Yue Zheng had originally planned to search for supplies after the weather cleared up, but he reconsidered. After the recent rain and hail, the roads were uneven, with bumps and potholes caused by plant roots. There was a risk of getting the car stuck if they went too far. It was better to give up on that idea.
Having too many supplies would be a waste if they couldn’t consume them before they spoiled. The items in the car should be enough to sustain them until they reached City S.
When Xu Song woke up, the sky was adorned with a colorful and magnificent sunset. The SUV was parked on the side of the road near the shelter. Only a few tents were visible in the camp, and many of the soldiers had bandages wrapped around their heads. The scent of disinfectant permeated the air.
There were fewer people in the camp than the previous evening. Xu Song wondered if it was because there were too many injured individuals or if everyone had taken shelter inside the buildings. Yue Zheng, who should have been by his side, was nowhere to be seen. Xu Song searched around and found Yue Zheng making a phone call on the road behind the car.
Stretching his sore muscles, Xu Song realized that sitting and sleeping in the car was indeed tiring. He glanced at the items occupying the back half of the car and regretfully concluded that unless they were camping, it would be difficult for him to sleep straight in the car.
“Awake?” Yue Zheng returned after finishing his call and said to Xu Song, who was still in the car, twisting his waist. “Get out and stretch. It’s uncomfortable to sleep while sitting.”
“Yeah, is everything alright?” Xu Song opened the car door, hesitating whether or not to take a deep breath of the fresh air mixed with the scent of disinfectant.
“Everything’s fine. We’ll proceed as planned tomorrow morning.”
“That’s good.” Xu Song breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s hope there won’t be any hailstones on the way.” One episode of hail was enough; otherwise, this car might not withstand it.
“I’m afraid even God can’t control that.” Yue Zheng looked up at the golden-red sky and muttered softly.
Indeed, with the sudden mutation of the Earth, even if God existed, it would probably startle Him, right?
The rainfall during the heavy rain at noon was considerable. Even in the evening, the ground remained damp, with puddles of water here and there. The two of them had to make do and spend the night in the car, which left them with sore backs and waists.
Perhaps due to the heavy rain or the reduced number of people in the shelter, there was no sound heard throughout the night. Occasionally, distant gunshots could be heard from the direction of the city center, but it didn’t wake Xu Song from his deep sleep.
Early the next morning, the two of them got ready and headed north along a road that seemed even more difficult to navigate than before. Xu Song felt like he was on a roller coaster ride, and if he were prone to motion sickness, he would have likely vomited by now.
When they reached the northern checkpoint, they saw dozens of vehicles of different shapes parked on the roadside. Several people squatted by the road, vomiting…
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Apart from this car, all the other military vehicles had been uniformly modified. In addition to the solar panels attached to the vehicles, there were also essential features such as collision protection and light weapons, which were indispensable.
What astonished Xu Song the most was that there were several armored vehicles among them!
“Take this, one for each car. Be careful not to lose it. We don’t have many spares.” Wang An handed a heavy walkie-talkie to Xu Song and pointed to one of the armored vehicles, saying, “That’s the command vehicle, and the main unit is there. Although it has a range of six kilometers, the current weather and the abnormal plants might affect communication. Be mindful of the distance on the road.”
Yue Zheng nodded, accepting the walkie-talkie and charger. Later, he would also receive spare batteries for the car.
Xu Song’s eyes sparkled as he closely inspected the various models of armored vehicles. Although he was interested in these vehicles, he rarely had the opportunity to see them up close. The newest models in the military could only be admired through online pictures. Now, this was such a rare chance. Even though he couldn’t see the interiors, at least he could see them in action!
More vehicles arrived at the gathering point, forming a long line along the roadside. Unlike the walkie-talkies and supplies, they hadn’t been distributed directly to each vehicle yesterday. Some people had come in their private cars, and now the people distributing the walkie-talkies were busy attending to them.
Seeing more people arriving, Xu Song reluctantly walked back to his own SUV. “The two people in the back of that jeep, are they also your colleagues?”
Wang An and Zhao Enyi, whom he had met the previous day, were already acquainted with Xu Song. However, the two people in the back of their car had never gotten out of the vehicle from start to finish. They sat with their heads down, seemingly not exchanging a word, giving off a gloomy vibe.
“They are ability users.” Yue Zheng had finished setting up the walkie-talkie and briefly explained its functions, pointing to a few buttons on top. Then he explained, “They are ability users accompanied by their families. The military doesn’t provide vehicles for individual paranormal abilities, but if they are alone, the military arranges vehicles to transport them and ensures their safety.”
Yue Zheng pointed to several obviously military vehicles and continued, “Originally, they wanted to send military trucks as escorts, but considering the poor road conditions, they decided to draw personnel from various departments to accompany us. Wang An’s car belongs to the Criminal Police Team, as does the other one. I don’t know the people in the other car. After that, there are three vehicles from the Armed Police Force, and the military has the most vehicles and personnel. The armored vehicles and the remaining off-road vehicles all belong to them.”
“What about us?” Xu Song asked casually.
