After stocking up at the maximum level, all the handsome men in the apocalypse are looking for suppo

Chapter 190 The Mysterious Thief
As dawn approached, the main control room was still only illuminated by the terminals and indicator lights.

Su Wanqing stared at the notebook on the stage, pressing down on the jade bracelet under her arm, flattening one corner with force.

The room was eerily quiet, a layer of bitter weariness permeating the air.

Footsteps sounded outside. Xiao Ran pushed open the door, moved very lightly, closed the door behind him, and quickly walked over.

He turned his head and asked in a low voice, "Something happened at the medicine warehouse, did you know?"

Su Wanqing looked away from her notebook and said, "Explain yourself clearly."

Xiao Ran rubbed his temples hard. "Most of the antibiotics are missing from the medicine warehouse, and two boxes of raw materials for serum production are also missing."

The communications depots in that area were also disrupted; some lines were completely cut, and most critically, the surveillance hard drives were smashed—this wasn't the work of a single person; from the methods used to the division of labor, it was clear that it wasn't the work of just one or two individuals.

Su Wanqing subconsciously pursed her lips and tapped the corner of the table with her finger. "The supplies are almost gone. Now that this has happened, have you checked the recent discrepancies?"

Xiao Ran watched her movements. "I checked the warehouse entry and exit records. The night shift registrations and daytime records don't match up. The reports have been tampered with. Also, only the last four segments of the surveillance footage were saved. The rest are all gone, leaving only blurry black shadows."

Su Wanqing lowered her voice: "Is there anyone in sight?"

Xiao Ran smirked, “There are too many blind spots in the surveillance. The other party was obviously prepared. The shadowy figure wore a bodysuit and made brief stops in several key lobbies, deliberately avoiding the cameras to avoid showing his face and figure. He even changed his shoes in the end.”

Su Wanqing closed her notebook and leaned back in her chair. "The person who did this is very familiar with the layout of the fortresses, so they must have infiltrated our group. How many suspicious individuals are there in total?"

Xiao Ran slammed his notebook down. "It's basically confirmed that there's a mole, and at most two or three accomplices. There are only five people who entered and exited the monitored area tonight and had access to supplies: Ding Zhiqiang, Li Lin, Wang Kun, Zhang Wei, and the newcomer Zhou Ming."

Su Wanqing lowered her eyelids and thought for a moment: "Besides them, who else on the outside has the opportunity to access the warehouse?"

"There's no one here. All the keys have been recorded. Unless they're switched, we can't get in."

Xiao Ran paused, clutching the necklace around his neck, and continued to twirl it: "The key is that there are spies planted by Li Ming among these people. I arranged for two team members to be on duty, secretly following behind Ding Zhiqiang and Zhou Ming. The other three have also been recorded, but there are no obvious flaws so far."

Su Wanqing raised her hand, "What impact will the discarded drugs and raw materials have on the subsequent serum production?"

"The impact is huge." Xiao Ran nodded. "The supply of raw materials is less than five days away. Antibiotics are already in short supply. If they are lost, it will be difficult to control high fever and wound complications in newly infected patients."

The serum raw materials are gone, and we can't even make the first batch of formula.

"They've got a good eye; they clearly want to destroy our vital organs."

Just then, there were hurried footsteps outside. Lin Che rushed in and slammed the medical records on the table: "Two patients in the medical area had severe allergic reactions. When they came for serum testing, we discovered that the new batch of supplies was missing. The warehouse manager has already checked, and they've all been gone."

Su Wanqing turned her head and asked, "Is the communication still intact?"

Lin Che shook his head. "The internal communication equipment in the medical area is broken. The power has been switched to backup, and the main channel is unstable. Wang Kun said that the line was probably cut."

Xiao Ran slammed his fist on the control panel and cursed under his breath. "The surveillance cameras have also had part of their power cut off, and they've covered up the noise with foam."

Su Wanqing tapped the table with her fingertip: "They not only want to take things, but also cut off our communication. It's organized and premeditated, and it's not just one person."

Xiao Ran composed himself, glanced at Lin Che, and whispered, "Reinstall all the available backup cameras, and monitor the five key suspects simultaneously. You keep an eye on the medical team and the warehouse, while I'll personally guard the front hall and the water treatment system."

Lin Che nodded, picked up the medical report, turned and left, closing the door and leaving only the two of them.

Su Wanqing leaned forward and lowered her voice, "Should we get the others involved too?"

Xiao Ran wrinkled his nose and said in a muffled voice, "If things get too big, it's easy to alert the mole. Right now, we'll only let trusted people do it, and the fewer people who know, the better. Tonight, I'll set up several bait points and hide coded tags in key warehouses and material rooms. They'll be discovered as soon as there's any disturbance."

Su Wanqing thought quietly for a few seconds, "If the other party is very smart, won't they realize you've set a trap?"

“It’s hard to say.” Xiao Ran paused. “But they will definitely continue their operations, after all, a large quantity of serum raw materials have not yet been found. Moreover, the shortage of supplies will force them to expose themselves more and more quickly.”

