Two Worlds in the Apocalypse: Each journey through the modern world lasts 60 seconds.

Chapter 164 Riverside

It has been three days since Xu Mo left Luochuan City.

Three days, 300 kilometers.

The numbers on the odometer were increasing little by little, from 650 to 700, 700 to 800, 800 to 900. He had traveled 1,000 kilometers since he left Jiangcheng.

The Dandelion Project's total distance from Jiangcheng to Pearl Harbor is 3,500 kilometers, but that's a theoretical figure. In reality, Xu Mo's route is much longer than the straight-line distance; the 3,500-kilometer total distance is the most conservative estimate.

Xu Mo turned his gaze from the odometer to the road ahead. The road stretched straight into the distance, flanked by barren farmland and the occasional abandoned house. It was very hot; heat waves rose from the road surface, distorting the distant scenery and making everything appear as if viewed through water.

Xu Mo took one hand off the steering wheel and reached for the car radio on the passenger seat. Xu Mo rarely used it before; in the apocalypse, radio signals were scarcer than clean drinking water, and most of the time, turning the knob through all frequencies only produced a hissing sound of electricity.

But last night was different. Xu Mo spent the night in an abandoned farmhouse. Before going to sleep, he casually turned on the radio, wanting to see if he could receive any signal. The knob slowly turned, and a static sound came from the speaker, monotonous and boring.

Then, music suddenly started playing.

It was brief, lasting only a moment, but Xu Mo was certain he had heard it. The music played by humans wasn't electricity.

The sound is not background noise; it is real, audible music played by someone.

Upon noticing the music, Xu Mo's fingers paused for a moment, then quickly began to rotate back.

But that frequency had disappeared, and only the hissing sound of electricity continued to ring out over and over again.

Xu Mo refused to give up and repeatedly fine-tuned the frequency, but he could no longer capture any music and had to give up in the end.

All morning, Xu Mo was driving while constantly fiddling with the radio. He kept turning the knob around that frequency, each turn filled with anticipation, but each time he only received a static sound.

Xu Mo guessed that the other party might have limited power and only broadcast at specific times at night. In the apocalypse, many small survivor settlements did this: they were busy surviving during the day and only had time to turn on the radio at night to listen for news from other survivors, or simply to play music and give themselves some comfort in being alive.

Of course, other possibilities cannot be ruled out.

Perhaps the signal came from a large shelter, like Jiangcheng, with a stable power supply and broadcasting 24 hours a day. The fact that it wasn't received again was probably just because Xu Mo remembered the frequency wrong, or perhaps it was accidental interference; maybe the signal he received last time wasn't even a human signal.

Xu Mo gently turned the knob, listening to the hissing sound coming from the speaker.

But what if?

If it really is a survivor settlement, if they can provide any useful information, if their route intersects with Project Dandelion, any of these possibilities are worth Xu Mo's time to confirm.

But by noon, Xu Mo had not detected that signal again.

Xu Mo turned off the radio and refocused his gaze on the road ahead.

The outline of a gas station came into view ahead. It was a small gas station with two rows of gas pumps standing crookedly under the awning, and the convenience store next to it had its door wide open, and the inside was dark.

Xu Mo slowed down, drove the car into the gas station, and parked it in front of the convenience store.

When Xu Mo arrived at the gas station, he stopped the car and quickly searched the place. There wasn't a drop of oil in the gas pump, the convenience store shelves were empty, and even the warehouse in the back had been turned upside down.

Xu Mo stepped back and stood under the awning, looking around.

In a corner of the gas station lay several skeletons, scattered on the ground, already whitish. There were human skulls and a few leg bones that appeared to be from zombies, though their shapes were difficult to discern. They lay there, uncollected and uncared for.

Xu Mo glanced at it once and then looked away.

He didn't care much; there were too many skeletons like that in the apocalypse. They were everywhere—in city ruins, in rural fields, and along roadsides. They were once people, they once had names, they once had stories. But now, they were just piles of bones left unburied.

