Jing Shu was utterly speechless.
As a professional in logistics, specializing in land, sea, and air transportation, getting lost was downright ridiculous. Jing Shu felt like she'd been played for a fool.
"What, did the road teleport itself or something?"
Keep going, keep making excuses.
Heng Jin then sent a photo of the highway exit. Under the glow of the headlights, the road ahead was visible: a few meters of perfectly normal highway, and beyond that, towering black mountains covered in withered trees.
The massive mountain range completely blocked the road. With trees in the way, there was no crossing over. Their only options were to take a detour or turn back.
"You might not believe this," Heng Jin said, "but I swear this mountain actually shifted here."
"So basically, you're saying it's the road's fault now?"
Jing Shu narrowed her eyes at the image. This had to be crustal movement. She hadn't expected tectonic shifts to start so soon. She had thought such events would begin in the third year.
According to scientists, the massive earthquakes in the third year of the apocalypse were partly due to ocean floor expansion, which triggered frequent tectonic shifts. That was closely tied to the torrential rains and rising sea levels seen this year.
It was likely that some tectonic plates had already begun moving. Next year, the shifts would only increase, eventually leading to a scrambled world map. The Earth would become like a puzzle, but someone had removed pieces and jammed them back together in all the wrong places.
In a few years, when migration began, roads wouldn't be roads anymore, and mountains wouldn't be mountains.
When Jing Shu didn't reply, Heng Jin sent his current coordinates and added, "Believe it or not, we've decided to skirt around the mountain range and then go straight from there."
She opened the map and pondered for a while. With floods looming worldwide, she didn't want her RV getting submerged. She gave him clear instructions: "I suggest you follow the mountain road. It's difficult but much safer. Don't go in a straight line, or you'll just run into more obstacles and waste time detouring again. With the rainfall spiking, flash floods are a real danger. Higher ground is the safest bet."
From that day onward, Jing Shu checked Heng Jin's location daily. If they did get caught in a flood, she'd have no choice but to retrieve the RV herself.
She also prepared her entire family for the possibility of sleeping in the mountains. She didn't want a repeat of her previous life, when they'd fled in a rush with nothing, sleeping for days in a freezing cave. Thirsty, they'd stretched out their necks to catch water droplets. Hungry, they'd done the same for insects. Exhausted, they'd curled up and tried to sleep.
She vividly remembered the children of the visiting relief official eating canned meat porridge while everyone else in the cave swallowed hard in envy.
Nights had been bitterly cold, with gusts of wind howling through the cave.
The damp firewood on the mountain wouldn't catch fire. Even when they managed to find some dry sticks in the cave, without matches or lighters, their only option was to start a fire by friction. But those primitive tools had stopped being made, and nobody had used them in years. Cigarettes weren't even available anymore.
It had taken more than a dozen grown men two hours to finally spark a flame. Jing Shu swore starting a fire that way was sheer torture. No arguments.
That was why, in this life, she had stocked up on enough matches. That lesson had been written in her blood and tears. And another thing: never roast red nematodes. The taste was like burned hair, the smell clung to your throat, and the stench was unbearable, like a charred durian.
If anyone dared roast red nematodes in front of her this time, Jing Shu would beat them senseless.
Back to the present, Jing Shu was glad she had bought camping gear last year. She went upstairs and packed everything they'd need so they could leave in a hurry:
Seven military-grade tents, waterproof, windproof, and breathable, with one-pull setup for simplicity. Down sleeping bags. Moisture-proof mats she had bought specifically for flood season. Waterproof insulated rain boots.
She also planned to tie bundles of wooden planks from the villa's backyard to the roof of the RV. They could act as windbreaks, privacy screens, or platforms under the tents. Even the best tent wouldn't withstand days of torrential rainwater pooling underneath. Soon, cave floors would flood ankle-deep.
To ensure they had a safe, dry place to sleep, Jing Shu had to prepare early. Otherwise, they'd end up lying in cold, muddy water mixed with red nematodes, which would be pure torment.
