Red hurried, almost running back to his room.
With a loud bang, he closed the door and locked it.
The next moment, he appeared at the east gate entrance of the space.
As soon as he stopped, the scene before him made his pupils suddenly shrink and his breath caught.
The ground was covered with piles of fresh ingredients of all kinds.
The air was filled with the fresh smell of fruits and vegetables and the faint, lively scent of raw meat, so real and so vivid.
At that moment, an indescribable sourness surged into Red's nose. His eyes became moist and he almost cried.
Fresh really fresh food.
He could not remember how long it had been since he or the people in the base had seen or eaten such fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat.
The apocalypse brought not only zombies everywhere but also extreme and unpredictable climate changes.
One month it was frozen and snowy for thousands of miles. The next month it could be scorching hot. Sometimes experiencing all four seasons in one day was not unusual.
With such chaotic weather, large-scale planting was impossible. Even small crops barely survived.
The soil was polluted and the water source was unsafe. The agricultural system they once depended on completely collapsed.
Early on, the base tried building temperature-controlled greenhouses to restore some vegetable supply.
But plants in the apocalypse seemed mutated too. They grew very slowly, needed very strict environmental conditions, and produced a very low yield.
Facing the growing number of survivors, the tiny output was just a drop in the bucket.
Not just ordinary survivors, even Red, a nominal high-ranking commander in the base, could not easily enjoy such luxury.
Most of the time, they relied on expired, risky canned food, compressed biscuits, and the occasional hunted mutated animals with dry meat and possible unknown viruses.
But now, the batch of supplies that Celine sent was so fresh it seemed like it was just picked from the branches or just delivered from the slaughterhouse.
It was simply a life-saving blessing.
Red took a deep breath, forcing down the excitement in his heart, his eyes burning as he looked at the mountain of hope.
With these, the temporary base could at least survive this most difficult time.
It could also let the new survivors feel a rare warmth and vitality in this apocalypse.
Watching Red's expression change from shock and joy to disbelief and then slightly teary eyes,
Celine felt many emotions and finally said, "Red, you can have this anytime in the future. The good days are still ahead."
Celine's voice instantly pulled Red back from his strong emotions.
He froze, quickly wiping the corner of his eye without thinking, his movement a little awkward but barely noticeable.
A commander of an end-of-the-world base, a tough man who had been through mountains of corpses and blood, used to life and death actually cried in front of a young girl?
If this got out, would Red still have any face?
But Red had experienced many storms. His mind was much stronger than most people's.
After a brief moment of embarrassment, he quickly adjusted his feelings, took a deep breath, forced down the waves in his heart, and his eyes became steady and calm again.
"Miss Celine, this time thank you very much. These foods are extremely precious to the base."
He paused and then showed a serious look.
"To be honest, the temporary base just received a batch of new survivors these past two days, more than one hundred people."
"The supplies you brought over twice might not last long."
"Can you help prepare more? Any kind, the bigger the amount, the better."
"No problem." Celine answered very quickly.
Then she changed the subject. "But it might take me two or three days."
Red was a little surprised but immediately said he understood. "Alright, no problem. If you have things to handle, go ahead. We can save here and hold out for ten days, maybe half a month."
He knew Celine's world was not just about this one thing.
Celine lightly said "Hmm," then explained. "I need to take my big brother to the hospital these two days to check his leg injury. The sooner the better."
"And my second brother has been busy these days, so the family cannot spare more people for large-scale shopping right now."
What she meant by busy was that Eleanor was preparing to open a supermarket for Mother Zhou.
Red understood. "That is right, family comes first. Go handle it, the supplies are not urgent now. We will wait for your news."
Just in time, during these days, he could go with teammates to gather another batch of gold.
That stuff did not exist in the apocalypse, but in Celine's world, it could be traded for supplies.
After that, Celine first left the space.
Red walked to the pile of fruit, picked up a bright red apple, brought it close to his nose, and deeply breathed in the long-lost sweet smell.
So good. The feeling of being alive is really good.