Edge of the Apocalypse

Chapter 127: Chapter 119: Different Standpoints

At noon, after grabbing some authentic Anhui beef noodles together in the Xiangti Bay Community, Yu Dong and Xufeng headed to the Tactical Frontier Military Fan Shop.

Upon entering the shop, Yu Dong immediately hung the "Temporarily Closed" sign outside and locked the door.

The heavily tattooed, gangster-looking owner saw their practiced movements and suddenly felt a little nervous.

"What’s going on, you two?"

"I need to order a large quantity of domestically made stab-proof vests and gloves. They just need to protect against animal claws, bites, and knife slashes—no need for bulletproofing. I’m looking for the best value. How much for a set?"

"For a three-piece anti-stab set... you can get a pretty good one for 3,000 yuan. As long as you’re not planning on getting into a gunfight, it’ll be more than enough."

"Good. I want fifty sets, assorted sizes."

The owner hissed. "Fifty sets... Bro, are you taking a crew to Africa to fight in some tribal war?"

"Cut the crap. Can you get them or not?"

"Yes, bro, yes! Just give me some time. I can have the goods delivered here in three days."

This gear was for the future survivors who would join their settlement. It would be enough to fend off most zombie attacks.

Yu Dong also bought full tactical suits for his core combat team members, costing 10,000 yuan per set. These included not only the three-piece anti-stab gear but also tactical vests, helmets, boots, and other protective padding. They’d work well in a firefight, too.

Thinking of Officer Wang’s build, he got a set for him, too.

Eight sets in total.

Then, he bought a large number of Explosive-Proof Shields, tactical knives, and Mountain-Cutting Sabers, along with various other everyday supplies.

"The total comes to 295,841. Tell you what, bro, let’s just call it an even 290,000."

"Xufeng, pay him 260,000."

Yu Dong shot back a counteroffer without waiting for the owner to respond. He continued,

"Now go get me that compound crossbow of yours."

The owner’s jaw dropped.

His expression changed. He instantly understood... ’These two are the real deal. They definitely did their homework on my inventory before coming here.’

Yu Dong spent another 15,000 yuan to get the crossbow, along with the 40 Crossbow Arrows the owner promised.

After the payment was made, Xufeng stroked the crossbow, his eyes filled with awe.

"What a beauty. This thing is amazing... In the apocalypse, taking out zombies with this? It’d be one shot, one kill, wouldn’t it?"

"Yeah, but it’s a pain to cock. If I run into a group of zombies, I’ll only get one shot off before I have to switch to my knife."

"Still better than nothing. If we could get our hands on a few dozen more, that’d be incredible. We could set up a line of Crossbowmen and take out a horde of zombies with a single volley..."

"Too bad this stuff is hard to come by. I couldn’t find any other sources. This was the only one I found..."

Yu Dong sighed. He knew how useful a crossbow was, but it was contraband. For guys like them with no special connections, they were almost impossible to obtain.

Xufeng ran his hand over the body of the crossbow and felt some engravings on the back. He turned it over for a closer look.

It was four English letters: HNJZ.

"Is HNJZ the brand of the crossbow?"

"Probably. The owner said he got it from overseas and that it was hard to come by. Let’s pack it up. I need to get back to the university."

That afternoon, Xufeng had also helped Yu Dong make an appointment with Professor Lin from the management department.

"Alright, you head back. I’ll take all this gear over to the port and rent a warehouse to store it."

"Mm, sounds good."

Having Xufeng around really saved Yu Dong a lot of mental and physical effort.

After returning to the university, Yu Dong went straight to the academic building to find Professor Lin. He was desperate to figure out how to handle Officer Wang while maintaining his own leadership position.

This was a problem he couldn’t afford to leave until after the apocalypse.

It had to be dealt with beforehand.

When he arrived at the office, he saw Professor Lin, whose hair was starting to gray. After a few pleasantries, Yu Dong got straight to the point. He proposed a hypothetical scenario: in a post-apocalyptic settlement, how could he contend for leadership against a respected and resourceful police officer?

After listening with a chuckle, Professor Lin immediately began citing historical precedents and academic theories.

"Power struggles like this have been common throughout history..."

He went on to talk about "dual-core leadership structures," "contribution-based point systems," "complementary authority models," and "parliamentary systems." The flood of historical examples and jargon made Yu Dong’s head spin.

"To summarize," he chirped, "as long as you can properly apply management theory, you can create a perfect system for your settlement. You can achieve a model where you oversee the big picture and he handles the day-to-day operations. It’s as simple as that."

Yu Dong heard this and understood perfectly.

"Thank you, Professor Lin. This has been very enlightening..."

After saying his goodbyes and leaving the office, Yu Dong sighed. He’d given up on the idea of seeking help from "professionals."

’They’ve never lived through an apocalypse. They’re just making assumptions...’

’What a waste of two hours!’

Yu Dong glanced at the time and hurried over to the Xiangti Bay Community, just in time to catch Shen Xinyi as she was leaving work.

