Cave Refuge-Chapter 176 - 175: On the way..._1

At this point, the temperature outside the car had exceeded 55 degrees. It’s worth noting that this wasn’t even the hottest part of the day, as Ye Liuyun hadidlely mentioned over dinner the previous night that the maximum outdoor temperature had now broken through to 60 degrees.

Before the catastrophe struck, even on the hottest summer day on Flaming Mountain, the highest temperature had only nudged close to 50 degrees, never surpassing it.

But now, as per what Ye Liuyun shared, even at night, the lowest outdoor temperature had surpassed 50 degrees.

This might not seem like a big deal, but in normal circumstances, after a day of sun exposure, the ground temperature would be about 30% higher than the air temperature.

Take Flaming Mountain before the calamity, for example, the outdoor air temperature hadn’t exceeded 50 degrees, but the ground temperature had already reached above 80 degrees.

In the same vein, with an average air temperature of around 50 degrees now, the ground temperature should be around 90 degrees.

This temperature in ancient times would be akin to a well-known form of torture. It’s also reminiscent of a famous dish that fits this kind of punishment: Iron Plate Duck Feet.

Now, if you were to go outside without taking proper heatstroke and sun-protection measures, you could only last about half an hour before symptoms of mild heatstroke would appear.

At this time, if the skin were to be exposed outside, one would feel a mild burning sensation. If the temperature were to rise again, going outside would feel like undergoing the torture of branding.

Meanwhile, Dong Tianyu was fairly relaxed, lounging in the car’s front seat, directing the vehicle towards a location he remembered.

The location of Peach Blossom Paradise was quite interesting; though hidden behind a village, it was marked on both maps and navigation systems.

Its location was public, and to disguise the real Peach Blossom Paradise within the mountain, an open-to-public Leisure Manor was constructed outside. Although it only accepted high-end clients, it gave the feeling of being a significant sanctuary hidden in plain sight.

The city roads had been cleared rather well by the survivors organized by the Officials. Cars that had previously broken down were pushed to the sides of the roads.

All the car windows had been smashed, any usable thing inside had been looted. Dong Tianyu even noticed that the fuel tank doors of all the cars had been damaged, with many vehicles even showing signs of being dismantled.

But this was understandable, as many of the spare parts on the cars are quite useful. Leaving everything else aside, the tires alone could be broken down to make slippers.

The tread on the outside of the tires served as natural anti-slip patterns, and crafting something did not require any special tools—a sharp knife would suffice.

Looking at the dilapidated state of the cars on the sides of the road, Dong Tianyu shook his head.

If one were to say that the city streets, after being cleaned by the survivors under the direction of the Officials, had recovered the traces of the former civilization, then apart from the derelict cars, the only other things that hinted at the past were the roads themselves.

Because the city roads were clear, Dong Tianyu quickly drove from the west third ring road to the north third ring road, finally leaving the expressway at the northeast ring road exit.

The difference between the inside of the ring road and the outside was significantly noticeable, especially regarding the cars stranded on the road.

Compared to the city streets cleaned by the survivors, while it was just about drivable on the roads outside the city, there were still many cars stranded on the road. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Most of these vehicles had their electronics destroyed by the electromagnetic pulse, causing them to stop functioning, and ended up slowly sliding to the sides of the roads.

Originally, these vehicles wouldn’t have caused a traffic problem. However, during the flood, these vehicles were tossed around by the strong currents, with many of them now littering the middle of the roads in varying states of disarray.

For these road blocks, Dong Tianyu guided his black car to avoid them, and when he couldn’t, he simply accelerated and hit them. After all, the car had robust formations for protection and was, in essence, a Magic Artifact.

So after a few collision, Dong Tianyu became somewhat addicted to it. He no longer intentionally avoided the scrapped cars in the middle of the road—instead, when he encountered a car blocking the road, Dong Tianyu would simply accelerate and knock it out of the way.

In truth, Dong Tianyu had not visited Peach Blossom Paradise many times, but he was quite familiar with the village outside of it.

Driving like he was in a bumper car stirred Dong Tianyu’s spirits. The only shortcoming was the black car’s stability, as there was no sensation of hitting anything when colliding with other vehicles, which Dong Tianyu found somewhat regrettable.

In anticipation of Peach Blossom Paradise, an asphalt road had been built through the entire village. The road was not only well-constructed but also wide, accommodating six lanes in both directions.

More than that, this asphalt road running through the entire village took up a considerable amount of land, and without significant power at work, not to mention the construction, even the initial relocation would have been quite troublesome.

Seeing the cars being pushed to the sides of the road, Dong Tianyu knew he had come to the right place, as the villagers wouldn’t take the trouble to clear the vehicles from such a wide road without reason.

Looking at the silent village on both sides of the road, Dong Tianyu didn’t know if the villagers had been relocated to the Refuge Center in the city by the Officials.

If they hadn’t complied with the Officials’ arrangements, more than likely they had moved into the refuge built in Peach Blossom Paradise.

Although this place wasn’t too far from the City Center, such distance was considered in the context of having cars. Now, let alone Pengcheng, the number of vehicles that could travel outside in the entire region were few and far between.

Therefore, any Refuge Centers in Pengcheng that did not have subway tunnels connecting to the subway network were classified by the Officials as Private Sanctuaries. Although Private Sanctuaries were not under official jurisdiction, they couldn’t receive supplies from the Officials.

While the subway network connected the entirety of Pengcheng, it was only densely interconnected like a spider’s web within the third ring road.

Outside the third ring road, there was a subway network too, but they only crossed north, south, east, and west like a cross. Peach Blossom Paradise was situated in the awkward Northeast Region, which was quite far from both the north and the east lines.

Hence, Dong Tianyu concluded that if Peach Blossom Paradise had a Refuge Center, it definitely wouldn’t be connected to the subway network, and was surely a Private Sanctuary not under the Officials’ jurisdiction.

The car continued to move forward. The protective vegetation that should have been planted on either side of the road, during the flood, had been washed away to who knows where. At present, the two sides of the road were full of pits and bumps, and the land had already dried up and cracked.

Without getting out of the car, Dong Tianyu could use his Divine Sense to confirm the soil on the ground had become utterly dry dust.

When Dong Tianyu shifted his focus from the ground to the front, he finally noticed the magnificent complex of buildings in the distance.