Chapter 555

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Drip drip drip drip—

Ambulances, fire trucks, police cars... Shen Yao watched bus after bus pass by their vehicle, harboring no illusions about the situation appearing in Tiannan City.

The road ahead was congested, an expected situation, as many people around had already fainted, and even those who hadn't looked to be in poor condition, trembling and shaky—it was only a matter of time.

Xu Ningchen raised his hand and patted the car window, and taking advantage of the moment the vehicle blocking the front stopped, he simply took a detour and turned into the small alley entrance.

Unlike the obvious brightness on both sides of the street, the alley was pitch black, and the ground still held unswept filthy debris.

Shen Yao frowned, and the navigation system on her phone was replanning the route.

A once fairly clear straight line instantly turned into eighteen bends of a mountain road; wanting to get the vehicle back on track would be no easy feat.

"We're walking?"

Shen Yao watched the cars crawling at a turtle's pace, feeling somewhat anxious that three days wasn't enough time.

"Walk to the front and turn inside," Xu Ningchen stopped Shen Yao, who wanted to rely on her own legs, indicating they were still dozens of kilometers from that old road to the north—on foot, not even three days would suffice, let alone adding another zero behind it (the things in the mist were no pushovers; they couldn't recklessly take risks).

Eventually they left this not-so-long alley at a slow crawl; although time was delayed, once they got onto the avenue and sped up, the time previously spent became insignificant.

The clear voice in the navigation kept reminding them they had deviated from their course and needed to turn around as soon as possible.

But now where could they go just because they wanted to? Vehicles were everywhere in front, behind, left, and right, with electric scooters and bicycles constantly squeezing in wherever there was a gap.

Seeing such reckless behavior, Shen Yao worried these people wouldn't survive the night.

"Help, help!"

"Someone come, quickly someone take me to the hospital, my body..."

"Aaaah! Don't come over, don't come over!"

"......"

Shen Yao watched wide-eyed as an electric scooter ahead on the left suddenly fell over, the girl wearing a safety helmet on it fainting and smashing the front of the vehicle with a bang bang sound.

Normally someone should have gotten out of the car at this time, but because the previous events had already spread online, no one dared to move about easily, just shrinking in the enclosed space waiting for rescue.

But the entire urban area was in such chaos—where were the rescuers?

Xu Ningchen and Shen Yao wore masks, and the car had various food and supplies they had bought back; even if trapped, they didn't worry about eating and drinking.

After the belated traffic police dragged away the congested crowd one by one, the vehicles moved forward, finally managing to shift to the north of Tiannan City before dawn.

At this moment they were still twenty kilometers from opening up Tiannan City; if the road were clear it wouldn't take much time, but the problem was right here—vehicles were placed randomly everywhere, and a road of only a few hundred meters took half an hour to drive; how much time did the two of them have to waste?

Helplessly, Xu Ningchen parked the car at an intersection, put on the protective suit he had bought, pushed open the car door, and within a moment had procured two electric scooters for transportation.

"One each; the car will be reclaimed by the system. Put the usable items on the back of the electric scooters; we'll leave first."

Xu Ningchen moved things out of the car compartment, and Shen Yao, seeing this, helped too.

The two of them wrapped themselves up tightly, and didn't worry about flying insects in the mist attacking them.

However, taking advantage of the spare time, Shen Yao still sprayed the alcohol and insecticide she had bought at the mist; as for the effect, insecticide was best, alcohol second, and other sprays had no effect at all.

Shen Yao's eyes lit up, and she followed by spraying both the insecticide and alcohol onto the protective suit; although doing so was bad for the body, considering the current situation, survival was paramount and nothing else mattered.

The two rode the electric scooters forward; compared to cars restricted by various roads, the agile electric scooters were more suitable for weaving through the surrounding streets and alleys.

The two perked up their spirits, and only when they parked the electric scooter at a construction site under construction did they plan to rest.

This place was already considered the edge of the urban area; walking forward a bit more would let them leave Tiannan. From entering yesterday to stopping to rest today, they had gone a full day and night without sleep.

"Seize the time to rest; while the flying insects in the mist aren't very active yet, let's leave Tiannan City as soon as possible."

There was no one at the construction site; after entering, the two of them found a showroom to rest in.

Simply filling their bellies with self-heating rice, the two quickly changed into clean protective suits and masks, then took turns lying down to rest.

