Night fell.
The wind sweeping across the wasteland was no longer the dry heat of daytime. It had turned into a bone-piercing steel blade.
In the rearview mirror, the gray wall of fog that devoured everything had disappeared far behind him.
As Lin Hui drove the RV, he opened the system and glanced at the blood-red countdown:
[Time until the Gray Fog arrives: 08:59:32] [Distance from the Gray Fog: approximately 270 kilometers]
Lin Hui parked behind a sheltered mound and pulled up the handbrake.
Even with "Infinite Fuel," he couldn't keep driving forever.
People needed rest, and the vehicle needed it even more.
Especially the front-left tire-the vehicle panel showed moderate wear.
"I need to find tires and repair tools as soon as possible."
Lin Hui drew a quiet breath and began inspecting his RV.
The interior of this Lv.1 civilian RV could hardly be called spacious.
Apart from the cab, the living area was only two meters wide and three meters long.
A simple folding table and two facing bench seats served as a dining area.
At the back was a single bed just 1.2 meters wide, with one pillow and a thin set of bedding.
The bathroom in the corner was pitifully small. Its toilet was a basic direct-discharge model, and there was barely room to turn around.
"It's a little crude, but it's still much better than what most players have." Lin Hui shook his head.
Just then, a piercing howl swept past the windows.
Whooo-!
Immediately afterward, the temperature inside the RV plummeted.
His breath instantly turned into white mist. Frost formed on the windows almost visibly.
[Regional announcement: Attention, players in the C-996 Region. A cold wave has struck!] [The ambient temperature has dropped sharply to -10°C and will continue falling.] [Warning: Low temperatures cause loss of body heat, sluggish reactions, and a slight decrease in Sanity.] [Survivors, please find a heat source or a warm location as soon as possible!]
"This game won't even let us catch our breath!"
Lin Hui rubbed his stiffening fingers and opened the [Regional Chat Channel], which had been flashing a red notification dot.
Even someone as mentally resilient as him couldn't help feeling his pupils narrow at what he saw.
[Current regional survivors: 7,001,248 / 10,000,000]
Only seven or eight hours had passed.
Their region had already lost a full three million players!
Where had those three million people gone?
Had they run out of fuel and been swallowed by the Gray Fog behind them? Or had the Zombies and Mutants mentioned by the system killed them?
The panic in the chat channel was colder than the cold wave itself.
"It's so cold... I can't feel my feet. Can anyone save me...?"
"Damn it, why is the air conditioner blowing cold air?! Is this piece of junk broken?!"
"You idiot above, how do you expect heat with the engine off? You have to start it!"
"I don't dare start it! I've only got 20% fuel left! If I turn on the heat, how am I supposed to escape tomorrow? That Gray Fog is still chasing us!"
"Boohoo... I'd rather be bitten to death by a monster than freeze to death..."
"Who has fuel? I'll trade instant noodles!"
"I have a gun, and I'll trade it for gasoline too! Please!"
"This game gives us no way to survive! No fuel means death, and no heating means death too!"
Despair.
Even through the screen, Lin Hui could sense the overpowering despair.
On this highway of death, fuel wasn't merely a source of power. It was the lifeline that kept their bodies warm.
To warm themselves, they had to burn fuel, running the engine to power the heater.
But once their fuel ran out, the Gray Fog would catch up and devour them tomorrow.
It was a death trap with no escape.
But for Lin Hui...
He glanced at the fuel gauge, which remained firmly pinned to "full."
"A death trap? Not for me."
Without a moment's hesitation, Lin Hui reached out and turned the heater dial on the center console all the way up.
Maximum airflow!
Maximum temperature!
"Whoosh..."
In barely a dozen seconds, waves of hot air poured from the vents.
The frost melted, and the chill dispersed.
Inside the cramped RV, the thermometer's needle climbed rapidly.
Zero degrees... ten degrees... twenty degrees... twenty-six degrees!
Lin Hui took off his outdoor jacket and leaned comfortably back in the driver's seat, wearing only a thin T-shirt.
"It's actually a little hot."
He casually adjusted a vent, then looked at the things inside the RV.
During his earlier seven-to-eight-hundred-kilometer dash, he had used his speed advantage to reach over a hundred supply crates ahead of everyone else.
According to the system announcement, this region had ten million players but only a hundred thousand supply crates-a ratio of 100 to 1.
Lin Hui opened all hundred-plus supply crates.
He obtained over fifty portions of Universal Fuel. Everything else was food, appliances, or everyday necessities.
Lin Hui sorted them into categories.