Xu Mo looked up at the sky. The sun hung high in the sky, scorching the earth. The air was distorted by the high temperature, and distant objects trembled slightly, as if seen through a layer of flowing water.

Although Xu Mo, who was in the Iron Bone Realm, was almost unaffected by the temperature, he still went back to the car, picked up the water bottle, and took a few sips.

After leaving Luochuan City, the weather has been ridiculously hot. I wonder if the fact that I haven't encountered any zombies these past few days is also related to this weather.

After a short rest, Xu Mo returned to his car, started the engine, and drove out of the gas station.

There is a town not far ahead.

The names marked on the map are blurred and illegible; only the character "柳" (Liu) can be vaguely discerned—Willow Tree Town? Willow River Town? As for what it should be called, let's just leave it at that.

Judging from the map, the town is not big. If you go around it, you will have to walk more than ten kilometers of dirt road, and the road conditions are unknown. So Xu Mo decided to go straight through.

He stepped on the gas and sped towards the town.

The town was quieter than Xu Mo had imagined. The streets were narrow, lined with low bungalows and the occasional two-story building. Most doors and windows were open, dark and gaping, making it impossible to see what was inside. Various odds and ends and some unrecognizable garbage were scattered on the road.

The SUV slowly drove into the town, the triangular spikes placed within easy reach. Xu Mo's eyes warily scanned his surroundings.

Don't overlook any corner that might be hiding danger.

From a building in the distance, the faint howls of zombies could be heard. The sounds were deep and hoarse, as if squeezed from the depths of a throat. There were more than one—judging from the layers of sound, at least five or six. They were inside that building, whether wandering or resting, it was unclear.

But the zombies didn't come out. The roars continued, but no zombies rushed out of the building. They seemed to have no interest in the SUV on the road.

Xu Mo continued driving forward, passing several more buildings. The same thing happened – roars could be heard coming from inside, but no zombies appeared on the street. They were all hiding inside the buildings, in the cool, sun-sheltered interiors.

Xu Mo's lips curled up slightly; these zombies really were afraid of the heat.

They sped through the town's main street and finally drove out from the other end of the town. The entire journey through the town took less than ten minutes, and they encountered no obstacles. The smooth process made Xu Mo feel somewhat incredulous.

In the rearview mirror, the small town called Liu something was getting farther and farther away, eventually disappearing into a heatwave.

Xu Mo turned his gaze from the rearview mirror to the road ahead.

However, Xu Mo had to stop the SUV after driving only a short distance because a river appeared in front of him.

The river wasn't wide, probably about twenty meters across, but the water was murky, making it impossible to see what was at the bottom. The banks were slopes overgrown with weeds, with a few crooked willow trees occasionally standing, their branches drooping over the water.

The main problem is that the bridge is broken.

A concrete bridge spanned the river, but a section in the middle collapsed, leaving a huge gap. The gap was about six or seven meters wide, making it impossible for an off-road vehicle to pass.

Xu Mo parked the car at the bridgehead and got out to check. The river was flowing just four or five meters below his feet. The current wasn't fast, but the depth was at least three meters, maybe even deeper.

Xu Mo squatted down and stared at the water for a while.

For some reason, he had a strange feeling that something was watching him from the water.

It wasn't a guess, but an intuition. Xu Mo couldn't see anything; the water was as calm as a mirror, but he just knew there was something underwater, and it meant him no good.

Xu Mo slowly stood up, took a few steps back, and left the edge of the riverbank.

The feeling of being watched lessened somewhat, but it didn't completely disappear. Xu Mo stared at the water for a few more seconds, then turned and walked back to the car.

It's obvious that an off-road vehicle can't cross. The river is 20 meters wide and 3 meters deep. Even if he dared to risk wading through the water, the engine would inevitably stall after water gets in, and then the car would be submerged in the water, which would be terrible.

Xu Mo started the engine and drove downstream along the riverbank; he needed to find another bridge.

The map doesn't indicate how many bridges there are on this river, but generally speaking, rivers of this size have bridges every few kilometers.

There is a bridge. As long as you drive downstream, you will always find a place to cross the river.

