manynovel Chapter 12 Temporary Stronghold
Chapter 12 Temporary Stronghold
The fire door blocked out most of the unsettling sounds, leaving only dull, muffled thuds, like distant drumbeats. The warehouse was plunged into an almost stagnant darkness and silence, with only the heavy, uneven breathing of the two men echoing in the confined space, a testament to the tenacity of life.
Tony Stark slid slowly to the floor, his back against the cold, heavy metal door. His expensive, custom-made shirt was soaked through with sweat, dust, and unidentified stains, clinging to his slightly heaving chest. He looked down, spreading his hands, and in the dim light filtering through the crack in the door and a broken vent above, he saw the blisters and dark red stains on his palms. A powerful sense of unreality gripped him. Just hours before, he had been in a luxurious villa on the cliffs of Malibu, enjoying top-quality whiskey and Jarvis's impeccable service. Now, he was struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world filled with rotting monsters, clinging to a salvaged metal table leg. This drastic change ignited a nameless fire within him, burning away his reason and pride.
Chen Haotian was slightly better, but his breathing was still rapid. He didn't rest immediately, but instead forced himself to move quickly and silently, like an alert cheetah, using the extremely limited light to conduct a preliminary reconnaissance of the entire warehouse. His eyes gleamed sharply in the dim light, scanning the rows of tall metal shelves, the piles of cardboard boxes and scattered items on the ground, assessing the safety of this temporary shelter, the available resources, and the potential threats.
"It's safe for now." A few minutes later, Chen Haotian returned to the door, his voice low and hoarse from the battle. "The warehouse is a closed structure. Apart from the door we came in through, there are only a few ventilation openings high up, so zombies can't get in. There are no signs of activity inside, but there are... a few old corpses that need to be cleared."
Tony looked up, catching a glimpse of Chen Haotian's blurry silhouette in the dim light. This man, who claimed to be his brother, had displayed extraordinary composure, decisiveness, and adaptability to this terrifying environment in that brief but intense encounter. The precision and ruthlessness with which he killed was far beyond what a weakened patient who had just awakened from the medical pod should possess. Doubts resurfaced in his mind, but at this moment, the pressure to survive overwhelmed everything.
"Your 'calm command' also includes on-site corpse cleanup services?" Tony twitched the corner of his mouth, trying to use his usual sarcasm to cover up his inner turmoil and physical exhaustion, but it didn't work well, and his voice was clearly limp.
Chen Haotian seemed to chuckle lightly, with a hint of barely perceptible mockery: "A survival package, included. Or would you rather be roommates with them?" He paused, his tone becoming slightly more serious, "We need to make sure there are no secondary sources of contamination here. Rotting corpses will breed bacteria and pests, and in this world lacking medical care, even a bout of diarrhea could be fatal."
Tony fell silent for a moment. He realized that Chen Haotian's perspective on problems had completely switched to post-apocalyptic survival mode—meticulous and pragmatic. He struggled to his feet, his muscles protesting with soreness. "Alright, Mr. Capitalist, tell me your 'temporary base' construction plan. Besides cleaning the rooms, what else do we need? Hopefully, we can find some decent tools here, instead of relying entirely on this..." He weighed the slightly deformed metal table leg in his hand, leaning it against the wall with disdain.
"Light source, water, food, weapons, fortifications, medical supplies, prioritize them." Chen Haotian listed them off as if they were his own, and began to walk into the warehouse. "Follow me, I've taken a quick look. There are some unopened toolboxes on these shelves; maybe we can find something useful. The other side seems to be an area for storing emergency supplies; hopefully, the previous survivors didn't loot it too thoroughly."
Tony followed, and in the dim light, he noticed that Chen Haotian would occasionally press his left rib area lightly with his hand as he walked. This was the area where abnormal energy fluctuations had been detected at Stark Medical Center, and it was also the "culprit" behind this accidental journey. It seemed that using that mysterious power, or rather, engaging in such strenuous exercise, was not entirely without its burdens for him.