She also packed portable cooking gear and a multifunctional kettle for brewing ginger tea with brown sugar to stay warm. A few barrels of bottled water would be enough.
As for food, three days' worth would suffice, but nothing fragrant or fancy—no need to draw attention. Luckily, Jing Shu had spent the past two days preparing easy-to-carry, heat-and-eat meals, so they'd just grab those on their way out.
On January 2, 2024, the supermarket had been open for three straight days of self-service dining due to the New Year holiday, which had exhausted Jing Lai.
The extra days were also because of the newly introduced red nematode. After an emergency meeting, today marked its official debut, and public reaction was crucial.
Two days prior, the director had propped his feet on the table.
"How do we get the public to accept red nematodes? You all tasted them in testing. They're worse than maggots—stringy, with a fishy taste, and frying just leaves rubbery husks. It's like chewing on rubber bands."
"Let's serve them boiled to reduce the smell, then mix them with rice and maggots. Add some staple food and people will accept it."
"Host a raffle. Anyone who eats red nematodes for ten straight days gets a chance to win a job at our supermarket."
The director waved his hand. "Do it. Jing Lai, you're in charge of the launch tomorrow."
It was Jing Lai's first time shouldering such responsibility, so she was nervous. She'd spent all morning checking ingredients and preparations, finally getting everything in order.
She let out a long breath as she surveyed the orderly cafeteria.
"Let's hope nothing else goes wrong today." Jing Lai adjusted the rain hat Jing Shu had given her. Without it yesterday, her embarrassment would've been the least of her worries—delays would have been disastrous.
She glanced at her new life jacket on her right arm. From now on, she resolved to wear whatever Jing Shu gave her. She had a feeling she'd need it sooner or later.
As she was lost in thought, a terrified scream rang out from outside.
"Flood! The water's coming! The flood's here! Ahhh!"
Sirens wailed through the air, followed by the roar of rushing water.
Jing Lai looked down at the automatic life jacket in her hands, determination settling over her features. Raising a loudspeaker, she shouted:
"Everyone, don't panic! Follow staff to the fourth floor of the mall to avoid a stampede! Wait there for rescue! I repeat…"
===
Didn't I just say yesterday that I found a bunch of new novels that caught my interest? Well… after a quick search, I already have 59 new novels on my list. Most of them are in the 15–200 chapter range, so not too crazy length-wise.
And yeah, like I mentioned before, for casual reading I usually rely on the Google Translate extension. I'm honestly too lazy to "think" when I'm reading—if I read raw Chinese, my brain has to actually work, but with English my brain just automatically processes the meaning without effort (￣▽￣).
But here's the thing… I've kinda gotten used to how bad MTL translations can be. If you've read enough MTL, you know exactly what I mean (lol). And since my eyes are now spoiled by my own translations, whenever I read raw MTL I'm like, "Hah? What's going on??" (－‸ლ). Basically, my comprehension for raw MTL has gotten worse.
Of course, I can still manage stuff that's not too messy—like modern settings, or maybe some xianxia. But when I tried reading 杀道侣后,修仙界恶女成魔门老祖 (After killing her Taoist partner, the evil woman in the world of immortal cultivation became the ancestor of the demon sect), I could follow along and understand the gist… but wow, it was painful to read (ಥ_ಥ).
So in the end, I decided to just pick it up for translation instead (After Killing Dao Partner, the Villainess Becomes the Demon Ancestor). Each chapter's word count is short, kinda like The Invincible Money-Grubbing Fairy or The Cube Queen's Apocalypse Feast. Right now it's at 184 chapters and still serializing. Honestly, at my pace, I'll probably finish catching up with it in just 2 days.
And maybe after that, I'll add a couple more serialized novels from the batch I found yesterday during my novel hunt. Decisions, decisions…
Oh, and one more thing! From now on, I'll also try to make my novel covers as close as possible to the original ones. Of course, sometimes I might still make my own version too, but I'll do my best to stay faithful to the original designs (*≧▽≦).