Lin Feng stepped out of the room and headed straight for the small gas station.

The canopy sign was mostly faded and cracked, hanging askew overhead.

Dust coated the convenience store windows, making it hard to see inside, but there were probably no walkers in there. If there were, they'd have already shuffled out for a fight by now.

Four dispensers stood in the lot. Without power, the submersible pumps had long since stopped running, so drawing fuel from the nozzles wasn't an option.

But the tanks themselves were a different story. Those things were massive, buried straight underground, the fuel could still be there.

The only questions were where exactly they were buried, where the access ports were, whether anything had leaked, whether the fuel was still usable, and how much was left.

Maybe the equipment room had answers.

Lin Feng walked over and rapped twice on the door with his knuckles. Two dull thuds.

From inside came low, rasping snarls and the heavy drag of stumbling footsteps.

Oho. Jackpot.

He pushed on the iron door. It let out an ear-grating screech and cracked open.

Good, not locked from the inside. Otherwise he'd have been hunting for a key or just kicking it down.

Giving up wasn't in the vocabulary.

As the door swung wider, the walker inside lurched toward him. Lin Feng threw a kick, knocked it flat, and brought the axe down. Head split wide open. Done.

The equipment room was thick with dust. Cables, switches, and aging machinery were scattered wherever they'd been left, the walls mottled and peeling, corners strung with cobwebs.

Lin Feng swept a glance around, stepped past the machines, and moved to the cabinet in the corner. Inside were several document folders.

He pulled them all out and laid them on the dust-caked counter.

He opened the top one. Paper ledgers. He flipped to the last written page, and there it was, a clean record of the final delivery volumes and running totals.

Regular unleaded: 12,000 gallons.

Midgrade: 10,000 gallons.

Premium: 8,000 gallons.

Diesel: 10,000 gallons.

Last resupply date: March 17th. Right around when everything went to hell.

Lin Feng glanced over at the walker on the floor. Was this poor bastard a launch-day player?

He let the corner of his mouth curl up, then looked back down and worked through the resupply intervals. Seven to ten days between deliveries, March 17th was the last one, which meant the tanks were full when it all started?

Holy shit. Were they actually full?! That would be an absolute windfall!

But then he caught himself. No, that math wasn't right.

The big cities hit the apocalypse like a wall, immediate, total collapse. Out here, though, low population density, middle of nowhere, the chaos would have arrived three or four days later. Factor in consumption during that window and...

Looked like they were already down about half.

Tsk.

From windfall to merely a very good score. Lin Feng felt the brief, involuntary sting of disappointment, then shook it off.

Half-full tanks at a forgotten rural gas station. Securing this place meant the camp had basically solved its fuel problem.

He dug the station blueprints out of the folders, walked out of the equipment room, and followed the marked layout around the dispenser pipeline zones to the fenced area behind the station.

Lin Feng looked up at the ground, weeds, loose gravel, rusted-out parts scattered everywhere, then back down at the blueprints. According to the markings, the tank access and fill ports should be right here.

Time to have a look.

He tucked the blueprints away and started clearing the debris, working through it methodically. Before long, several heavy circular cast-iron manhole covers broke through the surface.

He crouched down for a closer look. Each cover had the fuel grade and tank number engraved clean and clear on the face. Every one matched the ledger records exactly.

These were the fill ports.

Lin Feng tossed aside what was in his hands, put both fists on his hips, and laughed.

Hahahaha! Tiny little gas station, taken!

No, he couldn't keep this to himself. He had to share it with Beth.

For now, though, better sweep the area first. Clear out every walker in the neighborhood, even small gains added up.

He hefted his axe and moved on to the surrounding houses, working through them one by one.

Evening came fast. Lin Feng checked the sky, time to head back. He walked to the residential house where Beth was staying, knocked lightly, and called through the door.

"Beth. It's me. Open up."

Footsteps approached, and the door swung open. Beth took one look at Lin Feng's grinning face and stepped forward, pulling him into a loose embrace.

"How'd it go, Lin?"

"Gas station's secured. Enough fuel in there to last us years."

"Wow." Beth's face broke into a warm smile. "Go get cleaned up — I made dinner." Beth released him and stepped back.

"Huh?" Lin Feng glanced at the sunset. It was dinnertime, no question. "But why aren't we heading back to—"

Beth pressed a finger to his lips.

