Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 248 One Shot

On the seemingly endless highway, the armored vehicle, covered in dust, slowly slowed down and finally stopped by the roadside.

The three people in the car looked towards the roadside, where there was a dilapidated gas station with all the glass shattered and the shelves all crumbling.

The kind that's consistent inside and out.

Zhu Yiming licked his lips: "How could there be oil in such a shabby place?"

"We'll find out when we get there." Ou Yang stepped aside from the driver's seat. "Sister Wei, you come here!"

The two switched positions, with Ou Yang and Zhu Yiming taking their weapons and standing guard on either side of the carriage.

"Are you ready?"

"All right!"

Jiang Yuwei lightly pressed the accelerator, and the armored vehicle drove towards the gas station, slowly stopping between the gas pump and the convenience store.

As you get closer, the situation inside the station becomes clearer. Inside the wide-open shop doors, several shelves are lying on the ground, and there are charred marks in one corner of the shop, suggesting it has been burned.

Even the shop door has more than a dozen transparent holes.

It's not hard to imagine that this place must have been looted by thugs.

The three men had no hope of finding oil, but they still set out on their mission as agreed.

The convenience store was nearby and could potentially harbor dangerous armed thugs, so it was assigned to Ouyang for surveillance.

Zhu Yiming watched over the opposite direction to prevent accidents.

Jiang Yuwei got out of the car and picked up the fuel nozzle, but the fuel dispenser didn't respond.

She sighed and shook her head helplessly: "No, it still has no power!"

After leaving the town, the three of them drove south, but there was only half a tank of gas left in the car, so they were all eager to refuel.

However, the deeper they went into the epidemic area, the scarcer the supplies became, and they often encountered inexplicable attacks.

The first gas station was completely out of gas.

The second gas station was hiding a group of armed thugs. If the armored vehicle hadn't shielded them from the sudden hail of bullets, the three men would have been killed.

The trio immediately retaliated, wiping out all the thugs in one fell swoop, but they couldn't find a single drop of oil, a complete loss.

This is the third one, and it's probably hopeless for them too.

Throughout the journey, the armored vehicle withstood numerous attacks by the rioters, making a significant contribution to the safety of the trio.

Although it was just a car, it held an extremely important place in the hearts of the three people, and they would never give it up unless absolutely necessary!
Ou Yang had a headache. He looked around but couldn't find any oil tanks, which meant that all the oil was stored underground.

He jumped out of the car nimbly and gestured to Zhu Yiming: "Sister Wei, watch the car!"

After saying that, the two of them, one on the left and one on the right, covered each other as they approached the convenience store. After confirming that no one was inside, they went around to the back of the store and found the hatch of the underground oil tank there.

Unfortunately, it's locked.

In any other place, you could open it by shooting or smashing it with a hammer, but this is an oil tank. If you're unlucky, even a tiny spark could cause an explosion.

The two looked at each other, searched the house, but couldn't find the key.

They returned to the car dejectedly, the three of them staring at each other, at a loss for what to do.

"We don't have much gas left. Can we make it to the next gas station?" Zhu Yiming asked.

"So what if I can drive there? Even if there's fuel, I might not be able to get it out!" Ou Yang felt incredibly frustrated. There was a fuel tank right under his feet, but he just couldn't get the fuel out.

"How about we take the gas pump apart and try it?" Zhu Yiming couldn't think of any other solutions, so he came up with a bad idea.

Ou Yang rolled his eyes: "The oil is pumped out; without electricity, it's all for nothing."

There was an inverter in the car, which he had taken from the RV, but he thought it would be fine to power the gas pump, though whether it could power the fuel pump was another matter.

If it's a motorhome, we can always give it a try, since the battery pack capacity is large enough.

But armored vehicles only have vehicle batteries and no power source for daily use. What if the batteries are damaged during testing?
You won't find a car repair shop here!
Ou Yang looked at Jiang Yuwei, who hadn't spoken yet: "Sister Wei, what are your thoughts?"

"What ideas could I possibly have?" Jiang Yuwei smiled wryly. "How about we take it apart and see?"

To reduce consumption, we stopped and carefully examined any abandoned vehicles that might be using diesel fuel along the way.

They were lucky to get some diesel fuel from a truck; otherwise, the armored vehicle wouldn't have made it this far.

However, such chance encounters are rare and unpredictable. If the armored vehicle cannot be replenished during the rest of the journey, it will soon have to be abandoned.

Ou Yang sighed, looked up at the car roof in a daze, his thoughts like a search engine, constantly searching his memory for any usable clues.

