Chapter 5: Highway Survival 2
Chu Yun carefully stored the dropped loot from the kill into her storage ring.
The mineral water bottle had been punctured by the king cobra’s bite and was completely unusable. The clear spring water poured into the sand, and under the blazing sun, even the damp stain dried up and vanished in an instant. She stared at that bottle of water, her face twisting in pure heartache.
Suddenly, a whimsical idea struck Chu Yun. Since there was a king cobra here, its nest was likely nearby. She could go treasure hunting—what if she found something? Besides, king cobras were solitary creatures, so she didn’t have to worry about running into its kin.
No sooner said than done. Chu Yun began a blanket search, focusing her investigation on the bramble bushes and rock crevices. Although the brambles were stunted, they covered a large surface area underneath, making it entirely possible for a snake nest to be hidden below.
She carefully avoided various small crawling insects hidden in the shadows, using her spiked mace as a tool to pry open the bushes, confirming a lack of supplies before moving on to the next spot.
Ultimately, behind a slightly distant sand dune, she discovered the slithering tracks of the king cobra inside a cluster of brambles.
This was the spot! She carefully pried apart the brambles with her mace, revealing what lay beneath.
Instantly, Chu Yun’s eyes lit up. It really was a resource point placed by the system!
Two large, square gasoline drums sat perfectly inside. On the red, sixty-liter industrial fuel drums, six large words were boldly inscribed: Produced by Survival Game.
She lifted them to test the weight; each one was filled to the brim. Her motorcycle required fifteen liters to fill up from empty, which could last for two days. That meant one large drum could last for eight days, and two drums could last for sixteen days—while she only needed to survive here for fifteen days at most.
Her little motorcycle was finally saved!
Chu Yun contentedly put the two massive drums of gasoline into her storage ring and thoroughly inspected the bushes once more, only leaving in peace after ensuring not a single scrap of supplies remained.
The sand hid many venomous little insects, such as African termites, fat-tailed scorpions, and hornets. One careless mistake could lead to a venomous sting that would end a life. Chu Yun carefully observed and steered clear of them.
She had ventured a bit far out, making her slightly worried about her little motorcycle. The motorcycle was classified as a system infrastructure item and couldn’t be placed inside the storage ring; otherwise, Chu Yun would have stuffed it in long ago.
As it turned out, what you feared most always happened. The moment she crossed back over the sand dune, she spotted a short man in a red shirt loitering sneakily around her little motorcycle.
With her spiked mace in one hand and her other hand on her hip, Chu Yun sprinted swiftly toward him. She hadn’t wanted to alert the short man, intending to launch a sneak attack from behind. However, the short man had probably been there for a while without finding any supplies. The moment he turned around, he saw a ferocious woman running right at him.
The man spotted her, but she was still a considerable distance from where the motorcycle was parked. Chu Yun bellowed, “Hey! You over there! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Her voice was resounding and full of vigor. Combined with the cold weapon in her hand and her aggressive charge, the short man cowered a bit. In a panic, he scrambled into a nearby sports car, slammed on the gas, and sped away with a loud vroom vroom vroom, leaving behind nothing but a trail of exhaust.
By the time Chu Yun reached the motorcycle, not even a shadow of the car was visible on the highway. However, with her 20/20 vision, she had managed to get a clear look at the man’s face and that supercar.
She was so envious. She wanted one!
Chu Yun retracted her lingering gaze and turned to look at her own battered three-wheeled motorcycle. Why didn’t she have that kind of luck?
Fortunately, all her supplies had been stored in her storage ring, leaving the cargo bed completely empty. The short man probably hadn’t managed to steal anything.
But she had been too naive after all. When she turned the ignition, she found that it wouldn’t start no matter what. Looking at the fuel gauge, it actually read zero.
How infuriating! There had been a precious third of a tank left!
Fuck, what a bastard. He had a supercar and still stole gas.
If she hadn’t just found that gasoline resource point, Chu Yun would have to trek a hundred kilometers on foot again, just like when she first arrived.
Chu Yun refilled the tank, ate half a pork floss bread, drank a small half-bottle of mineral water, and hit the road again.
At this moment, she slightly missed the cola she used to drink. It had to be said that drinking cola when the weather was hot truly brought pure joy; after a single drink, one’s entire body would instantly feel cool and refreshed.
It was just a pity that the Community 135 Convenience Store didn’t sell cola. If one managed to snag such a supply in an instance by pure luck, it would probably be considered rare.
That afternoon, nothing happened.
She spent the entire afternoon driving. There were no gift boxes on the road, nor a single person.
With nothing to do, Chu Yun felt a bit bored.
Day 3 of the game, still nothing happened.
Sleeping at night was exceptionally sweltering, especially in the rear cargo bed. The space was cramped and narrow, making it impossible to fully stretch out her limbs, so she could only sleep with her legs bent.
She suddenly missed the night she slept in Community 135. That bed was truly soft; sleeping on it was so comfortable it felt like your bones were melting. Even the rich second-generation Xu Dongdong had praised it, saying he had never seen such a comfortable mattress.
Day 4 of the game, she saw a long-awaited tree. Fortunately, it was a jujube tree.
Seeing food, her eyes instantly lit up. Chu Yun nimbly climbed up the large tree. She picked one, casually wiped it on her clothes, and popped it into her mouth. Hiss. It was so sour her muscles twitched, snapping her wide awake in an instant.
