After a long wait, the System’s notification chime finally echoed in her mind:
[Reinforcement complete.]
A jolt ran through Suzy. She took a deep breath and turned the key in the ignition.
The truck’s engine roared to life with a deep, authoritative rumble. The hum of the turbocharger sounded far richer than before, and the exhaust note turned clean and crisp.
The Earthbind Talisman was already in full effect!
Suzy couldn’t wait another second to test out her theory.
She slotted the gear into drive, released the handbrake, and lightly stepped on the gas pedal.
The vehicle glided forward smoothly. As its tires rolled over scattered bricks and shattered concrete blocks lining the road, the body merely shook with a mild tremor before instantly regaining its balance.
So steady!
Suzy pressed a bit harder on the accelerator, bringing the speed up.
The road ahead was a mess of spiderwebbed cracks and displaced stone slabs, but as the wheels rolled over those fissures, the magic of the Earthbind Talisman became crystal clear!
The vehicle body stayed perfectly level at a flat, constant height. There were no violent jolts, nor was there any jarring impact reverberating up through the chassis.
She could even feel a soft, cushioned give in the undercarriage whenever the wheels cleared significant drops—as if an invisible hand were gently lowering the truck down.
Up ahead lay another stretch of rugged gravel. As Suzy accelerated through it, the heavy tires crushed sharp rock fragments beneath them, releasing only a low, muffled scraping sound inside the cabin—sounding as if the tires were gliding over a bed of thick sand rather than jagged rocks.
In the rearview mirror, the plume of dust kicked up by her tires obscured most of the path behind her, but the road several hundred meters ahead remained clearly visible through the front windshield.
Under the overcast gray sky, the skeletal remains of collapsed buildings receded into the distance, one by one.
Suzy held the steering wheel, her grip loosening slightly.
She maintained a steady speed of around forty kilometers per hour—sluggish by pre-apocalyptic standards, but remarkably swift and smooth amidst the ruins of a devastated city.
Suzy cracked open the side window just a sliver. The wind rushed inside without stirring up too much dust, carrying with it the fresh, damp scent of moist earth in the wake of the rain.
It suddenly occurred to her that she had downloaded offline maps onto the onboard system earlier.
Opening the navigation interface, she was surprised to find it still functional. Without hesitation, she plugged in her destination: A City.
Staring at the blue line route tracing across the navigation screen, a wave of relief finally settled over her heart.
Though the signal was faint, the route loaded successfully, marking the trajectory from X City to A City with crystal clarity.
She glanced at the estimated travel time on screen: Road conditions unknown; estimated trip duration: approx. 14 hours. Doing the math in her head, she realized that at her current speed and given the apocalyptic road conditions, that travel time would likely double.
Switching the navigation to voice mode, she shifted gears again and pressed down on the gas pedal.
Following the guidance of the map, the vehicle rolled out of the urban zone. Along the way, the dense ruins gradually thinned out, and the road surfaces became relatively smoother.
After driving for about seven or eight kilometers, a relatively open stretch of road appeared up ahead. Piles of crushed rock and rusted vehicle wrecks were heaped along both sides of the street—appearing as though someone had manually cleared a path, or perhaps naturally stacked there by the quakes.
Suzy slowed down to observe the area for a moment. Spotting no signs of life, she stepped on the accelerator again, preparing to breeze through.
Just as the front bumper was about to clear the stretch between the stone piles, several human figures suddenly lunged out from the shadow of the ruins. One stood directly in the middle of the road with outstretched arms, shouting for her to stop, another crouched by the curb clutching a chunk of concrete, while others wielded iron pipes in their hands.
Suzy’s eyes widened. Just as she went to jerk the steering wheel to swerve, a fist-sized rock smashed with a loud BANG straight onto her windshield!
The rock struck the glass with a heavy, dull thud, yet left nothing behind save for a faint white smudge on the surface.
Reinforced by the Item Fortification Card, the RV’s explosion-proof glass was immensely thicker than that of normal vehicles. That strike failed to break it completely—it didn’t even leave a single crack.
Yet that was only the beginning.
A second rock hurtled through the air shortly after, crashing into the corner of the truck’s hood with a dull metallic CLANG.
A third rock slammed into the driver-side window. The glass absorbed the heavy thud without cracking, though the force of the impact caused the frame to vibrate slightly.
Through her side mirror, Suzy could see the group still charging toward her. Some were ducking down to scoop up more rocks, while others sprinted straight toward the front of the vehicle, shouting unintelligible curses. Through the thick, insulated walls of the RV, their exact words were muffled, but their hostile posture made one thing crystal clear—they certainly weren’t here to ask for directions.
Just then, a figure materialised in the middle of the road directly ahead, standing with arms wide open, clearly intent on blocking Suzy’s path.
Yet, compared to the colossal size of the RV, his frail silhouette looked laughably insignificant.
Suzy cracked her window down just a sliver, catching the shrill, frantic roar of the man:
"Stop! Stop right there!"
Stop?
Only an idiot would stop!
Stop so they could hijack her vehicle?
Suzy narrowed her eyes. Without a split second’s hesitation, her foot slammed down on the gas pedal!
The engine roared in response, and the heavy RV lunged forward like an unleashed beast.
Seeing her accelerate instead of braking, the man standing in the center of the road dived violently to the side, tumbling away barely an inch from the truck’s front bumper.
Suzy caught a clear glimpse of the venomous, murderous rage flashing in his eyes as he fell—as if he wanted nothing more than to tear her apart.
Ignoring him completely, Suzy jerked the steering wheel. The heavy body of the RV leaned slightly into the turn, but the forcefield of the Earthbind Talisman held the chassis rock-steady. When the heavy tires crushed over several shattered rocks along the curb, the vehicle merely gave a soft, gentle bounce before instantly recovering its balance.
In her rearview mirror, the figures shrank rapidly. A few of them gave chase for a couple of yards, but once the RV picked up speed, they were left in the dust almost immediately.
Suzy pushed the speed up to around fifty kilometers per hour. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, but the sheer stability of the vehicle kept any panic at bay.
She cast another glance at the mirror—the lingering silhouettes had already been swallowed by distance and swirling dust, receding like bad dreams left behind in her wake.
Slowing the speed back down to forty, she steadied her heading and continued along the navigation route.
The road ahead opened up once more, free of any further ambushes or desperate survivors charging out from the roadside.
Suzy drove on for a good while longer.
Thanks to the Earthbind Talisman, traveling across these ruined roads felt no different from driving on smooth pavement before the apocalypse.
Before long, she arrived at a small town that seemed remarkably spared from severe destruction.
Slowing the RV down, Suzy studied the outline of the settlement through her front windshield.
It wasn’t large. Most of the structures lining the streets were low, brick-and-concrete buildings; though some outer walls showed hairline cracks, the place hadn’t collapsed into utter rubble like X City had. The road surface remained surprisingly intact. It appeared as though the earthquake’s destructive forces had somehow bypassed this area altogether.
She intended to drive straight through the town and stick to her navigation route.
However, just as she was about to pull into the town entrance, a makeshift barricade blocked the road up ahead.
A few heavy logs lay horizontally across the asphalt, secured on both ends with thick wire and heavy rocks, leaving only a gap narrow enough for a single person to squeeze through sideways.
Behind the logs stood two men dressed in worn padded coats, clutching long-handled weapons modified from farm tools. They were peering toward her vehicle with guarded, vigilant eyes.
Noticing her slowing down, one of the men immediately raised his weapon and shouted something in her direction. Though his voice was muffled through the heavy walls of her cab, his commanding posture and sharp tone left no doubt—he was ordering her to come to a full stop.