She had a brown leather bag slung over her shoulder and was wearing a trendy top with tight jeans. She wasn’t wearing socks, revealing her pale, delicate ankles. She radiated the vibrant, alluring charm of a young, urban professional.

Yu Dong thought about the "key" Shen Xinyi had given him... and the corner of his mouth twitched.

’Will this really work?’

But in this lifetime, he couldn’t use the very clever excuse he’d used before to get into the residents’ group chat.

Besides, he had to invite Shen Xinyi to the Huangyang Port District on the final day, so he had no choice but to brace himself and try to talk to her now.

"Hi, could I add you on WeChat?"

Shen Xinyi froze for a second, then looked Yu Dong up and down, a slight smirk playing on her lips.

"Why?"

"Because... I think you’re really pretty. You’re my type."

"Oh... well, alright then."

Shen Xinyi smiled charmingly and added Yu Dong on WeChat.

And just like that, Yu Dong’s first attempt at picking her up was a success.

At that moment, Yu Dong decided the "key" Shen Xinyi had left him was pretty reliable after all.

Of course, Yu Dong didn’t notice the pair of jealous eyes staring at his back.

...

That night, the four dorm mates gathered at a barbecue joint near the entrance to Xiangti Bay.

"Status reports, everyone."

Huang spoke first. "The cruise ship will arrive at Huangyang Port in three days. It’ll be docked for about three days for cleaning, maintenance, and loading. Boarding begins Sunday afternoon, and it departs for South Korea, Seoul, that evening."

Yu Dong did a quick mental calculation. "That’s not good... If boarding is on Sunday... the zombie virus outbreak happens at seven o’clock. There’ll be several thousand zombies on that ship! Clearing them out would be a huge pain... I have no idea how Officer Wang and his people managed it in the last lifetime."

Fighting in the narrow confines of the ship’s cabins would be too dangerous.

"We’ll have to find a way to delay the passengers from boarding... Youcai, your turn."

Zhao Youcai reported, "I went down to the port and asked around. The cruise ship uses a special marine fuel, a heavy fuel oil. It’s not something we can just buy. You have to get it from specialized suppliers, usually through a supply contract. When this ship docks, it will refuel from the depot at Huangyang Port."

"What about the fuel depot?"

"I checked it out. It just supplies fuel to various ships. It’s a busy place, with tankers coming and going all day, but it doesn’t have any serious security. After the apocalypse... we can just take it over. All that fuel will be ours!"

Zhao Youcai let out a sly grin.

"Hmm... but that’s probably not enough. Fuel will be hard to come by after the apocalypse, especially specialized marine fuel. I think we should stockpile more. Is there a way to buy it in barrels? Is it expensive? The port has plenty of warehouses; we should store as much as we can."

"I asked a few professionals today. The heavy fuel oil for a cruise ship like that goes for about 5,000 yuan a ton. But if you want to buy it in barrels for storage, you’d need to have a shipping company or something. No one’s going to deal with a private buyer."

Xufeng grinned. "That’s the easy part. I can have one set up by tomorrow."

"Good... Stockpile more fuel. We need to make sure this cruise ship can last as long as possible."

This lifetime, he didn’t need to hoard food, water, or daily necessities; the Caribbean cruise ship, about to depart on a long voyage, was already fully stocked. The money Yu Dong had could be used to acquire some big-ticket items.

Besides powering the ship, fuel could also be used to burn zombies... You could never have too much of it.

Even though Yu Dong had secured Xufeng right from the start this time, getting 550,000 yuan from him, plus another 1 million from Qiao Ping and several hundred thousand more from their own loans and IOUs, he knew that buying bulk commodities like this would burn through their cash fast.

Xufeng came up with an idea. "Youcai, I’ll go with you tomorrow to talk to the suppliers. We’ll sign a long-term contract, give them a down payment, and have them deliver the fuel to our warehouse before the outbreak. That way... we can just skip the final payment. We’ll save at least half the cost."

"Makes sense. Spoken like a true capitalist’s son."

As they were discussing how to manage the cruise ship, Wang Dingbei, dressed in civilian clothes, walked in.

"Did you bring the ledger?"

Yu Dong nodded and pulled a ledger from his jacket. He had reproduced it entirely from memory.

But he didn’t hand it to Wang Dingbei.

Instead, he said, "Officer Wang, I sat through a ridiculously complicated lecture today. I didn’t understand most of the theories, but it did make me realize something..."

"Oh? And what’s that?"

Wang Dingbei stared at the ledger, a fire igniting in his eyes.

"Officer Wang, I’ve realized our goals aren’t the same... We want to get money from Yin Shuangyang to do some good things. But you... you want to bring him to justice. You want to completely take down Yin Shuangyang and the powerful people protecting him, right?"

"So, you never intended to do this with us. You just want this ledger so you can get your revenge..."

"And for that reason, Officer Wang, I’m afraid I can’t give you this ledger."

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