77: Chapter 77 System's Minor Functions

The line moved forward quickly, and before long, it was the Dawn Convoy's turn.

Zhou Che didn't let the ordinary survivors outside follow him; he only took Captain Liu Ruyan and Ruan Xiaoxiao inside.

Captain Ma Shangwu's men were guarding the entrance. They swept a glance over the three of them, didn't ask any questions, and stepped aside to let them pass.

"Go in. Remember, you can only take ten books; not a single one more."

As soon as they entered the library, dust rushed to meet them. The lighting was dim, with only a few rays of sunlight filtering through broken windows.

The bookshelves were densely packed, stacked from the floor to the ceiling, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

With hundreds of thousands of books here, trying to find that top-ten strange object was no different from finding a needle in a haystack.

Zhou Che scratched his head, feeling a bit at a loss.

He couldn't just flip through them one by one, right? He wouldn't finish even if he flipped until next year.

Captain Liu Ruyan and Ruan Xiaoxiao walked alongside him, their eyes scanning the bookshelves, equally clueless.

As they walked, Zhou Che's arm accidentally brushed against Captain Liu Ruyan's waist.

It felt hard and bulging, as if she was carrying something.

Zhou Che paused for a moment, just about to ask her what she had hidden on her waist.

Suddenly, the system's notification sound rang in his mind.

[strange object detected: Farmer's Whip]

[Rank: 1276]

Zhou Che's eyes lit up instantly.

That's right! The system can detect strange objects! How could I have forgotten about this!

As long as I touch something with my hand, the system will notify me if there is a strange object!

Isn't this a ready-made strange object detector?

"You two, stop looking around aimlessly and follow me."

Zhou Che said to the two women, his tone filled with unconcealable excitement.

Captain Liu Ruyan and Ruan Xiaoxiao exchanged a glance. Although they didn't know what method he had thought of, they still obediently followed behind him.

Zhou Che walked to the first bookshelf, reached out his hand, and starting from the first row, touched them one by one.

As his fingertips brushed over the cold spines of the books, the system provided no notifications.

He finished touching the first floor; nothing. He finished the second floor; still nothing. The third, fourth, fifth floors...

He kept touching until the ninth floor. Zhou Che's arm was sore, and he still hadn't found that top-ten strange object.

Seeing him covered in sweat, Ruan Xiaoxiao handed him a bottle of water: "Mr. Zhou, take a break. Don't overwork yourself."

"I'm fine." Zhou Che took a sip of water and wiped his sweat. "We're almost at the tenth floor; let's push through a little longer."

He had a premonition that the strange object was up there.

The two women followed him as he climbed to the tenth floor.

The tenth floor was the ancient books section, where there were fewer books and the dust was thicker.

Zhou Che took a deep breath and continued to reach out and touch the books.

One, two, three...

Just as his fingertips brushed over a book with a pure black cover, the system's notification sound rang out again.

[strange object detected: book of rules (Volume 1)]

[Status: Inactive]

Zhou Che's heart leaped, and wild joy instantly flooded his heart.

Found it! Finally found it! A top-ten strange object!

Although he didn't know what Volume 1 meant, it was still a top-ten strange object!

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and calmly pulled the book from the shelf.

The book was very thin, with a pure black cover, no patterns, and only four gold-stamped characters: "The Book of Answers".

Zhou Che was stunned for a moment. He recognized this book. It was a popular internet book before the apocalypse; you would think of a question, flip to a random page, and the answer would be there.

He didn't expect it to actually be a strange object. Moreover, it wasn't gold. It looked completely different from the rumored appearance of the top-ten strange objects.

Zhou Che realized. No wonder Captain Ma Shangwu tacitly allowed them to move the gold books. It turned out that the real strange objects weren't gold at all!

These fools had all been misled! They were working themselves to the bone moving gold books, while the real strange object was right under their noses, and nobody gave it a second look.

Zhou Che almost laughed out loud. Captain Ma Shangwu, oh Captain Ma Shangwu, you old fox, for all your calculations, you still missed one step.

This strange object belongs to me!

But he quickly calmed down. He couldn't just walk out holding it like this. Everyone else was taking gold books; if he was the only one holding a pure black one, it would be too eye-catching.

Captain Ma Shangwu wasn't a fool; he would definitely be suspicious. If he got targeted by him, he might not be able to take the strange object away.

Zhou Che's eyes rolled, and he came up with an idea.

He pulled a random book with a gold cover from a nearby shelf. He tore off the cover with force and carefully slipped it over "The Book of Answers".

The pure black spine was covered by the gold cover, and it looked exactly the same as the other gold books. Perfect.

Then, he took nine more random gold books to make a total of ten.

He placed the disguised book of rules in the very middle of the ten books, pressing it down tightly. This way, even if Captain Ma Shangwu inspected them, he wouldn't see anything suspicious.

"Let's go, back we go." Zhou Che said, holding the books, addressing the two women.

Captain Liu Ruyan and Ruan Xiaoxiao looked at the ten gold books in his hands and didn't think anything of it.

They had no idea that among these ten books was hidden the treasure that everyone in Shancheng was fighting over.

Zhou Che didn't tell them about it. Loose lips sink ships; the fewer people who knew, the better.

It wouldn't be too late to tell them once they had completely left Shancheng.

The three of them carried the books to the library entrance.

Captain Ma Shangwu stood at the entrance, his eyes sharply sweeping over the books in the hands of everyone coming out.

Seeing that the ten books in Zhou Che and his group's hands were all gold, no different from everyone else's, he nodded, didn't say much, and waved them through.

Zhou Che remained calm on the surface, but he was already overjoyed inside.

Old fox, take your time searching for your gold strange objects here. The real treasure is already in my arms.

After walking out of the library, Zhou Che didn't stay for even a moment.

"Captain Liu Ruyan, drive. We're going to continue searching for supplies in other places."

"Huh? Aren't we going back?" Captain Liu Ruyan was stunned for a moment.

"No." Zhou Che said. "The matter of the strange object has come to an end. Now, we need to seize the time to stockpile more supplies to prepare for our evacuation."

The top-ten strange object was already in hand; staying here any longer was meaningless.

Once they had stockpiled enough supplies, they would find an opportunity to leave during the chaos.

By the time other The Convoys were still here fighting desperately for strange objects, they would have already flown far away.

Just thinking about it felt great.

Although Captain Liu Ruyan was puzzled, she still obediently started the car.

Over the next two days, Zhou Che took the team and searched all the remaining large supermarkets and warehouses in the main city.

Food, medicine, gasoline, hardware tools—everything they could take, they took.

The trunks of the three hovercars were stuffed full, and even the roofs were tied down with supplies.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the third day, when there was really nothing left to search, that Zhou Che finally ordered a return to the camp.

When they returned to the camp, Lin Wan and Wang Laowu's teams had already returned.

Both teams had also returned fully loaded, with the joy of their harvest on their faces.

This exploration of the main city had yielded results far exceeding expectations.

In the evening, Zhou Che gathered everyone to distribute the supplies.

According to the rules, this time it was mainly led by the Transcendents.

Therefore, the ordinary survivors would get one-tenth, and the remaining nine-tenths would be distributed to the Transcendents of the The Convoy.

Even if it was only one-tenth, it was enough to make those ordinary survivors happy for several days.

In the apocalypse, being able to eat one's fill was the greatest happiness.

After distributing the supplies, Zhou Che immediately gave an order.

"Everyone, pack up your things and organize your gear immediately. Fill up the vehicles with gas and load all the supplies."