The middle-aged woman hesitated for a mont when she heard Guan Tong's words, then turned off her flashlight.
Using the illumination from the truck's headlights, she could clearly see Guan Tong's face—young and handso, looking like an eighteen or nineteen-year-old student.
If judging solely by appearance, Guan Tong didn't seem particularly aggressive. It was just that he was currently holding iron pliers, which made a middle-aged woman with a child feel sowhat nervous and fearful.
She watched Guan Tong warily and said, "I'm from Sun Family Village. I saw online that places with fewer people have less snow, so I brought my daughter here. Young man, where are you from?"
"I ca from Yunhua."
Guan Tong knew about Sun Family Village—it was a village over forty kiloters away that he had passed by when driving here earlier.
"Mom, I'm cold..."
At that mont, the little girl's voice ca from behind the woman. Hearing this, the woman quickly picked up the girl and placed her back in the vehicle.
Then she said to Guan Tong, "Young man, my daughter and I will stay in the vehicle. If you also have a place to stay, let's not disturb each other."
"Alright."
Hearing the middle-aged woman say this, Guan Tong was actually quite happy with this arrangent.
"But be careful not to damage the small path I cleared," he reminded her.
"Okay, we'll be careful."
Hearing the middle-aged woman agree, Guan Tong didn't say anything more and turned to return along the path to the camp he had set up.
The middle-aged woman also returned to the vehicle at this point. Her daughter asked curiously, "Mom, did that big brother also co here to hide because people bullied him?"
"I don't know." The woman touched her daughter's forehead and seriously instructed, "These days, you must stay with Mom at all tis. Don't run around by yourself, understand?"
She hadn't expected there to be soone at Mingdao Mountain. Although Guan Tong didn't seem like a bad person, she was alone with her daughter—two females facing a strange adult male in the wilderness required extre caution.
After all, in this ti and place, if any violent cri occurred, calling the Police Departnt wouldn't bring any rescue.
"Understood, Mom. Mom, I'm a bit hungry."
"Mm, there's food in the vehicle. Mom will get it for you."
Before the Doomsday Rules appeared, the woman had been a long-distance truck driver.
When driving these long-haul trucks, she would often spend entire days in the vehicle, so she kept plenty of food stored inside. Moreover, before coming out this ti, she had specifically taken large amounts of food from ho and stuffed it into the vehicle—enough for her and her daughter to eat for over twenty more days.
She took out a bag of fruit bread, tore it open for her daughter to eat, and also rembered to lock the vehicle doors.
This way she could sleep more soundly at night. If soone tried to force their way in, they would have to break the windows.
The woman kept that crowbar right by her hand, ready for imdiate use.
"Mom, I'm full."
"Mm, if you're full, go to sleep early."
These large trucks all have bunk beds. Although very narrow, they're fine for one person to sleep in.
When the woman's husband was still around, the couple would drive the truck together, taking turns. When one got tired from driving, they would rest on the bed while the other took over.
The woman watched her daughter slowly fall asleep on the bed, then leaned back in the driver's seat, gazing at the snowflakes outside the window, the worry between her brows impossible to dispel.
Because the truck's headlights remained on, visibility in the vicinity improved considerably, and Guan Tong also benefited sowhat in his camp, able to see his surroundings more clearly.
However, since there were now others nearby, he remained sowhat cautious. He broke so stored branches and scattered them on the ground in front of his camp, covering them with snow.
This way, if the mother and daughter tried to sneak over in the middle of the night, their feet would step on the branches in the snow and make crisp cracking sounds, allowing Guan Tong to wake up in ti.
This might seem overly cautious, but for personal safety, it was necessary.
Guan Tong wouldn't let his guard down just because the other party appeared to be a seemingly vulnerable mother and daughter.
On the contrary, after so many people had died since entering the Doomsday Rules era, the fact that this mother and daughter had survived indicated they must have exceptional qualities.
Moreover, with "black box items" like Mind Power artifacts, no one knew what kind of artifacts others might possess. If you thought soone looked weak and didn't take them seriously, you risked being defeated when they pulled out a powerful artifact.
For now, both sides were content with this arrangent of not interfering with each other, each fighting against the rules for survival.
The night passed without incident.
The next day when Guan Tong woke up, he stood and looked toward the large truck.
The mother and daughter hadn't gotten out of the vehicle, which was normal since that large truck essentially served as their camp. Unless necessary, there was no need to co out.
After a glance, Guan Tong withdrew his gaze and went about his usual activities.
After eating sothing, he picked up his folding shovel and began clearing the snow that had fallen overnight from his small path.
Although this task wasn't particularly difficult, the challenge lay in doing it day after day, every single day for a month.
If you slacked off for just one day, the accumulated snow from two days plus freezing would make the cleaning difficulty increase by more than one level.
Throughout the day, he and the mother and daughter coexisted peacefully without disturbing each other.
Two more days passed uneventfully.