Four hours later, the two rode the electric scooters away from this construction site.

Going forward, the mist on the street was thicker; those flying insects hidden in the mist appeared one after another, directly pouncing onto Shen Yao's protective suit, then sliding to the ground and being crushed by the wheels.

Shen Yao's field of vision grew increasingly narrow, and her speed had to slow down.

Fortunately, they had set out early; apart from themselves, there was no one else around.

Xu Ningchen stopped the electric scooter, then enlarged the map on his phone, gesturing for Shen Yao to come over and look and discuss.

"Here, here, and here," pointing out the places where red dots appeared on the map, Xu Ningchen said they couldn't go forward, as a highway was being repaired there and they couldn't pass.

And the previously mentioned old road was on the other side; they needed to detour around these three places, and also pass through two villages in the surrounding area.

"While everyone hasn't reacted yet, let's head straight there."

The electric scooter Xu Ningchen chose could not only run but also be pedaled by their own legs. However, once the electric scooter ran out of power, its speed would inevitably slow down.

Now both of them were lacking rest; Shen Yao was entirely propped up by system pills, while Xu Ningchen had the ability honed from years of being a beast of burden.

No time to lose; let's go quickly.

Remounting the electric scooter, using the last remaining power to move forward, the two smoothly passed the first village, then on the way to the second village successfully caused the electric scooter beneath them to stall.

Helplessly, they could only rely on their legs to pedal and walk; Shen Yao complained to the system as she walked, but as more and more flying insects surged out of the mist, she also lost the heart to speak.

"Yao Yao, be careful!"

Shen Yao subconsciously stopped her steps, turning her body to avoid the black mist pouncing toward her.

When the black mist that had brushed past her came at her again from the front, Shen Yao realized this wasn't black mist at all—it was flying insects gathered together.

Buzz buzz buzz—

The flying insects' cry was strange, like hundreds of chickens, ducks, and geese clamoring by her ear.

Shen Yao picked up the insecticide placed at the very front and sprayed it indiscriminately without rhyme or reason, finally managing to drive this swarm of flying insects away.

Xu Ningchen also pushed his electric scooter over, his protective suit covered in flying insects, enough to give anyone with trypophobia a fit.

Shen Yao grabbed the insecticide and sprayed it all over, but spraying like that wasn't reliable, and she didn't discard the alcohol either; by the time she had used up everything in her hands, Xu Ningchen looked all over as if he had been pickled.

Xu Ningchen:...

Shaking his head helplessly, Xu Ningchen gestured for Shen Yao to push the electric scooter and follow; they two could no longer charge forward recklessly nowadays, they needed to find a place to rest and recuperate, gathering their strength before they could leave Tiannan City in one go.

"There's a village ahead; no need to borrow lodging, just find an empty house."

Shen Yao pointed to the cluster of buildings faintly visible in the distance.

"I'm afraid they won't let us in; be careful not to conflict with them."

Xu Ningchen felt that given the current situation, the probability of the two of them entering the village was not high, and as for whether they could find a place to stay, it all depended on luck.

Obviously, their luck wasn't great; before they even got close to the small village, they were blocked by the fence between the village and the street.

Several villagers appeared, wearing thick clothes and wrapped up tightly, holding common household tools, gesturing that they could not approach the village.

Xu Ningchen and Shen Yao exchanged a glance; nowadays both of them were wrapped in thick protective suits, and they also wore protective goggles on their eyes.

Seeing Xu Ningchen go to the front to exchange a few words with them and return empty-handed, Shen Yao knew they could only continue pushing the cart forward.

"There's an unused plaza ahead, with idle rooms around it.

We'll stay in the room temporarily to rest, and once we've recovered, we'll continue forward."

After Xu Ningchen finished speaking, he moved a cardboard box from the back of the electric scooter and handed it to the villager on one side; inside were several bottles of insecticide and alcohol, plus two sets of replaceable protective suits.

Special times call for special measures; who made it difficult for money to circulate right now?

Going around the blocking fence, Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen pushed the electric scooter away.

After they left, the surrounded villagers dispersed one by one; as for the cardboard box that was given away, one of them took it home.

The village plaza was near the end of the village, with no inhabited houses around it.

The two of them first tidied themselves up, especially that dense swarm of flying insects, then chose a space where the glass was intact and the door could be closed to rest.

