Home (7)

After a full day, the team had traveled dozens of kilometers and spent several hundred yuan. Thankfully, they had Ding Shi, a well-rounded all-rounder, which had reduced their losses somewhat.

At 11 p.m. on the first day, everyone successfully obtained their C1 driver's licenses. Nearly two meters tall, Sun Heaven came out of the testing hall clutching his license, and burst into tears when he saw Chu Yu and Ding Shi. Mu Mu had been calm at first—after all, she was the team's financial backer—but after repeated failures, her once starry eyes had turned utterly lifeless. When she finally got her license, she hugged Chu Yu and refused to let go no matter what.

As for Chu Yu, she had given up on the test from the very beginning. When everyone had tried driving on the way to South Yue County, her stalling rate had reached ninety percent. Even on the few occasions she barely succeeded, she would stall as soon as she shifted into second gear.

Under the streetlights outside the testing grounds, everyone sat on cardboard, eating compressed biscuits and drinking tap water. From time to time, shouts came from the waiting hall: "I passed! I passed!"

Chu Yu said, "Excluding today, we have six days left. Four thousand two hundred kilometers means we need to cover at least seven hundred kilometers a day."

Everyone nodded. It did not sound too difficult. On national highways, they could usually travel at eighty to a hundred kilometers per hour.

Chu Yu said, "We have 320 yuan left. Gas costs four yuan per liter, so we can buy another eighty liters. At five liters per hundred kilometers, 320 yuan will get us sixteen hundred kilometers. Besides traveling, we need to find a way to make money."

Brother Kai said, "Everything that can make money is written in the criminal code. We saw how formidable the mechanical police were today."

Ding Shi spoke up at the right moment. "While you were taking the test, I gathered some information and found a bug in this instance."

"A bug?"

Ding Shi nodded. "Simply put, where there's no phone signal, there's no law. All mechanical police can only operate within signal coverage. The AI world covers a wide area, but it doesn't have complete coverage. Also, look at the map."

Ding Shi unfolded the map and pointed at it. "The total distance from South Yue County to Southward City is 380 kilometers. But I found an unnamed road here. Taking it, the distance from South Yue County to Southward City is only 200 kilometers, and 120 kilometers of that route is the unnamed road."

Chu Yu asked, "You mean the unnamed road might be outside signal coverage?"

Ding Shi nodded. "I think the unnamed road is not only outside signal coverage, but also a dangerous zone. We might even encounter humans resisting AI rule. My guess is that they destroyed the base stations to create a no-signal zone."

Ding Shi added, "Besides that, there are many small roads like the unnamed road. Almost every province has two or three of them. The most extreme one is Blackwater Gully Road. A route that was originally 600 kilometers gets shortened directly to 170 kilometers."

Brother Kai asked, "Blackwater Gully Road? The Blackwater Gully where Feilang, the wanted axe-thrower, is?" He recalled the wanted poster they had seen in South-South Village.

Ding Shi nodded. "That's the situation. I'll follow the captain's arrangements."

Chu Yu looked at the map. "Who's the wanted criminal on the unnamed road?"

Everyone shook their heads. "No idea."

Chu Yu said, "If we go through the no-signal zone, we might be able to obtain some resources." Resources included gasoline and money, things that could only be acquired through monetary transactions within signal coverage.

Ding Shi said, "There's no telling whether we can obtain resources in a no-signal zone. But in signal coverage, we basically have no way to get resources. Besides, if we really manage to catch one or two wanted criminals, we won't have to worry about travel expenses for the rest of the journey."

Everyone waited for Chu Yu's decision. After a long while, Chu Yu said, "If we can find no-signal zones on the map, other players can find them too."

Ding Shi disagreed. "Other players can only discover shortcuts. Not many people will know about so-called no-signal zones."

Chu Yu asked, "How did you know about no-signal zones?"

Ding Shi answered, "It's only a guess. There's a library next to the testing grounds. It mentioned obstacles to AI development, including no-signal zones where coverage is difficult. There are many factors that can create a no-signal zone: disrupted magnetic fields, terrain obstruction, or human sabotage."

Ding Shi said, "There just happened to be a road called Blackwater Gully Road, and we just happened to see a wanted poster related to Blackwater Gully today. That led me to make the association that Blackwater Gully Road might be a no-signal zone. Based on that assumption, I found roads similar to Blackwater Gully Road and discovered that they were all shortcuts."

Brother Kai said, "So the choice now is either to honestly take the national highway or risk taking a shortcut. A shortcut not only shortens the journey, but might also let us obtain resources. But there could also be major danger. Taking the national highway guarantees we remain under AI protection. AI also protects other players and NPCs, so there are almost no opportunities to commit crimes."

Brother Kai looked at Chu Yu. "Yu Yu, whatever you decide, I'll support you."

If they died in an instance or failed to complete the main mission, they would be forcibly transported to Four Symbols City and become residents of North City—the lowest class of residents. It was also a one-way transfer, with no chance to return to an instance.

From certain perspectives, the cost of death and failure was still quite high. Everyone would rather complete two casual instances, obtain a one-way ticket, and take control of their own fate.

Chu Yu asked, "We don't have enough money for travel right now. If we take the national highway, is there any way to obtain resources?"

Brother Kai answered, "Skyeye coverage within cities is close to saturation, so getting resources in a city is extremely difficult. But national highways are different. The area of blind spots is larger than the area monitored by Skyeye. However, there are patrol officers and undercover officers on the highways. There may even be Skyeyes hidden in the grass by the roadside."

Chu Yu said, "My question is, are we qualified to be thieves? Or qualified to be robbers? Let me ask you: if an NPC family is camping by the road, would you go up and rob them? If they resist, would you kill them? To avoid being exposed, would you silence their children too?"

No one answered.

Chu Yu said, "It seems we can only try our luck in the no-signal zone."

"I disagree," Ding Shi said.

"Hm?" Everyone was confused. Hadn't Ding Shi said he would follow the arrangements? He did not seem like the type to say one thing and mean another.

Ding Shi said, "When our survival is in danger, you can't even bear to harm NPCs on the national highway. What makes you qualified to risk entering a no-signal zone?"

Sun Heaven rarely spoke, but he refuted him. "Because everyone in the no-signal zone is a bad person. We won't feel burdened if we take action."

Ding Shi thought for a moment. "I reserve my opinion, but I'll follow the arrangements."

Chu Yu had basically figured out what everyone was thinking. "All right, we'll take the shortcut. Brother Kai, is there a way to gather weapons?"

Brother Kai answered, "I just checked several trash cans. The contents were all extremely uniform—nothing but foam and cardboard. I suspect the system opened a back door for us, allowing us to survive by selling recyclables."

Chu Yu nodded. "Everyone rest for another fifteen minutes. Sun Heaven, you're in charge of filling the empty bottles with water. Brother Kai will drive tonight, and Ding Shi will navigate. Everyone else rests, then we'll switch shifts tomorrow morning. Brother Kai, Ding Shi, if you get tired, find a safe place to pull over and rest. You can judge the situation yourselves."

Ding Shi and Brother Kai answered, "Okay."