Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 918 - 399 The Old, the Frail, the Sic_, and the Disabled_2

Chapter 918: Chapter 399 The Old, the Frail, the Sic_, and the Disabled_2

Stone began to allocate positions. Shana was appointed as the general manager. Lin Wu was the business department manager, with Lin Meng and Xiao Wu as deputy managers of the business department. Snow Egg was the resource department manager, with Su Shi as the resource department deputy manager. Little Knife was the internal affairs department manager, with Stone as the deputy manager of the internal affairs department. Xiao Wen was the logistics department manager.

Shana oversaw general affairs, such as temporarily adjusting personnel, assisting with other departments, tallying company assets, and planning for the company’s future development.

The business department was responsible for searching and transporting supplies, colloquially known as scavenging.

The resource department managed infrastructure construction and handled matters like water, fire, and electricity.

The internal affairs department was in charge of the overall construction of the base, such as building a better bonfire platform, setting up cooking equipment, providing more comfortable and warm bedding, as well as mosquito control, laundering, and air-drying clothes, among other things.

The logistics department managed medical care.

Those who were ill focused on recovery, as did those who were injured. If manpower was insufficient, they would report to Shana, who would then coordinate arrangements. This way, many tasks were delegated to department heads.

Little Knife and Stone discussed setting up a changing room in the 11th car with waterproof cloth, and building two restrooms near the 12th car and the locomotive. The locomotive faced the southwest mountain, and the current bonfire location was at the rear of the train, which was the 12th car.

Through paper and pen communication, Snow Egg and Su Shi planned to first solve the fuel issue for the generator. The base’s generator was a diesel generator. At the distribution site, there remained a considerable number of small cars, as well as large trucks parked near the warehouse.

Although some of the small vehicles had been washed away by the flood or were stuck, the large trucks had barely moved.

The issue of whether the fuel tanks of flooded vehicles would be water-contaminated had been previously discussed. Stone believed that if the fuel tank was full, even if water backflowed into the tank through the fuel line after submersion, the amount of water entering would be quite limited. Even if water mixed with fuel, as long as the water content was not too high, the fuel could still be used.

Of course, the first task was to solve the fuel storage issue.

Logistics manager Xiao Wen appeared to have the most relaxed job but was under the greatest pressure. After several days of struggle, the consumption of medications, particularly antibiotics, which now stood at only 30% of the original inventory, was considerable. There were still several sick individuals in the team. Without the necessary supplies, one cannot cook, which is why Xiao Wen requested to temporarily join the business department to search for medical supplies.

The business department’s work was the most important, the most dangerous, and also the most relaxed. It was considered relaxed because they could pick up anything they came across, had no sales quotas, and faced little business pressure. With Lin Wu’s very experienced scavenging skills and Xiao Wu’s outstanding combat abilities, the two were more than capable of handling various situations.

However, the other departments sent their resource needs to the business department, which did add some pressure on Lin Meng and Xiao Wu. Pressure had no effect on Lin Wu; at most, resource needs could only change the direction of Lin Wu’s scavenging, not Lin Wu’s work ethic. As long as no one was dying, Lin Wu would stick to his own philosophy: leave it to fate. No matter how poor or tough the situation, he would still slack off when he needed to.

The night was tough to endure. The floor was ice-cold without dry clothes or bedding. The lack of lighting made going to the toilet at midnight extremely inconvenient. It felt embarrassing to relieve oneself nearby—after all, even a fairy’s excrement isn’t fragrant. Going far away was scary, which meant that apart from thick-skinned people like Lin Wu, most had trouble falling asleep.

The railway bridge had a geographically advantageous location with only one access path, and the closest zombies were about 1 kilometer away, eliminating the need to specially arrange for night watchmen.

...

Noodles were for breakfast again. Xiao Wen took the temperature of the patients. Stone’s fever had completely subsided, but his body was very weak, and he exhibited hand tremors. Su Shi’s hearing had partially recovered. Little Knife’s condition was similar to Stone’s, still quite weak, but no one else had a fever. Shana’s left ankle was swollen like a big meat bun, and she could not engage in intense exercise for the time being. She could only move with the help of crutches, a chair, or companions; of course, she could also crawl.

Shana’s instructions to the business department were to figure out what resources the supply train held; so far, Lin Wu and his team had only explored 20% of it.

