Chapter 54
Qiao Ning's RV was quite large, and the largest space was probably where she rested. She simply set up a makeshift nest near her bed using a small, cushioned sofa.
The puppy was too small and looked like it hadn't eaten in a long time, so she didn't dare give it blood food right away. Instead, she cooked it a soft and nutritious porridge. She added easily digestible fish, chopped purple sweet potato, carrot, and chopped green vegetables, sprinkled a little salt on it, and added a few drops of sesame oil to help it digest. Then she fed it to the puppy.
This time, Binglin's disguise looks no different from that of an ordinary dog. Qiao Ning had raised dogs when she was young and knew that dogs should not eat food with high salt content.
However, most animals, like humans, need to ingest some salt. Wild carnivores and omnivores usually replenish their salt intake with animal blood, while some herbivores lick salt from salt trees, salt lakes, and salt soil.
Qiao Ning fed the dog a bowl of porridge and then stopped, afraid that it would overeat and that it wouldn't be good for it.
While the smart assistant drove, Qiao Ning organized supplies, watched the dog sleep, and occasionally browsed the chat channels in the rest area.
This time, the number of online characters in the server returned to exactly 100,000. Two servers were merged in, but because their numbers were far fewer than those in server 1408, their original player IDs were removed during the merge, and they were all unified as players of server 1408.
Qiao Ning was ranked first on the seven lists in the last natural disaster, but she was too low-key and didn't show up in the service area at all during the three-day holiday. So even though everyone had seen her virtual image and knew what she looked like, they were still very curious about her.
On the first day of the natural disaster, there is basically no danger. This is when players are most relaxed and active. Most people are not talking about the dangers that may occur in the natural disaster, but about the top players who are frequent visitors to the leaderboard, such as Qiao Ning, Yuan Heng, Yang Mo, and Pei Jing.
Qiao Ning has the highest popularity and is mentioned the most. The more low-key she is, the more people like to talk about her.
On the contrary, Miao Qinghe, Tao Tao, and others are often so active in the chat channel that they seem like fake accounts. People are too familiar with them, so they are rarely mentioned in conversations.
The functions of this natural disaster system interface have also been updated and modified. The most obvious change is that friends can make voice calls and video calls, send voice messages, and share real-time coordinates.
It's important to note that this feature should be used with caution. Revealing your coordinates is a high-risk behavior. You can't judge a book by its cover; easily revealing your coordinates without sufficient trust is tantamount to suicide.
Once the coordinates of friends are linked, their road worlds will also be connected, enabling them to team up and play together.
Qiao Ning originally planned to play games with her friends, but she still had Ice Scale on her side. Ice Scale was in a special condition, and she didn't want to expose it to others when it was so weak.
Call her overly cautious or overthinking things, but she had already lost Ice Scale once and absolutely did not want it to suffer even the slightest mishap again.
Qiao Ning declined Pei Jing and the others' invitation to play games together, and set off alone with a weak little dog.
This ruined city is strikingly similar to the once bustling modern world, with its architectural style and remaining discarded items being virtually identical to those of the modern world.
I don't know what kind of disaster happened to turn a perfectly good world into what it is now.
This road survival game is strange. While each disaster-stricken world feels real, it clearly reflects game mechanics. Yet, despite being a virtual world, every part feels incredibly realistic. Even some of the wild animals have flesh and blood; they're truly living creatures.
For example, the Iceborne monsters from the last extreme cold catastrophe. Or the radiation-induced plants and animals in the radiation-affected wilderness. They are definitely not just a string of virtual data.
The dog was still asleep, purring softly, and Qiao Ning didn't want to make any noise to disturb it, so she simply opened the chat channel to see what the players were saying.
[This natural disaster is so peaceful, and there are lots of supply crates. I've only been driving for half an hour, and I've already encountered two metal crates; I opened them and got quite a lot of stuff out.]
I was luckier; I found a silver chest.
[Has anyone noticed that the supplies in the treasure chests have become more ordinary? I've only gotten common tools and daily necessities, and at most, a single firearm.]