The control room fell silent again. Xiao Ran distributed portable shortwave radios to several trusted team members, setting the time every twenty minutes.

The team split into several groups and were stationed at the material transfer area and water treatment area respectively.

The night was heavy and oppressive. It was past three in the morning when Su Wanqing sat in front of the monitoring station, while Xiao Ran reviewed the extracted surveillance footage.

He tugged at his hoodie cuffs as the images on the screen flipped through frame by frame. Suddenly, one image stopped, showing a slender, dark figure slowly moving to the warehouse entrance. The figure was stiff, its steps unusually light, and its shoulders were noticeably narrower than normal. It flashed past a blind spot in the surveillance footage.

Xiao Ran tapped the screen and wrote down a few characteristics in his notebook.

“They always avoided the cameras when they made a move, only showing the toe of their right shoe. They knew all our sentries and routes. These guys were probably specially trained.”

Su Wanqing gritted her teeth, "If we let him leave the fortress, is it possible to transport the serum raw materials out?"

“It’s difficult,” Xiao Ran said. “There are always troops monitoring from the outside, and zombies are watching us like hawks. They can only hide and maneuver inside the fortress. Their target is more likely to be constantly sabotaging the defenses and covering the infiltration of foreign forces.”

He then listed the names in order: Ding Zhiqiang was in charge of materials management; Li Lin frequently patrolled at night and had access to the medical team; Wang Kun could freely enter and exit most of the maintenance areas; Zhang Wei appeared normal on the surface, but had a high nighttime attendance rate; and the background of the newcomer Zhou Ming was the most obscure.

The clock struck four, and the indicator lights on the buttons flickered out one by one. The small communicator next to the control panel went silent for a moment, then suddenly three alarms sounded simultaneously.

Someone broke a valve in the main control area of ​​the water treatment system and also damaged two sets of filter cartridges.

The pipeline was released in an emergency, and a large amount of stored water was directly lost into the emergency sewer.

Su Wanqing stared at the water level data and said coldly, "They want to create chaos and divert our attention."

Without saying a word, Xiao Ran rushed out of the control room and jumped down the building with three patrolmen.

He issued several instructions via walkie-talkie, ordering the medical and maintenance teams to prioritize sealing off the water treatment system entrance, and for all other areas to be on high alert.

In the chaos, a commotion also broke out at the other end of the warehouse. A warehouse keeper shouted that the duty log had been tampered with and that the coded tags for the bait point had been thrown into the trash and completely destroyed.

Xiao Ran frowned deeply. This series of actions demonstrated the enemy's extremely strong counter-surveillance capabilities.

Su Wanqing crawled to the communicator and said, "Don't let the people in the medical area run around. Someone might take advantage of the chaos to steal things."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran immediately instructed Ding Zhiqiang to guard the supplies room, while he himself turned around and wandered around the water treatment room, looking at the lists of people coming and going.

Wang Kun was busy with emergency repairs, Li Lin and Zhang Wei ran off to deliver water, and Zhou Ming stood at the entrance of the corridor looking for help. Apparently, no one had time to take action.

In the blink of an eye, there were people patrolling the parts room and the inventory back office, but the shadowy figures in the dead of night were no longer seen.

After the system maintenance was completed, the water flow was restored to half. The maintenance team found a miniature signal jammer around the clogged valve, along with a piece of paper with a hastily written "V" on it.

Xiao Ran put the fragments into the evidence bag, pursed his lips tightly and remained silent, going over the suspects one by one.

Tonight, everywhere was first in a state of panic, then in a deathly silence. No matter who makes the move, people are as unpredictable as shadows.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhao was holed up in a small room outside a blind spot of the surveillance cameras, with the data from the split USB drive on his computer.

After working through the night, he finally cracked a layer of deep encryption.

The screen displays a newly copied memo with the words "Top Secret" highlighted in large red letters at the top.

He stared at those few lines of small print, filled with test numbers and epidemiological investigation routes.

He slowly read aloud to himself: "This first phase of the virus release was not an accidental leak, but a targeted trigger, and has been simultaneously released in multiple major cities around the world according to gene distribution. Genetic responses and disease manifestations have been recorded and screened, and feedback from various regions has been consistently reported to the Eden main terminal. The focus of screening is still unclear."

At the end of the document, Han Xue wrote in handwriting: "This is a global human experiment. Further explanation to be provided."

Lu Zhao bit the cap of the fountain pen, his mind filled with countless questions, a layer of astonishment he couldn't process.

Two more files remain unread in the lower right corner of the screen, their contents still being decrypted. All the turmoil is stuck in my throat, unable to be uttered.

The sound of flowing water stopped. Several managers in the distance gathered in front of the water valve room, forced to shut off the drain pipe whose cause was still unclear.

Everyone inside the fortress was under immense pressure and tension, and there was a heightened sense of wariness and suspicion among them.

The night was almost over. Rows of lights on the monitoring station came on and then went off.

That night, most of their supplies, trust, and security were stolen, adding a new problem for Xiao Ran and Su Wanqing.