After breakfast, the three members of the business department set out with empty backpacks, armed with pistols, daggers, and melee weapons, alongside logistics team member Xiao Wen, heading to the distribution center via a handcart.

The railway bridge was about 30 meters above the distribution center. On the way there, Lin Wu saw soldiers still stationed at the logistics center.

The work of the day went smoothly, as the Operations Department surveyed 70% of the train carriages, though the gains were not significant.

The biggest discovery were the medical kits found in several locomotives, mostly intended for emergency medical use, consisting of hemostatic bandages and splints for external injuries, insulin, asthma sprays, and emergency medication for heart conditions, with essential drugs like cephalosporins being exceedingly rare.

Beyond the medical kits, what other resources were there?

The first category consisted of open and flatbed wagons, mainly carrying coal, logs, automobiles, steel, and so on. Another category was grain cars, with bulk cereals including unprocessed rice and unhusked wheat, as well as preliminarily processed rice and corn, among others. Without exception, all the food was inedible and emitted a rotten smell, which attracted wild dogs and rats. Although it was unknown how they survived the great flood, they appeared nonetheless.

The second category was refrigerated carriages for fresh and chilled goods, which were now completely useless. The rotten smell from the grains was tolerable, but the stench of putrefaction coming from these carriages, even when filtered through face masks, induced continuous retching among the team.

The third category was large machinery transported on gondola flats—best not to think about them, let alone the absence of energy to drive them or the impossibility of transportation.

The fourth category comprised miscellaneous goods, which were Lin Wu and his team’s primary target. Unfortunately, as road networks became increasingly developed, most resources beneficial for shelters were usually transported by road. Among the materials found were books, plywood, marble, cement, rubber, tires, and so on. From this, it was evident how lucky Lin Wu and his group were to have stumbled upon instant noodles on their first day.

After reporting to Shana, she instructed the Operations Department to bring back a few rolls of water pipes to the base, and to focus on less-than-truckload (LTL) freight tomorrow. LTL freight included all sorts of items and would surely yield useful materials. However, the LTL freight train tracks were right next to the zombie train cars, with the nearest distance being less than 8 meters, posing an extremely high risk.

Returning to base at dusk, Lin Wu noticed some changes; two toilets and dressing rooms made with waterproof tarps were now in use. The toilets were set up over the locomotives and carriage spaces, allowing for a high-altitude direct fall into the river, which was quite exhilarating to think about.

The Resource Department had made moderate progress. Stone had filtered enough freshwater for the base’s daily consumption through several ponds. Snow Egg had scouted around the bridge and nearby areas, only to find a 40-liter white plastic barrel with a cracked bottom, which had been repaired with fire and plastic, seemingly without major issues.

Tomorrow, the Resource Department planned to divert freshwater from the waterfall using the water pipes brought back by the Operations Department. Due to the modest height difference, this project would not be completed in a day or two.

The best news was that several carpets had been completely dried out, meaning everyone could have a more comfortable sleep tonight.

Lin Wu: "Lin Meng will be reassigned to the Resource Department tomorrow to help Stone with water diversion."

Lin Meng asked, "Is it because I run slowly?"

Lin Wu: "Yes."

Lin Meng, hurt: "Aren’t we even going to pretend anymore?"

Lin Wu: "Yes."

Annoyed, Lin Meng raised a hand to hit Lin Wu but ended up being the one knocked on the head by Lin Wu and calmed down. The atmosphere didn’t lighten up with Double Forest’s roughhousing; everyone gave a polite smile, then turned to eat noodles while discussing and contemplating their own department’s matters.

Snow Egg and Stone discussed filter screens and dams; they needed to divert water at the waterfall, install a screen, and secure the head of the water pipe. Lacking joints and waterproof tape, how to connect the pipes was also a problem they faced. Not only did they need to use heavy objects to secure the pipes, but to prevent gnawing by rodents, over one hundred meters near the waterfall had to be dug and buried.

Whether this project could be completed was still uncertain.

Stone from the Internal Affairs Department, along with Little Knife, would temporarily join the Resource Department to address the base’s fire and water needs. Xiao Wen from the Logistics Department was practicing sutures with foam under Xiao Wu’s guidance, causing everyone to wince.

Just then, the satellite phone rang, and everyone immediately quieted down.