A Relentless Presence

Song Weishi woke up and stretched luxuriously. It had been ages since she'd slept until she naturally woke. Life without a phone was tough to bear.

Still, she had to conserve her phone's battery for checking basic routes; it couldn't be used for anything else.

The charcoal in the brazier was nearly spent. She added a bit more and started boiling water in a pot.

Song Weishi ate some strawberries and a bowl of pasta. Given the current circumstances, there weren't many other staple foods available, so she steamed a few buns to take along on the road.

She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but the further she went in this direction, the colder the weather seemed to get. At the same time, she'd developed some resistance to the cold; it wasn't as unbearable as it had been at first. Her hands and feet were still icy, but it was much better than before.

Song Weishi couldn't help but wonder—in such extreme weather, if people turned into monsters, could they also develop superpowers?

This was a novel world, so that possibility wasn't out of the question.

The System said it couldn't give a definitive answer either. Its information mainly depended on Song Weishi herself; she'd read too little, and that was all she could piece together.

But the female lead was also heading outward, which meant her direction was correct.

After packing up, she set off again. The weather was nice today. Climbing out from under the snowdrift, Song Weishi could no longer see the location of yesterday's supermarket.

Xie Yi probably wouldn't waste much effort looking for her, after all, she had plenty of supplies on her end. Song Weishi felt she'd already done her part. Having a stranger who knew her secret constantly by her side still made her a bit nervous and wary.

She had shown Xie Yi her route, so the woman roughly knew the direction. Song Weishi didn't worry about it too much and chatted back and forth with the System as she traveled.

As her Energy Points grew higher, the daily unlocks in the mall refreshed more and more quickly. The cart was practically a golden cheat given by the System.

To be honest, Song Weishi felt the System was quite helpful. Perhaps, from the start, it had been moved by her actions.

Having a good host was also a blessing for the System.

It claimed it wouldn't give this or that, but in reality, it delivered everything. Of course, if one ignored those forced events from before, their relationship was pretty good.

Song Weishi hadn't entered this world voluntarily either, so they were even.

Once she left the mountain area, the city was her comfort zone. The roads in the city were clearly laid out with few obstacles, so she felt safe traveling.

Her favorite routes were the tunnels now. Although her last experience there hadn't been great, they were full of dead people, which were much safer than living ones.

She wasn't really afraid of intact corpses. They were just lumps of ice; she could walk around them. Encountering living people in the snowy wasteland was the truly terrifying part.

If they tried to steal her supplies, it would turn into a horror movie.

Song Weishi skied for a while without seeing anyone else, which emboldened her. She picked up speed.

For the past couple of days, her arms had been so sore she could barely lift them, but after a good night's sleep, she felt full of energy again. This cycle had built up her stamina to the point where she could ski for a full hour without getting tired.

Traveling with Xie Yi had been faster than she'd expected. She'd already covered over fifty kilometers and was about to leave Ji City, passing through the urban area and out through the tunnel clusters beyond.

She used the same trick as before—digging through the snow and walking through the tunnels. An City's rolling hills made such tunnel clusters especially numerous.

Due to their remote location, the cars inside the tunnels were mostly clustered at the front section. These vehicles had basically been stranded before the snow blocked the roads.

The ground here was dry, making the ice-skate sled useless. Song Weishi tried it once, then gave up. The rough road surface ground away the ice under the sled, producing a deafening noise.

That method was out of the question. She trudged through the tunnel, panting heavily. Glancing at the cars lining the road, she figured they were all frozen solid and wouldn't start even with fuel.

These tunnel clusters stretched at least ten-plus kilometers, and that was the shortest distance. She'd thought the ice-skate sled would make things smooth sailing, but it seemed she'd underestimated the situation.

Song Weishi pondered other options, shining her flashlight over the vehicles in the tunnel. Gas cars were clearly useless. Her gaze swept across the cars until it landed on an off-road vehicle towering above the rest.

Behind the vehicle, a massive road bicycle was strapped vertically to the rear.

Song Weishi's eyes lit up. There were actually a few such bikes. She walked over and saw that the entire convoy was parked together, including not only expensive road bikes but also mountain bikes.

Ji City's scenic area had a mountain road, and every year, many groups came here for team-building, as well as people who came to cycle and run marathons.

Song Weishi sighed. If not for the original owner's absurd boss, she wouldn't have to suffer like this and rely on herself to get back.

She unbuckled the bikes—twelve in total—and stored five in her space.

Aside from needing air in the tires, these bikes were in pretty good shape.

She found a pump on top of an off-road vehicle, inflated the tires, and took it along too.

With a bike for transport, she was even faster than with the ice-skate sled. The tunnels had no sharp turns, just ups and downs. She strapped her flashlight to the handlebars and sped along.

This saved her a lot of time on the road.

She finished the entire tunnel cluster in just two hours, and it wasn't even noon yet.

The area was extremely desolate, so Song Weishi decided to push through and get back to the main road. Once she cleared these tunnels, she wouldn't ride onto the highway again. The service areas at each exit were far away, and she didn't want to spend the night in the freezing wilderness—that would be deadly.

She didn't even bother with lunch, rushing on in a frenzy until she spotted a landmark building and finally stopped.

Her black down jacket was covered in a layer of ice shell. Song Weishi brushed it off and asked, "So, am I far enough from the female lead now?"

Getting off the highway, she found a spot to check her mileage. The tunnel clusters today—two hours in the morning, two in the afternoon—with only a quick bite in between, not daring to pause for a moment.

She'd covered sixty kilometers in a day, completing what would normally take three days.

If it weren't for those bikes, she had no idea how much longer she'd have to walk.

Song Weishi's smile didn't last long. She opened the cart to check today's refreshed items.

It seemed fate had no intention of letting her off easy. Today's three items were:

Hardware bayonet locks *3 sets.

A hammer *1.

Hiking backpack *1.

Song Weishi's smile vanished. What was the meaning of this?

Today's items were useless. The only decent one was the hammer, but it was a small one, shorter than her forearm, looking like it would struggle to hurt anyone.

The System spoke up at just the right moment: "Host, you'd better get going—the female lead might be nearby."

Song Weishi looked utterly incredulous. Why would Xie Yi be nearby?

She'd traveled a full sixty kilometers today—even driving would take two hours. With all the supplies Xie Yi had, there was no way she could move that fast.

Just as Song Weishi was gearing up to leave, the sound of snow being shoveled suddenly came from the tunnel behind her.

Song Weishi jolted: "I swear, System, you're a jinx!"

System: °ω°