Chapter 274 - 148: Intercept

Chapter 274: Chapter 148: Intercept

Some of the cars, sedans mostly, looked intact with their windows rolled up tight. You could even make out the silhouettes of personal belongings inside, as if their owners had only just stepped away and would be back soon. But the dust-caked windows, the flat tires, and the weeds stubbornly pushing through the cracks revealed the harsh truth of time’s passage.

Other vehicles lay overturned at the bottom of embankments, their frames severely mangled. The driver’s compartments were empty. Perhaps the drivers and passengers had long since joined the ranks of the wandering dead, or maybe they had fled or died in the early days of the cataclysm.

These abandoned vehicles didn’t just block the road; they also created a powerful sense of visual and psychological oppression. Xu Mo had no choice but to constantly slow down, scan his surroundings, and search for a gap to squeeze through.

In these conditions, making good time was a pipe dream.

Moreover, Xu Mo had learned a lesson he hadn’t fully appreciated before: never, ever try to take an overpass or an interchange.

How did he learn this lesson? The experience hadn’t been pleasant, but the outcome was seared into his memory. This was the tuition fee for surviving the apocalypse—sometimes steep, but always mandatory.

The morning passed in this slow, cautious manner.

By noon, the sun had grown vicious. On the highway and the barren lands on either side, the shimmering air itself spoke of the oppressive heat.

Xu Mo kept one hand on the steering wheel and rested the other on the edge of the rolled-down window, his gaze sweeping vigilantly ahead and to the sides.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Xu Mo spotted an unusual plume of dust slowly rising far ahead to his left, near the horizon.

At first, Xu Mo paid it no mind. It was common for the wind to kick up dust in the wasteland. Besides, the plume was still a great distance away, and its path seemed to run roughly parallel to his own, just slightly to the south.

However, as time passed and his vehicle moved forward, Xu Mo gradually sensed something wasn’t right.

That distant plume of dust... it seemed to be moving too. And its trajectory... was slowly converging with his own! What had been a nearly parallel course was gradually becoming a distinct angle. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before they intersected.

’A coincidence? Or...’ A prickle of alarm went through him. Any unusual activity warranted caution.

He reduced his speed slightly, grabbing the pair of high-powered military binoculars from the passenger seat. He rolled down the window, propped the binoculars on the frame, and aimed them toward the rising dust.

Through the lenses, the distant scenery leaped into focus. The swirling dust obscured his view somewhat, but at the very head of the plume, Xu Mo faintly made out a fast-moving... black dot?

The black dot was moving incredibly fast, standing out starkly against the obstacle-strewn wasteland. It wasn’t running in a straight line; it would dip into hollows and crest over mounds, but its general direction was, without a doubt, toward him.

Xu Mo adjusted the focus, trying to get a clearer view.

A dozen or so seconds later, as the black dot crossed a relatively open, flat stretch of land, Xu Mo finally saw it clearly—it was a person!

A person running across the wasteland at an astonishing speed!

Xu Mo stared, stunned for a moment, at the sight of a running person. Then he instinctively glanced down at his SUV’s speedometer—the needle was wavering slightly between 35 and 40 kilometers per hour.

Then, the implication hit him.

Xu Mo clearly remembered that when he’d first spotted the dust, the person had been almost level with him, perhaps even a little behind. But now, not only had they overtaken him, they were cutting across at a diagonal angle, aiming to intercept his path up ahead.

What did that mean?

It meant their running speed exceeded forty kilometers per hour, and over complex, wasteland terrain at that.

This was a speed no ordinary human could achieve, far surpassing even highly trained professional athletes.

"Holy hell..." Xu Mo couldn’t help but mutter in amazement. He lowered the binoculars, his gaze turning razor-sharp.

’A Superpower User! And a rogue one at that. Their Superpower is probably related to speed or physical enhancement.’

After the initial shock, Xu Mo’s mind raced through an analysis. ’For them to approach me this brazenly and at such high speed means a few things. First, they spotted me a long time ago. Second, they want something from me; otherwise, they could have just gone around. Third, they don’t seem to be planning a surprise attack, choosing a direct approach instead... They can’t be hostile, right?’

But of one thing, Xu Mo was fairly certain: if they had harbored a powerful, immediate intent to kill him, they probably would have chosen a more covert method of ambush, not exposed themselves from a distance and sprinted straight at him.

Regardless, they were coming for him. There was no avoiding it.

Instead of accelerating, Xu Mo gradually slowed down, bringing the vehicle to a steady stop on a relatively open stretch of highway shoulder.

After parking, Xu Mo pushed open the door and got out.

He walked about ten meters in front of the car and stopped. Since they had already seen him and were clearly making a beeline for him, standing out in the open to gauge their reaction was a strategy in itself.

In the apocalypse, a measured display of calm and strength could sometimes prevent unnecessary conflict.

The person on the horizon clearly saw Xu Mo stop and get out of his car to wait. What made Xu Mo’s eye twitch, however, was that their speed—already incredibly fast—seemed to kick up another notch. Their figure became even more of a blur, and the trail of dust they kicked up grew thicker, resembling an earthen dragon hugging the ground as it charged straight for him.