"This is our first date." A quiet smile. "Can't we have a meal together before going back?"

"Oh — and don't worry about clothes. I brought a change for you. It's in my bag upstairs."

Heheh. Lin Feng grinned like an idiot. This girl was surprisingly thoughtful.

"All right. Wait for me."

Beth gave a soft hum of acknowledgment and stepped aside, letting him head up to the second floor.

Watching his back disappear up the stairs, Beth let out a small sigh.

Never seen someone so dense. This guy, Lin, he definitely never had a girlfriend before...

Wait.

That meant Beth was the first?!

The thought lingered, and Beth's face went pink all over again. Well then. No holding back...

One step back. The front door swung shut. The lock clicked home. Beth did a careful sweep of the first floor, nothing missed, nothing left open, then shoved some furniture up against the windows and headed upstairs.

Beth had barely sat down when Lin Feng walked out of the bathroom, toweling off his hair. He looked up.

"Alright, let's go eat."

Face still flushed, Beth smiled at him, then crossed the room in two steps and jumped straight into his arms, both hands locking around the back of his neck.

Warm breath brushed against his cool skin.

"Idiot," Beth murmured against his ear. "There is no dinner. Only me..."

Lin Feng's brain stalled for a full second.

Then Beth moved in.

"Mmh~"

Even he couldn't miss the signal this time. He wrapped his arms around Beth and walked them both into the room... (100,086 words omitted)

➤ Next: Well, Well, You Have a Plan Today Too?!

Chapter 80 - Well, Well, You Have a Plan Today Too?!

By the time Lin Feng returned to camp with Beth, it was already noon.

Merle stood there with a mess plate and blew a loud wolf whistle, an irrepressible grin spreading across that weathered face.

Who said Lin had no brains? The guy had plenty, it was just...

Merle's eyes flicked toward Hershel, whose face had gone as dark as soot scraped from the bottom of a pot, veins faintly standing out along both arms.

Yeah. After a month of hard work building this camp, the old farmer never dreamed that at sixty years old, there'd be a slip-up that shaved off some fat all over again...

Lin Feng drove slowly back, keeping a careful eye on Hershel standing up on the watchtower, something uneasy turning over in his gut.

Beth was leaned back in the passenger seat, head tilted to the side, catching up on sleep. Not for any mysterious reason, just thoroughly worn out from this morning.

As the truck rolled to a stop, Lin Feng rubbed his nose and tried to pull together a smile, bracing for the trial ahead.

The door had barely swung open before Hershel was already standing nearby. Those eyes moved from Lin Feng, refreshed and unhurried, to Beth, still sound asleep in the seat. A chill settled deep in Hershel's chest.

Hershel had seen this coming last night. Had made peace with it, even. But looking at this young punk who'd gone and trampled the family's prize cabbage, the irritation only kept climbing.

In the end, there was just a cold grunt, and Hershel turned and walked straight back to the house.

Say something? Say what, exactly?

It was already done. Both kids were into each other. Was Hershel supposed to play the villain father-in-law now?

Better to let it go. As long as those two built a decent life together, that was worth more than anything.

Lin Feng scratched his head and managed an awkward smile. He turned to find Merle walking over with a plate of food, holding it out.

"Worn yourself out last night, huh? Get some food in you, build your strength back up, haha~"

Lin Feng took the plate and kicked out without much thought. Merle sidestepped it clean, smirk still firmly in place.

Then, as if something had just come back to mind, Merle added, "Oh, right — that group we brought back a while ago. The fat guy with the long hair. You remember him?"

"Eugene?"

"Yeah. Says he's some kind of scientist. Claims he can develop a viral antiserum."

Lin Feng let out a short scoff, said nothing, and kept eating.

Merle, born suspicious and naturally wary of outsiders, seemed to already know what that scoff meant and chuckled along. But something flickered briefly in those eyes. A quiet, passing desolation.

Lin Feng ate in silence for a moment, then something else surfaced. He swallowed and asked, "Has Dale picked up any more distress calls from the outside?"

Merle shook his head. "What, now that you've gone from boy to man, you want to play savior?"

Lin Feng rolled his eyes and let that one go.

"Lin — how did the scouting turn out?"

He turned to find Rick wearing the exact same teasing smile, and said flatly, "Great. Couldn't be better. Theoretically, we can pull ten thousand to eighteen thousand gallons of gasoline, and four thousand to five thousand gallons of diesel."

