In the traveling convoy, three vehicles had already reached the campsite and were anxiously waiting. According to their account, the convoy originally had 12 vehicles. When the landslide occurred, four of the vehicles were swept away and had not been heard from since, while the remaining five were stranded on the road.
Xin Xiaoru studied the highway and terrain, then launched her RV from the treetop, moving quickly along the damaged road.
The mountain was still collapsing. She used binoculars to locate the approximate positions of the five vehicles and began the rescue.
Some vehicles had already been hit by rocks, but the occupants were still alive, struggling to crawl out from between the car body and the stones.
From a distance, they saw the off-white RV flying toward them and initially thought they were hallucinating.
Xin Xiaoru maneuvered the RV to stop in front of a family of three. “Hello, this is the RV Inn. One hundred… oh no,” she glanced at the updated data on her mental display, “500 per night. Buy your ticket to board, and please give a five-star rating in your heart if satisfied.”
The rumbling of the distant landslide continued. A woman whose RV could fly and was even charging money to rescue people? The absurdity was surreal yet strangely practical.
The father of the family tentatively asked, “Can you… rescue us first? Money isn’t a problem.”
Xin Xiaoru shook her head, making the three of them anxious. Then, the mysterious woman on the miraculous RV said, “Money is the problem. Just remember to pay later.”
With that, she jumped out of the RV, grabbed a metal shovel, smashed the glass, and propped up the stones on the roof so they wouldn’t roll forward and crush anyone. The family of three scrambled out through the front windshield and quickly climbed into Xin Xiaoru’s RV.
“Ding-dong—” A sound in her mind signaled that the RV Inn’s new feature had been activated. Xin Xiaoru returned to the driver’s seat, keeping an eye on the display. Next to the original mission board, a red stamina bar and a blue popularity bar had appeared.
As the three people entered the RV, the popularity increased to 3, and the stamina went from 10 to 13.
Xin Xiaoru poked the red and blue bars in her mind, but nothing happened. It seemed she would have to figure out their uses and meanings herself.
She continued to search for the other four vehicles.
During this, she discovered the rules for stamina consumption: in flight mode, the RV consumes 3 stamina points per hour. When not flying, the consumption slows.
When the RV moves on its own without gasoline, it consumes 1/8 of a stamina point per hour. In other words, eight hours of travel drains only 1 stamina point.
The RV’s flight speed wasn’t fast, about thirty miles per hour. Sometimes she would see a vehicle ahead racing away but couldn’t catch up until it was hit by a new landslide or trapped, allowing the RV to slowly close in.
Some people, like the family of three, weren’t seriously injured and could board immediately after escaping. Others were crushed inside their vehicles, with arms or legs pinned, unable to move. People working together with jacks could lift some manageable stones. But in poorly situated landslides, there was no leverage point for the jack, forcing them to abandon certain trapped areas.
Xin Xiaoru gave the victims two choices: wait for rescue or record a video for liability exemption, letting her perform amputations.
If Xin Xiaoru were older, say in her thirties or forties, relatives would likely allow her to perform amputations. But she was only 20, extremely attractive, with a seemingly fragile, inexperienced demeanor. No one dared to trust her judgment. What if the rescue team arrived and their family members’ limbs could have been saved?
Xin Xiaoru understood this and immediately drove the RV, with the people inside, to rescue the next stranded vehicle.
The sky in the mountains darkened quickly. By evening, the last warm golden light had faded, leaving only a dim blue on the horizon. Xin Xiaoru finally found the fifth vehicle and had rescued a total of 17 people. Those who hadn’t needed amputations and still wanted to wait for more experienced rescue teams, Xin Xiaoru ignored. She told the people in the RV that the hospital had been quarantined due to the infectious disease, and now they had two choices: either go down the mountain and figure out another plan, or pay her for treatment.
Everyone had mobile internet, though a bit slow, it was enough to read text messages. They saw messages from many relatives and friends and realized Xin Xiaoru was telling the truth. So they didn’t insist on going to the hospital immediately; instead, they entrusted this miraculous woman to provide treatment.