[Strategic Supplies]: Universal Fuel - 55 portions Tires - 8 units ... [Food]: Mineral water (500 ml) - 24 bottles Compressed biscuits (100 g) - 15 packs Want Want Snow Cakes (100 g) - 10 packs Lay's Potato Chips (70 g) - 6 bags Coca-Cola (330 ml) - 11 bottles Braised Beef Noodles (cup) - 11 cups Country-Style Marinated Eggs - 5 packs Shuanghui Ham Sausages - 7 sausages Lettuce (100 g) - 1 portion Corn (100 g) - 12 ears Lamb Hot Pot Meal - 1 set ... [Appliances]: Electric kettles - 2 Induction cookers - 2 Rechargeable high-powered flashlights - 3 ...
Lin Hui's eyes lit up at the supplies filling his RV.
What mattered most in an apocalypse?
Supplies, without a doubt!
With a little rationing, the supplies before him could keep an ordinary person alive for a month!
The only inconvenience was that the system hadn't even provided a backpack. With so many things piled inside, the RV was far too crowded.
The fifty-five portions of Universal Fuel, in particular, took up too much space.
But to those people in the chat channel who were about to freeze solid, Universal Fuel was liquid gold-their last hope of survival.
With that in mind, Lin Hui opened the Regional Channel.
His gaze calm, he typed a line into the Regional Channel.
[For sale: 1 portion of Universal Fuel. Message me privately if interested!]
The moment his message appeared, the chat channel's chorus of anguish briefly fell silent, then exploded!
"Holy shit! Someone's actually selling fuel?!"
"Are you crazy?! That's a hundred kilometers of survival! Does this guy own a gas station?"
"Bro, can you give it to me for free? I'm freezing to death."
"Lin Hui: No!"
"Heartless! You'll get what's coming to you!"
"Shut up, you! I'll buy it! I'll buy it! Bro, check your private messages!"
In less than ten minutes,
Lin Hui traded ten portions of gasoline for the supplies he wanted.
They included water, bread, and other food.
To his delight, one portion of Universal Gasoline earned him an Axe Gun, though it had only three rounds left.
Lin Hui put the Axe Gun in his backpack, planning to examine it later.
Right now, he was hungry.
His gaze swept across the neatly arranged supplies before settling on the Lamb Hot Pot Meal. He hadn't expected a supply crate to contain something like that.
He tore open the mineral water packaging and poured the water into the induction cooker.
He plugged it in.
He pressed the switch.
An ordinary player would never have dared use an induction cooker right now. The vehicle battery's meager charge would run out before it could boil a kettle of water, leaving the vehicle unable to start.
But Lin Hui's [Infinite Fuel] had the property of "converting excess energy into electricity," and the generator was pumping out a relentless surge of current.
Forget boiling water-it could easily power a welding machine.
Bubble, bubble...
Two minutes later, the water boiled.
Lin Hui opened the Lamb Hot Pot Meal. Inside were soup stock, 1.5 kilograms of lamb, sesame paste, chili sauce, assorted vegetables, and glass noodles.
Quite a spread... Pleased, Lin Hui added the Mushroom Hot Pot Base to the boiling water.
During the three-minute wait, he looked outside again.
The wind sounded even more piercing now, like countless restless souls wailing.
In the Regional Channel:
"I can't take it anymore... It's too cold... My hands have already turned black..."
"Does anyone have food? I'm so hungry. I'll trade my body for a piece of bread. I'm an F-cup..."
"Who has the energy for that at a time like this? Give it a rest."
"I just drank some cold water, and now my stomach is cramping. It hurts so much I want to die."
"Mom... I want to go home..."
As he read those lines filled with despair, Lin Hui began adding the lamb.
Clouds of hot white steam rose, blurring his face.
He picked up a large piece of lamb, coated it in sesame paste, and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Whew-"
The piping-hot meat slid down his throat into his stomach. The rush of satisfaction made every pore in his body relax.
[Ding! Consumed delicious, high-calorie food.] [Status updated: Full.] [Sanity recovering slightly... Current: 100/100 (overflowing at maximum)] [Assessment: In the apocalypse, a mouthful of hot soup is more precious than gold.]
Lin Hui took a long drink of lamb broth. Feeling the fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead, he glanced again at the dark, frozen wasteland outside.
Outside was hell. Inside was heaven.
"This is only the first day."
Lin Hui murmured to himself and put the last mouthful of lamb into his mouth, his eyes looking especially deep through the rising steam.
"If I want to keep living like this... this RV has to get stronger."
Just then, a dull thud came from the door.
It was followed by the grating screech of sharp claws scraping across sheet metal.
Screeech-!
Lin Hui's hand froze in midair, still holding his fork, and his gaze instantly sharpened like a blade.
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