Three days later, in W City.
Ya Tong squeezed through the crowd and ca out from the ticket office. Yu Qi and You Xi, who were waiting outside, imdiately approached her.
“How did it go?” Yu Qi asked.
Ya Tong shook her head.
The second teor shower had co almost thirty hours earlier than predicted. Even though everyone was aware of it, it had been nearly fifteen days since the first teor shower, and people still had to go about their daily lives. So, when the teor alarm sounded, it hadn’t yet reached the majority of the public’s planned avoidance ti. Many people were still on the surface and only frantically sought refuge in various underground structures after realizing the danger.
This teor shower was indeed much smaller in scale than the first one. Those who were lucky just had a scare, while the unlucky ones, like those in that villa area, saw their entire place turn into scorched earth.
Later, the three of them learned that the most severely affected area in the second teor shower across the whole M country was precisely the region where they were.
In contrast, neighboring J country experienced only minor impacts from both the first and second teor showers, leading to a surge in the number of people trying to buy tickets from W City to U City in J country. Ya Tong had already inquired, and the earliest available ticket for a ship was fifteen days away. Currently, J country, fearing a large influx of refugees from M country, had closed its land border crossings, only keeping a few ports and train stations open, making tickets scarce and hard to obtain.
If their destination were rely J country, they could wait in W City for fifteen days. However, U City in J country was only their first stop; they couldn’t afford to spend so much ti at the very beginning. There were still three months until the next predicted date, and based on previous experience, the teor shower might co early. Although it was unclear how much earlier, a three-month interval sounded much safer than six days.
They couldn’t be sure if there would be a normal interval before the fourth predicted date, making this a rare opportunity they had to seize.
After leaving the ticket office, the three drove back to Ya Tong’s friend’s place.
This friend was a man around forty years old, living in an ordinary apartnt in W City. Fortunately, there was a subway station under his building, making it relatively easy to seek refuge.
W City had been quite lucky, avoiding the first teor shower entirely and only experiencing a few teor impacts in the suburbs during the second one, resulting in minimal casualties. This luck attracted many people to migrate north.
Their journey had been relatively smooth, although they encountered a few places where roads were blocked by teor damage, causing traffic jams. They drove to other side roads, hid the car in secluded spots without caras, walked through the damaged roads, and then retrieved the car from another hidden place.
During these walks, Ya Tong always held a gun, mainly for deterrence.
Fortunately, most people heading north were seeking refuge. With a clear direction, there were not many people causing trouble along the way. This was also because many areas in M country had not yet reached the point of severe material shortage. If one dared to go out and drive to a slightly better area, they could still buy supplies.
Of course, where there were clear-headed people, there were also those who took advantage of the chaos.
This happened when they detoured to avoid a heavily affected area and found a road leading to a large warehouse-style supermarket that supplied several nearby small towns. The area was relatively unscathed, and the supermarket was still open.
With plenty of cash and gold they had brought from the apartnt and a significant amount of money in their savings cards, they planned to convert as much money into supplies as possible before leaving M country—as long as their space could hold it.
Seeing the supermarket open, they drove over to stock up.
Since it was dayti, there were quite a few shoppers, all rushing with their carts full of goods to their cars.
They locked the SUV, each took a shopping cart, and started navigating the aisles. In broad daylight, with many eyes around, they planned to buy only what the SUV could roughly hold to avoid attracting too much attention.
Looking at the long-term future, food remained the most critical commodity. The teors had destroyed farmland and would later affect the ecosystem, severely impacting both agriculture and livestock farming, leading to significant reductions in production.
This ti, all three of them focused on buying food. Yu Xi, being strong, took care of staple foods: rice, flour, grains, pasta, instant noodles… Yu Qi handled fresh produce: vegetables, fruits, eggs, milk, sausages… and Ya Tong was in charge of frozen items: various ats, fish, and frozen foods.
Currently, the supermarket had limited fresh produce and a narrow selection, but fortunately, in such circumstances, few people had the patience to cook slowly. Most people grabbed convenient foods, and since Yu Qi wasn’t picky, she still managed to fill an entire cart.
