The next morning, the team set to raid the Bei Qing Grain Warehouse had already assembled.
A total of ten trucks, all modified by Su Han's metal control ability, featured heavy bulldozer blades and metal frameworks over their bodies, elevating their defensive capabilities by more than a notch.
This time, not only Su Han, Bai Qilan, Zhu Xiong, and Yan Meiyu, four Second-order Contractors, were participating in the operation, but most of the First Order Upper Grade members including Zhang Dahai, Guo Gang, and Zhao Yimin also joined the battle, with the remaining eighty members being ordinary fighters, a quarter of whom were First-level Intermediate.
Gan Xinglei and Ye Kailing were two people staying behind, and Su Han also left more than ten city defense crossbows, enough to ward off most monster attacks.
"Su Han, everyone is ready, shall we set off?"
The team stood in neat lines, Angel Envoys were not summoned yet, but everyone wore iron armor, looking very organized and formidable.
"Let's go, first to South City No. 2 Middle School."
Upon Su Han's order, the team immediately boarded the trucks, with each truck carrying around seven to eight people, and an Ancient Tree Crystal hanging from the front of each one.
The light dispelled the fog around the convoy, and then the entire fleet headed quickly toward South City No.2 Middle School.
On the way, the frequency of monster appearances had, in fact, decreased somewhat.
In recent days, Zhu Xiong had led search parties out continuously; as soon as monsters attacked, they were immediately killed, and back and forth, the number of monsters cleared was not small, which also brought some stability to the surrounding area.
Without any obstructions on the way, Su Han's convoy soon approached South City No.2 Middle School.
As they neared it, they saw the light of Lamp Trees about two hundred meters away, with two armored vehicles blocking the road, forming a defensive line.
People were on top of and beside the vehicles, holding guns, keeping watch, and scrutinizing the approaching convoy.
"Is that Mr. Su Han's convoy?"
A deep voice came forth as a man with a gun approached the sentry, turning out to be the familiar Wang Hu.
Old Zhu leaned out, grinning and said, "Old Brother Wang, you got here so early?"
Wang Hu and Zhu Xiong naturally knew each other, and he replied with a hearty laugh, "Arrived last night, and we've rested here all night."
The camp in South City was a bit farther away, though it was still within the city limits, but with the current enveloping fog, a large-scale convoy's movements would inevitably alarm many monsters.
Defending and clearing monsters simultaneously required more time to get here.
So, to avoid delays, Guo Wutao and his group had to come over early to make preparations.
After all, South City No.2 Middle School had already been cleared once, and not many monsters would gather here for a while, so it could serve as a temporary camp.
Wang Hu said to Su Han inside the vehicle, "Director Guo and Director Yan are inside, just follow me for the convoy."
He waved his hand to let his subordinates drive the armored vehicles away, opening up a path, then led Zhu Xiong's truck into South City No.2 Middle School.
Upon entering South City No.2 Middle School, the fog was mostly dispelled by the Lamp Tree Crystals, thus most of the layout was revealed before Su Han and the others.
The neatly arranged trucks were parked on the soccer field of No.2 Middle School, one after the other, the first few trucks clearly of the same military model, with the ones behind being various colors, all heavy trucks capable of carrying a lot of cargo.
It wasn't just the trucks; inside the school, there were many people bustling about. At a glance, there were groups beside the vehicle lineup, under the trees... each busy with their duties, numbering several hundreds.
In the post-apocalyptic world, some discoveries surpass mere accumulation of past knowledge – what's more important is the inspiration and observation akin to genius.
Clearly, Meiyu was such a person.
"You already know Yaqian, next to her is Duan Jie, a warrior from the Armed Forces department, a Second Order Low Grade Contractor."
"Hello, I'm Duan Jie."
Duan Jie stood and saluted, his voice resounding firm and clear, the epitome of an Armed Forces warrior.
Su Han nodded slightly and said, "Su Han."
After the pleasantries, he nonchalantly pulled over a chair to face the blackboard. The people present were either security personnel or from military backgrounds, not inclined to bother with unnecessary formalities.
"We arrived a night early, integrated the intelligence gathered these past days, and now it's just the right time to make an operation plan."
The blackboard displayed a map, on which Guo Wutao drew a small circle. Su Han looked surprised, "Is that the Bei Qing Grain Warehouse?"
The circle Guo Wutao drew was near the northern suburbs, meaning close to the exit of the city's north side, not too far from Shanhu Villa District and South City No.2 Middle School, and much closer than their location at Southern Prosperous Chemical Plant.
"Yes, it's in the northern suburbs, near your territory," Guo Wutao said frankly, smiling like a cunning old fox.
That is the charm of the information gap – the grain warehouse is in the northern suburbs, closer to Su Han, but if one is not aware of its existence, it remains hidden.
Moreover, if the rat creatures were to overflow, the first to be affected would be the people of the northern suburbs.
"What's the current situation? Did you clarify the new intelligence?"
Su Han quickly regained his composure and asked aloud.
Guo Wutao, with a serious expression, replied, "Old Yan's people did the reconnaissance, let him explain."
Yan Tiejun's husky voice deeply resonated, "Based on reconnaissance feedback, we've spotted about 5,000 rat creatures active on the surface, with single creatures possessing First Order Inferior strength, comparable to flesh corpses, but not lacking First-level Intermediate and a number of First Order Upper Grade rat creatures that are nearly humanoid, or should we call them ratmen."
"We couldn't get a clear measure of the range of the underground tunnels, but judging from the rat creatures' activity traces, it spans at least the area around the grain warehouse and extends three hundred meters beyond. There is an evident tendency for the tunnels to stretch southward.
The overt activities of the rat creatures also show a trend of southern expansion, and if not controlled and exterminated, according to Professor Bai's estimates, within one to three months, a tide of rat creatures will sweep over the city's north."
"Have you figured out the reproduction of these rat creatures yet?"
Su Han looked at Professor Bai Qiuwen with a querying gaze.
Bai Qiuwen said, "We've captured a living rat creature, but it was too weak to deduce anything substantial. However, judging from the changes and expansion trends over these ten days, their population growth could indeed achieve this level. The omnivorous nature provides them with more opportunities for development, and that's a grain warehouse."
With the warehouse storing five million tons of grain, enough for one million people to eat for three months at a rate of one pound per person per day, that vast amount could well serve as a pantry for the rat creatures.
"According to Miss Bai's findings on colonies and bloodlines, for such a huge swarm of rat creatures to maintain such orderly activity contained within an area, with expansion not being all too apparent, there must be quite a few high-order rat creatures acting as the core. The two Second Order Low Grade rat creatures discovered are certainly not the only ones; everyone must take extra caution."
The situation was clearly more severe than described a few days earlier, and Su Han's expression grew more serious. He turned to Guo Wutao, "Director Guo, what's your plan for the attack?"
"It's a two-step process, first start a fire to clear the rat creatures at the front, then deal with those in the caverns."
He pointed to a spot on the map, a short distance outside the Bei Qing Grain Warehouse, "There's a small hollow over here, more than a thousand meters from the warehouse. The caverns shouldn't reach this position. We can lure the rat creatures here first for a fight to eliminate their forces. That will make our mission to clear the area much lighter."