Three days later, June 9th.
When Guan Tong got up to clear snow, he saw the mother and daughter also clearing the snow around their vehicle door.
They had to do it because if they let the snow accumulate, in a few more days the snow height would reach the door level. Once frozen snow blocks sealed the door shut, it would be troubleso.
However, the middle-aged woman's snow-clearing thod differed from Guan Tong's. She directly started the large truck, slowly moving forward, reversing, turning slightly, moving forward again, reversing again.
She used the truck's powerful engine and its thick, tall tires to crash through and crush the snow blocks, compacting them all with the tires. Admittedly, this thod was much more efficient than manual snow removal.
After they finished over there, the vehicle door opened and the mother and daughter got out with small tools to clean the tires.
At that mont, Guan Tong was clearing his small path. The little girl saw him and, holding a small shovel, started helping by scooping snow outward from the end of the path.
Seeing this, since soone was voluntarily helping, Guan Tong politely walked over and said thank you.
The little girl grinned at him with her big teeth, seemingly finding this activity quite fun.
Her mother quickly ca over and said sowhat apologetically, "Sorry, is my daughter causing you any trouble?"
"It's fine. I should thank your daughter for helping
clear snow."
"She's not really helping—she just thinks it's fun." The woman sounded sowhat helpless. "In such cold weather, I wanted her to stay in the vehicle, but she insisted on coming out to play in the snow."
"It's normal for children to be playful."
After chatting like this for a while, they gradually let their guard down.
Because over three days, neither side had done anything to make the other uncomfortable, both felt the other probably ant no harm and were just ordinary civilians.
So after talking for a while, they learned so basic information about each other.
The woman said her na was Wang Yan, and she had been a truck driver before. After the Doomsday Rules appeared, she stopped working and had been staying ho to care for her daughter.
Guan Tong also told her that he had been a high school senior before, but after work and schools stopped, he was no longer attending school.
"You're fortunate to have made it to high school senior, young man." Wang Yan looked at her daughter Chen Na playing in the snow with the small shovel, her expression worried. "My girl was only in sixth grade before, not even in middle school yet. My education level isn't high either—how will I teach her in the future? Just taking online classes without interacting with people isn't good either."
"Maybe schools will reopen later," Guan Tong said. "Though they might take a different form."
Wang Yan said, "I heard recently that the authorities are planning to open a large academy in the capital, recruiting students nationwide..."
"That academy is probably for helping students develop Mind Power. It likely doesn't teach other basic knowledge."
"Ah? Is that so..." Wang Yan looked disappointed upon hearing this.
Guan Tong then asked, "Sister Wang, I'm curious about sothing and hope you don't mind
asking."
"Hehe, it's fine. Go ahead."
"The information that places with fewer people have less snowfall spread within hours after the rules appeared, right? Why did you only bring your daughter here to hide from the snow several days later?"
Wang Yan's expression beca complicated when she heard this. She seed to hesitate, unsure how to respond.
At that mont, the little girl Chen Na, who had been squatting playing in the snow, looked up and said angrily, "People in the village bullied us! That's why Mom brought
away!"
"Bullied?" Guan Tong was quite surprised.
He thought village communities were different from cities. In cities, many people don't even know their neighbors across the hall, living completely atomized lives, which is why during disasters they're more willing to follow official instructions and act according to official calls.
But in villages, where villagers see each other constantly and basically everyone knows everyone, they should quickly band together to collectively resist disasters when they break out. How could bullying situations still occur?
Wang Yan hadn't wanted to talk about it, but since her daughter Chen Na had spoken up, she could only nod helplessly: "So people saw that we were a widow and orphan, and ca to our house to take so food. They said they'd return it later, but..."
The little girl Chen Na snorted: "They took a box of instant noodles and a box of yogurt from our house! Mom had saved those for !"
"Such things actually happened."
"Yes. Actually, a box of noodles and a box of milk isn't that much, but I thought—it's only been a few days and they're already doing this. If this continues, who knows if they'll co to our house again to take other things..."
Wang Yan sighed as she spoke.
"Actually, I'd be fine, but I can't risk my daughter going hungry, so I took her and drove the truck out of the village at night. I figured the truck's fuel tank was full, the vehicle has strong power and high tires, so even with snow on the road it would be fine."
"I see..."
"Speaking of which, you're quite brave, young man." Wang Yan said. "Daring to co here alone from Yunhua—Yunhua is far from here, over seven hundred li away."
"All for survival."
"Yes, since these rules appeared, I don't hope for anything else anymore. Just being able to live properly is enough."
"Today is already the 9th. Almost one-third of the rule's effective period has passed." Guan Tong said. "Given the snowfall here, as long as we clear it daily, we should be able to get through safely."
Wang Yan nodded: "I just don't know how things are in the village, or in Yunhua where you ca from. That's a big city—the snow must be falling particularly heavily there, right? After nine days of heavy blizzard, who knows what the city must look like..."
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