If one were to look with the naked eye, the fierce sun hanging high in the sky at this moment seemed no different from those in previous summers. The dazzling sunlight spilled down from the blue sky, reaching all the way to the human world, only then revealing its terrifying and vicious nature.
On every street, there were human corpses covered in scalds, shriveled up and curled into balls. The buildings had cracked under the high temperature, and some houses with poor quality had long since collapsed into piles of debris resembling small hills. The ground was cracked, and occasionally, a relatively robust degenerated species could be seen wandering among the ruins.
In just the past two months, every day, the temperature had continued to rise. By today, all traces of human existence had melted away in the high temperature, making it hard to believe that this had once been a highly developed human civilization.
The air was dry and hot, and no one knew where all the rivers, lakes, and seas that had evaporated over these days had gone. Looking around, there was not a single trace of green in sight. Wherever the truck rumbled past, it would immediately stir up thick yellow dust clouds that were half a person's height, making it almost difficult to see.
Lin Sanjiu, sitting in the driver's seat of the truck, couldn't help but glance at the rearview mirror.
Behind her, there was another freight truck of the same model, and following closely behind was a long public bus. These were not the focus of Lin Sanjiu's attention. She squinted her eyes and carefully looked at a column of black smoke rising in the distance in the sky.
The place where the black smoke was rising was the shopping mall where they had taken shelter for a month.
After living there for so long, they finally had to leave... Lin Sanjiu's thoughts couldn't help but return to a month ago.
After Lin Sanjiu accidentally discovered the fully stocked supermarket warehouse, the three of them were overjoyed at that time. They didn't even need to count. Just by looking with their eyes, they could tell that the food and water stored in the warehouse were definitely enough for them to last for 14 months. And living in the underground supermarket, they didn't have to worry about the direct sunlight. It was truly an ideal situation!
The only problem was still that small patch of tropical forest in the outside hall.
After all, people were all贪图安逸. The few of them discussed and felt that in the current situation, as long as they stayed in the underground supermarket and didn't go out, the plant forest outside couldn't do anything to them. Coincidentally, they had experienced several thrilling days recently, which had consumed a lot of their physical strength. Under the pretext of recuperating and adjusting, the three of them simply settled down in the supermarket.
This recuperation lasted for a full two or three weeks. Since they didn't have to worry about food and drink, and with the iron door closed and no external enemies, the three of them lived a relatively comfortable life for the first time in the New World. So much so that a month later, when Lin Sanjiu accidentally pinched her waist, she found that she had gained some weight.
To be honest, the amount of fat was not much, but it immediately reminded her of domesticated livestock. During these days, not only had she not developed any abilities, but her movements had also become much slower. Due to the lack of a sense of crisis, for several days, she even slept through in the dim underground...
If this went on, it would definitely be more harmful than beneficial to herself. The three of them discussed and decided that they still had to go out for patrols. One reason was to check the nearby situation, and the other was to exercise themselves by the way.
The idea was good, but unexpectedly, as soon as they opened the iron door, the three of them were stunned.
It was a little past four in the afternoon when they opened the door, but the elevator leading to the first-floor hall was still shrouded in thick darkness.
Lin Sanjiu looked ahead stupidly and asked in a low voice, "Could it be that the sun sets so early now?"
Lu Ze was stunned and couldn't say a word. Suddenly, Mace pointed with her hand and exclaimed, "Look!" Lin Sanjiu and Lu Ze followed the direction she pointed and were immediately chilled to the bone.
The patch of darkness covering the elevator seemed to sense something and moved slightly. With this movement, a ray of sunlight immediately spilled in, revealing half of the green with intertwined branches and leaves. Only then did the three of them realize that the reason it was pitch black outside the iron door was that it was completely blocked by the plants.
Then, more and more shadows started to move. Dozens of green vines, large and small, dense and numerous, seemed to come to life one after another as if they had smelled the scent of humans, and slowly stretched their heads towards the direction of the iron door. I don't know who shouted first, but none of the three dared to delay. They turned around and rushed back into the supermarket, and with a bang, they pulled down the iron door.
The green vines slapped against the iron door, and the thick iron door actually caved in with several bulges.
It seemed that if they went out and patrolled a few more times, this iron door wouldn't be able to hold up anymore.
Back in the supermarket, the expressions of the three of them were extremely ugly. No one had expected that so quickly, they had changed from voluntarily withdrawing from the world to not being able to get out now.
"We can't stay in this place anymore..." Lin Sanjiu forced a smile, "What do you think we should do now?"
"Even if we're leaving, we must take the things in the warehouse with us." Mace gritted her teeth and said.