“Family vehicles.”
“…Family, family vehicles?”
Yue Zheng glanced at him and observed the several elongated sedans that had just arrived. “You are a non-combatant and a non-ability holder, so you can only report as a family member.”
Xu Song coughed awkwardly a few times. He realized that he had indeed gotten a great deal from his brother.
“Then what about those cars?” Turning his head, Xu Song also noticed the several elongated sedans, their windows covered with reflective paper, making it impossible to see how many people were inside.
“Some of them are officials, and others are businessmen and bosses heading to City S.”
“Oh, I see. The elite.” Xu Song understood. Who among ordinary people could afford such cars? But… “Can their cars run on these roads?”
“The chassis is too low, so it might not fare well.” However, that wasn’t something Yue Zheng needed to worry about. His task was different from the others. He was responsible for escorting the stone tablets, crystals, and other items to City S first, and then he would join up with some experts and scholars in City S to continue heading north.
Apart from Xu Song and his immediate superiors, not even the military personnel knew that he was the one who discovered the stone tablets. They only knew that it was discovered accidentally by someone from the Criminal Police Team, which was why members of the team were involved in this operation.
Officially, this operation was to escort some high-ranking individuals, associates, and personnel with abilities to City S. However, the undisclosed aspects of the mission and the possibility of transporting the ability users further north to City B were not widely known. This information would be revealed later when everyone arrived in City S and received orders from higher-ups.
“Ding, ding!” The conversation between the two individuals in the car was interrupted as a jeep pulled up alongside them. Judging from its appearance, it had solar panels but hadn’t undergone extensive modifications. It seemed to be a private car.
The driver rested his arm on the window and squinted his eyes, smiling at the two individuals in the SUV. “No wonder we were told we’d meet today. So, we’re traveling together, huh?”
The driver was none other than Luo Wen’an, and the passenger in the front seat was Su Daji. There was also a girl sitting in the back seat surrounded by piled-up items, seemingly all the supplies collected by these two young people.
Yue Zheng nodded at them with a smile. “Let’s take care of each other on the road.”
“No problem. By the way, did you encounter any monsters after we parted ways yesterday?”
“No.” Thinking that he was referring to the undead, the two shook their heads.
“Not the ones we killed. After we left that mall, damn it! There was a giant rabbit! It was squatting by the roadside, feasting on a dead body! It scared the hell out of both of us, almost causing us to lose control of the car!” Luo Wen’an exaggeratedly patted his chest.
“Come on, I told you it was your imagination. Where would you find a rabbit as big as a small car? And eating people?” The girl in the back seat rolled her eyes sharply, her face heavily made up with smoky eye makeup and false eyelashes. In the dimly lit car interior, her eyes were the only visible feature.
“Damn it! You’re the one with the imagination! Ask Daji, the two of us saw it together!”
“You two have practically grown up together wearing the same pair of underpants. It’s better not to ask him at all.”
Yue Zheng and Xu Song exchanged a glance, feeling a heavy unease in their hearts. No wonder something seemed off. Y City wasn’t like Zhao Village before, but there were still many households that kept pets. They had only heard about pets going crazy, but they didn’t know where they had escaped to. However, in Zhao Village, they could encounter roosters the size of small houses. It wouldn’t be possible for the city to have none, right?
Perhaps, those pets really did escape, but they feared…
“I’ll make a phone call.” Yue Zheng gestured to Xu Song and took out his phone to dial Chief Li number.
In the other car, a few people were still bickering when a car behind them honked its horn. Luo Wen’an waved to Xu Song and Yue Zheng, saying, “We’ll go ahead. We’ll talk later.”
The location was on the outskirts of Y City, with a weak signal. Yue Zheng found it difficult to communicate clearly over the phone, so he decided to send a text message instead. Ten minutes later, the message was finally sent, but it wasn’t until the designated time and the command vehicle notified the convoy to proceed that he received a reply.
Yue Zheng glanced at the reply, deleted it casually, turned the steering wheel, and caught up with the main convoy in front.
The road out of the city was relatively smooth, with an armored vehicle leading the way. Although the speed was slow, the uneven road surface was somewhat flattened by the armored vehicle, making it easier for the lower chassis vehicles to pass through these sections more steadily.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng’s car was positioned in the middle of the convoy, slightly towards the rear. Ahead was a black extended BMW, carrying unknown individuals. Following behind was the military jeep driven by Wang An.
During noon, everyone didn’t stop to rest but instead had a simple meal in the car and continued driving until evening, when they stopped on a relatively flat section of the highway.
Wild grass grew profusely on both sides of the road, with dense vegetation. At first glance, it seemed as if they were on the edge of a primitive forest.
Several military and police leaders gathered together to discuss, and Wang An returned to sit by the campfire where Luo Wen’an, Yue Zheng, and the others were. The two ability users in their car seemed extremely unsociable, only getting out for a moment to stretch their legs before retreating back to the car to nibble on some compressed biscuits.
Bunny treats…oh dear…. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🐇👀
Thanks for the update😄
Different from other novels where plants and animals are more neutral. Thank you