Natural Disasters Strikes: I stockpiled like crazy!

Even from afar, the sight of scattered crates and boxes near the gates was enough to send a surge of excitement through the group.

"I finally found it!" Lan Fuyou grinned widely, eyes gleaming with triumph. "See? What did I say? If we had turned back, we would've missed this golden opportunity!"

The blue-eyed man, standing beside him, murmured, "Don't drive inside yet."

Lan Fuyou scowled. "What's your problem now?! Have you turned into a coward after last night's incident? Tch. If only that ability of yours was mine! What a waste for it to be on you!"

The blue-eyed man's eyes dimmed at the insult, but after a brief moment of contemplation, he simply shrugged and stopped reminding him. "Suit yourself." Anyway, it wouldn't be him suffering the loss.

The teams rushed forward, eager hands breaking the locks on the factories and warehouses' doors.

When the doors swung open, a treasure trove of supplies awaited them: crates of bottled water, stacks of canned meat, vegetables, and fruits, industrial-grade salt, vacuum-sealed dried fish, protein packs, yogurt, soda, and various other beverages!

"So many supplies!" Excitement and shock intertwined in their voices.

"Canned meat! Actual canned meat!"

"There's even salted jerky!"

"We're rich! We're rich!"

"Hahahaha!" Lan Fuyou laughed, the fats on his cheeks jiggled.

Thorn Team Leader looked at the supplies. With such a massive haul, survival for the next year would no longer be a concern!

Meanwhile, in the water reservoir not far from them, bubbles appeared on the surface. A large ripple spread outward, disturbing the otherwise still water.

The blue-eyed man narrowed his gaze.

Unaware of the brewing danger, Lan Fuyou, still high on excitement, turned to Lu Jian. "How large is your current space?"

Lu Jian's eyes flickered before answering, "Thirty cubic meters."

In truth, he had forty, but he decided to keep the extra ten for a secret stash for himself.

"Thirty cubic meters isn't enough!" Lan Fuyou clicked his tongue before turning to the blue-eyed man. "Hey! Dog! Give me all your spars!"

The blue-eyed man couldn't shut Lan Fuyou's mouth on time, his hand moved on its own.

Lan Fuyou's greedy hands had already snatched the bag of spars.

Seeing him hand everything to the bespectacled man beside him, the blue-eyed man gritted his teeth. "What the fuck are you doing?! You want to give him all my spars! What do I do if I need to replenish my mental energy at a crucial moment?!"

Lan Fuyou scoffed. "Didn't you handle those creatures last night with ease? If they show up again, it should be a piece of cake for you!"

He had no idea he would soon regret those words.

The blue-eyed man really wanted to strangle him. Is that brain of his just for decoration?!

Meanwhile, the Thorn Team Leader had wandered deeper into the warehouse, his eyes lighting up when he spotted his favorite beverage. Just as he reached out to grab it, a single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

He instinctively looked up—and his eyes widened in terror.

Before he could even scream, his body was lifted into the air.

The blue-eyed man turned sharply toward the disturbance, his expression darkening.

On the other hand, secretly, thanks to Nanzhi's mental exploration, their journey had been unusually smooth. They encountered no alien beasts and managed to find an abundance of supplies—and even jades!

At a pawnshop, Nanzhi harvested a small amount of jade from its vault.

To conserve fuel, the others decided to return to Longmen Base after gathering enough to make up for their losses.

As they parted ways, hands waved, and farewells were exchanged.

Dai Yun, Zhao Lin, and Luo Gang hesitated, reluctant to separate from Nanzhi's group.

The rest of the afternoon was spent grinding in the EXP zones. Nanzhi accumulated 54,900 EXP. In the past, this amount would have overjoyed her, but now it was just enough to raise two levels. She had reached level 25.

As her level increased, the EXP bar only grew larger—it wouldn't be long before she needed millions to level up.

Yu Baoyin downed a whole bottle of ice-cold water in one go. "Why do I feel like it's even hotter than yesterday?"

Maybe they had simply gotten used to the cold last month.

Nanzhi checked the current temperature—35 degrees Celsius. Yesterday, it had only been 33. And this was just the third day of the dungeon.

If she didn't farm EXP now, she might not be able to do it once the temperature reached unbearable levels.

With that in mind, she turned on the car's AC and distributed ice cream to everyone. A collective sigh of relief filled the vehicle.

"Never in my life did I think I'd be eating ice cream in the apocalypse!" Yu Baoyin marveled.

"Strawberry for Baoyin, Cookies and Cream for Feng Ran, Vanilla for Hei Qian, and Mocha Almond for Bingwen," Nanzhi distributed them with a smile.

After getting system confirmation, she also handed Snowball an ice cream bucket. Snowball happily licked the honey-flavored ice cream, its little body growing a few inches taller after its recent hunts.

"Chi—!" It let out a satisfied chirp.

On such a slightly hot day, nothing felt better than eating something cold.

However, watching the scent in the front row, the ice cream didn't seem as sweet.

Nanzhi took a spoonful of her salted caramel ice cream, savoring the taste. Then she turned to Lin Weihao. "Weihao, you haven't chosen yet. What flavor do you like?"

Without hesitation, Lin Weihao grabbed her spoon and scooped from her cup.

"Wait, that's my spoon!" Nanzhi protested.

"Why waste two spoons when one works just fine?" Lin Weihao replied shamelessly, bringing the scoop to his lips. He licked the corner of his mouth, eyes glinting mischievously. "Not bad."

Nanzhi raised an eyebrow. "Fine. But be a gentleman and let me have a bigger bite."

Lin Weihao leaned in, a sly smile on his face. "Come here." His tail swayed behind him in excitement.

The single dogs sitting in the back: "…"

Feng Ran bitterly said. "Wow, amazing! Zero consideration for single dogs like us. Truly, love is the most shameless form of public nuisance!"

Yu Baoyin solemnly nodded in agreement.

For the rest of the day, Nanzhi continued to grind, finally leveling up once more. Strangely, unlike the Mutated Parasol Tree from before, she didn't sense any mutant plants in this area.

That night, they camped on the first floor of an abandoned apartment, setting out again in the morning.

At first light, the Iron Gale Squad and the others finally reached Longmen Base.

But as soon as they arrived, Luo Gang was met with terrible news.

Tao'er came running toward him, tears streaming down his face. "Father! You have to help! Uncle Meng—he was taken last night!"

Wang Bo also appeared, his expression grim. "I'm sorry. I was... taking a dump when it happened."

At the same time, Nanzhi, who never missed a single EXP grinding spot, finally reached the Crystal Water Facility.