Chapter 72

At four in the morning, a loud bang echoed through the night sky, and a flash of lightning illuminated the jungle as bright as day.

Qiao Ning wasn't in a deep sleep to begin with, and this noise startled her awake completely.

Ice Scales lay right next to her tent; even if thunder didn't wake her, it would wake her up.

Qiao Ning rolled over and got up, quickly tidying up her things. By then, the strong smell of burning flames had already drifted over.

She didn't even look back. She jumped onto the back of the ice scale and was carried by it for a distance before she dared to look back.

Flames shot into the sky in the distance, accompanied by crackling explosions.

Lightning strikes the sky every few days, piercing the jungle and setting the forest ablaze. In the high-oxygen, dry environment, even a tiny spark can ignite a massive fire instantly, let alone a thunderstorm.

The jungle also had plenty of shallow coal mines to fuel the fire, and withered plants also provided excellent fuel. Before long, the jungle where Qiao Ning was located was ablaze with flames.

The smell in the air became increasingly pungent and unpleasant, so Qiao Ning had no choice but to have Bing Lin continue running back to the highway.

Back in the car, she instructed the smart assistant to drive forward at maximum speed.

Through the highway barriers, she could clearly see countless mutated plants and animals struggling in the fire. Large creatures that she had never seen before also emerged from the depths of the jungle because of the fire.

Qiao Ning also saw an enormous reptile, at least a hundred meters long, resembling a python or boa constrictor. It moved through the jungle faster than a Class 6 car!

The python was extremely focused on escaping. It didn't even glance at the prey that came to it. Wherever it swam, it left a trail of destruction, and any obstacles were smashed and swept away by its huge and powerful body.

Qiao Ning watched as the giant python, like a drunk driver unable to stop, hurtled towards the highway barrier, and a chill ran down her spine as she realized something was wrong.

Sure enough, that guy smashed the highway barrier to pieces.

Without the barrier of the highway, the road was instantly overrun by escaping animals and insects.

Qiao Ning had accumulated a large number of blueprints and car ammunition from blind boxes. Seeing that the giant insects were about to catch up with her car and engulf it, she didn't hesitate and immediately activated the car's attack mode. A shell flew, and blood, flesh, withered branches, dirt, and gravel flew everywhere.

The giant insects surged forward relentlessly, dying one after another. Finally, the giant insects behind seemed to sense the danger to Qiao Ning and stopped rushing towards her, instead changing direction.

Ice Scale grew to about two meters tall and sat on the roof of the car. Whenever a fish that had escaped its net approached the car, it would help its owner get rid of them.

Qiao Ning uploaded a video of the jungle fire to the chat channel, urging all players to keep driving forward and not stop.

"Why do I have to drive here when there's no fire yet? It's the middle of the night, and I'm exhausted from a long day; I just wanted to get some rest."

[Since the boss made that suggestion, she must have her reasons. I'm someone who listens to advice, so I've already prepared some gas and sped away for my life.]

[It looks like Qiao Ning is in a lot of danger. Many of the animals that flashed by in the video are the kind I would avoid at all costs. It's hard to imagine how she could be so calm as to film it.]

Just as Qiao Ning was about to say something in the chat channel, she suddenly received a group video chat initiated by Li Musheng.

"Qiao Ning, Yuan Heng, quickly tell everyone that we've been teleported to a world where the highway extends south. Only by escaping south can we possibly encounter rivers, seas, and glaciers!"

Upon hearing this, others didn't even ask why; they immediately shared the information with all players in the region.

Qiao Ning, Yuan Heng, and Pei Jing frequently shared information within the server, especially since Qiao Ning had just unlocked the pet evolution feature. Their fame and influence were the strongest; most players believed them when they spoke. However, with hundreds of thousands of players, some were inevitably skeptical, or simply didn't believe it at all.

The world of highways has the sun, rising in the east and setting in the west, so it can naturally help us determine direction.

Many players didn't understand why they had to head south to encounter the river and sea glaciers, so they kept asking in the chat channel.

The three people who answered their questions were Li Musheng, Jiang Yanxin, and Fang Changling, who were more professional.

[A fire can burn for decades? That's a bit of an exaggeration.]

[A mass extinction caused by forest fires? I could believe anything if you said it was an alien invasion.]

