Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

To confirm his suspicions, Gu Lang had a bold idea.

The refining operations on the tanker ceased during the day the following day.

People gradually crawled into the cabins inside the tanker's bridge to rest, leaving only one person on guard at the gangway.

As usual, Gu Lang was responsible for guarding the sea, launching a drone for high-altitude reconnaissance every hour.

Unlike before, he used his free time to take a nap and rest in preparation for the "test operation" that night.

After dinner, Gu Lang began checking the various systems of the speedboat.

The fuel supply is sufficient, the engine is running well, and the four water jet propulsion units have been tested and are in good working order.

The optoelectronic system is operating normally, and the close-in weapon system has sufficient ammunition reserves.

By 7 p.m., it was completely dark.

The main deck of the oil tanker was lit up with flames right on time.

Three plumes of black smoke rose into the twilight, tilted to the northwest by the sea breeze.

Gu Lang picked up the walkie-talkie and pressed the call button.

"Calling the two oil giants, this is Hua Gaiwei."

Routine oil price monitoring has concluded; the first half of the price adjustment cycle is suspended, and independent pricing is now permitted. End.

Gu Lang waited for more than ten seconds, but there was no immediate response from the walkie-talkie.

Just as I was about to call again, a hissing noise finally came from the speaker.

Immediately following was a series of indecent groans from a woman.

"Okay, okay, go to sleep. I'm busy here."

Jiang Peng's tone was very impatient, as if he had been interrupted about something important.

Just as Gu Lang was about to put down the walkie-talkie, the woman's voice came through again, so high-pitched it could be drawn into threads.

"Soldier, do I have a nice voice? Soldier~"

Gu Lang frowned and remained silent for two seconds.

"What are you doing?"

"Dry."

"Hahahaha, umm..." A woman's lewd laughter rang out in the background.

Gu Lang pressed the call button expressionlessly and replied with only one word: "Six".

He hung the walkie-talkie on the charging dock, leaned back in the driver's seat, and shook his head.

"Hmph, you think you can disturb my Dao heart with such petty tricks?"

Gu Lang chuckled, while inwardly thanking the "Kun Kun".

Instead of resting properly or comforting his men who were refining oil late at night on the oil tanker, Jiang Peng indulged in lust in the cabin of the fishing boat.

This means that Jiang Peng will most likely not be able to stay awake in the middle of the night and will probably fall asleep on the fishing boat.

Even when he managed to get up and go on duty, he was distracted and slow to react to what was happening on the tanker deck.

This is "God's Will" giving him a chance.

"If Heaven bestows something and you do not take it, you will suffer the consequences. If the time comes and you do not act, you will suffer the calamity."

The last bit of hesitation and pity in Gu Lang's heart disappeared.

At 5 a.m., the alarm clock vibrated.

He opened his eyes, picked up the walkie-talkie, and called Jiang Peng as agreed.

"The price adjustment window for the second round of price adjustments is now open, in response to the call from the two major oil companies. That's all."

There was no response on the walkie-talkie.

He called out again, but there was still no response.

"As expected." Gu Lang put down the walkie-talkie and started the drone to climb to a higher altitude.

After circling the tanker, they still couldn't see Jiang Peng anywhere.

In the night vision footage, the three refining points on the tanker deck were still operating, but at a noticeably slower pace than in the first half of the night.

The two men responsible for guarding the oil refining point at the bow of the ship sat on the ground, leaning against a stack of empty oil drums, their heads nodding off.

At the other two refineries, only two or three people were barely keeping the fire going, moving slowly and occasionally stopping to lean against the railing to catch their breath.

The night shift workers work until five or six in the morning, which is when they are most tired, and the oil refining work for tonight is about to come to an end.

With Jiang Peng, the "boss," not even on deck keeping an eye on things, the people below naturally wouldn't work hard.

Gu Lang maneuvered the drone to hover 100 meters above the bridge of the oil tanker.

A package sealed in a waterproof bag was hanging on the drone dropper.

The package was rolled into a cylinder, inside which was the packet of "American-style grass jelly," wrapped in a brand-new, large notebook.

The notebook serves two purposes: firstly, it acts as a counterweight to improve the accuracy of airdrops.

On the other hand, it is used as a kind of behavioral testing tool.

He checked the landing point one last time on the remote control screen.

The coordinates are located slightly aft of the middle of the main deck, in the area between the refining point and the bridge.

This is the only route that "oil refinery workers" take to go to the toilet and get supplies.

He pressed the fill light button on the remote control screen, and the airdrop device started.

The airdropped package landed gently on the main deck without alerting anyone.

About ten minutes later, two people finally stopped as they passed by the package on the ground.

One of them bent down, picked up the package, turned it over to look at it, and then opened it to inspect it.

In the thermal imaging, the two people looked at each other.

Then, after looking around at the same time, they both squatted down.

Gu Lang zoomed in on the image and saw a person tearing two pieces of paper from a notebook.

Another person opened the sealed bag and plucked out a pinch of "miracle grass" with their fingers, placing it on a piece of paper.

The rolling motion is fluid and effortless—sprinkling the leaves, gathering them, rolling the paper, sealing it, and twisting the head, all in less than ten seconds.

The two men put the finished product in their mouths and headed straight for the still-burning oil refining site.

He walked over, reached out and lit the rolled-up cigarette, then began puffing away.

Gu Lang sat at the bow of the speedboat, silently watching the screen.

"It's confirmed, this is a drug trafficking gang."

If a kind-hearted person finds a bag of green hay of unknown origin, they will simply roll it up and start smoking.

Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners need to turn the herbs over to examine them, and cooks need to smell the spices closely when selecting them.

These two were quite something; they started drawing as soon as they opened the package.

That cigarette-rolling technique was so skillful; without repeated practice, it would be impossible to achieve such fluency.

The two workers who first discovered the "miracle herb" smoked it and began to wander around the deck, their steps uneven.

One of them found a folding chair, sat down, kept shaking his leg and touching his face, and then slumped down and didn't move.

The other one seemed even more excited, with its head tilted back and shoulders slightly hunched, it was hard to tell whether it was singing or laughing.

The people around him were startled and left their posts to gather around.

As the crowd gathered, the notebook was quickly torn to shreds and rolled into new "fairy grass cigarettes".

It spread like candy, and no one seemed to question the origin of the bag of green hay.

In the footage transmitted back by the drone, the group of people on the deck fell into a state of confusion one after another.

The open space in front of the bridge was filled with people lying haphazardly.

Some people were talking nonsense while holding empty oil drums, while others were lying on the ground drawing circles on the deck with their fingers.

Some people stood there with their heads tilted to the side, like a robot that was about to run out of power.

All three oil refining sites were unattended at this time.

Because oil wasn't added to the bottom of the distillation tank in time, the flame gradually dwindled, leaving only a tiny ember struggling to survive.