novelsite Chapter 31 Ammunition Replenishment
Chapter 31 Ammunition Replenishment
Another 48-hour countdown quietly reached zero under Xu Mo's complicated gaze. He stood in front of the iron gate marked "Ammunition Depot," his face showing little expectation, but rather a helpless bitter smile, and he sighed softly.
In just a few days, the ammunition he had painstakingly scavenged during his two previous "openings"—whether it was 7.62mm rifle rounds for AKs, TT-33 pistol rounds, or the precious .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rounds—was being consumed at an alarming rate, completely disrupting his original plans.
Xu Mo underestimated the "tuition fee" required to master firearms. His strong physique allowed him to easily overcome the discomfort caused by recoil, enabling him to practice shooting continuously. However, the direct consequence of this advantage was that the rate at which bullets were consumed increased exponentially.
Xu Mo felt he could pull the trigger again and again without any psychological burden, to feel the impact of different breathing rhythms and different grip strengths on the bullet impact point, and to practice quick aiming and target switching. This luxurious training method, "fed with ammunition," was remarkably effective, but the cost was equally enormous.
Originally, with the weather getting colder, Xu Mo planned to set up a "Outdoor Gear" or "Emergency Supplies" sign when he opened his shop this time, to search for professional cold-weather clothing, snow boots, heaters, and other similar items to better prepare for the upcoming harsh winter.
But now, the imminent ammunition crisis forces Xu Mo to use this "opening" opportunity once again to replenish ammunition consumption.
"When I read those post-apocalyptic novels, they never mentioned that the protagonist would consume so much ammunition practicing marksmanship..." Xu Mo couldn't help but complain about the gap between reality and fiction. Only through personal experience can one know how heavy a burden it is to maintain firearms skills, especially without a stable supply.
Of course, the enormous expenditure also brought tangible rewards to Xu Mo. His marksmanship improved significantly during these two days of lavish training. From initially seeing bullets fly aimlessly, he can now achieve a decent hit rate against stationary targets, and even effectively shoot at slowly moving targets. This improvement is the result of real resources invested.
Composing himself, Xu Mo placed his hand on the cold iron door.
"Open the door!"
As the soft light shifted, the scene before me suddenly opened up.
This time, without any surprises, the marker pointed precisely to the target. Xu Mo appeared in a space filled with a sense of order and military style; it was clearly a regular ammunition depot.
Near the entrance was a simple desk with an old-fashioned desktop computer and a dark blue hardcover notebook labeled "Inbound/Outbound Registration." Beyond the desk were rows of neat, dark green metal shelves. Each shelf was clearly labeled with the type and batch of ammunition; everything was orderly and exuded an aura of extreme efficiency.
"An army ammunition depot..." Xu Mo made the judgment at a glance. Only the military would have such a large-scale and standardized storage system, which made him happy, meaning that the amount of ammunition stored here and the standard models he needed were likely far beyond his imagination.
Time is running out, the sixty-second countdown has begun!
Xu Mo rushed in like the wind, his eyes quickly scanning the labels on the shelves.
"7.62x39mm!" — AK ammunition found! Xu Mo rushed to the corresponding shelf, not bothering to look closely, and directly carried the whole box of rifle bullets out and piled them in the safe area outside the door.
"7.62x25mm!" — In the pistol ammunition section, Xu Mo was also carrying boxes of them.
".338 Lapua Magnum!" — Upon arriving at this relatively isolated area, Xu Mo saw that there was still a considerable amount of stock left, which put his mind at ease. He then moved several more boxes, including those precious armor-piercing rounds.
Xu Mo, like a diligent worker ant, darted back and forth between the inside and outside of the door. Outside, various ammunition boxes quickly piled up into a small mountain.
When Xu Mo thought the main ammunition replenishment was complete and there were about seven or eight seconds left, his gaze inadvertently swept over a shelf in the corner, and his heart skipped a beat.
On that shelf, neatly stacked boxes of dark green grenades, each marked with a grenade symbol and a number, were standard-issue grenades!
The power of this thing far surpasses that of bullets. Whether used for assaults, creating chaos, or dealing with dense hordes of zombies, it is the best choice.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Mo rushed to the shelf and grabbed two boxes of hand grenades with both arms.
The moment he hugged the box of grenades, the scene before him vanished like a shattered mirror.
"Thump!"
Xu Mo placed the heavy ammunition box heavily on the ground, and in front of him were piles of various ammunition boxes, as well as the last two boxes of unexpected surprises—hand grenades.
