CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62: THE POST-DISASTER WORLD

Since he was walking, Chen Xin’s speed wasn’t fast.

He leaned on a trekking pole in his hand, using it for support while also clearing obstacles with it.

Though he was walking along the road, the roadside was no longer as clean and flat as before.

Due to the rain, burned trees on the slopes beside the road were washed down and piled along the roadside, mixed with mud and stones. Walking on the road, if not careful, one could easily step on or kick them, or even trip.

Chen Xin didn’t turn on his flashlight, not just to save its use, but also to avoid being spotted by others.

Although most survivors are in shelters now, there might still be people outside the shelters.

He was merely out to understand the current situation and gather some resources. The gun was just for self-defense; he didn’t want any trouble.

Chen Xin continued walking along the road. Although it was dark, it wasn’t so dark that he couldn’t see at all, and by staying on the road, he wouldn’t lose his way.

"I wonder if the supermarket has been emptied?" Chen Xin looked up ahead, hoping the supermarket he wanted to visit hadn’t been cleaned out and still had supplies left.

Though Chen Xin knew this was unlikely, he couldn’t help but hope a little.

The meteor strike, such an apocalypse, isn’t like a Biohazard-type disaster that erupts almost instantly, destroying most of the government institutions of a country. Such a disaster is hard to imagine occurring in reality because countries do have contingency plans for these sudden events.

Knowing three months in advance about the meteor’s impending strike, besides a series of measures before its arrival, governments did not overlook how to withstand the disaster after the meteor hit.

Flame Country was the best-prepared nation against the meteor disaster, whether it was the construction of shelters or the collection and storage of supplies.

With three months’ time, most of the supplies on the market in Flame Country had been scoured by the government or citizens.

But such things are not absolute. While three months were enough to collect most market supplies, some supplies would inevitably be left behind.

It’s hard to say what could be found, but if one were willing to search carefully, quite a few things could still be found.

Chen Xin’s target now was a fairly large supermarket near his home, a place he used to drive to frequently for groceries and other essential items. He wanted to see if he could find some living supplies there.

Although he didn’t worry about food and drink now, items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, and underwear weren’t something he had unlimited preparations for. Gathering more of these was always good because no one knows how long this apocalypse would last or what the supply situation might be.

Moreover, Chen Xin didn’t place all his hopes on that supermarket. On his way there, there were about four or five small supermarkets and some shops, which were places he mainly wanted to search.

After all, compared to large supermarkets, these smaller stores were more likely to have supplies left.

Since it wasn’t far, Chen Xin soon reached his first destination, a convenience store at the entrance of a residential complex.

Even though Chen Xin’s home was in the suburbs, with years of city development in Flame Country, especially the real estate boom, even the suburbs gradually had residential complexes, greatly increasing Chen Xin’s chances of finding supplies.

In fact, if he were willing to search house to house, a residential complex could yield a considerable amount of useful supplies.

But for Chen Xin, who could barter for supplies through the SWAT team’s channels and had his powerful system, there was no need to scour supplies this way.

So Chen Xin’s target was just the store at the entrance of the residential complex, to see if there was anything left behind.

Of course, Chen Xin didn’t have high hopes for finding supplies. Not to mention the raids before the disaster, fires after the disaster left everything burned beyond recognition. How much was left was purely a matter of luck.

Arriving at the entrance of the residential complex, Chen Xin couldn’t help but sigh.

He had been to this complex before because it wasn’t far from his home, and he used to come here occasionally to shop.

He remembered the complex was planted with many trees, with good greenery. Even standing at the entrance, one could see lush trees inside the complex.

The entrance had a brass statue, rather tackily made to resemble the Wall Street Bull, yet as a decoration, its symbolism was quite positive.

Now, all the trees had been burned to a pile of charcoal, and no green could be seen in the entire complex. The brass bull at the entrance had been melted, revealing it was actually hollow.

The row of shops at the entrance hadn’t escaped the same fate as those burned-out shops in the city; it was a mess of fire aftermath.

Especially with the current drizzle, black sewage flowed everywhere under the rain.

Even though it was so dark that nothing was clear, under the drizzle, one could still feel an indescribable desolation.

"Humans... truly are fragile." Chen Xin stood at the entrance, watching the deformed, unrecognizable "brass bull," and couldn’t help but remark.

Human civilization may seem powerful and prosperous, but how different is it from this melted brass bull in the face of such a doomsday disaster?

Humankind merely continues to cling to life, while this bull has already melted beyond recognition.

But humanity’s resilience is strong; even though civilization seems to have been shattered overnight, there will come a day when we can rebuild everything as long as we aren’t extinct.

In humanity’s darkest times, the population was once only a few thousand, yet they survived the disaster and built a flourishing civilization, so Chen Xin wasn’t worried about human extinction.

Even though modern humans are no longer as robust as ancient ancestors for survival, with weaker bodies unsuited for the wild, the upright apes with the smartest minds on Blue Star never relied on strength to reach the top of the food chain.