Even if there were a fire, could it spread faster than a car? That's impossible.

We only encounter a handful of treasure chests each day, and gasoline is only going out, not coming in. Isn't it too risky to waste gasoline on a hypothesis?

[The highway here extends southwards, and there are no fires yet. I'll continue updating my latest completed novel daily. I'll observe the situation for now, and only drive away if there are any signs of a fire.]

It's not that I'm unwilling to use my brain, it's just that my brain simply isn't enough. So whenever I encounter a situation like this, I usually rely on the experts. I let them think for me, and I do whatever they say. This is also a major reason why I, a nobody, have been able to survive until the fifth cataclysm.

The survival rate of the entire region is closely related to everyone's life and death. What good would it do those big shots if we died? They have no reason to harm us. Being too clever for our own good will only lead to our own downfall.

Everyone, run! Don't think too much, run as far as you can!

Qiao Ning's private messages were flooded with messages from her friends. Some were asking about her situation, while others hoped that she would teleport there to meet up with the others.

Qiao Ning knew that the highway generally ran south, but it was slightly off-center, so she chose to teleport.

She teleported to Tao Tao's world on the highway. As soon as she arrived at her coordinates, she found that almost everyone she knew or had met but was not familiar with was there.

"Everyone's here, let's get going."

The convoy was organized by Pei Jing and Miao Qinghe, and it must have at least a hundred people.

If everyone travels together, they can look out for each other if any danger or accident occurs, and Qiao Ning can save more people.

Today marks the fifth day of the natural disaster. The mass extinction process has reached 70%, and oxygen levels remain high, but have not continued to increase.

In addition, there is an additional fire level, Level 2.

Such a large fire was only classified as a level 2 fire.

The car drove from day to night without encountering a single treasure chest. Some people thought it was because there were too many people, lowering the probability of a treasure chest appearing, so they made excuses to leave the group. Others didn't even have a reason; they simply disappeared without a trace.

Pei Jing and the others didn't care about those people at all; they could only say that life and death were predestined.

They spent the whole day driving. Although a fire had broken out in Tao Tao's highway world, the tide of fleeing animals had not yet surged over, so they rarely encountered attacks along the way.

No one rested that night; they ate bread and other cooked food while driving.

Even so, at midnight, Qiao Ning's Thousand-Mile Sighting skill still detected the beast tide.

Countless animals rushed out of the distant jungle, converging into a vast "ocean".

Qiao Ning immediately informed the team members, because they couldn't sense any movement from a distance, and at this moment, they were truly relying on the team's trust in her.

Originally, everyone had decided to stop and rest for a while after driving for another two hours, but now they can only grit their teeth and continue driving at full speed.

Qiao Ning has a smart assistant that allows her to rest at any time, but not everyone else has a similar smart system. A significant number of players only have driver assistance items.

"At a critical moment of escaping, there's no need to rest. It's just driving for a day and a night. After my body evolved, I'm not that tired." Most players said they could continue driving without resting.

Driving while fatigued is dangerous in the modern world, but in survival games, there's no time to worry about such details.

As time passed, Qiao Ning and her group still hadn't seen any large water sources, let alone rivers, seas, or glaciers, not even a small stream.

Qiao Ning, Li Musheng, and the others have been questioned several times in the team's group chat.

"Boss, it's not that I doubt you, I just want to ask if it's possible that you've made a mistake? So far, we haven't encountered any beast tides, nor have we found any water sources."

"We've already left the fire far behind, is it really necessary to continue rushing like this?"

“You say the fire will cover the entire ancient continent, I think that’s unlikely. Nobody knows how big the continent is. Even if the fire could cover the continent, it couldn’t happen in just two or three days.”

"Could it be that you've misunderstood? The crisis in the next two days might be somewhere else?"

Faced with the questioning, Li Musheng did not try to defend himself. Instead, he nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. But if it is really as I predicted, and the fire spreads quickly enough to cover the entire continent in a short time, then by the time everyone sees the fire, they may not be able to escape."

Pei Jing: "Everyone, hang in there for one more day. Tomorrow will be the sixth day of the natural disaster. If it's still like this on the sixth day, then we'll stop and set up camp to rest."

Driving for long periods is very mentally taxing, especially since you may also encounter attacks from jungle creatures while driving.

