After giving it some thought, Mu Yining continued forward.
When her car reached Wu County, situated between A Province and G Province, Mu Yining chose to stay here for a few days until the apocalypse broke out.
G Province was vast and sparsely populated. Once the apocalypse began, she wouldn’t need to cut through city centers; by driving straight along the north, she could reach G Province’s largest petroleum production base. After collecting enough gasoline there, she would be able to use her vehicle without any restraint.
For the remaining four or five days, Mu Yining decided to stay around Wu County, spend the rest of her money, wander about, and buy some more supplies.
Exiting the highway interchange, Mu Yining realized that the car’s GPS navigation system hadn’t been updated for a long time. She rarely used her car at home in the past, so driving without causing an accident was already good enough back then; her current skillful driving was something she had desperately fought to learn during those five years just to survive.
Mu Yining found the nearest 4S dealership and updated the car’s navigation system, though it would only be useful temporarily—there wouldn’t even be a signal after the apocalypse.
Afterward, she bought a large quantity of paper maps, ranging from nationwide provinces down to individual city streets. After organizing them one by one, Mu Yining realized that relying solely on her current memory was far from enough to recall every conceivable supply. A sudden, unexpected incident could cost her life, so she couldn’t afford to lower her guard.
Just like that, another rushed day came to an end.
Mu Yining sat down at a private kitchen restaurant and ordered a few dishes for herself. Finding the food delicious, she asked the owner to prepare another dozen portions. The owner was all smiles, as the food at their restaurant was far from cheap.
Mu Yining merely chuckled inward: in just a few days, no matter how much money you have, it will be nothing more than scrap paper, likely unable to buy even a single bite of food.
She wasn’t some selfless savior—was she supposed to say, “Hey! The apocalypse is coming, humans are turning into zombies, everyone run?!” If she did, she would probably be dragged off to a laboratory.
After dinner, Mu Yining transferred the food into her space, along with Alan’s portion. She then looked around the area for anything else she needed to prepare, walking and stopping along the way, until she unknowingly wandered into a park.
By now, darkness was falling. However, having been refined by the fruits from her space, Mu Yining’s hearing and vision were far superior to ordinary people’s. She could vaguely hear the sound of some living organism in the distance—a sound she had never heard before, neither cat nor dog, nor human.
Following the sound, she walked deeper into an increasingly secluded area, which turned out to be an artificial lake. At the center of the lake stood a small pavilion, surrounded by flowers, grass, and trees. The sound grew clearer, as if right beside her ear. Closing her eyes to feel carefully, Mu Yining moved her steps slowly and stopped beside a patch of bushes, where the noise was originating.
Mu Yining braced herself for an attack; life in the apocalypse had long accustomed her to this sense of self-preservation.
Using a tree branch, she gently parted the bushes. A faint rustle came from inside, but the sound remained right there. Reaching in with her other hand, an unexpected cold, slippery texture made Mu Yining frown. Just as she tried to pull her hand back, the creature proved faster than her. When Mu Yining looked down at her hand, a tiny fiery-red snake was coiled around it, opening its little mouth and flicking a red tongue.
The tiny snake didn’t know what kind of creature was before it; it only knew that having just hatched from its shell, a warm hand had reached in, so it instinctively coiled around it.
Mu Yining stared at the tiny snake for a long time before noticing that it seemed quite unique. Its head was about the size of an index fingertip, with two tiny horns faintly protruding from the top, and its eyes flickered with a red glow.
Having lived two lives, this was the first time Mu Yining had ever seen such a strange snake. Even the mutated snakes from her past life didn’t grow horns—they were merely huge in size and possessed superpowers.