A red heavy truck drove along an empty highway.
Wang Yan was driving, Guan Tong sat in the passenger seat, and Chen Na lay on the bunk in the back. Their destination was Yunhua City.
It was now July 9. Rule End had been over for days, and under the blazing sun, most of the snow on the roads had melted. The meltwater had turned the deep ditches along both sides of the highway into stretches of small rivers.
"Look at all this snowmelt. The sewers in the city must be overflowing," Wang Yan said. "Who knows how they'll deal with it."
"Mom, the sun is so strong now. Won't the water on the road dry up quickly?" Chen Na said from the bunk.
"Hmm, that makes sense." Wang Yan nodded, then asked Guan Tong in the passenger seat, "Xiao Guan, you're from Yunhua. Do you have any plans for when we get back?"
"Nothing much. Once I'm settled, I'll prepare for the next Apocalypse Rule as soon as possible," Guan Tong said.
Wang Yan sighed. "True. A month goes by fast. It's already the ninth today, and there'll be new rules in another twenty-odd days. Sigh, when will this ever end?"
"Aren't there forty-nine in total?" Chen Na was full of a child's optimism. "Four have already passed. That's, um... one-twelfth! It feels like it'll be over soon!"
Wang Yan smiled helplessly at that.
Children did not understand how cruel reality was, but she, as an adult, knew it all too well.
If most rules were like the second and third, where people could choose to forgo the challenge, that would be fine. But if there were many Survival Rules like the first and fourth mixed in, then every one of them would be a major trial.
Guan Tong