Rotting Land: Survive

Time flew by, and soon the night completely darkened.

In the convoy of survivors, except for the guards on duty, everyone else had a simple wash and went to bed.

Due to the bus modifications, both sides of the rear part of the vehicle had double-layer decks installed for the survivors to rest.

Old Xu took the hand-held radio and began calling to confirm each vehicle, and after confirming all guards were in place, Old Xu was pulled to the tail of the vehicle by Tang Xiaoquan and Li Xiaoxin for forced rest.

"Xiaoxin, you should go sleep too. I’ll take the first half of the night watch!"

Li Xiaoxin didn’t refuse, nodding in agreement: "Alright, call me at three, I’ll go to the back for a nap first."

Turning back to the rear compartment, Tang Xiaoquan was left alone in the driver’s cabin.

He slightly opened a crack in the window, allowing the roaring north wind to sweep in.

Tang Xiaoquan involuntarily shivered, but he ultimately dismissed the idea of using this method to stay awake.

After all, although it could keep him from getting sleepy, making it to three o’clock like this might leave him not far from freezing into a popsicle.

Picking up the freshly brewed hot tea, Tang Xiaoquan took a small sip. The warm tea streamed down his throat into his body, instantly bringing a sense of warmth, sweeping away the chill that just made him shiver.

Adjusting the seat to a suitable height, Tang Xiaoquan looked around, his eyes resting upon a white object on the driver’s seat.

It was an item left by Old Xu on the seat, and Tang Xiaoquan reached for it, finding it was something from Liu Yunpeng. He remembered Liu Yunpeng boasting about it being a concept device from Apple, supposedly called the Papaya First Generation.

If not for considering the software installed on it by Li Zhong and Li Guo, Tang Xiaoquan would have wanted to throw it on the ground and smash it to pieces, so as to avoid seeing Liu Yunpeng’s sleazy face in his mind.

Having nothing better to do, Tang Xiaoquan decided to turn on the device.

After all, earlier he was busy cleaning up the dishes for Wei Yang and then went straight to the bus, missing the live demonstration by the "Zhong" and "Guo" brothers, so he took this boring moment to investigate.

One must admit, you get what you pay for, although Tang Xiaoquan wasn’t fond of Liu Yunpeng, the startup speed of his Papaya First Generation tablet was undeniably great.

Three seconds! Tang Xiaoquan estimated the time, and after the device booted up, he immediately saw an array of game icons at the screen center, various sizes in colorful display, no doubt organized by Wen Quanxin and others to pass time in the villa.

Ignoring these trivial gadgets, Tang Xiaoquan swiped the screen. As the pages flipped, he quickly spotted two icons at the page’s end.

One labeled "Bluetooth Chat V1.0";

Another labeled "Bluetooth Video Surveillance";

Thinking it over, Tang Xiaoquan assumed the "chat" feature likely wasn’t being used by anyone in the other three vehicles, so he directly moved his finger toward "video surveillance."

A gentle tap, two-second wait, and the screen dimmed considerably; if not for some moonlight trickling in, Tang Xiaoquan would have mistaken it for a device crash.

Glancing at the adjacent function buttons, Tang Xiaoquan discovered a "night vision infrared" button. Upon clicking, the scene shifted abruptly, and the vehicle surroundings gradually became distinct.

Impressive! Watching the real-time images fed back from the four split screens, Xuan Zhanxiao felt like a "voyeur."

Based on the presented visuals, Tang Xiaoquan recognized the positions of the four cameras one by one.

He even spotted Lei Tong and others from the mid-bus night watch through the rear camera, which greatly piqued his playful interest.

His keen observation quickly allowed him to discover the final split screen at the page’s corner marked as "360-degree comprehensive view."

His mind flashed back to the controls section where he’d spotted an adjustment button for cameras.

Thinking quickly, Xuan Zhanxiao shifted his gaze, and indeed he found a directional button at the side arm.

Tang Xiaoquan instinctively scrolled slightly, causing the split screen at the bottom of the screen to flicker, and upon stabilizing, the view indeed changed.

Impressive! Hearing it doesn’t convey much, but after actual operation, you realize its truly formidable capabilities.

Not to mention, in the current circumstances with the cold wind roaring outside, if faced with a special situation, venturing out in the dark would surely be unsafe.

However, with this device, it’s different; you can sit inside the thick vehicle and perceive everything outdoors through a small tablet.

In the words of an old playful advertisement, truly an essential car tool for home travel.

Time passed by the minute and second; as the initial excitement faded, Tang Xiaoquan gradually lost interest in this "new gadget."

After all, the outside now was pitch black, apart from a mere glimmer, there was nothing more for Tang Xiaoquan to spy on.

As time edged past midnight, Tang Xiaoquan’s consciousness began to blur, weariness from the day’s turbulence permeating his body, unknowingly causing him to lower his eyelids into a shallow sleep.

The frigid wind outside persisted, and after midnight, the sky turned more eerie; the previously bright moonlight now eclipsed by encroaching clouds vanished completely.

The entire wilderness outside, swept by the fierce wind, emitted rhythmic "swishing" sounds, the car window gradually enhancing the wind’s "whooing" howls.

He wasn’t sure how long had passed, but within the dream, Tang Xiaoquan vaguely felt some movement in the compartment.

In a shallow sleep state, he instinctively bounced upright from his seat, only to have a large hand reach from behind, scaring Tang Xiaoquan into a reflexive shudder and instinctively uttering, "Who?"

"It’s me!?"

"Old Xu!"

"Shh!" Raising a hand to signal silence, Xu Renjie pointed to Li Xiaoxin sleeping soundly in the rear compartment: "Keep your voice down, Xiaoxin is still sleeping."

Fully awakened, Tang Xiaoquan patted his somewhat heated face, embarrassedly asking, "Old Xu, why are you up?"

Old Xu chuckled: "No, I got a little thirsty and just woke up, didn’t mean to disturb you."

Truthfully, Xu Renjie had actually awakened as soon as Tang Xiaoquan closed his eyes and began snoring. By calculations, he had been keeping guard for about an hour.

Upon hearing this, Tang Xiaoquan felt even more remorseful. Just as he began to apologize, Old Xu beat him to it, waving off and instructing: "Go inside to sleep, I’m quite alert right now, and going back to sleep would be wasting time. There’s still half an hour until three o’clock, and I’ll call Xiaoxin for the shift then."

"This..." Tang Xiaoquan wanted to refuse but his unyielding eyes felt weighed down, as if by a thousand-pound stone.

Tang Xiaoquan knew that insisting would endanger team safety.

So, weighing the pros and cons, he nodded: "Okay then, thanks for your hard work, Old Xu. Remember to swap with Li Xiaoxin when it’s time."

"Alright, I know! I’ll call him when it’s time! Don’t worry, just go to sleep!" Waving decisively, Xu Renjie issued his directive.

Following the escort vehicle’s central door, Tang Xiaoquan ducked back into the rear compartment, lying flat on the soft mattress.

But just as he hit the ground, a low, subdued noise resonated from outside the vehicle. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to recommend and vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)