Da Zhangshu Base, main entrance.
He Chao arrived with a truck full of cement, followed by four more vehicles, all carrying construction materials.
The trucks they were driving were light-duty, with a load capacity of about 5 tons.
Li Yu and his Second Uncle stood on the wall, watching them.
He Chao looked at Li Yu on the wall and said, "Manager Li, everything you said before still counts, right?"
Li Yu looked at them, a bit surprised, not expecting them to transport so many construction materials in just one day.
And these construction materials definitely weren't found nearby, because Li Yu and his group had already collected all the construction materials in the vicinity.
It seems the power of hunger is formidable.
However, what Li Yu and his group didn't know was that He Chao and his team had actually put in a great deal of effort to acquire these construction materials.
For example, during transportation, they encountered a wave of famished zombies, which resulted in the loss of two of their men.
And during transit, due to melted snow making the road too slippery, one vehicle overturned, injuring two people.
Otherwise, there would have been more than just these five vehicles arriving here.
Upon seeing this, Li Yu nodded and said, "I stand by my word. The drivers of these five vehicles can come in. Everyone else waits outside."
He Chao straightforwardly said, "Alright, we'll drive in."
Li Yu looked at Li Hang and said, "Open the gate and let them in."
Bai Jie, who was at the Weng City Research Lab, had already been told to leave earlier.
At this moment, more than a dozen people stood on the wall of Weng City, each holding a gun.
Their gazes were vigilant, watching the people below.
Li Yu descended from the wall, followed by Da Pao, Li Tie, Ding Jiu, and other workers.
He Chao slowly entered the base. As soon as the five vehicles entered Weng City, the large gate behind them slammed shut with a thud.
This made He Chao a bit nervous, but he thought that he had nothing worth being coveted.
So he straightforwardly said, "Manager Li, all five of our vehicles are in. Would you like to inspect them?"
Li Yu nodded and said, "No need to make it so complicated. There's a weighbridge on the right. Just drive the vehicles onto it to check."
He Chao was a bit surprised. He originally thought that just inspecting the goods would take a long time, but he didn't expect Li Yu's side to have a weighbridge.
With this, it would be much simpler.
Several vehicles slowly drove onto the weighbridge, and a number was displayed. Then, Ding Jiu and others began unloading the items from the trucks.
After they had unloaded everything, they were asked to drive the vehicles onto the weighbridge one by one again, and another value was measured.
Subtracting the two values yielded a final number.
After Ding Jiu and the others finished unloading and inspecting, confirming there were no issues, they quietly reported the situation to Li Yu.
Li Yu generally understood and smiled at He Chao, saying, "According to what we discussed earlier, the calculation is complete.
One is 26.3 tons: 5 tons of cement, 15 tons of rebar, and 6.3 tons of stone.
Converted, that's a total of 38.3 catties of rice."
He then took out the prepared bags of rice.
Seeing the large rice bag, He Chao quickly said, "Manager Li, can you please divide it into ten portions for us?"
Li Yu looked at He Chao, nodded, and said, "Sure, no problem."
He then had Song Min evenly divide the items into ten portions.
They were divided into individual small bags.
After He Chao received the rice, his face was exceptionally excited. He immediately took it out and distributed it to the others around him.
The few people who followed He Chao, upon receiving the bags of rice, also showed excited expressions.
Li Yu looked at their expressions and said with a smile, "Alright, our transaction is concluded. If you have other things in the future, you're welcome to come and trade."
He Chao nodded gratefully and said, "Mhm, thank you, Manager Li. Brothers, let's go."
Li Yu looked at He Chao with a satisfied expression. He understood how to share profits, and after getting the food, he immediately distributed it. This way of doing things would make people follow him.
He didn't know about other aspects, but at least in this regard, he did well.
He would cooperate a few more times and see. If this person could demonstrate other abilities, perhaps he could be allowed to join.
Thinking this, Li Yu watched their vehicles leave Weng City while putting away the gun in his hand.
Outside the wall, as soon as He Chao and the others exited, He Chao distributed the items in his hand to those who had not entered Weng City.
Although 38.3 catties of rice seemed like a good amount, when distributed among everyone who followed He Chao, each person only received 3.83 catties.
With less than 4 catties, if they ate 4 liang of rice a day, it could last for 10 days.
This was the apocalypse; to be able to eat and be full of white rice every day was a luxury.
Eating a catty of rice every day and being full? That was impossible.
Living in the apocalypse, who could eat like that?
After more than a year in the apocalypse, they had all become accustomed to this:
As long as they weren't working or doing things that required a lot of strength, they tried not to eat.
If they drank a bowl of porridge once a day, these 3.83 catties of rice could last them for more than twenty days.
For people who had been hungry for many days after enduring this harsh winter,
To have something to eat and ensure survival was already very good.
After He Chao received his bag of rice, his hands trembled slightly.
Since the outbreak of the apocalypse, his parents and his wife had successively died in the mouths of zombies, and his wife had starved to death in the apocalypse.
He originally had two children. After the rest of his family were gone, he took care of his two children.
However, his younger daughter froze to death in the cold and hungry conditions of this winter.
Now, his elder daughter was actually not yet 11 years old. She had been malnourished since the apocalypse, and at 11, she looked no older than 9.
Children at this age were supposed to be growing, but without food, how could they grow?
Moreover, they hadn't eaten any normal food for three days now.
They had been eating tree bark and similar things to fill their stomachs every day.
Not far from Da Zhangshu Base, near the Gas Station, these people huddled together for warmth.
In fact, He Chao was not the only one in such a situation. Some people, worse off than him, were left with only themselves after the apocalypse and a harsh winter.
"Good girl, Xiaoya, Daddy's back." He Chao excitedly ran into the room.
On a stool sat a yellow-haired girl grinding tree bark. Hearing the familiar voice from behind, the little girl on the stool happily turned her head and saw it was her father.
She stood up, but because she was too weak, she stumbled.
He Chao quickly supported her and said, "Slow down."
Xiaoya didn't mind almost falling and happily said, "Daddy, you're finally back."
But with a glance, she saw the tree bark she had just ground, and her pale face furrowed slightly as she said,
"Dad, Xiaodang's mom ate this tree bark yesterday and has been constipated ever since. Her stomach is still really big.
I found some tender tree bark, but there isn't much left now."
Hearing his daughter say this, He Qiang suddenly felt extremely guilty.
So he took out the rice he had been hiding behind his back and said,
"Xiaoya, we can have porridge today. Didn't we dig up some wild mushrooms yesterday? We can cook them together in the porridge."
Xiaoya excitedly took it, and then saw that the bag indeed contained white rice. She was overjoyed.
But after being happy for a while, tears suddenly streamed down her face.
The tears were as big as beans and wouldn't stop.
He Chao stroked his elder daughter's head and said,
"Daddy will get more food in the future, Xiaoya, so don't cry anymore.
We have food now. You didn't cry when we didn't have food, so why are you crying now that we do?"
Xiaoya choked out,
"I thought of my little sister. If we had food then, would she not have died? I just..."
He Chao's body trembled at her words.
In that instant.
His heart felt as if it was being gripped tightly by an iron hand,
Making it impossible for him to breathe.
