Natural Disasters Strikes: I stockpiled like crazy! - Chapter 180

Chapter 180: Galaxy Land Residence
The person with a scarred face in the back seat was Big Fang. He frowned heavily. “That useless brother of mine! He couldn’t even wait for thirty minutes! I already informed the boss about the egg—now, how am I supposed to explain this to him?!”

They had encountered alien beasts on the way, which was why the five-minute promise had turned into thirty.

The operation was supposed to be simple—one group would distract the ants while the other stole the egg. But for some unknown reason, his younger brother had messed it up, leading to this situation.

Hmph! He could only blame himself!

But no matter what, they had to retrieve the egg! The boss was ruthless toward those he deemed useless.

Big Fang was furious over his younger brother’s death, but more than that, he feared what the boss would do if they returned empty-handed.

“Boss, I found wheel marks from a different vehicle near a small neighborhood!”

“Boss! You need to see this!”

Big Fang had the car drive as he inspected the wheel tracks. One glance was enough to tell him they didn’t belong to his younger brother’s team.

Aside from the wheel marks, they also discovered something else when they followed the tracks—corpses of lesser mutant ants littered the road.

A pungent, green, gooey liquid that reeked of rotten eggs filled the air, assaulting their noses.

Nanzhi had no use for the lesser mutant ants. Their meat was inedible and worthless as bait. However, she had collected the bodies of the soldier mutant ants—she was particularly interested in their acid glands and exoskeletons.

Big Fang and his men gasped in shock.

“Damn! Who the hell killed all these ants?!”

There were at least a hundred and eighty corpses.

“Could it be the military? I heard there’s a military base in the south. Have they sent people into the city?”

“Are they rounding up criminals again? Locking people up?”

“What should we do?!”

This ragtag bunch of criminals and gangsters feared the military.

“A bunch of cowards!” Big Fang sneered. “The south is surrounded by mountains. The military will be too busy dealing with those strange mutated animals to have time for us.”

His words eased their worries.

Big Fang lit a cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke. If it was the military, then things would get troublesome—but not impossible.

Compared to the horrific ant horde, he’d rather face the military.

Gritting his teeth, he ordered his men to keep an eye out for military vehicles.

After a long glance at the tracks, they left, heading toward an abandoned train station two miles from the underground supermarket.

Deep within the underground supermarket, an eerie, bone-rattling wail echoed, shaking loose dust and debris.

Strange, deep vibrations followed, mixed with high-pitched shrills. Then, three winged ants with sickle-like front limbs emerged from the entrance of the supermarket.

They spread their wings and soared into the sky. “Keeeehhhhh!”

As the sun set, Nanzhi’s group searched for a place to camp and eventually arrived at the base.

The base was built inside a community complex called Galaxy Land Residence.

Galaxy Land Residence consisted of three high-rise residential buildings with complete facilities. It was located in a major business district, surrounded by shopping malls, entertainment venues, skyscrapers, and parks.

But now, the once sleek, elegant complex was unrecognizable.

The only advantage was its sturdy three-meter-high concrete walls topped with barbed wire. The four-meter-high gates were also covered in barbed wire. The walls had been freshly painted with mismatched colors.

A strong, sharp, pungent scent of crushed camphor mixed with paint filled the air.

Nanzhi immediately understood—it was a deterrent against the ants.

In her past life, she had used the same method when retrieving an alien plant near an ant nest. The scent disrupted the pheromone trails that Tier 1 and Tier 2 mutant ants relied on to navigate back to their nest.

Everyone covered their noses.

At least five guards stood at the gate. Upon hearing movement, they immediately gripped their machetes and baseball bats, their gaunt hands tightening around their weapons.

Their weary, hollow eyes snapped open.

Lin Weihao and Nanzhi frowned. The situation was worse than they had expected.

When the guards heard that Nanzhi’s group only wanted to stay one night in exchange for supplies, they hesitated before loosening their grip on their weapons and calling for the base leader.

At a closer look, it was clear how emaciated the guards were—as if they would collapse with a single gust of wind.

One of the guards left and soon returned with a man in his forties wearing a patched-up blue jacket.

Although he had slightly more flesh on his bones than the guards, he was still malnourished.

“I’m sorry for the delay! My name is Lao Gong! You can call me Uncle Lao! Come in, come in!”

A wide smile stretched across his face as he greeted them. He leaned heavily on a wooden cane—his right leg was crippled.

“We only need a place to stay for the night.”

Nanzhi handed over ten kilograms of supplies—mostly rice, noodles, canned goods, and three gallons of water.

Lao Gong and the guards swallowed their saliva. The food was far too generous as mere “rent.”

“This bag of rice alone is enough,” Lao Gong muttered hesitantly. “We don’t own this complex, and the rooms have been unkempt for a long time. You’ll have to clean them yourselves.”

Even accepting the rice made him feel guilty. But the people in the base had been starving for too long—he had no choice.

Nanzhi didn’t take the supplies back. Instead, she said, “This isn’t just for an overnight stay. We also have some questions for you.”

In the end, they were brought to the third floor of the middle building.

Lao Gong knocked on a door.

After a moment, a thin, middle-aged woman answered.

Her hollowed eyes lit up slightly when she saw Lao Gong.

“Uncle Lao, what brings you here?”

Lao Gong sighed. “He Cuifen, these people are looking for you.”