Chapter 103 Overnight Stay at a Service Area
After leaving the central plains area where the Dawn Base is located, the road conditions deteriorated rapidly.
The highway looked as if it had been torn apart by the brute force of a giant, with deep cracks and collapses everywhere. Some sections of the road had disappeared entirely, carved into deep gullies by mudslides. Most of the bridges were broken, with only a few twisted steel bars supporting them.
On both sides of the road, abandoned vehicles formed a twisted, long line. Cars, trucks, and buses were rusted down to their frames, their windows were all shattered, and withered vines and weeds grew inside and outside the vehicles.
Some of the vehicles still had blackened human-shaped traces inside. The vehicles blocked the road, so they had to either keep driving, use tools or supernatural abilities to push them aside, or simply detour through the wilderness.
The weeds grew taller than a person, sprouting from cracks and under cars, obscuring road signs and markers. Sometimes, after driving for a while, you'd find the road completely blocked by rampant bushes and fallen trees, forcing you to turn back and find your way again.
The fire would run ahead to scout the way, often stopping suddenly and growling at a patch of dense grass or a pile of abandoned vehicles. Ruan Ning would then have to stop, use water arrows or mental energy to sweep away any mutated rats or lurking zombies hiding inside.
Once, a huge swarm of black, fist-sized mutated locusts flew up from the fields, crashing against the car windows with a crackling sound. It took a burst of fire to drive them away.
Unable to find any intact houses at night, they often slept in their cars or cleared roadside areas. While keeping watch, they could hear various rustling sounds in the darkness and the howls of zombies in the distance.
The vehicle couldn't pick up speed at all; averaging fifty or sixty kilometers a day was considered a success. The numbers on the odometer ticked slowly, and the eight hundred kilometers to the Northwest Base seemed exceptionally long.
As evening approached, a crooked sign appeared ahead: Qianhe Service Area 2km.
Ruan Ning turned the steering wheel off the main road and onto the ramp leading to the service area.
The ramp guardrail was broken, and waist-high weeds were sprouting from the cracks in the road surface.
The outline of the service area came into view in the twilight. The main building was still relatively intact, but all the windows were shattered, like dark, gaping eyes. Half of the gas station's roof had collapsed, and several rusty gas pumps stood there.
The car stopped in front of the gas station. Zhou Min got out of the car and cautiously scanned the surroundings with her mental energy: "There are no living people, nor is there a dense energy reaction from zombies. There are only a few scattered ones wandering around in the distance."
Lin Yan, carrying a knife, walked towards the convenience store as a guard.
The fire circled the gas station, sniffed the ground near the gas pumps, and suddenly scratched at a rusty square iron cover half-covered by sand—it was the access port for the underground oil storage tank.
Ruan Ning walked over and squatted down to take a look. The lid was rusted shut, but there were pry marks on the edges, suggesting that someone had tried to pry it open before but failed or gave up. She gestured for Lin Yan to come and help.
Lin Yan inserted the tip of her knife into the crevice, activated her level two power, and with a low shout, pried open the heavy iron cover. A stench of stale oil mixed with the smell of rust rushed out. Below was a dark abyss.
Ruan Ning turned on a flashlight. There was still a considerable amount of dark oil in the storage tank, but it didn't appear to be seriously contaminated.
"Good luck." Ruan Ning took out a fuel pump and spare fuel cans from the car. Working together, the three of them spent over an hour pumping out all the remaining gasoline from the fuel tanks they could find, filling five large fuel cans. This was enough for them to drive for a long distance.
Filled with joy at their success, they decided to spend the night at the service area. The main building was too dangerous, so they chose a relatively independent convenience store next door.
The door was long gone, and the shelves inside were overturned and empty, with rotting packaging bags and broken glass scattered on the floor. They simply cleared out a corner.
Lin Yan and Zhou Min unloaded the stove and food from the car, preparing to cook dinner. Ruan Ning said, "I'll go check the back warehouse."
The warehouse was behind the convenience store, with a heavy iron door ajar. Ruan Ning pushed it open, and dust fell in a flurry. The inside was dark, with piles of collapsed shelves and empty cardboard boxes, indicating it had also been looted.
But her gaze fell on the corner. There were several unopened cardboard boxes piled up there, covered in dust, but they looked intact. She walked over and used the tip of her knife to cut open the tape.
The first box contained bottled water, 500ml each, with a two-year shelf life; it hadn't expired yet.
The second box contained canned goods, in tin packaging with a blurry production date printed on it, and they were in remarkably good condition.
The third box contained some first-aid kits and water purification tablets, also bearing military markings. The fourth box was smaller and contained several boxes of windproof and waterproof matches and high-strength nylon rope.
It seems that in the early days of the apocalypse, an army or transport team may have temporarily stored or abandoned these supplies here. Later, when people emptied the supermarket shelves, they missed this corner.
Without hesitation, Ruan Ning put the boxes, along with the intact supplies inside, into her spatial storage.
Then, after carefully inspecting the warehouse again, they found several boxes of instant noodles and several boxes of bread under a tattered canvas in another corner.
She carried out two boxes of flour and bread, and put the rest into her spatial storage.
When they returned to the convenience store, Lin Yan had already cooked a pot of steaming noodles with dried meat and dehydrated vegetables. Zhou Min was fiddling with an old radio she had taken from the car, trying to pick up some signal, but only getting static.
"What did you find?" Lin Yan asked.
"I found instant noodles and bread," Ruan Ning said simply, taking the bowl Zhou Min handed her. The hot soup dispelled the fatigue of the journey and the chill of the night.
The fire was lying by the door, gnawing on a dried animal leg bone that it had caught from somewhere during the day, its tail occasionally slapping the ground.
After the meal, we took turns washing up.
At night, they spread out their sleeping bags in a corner of the convenience store. Zhou Min was on the first shift, Lin Yan on the second, and Ruan Ning on the last.
The service area was deathly silent, with only the sound of the wind and the occasional rustling sound, whether from animals or something else, I couldn't tell.
At three in the morning, all was quiet.
Ruan Ning had just taken over Lin Yan's night watch less than ten minutes ago when she sat cross-legged at the entrance of the convenience store, her mental energy spreading out like the most sophisticated radar network.
Suddenly, an extremely violent, cold, and greedy energy fluctuation, like a beacon fire burning in the night, crashed into her perception range!
They were moving at an extremely high speed, rapidly approaching their location from the wilderness behind the service area!
"Enemy attack! All hands on alert! The thing is here!" Ruan Ning shouted sharply, instantly standing up with his Tang Hengdao in hand, and water vapor began to permeate his body.
Almost simultaneously, the fire that had been lying dozing at the door suddenly stood up, its golden fur bristling, and let out an unprecedented, threatening, and wary low roar towards the direction from which the energy was coming. Its body was engulfed in crimson flames, turning the surroundings a fiery red.
Lin Yan and Zhou Min sprang from their sleeping bags, instantly wide awake, grabbing their weapons and rushing to the door. Zhou Min's face turned deathly pale: "Such powerful energy! So fast! At least fourth-tier! It's coming for us!"
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