The cardboard box on the electric scooter, after a long journey, had only a few left; Shen Yao took out two bottles of water and two pieces of bread, each ate their share, then put their masks back on properly.

The phone had no signal, so they couldn't collect news from outside via the internet at any time.

But Shen Yao had a system that could gather information indirectly, hearing that hospitals and other places were overcrowded everywhere, and the uptown was in chaos; Shen Yao was glad they had run fast, otherwise, let alone persisting for seven days in the uptown, they might not even survive until the flying insects' active period three days later.

The sky outside had turned dark, and occasionally a red light flashed, which was the eyes of the flying insects exposed.

Shen Yao stood up to move around, and by the way observed these things hidden in the mist.

Strangely speaking, there were clearly gaps around the room, but these flying insects just wouldn't come in, as if they couldn't survive once they left the mist.

"Maybe it's not time yet, look," Xu Ningchen pointed outside the window; with the light of the flashlight in his hand, he could let Shen Yao see clearly.

"After tonight, no matter what, we have to leave Tiannan City before tomorrow night."

They didn't have much time; now there was only one and a half days left out of the three days to clear the instance.

The more they delayed, the more formidable the flying insects in the mist became; they were mere mortals, no match for this swarm of bugs.

But speaking of which, the situation here was wrong; they had been traveling for one and a half days, so why were the flying insects they encountered not strong in attack power? And although the uptown was chaotic, it hadn't lost order, and even internal strife among humans hadn't occurred.

This seemed like a castrated version of the mission instance? The difficulty felt greatly reduced.

Even if other people chose the Mist Instance, as long as they ran out without sleep, unless they were extremely unlucky unlucky eggs, others could all clear the instance.

Shen Yao raised her hand and pinched her chin, silently noting these unusual things in her heart, preparing to understand the situation after entering the Infinite World following the novice mission.

One night passed, and the sky outside was just turning light.

Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen continued to bury themselves in eating cake and drinking clear water; after solving the problem of their hungry bellies, they pushed the electric scooter and left the temporary residence.

Relying on the strength of their legs, moving forward along the increasingly narrow road, Shen Yao finally saw the dawn of victory.

It seemed they hadn't encountered any hardships; at most, they just hadn't rested well, spending all their time on the journey; after all, there was a three-day limit, they couldn't drag it out too long.

When a "ding" sound appeared in her mind, Shen Yao knew they had safely cleared the instance.

Wasn't it a bit too simple!

Usually when reading those infinite flow novels, which instance wasn't a narrow escape from death, especially the instances experienced by the main character had doubled difficulty; what was going on with this novice mission? It was completely like a picnic.

"Ding, parasitic phenomenon detected in the body; spend one point to repair?"

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao thought of the flying insects in the mist, and finally nodded to agree to the repair.

The repair took only an instant; by the time Shen Yao opened her eyes, she was already back in the living room.

She was still pinching the silver-white room card in her hand, but the two options and countdown originally on the back had all been cleared and disappeared.

Not only that, the number regarding the residence on the front of the room card had changed.

6016

Was this directly changing rooms after completing the first novice mission?

Xu Ningchen pulled Shen Yao up; they needed to tidy up the scattered items, then take the elevator and leave 1015.

On the way, Shen Yao asked about the point repair matter and found that Xu Ningchen also had this prompt, but Xu Ningchen only spent 0.5 points.

Shen Yao:... Huh?

Shen Yao subconsciously raised her hand and touched her belly, which was still a seed; could it be because of this?

Ding—

The elevator directly stopped at the sixtieth floor; the two found the room, swiped the card to enter, and at the same time toured the space that was obviously much larger than 1015.

Even after moving upstairs, the Infinite Hotel still provided free residence and three meals a day.

It was just that compared to the narrowness of 1015, Room 6016 was more spacious.

Not only that, there was also a clock here that could be used to determine time.

As mentioned before, the phones they brought in had no signal in the hotel and couldn't display the time, so much so that they couldn't tell and could only roughly calculate based on the time the hotel's three meals a day were delivered.

Now there were clocks in the room that could keep time, and they could more directly feel the flow of time.

But thinking that they had spent more than two days in the Mission Instance and still came out before lunchtime, hmm, it seemed the Instance's time flow speed far exceeded that of the Hotel's interior; whether the Infinite World was the same, he did not know.