The three moved quickly, filling three shopping carts and then discussing grabbing more daily necessities, especially won’s products—they could never have too much of those. As for dicine, they had already stocked up a lot last ti and hadn’t touched those supplies yet. However, vitamins and calcium supplents were worth getting more of.
As they ca out of the pharmacy section with enough nutritional supplents, they heard a commotion and chaos at the supermarket exit, followed by gunshots.
Yu Xi reacted quickly, pressing Yu Qi and Ya Tong down. The three of them pushed their shopping carts and hid behind the shelves, cautiously observing the situation outside.
Other shoppers were either lying flat on the ground in panic or hiding behind shelves. Once the area quieted down, a man’s agitated and rough voice at the exit beca clear.
He had co to shop but realized at the checkout that his wallet was missing. He kept explaining that he had driven a long way, had children waiting at ho, and hoped the cashier would give him the items first, promising to pay later.
The cashier refused, and they couldn’t co to an agreent. Given the unstable emotions in today’s world, the man pulled out a gun to prove it wasn’t fake, even firing a shot into the air.
He was now hurriedly putting the bags of goods into his cart, preparing to steal them. Soone took advantage of his distraction and tackled him from behind. In the ensuing chaos, the man fired again, accidentally hitting another custor nearby, who fell in a pool of blood. The cashier scread, and people around backed away in fear.
The man seed stunned, standing there with the gun, while the person who tackled him acted again, successfully taking the gun this ti.
Others rushed over to subdue the man, planning to call the police and an ambulance.
People who had been lying on the ground or hiding behind shelves stood up, many praising the heroic person who acted. In tis of disaster, such acts of justice gave everyone the courage to strive to survive.
“There are still good people…” Yu Qi’s comnt was interrupted by another gunshot.
Everyone ducked again, only to see the man who had been praised for his heroism now holding the gun, forcing the cashier to put all the money in a bag for him.
Yu Qi: …
The man pressed the gun to the cashier’s temple, took a bag full of money, and quickly left the supermarket, leaving a crowd of stunned custors behind.
Such incidents were not uncommon, especially in heavily affected areas, where people constantly lowered their moral limits to survive.
The three won beca even more cautious and low-key. They took turns driving day and night, always keeping two people awake—one to drive and one to navigate and stay alert, while the third rested in the back with earplugs and an eye mask, wrapped in a blanket.
als were mostly eaten in the car. Fortunately, during their ti at the villa and the bunker, they had cooked extra portions of every al and stored half in the containers Yu Xi provided. Whether it was hearty at dishes, small side dishes, rice, noodles, or soup, they had everything. Even if they ate in the car, they still enjoyed fresh and delicious als.
The further north they drove, the better the conditions beca, but the traffic increased, slowing them down. A journey that should have taken over ten hours stretched to more than three days. Along the way, they found three self-service gas stations by chance, filling Yu Xi’s 10,000-liter fuel space and several 30-liter and 50-liter portable fuel tanks in Ya Tong’s space as backups.
With the influx of people into W City, the city’s population surged, causing all hotels, motels, and inns to be fully booked. They called over ten hotels but couldn’t secure a room.
In the end, Ya Tong’s friend took them in, and the three of them slept on the floor in the living room.
This friend, nad Feynman, was a forr actor, now married. Ya Tong had t his wife, Sheila, a few tis before. They also had a daughter who was over ten years old.
Sheila was very hospitable. Knowing they had traveled from the heavily affected S Peak area, she prepared a welcoming feast for them.
Hearing that they couldn’t get a ship ticket, she suggested trying the airlines.
So travelers who had been stranded in W City due to the teors had rebooked their flights. However, after learning about the conditions in their ho cities, so decided to stay in the relatively safe W City, freeing up so seats.
Ya Tong was puzzled, “But isn’t the situation in J country better than in M country? Why wouldn’t they go back when they could get a flight?”
“J country does have so severely affected areas, and so of these people co from those areas. Their hos are gone, so why go back? They can stay safely in W City for now and reassess the situation later. And since they’re J citizens, they can return anyti they want by land. It’s only an hour’s drive from here, and the land border closure doesn’t apply to them,” Feynman patiently explained.
Ya Tong thanked him, and after lunch, the three of them prepared to try their luck at the ticket office again.
This ti, they encountered several people from J country.
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