Chapter 31: Opening and Closing the Door

Where is the military camp?

Actually, Gao Yuan really didn't know where there was a military camp. He knew where the police station was, where the fire station was, but he just had no clue where the military camp might be.

Because military camps have little to do with people's daily lives and most of them are located in deserted places, Gao Yuan had never really paid attention to where there might be a military camp. At least within the environment he was familiar with, there was no presence of a military camp.

"Where is the military camp?"

Gao Yuan looked at Xiang Weiguo with anticipation, but before Xiang Weiguo could answer, Luo Xingyu said, "I remember seeing one on the way here. There was a sign at an intersection that read 'Military Area, No Entry.'"

Gao Yuan looked at Luo Xingyu and asked, "Where is it?"

Luo Xingyu opened his mouth and said, "Where was it again? I've definitely seen it, but where exactly... I've forgotten."

Xiang Weiguo smiled and said, "I know where it is. The closest one to us is about forty kilometers from here, at an infantry battalion station."

Gao Yuan opened his mouth and said, "A battalion?"

"Yes, a battalion."

Gao Yuan rubbed his hands together and said, "Is there nobody left at that station?"

Xiang Weiguo shrugged and said, "There should be no one left. When I came here, I passed by that battalion station, but there was no sign of anyone still there. Looking at it now, it seems that all the soldiers from around here must have been assembled together, probably at a shelter."

Curiosity in his voice, Gao Yuan said, "So are there guns? I mean, guns are supposed to be a soldier's second life, right? If there was a disaster, they should have taken their guns with them, how could they leave them behind?"

Xiang Weiguo smiled and said, "If a battalion had a thousand people, would that mean there are only a thousand guns? No. There's definitely more guns than personnel in a unit. Apart from the rifles issued to each soldier, there also have to be spare guns, guns waiting for repair... and that's where the armory comes into play, to store those."

"Oh, I see. But if the camp is deserted, wouldn't the guns have all been taken away?"

"That would be moving, not an urgent combat mission."

After a pause, Xiang Weiguo sighed and said, "The saying 'to sleep on the spear and await the dawn' means to be ready for action at any moment with your gun at your side. So I'm certain that when the disaster first struck, every soldier took up arms with as much ammunition as they could carry and started their mission."

After another pause, Xiang Weiguo sighed again and said, "Preparations must have been made in advance, but it wouldn't have been possible to have a specific combat plan, so it's unlikely that all the guns and ammunition from the armory were moved ahead of time. If I'm not mistaken, there should definitely still be weapons left in that camp."

Gao Yuan said excitedly, "Then let's go! What are we waiting for, let's head out tomorrow!"

Xiang Weiguo exhaled and said, "We are definitely going to go. First, we'll check out the situation. If there are no soldiers guarding it, we'll figure out how to get the guns and then leave. But if there are soldiers there, then we can't take them."

"Of course, if there are people there, it would be like robbery. But I think we can just ask for help. It might be simpler, right? In the current situation, it wouldn't be too much to issue guns to us, would it?"

Xiang Weiguo frowned deeply, and the otherwise cheerful Gao Yuan couldn't help but say, "Are you worried about something else?"

Xiang Weiguo nodded and said, "Two things. One is how to open the armory. You should know that the armory is always the most heavily guarded place, there's usually double iron doors, and they are very sturdy ones at that. How we're going to open them is something we need to think about. The second problem is, after we open the iron doors, how can we close them again?"

Gao Yuan chuckled, "If we've opened it, why bother closing it? We just take the guns and that's that."

Xiang Weiguo shook his head, "That won't do. We definitely can't move everything in an armory. We know not to do anything bad with the guns we take, but what if someone else goes in? If they start to commit crimes with those guns, wouldn't we be accomplices?"

That made sense, and Luo Xingyu thought for a moment before saying, "Yeah, what should we do then?"

Xiang Weiguo waved his hand and said, "Better think about how to open those two iron doors first. Tomorrow, we can look for something like a steel saw in the village. But sawing through iron doors will be tough, and even if we manage to saw one open, I'll still need to figure out how to seal it back up."

Gao Yuan coughed lightly and then smiled, "I have a way."

Xiang Weiguo looked at Gao Yuan in surprise and asked, "You have a way? What is it?"

Gao Yuan said with pride, "I can not only open the iron doors quickly but also weld them shut. If others couldn't open the iron doors before, they still won't be able to afterwards."

Xiang Weiguo, now interested, urged him, "Stop beating around the bush, spill it!"

"Thermite!"

Xiang Weiguo paused, "Are you talking about an incendiary? We've used thermite incendiary grenades, but do you have one?"

Gao Yuan replied, even more smugly, "No, but I can make it."

Xiang Weiguo expressed his astonishment, "I don't even know how to make that stuff. You can? Don't tell me you're bluffing!"

Gao Yuan chuckled, "Of course you guys don't need to learn how to make it. You'll have as much as you want. And me, I have to pay attention to accumulating such knowledge usually. So yes, I can make thermite incendiary bombs. We'll use them to burn open the iron doors and then use them again to weld the doors shut. Open and close, done."

Xiang Weiguo asked with great curiosity, "Do we have the ingredients?"

"We have the ingredients. The two main materials for thermite are aluminum and iron(III) oxide. Aluminum is easy, just find an aluminum alloy pressure cooker. This iron(III) oxide..."

Before Gao Yuan could finish, Luo Xingyu interrupted excitedly, "I know, it's rust!"

"Haha, your chemistry is pretty good. That's right, it's just ordinary rust. Mix aluminum powder with rust in a certain proportion, ignite it, and that's it. Simple, right?"

Xiang Weiguo, now serious, said, "We've got the ingredients, but how do we ignite it? Don't tell me a lighter will do the trick. I know it's not that easy."

Gao Yuan smirked again, "Magnesium strip. And the best part is... I have one!"

"That's all it takes?"

"It will definitely work."

Xiang Weiguo still looked skeptical, "Don't get ahead of yourself. Many things are easier said than done. But seeing how confident you are, have you tried it?"

Shaken by Xiang Weiguo's doubts, Gao Yuan's confidence returned as he proudly stated, "Indeed, I have tried it. After a few failures, I managed to make a thermite incendiary bomb. With temperatures almost reaching three thousand degrees, it can melt any metal. Besides, thermite is used for welding metal, so with these armory doors, we can open what we can close!"