Although she hadn’t found a new food supply pack on the fourth day either, she still left half of the sour jujubes on the tree. Such a sour treat should be left for whoever was destined to find it.
Day 5 of the game, Chu Yun’s breakfast was the usual mantou and water—simple and tedious.
Plain white mantou tasted fragrant and more flavorful the more one chewed when first eating them, but now that she had eaten them for five consecutive days, Chu Yun could no longer utter the word “fragrant.” Ultimately, her palate had been spoiled by that one month of relatively good food and drink.
At the same time, Chu Yun took the opportunity to take inventory of her supplies.
Over these past few days, she hadn’t found a single survival supply pack, and she had consumed quite a bit.
Currently, aside from long-term items like her watch, Chu Yun possessed one universal antidote pill and nine medical bandages. Her remaining food consisted of: less than three and a half 3L jugs of mineral water, four mantou, three pork floss breads, and a few large handfuls of sour jujubes.
She had already tried her best to ration the food, but it was still dwindling rapidly.
The absolute priority was still to hoard more food. Yet, the road remained desolate; aside from that gas-thieving bastard, she hadn’t seen a single soul. Back in the apocalypse, she could still encounter a zombie or two and a few stray cats in heat from time to time.
“Sigh!”
Chu Yun sighed. If she didn’t work harder, she would have to go out into the desert to kill scorpions and catch ants to stave off her hunger.
During the previous four days, the sun would already be hanging high by this time, and the heat would be palpable. But now, it was past 8:00 AM, and she still hadn’t seen the sun rise. Today’s weather was clearly abnormal.
Just as she was thinking this, Chu Yun saw dark clouds rapidly rolling in overhead. The clouds piled on top of each other, weighing heavily on the sky, looking so dense they seemed about to collapse.
An oppressive aura permeated the air, as if a storm could erupt at any second. Wisely, she retreated into her three-wheeled motorcycle ahead of time and shut the metal door.
Within a matter of seconds, a torrential downpour unleashed itself. Large, pea-sized raindrops hammered against the motorcycle’s canopy roof, a relentless patter, patter, patter. Chu Yun even suspected that if it kept pounding like this, the fragile three-wheeled motorcycle would break down sooner or later.
Moreover, in this place with no shelter in sight, there wasn’t even a spot to escape the rain. Those with vehicles were fine, but those without could only get drenched on this completely exposed highway. It was unknown whether the rain itself carried a negative impact, but this was a game, and catching a cold or a fever from such heavy rain was a guarantee.
This game digitized human physical fitness, setting a maximum cap based on an individual’s personal condition. Although no actual stats were listed, suffering damage in an instance would definitely result in negative impacts. Therefore, even with her hardened physique from the apocalypse, Chu Yun couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t be affected after being baptized by such heavy rain.
The rain was torrential, quickly soaking the highway that had been dry for days, and the air gradually turned damp and cold. The shift in weather happened in an instant; if she hadn’t experienced it firsthand, no one would believe that this place had been a sweltering, scorching desert just moments ago.
Chu Yun rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. The temperature drop was drastic, and she now felt a bit cold. Left with no choice, Chu Yun had to drive her battered three-wheeler onto the road; she needed to find a shelter as soon as possible.
The road surface was slick with accumulated water, so Chu Yun didn’t dare drive too fast. Adhering to the principle of safety first, she drove carefully all the way.
As the rain poured down heavily, the dust in the air was washed completely clean, making it seem as though the world had put on a different face.
The system voice, which hadn’t made a sound since she entered the game, rang out once more:
[Attention all players: The “Life and Death Speed” stage will begin in 5 minutes.]
[The track and stage difficulty will be adjusted according to your respective vehicle type.]
[You may choose to accept or decline the challenge.]
[If the challenge is successful, you will receive unlimited rewards. If the challenge fails, you will be automatically teleported out of the game.]
Although she didn’t know what the challenge entailed, she was highly enticed by the rewards.
Thus, Chu Yun, who had been deemed an veteran driver in her past life, decisively chose: Accept Challenge.
It didn’t matter that she was entering a race in a battered three-wheeler; what mattered was that if she didn’t gather more supplies soon, she would starve to death.
[You have accepted the challenge. The stage will begin in 3 minutes. You need to pass the 1.5KM track ahead within 1 minute. Please be prepared.]
Chu Yun did some quick math: 1.5KM in 1 minute meant a speed of 90KM/h. A typical motorcycle could reach this speed if pushed to its limit. However, her three-wheeled motorcycle was very old, and it was currently raining, which would slightly impact her handling.
The moment she clicked accept, a mass of smoke appeared ahead, obscuring her vision. A few seconds later, the smoke cleared, revealing a multi-colored road.
The track was three meters wide, and various virtual gift packs were scattered on both sides, floating at a moderate height above the ground as if they had broken free from gravity. The gift packs were vibrant and colorful; some had gold coin patterns drawn on them, while others bore various food symbols.
!!!
Wasn’t this a real-life version of QQ Speed? Chu Yun could barely suppress the impulse in her heart.
The game was full of players who were starving and hadn’t eaten a square meal in days. Clearing the track within the time limit was already highly difficult, and having to resist the temptation of gold coins and delicious food made the difficulty spike even higher.
If one got slightly greedy and failed to manage their time properly, they would fail the challenge.
