Chapter 68: Restoring Power
Now that the drinking water issue was more or less solved, the tap water they had stored upstairs could be used for bathing.
Chu Zhaozhao and the other two were filthy. They needed a bath, at the very least.
Lin Fan looked down at himself. He was one to talk; he didn’t look much better than them.
His pants had been soaked through with blood. Now, they were caked black and stiff to the touch.
Not to mention, where his clothes were torn, sweat and dirt had mixed into mud on his skin.
"Lin Fan..." He heard Su Qing’s voice before he even stepped into the clinic. Looking up, he saw her pouting, giving him a slightly resentful look.
Lin Fan chuckled, then turned and shot a glare at Chu Zhaozhao, who was cleaning up the trash inside the clinic.
She responded by pulling an empty trash bag over her head, pretending she didn’t exist.
"Why didn’t you run away..."
Su Qing leaned in and whispered to Lin Fan.
Lin Fan knew Chu Zhaozhao must have told Su Qing what happened at the gas station. He jerked his head toward the three inside the clinic and said casually,
"If I ran, what would happen to them?"
"Cut the crap..."
Hearing Lin Fan’s words, Su Qing shook her head dismissively. She lifted her bright eyes, stared into his, and said,
"Since when do you care so much about strangers? What’s the real... Never mind. Are your injuries really healed?"
"They’re healed, really. Look..."
As he spoke, Lin Fan lifted his tattered shirt, revealing the skin underneath.
Su Qing stared skeptically at Lin Fan’s waist. Aside from some filth and dried blood, there was indeed no wound.
She reached out and gave his abs a light punch, then leaned her head in closer and asked worriedly,
"You’re so filthy... So why did you bring these three back? Do we have enough food?"
"They brought their own food. One of the RVs is theirs. They loaded it up with a bunch of instant meals and stuff at the gas station, enough to feed themselves," Lin Fan explained with a chuckle.
"Besides, there’s still the supermarket warehouse. We won’t be short on food."
"That’s good..."
After speaking, Su Qing gently bumped Lin Fan’s chest with her shoulder. "You’ve got your eye on that cute little girl, don’t you..."
"Me?"
Hearing Su Qing’s words, Lin Fan couldn’t help but turn to look at Chu Zhaozhao, who was "cosplaying" as a piece of trash with a garbage bag over her head while cleaning up her "kin" from the floor.
"Her?"
He couldn’t help but laugh and shouted over to Chu Zhaozhao.
"Haha... Zhaozhao, your Sister Qing is calling you cute..."
Lin Fan then shouted toward Chu Zhaozhao.
"Ah! Thanks, Sister Qing! Sister Qing, you’re beautiful and kind, nicer than my own sister! Mwah!"
As she spoke, she trotted over, hugged Su Qing’s arm, and rubbed her trash-bag-covered head against Su Qing’s shoulder.
"Alright, just tidy up this first floor. It’s not like we’re opening for business... Go get your brother and the other guy."
"Okay, Big Brother!"
Chu Zhaozhao turned and ran off.
"Driving, moving things, helping out, standing watch... even when we go to the quarantine zone in the future, more people means more things can get done."
"A lot of people in the complex know me, and I don’t trust them. Besides, you saw it the other day. Those old bastards, they’re full of bad intentions..."
Lin Fan said to Su Qing in a low voice.
"So you trust them?" Su Qing nodded after hearing him out, but still asked doubtfully.
"They’re students with no one to rely on. Their only goal is to get to the Linjiang University quarantine zone. Until we get there, they’re reliable."
"Those two are brother and sister. The brother is a bit soft, but you can tell he cares a lot about his sister. The other one is timid, so he can help with minor tasks, but I’m not expecting much from him. As for Chu Zhaozhao... I trust her on instinct."
Looking at the health bars above the heads of the three people walking over,
One was green at [38], and two were yellow at [34] and [33].
Lin Fan raised his hand and patted Su Qing’s shoulder gently. "Don’t worry..."
"Brother Lin..."
Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian walked up and greeted him, both looking a bit serious.
"No need to be so formal," Lin Fan smiled at them and clapped them on the shoulders. "You two, drive the RVs up here. Park them facing opposite directions to block the entrance. Make sure the side doors both face the middle, leaving just enough space for a walkway. Go on."
As Chu Zhaotian and the other guy went to get the vehicles, Lin Fan yanked the plastic bag off Chu Zhaozhao’s head. "Weren’t you getting stuffy in there..."
He tapped her lightly on the head as he spoke.
"Sister Qing, you two, come with me and get something."
Arriving at the back of the van, he opened the trunk, and a faint smell of Diesel escaped. Lin Fan checked the barrels and bottles from side to side to ensure they were secure.
After checking, he pulled out a roll of electrical wire and a toolbox from the side of the van’s interior.
"Here, help me carry these two things to the clinic."
He handed the toolbox and wire to the two of them, while he himself picked up a can of gasoline and returned to the clinic.
He directed the two to park the vehicles at the clinic’s entrance. One was parked head-in, the other tail-in against the steps, almost completely blocking the battered roll-up door.
The door couldn’t be closed anyway, so parking the vehicles here would serve as a barricade.
The side doors of both vehicles faced the middle. This way, they could be seen from upstairs, preventing anyone from using a blind spot to steal things.
He instructed Su Qing to take the connected power strip upstairs and throw the plug down from the window. Lin Fan picked up the plug and inserted it into the RV’s power inlet.
He secured the cover. A moment later, Su Qing’s head popped out of the window, and she shouted down excitedly to the people below,
"The fridge has power!"
"Great! Let’s head up..."
After locking both vehicles and placing a can of gasoline by the clinic wall, Lin Fan led the three of them upstairs.
This was why Lin Fan had to establish some kind of order.
As long as there was still grain and water in that warehouse, it would always be the primary target for all survivors.
’I don’t know how Liu Bin and his group are handling things, but just now outside, I saw most of the survivors lining up obediently. Some even ran home to get their wives or children who had stayed behind to join the line.’
Most of them were alone, however. The chances of having two people in a room, neither of whom had turned, were a bit low.
’But I haven’t seen anyone coming out with supplies. They’re probably still taking inventory.’
As long as order was maintained, that was enough. Lin Fan wouldn’t worry about the rest.
He just focused on arranging housing for the three of them as he walked upstairs.
"My place is 301. 302 is empty..."
"I’ll take 302, then!"
Chu Zhaozhao immediately piped up.
"Are you staying with your brother?"
Lin Fan asked.
"Can I live by myself?"
"...You’re not scared?"
"Aren’t you right across the hall? I’m not scared."
Hearing this from Chu Zhaozhao, Lin Fan turned to look at Chu Zhaotian behind him, giving him a questioning glance.
"If there are enough rooms, can we stay separately?"
Chu Zhaotian hesitated for a moment before asking tentatively.
"Brother Lin, didn’t you say the water is off? Using the bathroom and all that will be inconvenient, so it’s better if we each have our own..."
After Chu Zhaotian finished, Lin Fan looked at him in a new light.