Moreover, he dared not drive too close to the riverbank, as the feeling of being watched was always with him. Although it only gave Xu Mo a faint sense of crisis, he did not like this feeling.

Xu Mo drove away from the riverbank and then slowly proceeded along the undulating road.

Time ticked by, the sun slowly slanted westward from its zenith, casting ever longer shadows. Xu Mo gripped the steering wheel, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the road and the river.

The result was that there were none; there were no bridges, not a single one.

The sun was beginning to approach the horizon, and the sky was gradually darkening, but Xu Mo still hadn't found the second bridge.

Xu Mo stopped the car and looked at the map for a while.

According to the map, the river is at least hundreds of kilometers long. If he can't find a bridge, he might have to keep driving on and on, and downstream, he's heading towards another large city, Liyuan, marked with a "red skull".

Xu Mo put down the map, rubbed his temples, and decided to head upstream.

Heading upstream, although it was still unknown territory, at least it wasn't in that dangerous city. Xu Mo turned the steering wheel around and drove back the way he came.

The sun set, and the sky quickly darkened, the hazy gray gradually deepening until it became pitch black.

Xu Mo turned on the headlights, two dim beams of light cutting through the night and illuminating the road ahead for dozens of meters. The roar of the engine was particularly clear in the darkness, occasionally startling small animals in the roadside grass, which darted away quickly into the distance.

Xu Mo turned on the radio while driving. The knob slowly turned, and a hissing sound came from the speaker. He tuned it to a frequency near the one from last night, making repeated adjustments and listening carefully.

Shh—shh—still shh, no music, no human voice.

Undeterred, Xu Mo continued turning the knob. He tried all the bands: AM, shortwave, FM. Aside from a static noise, there was nothing else.

Perhaps it's not the right time yet.

Perhaps that frequency doesn't even exist, and last night was just his illusion.

Perhaps Xu Mo's finger was resting on the knob.

He felt the vibration, not from the steering wheel and engine, but from the ground. A slight vibration traveled up from the wheels, through the car body, and to his hands holding the steering wheel, and the vibration was intensifying.

Xu Mo stepped on the brake, turned off the engine, and switched off the headlights.

Darkness instantly engulfed everything. Xu Mo sat in the driver's seat, carefully feeling the vibration.

Boom—Boom—Boom—

It looked like hundreds or thousands of people were running wildly together.

Hundreds or thousands of people? More like hundreds or thousands of zombies!

Xu Mo's pupils suddenly contracted, and his first thought was that he was being targeted by something again.

Just like on the outskirts of Luochuan City, he was surrounded by zombies, who gradually cornered him. Now, is the same scenario about to repeat itself?

Xu Mo's hand reached for the triangular dagger, then withdrew and reached for Barrett.

wrong!

With such a large population and so many zombies in Luochuan City, only one empty-handed creature emerged. How could something of that level possibly exist in this desolate wilderness, dozens of kilometers from the nearest town?

The vibration grew closer and clearer.

Xu Mo's brain was working at lightning speed.

What are these zombies running for? What are they rushing towards? Xu Mo quickly made a decision: leave this place first.

Xu Mo restarted the engine and slowly drove the car off the road towards a wide-open wasteland. He found a relatively secluded spot...

After stopping the car, Xu Mo looked in the direction from which the vibration came.

Within two or three minutes, the group appeared. Xu Mo saw a large horde of zombies through the windshield.

They burst forth from the darkness, roaring and howling like a surging black torrent. There were certainly thousands, perhaps even more. They converged from different directions, their destination clear: the river.

Then Xu Mo saw the group of zombies rush into the river.

Xu Mo could see it clearly: the first group of zombies rushed to the riverbank and, without hesitation, jumped into the water. Then came the second, third, and fourth waves—they surged into the river one after another, instantly turning the once calm surface into a frenzy.

The sound of gulping water was the sound of hundreds of zombies drinking at the same time, a sound so dense it was chilling.

They buried their heads in the water and gulped it down as if they had never drunk water before.

