“Fortunately, we have spare solar panels, but if this happens a few more times, we might run out of power in the future,” Xu Song sighed as they finished replacing the damaged panel.
“Let’s just hope we can hold on until we reach City S,” Yue Zheng nodded.
“Yeah, it would be good if we can make it…” Xu Song agreed.
As they resumed their journey, the vehicles that had been relatively new and clean when they left Y City now looked worn out and dilapidated. Many had lost their side mirrors, and some vehicles, including Xu Song and Yue Zheng’s RUV, had their windows scratched or shattered, leaving an empty frame that couldn’t block anything in front of the vehicles.
With the armored vehicle leading the way and the rest of the convoy following closely, they faced increasingly difficult road conditions. When encountering steep slopes that were impossible to climb, the armored vehicle would pull the struggling vehicles with ropes. A few elongated vehicles with low ground clearance seemed to have encountered problems with their undercarriages.
Night fell again, and this time, the road conditions deteriorated further. The convoy couldn’t find a suitable place for all the vehicles to park and rest, so they had to stop and rest in segments and groups.
Most of the vehicles that struggled to move forward were positioned behind the armored vehicles. The ropes tied to those vehicles remained untouched. On the other hand, vehicles like Xu Song and Yue Zheng’s RUV and Wang An’s off-road jeep didn’t have any immediate issues.
Most of the vehicles parked on this slope were of the same type, including another vehicle Xu Song and Yue Zheng were familiar with, the one belonging to Luo Wen’an and his companions.
Wang An started a fire, and people from the various vehicles gathered around. Even the two superhumans who had been antisocial in the past few days joined in. One of them had bandages wrapped around his face, while the other still had bloodstains on his clothes.
The bread in Xu Song’s vehicle had finally been completely consumed, and Yue Zheng now had two cans of mixed congee, a can of canned meat, and two packs of compressed biscuits. The people in other vehicles had similar meals, with some cooking instant noodles over the fire.
“Can we really eat this?” Wang An looked at Yue Zheng, who was plucking the feathers off the sparrows he had killed during the day, roasting one on a stick near the fire. He appeared uneasy. Earlier, he had seen others picking up dead sparrows, but the sparrows near their vehicle had been killed in a particularly gruesome manner… just looking at them made him lose his appetite. Besides, there were still other food items available.
“I don’t know, let’s give it a try,” Yue Zheng couldn’t say for sure. Although they had brought dry rations and didn’t necessarily need to eat these sparrows, if the road ahead became more challenging, they might have to resort to eating insects or tree bark, not to mention that the option to eat these sparrows might not last long.
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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Su Daji turned his head and glanced, saying, “Yeah, she’s Luo Wen’an’s girlfriend, Liu Shishi.”
… Was that really the same girl?!
Perhaps Xu Song’s shocked expression was too obvious, as Su Daji calmly explained, “She hasn’t been wearing makeup these past few days.”
It was impossible to wear makeup now. In the wilderness, they had limited bottled water on the vehicle, and although Liu Shishi had brought several sets of expensive and brand-new cosmetics collected from the mall, she couldn’t use a large amount of water every day to remove makeup and wash her face. Therefore, she had to endure being bare-faced.
Xu Song forced a smile, although he knew that some girls could have a significant difference in appearance before and after applying makeup, this was the first time he had seen someone’s true face without makeup right beside him.
In college, girls who wore makeup would have already done so when they left their rooms or went to class, and male students rarely had the chance to see them without makeup. And those who didn’t wear makeup didn’t have the before-and-after comparison.
More importantly, the difference in Liu Shishi’s appearance before and after makeup was striking, this was not just about her non-mainstream style, but mainly her eyes. The size difference before and after makeup was quite significant, which was surprising.
“You should give it a try; it should be fine,” Yue Zheng said as he handed Xu Song a “chicken leg” roasted to perfection, emitting a fragrant aroma and with a crispy golden color.
Xu Song eagerly took it and took a bite, unable to swallow before asking, “Have you eaten it?”
“Yeah, I tried it,” Yue Zheng held another piece of sparrow meat that he had cut off with a small knife, sprinkled some salt on it, and put it in his mouth.
“It’s delicious! Even better than chicken!” Xu Song swallowed his bite and realized that the meat had been seasoned perfectly by Yue Zheng, and it was cooked just right!
“Really? Let me try,” Wang An rubbed his hands together and joined them. Surprisingly, even those who initially didn’t want to eat the sparrows couldn’t resist the temptation when the meat was roasted.