"It's not difficult to take the things. We can find a few large trucks outside and move as much as we can. The problem is... how do we get out now? The only passage is completely blocked by those damned vines." Lin Sanjiu asked with a worried face.
The three of them were silent for a while. Suddenly, Lu Ze let out an "ah" and then jumped up like a carp. He turned around and ran towards the back of the supermarket, shouting loudly as he ran, "The elevator entrance isn't the only passage! Sanjiu, take the key! There's another door at the back!"
This reminder hit Mace. She clapped her hands, and her face immediately lit up: "That's right! How could I have forgotten that!" She pulled Lin Sanjiu, and they also rushed up in a hurry.
In a few seconds, the three of them were standing at the back door of the supermarket. Since Lin Sanjiu had emerged from the staff room, Lu Ze and Mace had completely forgotten about this back door. This was the first time Lin Sanjiu knew that there was actually a back door that led to who knew where.
While silently praying, she opened the door with the key.
Heaven was still kind to them. Behind the door was a narrow slope. When they walked out from the slope, they found themselves standing behind the shopping mall together with a row of huge trash cans. This seemed to be the place where the supermarket staff cleaned tools and disposed of garbage. As soon as they walked out from here, they quickly saw a small road.
Looking at the shopping mall covered with green shoots through the glass, the few of them for the first time thought that the cracked and blackened small road was actually so lovely.
What they had to do next was clear.
First, they needed to find three vehicles. Finding the vehicles wasn't difficult. Almost 80% of the people were dead, and the city was full of cars with keys still in them, abandoned after being run out of fuel and electricity. With almost no effort, the three of them found two large freight trucks and a public bus.
They took batteries from the auto repair shop and replaced them, and filled several boxes of gasoline from the gas station. Finally, the vehicles could move. They drove the three large vehicles to the small road in one go and managed to park them side by side with some difficulty.
The food and water from the supermarket filled the three vehicles to the brim, and there was still a lot left in the warehouse. However, the few of them weren't greedy. What was on the vehicles was already enough, and the remaining items were stacked on both sides of the street for other survivors.
Before leaving, Lin Sanjiu brought several barrels of gasoline, and Lu Ze and Mace prepared a whole box of wine.
"Are you ready?" Lin Sanjiu held a heavy brick and smiled at her companions beside her. Seeing the two of them nodding, she shouted, "Okay, start throwing!"
With Lu Ze's excited shout, bricks, stones, chairs, and all kinds of things were thrown towards the glass doors and windows of the shopping mall covered with green plants like a meteor shower.
A series of clear sounds resounded through half of the street. Glass shards fell like rain, fluttering down from the air and shining with countless sparkling lights in the dark night sky.
The branches and leaves covering the glass were startled and swayed in the air, not knowing who to attack for a moment. But before they could find the culprits by following the scent of humans, bottle after bottle of strong liquor and barrel after barrel of gasoline flew in through the broken glass and landed on the plants, splashing everywhere.
The final step of setting the fire required a bit of skill. Mace, the fastest and lightest among the three, held four or five lit matches in her hand. Like a fleeing rabbit, she rushed to the entrance of the shopping mall and with a flick of her hand, several sparks landed far into the greenery.
The flames spread hissing and crackling, not quickly but steadily. Soon, the first floor was filled with a red glow. Before it had been burning for five minutes, a sharp hissing sound came from the hall of the shopping mall, as if something was in pain, and all the leaves waved frantically.
For some reason, Lin Sanjiu actually felt a long-lost sense of pleasure. She laughed heartily a few times, waved her hand at the two beside her, and shouted with a laugh, "Let's get out of here!" After that, she took the lead and ran out first.
Just as the few of them ran out for a street, with a loud "boom", the glass on the top floor of the shopping mall collapsed due to the fire and pressed down with an irresistible force, and half of the building disappeared into the flames.
The truck and the bus had been parked far away earlier. The three of them each drove a vehicle, facing the last bit of starlight before the sunrise, and set foot on an unknown journey...
Shaking her head, Lin Sanjiu shook off the scenes of last night from her mind.
With a solemn expression, she looked at the rearview mirror again. Then she turned on the taillights, and the large truck slowly decelerated and pulled over to the side of the road.
The truck driven by Lu Ze and the bus driven by Mace behind also gradually slowed down one by one and followed suit to stop.
"What's going on? Why did we stop?" Lu Ze rolled down the car window and shouted in Lin Sanjiu's direction.
Lin Sanjiu pushed open the car door, jumped out, and stood in the middle of the road, holding a police baton in her hand.
"There are people following us." She frowned, enduring the yellow sand in the air.