Everyone drove and worked tirelessly for two days and two nights without sleep. They said they weren't tired and could continue, but in reality, they all had dark circles under their eyes and their faces showed undisguised exhaustion.

To make matters worse, they were attacked by a swarm of giant jungle insects during the night. It wasn't a beast tide, but some kind of carnivorous insects that went out to hunt and happened to be encountered by their convoy.

The two sides fought for several hours. With Qiao Ning and Bing Lin present, no one died, but many were injured.

"Why don't we stop and rest for a while? I think Lao Lin is a bit too weak. He lost a lot of blood from his injury. Even though the medicine has healed the external wound, the blood loss can't be replenished in a short time. Lao Lin's face is as white as a paper doll."

Pei Jing said gravely, "Tell Lao Lin to hold on a little longer. We can't stop the car now."

The team faced increasing skepticism, with some even suggesting splitting up. Those unwilling to continue rested where they were, while those who wanted to stay followed Qiao Ning and the others.

It's not just their convoy; many players in the entire chat channel still haven't encountered a fire or witnessed an escape horde of beasts, so they're completely unaware of the danger.

Li Yangxing said irritably, "Sister Jing, if it really doesn't work, just let them be. It's so annoying every day."

Exhausted to begin with, having to deal with these people is bound to be infuriating, isn't it?

"The system has updated the disaster information! Everyone go check it out!" someone suddenly shouted in the group chat video.

Qiao Ning quickly opened the main interface and, sure enough, saw the natural disaster information that the system had just released.

On the sixth day of the natural disaster, from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., lightning will cover most areas of the mainland, causing widespread fires. Only rivers, oceans, and glaciers will be spared from the fires.

Massive deaths of plants and animals, severe damage to the food chain, and the mass extinction process is 80% complete.

After reading the message, Qiao Ning felt a bad premonition. She immediately told the smart assistant to drive at full speed. She also called the carnivorous flower king and the ice scales back from the roof, and put the locust army that had been circling outside into the pet pen.

However, before the convoy had gone far, a deafening roar accompanied by a tremor of the earth grew louder as it approached.

[Holy crap, what's that in the sky? Dark clouds? I've never seen such terrifying clouds before. They must be hiding a hundred thousand bolts of lightning!]

Even if this lightning strikes and doesn't cause a fire, it will wipe out all life on the ground.

[I'm running, I'm running, but I feel like I can't keep going, sob sob...]

Rivers, oceans, glaciers, where are you? I need you!

This cloud formation was clearly not like the fiery clouds, which could be broken or consumed. Qiao Ning was powerless to do anything about it and could only drive at breakneck speed.

The tremors were becoming more and more pronounced, which meant that something behind them was getting closer and closer.

"The beast tide is coming! Everyone, don't look back, just drive away! If you're out of gas, let me know in the group chat and I'll mail it to you."

"Can we really survive?"

"The number of online users has plummeted by more than 200,000, leaving only around 400,000..."

"Live if you can, die if you can't, I can't stand this damn game anymore!"

As the beast tide approached, the few low-end cars lagging behind the convoy were instantly engulfed by the surging beasts, leaving not even a trace.

"I really regret it. If only I hadn't been so stingy with the supplies, I could have used the blueprints and materials to upgrade the car.

"Don't abandon me! Why is my car getting slower and slower?!"

"Save me, I don't want to die, please let me into your car, please."

On the sixth day of the natural disaster, at 3:00 AM, there were 356,742 people online.

Qiao Ning saw in the group chat video that Li Yangxing was crying while driving. He wasn't afraid of dying, but he was seeing one familiar person after another pleading for help from him, yet he was powerless to do anything, not even to lend them a hand.

Qiao Ning looked away, and heard her own voice ringing out in the group chat:

"Everyone keep going forward, I'll bring up the rear."

"Qiao Ning?" Pei Jing exclaimed in surprise, "What are you trying to do? Don't do anything foolish!"

Miao Qinghe remained calm and rational: "Qiaoqiao, those people's deaths cannot be blamed on us. They didn't seize the opportunity to survive."

"Sister Qiao, don't do anything rash. Nobody wants to die. We will definitely save those we can, but in the current situation, we can't even protect ourselves."

Even if the vehicles didn't stop, they were still being gradually approached by the beast tide, let alone slowing down to catch up.

