Chapter 366 - 176: Rain City

Chapter 366: Chapter 176: Rain City

Once out of Linchuan City, the road was still smooth.

Xu Mo drove, continuing southeast along the highway. At this rate, if the road ahead remained this clear, he estimated it would only take a few days to reach Ming Pearl Port.

Xu Mo glanced at the odometer on the dashboard, then at the distance marked on the map—the straight-line distance from Linchuan City to Ming Pearl Port was about 1,500 kilometers. At a rate of three hundred kilometers per day, it would take five days. Even with some delays on the road, he should be able to arrive within a week.

’Almost there!’

Thanks to the notice from Ming Pearl Port, which listed the cities they had cleared, Xu Mo only had to follow the markers on the map from one point to the next.

Of course, he didn’t need to visit every single one. As long as he stuck to the main route and passed through a few key locations to check on the situation, it would be enough.

On the first day, Xu Mo arrived at Qing’an County. It was a small county town, with a pre-apocalypse population of about two or three hundred thousand. According to the notice, this place had already been cleared by Ming Pearl Port’s combat units.

Xu Mo drove into the county town and circled the streets. The town was desolate, much like Linchuan City. The streets were overgrown with withered, yellow weeds, and the buildings on both sides were in ruins. He could occasionally see a few zombie corpses, all of them desiccated and blackened.

But when Xu Mo looked closer, he found there weren’t many zombie corpses—just a few scattered skeletons, half-hidden by the weeds.

On the second day, Xu Mo reached Yongning County.

Like Qing’an County, it was utterly desolate. The streets were empty, and the buildings were dilapidated and barren.

Xu Mo circled the county town again, trying to find the so-called supply caches. According to the notice, every reclaimed area was supposed to have supply caches storing basic necessities like food, medicine, and tools, but after searching for a long time, he came up empty.

This made Xu Mo feel that something was wrong.

Next, Xu Mo reached Changyi City. He searched several main streets, trying to find any trace of the supply caches, but still came up empty-handed. 𝐟𝒓ℯⅇ

Having found no supplies, Xu Mo went to a few gas stations to see if there was any fuel left. But the storage tanks at those stations were empty, without a single drop remaining.

Xu Mo stood before the abandoned gas station, lost in thought.

’If someone had taken the supplies in Qing’an County and Yongning County, that would be plausible. But Changyi City is so large; it’s impossible that all the supplies have been taken. And those supply caches should have been set up in relatively hidden locations. It’s impossible for all of them to have been discovered.’

’Unless...’

A thought flashed through Xu Mo’s mind. ’Unless... there were never any supply caches to begin with.’

’Or rather, those supply caches were never established. The things mentioned in the notice were what they had intended to do, but ultimately failed to accomplish.’

’Why did they fail? Did something happen to that military unit?’

Xu Mo shook his head, pushing these questions aside for now and continuing on his way.

Over the next few days, Xu Mo passed through several more towns, and the result was the same every time, without exception.

Desolate cities, empty streets, dilapidated buildings. No supplies, no information, nothing at all.

He did, however, occasionally spot a few scattered zombies. These zombies were nearly dehydrated from the intense heat, their skin shriveled and their movements sluggish. Some were even lying on the ground, only twitching their bodies occasionally to show they were still alive.

Zombies like these wouldn’t pose a threat to an ordinary person, let alone to Xu Mo.

Xu Mo dispatched a few of them with ease, wasting little time.

But as time went on, a sense of dread began to weigh on Xu Mo. It wasn’t because of the missing supplies, but because of the missing information.

The closer he got to Ming Pearl Port, the more the mysteries piled up.

On the evening of the fourth day, Xu Mo arrived at a place called Huangtugang Town.

It was a small town, with a population of only a few thousand people. According to the notice, this place had also been cleared.

Xu Mo drove into the small town and circled the streets. The zombies here had indeed been cleared out, but there were still no supplies, let alone any fuel.

Xu Mo glanced at the instrument panel. The fuel tank was almost empty.

After pouring his last spare can of fuel into the tank, Xu Mo calculated that, given his current fuel consumption, he could drive for another five hundred kilometers at most.

’I’m currently about a thousand kilometers from Ming Pearl Port. That means I might have to start walking when I’m still five hundred kilometers away.’

An image flashed through Xu Mo’s mind: himself, weighed down by heavy packs, trudging along a desolate highway. A horde of zombies was in hot pursuit behind him, and the road ahead stretched endlessly into the distance...

"Well, that would be just great," Xu Mo muttered, shaking the image from his mind.

Of course, he wasn’t completely without options.

’The simplest method is to use the Door. A car door is still a door, after all. If I open this one, I should be able to appear inside another car somewhere else. Then I can just take a container and siphon fuel directly. The method is simple and effective, but I don’t want to use it.’

Ever since he’d used the Door to escape a Tier-3 zombie’s attack back in Luochuan City, Xu Mo had come to a new understanding of its uses. He used to think of the Door as just a mobile warehouse for storing supplies. But now, he saw that its greatest purpose was to save his life.