The Apocalypse Solution Provider

Chapter 18: Apocalypse Armament

Su Jin headed back early that afternoon to drop off the pig feed. Afterward, he dove straight back into market research and stockpiling supplies, not dragging his exhausted body home until dusk painted the sky.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, he knocked on Fu Qingdai’s front door.

Fu Hu answered. The moment he spotted Su Jin, a sycophantic smile plastered itself across his face as he gestured eagerly inside.

“Director Li, please, come in! Have you eaten? Impeccable timing, dinner is just ready.”

Su Jin offered a polite, practiced smile. “I couldn’t possibly impose, Old Fu.”

….

An hour later, pleasantly stuffed and slightly buzzed, the two men lounged on the living room sofa.

Su Jin casually picked his teeth. Zhang Wan served them two steaming cups of tea before retreating to the kitchen to busy herself with chores.

Fu Qingdai had already slipped away to her room under the guise of doing homework.

After downing half his tea, Su Jin shifted his posture, adopting a serious corporate veneer as he looked at Fu Hu. “Old Fu, I looked into that job placement for you.”

“Oh?” Fu Hu immediately hunched forward, craning his neck toward Su Jin like an eager subordinate.

Su Jin let the silence stretch, brewing the tension. He cleared his throat softly, took another sip, and sighed. “This situation of yours… it’s a bit more complicated than I anticipated.”

“That’s…”

“Now, don’t panic.” Su Jin raised a hand to cut him off. “I mean it’s complicated on your end. For me, it’s just administrative red tape.”

“Ah…” Fu Hu visibly deflated in relief, leaning in even closer.

“Here’s the geopolitical reality. There is a vacancy in the Bureau. But you know how these things go; lucrative postings don’t stay empty for long, and the State Cadre Bureau is no exception. Because my promotion to Deputy Director is currently pending, I can’t leave my fingerprints on this by pushing your paperwork personally. To secure your slot, I need your cooperation. It just requires a minor upfront investment…”

In the kitchen, the clatter of dishes abruptly stopped as Zhang Wan pricked up her ears, leaning subtly toward the doorway.

“Director Li, just say the word. How do I cooperate?” Fu Hu asked without missing a beat.

“The Director of our State Cadre Bureau is Zhang Zhao. He has a son, a bit older than your girl, and he’s obsessed with tactical gear and weaponry. Right now, my inner circle is under strict surveillance, and the Director is insulated by my political rivals. My strategy is to bypass them using his son. I’ll leverage this connection to backdoor your application and lock in your roster spot early.”

“I’ve met the kid. I know he has a fixation on archery, but the Director previously vetoed it for safety reasons. But the boy is older now, rebellious. It’s the perfect demographic to target with tactical sporting goods.”

“I need you to procure three heavy-duty compound bows for me: fifty-pound, seventy-pound, and ninety-pound draw weights. Max out the arrow count for each—high-penetration, hunting-grade broadheads. Throw in all the tactical optics you can find: laser sights, rapid-fire releases, the works. But pay attention—this is crucial—every bow and every set of arrows must be a completely different color scheme.”

“That—that’s a lot!” Fu Hu stammered, genuinely startled. “Three heavy bows with armor-piercing arrows? Is he deploying to a warzone? Hell, I couldn’t even draw a ninety-pounder right now. Is all this really necessary, Director Li?”

“Tsk.” Su Jin looked away in mock disappointment before snapping his gaze back. “Old Fu, no offense, but this is exactly why you’re struggling in the private sector. You might have years on me, but your grasp of bureaucratic psychology is zero.”

“Do you honestly think I’m handing a teenager an entire armory? You buy the inventory, and then I curate the final gift based on real-time variables. You’re careless with your own kid, careless with your career trajectory, and now you think high-level bribery is a one-size-fits-all operation?”

“Why the color variations? Why the excess? Because I can’t risk being seen at a sporting goods store. You execute a saturation purchase, I select the optimal configuration, and we manipulate the target’s psychological triggers… Just keep the damn receipts. Once I make my selection, you return the surplus. Cost mitigated. Deal done.”

In the kitchen, Zhang Wan’s rigid posture melted, and she exhaled quietly.

