“The temperature outside has dropped again,” Jiawu noticed shortly after they set off. The car window began to ice over, growing thicker by the minute.

The cold wind howled along both sides of the road, whipping up snowflakes that blurred the driver’s view. The road became increasingly difficult to navigate.

Even though there were only two cars on the entire six-lane highway and both vehicles had anti-slip chains, they were still only able to drive at forty miles per hour. One wrong move could result in a fatal accident.

“It’s ten degrees colder than yesterday,” Sī Yè said as he put away the thermometer, his eyes growing more serious.

Looking out at the increasingly violent wind, Nan Muran furrowed her brows slightly. “We won’t make it back today. Let’s find a place to stay for the night.”

“At this temperature, we need to find a place to take shelter as soon as possible, and prepare in advance; otherwise, we might freeze to death,” Jiawu said, signaling to the person beside him, Xiao Qi, to open the map.

At a chilling minus thirty degrees, they needed to find somewhere to keep warm.

By six in the afternoon, the sky had already grown dark. The trip from Lan City to Xi City should have taken less than eight hours, but after six hours of driving nonstop, they had barely covered half the distance.

“Let’s not go any further. We should find somewhere nearby to settle for the night,” Nan Muran said, staring out at the snowstorm swirling outside. She felt uneasy.

Clearly, the extreme cold had arrived much earlier than it did in her previous life.

This was the first time since the apocalypse that the timeline seemed off compared to her memories, and the sense of things being out of control made her feel insecure.

“There’s a highway service station three kilometers ahead. Let’s settle there,” Jiawu quickly assessed the map and made the final decision.

The service station was located by the side of the highway, not far from the county city, so it wasn’t very large.

The service station had two buildings in total: one was a public restroom, a standard for all service stations, and the other was the convenience service area.

The service area had a small supermarket, but the shelves were already completely empty. It mainly stocked food and necessities, all of which had been taken after people scavenged it.

“This supermarket has too many windows and doesn’t block the cold.”

“The office area at the back is more suitable. We’ll settle there,” Jiawu said, holding a flashlight as he checked out the surroundings. He frowned at the large windows but ultimately chose the office area at the back, which was more secluded.

The Fu family and Taozi had no objections and followed them inside.

Inside the office, the long-unused space had been soaked by water, and the white wall paint had peeled off, leaving a thick layer of dust.

“You stay and keep an eye on things. We’ll take care of the rest,” Sī Yè, Jiawu, and the others said as they took off their backpacks and put them together, then addressed Nan Muran.

They began helping the Fu family clear the area around the window to block the cold wind coming through.

Afterward, they started a fire, and soon a flame lit up in the small office, bringing warmth to the space. Outside, the wind grew fiercer as they worked.

The Eagle family, being in the middle of a move, had brought plenty of supplies, including camping tents. Since the office wasn’t very big, they set up two tents and planned to huddle together for warmth at night.

Since Nan Muran couldn’t conveniently take out food to eat, everyone decided to cook instant noodles.

Looking at the whole box of noodles, pickled vegetables, sausages, eggs, and vegetables, the Eagle family felt like they were in a dream. Was this a bit too extravagant?

“Mom, you’re the best cook! You cook, and make extra. We all have big appetites,” the Eagle son hurriedly reminded his stunned mother.

Eagle’s father quickly added, “You all get things ready, I’ll help your mother.”

The Eagle family’s bedding was outside, so Nan Muran and the others also decided to bring some from the car.

Once they had everything set up for the night, the group gathered around the fire to watch Fu Mu cook eggs, add water, and prepare the noodles. Even with simple tools, she still moved in an orderly manner, performing each task with care.

When the food was ready, just one bite was enough to amaze everyone. Who knew instant noodles could taste this good?

“Auntie, your cooking is amazing,” Taozi said, despite having often freeloaded at the Fu family’s home. Still, the meal was incredibly delicious.

Fu Mu smiled. “I’ve saved some. If it’s not enough, we can cook more.”

After seeing the large appetite of Nan Muran, Sī Yè, Jiawu, and Xiao Qi, the Fu family felt a little embarrassed. Back at their own home, one bowl of noodles hadn’t even been enough to fill them up.

After all, even the youngest, Xiao Qi, needed three big bowls of noodles to feel full.

Suddenly, Sī Yè frowned. “What’s that sound?”

Jiawu immediately listened carefully. “It sounds like a group of animals approaching.”

Nan Muran put down her bowl and began using her psychic power to check the surroundings. As a mid-level psychic of rank five, she could sense things within a range of about 1500 meters.

About a thousand meters ahead, in the direction of Lan City, Xuan Yue and the wolf pack she had seen from Mount Ling were surrounded by dozens of wolves.

“It’s Xuan Yue. This is bad—they’re in trouble,” Nan Muran said. “Eagle, Xiao Qi, stay here and protect them. Sī Yè, Jiawu, come with me.”

Nan Muran quickly stood up without hesitation and rushed toward the service station’s exit.

Sī Yè and Jiawu, hearing her words, also quickly got up and followed her out.

Nan Muran was fast, and after running over a thousand meters toward the direction they had come from, she finally saw Xuan Yue and the others.

Xuan Yue’s wolf pack was surrounded by another group of wolves, and even more terrifying, behind these wolves was a horde of zombies.

“Those wolves… are they zombies?” Sī Yè asked, uncertain, as he watched the clearly sluggish wolves.

Nan Muran took a glance at the lifeless-eyed wolves. “It seems so.”

Xuan Yue’s wolf pack, surrounded in the middle, howled a warning as they saw the three approaching. “Don’t come closer, it’s dangerous.”

“He doesn’t want us to get closer,” Sī Yè remarked, sensing Xuan Yue’s caution, making Nan Muran frown.

Logically, Xuan Yue, a level five mutated beast, should be one of the top creatures in the apocalypse. It didn’t make sense for him to be blocked by a few dozen zombie wolves and hundreds of zombies.

It seemed the situation was more complicated than it appeared.

Sī Yè looked around and sighed. “It looks like we can’t avoid a tough battle.”

In the barren trees along the highway, countless dark shapes were approaching. Clearly, behind these zombie wolves, there were tens of thousands of zombies in the horde.

Xuan Yue wasn’t afraid, but there were young and old wolves in the pack. If the battle broke out, he could escape easily but wouldn’t be able to protect the whole pack.

“Jiawu, go back as quickly as possible and tell everyone to pack up and evacuate,” Nan Muran said in a low voice.

The service station where they had settled was too close to here. If the zombie horde discovered them, they, along with the four ordinary people who had no means of fighting back, could easily be dragged to their deaths.

Jiawu understood the urgency and, without hesitation, turned back toward the service station.