[I have medicine, gauze, and bandages.]
The system says that after nightfall, the map of the area outside the highway will be unlocked, allowing players to leave the highway and explore the unknown. What does this mean? In previous natural disasters, weren't the areas outside the highway like wilderness? Does this mean that this natural disaster is different?
Who knows? There's definitely going to be some problems, I have absolutely no expectations for this game.
How much gasoline and drinking water do you all get out of the tank? I get very little gasoline out of the tank, what should I do? I'm starting to panic.
[Don't worry, it's not even nine o'clock yet, there are still so many boxes to go. Besides, the game often throws curveballs; sometimes you don't get much gas for two or three days in a row, and other times you get tons of gas every day. If you're really short on gas, just go to the trading market and exchange some now.]
The prices of necessities like gasoline fluctuate daily. Today's price is slightly higher than usual, but still within an acceptable range for most players.
Gasoline is something most people probably have plenty of in stock. But do you have any extra drinking water? I've been driving for so long and haven't seen a single bottled water, let alone a jug of bottled water.
I was planning to take a quick shower after the bathroom was installed in the car, but forget about that now.
I read the system announcement again when I first entered this highway world: Welcome all players in Zone 1408 to the fourth catastrophe cycle. The rewards for the previous catastrophe cycle have been settled and sent to players' mailboxes. Please check and claim them in time.
Friendly reminder: At the end of each natural disaster cycle, the top 100 players on the seven leaderboards will receive extra rewards.
The natural disaster is: solar radiation.
Duration of natural disaster: seven days
Online users: 100,000
All players, please continue to strive to survive this catastrophe cycle.
Are there any top students in our area? What exactly is this solar radiation? What are its dangers? I've already checked the leaderboard rewards, and it's just ordinary food and water. I really don't understand what the game is trying to do.
[Shen Du'an: I'm a student at Beijing University of Science and Technology. My major is somewhat related to astronomy, but not much. Solar radiation mainly includes visible light, infrared radiation, and ultraviolet radiation.]
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has the greatest impact on humans. While it can kill bacteria and disinfect, it can also cause significant harm to the human body, especially to humans. Normal UV radiation is filtered by the atmosphere, and very little reaches the ground, limiting its harm to humans. Therefore, occasional sun exposure is actually good for human health.
I'm unsure of the extent of solar radiation in a world affected by natural disasters. If the ultraviolet radiation reaching the ground is high, it could cause eye and skin problems.
[Liu Heng: In a world of natural disasters, I estimate the power of solar radiation extends beyond just causing disease. In short, everyone should be cautious. If absolutely necessary, I suggest driving at night.]
[Chen Ying: Will there be a moon tonight? Does the moon emit radiation?]
[The moon shouldn't emit radiation, right? It doesn't emit its own light; it gets its glow from the sun, right? Or am I remembering wrong? Sorry, it's been too long since I graduated; I've forgotten a lot of what I learned.]
Since the game states that the type of natural disaster is solar radiation, the moon should be fine.
[Upstairs, have you forgotten about the hidden natural disasters? If the system suddenly unleashes another hidden natural disaster, we're doomed.]
It seemed that no one in the chat channel had mentioned the time anomaly, so Qiao Ning couldn't help but ask in the channel.
[Qiao Ning: Has anyone else felt that time was passing abnormally today? It seemed to be moving much slower than usual. My biological clock is usually very accurate, but today I slept twice and it wasn't even dawn yet.]
[Dude, maybe it's just your imagination because you're too tired?]
[It must be my imagination; I feel no different than usual.]
Honestly, I usually don't get enough sleep with seven or eight hours, but I slept like a log last night. Looking at it this way, something definitely isn't right.
Pei Jing: I feel the same way. I thought it was just my imagination, but I didn't expect others to feel the same way.
[One or two cases might be an illusion, but if there are many people involved, it's probably not an illusion.]
[Liu Heng: I suspect it's not that time is flowing slower, but rather that the nights are getting longer. I don't know if everyone has noticed, but the time displayed on the system interface is no longer specified in minutes and seconds, but rather in rough hours.]