"No matter how capable you are, you're not a superman. I'm a soldier, and if anyone has to sacrifice themselves, it should be me." Yuan Heng spoke to Qiao Ning in a rare stern tone.

He doesn't usually talk much to people, and he doesn't seem very sociable at service areas, but he's also the one who always steps up to help when something happens.

Li Yangxing, forgetting all about crying, quickly said, "You two, don't be foolish. Forget about sacrifice. Just take care of yourselves. We can't control others. At worst, we'll all go to the corrupted area together. If we die, we die together!"

Qiao Ning saw that he was still shouting with tears on his face, and couldn't help but smile.

He then actually stopped the car, summoned Green Pearl, and flung all the vehicles behind him to the front in one go. He then used his locust army to gather into a cloud of insects to catch the vehicles and fly them away together.

"Wait, can pets be used like this? Why is my evolved plant-type pet so weak?" Li Yangxing's mouth dropped open when he saw this.

Tao Tao looked at the large mosquito next to her, then at the imposing army of locusts outside, and didn't know what to say.

Qiao Ning wasn't some kind of saintly figure; she initially thought that even if they couldn't outrun the beast tide, at least they wouldn't be easily overtaken. Who could have imagined that lightning would strike across a wide area, causing fires everywhere and forcing the creatures in the jungle to flee continuously, forming wave after wave of beast tides.

The previous beast tide couldn't keep up with the caravan, but the newly formed beast tide was very close to them.

She could have abandoned the people behind her and run away with Pei Jing and the others, but the problem was that a new beast tide was still forming.

They can't escape.

That would be a real problem if all the beast tides were to converge.

"Don't look back, hurry up and leave. Wait for me for three hours. Even if I don't catch up with you in three hours, you can come back and pick me up then. Just leave now. I don't need any help, just take care of yourselves."

As soon as Qiao Ning sent the message, her car was overtaken by the beast horde and instantly engulfed by a swarm of giant insects.

*

Pei Jing gritted her teeth. Seeing that Li Yangxing and Tao Tao's car was slowing down and they wanted to stop or even turn around to save Qiao Ning, she shouted to everyone with red eyes: "Don't stop! Everyone just keep driving forward. Qiao Ning is the one who's covering our rear. Do you want her efforts to be in vain?"

The lightning stopped at 5 a.m.

Pei Jing and the others still saw bursts of fire from time to time. They didn't encounter any more large beast tides, but they did encounter several small beast tides. However, they escaped unharmed each time.

"Jing-jie, Qiao Ning's profile picture is still lit up, she's still online, but why isn't she coming online? Should we go back and check?"

After a journey filled with escapes and battles, everyone was covered in dust and dirt. Even Pei Jing, who was usually neat and pretty, had blood and grime on her face.

She glanced at the time: "It's not even three hours yet. Let's do as Qiao Ning says. If she hasn't caught up with us by then, we'll use the location item to pinpoint her coordinates and teleport her there."

With just over twenty minutes left in the three-hour time limit, they didn't know if they would see Qiao Ning again, or... watch her profile picture go gray.

On the seventh day of the cataclysmic event, the food chain has collapsed. Due to the fires, the carbon dioxide content in the air has skyrocketed, making ordinary roads unsuitable for prolonged player activity. Only the glacier areas are less affected. The mass extinction event is 90% complete. Players are advised to travel at full speed and find the glacier areas as soon as possible.

While Pei Jing and the others were preparing to teleport to Qiao Ning's coordinates in twenty minutes, she was currently cleaning up the battlefield with Ice Scale, Man-Eating Flower, Green Pearl, Fat Tiger, and Big Locust.

During this beast tide, they hunted countless mutated animals and insects. Green Pearl and the others were injured several times, but after being fertilized and healed in the pet pen, they returned to fight again.

The locust army was so full that they couldn't eat anything more, and some locusts even died from overeating.

The man-eating flower, Little Red, was completely unharmed. Once it transformed into its true ultimate form, it was so powerful that it could practically blot out the sky. It could probably devour even one more beast tide, let alone just one.

Qiao Ning strongly suspects that there is a black hole hidden inside this big hibiscus, otherwise there is no way to explain why it can eat so much.

It's not much different from the legendary Taotie.

