As for traffic regulations, Xi Xi had already considered them. Theoretically speaking, roof luggage cannot exceed 50 centimeters above the vehicle body.
Moreover, her car doesn't even have a roof rack, so she should have gone to the vehicle management office to apply for the relevant procedures before she could drive it on the road.
But whether it's a simple fine, a warning with points deducted, or even the more serious penalty of license revocation, as long as it doesn't lead to detention, she doesn't care. Once daylight arrives and the apocalypse begins, everything becomes meaningless; her driver's license is practically worthless.
Before leaving, Xi Xi took out her phone from her pocket and glanced at it—4:17 AM. Two hours had passed by silently.
She glanced back thoughtfully at the store name, and sure enough, it was still just the three simple and clear characters "Convenience Store" and the logo with the tower pattern. There were no fancy promotional advertisements, no slogans, and even the address was rusted and hard to read.
There was a vague feeling that something was not quite right. Xi Xi's thoughts were a bit chaotic. Her rebirth was difficult to describe in terms of both timeline and spatial span.
Even so, Xi Xi still carried out the plan step by step. She paced back and forth, thinking it over and over again, and finally used up all her last bit of savings.
She hurried back to the convenience store and grabbed a lot of alcohol, iodine, hydrogen peroxide, medical bandages, and cotton swabs from the counter. The prices seemed a bit higher than at a regular pharmacy, but she didn't care.
Now I don't know where I am, and whether I can get home safely is another matter entirely.
Even if I get home safely, buying too many things during the day can still arouse suspicion. After thinking it over, I might as well buy more things now.
Even after seeing the "Today's Special Offers" section in the shop window, Xi Xi couldn't resist the temptation of the discounts and bought a few more packs of cigarettes.
If we really can't stockpile that much food and run out of food, half a pack of cigarettes is much more useful than money in the apocalypse; it might be able to get us a lot of supplies.
Thinking this way, Xi Xi didn't feel so bad anymore. The money was spent, so be it.
Without navigation, even Xi Xi, who prides herself on having an excellent sense of direction, was like a blind man feeling an elephant in completely unfamiliar streets.
However, Xi Xi knew very well that Licheng was directly west of Chuncheng. Theoretically, as long as she drove on the road and followed the signs to the east, she could determine the direction by the road signs.
Without a moment's hesitation, Xi Xi drove straight towards the distant highway.
Driving alone in the quiet night, exuding elegance—this was a daydream Xi Xi had when she first started learning to drive. She never imagined it would one day come true under these circumstances.
The only problem is that the car's design is a bit too comical.
The colorful woven sacks on the roof looked like a tall wig on the vehicle, which was quite amusing. Even in the darkness, they were very conspicuous. Some of the sacks were even drooping to the sides of the vehicle due to gravity.
Isn't this a perfect twin-tail cosplay? If a traffic cop checking for drunk driving late at night saw this, he would definitely stop her and criticize her as a typical negative example.
Xi Xi, a model citizen, had never done anything like this before in her 20-plus years of life. It would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous.
But she had already planned it out. If she was stopped, she would first cling to the police officer's leg, cry and tell him that she had been inexplicably dumped in the suburbs in the middle of the night, suspected of being human trafficked, and that she had barely managed to escape from Kunming, a city she knew no one in. She would first request to have the neighborhood's surveillance footage checked, and then take the opportunity to call her parents. Then she would accept whatever punishment was given, as long as she could get home safely.
Strangely, there was no police around, and the entire road was eerily quiet. Not a single person was seen, not a single car was encountered, and even the moon in the sky had vanished.
At first, Xi Xi secretly pondered that there was indeed a tourist area in Chuncheng that was not very populated, and it was normal not to encounter anyone in the middle of the night.
But after she finished waiting at the traffic light and turned onto the new road, she felt that things were getting stranger and stranger.
The evening breeze had quietly begun to blow, carrying a chilling aura that penetrated through clothing and reached the very bones.
Xi Xi unconsciously rolled down the car window. She saw the roadside trees, which seemed both spirit and soul, as if searching for creatures to cling to in the night, swaying casually yet eerily in the wind, sending chills down her spine.
[Loading successful. You have left the waiting area and are now entering the live server.]
After a long silence, a sudden mechanical sound rang in Xi Xi's ears, startling her so much that she almost slipped.
Some of the loose supplies that had been piled up on the back seat slipped off due to inertia, but Xi Xi had no time to care.
What waiting area? What official server? Xi Xi subconsciously looked at the central control panel, and after realizing it wasn't the right place, she quickly looked around to investigate, but didn't see any suspicious source of the sound.
Xi Xi sighed inwardly, a sense of foreboding washing over her. An unknown fear suddenly gripped her. She frowned and stepped on the gas, accelerating as she secretly observed the road. She couldn't see a single road sign, or even a traffic light.
The scenery on the street is like a program copy and paste, giving an indescribable sense of déjà vu, as if the river of time suddenly splits and cycles at a certain moment, making people repeatedly step into the same familiar yet unfamiliar waters without realizing it.
Xi Xi felt that everything ahead, whether it was the light or the changes in road conditions, was strikingly similar to the areas she had driven through before.
Aside from the elongated shadows of the streetlights stretching from afar to near, there are layers upon layers of lush roadside trees, as if history were repeating itself in some unintentional moment, with an extremely high degree of overlap.
Xi Xi strained her ears, as if trying to catch every subtle sound in the air. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, her whole body tense, focused and attentive. But apart from the sound of the car starting, she heard nothing else.
Even though Xi Xi tried her best to calm her breathing, she was still somewhat flustered.
She didn't know how long she had been driving, her mind replaying every horror movie she had ever seen, from "The Ring" to "Ju-on." Her hands, gripping the steering wheel tightly, were damp with a thin layer of sweat. Her cell phone still had no signal, so she could only repeatedly glance at the rearview mirror to confirm her retreat situation.
Xi Xi couldn't help but wonder if she had been reborn or entered some Truman Show. She even felt like she was hallucinating, as the familiar streetlights and roadside trees seemed to become increasingly sparse and blurry as she drove along the road.
[Dear adventurers, you've had a long journey. Welcome to the all-out race-and-survival game: The Dawn of the East!]
Another system voice broke the silence. Xi Xi, who was initially a little apprehensive, was not frightened when she heard the familiar mechanical voice. Instead, she felt a sense of "finally".
Compared to her previous state of complete surprise, she had been mentally prepared, having been on edge the whole time. Xi Xi couldn't help but let out a soft sigh of relief.
But upon realizing the source of the mechanical voice, she was astonished. For some reason, Xi Xi felt that the voice originated from within her own mind. It wasn't her own inner voice, but an external, involuntary sound. Even having experienced six years of apocalyptic catastrophe, her heart couldn't help but race.
Clearly, this was a scene the girl had never encountered before. She disregarded traffic regulations, gripped the steering wheel with both hands, immediately braked to a stop on the side of the road, and began to listen intently.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