Then there was movement in the water. Xu Mo saw the surface of the water near the shore suddenly burst open, and a huge fish leaped out of the water, biting a zombie's neck and dragging it into the water. Immediately afterwards, more fish began to attack—they rushed out of the water, biting the zombies' legs and bodies, dragging them into the deeper water.

The attacked zombies roared, struggling in the water and flailing their arms to grab their attackers. But the fish were too fast and too agile, striking and retreating without giving them a chance to retaliate.

Then, something even stranger happened. A zombie that had been bitten by a fish turned around and bit another zombie drinking water beside it. The bitten zombie then bit a third one.

A chain reaction erupted instantly; the horde of zombies, who had been merely drinking water, suddenly began attacking each other.

Xu Mo sat in the car, several hundred meters away, watching the brutal fighting on the riverbank.

The water surface kept exploding as mutated fish burst from underwater, biting zombies and dragging them into the deeper water. The zombies swung their arms in the water, grabbing the fish's bodies and tearing at them with their teeth. Fish scales flew everywhere, black blood flowed, and the entire river surface looked like a boiling cauldron.

Within minutes, the riverbank had turned into a scene of carnage.

Xu Mo gripped the steering wheel, staring at the scene, a chill running down his spine.

He had seen hordes of corpses, carnage, and all sorts of death. But the scene before him still sent chills down his spine.

Those zombies weren't controlled or driven; they were just thirsty.

Xu Mo thought of the scorching heat of the past few days, of the zombies hiding in the shade, too afraid to come out, and of their unusual behavior of roaring but not attacking. They were afraid of the heat, and they needed water.

This river is the only water source in the vicinity. The zombies scattered throughout the wilderness instinctively converge on the water source when the temperature drops slightly at night. Then they drink, then are attacked by mutated fish, then attack each other, and then die here.

This is the law of survival in the apocalypse. It's not just humans who need to adapt; zombies adapt too. They hate the heat, so they hide during the day; they need water, so they gather at night. Mutant fish need food, so they stay in the river, waiting for zombies to come to them.

This is a complete ecosystem. Cruel, bloody, but efficient.

Xu Mo watched the fighting on the riverbank and remained silent for a long time.

A few minutes later, the noise from the riverbank began to subside. Most of the zombies were dead, and the river was covered with countless corpses, some still twitching slightly, others completely still.

The mutated fish continued to swim, dragging the corpses into the deeper waters to enjoy their feast. A few surviving zombies struggled to climb ashore, soaking wet, and staggered into the darkness.

Xu Mo started the engine and slowly drove away from that place. He drove a long way until he could no longer hear the roaring sounds from the riverbank, then stopped the car and sat in the darkness.

I'll just make do here for the night.

The next morning, when Xu Mo woke up, it was already broad daylight.

The place where he parked last night was a wasteland, open and unobstructed. Xu Mo walked to higher ground, looking towards the river.

I looked around. The river was as calm as a mirror, showing no sign of what had happened last night. The corpses had probably been dragged away and eaten by the mutated fish, leaving not a trace.

Xu Mo stood on the shore for a while, then turned around, got back into the car, and continued driving upstream.

After driving for about two more hours, Xu Mo finally saw a bridge. It was an old stone bridge, not wide, but it looked sturdy enough to easily accommodate an off-road vehicle.

The SUV smoothly crossed the bridge, its wheels making slight vibrations as they rolled over the gaps in the stone slabs. A dozen seconds later, the vehicle drove off the stone bridge and came to a steady stop on the opposite bank of the river.

Xu Mo got out of the car and glanced back at the bridge. The stone lions at the bridgehead stood silently, watching Xu Mo, this unfamiliar passerby. Xu Mo could still feel something watching him from underwater, but he couldn't be bothered to even look at it.

Bye-bye~

After waving goodbye to the stone lion, Xu Mo turned around, got back into the car, and continued forward.

Ahead lay endless wilderness. The sun hung high, scorching the earth. The temperature began to rise again, the heat waves distorting the distant scenery.

Xu Mo turned on the radio again and slowly tuned the channel. A hissing sound came from the speaker, but there was still nothing.

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