Even Luo Wen’an, who had gone to pacify his girlfriend, ran back excitedly. From a distance, he shouted, “I knew they would be delicious! Daji, you didn’t let me bring them!”
“It was your wife who didn’t allow you to pick them,” Su Daji didn’t even look at him and took a piece of sparrow meat torn from the leg that Xu Song had given him.
The group quickly devoured one sparrow, and two more sparrows brought by people from the other vehicles were also prepared. Yue Zheng didn’t say anything and swiftly plucked the feathers, preparing them near the fire.
The smell of cooked sparrows started to waft from the other nearby fires as well. It seemed that many people had discovered that these sparrows were edible.
With sparrows to eat, the two cans of canned meat were left unopened. Xu Song stood up to put away the unopened can, feeling a discomfort in his stomach. He looked around, holding a flashlight in one hand and gripping a military knife in the other, and walked to the side of the road near a tree with a bowl-sized hollow trunk.
Perhaps due to the strange plants and animals they had encountered in the past few days, seeing this seemingly ordinary hollow tree made him feel uneasy. He took a few steps to the other side, avoiding the hollow tree, and finally felt at ease. He focused on dealing with his personal needs, glancing at the scar on the side of the tree that could be vaguely seen.
“Xu Song?” Back at the car, unable to find Xu Song, and not seeing him by the bonfire, Yue Zheng called out to him loudly.
“Over here!” Xu Song hurriedly pulled up his pants and glanced at the scar one last time before rushing back.
“We still have four sparrows in the car. Since the weather is hot, it’s not good to leave them as they are. I was thinking of roasting one more to eat on the road tomorrow, and the remaining three can be cleaned and hung outside the car to dry.” Seeing him approach without any issues, Yue Zheng explained.
“Okay, brother Yue, do you know how to dry these things?” Xu Song found it intriguing. He had only seen things like “dried chicken and duck” in books but had never seen it in real life.
“If you hang them overnight and then let them dry outside the car for two or three days, they’ll be preserved. Luckily, we brought plenty of salt,” Yue Zheng said.
He took out the remaining four sparrows and placed one with feathers plucked directly near the fire. The other three were cleaned of feathers and innards, rinsed with water, sprinkled with salt, and hung on the extra bumper and pipes attached to the car’s exterior.
Yue Zheng worked swiftly, and Xu Song handed him things as needed. He observed the process as Yue Zheng finished dealing with one sparrow, trying to remember the steps. He eagerly volunteered to handle one himself but soon realized that although he remembered the process, he lacked the skill. By the time Yue Zheng finished with the last one, Xu Song hadn’t even finished salting his own.
Early the next morning, the convoy set off again, making their way through rough and bumpy terrain.
Struggling to press the accelerator and control the steering wheel, Xu Song had only recently obtained his driver’s license and hadn’t driven a car much. Now he had to navigate the roller coaster-like road, and he found it incredibly challenging. Fortunately, Yue Zheng had already managed the most difficult section, so the current stretch of road was relatively easier, but it still felt like a life-or-death situation for Xu Song.
“Attention, all vehicles, attention. There’s a gas station two kilometers ahead. The convoy will stop there for rest and regrouping.”
A slightly distorted voice came through the intercom. Hearing that they could rest ahead, the exhausted group breathed a sigh of relief.
The convoy braved the ups and downs, finally reaching the designated gas station, where several soldiers got off and hurried into the station, carrying machine guns on their shoulders.
After a while, they returned, reporting that there was not much fuel left at the gas station. It seemed that someone had already taken fuel from there after the disaster, but there was still enough to replenish the convoy.
Vice Officer Sun held a satellite navigation device. “The signal is poor now, and we can’t even receive satellite signals. But according to the map, we are currently at this location. There’s a river two kilometers ahead, and after crossing the bridge, about three kilometers further, there’s a toll station. Not far from the toll station, there’s another gas station.”
“Great, having a gas station is good news.” Colonel Wu breathed a sigh of relief. Based on their experience on the road so far, using fire as a weapon was far more effective against both plants and animals. They should be grateful that spending the night on the highway was not like their previous experience in Y City, where they had to deal with attacks from roaming zombies.
“Everyone, pay attention. After crossing the river two kilometers ahead, there will be another gas station. We’ll take a break there and spend the night.”
This scar on the tree looks sus = =
Do you think it’s that tree that they saved on the mountain
Don’t they think they need to worry about fishes in the water
Waddya wanna bet there isn’t a bridge anymore?