Cheng Shuili had been particularly obsessed with outdoor sports in her previous life, and she never expected that the knowledge she learned back then would come in handy now.
She used a rope to loop around the base of the toilet, first tying a bowline knot, then finishing with a fisherman's knot to prevent it from slipping.
That finally secured it.
She tugged on it, and after seeing the knot tighten, she found the other end of the rope with satisfaction and tied it around her waist.
Once everything was ready, Cheng Shuili raised her hand and deftly pulled the car door open.
She had expected the wind and snow to rush in and had prepared herself, but after opening the door, she actually felt nothing at all.
It turned out that even if the door was open, as long as one remained inside the vehicle, they could not feel the wind and snow outside.
No wonder that Niannian had walked out without knowing any better.
Cheng Shuili thought about it, but still stepped out to experience it; the wind was indeed strong enough to blow a person away, no doubt about it.
Cheng Shuili pulled hard on the rope around her waist, and the rope that was about to stretch taut instantly held firm.
Like someone rock climbing while suspended in mid-air, she used both hands to pull on the rope, climbing back into the vehicle with both hands and feet against the tremendous resistance.
Pathetic.
It was just too pathetic!
Cheng Shuili thought to herself, yet she felt a genuine sense of relief.
Let's finish running the mileage for today first; with this level of visibility, whether one can even spot a supply crate on the road is another matter entirely.
As for Highway Merge, that's even less of a consideration—no one would court death in this kind of environment!
Everyone is fighting against today's extreme, harsh weather.
Struggle against heaven! Infinite joy!
Cheng Shuili found some bitter joy in the situation, but she did not let go of the rope around her waist as she climbed into the driver's seat wearing her full set of gear.
After the upgrade, the driver's cabin was slightly larger, but the most significant change was the seat, which now featured a latex cushion and a small pillow on the backrest, making driving much more comfortable now.
Cheng Shuili turned on the windshield wipers and stepped on the accelerator to begin moving forward.
The speed of the electric shopping cart had increased, but she dared not go too fast; safety first, after all.
Although the probability of fighting during a Highway Merge had decreased, the likelihood of a car accident had risen sharply in tandem.
Cheng Shuili only had one vehicle repair card on hand, and she did not want to use it this early.
The facts were as she had expected; for the entire morning, Cheng Shuili did not see a single supply crate.
She had originally thought she simply hadn't spotted them, but after opening the regional channel, she realized that no one had opened any supply crates all morning; the regional channel was already filled with sighs of despair.
【Full Moon in the Sky】: It's over. It's been a whole morning and I haven't seen a single supply crate. My firewood is about to run out. I was counting on finding firewood today.
【Ye Ye】: What should we do? If there are never any supply crates, those who freeze will freeze, those who starve will starve, and those who can't upgrade will be bitten to death by monsters. I flipped through the system logs and checked; every page was scribbled with the words "doomsday survival." I couldn't sleep no matter how I turned, so I looked carefully for half the night, and only then did I find two words between the lines: go die.
【User 2131】: The person above is telling such a scary story.
【Full Moon】: Keep a level head. Actually, I don't understand what the system wants by putting us here either. But living one day at a time is all we have. As the saying goes, if I live, it's my fortune; if I don't, it's my fate.
【Floating Ice】: What are they doing by putting us here? Perhaps we are all just playthings of the system, a game conceived on a whim by higher-dimensional beings. It's like us locking fish from a tank into a fenced area, then opening the gate to admire which one can swim further.
【Tiaotiao】: To them, we're probably just insignificant little bugs, right? Would you go to such great lengths for a bug? At most, you'd just swat it to death.
......
The more they chatted on the regional channel, the more depressed it became, making Cheng Shuili's mouth corners droop as well.
The weather was bad.
There were no supplies either, so there was no need to stop or get out of the vehicle.
At first, Cheng Shuili thought this was fine, but as time passed, she felt more and more as if the wind and snow outside had isolated a new world.
She, too, could not suppress a growing sense of loneliness, as if she were the only person left in the world.
At noon today, Wan Yi steamed some fragrant white rice.
She didn't usually travel very far, and her supplies were all obtained by helping others process food. Of course, the seasonings weren't usually given away for free.
This kind of weather had no impact on her whatsoever.
After Wan Yi finished her mileage for the day, she excitedly parked her car and began to cook.
Humming a little tune, she took two pieces of pork belly out of her storage box and deftly divided them into two portions on the cutting board.
Yesterday, Angry Crow had told her there would be guests.
Two dishes today!
One sweet and sour pork tenderloin, and one twice-cooked pork!
Wan Yi cut one of the portions into thumb-thick strips, gently tenderized them with the back of a knife, placed them in a bowl, and added salt, cooking wine, and ginger slices to marinate.
She put the other piece directly into a pot of cold water. When the water boiled, she skimmed off the foam and added a knot of scallions and star anise.
These items were all given by Angry Crow; if Wan Yi hadn't been quite restrained, she really would have wanted to hug Angry Crow's thigh and call her boss.
The aroma of the meat soon permeated the air along with the bubbling sound.
While the meat was boiling, she efficiently mixed the sweet and sour sauce.
She simmered three spoonfuls of white sugar over low heat until it turned amber, added fragrant vinegar with a sizzle that sent up a sweet and sour mist, and then stirred in two spoonfuls of tomato ketchup to create a crystal-clear sauce.
She coated the marinated meat strips with starch and dropped them into the oil, fried them until golden, then removed them to double-fry, and finally tossed them into the sweet and sour sauce until evenly coated. After sprinkling on some toasted white sesame seeds, the sweet and sour pork tenderloin was finished, glistening with an alluring sheen of oil.
Over there, the boiled pork belly had cooled and been sliced. Wan Yi slid the meat slices into a hot pan to stir-fry. After the fat rendered out, she pushed them to one side; ideally, one would add bean paste here to stir-fry out the red oil.
But without those conditions now, she could only use other things as substitutes.
The garlic sprouts and meat slices danced in the pan. With a flick of her wrist, she drizzled in some homemade sweet bean sauce and finally sprinkled on some fried pork cracklings.
Done!
First, she presented half a bowl of rice in Angry Crow's Golden Rice Bowl as a base, covering one side of the surface with the twice-cooked pork and the other with the sweet and sour pork tenderloin, hiding the rice completely.
Cheng Shuili was staring blankly at the vast white wind and snow outside the window when she suddenly heard a soft "thump."
The steaming Golden Rice Bowl appeared out of thin air on the passenger seat, and the sweet aroma of the sweet and sour pork tenderloin and the savory sauce of the twice-cooked pork exploded in the cramped driver's cabin.
She stared blankly at this sudden feast; the sweet and sour pork tenderloin was coated in crystal-clear sauce, glowing with an amber luster under the ceiling light.
The twice-cooked pork was perfectly marbled, with crispy, fried pork cracklings clinging to the glistening meat slices.
The two distinct aromas intertwined, aggressively invading her nasal cavity.
Cheng Shuili's throat moved involuntarily.
Loneliness?
I'll experience that properly later.
Depression?
Don't even mention it; it's time to eat!
The wind and snow were still howling outside the window, but the driver's cabin was filled with the comforting scent of food.
Cheng Shuili ate earnestly, one bite after another. Now, looking at the vast white scenery outside didn't make her feel anything else.
In a better mood, she even had the energy to recite a poem:
A thousand mountains, birds fly off; ten thousand paths, human tracks vanish.
Wind and snow sting my face, food warms my heart!
What a good poem!
Cheng Shuili picked up a mouthful of rice with her chopsticks, swallowing it down with the sweet and sour sauce.
Rate on N.U.