Although the process was tense and the supply collection plan was forced to change, the gains from this trip to the "ammunition depot" were undoubtedly enormous, even far exceeding expectations. He not only replenished his supplies and made substantial reserves, but also obtained area-effect grenades.
As Xu Mo counted the heavy "metal fruits," he finally smiled. It seemed that next time he opened the door, he could finally go searching for winter supplies without worry.
Xu Mo, without taking a break, immediately began to take stock of what could be described as a "bumper harvest of ammunition." He needed to know exactly how much of his wealth he had brought back, and how to categorize and store it.
He first focused his attention on the largest quantity of rifle ammunition, those dark green metal boxes with clear markings. Xu Mo opened one box, inside which were five neatly arranged iron boxes, each containing five sealed kraft paper packets.
Upon opening a package of bright yellow 7.62mm rifle bullets, the bullets emitted a faint smell of gun oil mixed with metal.
"One pack contains sixty rounds, one box contains five packs, that's three hundred rounds, one carton contains five cartons..." Xu Mo thought to himself, "One carton contains one thousand five hundred rounds."
This number made Xu Mo slightly click his tongue; he had replenished nine thousand rounds of rifle ammunition alone.
Next came the pistol ammunition; the boxes were slightly smaller, but the structure was similar. Xu Mo carried three boxes, each containing 1,500 rounds, totaling 4,500 rounds, based on the same specifications.
Then came the crucial .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rounds. These larger caliber rounds came in heavier packaging and larger boxes. Xu Mo opened one box to inspect it; inside were tightly packed plastic boxes, each typically containing 20 rounds. He roughly estimated that this box held about a thousand rounds. He carried three boxes, totaling three thousand rounds of sniper ammunition—enough for his extremely lavish training and to deal with any high-value targets.
Finally, Xu Mo's gaze fell upon the two most valuable items in the crates—hand grenades. The skull and crossbones warning signs for explosives were particularly striking on the dark green crates.
Xu Mo carefully opened a box containing ten individually placed standard-issue hand grenades secured with shock-absorbing material. He carried two boxes, that's twenty grenades! The strategic value of these things far exceeds that of bullets of the same weight.
When all the numbers were tallied, Xu Mo himself was taken aback by the sheer volume:
7.62mm rifle ammunition: approximately 9000 rounds
7.62mm pistol ammunition: Approximately 4500 rounds
.338 sniper ammunition: Approximately 3000 rounds
Hand grenades: 20
"My goodness, this is enough ammunition to support a small-scale skirmish." Xu Mo gasped.
Xu Mo secretly calculated in his mind that with so much ammunition, the two or three hundred rounds of various types of ammunition he used for training every day would be enough to support him for a month. In other words, he would not need to worry about ammunition for a while.
However, during the inventory process, a detail that had been obscured by tension and eagerness suddenly surfaced in Xu Mo's mind, causing him to stop what he was doing.
power.
Just now in the ammunition depot, I was so focused on moving things as fast as I could that I didn't realize how heavy the objects I was carrying were.
Xu Mo calmed down and began to recall:
A box of rifle or pistol ammunition, 1,500 rounds, plus the metal box and packaging, would probably weigh over 20 kilograms; a box of .338 sniper ammunition, 1,000 rounds, would likely weigh close to 30 kilograms.
In those few dozen seconds, he had moved back and forth, carrying an estimated total of over 300 kilograms of ammunition.
Although the movement was done in multiple trips within a short period of time, Xu Mo was still able to move quickly each time he picked up a box weighing tens of kilograms, something he could never have done before.
"Has my strength... grown to this extent?" Xu Mo looked at his hands. His palms were red from carrying the rough box, but he didn't feel any muscle tearing or soreness. He just felt tired from a short period of intense exercise.
Thinking back to when he first transmigrated a little over a month ago, his body was so weak from a high fever that he struggled to even move some furniture to block the door. Now, however, he was carrying hundreds of kilograms of ammunition and only realized its weight afterward.
These are all subtle changes brought about by the "Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training". Day after day, I practice standing meditation to cultivate my qi and blood, and pat and hammer to strengthen my muscles and bones. The increase in strength is not an overnight surge, but rather like spring rain nourishing the earth, quietly permeating every inch of muscle and every bone, until it suddenly reveals its amazing potential when needed.
"It seems it's not just about marksmanship..." Xu Mo clenched his fist, feeling the much more abundant power flowing through his body than before, and a gratified smile appeared on his face. "The body itself is the best weapon."
This ammunition replenishment not only resolved Xu Mo's ammunition supply crisis, but also allowed him to clearly measure his growth over the past month. This tangible strength, stemming from within himself, made him feel more at ease and invigorated than any external weapon.