At the mention of actual business, the smile faded from Rick's face. "Is there a fuel tanker out there?"

"No. If there were, I'd have driven it back already."

Tsk. Good news: the treasure was found. Bad news: no way to haul it.

"So what's the plan — decant it into drums?"

"First priority is finding a fuel tanker. If that doesn't pan out, we make runs to multiple sites and collect enough drums to transport it in batches."

Lin Feng finished the last of the food in two quick bites. "Also, we're holding a meeting shortly. Get everyone together."

Rick nodded. "Looks like you've got a new plan in the works."

Lin Feng's gaze drifted toward the wheat fields in the distance, untended and going quietly to waste. He lifted his chin. "That's our next target."

"With just the hands we have?"

"Yeah. So everything's going to be a push, and the time window is tight."

Lin Feng handed the empty plate off to Rick, walked back to the truck, and carefully lifted Beth out of the seat. He carried Beth into his tent and tucked a blanket over, quiet and unhurried about it.

Before long, everyone in camp had gathered in the shade of the trees.

Lin Feng looked them over and smiled. "Good afternoon. I'm not going to waste your time with a speech, let's get straight to it."

He pointed toward the wheat fields stretching out in the distance. "One task. Ten days from now, we harvest every field we can, dry it, and get it into storage. That grain is what feeds us for the next several years. So I need everyone thinking, how do we do this right?"

Hershel studied that heavy blanket of gold rippling in the distance and said with quiet concern, "Lin, we don't have ten days. A week at most before that wheat hits full maturity."

Lin Feng didn't question it. Hershel was the professional here.

"Alright. Then first item: harvesting. Hand-cutting with sickles isn't going to work for this scale, we need combine harvesters. I already have a location in mind, we'll get to that. Merle, bringing those machines back is your job."

Merle nodded. "Okay."

"Andrew, you go along. Any broken equipment, fix what you can, leave what you can't. And I need you making sure those machines don't quit on us mid-harvest. Can you do that?"

Andrew nodded. "No problem, Lin."

"After the harvest it's sun-drying, dehydration, winnowing, and sieving. That whole stage..." Lin Feng looked over. "Hershel, I'd like to hand that to you. Take whoever you need."

Hershel gave a grave nod. "I'll do my best."

No promises beyond that. This was a fight against weather, and the sky answered to no one.

"All right. Last issue: sealing and storage. How do we store this grain and keep it viable for a year, maybe longer?"

Hershel's gaze moved instinctively to the barn, already converted into a warehouse, and let out a quiet sigh.

That was enough. Everyone understood the problem.

Merle's eyes went wide. "Holy shit. You're talking about building a whole new barn?"

Lin Feng nodded without hesitation. "That's the idea."

Why else had he been feeling like time was running short this whole time?

"One other option: grind it all into flour and vacuum-seal it."

Hershel shook his head right away. "Forget it, Lin. Just my farm alone has seven acres of wheat. Ground down, that's around ten thousand pounds of whole-wheat flour. Ten pounds per bag, that's a thousand sealed bags. It's not realistic."

Lin Feng took that in and let out a small, deflated breath. "So building a barn really is the only way?"

Nobody expected what came next.

Eugene raised a hand, quietly. "If airtight sealing is the goal, why not consider welding sealed steel containers?"

Every head turned at once.

Eugene immediately lowered the hand, ducked down, and found a very specific place to stare: at Rosita's legs, where Rosita sat cross-legged nearby.

Something clicked in Lin Feng's head. Looking at the meek, self-conscious Eugene, he felt a genuine flash of appreciation. That brain actually works.

If they could get enough of the right material...

"Then why not just use open-head steel drums with clamp rings? Airtight seal, ready-made."

Dale Horvath was looking around with a mildly puzzled expression.

"..."

Lin Feng stared at the unassuming, good-natured Dale. Well. Turns out you've got a move today too.

Hershel looked up and said, "I believe the farm supply depot in town carried some of those. Whether any are clean enough for grain storage, that's going to be luck."

Most of those drums saw use for mixing pesticides, blending fertilizers, holding granular feed, storing animal fodder, or containing discarded chemical packaging.

Usable ones probably wouldn't be many.

➤ Next: Leveling Up 2