This time, Ice Scale wasn't the main force in dealing with the beast tide; instead, it was devouring lightning in the air. Its diet had expanded to include lightning; every bolt of lightning that fell from the sky was swallowed, and it managed to prevent a single bolt from hitting the ground.

Thousands of bolts of lightning struck, and the ice scales' bellies swelled up from all the food. This was the first time Qiao Ning had ever seen the ice scales so full.

Even its hiccups are electrifying.

Qiao Ning dared not approach it now; it had consumed too much lightning and was leaking electricity from its body, looking like a walking thundercloud.

"Let's go. Pei Jing and the others must be getting impatient. If we don't leave soon, they might come looking for us."

"Binglin, you're leaking electricity, you can't get on the car."

Binglin originally shrunk herself to get on the bus with everyone, but Qiao Ning ruthlessly refused.

It retracted its paws, squatted down pitifully, and watched helplessly as its owner closed the car door.

Binglin followed the car all the way and finally managed to digest the lightning in her stomach before catching up with Pei Jing and her convoy, at least preventing it from leaking out.

"What did I tell you before? You should take a walk after eating, but you wouldn't listen. Look, you didn't take a car, you ran by yourself, and now you've digested it all!"

Ice Scale let out a howl, its voice carrying a hint of resignation.

Qiao Ning reached out from the window and touched its scales, which had turned bluish-black.

"Jing-jie, look! That's Qiao Ning's car! No, it should be a spaceship or a fortress, right? If it weren't for the map showing that it was a teammate's vehicle, I almost wouldn't have recognized that thing as Qiao Ning's car."

Pei Jing glanced at the situation behind her in the rearview mirror and said with a slightly uncertain tone, "It should be her."

"But what's that thing next to her?"

Tao Tao tried hard to identify it: "Could it be Ice Scale? I remember Ice Scale is a big red-haired dog. This guy is covered in scales and looks like a mythical beast."

Ice Scale rarely shows itself in front of them, and even when it does, it is in the form of a red-haired dog.

“It must be one of Qiao Ning’s other pets,” Li Yangxing said with certainty. “Although Ice Scale is large, it’s not this fat.”

"Look at that belly, it jiggles when you run around, how much do you have to eat in one sitting to get that kind of effect?"

Qiao Ning was driving much faster than them. In order to catch up with the convoy as quickly as possible, she drew many blind boxes, opened some treasure chests, and after collecting enough blueprints, she upgraded her car again.

A level 7 vehicle, to be precise, can no longer be called a vehicle; it's more like a flying fortress capable of both offense and defense.

The flying fortress can not only carry people, but also has a dedicated parking lane that can accommodate other players' vehicles, allowing them to fly together.

The more players a game supports, the greater the energy consumption. It consumes almost one beast core or energy stone every hour.

"Sister Qiao Ning, it really is you!" After the flying fortress stopped, Li Yangxing saw the person walking out of it and shouted as he rushed over to give her a bear hug, but Qiao Ning nimbly dodged him.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Li Yangxing touched his nose. "Sorry, I was too excited just now and forgot that Sister Qiao doesn't like people getting too close to you."

Qiao Ning didn't care about any of that. Her dodge earlier was just a reflex. Now, she took the initiative to pat his shoulder and exchange fist bumps with him.

"What's that big thing next to you? Is it your new pet? It's so fat, Sister Qiao, you need to control its weight. I just saw it running alongside the car, and it seemed like it couldn't keep up."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Ning immediately turned to look at Bing Lin, and sure enough, the guy bristled, his mane standing on end.

"Awooo—"

Qiao Ning translated and explained for it and everyone else: "This is an ice scale. It's not fat. It just ate too much and its stomach is a little bloated. It will recover on its own after digestion." However, even Qiao Ning herself felt that this explanation was far-fetched, which was only because others didn't believe it.

The main thing is that Ice Scale's belly doesn't look swollen; it's just fat.

Tao Tao and Pei Jing rushed over and hugged Qiao Ning one by one, exchanging fist bumps. Tao Tao, who was both crying and laughing, suddenly asked after seeing Bing Lin, "Sister Qiao Ning, do you need my Wenwen to help you get some liposuction? It can help you lose weight quickly and also aid digestion."

Tao Tao has an evolved giant mosquito, the kind that can suck anemia out of an elephant with one bite.

But can she still get liposuction on her big mosquito?