Although it is indeed 9 o'clock now, it may not be 9 o'clock in a 24-hour period.
[Holy crap, this is terrifying! This game is definitely trying to ruin me!]
[Liu Heng: Don't panic, everyone. This type of natural disaster is solar radiation. The longer nights aren't necessarily a bad thing. After all, the radiation at night is definitely much less than during the day when the sun is out.]
I breathed a sigh of relief after the boss said that.
[A big shot? What big shot? Did this person join from the merged server?]
[Upstairs, Ms. Liu is a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology and also a top player in the game. She helped us a lot; without her, we might not have survived the last natural disaster. Can you believe that Professor Liu used various materials provided by the system and items from ice monsters to create a wind-powered heater in the disaster world? The invention/creation function is now available in our server's crafting menu, all thanks to Professor Liu.]
Qiao Ning was filled with admiration; indeed, knowledge is power.
She, relying solely on luck, is no match for Professor Liu. While luck is a form of ability, people often only like to curry favor with those who are incredibly lucky, while showing respect to knowledgeable experts—the two are different.
Aside from her luck, Qiao Ning's greatest strength lies in her extensive gaming experience and knowledge. This is one of the key factors that has allowed her to avoid various dangers and traps, make predictions in advance, and survive to this day.
On the first day, the system often doesn't provide much data on natural disasters, but Qiao Ning's smart home monitoring results are more comprehensive.
The current radiation level is 15 points. It started at 0 points and increased from 8 to 9 points every now and then. The frequency is not fixed and it seems to be increasing more and more frequently over time.
Qiao Ning encountered 10 treasure chests in one morning: 2 bronze, 3 silver, and 5 platinum.
Her leaderboard reward was two gold chests, but the contents of the chests were not much different from those of ordinary chests, except that there was more gasoline and drinking water.
12 regular chests and 2 rare chests, totaling:
1000 units of gasoline, 400 liters of drinking water
2 sets of anti-radiation clothing, 50 bottles of radiation scavenger
Nutritional supplements*500 vials, internal and external injury medicines 300 sets
A quantity of medical supplies, daily necessities, tools, and cold weapons, plus 10 firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammunition of each type.
The main reason is that the gold treasure chests contain a large number of items, since there aren't many rare types, so the quantity is greater.
After organizing the supplies, Binglin finally woke up—or rather, woke up from hunger.
Perhaps because it had been fed in the morning and had a good nap, it finally had some energy and strength. Unlike before, when its limbs trembled after taking a few steps, and it was so weak that it broke one's heart.
Binglin walked to Qiao Ning's ankle, nuzzled her with her little head, and whimpered twice.
Qiao Ning understood immediately, then went to the kitchen to bring over the cooked porridge. This time, she added some minced meat. Bing Lin ate without even looking up, finishing a bowl of rice in no time, even licking the bowl until it shone, saving her the trouble of washing the dishes.
After finishing a bowl of porridge, Binglin was clearly not full. After all, it was not a real ordinary puppy, and its appetite was not comparable to that of an ordinary puppy.
But when Qiao Ning continued to feed it, Bing Lin looked like it was reluctantly giving up the food, and pushed the bowl of porridge towards Qiao Ning, indicating that it should be given to her.
Qiao Ning: ...
Good dog, knows how to care for her, but...
In front of the dog, Qiao Ning took out a large portion of braised chicken from the storage box, paired it with hot white rice and ice-cold soda, and ate it with great relish.
Ice Scales froze.
No, why do they eat differently?
After finishing her porridge, Binglin squatted down next to Qiao Ning, thinking, "There's so much food, can't we leave some for it?"
Unexpectedly, Qiao Ning was someone who never wasted food, and in the end, she even mixed the soup with rice, leaving nothing behind. After finishing, she patted the dog's head and said, "Good boy, you're feeling a bit better now. This is extra spicy and salty, dogs can't eat it."
Icescale let out a howl. It didn't say it was a dog. It can eat, it can eat a whole bowl!
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