“It’s just… miss, look at our friends…” one person anxiously pointed toward those still trapped under debris.
Xin Xiaoru refused: “My energy is limited each day. When I went, I asked once, rescued others in a loop, and asked again. If they choose to wait for a rescue team, that’s their decision, not mine. I won’t go interfere. If you want to stay together, then stay.”
Her RV was only five square meters; squeezing this many people in was already at the limit. After performing treatments at night, it could only sleep three or four people. More people wouldn’t speed up the RV mission, it was better to leave some behind now, which also reduced her workload and medication waste.
The group exchanged glances, and in the end, not a single person was willing to stay with their friends.
They had been running for a whole afternoon and were exhausted. Their own injuries hadn’t been treated, fevers and infection symptoms were obvious, and they simply didn’t have the energy to help others.
Grateful, they asked the RV owner to find a stable place to stop.
Xin Xiaoru agreed and brought the 17 people back to the RV campsite to reunite with the other three vehicles.
That day, the RV’s popularity increased by 31 points. After the stamina was adjusted for the popularity gain and its own consumption, it settled at 26. At midnight, the popularity value had long been merged 1:1 into stamina, then reset for recalculation, while stamina retained its previous value.
In other words, popularity represented only the new popularity gained that day. Each point of popularity increased stamina by one. It displayed the day’s result, recalculated the next day. Stamina, however, fluctuated constantly, rising with new people entering the RV and decreasing with the RV’s own consumption.
Handling the wounds of 31 people, Xin Xiaoru applied splints, treated infections, reduced fevers, and managed pain. This stabilized most of their conditions.
A few with severe injuries and open wounds remained in the RV moaning, under Xin Xiaoru’s care, while others found mats outside at the campsite to sleep.
It was hot, with no water or electricity. Aunt Qian didn’t want to use the backup diesel generator, so she slept in her own RV with the air conditioning running. One woman in the convoy paid 1,000 yuan to sleep in the RV with Aunt Qian, and Aunt Qian agreed.
Some people fell asleep immediately from exhaustion, but Aunt Qian didn’t, she was on the phone with her daughter.
By now, she trusted Xin Xiaoru’s words almost completely and wanted her daughter to take leave and return to Yicheng.
“We bought a whole truck of old rice at home. No matter what happens later, it’ll last us for years.”
Qian Zhengli’s daughter, Qian Duoying, was studying at a university out of town. The campus situation was relatively stable, without the “insane” outbreaks elsewhere. Some people in the campus hospital showed symptoms, but the situation was under control, though hospitals in the university city were experiencing some problems.
“Mom, do you really think Xiao Ru’s RV can fly? If it really can, could she come pick me up?”
Qian Zhengli hesitated. “From what I saw today, flying uses a lot of energy and is slow. She probably can’t reach you.”
“I can’t rent a car! Any drivable vehicles outside have already been taken by their owners or relatives. The ones left haven’t gone yet but are ready to leave at any time!” Qian Duoying said, panicking. “Mom, drive to get me! It’s only 500 or 600 kilometers, if you drive fast, you could make a round trip in a day. Or have Xiao Ru fly over?”
She couldn’t even imagine how an RV could fly, and now could only hope her mom had a solution.
Qian Zhengli said: “Alright, I’ll ask tomorrow, but you also see if there’s a way, whether you rent a car to drive back yourself, or buy a train or plane ticket, just get back as soon as possible.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll wait for your news!”
After hanging up, Qian Zhengli tossed and turned in bed.
Xin Xiaoru, on the other hand, slept very well. Overnight, the RV inn’s “20 five-star review” mission made progress: based on He Guying having completed 3 out of 20 previously, she added 3 more, bringing the total to 6/20. She estimated that in another four or five days, the 20-review mission could be fully completed.
Feeling relaxed, she treated everyone’s wounds more gently, tying bandages with far more care than before.
After a night of rest, the few seriously injured people stabilized. They were making rescue calls while discussing how to search for companions buried by the mudslides.