A moment later, he suddenly sat up straight, took out his phone, opened the navigation app, and repeatedly opened and closed the offline map.

"What are you looking for?" Zhu Yiming asked curiously.

Ou Yang pointed to the phone screen: "Here, there's a fork in the road ahead that leads to a small airport. There should be fuel there!"

"An airport?" Zhu Yiming was immediately taken aback. "Don't airplanes use aviation kerosene?"

Ou Yang gave a forced smile: "How could an airport not have special vehicles? Of course, there are diesel-powered ones!"

Zhu Yiming was still a little hesitant: "Are there any at smaller airports?"

Ouyang shrugged: "I can't think of any other way."

Jiang Yuwei glanced at the map: "Then let's go to the airport!"

“Alright, the minority shall submit to the majority!” Zhu Yiming readily compromised.

According to the map, the straight-line distance between the two places is at most twenty kilometers, and the remaining fuel can support them.

In addition, the route between the two places passes through a small town. If you're lucky, you might be able to solve the fuel problem in the town!

The three continued their journey in the car, and arrived at the small town more than ten minutes later. Ouyang parked the car outside the town and raised his binoculars to observe the situation inside.

He certainly didn't want to encounter any more unexpected situations.

If possible, Ouyang would prefer to bypass the city, but the highway runs through the city, which is a characteristic of Old Mi's area, so he has to go through the city to reach the airport.

There's no way to avoid it.

"How is it?" Zhu Yiming asked.

Ouyang put down his binoculars: "Not even a ghost in sight."

Zhu Yiming held the binoculars up to his eyes: "Is no one here, or are they hiding?"

How can you tell?

"There aren't many cars on the road, we can just drive straight through!" Zhu Yiming's gaze stretched into the distance. "What are you hesitating about?"

Ou Yang said, "In movies, when such a plot occurs, something unexpected is bound to happen. I'm really not sure what to expect."

"Stop scaring yourself." Zhu Yiming said helplessly; this guy was too cautious.

Jiang Yuwei also said, "Let's go, don't waste time."

"Alright, let's go!"

The armored vehicles drove into the city at a slow speed, fearing an ambush on the road.

Just then, a window on the fourth floor of an apartment building by the roadside suddenly opened, and a white man in his early twenties frantically waved at the armored vehicle.

Finding that the armored vehicle showed no signs of stopping, he turned around, grabbed an empty wine bottle, and threw it down.

With a loud crash, the bottle shattered in front of the car. But Ouyang didn't stop; instead, he calmly avoided the broken glass and continued driving.

However, the sound had already spread when Jiang Yuwei suddenly turned around and grabbed Ou Yang's shoulder.

He didn't say anything, but he held on very tightly.

Ou Yang turned his head and saw a group of severely infected people rapidly emerging from the buildings by the roadside.

Further away, infected people were seen rushing out of buildings.

Old Mi, who had thrown the bottle, had long since retreated. If one were to observe the surroundings closely, one would find that behind the windows of every building, there were more or less several pairs of eyes, some filled with fear, others with anticipation.

Ouyang slammed on the gas, and the armored vehicle accelerated abruptly, speeding away before the infected could rush up, leaving a group of infected shrouded in the flying dust.

Their prying gazes quickly turned into disappointment and regret. They retreated back into the house, unrealistically hoping for rescue.

Some of the older folks, whose food supplies were running out, began to prepare for the worst. They kept thinking about how to get others to lure the infected away, creating an opportunity for themselves to escape.

Only they themselves know how many stories of love and hate, how much deceit and entanglement, and how many lives were lost to the infected.

The armored vehicle moved quickly forward, and wherever it went, surviving residents tried to hitch a ride. Just as it was about to leave the city, an old American man who had failed to stop the armored vehicle suddenly opened fire on it in a fit of rage. The bullet hit the rear of the vehicle with a bang.

Ouyang was already prepared and ignored the man completely, driving straight out of the city.

With so many infected people here, they'll teach that old American a lesson about how to behave.

The small town was quickly left behind by the armored vehicles and disappeared from sight. A fork in the road appeared ahead, with a map of the airport marked on the roadside sign.

Shortly after, the armored vehicles arrived at the airport.

It turned out to be a very basic airport without even a fence. A two-story building served as the terminal, and several small, already damaged planes were parked beside the runway.

But surprisingly, this godforsaken place actually has a hangar!

It's not very tall, but it's not small either; it could definitely fit seven or eight airplanes!

The hangar door opened just wide enough for one person to pass through, and Ouyang drove the armored vehicle straight through, smashing the door open.

