Yu Qingxian watched as the time on her phone progressed from 5 a.m. to around noon.
The heavy rain outside showed no signs of stopping.
The water in the drainage ditch by the road had started to rage.
It was evident that the previous information was not false.
The message was sent from the West Base to the North Base.
And she had received the message from within the North Base's range three days ago.
Now she was out of the North Base's range, but had not yet entered the West Base's range.
She estimated it would take a few hundred more kilometers to reach the West Base's communication range.
But with the heavy rain, nothing was visible beyond five meters.
And the temperature was also dropping steadily.
The temperature was still over 40 degrees Celsius two days ago.
But from the start of the rain yesterday until now, it had dropped to the mid-20s Celsius.
And it was still continuing to decline.
Yu Qingxian did not feel the drop in temperature.
Until 3 p.m., when Yu Qingxian checked her phone again, she found that the temperature had dropped to only 10 degrees Celsius.
Such a drastic drop in temperature was another challenge for humans.
Yu Qingxian got out of the car with an umbrella to check the tires.
The tires on several wheels had gone flat.
They looked deflated.
Yu Qingxian had no idea how to inflate them.
Since she was not within the network range now, she couldn't receive any messages.
Fortunately, the map was still usable, although limited to just viewing locations.
It wasn't as convenient as the phone that her brother had modified for her.
But once she stepped out of the signal area, her phone became nothing more than a brick.
Yu Qingxian crouched by the flat tires under her umbrella, then got up and started opening the doors.
She had watched many RV travel videos, so she was familiar with how vloggers introduced their RVs.
They would mention where certain items were stored.
So Yu Qingxian wanted to see if there was anything that could help inflate the car's tires.
However, when she opened the rear trunk, an arm fell out.
Yu Qingxian instinctively caught it.
The arm was severely decayed.
Using her other hand, she fully opened the trunk lid to find the female car owner lying curled up inside.
The woman's body was severely decomposed.
It was unknown whether she died from injuries or starved to death after turning into a zombie.
Yu Qingxian put the woman's arm back and grabbed a towel from inside the car to wipe her hands. She then took a shovel out of the luggage.
Huanglong came down from the bed, and Yu Qingxian told it to stay in the car.
She closed the door before walking towards the back.
No matter what, this female car owner must have been injured and unable to run, so she hid in the trunk.
Unfortunately, she didn't get rescued.
Although Yu Qingxian had been avoiding such situations for the past six months, she didn't feel as distressed as she had imagined when suddenly faced with a female corpse.
Yu Qingxian took the body out of the trunk and emptied one of the plastic boxes used for storing clothes in the other trunk, then placed the body inside.
The heavy rain continued pouring.
It made it difficult for Yu Qingxian to even dress the corpse in clean clothes.
For some reason, Yu Qingxian suddenly thought of a lyric:
'The cold icy rain slaps haphazardly on the face.'
Yu Qingxian changed the female car owner into clean clothes.
But the rain quickly filled the box with water.
Yu Qingxian put the lid on and stood the box upright to drain the water.
For some reason, it felt like she was cooking and draining water.
With the lid on, the rain could no longer enter the box.
Yu Qingxian dragged the box into the forest.
She chose a spot with a good view, dug a hole, and buried the woman there.
Someone who went on a self-driving tour must have loved freedom.
This place had a nice view, although the heavy rain made everything invisible at the moment.
After burying the female car owner, Yu Qingxian took one rose from her bouquet and placed it on the grave.
Looking at this rudimentary grave without even a headstone, there was nothing more Yu Qingxian could do.
She clasped her hands together.
"May you ascend to the highest heavens! May you ascend to the highest heavens!" Yu Qingxian spoke sincerely.
Although humans could not understand, her heart was sincere.
After dealing with the female car owner's corpse, Yu Qingxian was as soaked as a drowned chicken.
Water was dripping from her entire body.
She looked up at the sky, and the rainwater poured down on her as if someone was dumping a bucket on her.
Splash, splash!
Yu Qingxian got back into the car, leaving puddles of water on the floor.
"Transforming into a water ghost!" Yu Qingxian stuck her tongue out at Huanglong.
Huanglong lay on the bed, its fur appeared fluffier after being drenched by the water, like a bed of cotton.
Yu Qingxian took out body wash and shampoo from her backpack and showered right by the door.
Since no one could see her, she had no shame.
After washing her body and hair, she went back inside, put on a dress, started the car to get power, and then used the car owner's hair dryer to dry her hair.
The sky outside grew darker.
And just like that, she leisurely passed another day.
With the flat tires, this RV was unable to drive any further.
And with the heavy downpour outside, she couldn't continue on foot either.
Although she could brave the rain, her luggage worth tens of thousands couldn't.
So Yu Qingxian ended up staying in the RV.
And she stayed for seven or eight days.
Although she was on a mountain slope, the rainwater didn't flood this area.
But the heavy rain never stopped.
It was like the sky had sprung a leak.
With this level of precipitation, any slightly lower area must have been submerged.
And there were reports of an incoming cold front.
Yu Qingxian didn't feel the cold front.
She checked her phone.
The temperature was around 3 degrees Celsius at the time.
Although this temperature was still within the human tolerance range, combined with the heavy rainfall, it would be a major disaster.
On the ninth day, the rain eased slightly but didn't clear up, and wind started blowing.
Yu Qingxian checked her phone again to find the temperature had dropped to -5 degrees Celsius.
What was falling wasn't rain anymore, but little chunks of ice.
The small hailstones pounded on the roof with a rattling sound.
Yu Qingxian felt she couldn't stay in someone else's RV any longer, since the little hailstones couldn't kill her anyway.
She decided to pack up and leave.
Seeing Yu Qingxian packing, Huanglong immediately stood up.
There was a bag of dog food in the RV.
Yu Qingxian had never seen the car owner's dog, so she took the food to feed Huanglong instead.
However, she only gave Huanglong a small bowl of dog food each day, barely enough to sustain its life.
Of course, Huanglong slept all day and didn't move much.
So Yu Qingxian figured it knew that following her meant going hungry, and it might just leave.
After all, it could go wherever it wanted.
Yu Qingxian went out first with an umbrella, then brought her luggage down.
Huanglong immediately squeezed out with her, afraid of being left behind in the RV.
Seeing it panic, Yu Qingxian found it amusing.
How could she leave a living being somewhere it couldn't escape?
She had closed the door earlier because of the heavy rain, and Huanglong's long fur.
Although it appeared large due to the mutation, it was still technically a long-haired breed.
Yu Qingxian had never dwelled on what breed of dog it was.
And now, she didn't bother either.
No matter the breed, all dogs were good dogs.
