Chapter 55: Fuel
Immediately after, the warehouse lights flickered on, followed by all the lights in the entire gas station.
He squinted at the casing, just barely making out the "50KW" marking.
"How can a 50-kilowatt machine be this loud!"
Although he had anticipated some noise based on the trio’s description of it attracting zombies, this was way too loud!
Lin Fan had seen generators over a hundred kilowatts back at the zoo that weren’t this noisy!
He guessed those Mutant Dogs must have damaged something when they were attacking it wildly.
’Forget moving this thing, I can’t even use it if I could haul it away.’
’If I run this racket downstairs for too long, it’ll probably lure back all the zombies I just worked so hard to get rid of.’
"Brother Lin! What’s wrong?"
Lin Fan twisted the knob, shutting off the generator, just in time to see Chu Zhaozhao running toward him, her face etched with anxiety.
Since the warehouse had no door, his back was clearly visible from outside, so she ran straight in.
"Bro— BLECH!"
Before Lin Fan could say a word, Chu Zhaozhao entered the warehouse, instinctively glanced around, and saw the dismembered limbs and chunks of flesh scattered inside. She immediately turned away and started dry-heaving.
Meanwhile, the other two were just slowly jogging past the halfway point.
’Looks like the generator’s racket woke them up. Good thing they didn’t have time to eat anything, or it would’ve been another waste...’
After the trials of the past few days, Lin Fan had grown accustomed to such gory scenes. He’d forgotten that the most gruesome thing Chu Zhaozhao had probably seen was the corpses of those few Mutant Dogs.
’Still, this is for the best. To survive in this world, you have to get used to this sort of thing.’
"Done puking?"
Lin Fan walked to the doorway and asked teasingly, watching Chu Zhaozhao who was bent over, wiping her mouth.
"Done... puking..."
Chu Zhaozhao clutched her stomach, her voice still shaken from the experience.
"If you’re done, come help..."
Lin Fan waved her over, signaling for her to come inside and get to work, then turned to head back into the warehouse.
"Huh? What work..."
Hearing she had to go back in, Chu Zhaozhao’s eyes widened in disbelief. After a moment’s hesitation, she grimaced and followed Lin Fan inside, her eyes glued to his back, not daring to glance to either side.
By now, the other two had finally reached the warehouse entrance. Seeing Lin Fan and Chu Zhaozhao go in, they followed...
But they charged right back out a second later.
"BLECH!"
"BLECH!"
...
"Pfft..."
Hearing the commotion behind them, both Lin Fan and Chu Zhaozhao couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
"Whoa!"
Lin Fan stopped abruptly as if he’d suddenly thought of something. Chu Zhaozhao didn’t have time to stop and slammed her forehead into his back with a cry of surprise.
He turned, tapped Chu Zhaozhao lightly on the head, and looked past her to address the other two.
"Hey, Chu... never mind. Xu Qian, you come in and help Zhaozhao... Chu Zhaotian, you go back out front and stand watch. If any zombies get close, come tell me immediately."
He had originally planned to have Chu Zhaotian help, but after remembering what Chu Zhaozhao had said yesterday, he switched to Xu Qian.
With a personality like Xu Qian’s, Lin Fan would be very worried leaving him on lookout duty.
"Oh, okay, Brother Lin..."
Chu Zhaotian quickly agreed and turned to head back to the front of the gas station.
Xu Qian was a thousand percent against Lin Fan’s arrangement, but he didn’t dare talk back. He just stayed bent over, pretending to be nauseous, and didn’t straighten up.
Seeing this, Lin Fan wasted no time on words. He lifted his long spear and swung it hard against the warehouse wall. BANG! Concrete fragments flew everywhere, scaring Xu Qian so badly that he immediately jumped back a step and stood up straight.
"Get in here and work..."
Lin Fan couldn’t be bothered with him. He just spoke the cold command and turned to walk deeper inside.
Seeing this, Chu Zhaozhao quickly ran out and whispered to Xu Qian:
"Stop dawdling. If you piss off Brother Lin, you can figure out how to get back to the university yourself..."
After saying her piece, she turned and ran back to Lin Fan’s side, asking:
"Brother Lin, don’t stoop to his level. What needs to be done? Just tell me..."
In that brief moment, Xu Qian seemed to have a change of heart, and he followed them slowly, hand still covering his mouth.
The three of them walked to the wall. Lin Fan counted eleven 40-liter oil barrels. Three were tipped over on the ground, marred with several claw marks. They were leaking, and Diesel had pooled on the floor.
He pointed at the barrels and said:
"I saw a handcart on my way in. You two move these barrels to the front. We’re going to fill them up in a bit..."
"These three are leaking Diesel. It’s fine, it won’t catch fire. Move them out too. Just put them outside the door for now."
After speaking, he pointed back at the handcart leaning against the wall.
"O... okay, Brother Lin!"
Chu Zhaozhao agreed immediately, but as her peripheral vision followed his pointing finger and caught a glimpse of the dismembered limbs and flesh, her voice still trembled unnaturally.
After agreeing, she started walking toward the handcart Lin Fan had indicated. After two steps, she saw Xu Qian still standing there in a daze, so she went back and jabbed him hard in the back with her elbow.
"Let’s go!"
With that, she grabbed his clothes and started dragging him out.
Lin Fan heard the commotion behind him but said nothing.
’How the little team gets along is their own business. I have no interest in being everyone’s therapist.’
’If they can adapt, great. If they can’t, and they leave the stage early, that’s fate too...’
Many hands make light work. For unskilled labor like this, three people were much faster than one. In just two trips, they had moved all the oil barrels next to the gas pumps.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan simply drove the small van to the warehouse entrance and loaded it up with all the usable items inside: rubber boots, gloves, electrical tools, car repair tools, motor oil, fire extinguishers, and more.
Lin Fan also found a fire axe and a crowbar in the warehouse.
But Lin Fan had no use for them now.
’A fire axe is worse than a long spear for fighting zombies in the open, and in tight spaces, my own short spear is more flexible since I can stab and swing with it.’
But just because he didn’t need them didn’t mean others couldn’t use them, so he tossed them into the van as well.
Seeing Chu Zhaozhao and Xu Qian move the last three barrels, Lin Fan waved at them, signaling that they didn’t need to come back, but should take a break and eat something.
He himself walked over to the generator and twisted the knob again.
"CHUG-CHUG-CHUG-CHUG..."
The beat-up, tractor-like generator roared back to life. A few seconds later, the lights on the gas station’s sign lit up.
Lin Fan parked the van in front of a pump, inserted the magnetic card he had found in Room 401, and began fueling the van.
He had found similar cards on the bodies of other gas station employees who had turned into zombies, so he’d guessed what they were for.
Next, he directed the two to bring over five barrels and fill them all with gasoline.
Then, he had them fill the remaining three with Diesel.
At 40 liters per barrel, that came to 200 liters of gasoline and 120 liters of Diesel.
It was a shame gas stations had regulations against selling loose gasoline, which meant modern stations no longer stocked extra barrels. These few were all that were in the warehouse.
’Still, this is enough for now. It’s not like I’ve found a working generator yet anyway.’
’Besides, the gas station isn’t going anywhere. I can always come back if I need more.’
Chu Zhaotian was still patrolling outside while Chu Zhaozhao and Xu Qian helped Lin Fan load the barrels into the van.
As they were loading, Chu Zhaozhao suddenly sidled up to Lin Fan and said timidly:
"Brother Lin, could our car maybe also..."