“Ah… Hiss… Tactical psychology. Director, you’re operating on a completely different level!” Fu Hu gasped, thoroughly gaslit and deeply impressed.

Taking another sip of tea, Su Jin shifted gears. “That covers your onboarding. Now, onto operational security. The Director’s son is a solid vector, but I’ve been stationed overseas too long. The domestic political climate is murky. I’d put our success rate at seventy percent. Closing that final thirty percent gap relies entirely on you.”

Fu Hu’s expression instantly sobered.

He may have served in the military, but he was just a grunt, and now he was nothing more than a blue-collar civilian.

Being drafted into a high-level government power struggle was utterly terrifying.

“Relax, your operational role is strictly logistical. Whenever I deploy internationally, I leave sleeper agents behind with pre-established dead drops. I need you to go to the solar power specialty store down in Erdao Bay. Purchase a solar panel, a deep-cycle battery, a charge controller, and a power inverter.”

“The purchase itself acts as a flare. My operatives monitor that supply chain. Once the transaction clears, they’ll decode my situational status. I handle the wetwork, you sit back, and wait for your HR paperwork to clear.”

“A solar panel array? Director, how much is that going to run me?” Fu Hu asked, hastily slamming his freshly raised teacup back onto the saucer.

Feigning deep thought, Su Jin replied, “My contact will have the specific hardware bundle prepped. Total invoice should hover around fourteen grand.”

“Fourteen grand?!” Fu Hu’s eyes bugged out. “Director, that’s astronomical! Throw in the tactical archery gear, and my household liquidity is tapped. We don’t have that kind of capital…”

“Who told you to panic?” Su Jin snapped, tapping the table sharply. “Keep the damn receipts. In forty-eight hours, you return the solar tech too. The hardware is just a physical cypher for my field agents. It demands exact specifications. Stop asking clearance-level questions.” Inside, Su Jin felt a twinge of genuine exasperation.

He had researched the local solar market that afternoon… This world’s photovoltaic industry was absolute garbage, and the pricing was borderline extortionate.

But with the promise of a full refund, he knew the greedy idiot wouldn’t dare refuse.

“Understood!”

Right on cue, Fu Hu slapped his thigh decisively. “In that case, Director, what’s my procurement window?”

“Tomorrow. Forty-eight hours absolute maximum. I need the full inventory secured. It’s one final administrative push. After that, we both get to relax.”

“Copy that. I’ll burn a vacation day tomorrow and execute the acquisition.”

Su Jin smiled, reaching over to clap the older man on the shoulder.

“Stay frosty, Old Fu. It’s all standard operating procedure… Anyway, briefing over. I’m going to check in on Qingdai.”

“Of course, of course. Thank you for your continued guidance, Director Li.” Fu Hu scrambled to his feet, dutifully escorting Su Jin to his daughter’s bedroom door.

Pushing the door open, he found Fu Qingdai in a plain white nightgown. She sat at her desk, listlessly dragging a pen across a workbook, her slender calves swinging idly beneath her chair.

Catching sight of her father and Su Jin in the doorway, her haunted gaze flicked toward them like a cornered animal before immediately dropping to the floor.

“Qingdai, pay close attention to Uncle Li’s tutoring! Take it seriously!” Fu Hu barked, before respectfully pulling the door shut behind Su Jin.

The second the latch clicked, Fu Qingdai silently rose from her desk and obediently perched on the edge of her mattress.

Su Jin did a tactical sweep of the teenager’s bedroom. It was cluttered with cheap plushies, the air heavy with a cloying, floral body mist.

He dragged the desk chair around and sat facing her, dropping his voice to a deadpan whisper. “Are the acoustics in here secure?”

“Mhm… If we whisper, they can’t hear,” Fu Qingdai breathed, her voice trembling.

“The funds. How much did you embezzle from them today? Hand it over.” Su Jin extended an open palm.

Fu Qingdai rummaged under her mattress for a frantic moment before producing a crumpled wad of small bills, depositing them into his hand.

Su Jin tallied the pathetic stack, and his pragmatic facade cracked into a scowl of pure disgust.