Chapter 412 - 187: Underground Shelter

Chapter 412: Chapter 187: Underground Shelter

Why did those combat units fight so bravely until the very last moment? Because they knew they were just acting.

Why didn’t Ming Pearl Port send any support personnel during the great retreat? They probably realized something was wrong with Ming Pearl Port’s systems. Maybe they wanted to see what would become of the survivors, so they could build a better social system.

But no matter what, Xu Mo knew one thing: he had to go to the zombie-occupied Ming Pearl Port and see it for himself.

...

Around noon, the weather began to change.

The sky, which had been somewhat sunny, was now covered by a thick layer of clouds. The wind picked up, carrying a hint of moisture.

Xu Mo sped up, but the rain came anyway.

At first, it was just a few sparse drops, pattering lightly against the windshield. Then more and more came, faster and denser, quickly turning into a downpour.

Xu Mo slowed down and turned on the wipers.

The rain washed over the car windows and the barren land. The distant scenery vanished behind the curtain of rain, until the only things left in the world were the blurred road ahead and the rushing sound of the downpour in his ears.

Xu Mo’s thoughts drifted away with the sound of the rain.

THUD.

A sudden thud from the roof of the car broke Xu Mo’s train of thought.

"Hm?"

Xu Mo froze for a moment when he heard the sound. He instinctively glanced up at the ceiling, but of course, he couldn’t see anything.

Xu Mo frowned. ’With this much rain and no trees around, what could have made that sound on the roof? Did Li Rui put something in the car that I missed during my inspection? Or did something fall off the car and hit it?’

Just as Xu Mo was wondering—

THUD! THUD!

Two more thuds came from the roof, clearer than the first.

Immediately after, the sounds started coming one after another, as if countless tiny hammers were pounding on the roof.

Xu Mo finally saw the cause.

The things pelting down from the sky weren’t raindrops, but hailstones. The largest were the size of a thumb, the smallest as big as soybeans, and they were falling in a dense barrage.

"What is this crazy weather?"

Xu Mo stared out the window, speechless. This was the first time he had encountered weather like this.

’Didn’t summer just end?’

But unfortunately, there was no one to answer Xu Mo. There was only the THUD-THUD-THUD of hailstones hitting the car, like a frantic drum solo.

Xu Mo slowed the car. The hail wasn’t excessively large, and since the vehicle was modified, he wasn’t worried about it getting damaged. But the problem was that the hailstones hitting the windshield were obstructing his vision. The road ahead was almost invisible, and he could only drive slowly by feel.

Xu Mo looked around through the curtain of hail. The area was all wilderness with no buildings for shelter. There was nowhere to hide.

Xu Mo had no choice but to keep driving forward.

Besides, Xu Mo knew this was a typical severe convective storm. It would come and go quickly. The hail would probably stop in ten minutes or so.

The real trouble wasn’t the hail itself, but the sudden drop in temperature and the heavy rainfall that would follow.

Xu Mo glanced at the temperature display. It had been over twenty degrees just a moment ago, but now it had dropped to fifteen.

Sure enough, the hail didn’t last long.

It stopped completely after about ten minutes.

But the sky didn’t clear. Instead, it began to darken at a visible rate. The already thick clouds grew even heavier, like a great beast gathering energy for an even more violent downpour. Though it was noon, the sky was darker than dusk.

How could Xu Mo dare to drive slowly now? He slammed on the accelerator, trying to speed up as much as possible.

After driving for another thirty minutes or so, a blurry silhouette finally appeared in his field of vision.

It was a tollbooth, with a wide roof over the lanes and an adjacent building.

The sight of the tollbooth invigorated Xu Mo, and he sped up and charged toward it.

After parking the car safely, Xu Mo grabbed his gear bag with the necessary supplies and dashed into the adjacent building.

It was a small, three-story building, likely where the toll collectors worked and rested. Xu Mo chose a room further inside, shut the door, and then barricaded the entrance.

Only after doing all this did Xu Mo breathe a sigh of relief and head up to the third floor.

By now, the sky was even darker. The black clouds were as thick as undiluted ink, and the air was filled with a suffocating, oppressive atmosphere.

Xu Mo couldn’t help but quip, "Is the temperature dropping too slowly, so someone hit the fast-forward button?"

CRACK!

The words had barely left his mouth when a bolt of lightning suddenly split the sky.

The bolt was thick and bright, stretching from the clouds all the way to the ground, washing the entire world in a ghastly white light.

BOOM!

A deafening clap of thunder exploded in its wake, making the surrounding windows buzz and rattle.

Xu Mo was startled by the sudden thunder, then shook his head with a wry smile.

"Alright, alright, I’ll shut up. You can continue."

The heavens seemed to accept Xu Mo’s apology, as another bolt of lightning didn’t follow.

But the downpour came. Raindrops the size of beans fell from the sky, so dense it was as if someone was pouring water from above.

Through the window, Xu Mo could only faintly make out the silhouette of his SUV a dozen or so meters away. The vehicle sat quietly under the tollbooth’s roof, motionless, like a dormant beast.

’Don’t tell me I’m going to lose my car again?’

An unsettling thought suddenly popped into Xu Mo’s mind as he stared at the blurry silhouette.

He had lost one vehicle after another recently, and Xu Mo was starting to get traumatized by it.

Fortunately, the vehicle remained obediently parked under the roof, unmoving. Rain poured off the edge of the roof, forming a curtain of water that shielded the car behind it.

Xu Mo let out a small sigh of relief and continued to observe the situation outside.

The downpour grew heavier, and the sky became as dark as midnight.

Amidst the howling wind and torrential rain, Xu Mo faintly heard another sound.

It was the roar of animals, and it was getting closer.

Xu Mo’s nerves tightened instantly. He cocked his head, trying to distinguish the direction and distance of the sounds from the noise of the rain.

Roars, the sound of running, and the occasional low growl... Animals from the surrounding area were running this way.

Xu Mo understood. The storm had come too suddenly, and the animals in the wilderness also needed to find shelter from the rain. This tollbooth was the only cover nearby, so naturally, they would gather here.

Through a broken window, Xu Mo observed the scene outside.

Soon, the first figure appeared in the curtain of rain.

It was a wild dog, not very large, its fur soaked through by the rain. With its tail between its legs and its head low, it ran desperately for the cover of the tollbooth roof.

Once it was under the roof, it shook the water from its body, then curled up in a corner, warily observing its surroundings.

It was followed by a second, then a third.

And then, a wild boar.

The other small animals were startled by it and shuffled to the side, but they didn’t run. In a storm like this, just having a place to hide was a blessing. Who could care about who was predator and who was prey?

More and more animals flooded in.

Xu Mo even saw a few wolves, which made him tense up for a moment. But the wolves just found a corner and lay down, not attacking the deer or wild boars.

In a downpour like this, the instinct for survival made them temporarily set aside their roles as predators and prey.

In no time, the space under the tollbooth roof was crowded with animals. There were carnivores and herbivores, large and small.

They all maintained a delicate distance, neither attacking each other nor getting too close, just waiting quietly for the storm to pass.

Xu Mo watched with some astonishment. He had never seen such a scene before. These animals, which would normally fight to the death on sight, were now coexisting peacefully under the same roof, just to escape the rain.

The downpour continued.

The animals under the roof remained quiet, waiting for the rain to stop.

Xu Mo pulled his gaze back and found a relatively dry corner in the room to sit down. He placed his Mountain-Cutting Saber by his side, listening to the rain and thunder outside, and to the occasional low calls of the animals.

At that moment, Xu Mo suddenly felt that maybe this world hadn’t completely lost hope yet.