Chapter 270 - 267: Yellow Sand

Chapter 270: Chapter 267: Yellow Sand

Seeing that Meng Hu was constantly moving, she felt a bit relieved. But if they paused for even a moment, the sand would begin to bury their ankles.

Chen Xing thought the desert was terrifying.

She had Zheng Weinan start the bulldozer quickly.

After pulling the SUV out of the sand herself, she and Meng Hu got in and drove forward.

It actually worked. As long as they were moving, they didn’t get buried.

’But the journey is at least another two days. Who can go that long without sleep?’

However, for now, it seemed their only option was to tough it out and keep driving.

By nightfall, their exhaustion was obvious.

At Chen Xing’s request, Zheng Weinan abandoned the bulldozer and got into her car.

Zheng Weinan insisted on taking the first shift, driving through the first half of the night.

He did a good job. Seeing Chen Xing sleeping so soundly, he decided not to wake her.

It was three in the morning when Chen Xing finally woke up.

Zheng Weinan’s eyes were bloodshot. He moved to the passenger seat and was asleep within two minutes.

Chen Xing saw the gas tank was almost empty, so she had no choice but to stop the car.

She had a can of fuel ready in the trunk. By the time she finished refilling the tank, the car had already sunk halfway into the desert.

Chen Xing looked at the desert. It was as if it were alive.

’Otherwise, how could it possibly swallow something so big, so quickly?’

’And there isn’t even a sandstorm.’

Even a storm couldn’t bury an object this fast.

Chen Xing, wearing gloves, grabbed a handful of sand.

The fine sand in her hand was no different from ordinary sand.

After tossing the sand away, Chen Xing suddenly felt something move beneath her feet.

’...Something definitely just swam past my feet.’

’But this isn’t water.’

Warily, Chen Xing pulled the car free from the sand. She jumped in, started the engine, and sped away.

’There’s definitely something under the sand!’

Chen Xing had no desire to run into any more bizarre creatures.

In her previous life, she had mostly operated in the central and southern regions. She had never been to the west, let alone seen a desert.

’I can’t believe there are monsters even in a place this desolate.’

Chen Xing slammed her foot on the accelerator.

She noticed that as long as they kept moving, they wouldn’t sink.

’It’s as if the monster doesn’t attack moving targets.’

Zheng Weinan didn’t wake up until noon.

Staring out at the endless desert, he felt his hope draining away. "Do you think anyone is still alive in the Huaiyang City safe zone?"

’This desert seems capable of swallowing anything. What’s to guarantee the Huaiyang City safe zone hasn’t been buried?’

"Maybe the people in the Huaiyang City safe zone figured out a way to deal with the desertification," Chen Xing suggested, though she wasn’t certain.

But people were resourceful.

They had managed to build safe zones in an age overrun by zombies.

They could find ways to cope with desertification, too.

Humans might seem insignificant, but when faced with real danger, they always find a way to survive.

Before long, Chen Xing’s theory was proven correct.

It turned out that when faced with hardship, human ingenuity skyrocketed.

「A few hours later」, while passing through a city, they saw people living in the skyscrapers.

These people had originally lived in a safe zone outside the city. But as the desertification worsened and buried the lower buildings, they saw the writing on the wall and immediately relocated back into the city.

As the sand continued to rise, they were forced to keep moving higher and higher.

As Chen Xing, Meng Hu, and Zheng Weinan drove through the city, they saw people in the tops of high-rise buildings that jutted out from the sand.

It was impossible to guess how tall these buildings originally were; now only three or four stories were visible.

But now she faced a problem.

She didn’t dare to stop.

If she stopped, the car might be swallowed completely, making it impossible to keep going.

’Of course, this was only a problem with Zheng Weinan around. If I were alone, I could come and go as I please, or just enter my dimensional home to sleep.’

"Do you want to get out and take a look?"

This place wasn’t close to Huaiyang City, but the western region was vast. It was possible that people from Huaiyang City had already retreated here.

Zheng Weinan stared blankly at the buildings and asked, "If the desert keeps rising, will these people all die here?"

"No," Chen Xing replied firmly.

Since they chose to hide here, they must have already considered what would happen if the sand kept rising.

’She guessed every building must have vehicles capable of traversing the desert.’

Zheng Weinan looked up at the upper floors of the residential area.

Not a single person poked their head out to look.

After all, besides the threat of the sand, the zombies were also a danger that couldn’t be ignored.

"Let’s drive a circle around the outside. Maybe I can try shouting?"

Chen Xing didn’t object.

"Mom...! Mom...! Mom... It’s Weinan... Mom...!"

One cry after another.

Sure enough, someone peeked out to see who was shouting so desperately, risking their life.

If a zombie showed up then, the result would have been tragic.

At that moment, Zheng Weinan’s mother was indeed in this city.

However, she was in a different part of it. She heard the shouts but couldn’t make out the words.

And so, mother and son missed each other by a hair’s breadth.

After a long time with no response, Chen Xing and Zheng Weinan set off again, continuing toward Huaiyang City.

Seeing the survivors living in that city only deepened his depression.

Judging by the desert’s progression, the sand was moving from the direction of Huaiyang City.

’If his mom was in Huaiyang City, her chances of survival were slim to none.’

「After another half day of driving」, Chen Xing saw a sandstorm brewing in the desert ahead.

The sky turned a sickly yellow, as if a terrifying darkness was about to descend.

And the most terrifying thing was that within the dusky yellow sand, something else seemed to be swirling.

What it was exactly, no one knew.

With Zheng Weinan by her side, she didn’t want to take any risks.

So, she immediately turned the car around and drove back.

She was already driving at top speed, but the sandstorm behind them showed no signs of letting up. As darkness fell, it continued to chase them.

’That’s it!’

’It feels like a chase.’

They were still over an hour away from the previous city.

She had a megaphone ready. While still a long way off, she began broadcasting a warning about the approaching storm.

When the broadcast reached the residents living in the city’s highest floors, most were still asleep.

In the post-apocalyptic world, there wasn’t much to do, so people tended to go to bed early.

Woken by the shouts, they heard the warning of an approaching sandstorm. The threat didn’t seem to be new to them, as they immediately jumped up and began packing light.

By the time Chen Xing and Zheng Weinan reached the edge of the city, they could already see a convoy of vehicles on the move.

The sandstorm behind them was hard to see in the dark, but it carried a howling sound and a foul, invasive odor.

No one else seemed to notice, but Chen Xing did.

The sandstorm seemed to be moving much faster than when it was just chasing the two of them.

If she had to describe it, Chen Xing would say the sandstorm felt... excited, as it relentlessly pursued them from behind.