Get off the bus and walk inside?

Stop joking. We have armored vehicles, why use such a dangerous method?

The gate was wide open, and a small airplane with its wings not even fully attached came into view. A tool cart was parked next to it, filled with bolts and wrenches of various sizes.

But none of the three of them were paying attention to the plane; instead, they all looked towards the corner.

There was a silver-painted oil tanker parked there, with the company logo and warning signs printed on the tank.

Zhu Yiming pursed his lips: "Is it diesel fuel?"

Ouyang drove the armored vehicle over directly: "We'll know once we see!"

The armored vehicle drove up to the tanker truck, and Ouyang quickly climbed onto the tanker truck and opened the top cover.

A slightly foul odor rushed into his nostrils, and Ouyang immediately held his breath and closed the lid.

"How is it?" Zhu Yiming asked.

Ouyang exhaled a breath of stale air: "I've never smelled this before, it's definitely not diesel!"

"That's aviation kerosene!" Zhu Yiming was greatly disappointed and plopped back down.

The fuel tank is almost empty; if it's not replenished soon, it'll really be time to say goodbye to the armored vehicle.

Ouyang got back into the car and said in a low voice, "I want to add one to try."

What the hell?
Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei looked over together.

"You're going to add jet fuel to the diesel truck?" Zhu Yiming reached out and touched Ou Yang's forehead. "He doesn't have a fever?"

Ouyang slapped his hand away: "When I came to the United States, the uncle sitting next to me complained about the smell of gasoline as soon as the plane took off. He asked the flight attendant, who said that aviation kerosene smells like this and that it is similar to diesel!"

Zhu and Jiang looked at each other in disbelief: "Really?"

"I don't know if it's true or not," Ou Yang said. "Anyway, we've come this far, so let's give it a try!"

If it succeeds, all the better; if it fails, it won't be worse than the current situation.

“Then let’s give it a try!” Zhu Yiming said.

Ou Yang got off the truck with the oil can and was about to start discharging the oil when a loud thud came from the corner, like the sound of a wrench or something falling to the ground.

"Who!" Ouyang whirled around, lightning-fast pulling out his Glock. "Come out...come...come out..."

The echo reverberated in the hangar. Ouyang quickly slipped behind the armored vehicle and gently knocked on the window.

Jiang Yuwei immediately handed over the M27.

Ouyang switched to his rifle and warned again, "Come out, or I'll shoot!"

"Don't shoot!" This time there was finally a response. A tall, strong old white man covered in grease and with a full beard stood up with his hands raised.

He weighed at least 200 pounds and wore a pair of glasses on his nose.

"Don't shoot!" the bearded man warned again, shaking the remote control in his phone. "There's a little gadget here that can explode!"

Ou Yang's heart skipped a beat: "Who are you?"

He was still holding the gun.

The bearded man waved his hand, indicating, "I'm not used to having a gun pointed at me. Put down your gun, and we can talk calmly."

Ou Yang gritted his teeth and lowered the muzzle of his gun.

He wasn't sure if there was a bomb, but he didn't dare gamble.

"You want to refuel this big guy, right? I have some diesel fuel here!" he said, walking towards a corner of the hangar.

Ouyang remained vigilant, his eyes fixed on the bearded man.

The latter didn't mind and casually rolled an oil drum out at an angle: "Aren't you going to come and help?"

Ou Yang turned his head and saw Zhu Yiming holding a gun, who nodded slightly.

Ou Yang felt much more at ease. He put away his rifle and walked over, together with the bearded man, to roll the oil drum next to the armored vehicle.

"Add it, don't be shy," said the bearded man.

Ouyang still dared not relax: "Why are you helping us?"

The bearded man shrugged—a gesture that looked particularly comical on him.

“Helping you is helping myself,” he said. “It’s not easy to get aviation kerosene, and I can’t let you ruin it.”

Although what the other person said was likely the truth, Ouyang's cheeks still twitched uncontrollably.

His gaze fell on the dismantled small plane: "You're planning to leave in this?"

Knowing he couldn't hide it any longer, the bearded man nodded straightforwardly: "We do have that idea... There are 12 seats on the plane, and plenty of empty seats. If you need, you can come with us."

Ouyang was immediately intrigued, but he didn't agree right away. Instead, he asked, "Why?"

"For no reason." The bearded man stuffed the remote control into his pocket and extended his right hand. "There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests!"

Ou Yang pursed his lips, and with a crisp snap, his two large hands clasped tightly together.

(End of this chapter)