Some of them were closer to the missing people or had a stronger sense of justice, and were eager to find Xin Xiaoru, hoping she could join them.
But the woman who had saved their lives yesterday was now as hard as iron, refusing.
“Do you realize how massive yesterday’s landslide was?” Xin Xiaoru asked. “Do you want me to dig little by little, or shall we temporarily get a backhoe to clear the way?”
“No, just drive over and take a look, go around once,” one person urged.
“I already checked yesterday, nothing,” Xin Xiaoru replied, generously taking out the RV’s spare iron shovel and spade. “Those are your friends, you can dig yourselves.”
They then asked her to drive them to the site. Xin Xiaoru thought for a moment and agreed generously.
She spent 3 stamina points and earned 16 popularity points from the group who went with her, driving them to what was said to be the worst-hit area of the landslide, where the four cars had been completely buried. She then stopped nearby and didn’t take further action.
Yesterday had been a major earthquake, and today there were aftershocks. The tremors weren’t strong, but even small shakes scared everyone enough.
So the 16 people called out symbolically all morning, heard nothing, and then asked Xin Xiaoru to take them back.
On the way back, she spent another 3 stamina points, acceptable. Calculating carefully: the three people who stayed in the RV the previous night had all given five-star reviews. These reviews also increased stamina: on average, two stars equaled one stamina point. So a five-star review gave her 2.5 stamina points.
Not bad, not bad! Xin Xiaoru was very satisfied. But these people could only earn this one batch; later, after dropping them off, she would need to conserve her stamina points.
The RV campsite had food, previously stocked by Qian Zhengli in the small camp store. Prices weren’t as cheap as in the city, and now they had risen a few yuan. Instant noodles that used to cost 6 yuan a cup now sold for 10.
To be honest, if she were thinking just for herself, Xin Xiaoru felt 10 yuan was already very cheap. Why? From now on, money would be worth less and less; in the future, there would be plenty of situations where even having money wouldn’t get you goods.
But clearly, the convoy, having just caught a breath, didn’t see it that way. They didn’t say anything aloud, but their reaction showed in the RV’s satisfaction scores: after another night, the RV mission’s progress hadn’t moved forward, it remained 6/20.
The display board showed that the three customers’ satisfaction ratings were only 2 stars.
The customer feedback from the display board read: the food was expensive, the lodging was expensive, the space was too small, and the RV inn owner had a bad attitude.
Xin Xiaoru couldn’t help but laugh in anger.
She had left the bed and sofa for these people, while she, like a grandchild, had slept on the driver’s seat, leaning on the steering wheel all night, and these people still complained the space was too small.
Just as she was cleaning the campsite, thinking about getting this group gone soon, she caught two people whispering what they thought were quiet remarks. The RV’s microphone transmitted their words directly into her mind: “These two are profiting off national disaster, they’re not afraid we’ll go down the mountain and report her for price gouging.”
“Hey,” Xin Xiaoru stopped cleaning, walked over to her RV, and banged on the door. “Are you idiots? Talking bad about me in my own RV thinking I can’t hear? Get the hell out!”
Seeing them not move, she grabbed them and started dragging them out.
Don’t underestimate her, she was just a little over 1.6 meters tall and fairly slim. As a nurse, she didn’t have the brute strength of someone like He Guying, but she was stronger than these untrained, injured office workers.
She didn’t hold back at all, dragging every single one of them out, forbidding them from staying inside. She even overturned all the instant noodles she had sold them and refunded all the money.
Some people, seeing this, got angry and tried to fight back, but Xin Xiaoru knocked them senseless with her iron shovel.
Not only were the others stunned, but Qian Zhengli was too.
“Xia… Xiao Ru…” she grabbed her arm. “Don’t be so angry.”
Xin Xiaoru patted Qian Zhengli’s hand, signaling she had it under control, and then looked at the few people she had scared: “Want to stay, stay. Don’t, get out! You want to buy instant noodles, fine, but I don’t even want to sell them to you!”