The two arrived at a row of shelves piled with dusty cardboard boxes. Chen Haotian deftly used a rusty but still usable utility knife he picked up from the ground to cut through the tape and open the boxes.
"Not bad luck." Chen Haotian took out a few unopened high-powered flashlights from inside, checked the packaging for integrity, and handed one to Tony. "Use them sparingly, I wonder how many batteries we can find."
He then found an emergency kit containing a first aid kit, several bottles of purified water, several packets of compressed biscuits, and—a brand new fire axe.
"Ha, finally something decent." Tony took the fire axe, weighed it in his hand, and felt its weight and texture. The cold metal blade gleamed faintly in the dim light, which was much more reassuring than that table leg.
Chen Haotian picked up the first-aid kit and the bottles of water, stuffing the compressed biscuits into his previously empty pockets. "We have the basic supplies, but it's far from enough. We need to do a systematic inventory of this warehouse."
They spent about an hour, using a flashlight as a guide, to conduct a preliminary exploration of the sizable warehouse. Besides finding more flashlight batteries, several cases of bottled water, and some durable canned food, they also discovered an area storing cleaning supplies and miscellaneous items, including ropes, tape, several unopened cans of paint (their purpose was unknown), and even a spare gasoline generator and a small can of gasoline. However, this required specialized tools and knowledge to start and could only be considered a potential resource at this point.
Most importantly, at the deepest part of the warehouse, they found a small compartment with a heavy iron door, which seemed to have been the manager's office or a storage room for valuables. The iron door was locked, but Chen Haotian used a thick steel pick he found in the pile of tools and the principle of levers, combined with Tony's brute force, to pry open the not-so-sturdy padlock in a few moves.
The cubicle was dustier, but relatively dry. There was an old desk, a broken swivel chair, a filing cabinet, and some miscellaneous items piled up in the corner. What caught Tony's eye most was an old-fashioned radio that needed to be plugged in, along with several blank cassette tapes, found at the bottom of the filing cabinet.
"Looks like our 'former manager' has some personal hobbies." Tony picked up the radio, checking the ports and power cord at the back. "If I can find the right parts, maybe I can get it working, or even... do some minor modifications." His engineer's spirit began to stir, and even in this environment, thinking about how to solve the problem with limited resources helped him temporarily escape from despair.
Chen Haotian, however, was more focused on practical matters. He inspected the compartment's structure; the iron door was thick, the walls were solid brick, and there was only one small ventilation window, high up and fitted with barbed wire. "This can serve as our 'safe house.' In case the main warehouse outside falls, we can retreat here to hold our ground."
After clearing away some useless trash and dust from the cubicles, they moved in the emergency supplies they had found outside, especially food, water, and medical kits. Chen Haotian also used the brooms and mops he found to clean up an area near the cubicle entrance in the main warehouse, carefully moving the several skeletons he had found to a distant corner and covering them with a large dust cloth he found.
After doing all this, both of them were exhausted. They returned to the relatively safe cubicle, closed the door, leaving only a crack to observe the outside. Tony plopped down in the old swivel chair, while Chen Haotian leaned against the floor next to the desk, unscrewing a bottle of water and sipping it carefully.
The flashlight beam was turned down to its dimmest setting, barely enough to illuminate each other's blurry faces.
"So," Tony broke the silence, his voice heavy with exhaustion, but his eyes sharpened as he looked at Chen Haotian in the shadows, "now, my dear, suddenly appearing brother, can you tell me what the hell is going on? Where is the final destination of this 'Walking Dead' tour you dragged me into? And how are we supposed to get back?"
Chen Haotian paused in his drinking motion, then tightened the bottle cap. In the dim light, a complex smile seemed to curve at the corners of his mouth, a mixture of helplessness, calculation, and a barely perceptible hint of excitement.
"The final destination? Survival is the final destination." His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable power. "As for going back... my 'ticket' needs time to 'cool down.' In the meantime, Tony, welcome to a real crash course in hell. I think you, genius, should have many ideas to put into practice about how to use everything here to survive longer."