"I know we only act this way in front of you; we're more cautious in front of outsiders."

After chatting for a while, Zheng Ming and Wang Jing went back to rest, as they had to continue their journey in the evening.

Xu Lin and Zhou Pin wanted to go out for a walk. Although the outside temperature was close to 50°C, they were wearing thermal underwear and it wasn't unbearable.

The highways in Dong Province are famous throughout the country for their flat terrain and high quality, so I've been driving on highways for the past two days. When I need to rest, I choose service areas, even though most of them are destroyed, it's still much better than resting directly on the road.

Xu Lin thought the main reason was that Young Master Fang needed to rest. Service areas usually have hotels, so they could tidy up and welcome Young Master Fang.

The downside of highways is that the surrounding area is usually farmland or a median strip, with only one or two factories occasionally, such as the seafood processing plant in the past. Most of the time there are no materials to collect. Xu Lin's purpose in coming out this time was not to collect materials, but to collect some saplings in the surrounding area.

The two followed the washed-out guardrail to the grove below the highway. Most of the trees had been uprooted or frozen to death, with only a few newly sprouted saplings struggling to grow. Xu Lin and Zhou Pin carefully dug them out.

Having experienced the apocalypse, I realized the preciousness of life. Every seedling was carefully treated, but by 3 p.m., only about 20 had been dug up, as most of them had either been drowned or frozen to death.

"Let's grab something to eat, go back and rest for a bit, and then we should set off," Zhou Pin said.

Xu Lin quickly took out a boxed lunch from her spatial storage and ate it. She'd only been able to eat compressed biscuits in front of others these past few days, and she'd had enough of that in her past life; she didn't want to deprive herself in this one. Afraid of being discovered, she wolfed down her food.

After finishing their meal, the two took a few clumps of mint back with them. Mint is highly adaptable to different environments and is abundant by the roadside. Most of it was stored in Xu Lin's spatial storage, while a small portion was taken back to avoid attracting attention.

Back at the parking lot, everyone was outside escaping the heat. Xu Lin gave Wang Jing and Dr. Dai a few clumps of mint, and the two were very happy because mint tea can relieve the heat.

The two told Xu Lin that the scouts ahead said they couldn't proceed on this stretch of highway and would have to exit and take provincial or rural roads later. Xu Lin said she understood and returned to the car with Bohe.

Those who could afford to drive to escape were all relatively well-off, so Xu Lin's few clumps of mint were hardly noticed. The group was currently relatively harmonious, except for the occasional car that broke down and someone trying to hitch a ride. Most people were unsuccessful, because it was easy to give someone a ride, but adding luggage made it difficult. Every car on the escape route was full, and those whose cars broke down could only walk and wait to join the pedestrian group behind them.

Around 4:30, a loudspeaker announced that we were about to set off. This time, Xu Lin was driving. Zhou Pin couldn't sleep, so he told Xu Lin that he was going to clean and farm in his space, and that he would bring her out when he got bored.

After driving for about an hour, the car started turning onto rural roads. The ride was bumpy, and occasionally a road sign indicated that we were already in Weifang, a county-level city.

Another hour later, Xu Lin summoned Zhou Pin from the space.

"This must be the vegetable capital of China, the vegetable base of northern China," Zhou Pin said.

"Hmm, what a pity for all those delicious fruits and vegetables."

"There's a vegetable expo here every year, so they must have cultivated a lot of cold-resistant, flood-resistant, and drought-resistant crops."

“That makes sense. At this rate, we probably won’t be able to leave the city tonight. Let’s go out for a walk tonight, and you can rest and recharge.”

Xu Lin was excited when she heard that she could receive supplies.