things for others to take. Even if the probability is minuscule, it’s something old Zhao cannot tolerate.

Since the village is not an option, they had to look around the surrounding area. But besides fields, the vicinity of the village only has roads, with no suitable place for storing supplies.

After much thought and helplessness, the three had to stop their discussion and step out, planning to conduct a field investigation.

Old Zhao drove around the village while the three of them looked around with six eyes to find a relatively safe place to store supplies.

"Damn it, why don’t we just dig a hole in the field and bury the rice and flour, even if it’s a bit of work," Wang Qiang suggested with sore eyes.

Old Zhao chuckled and dismissed the idea, "Little Wang, the problem isn’t about effort, it’s just not feasible."

"Why not?"

"Haven’t you heard of mold? Who would bury food items!" Tang Xiaoquan retorted sarcastically. Wang Qiang, obviously displeased, immediately rebutted, "Dummy, who said we have to bury it? We could just dig a pit, put the supplies in, and cover them up with things like hay or bark for camouflage. It’s both breathable and serves as a disguise; isn’t that great?"

"Haha, the main issue is really the weather. If we encounter rain or snow, the rice and flour would get damp and be inedible. So, the hiding place not only needs to be safe but also weatherproof." Old Zhao patiently explained.

"Ugh!" Wang Qiang scratched his head in frustration. Who knew storing supplies could be such a hassle. From his point of view: "If that’s the case, we might as well just take everything with us in the car."

Taking everything in the car is obviously the most convenient and reliable option. Tang and Zhao both considered it, but everything needs a backup, to plan for unforeseen circumstances.

Bringing the supplies back to the villa is absolutely fine, but who can ensure that during conflicts with the bandits, they won’t become unable to promptly carry the supplies due to certain reasons.

If they truly can’t take them away due to unforeseen circumstances, then it may just be more cost-effective to toss the supplies directly in the village.

While Wang Qiang wondered about Zhao and Tang ignoring his suggestion, a spark suddenly lit up his eyes as he noticed a patch of thatch: "Hey, hey, hey, old Zhao, look at that, how about that pile of stuff?"

Old Zhao instantly turned his gaze to where Wang Qiang was pointing. It was a pile of straw left from harvesting wheat. Farmers usually like to gather it up and burn it.

Whenever it’s burned, the entire city is engulfed in a strong, pungent odor, and the air quality takes a nosedive.

For this reason, the government came up with many solutions, including purchasing the straw, but none were very effective.

However, at this moment, old Zhao felt a rush of excitement: "Xiao Wang, you’re onto something; you’ve made a great contribution this time. The pile of straw could have initially been used for raising poultry. If we simply use tarps to cover the surroundings, it could prevent moisture and mold damage to the rice and flour. Plus, no one would think to hide supplies in this mound of straw."

Tang Xiaoquan nodded subtly, "Hmm, this place is indeed quite good. How about this, let’s store most of the supplies here and leave one bag of rice, split it up, and keep it in the house. What do you think?"

Wang Qiang was the first to voice his mockery, "Damn it, Quanzi, are you dumb? We finally found a place to store it, and you leave some behind? If we’re storing, we should store it all."

"No, Qiangzi, Xiao Tang’s suggestion actually makes sense!" Old Zhao almost immediately understood Tang Xiaoquan’s intention. So far, everything they did to hide the supplies stemmed from the worry of other survivors finding them and taking them away.

In the apocalypse, supplies are a necessity for survival. Everything you see is ownerless, and if you’re able to, you can take it without worries and put it in your own backpack.

Thus, to solve this root problem, they need to let the coming survivors get what they want.

From normal human thinking logic, when people first find something they need desperately in a location, their brain will subconsciously signal that other similar places might have it too, leading them to focus their search on areas similar to where they first found the supplies, instead of looking elsewhere.

Old Zhao continued to play the role of elucidator. Although Wang Qiang’s chosen location was good, it still wasn’t foolproof. If the survivors planned to settle permanently, the supplies would be impossible to hide.

The only solution to this problem is for everyone at the villa to quickly move from their current base and settle in the village as soon as possible. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)