State of Decay - Chapter 338

[Chapter 333 Ice and Snow Adventure]

The journey went smoothly beyond Lin Ma’s expectation. In ten days, the two of them walked a thousand kilometers. Of course, the food problem has not been completely solved, and the two of them can only carry a maximum of three days’ worth of food on the road.

Another problem is that the altitude is getting higher and higher, and the road sign shows that it has reached four thousand meters. Food and water are no problem, and the landscape is a mix of grassland and glaciers. There are snow and glaciers in the high places, and the low depressions are nourished by melted snow water and have lush aquatic plants.

The landscape here is similar to that of Science and Technology City, but there is no desert or Gobi. The biggest difference is the altitude. On the tenth day, Linma set up camp early. One reason was the horses. Originally, horses running at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour would not accumulate fatigue points, but now this value has been reduced to 15 kilometers per hour. In addition, Lin Madu suffered from altitude sickness.

On the eleventh day, we continued to set off in the morning. At two o’clock in the afternoon, Linma saw a sign warning that the road ahead would be covered with snow in autumn and winter.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Lin Ma arrived at the front section. This is an area with an altitude of more than 5,200 meters, and it is a vast expanse of white as far as the eye can see. The road has been covered with snow, and the lakes and rivers are still flowing, forming a thin layer of ice on their surface, and the thin ice is covered with a layer of snow. Once you deviate from the road and step into it, you may be in danger.

In addition to lake and river traps, wind and snow also create ice cave traps. It looks like a smooth path, but if you step on it and break through the snow, you might fall into an ice cave. If you are lucky, it will get stuck, but if you are not lucky, it will be smashed into a pulp.

At the last stretch of the road, Maya stood on horseback in a sandstorm, looking around with a telescope and found that only a mountain peak in the north could be used as a reference. In front of her was a snowfield. Behind her is a grassland.

“Set up camp.” Maya put down the telescope.

“Again?” Lin Wu asked, but still unfolded the tent. Going back a few kilometers downhill, there are still lush grasslands on the left and right, with rabbits and marmots swarming in groups. Food and water are not a problem.

Although the ice and snow were right in front of him, Lin Wu didn’t feel cold. The thermometer at the command post in the tent showed 20 degrees. Lin Wu couldn’t understand this. Wouldn’t the ice and snow here melt?

Maya said: “We may have entered a Tianshan-like zone on Earth. Calculating time, at an altitude of 5,200 meters in the Tianshan Mountains, the temperature difference between day and night in November is about 30 degrees, and the highest can reach 40 degrees.” The melted snow during the day flows smoothly. The water flows down, making this land extremely fertile. Ice and snow accumulate at night, maintaining its white beauty.

“Is there a road in the Tianshan Mountains on Earth?”

“Yes.”

In view of the two people’s cold resistance, they must set up camp when the sun sets, and they can break out of the camp when the sun rises. It takes 12 hours to come and go, and there is no way to move forward.

Maya said: “There is only one way, demolish the building, discard the baggage, and leave only one dormitory at most. We dismantle other facilities into building materials and carry them, and exchange the building materials for fuel at night.” “The

exchange ratio is very low.”

“There is no way around this. Once we enter the land of wind and snow, we may not be able to find other fuel.” Maya said: “The sun sets relatively late, so we set up camp at six o’clock in the afternoon and can open the tent at nine o’clock. We will break camp at seven o’clock the next morning and we will open it at ten o’clock. Let’s set off. Calculating, we have eight hours of marching time every day.”

Maya: “You don’t need to carry water, just carry as much food as possible. You keep a dagger and a repeating silencer, and I bring a machete and an assault rifle. Adjust to the optimal load.”

Lin Wu’s small dozen and tent were already slightly overloaded, so he only carried daggers and repeating silencers on a daily basis. The task of carrying food can only be left to Maya, but the load has nothing to do with Maya, but has a direct relationship with the sandstorm.

Maya, who already had a complete idea, continued: “To lead the horse on foot, we used animal skins to make horse bags and transformed Phantom and Sandstorm into pack horses. Not only can we increase the amount of supplies we can carry, but more importantly, we can ensure safety during the journey. There are no obstacles near the felling. Many trees are chopped into firewood to keep out the cold at night.”

The two horses will not affect their condition under the standard load of 160 kilograms. Two Magamayas can carry about 350 kilograms of supplies.

Lin Wu tried to bargain: “Walking for 8 hours a day? Considering the environment here, we can only move 20-25 kilometers a day. Why don’t we consider bypassing Tianshan Mountain?”

Maya said: “The original intention of building this road is to prevent humans from walking. We need to go around the Tianshan Mountains. If you look at the endless mountains, you can’t find any gap within the visual range.”

“This plan is more difficult for me!”

“You have estimated that you will only walk 20 kilometers a day. It can’t be said to be difficult, right?”

Lin Wu: “Or we can make a sled and let Phantom transform into Xiangzi?”

Maya said: “The purpose of walking is to explore the road. Horses do not have such ability. I will All unnecessary weapons were dismantled and two engineer shovels were made. The snow was dug every 100 meters to prevent us from deviating from the road. Even if we only walk 20 kilometers a day, we can cover 200 kilometers in 10 days. More, 15 I don’t believe we can’t leave this snowfield after walking 300 kilometers a day. Thinking about what we experienced in the Fantasy City Rainforest, I think the conditions here are a hundred times better than the rainforest.” “

Well…”

“Any other questions? “

No.” I simply don’t want to walk.

Maya said: “Okay, camp for two days and set off the day after tomorrow.”

…

There are only three trees within ten kilometers nearby, but they are all big trees. They play the role of morning stars on the flat grass. It seems that in human society, these three big trees must be the key targets of protection. Now they can only be used as firewood.

Rabbits are overrun in the local area. They can’t outrun Lin Wu or Xiao Wai. They still hope to play with the bear trap. Lin Wu spent half the time peeling skin and cutting flesh. However, there is still a big gap between the 2,000 mammals in the hunter’s third skill. Assuming that each rabbit obtains 0.5 kilograms of edible meat, 2,000 rabbits equals 1 ton. In addition, the prey captured by Xiaowai was not counted against Lin Wu.

During two days of camping, Linma collected 270 kilograms of supplies, mainly food and firewood. Sandstorm is easy to talk to, and it has no problem hanging up two large leather bags. Phantom, on the other hand, is more pretentious and refuses to become a packhorse. Lin Wu used threats and inducements, but I don’t know if Phantom understood it, but finally let Lin Wu put it on the horse bag.

The horse bag is a big bag, which is recognized by the system. One is hung on the left and right sides of the horse, and then fixed with ropes, so that the two horses become pack horses. When putting the horse bag on Phantom, Xiao Wai watched happily and jumped up and down. Lin Wu wondered whether he should also give it two small bags.

On the morning of the fourth day after arriving at Leitian Mountain, Lin Wu demolished all the buildings except the dormitories, and then issued an order to close the tents. Lin Wu and Maya sat on the grass outside the tent, eating bacon and feeling the refreshing morning sun.

Maya said: “You are right, the road ahead will be very difficult.”

Lin Wu: “Then you refuted me before?”

Maya: “Because you are arguing for the sake of arguing.”

“Haha.” Lin Wu looked at the horizon and said, “Everything I have experienced along the way from the Science and Technology City will definitely become an unforgettable memory in my life. If there were no difficulties, no dangers, and no one I met, this trip would The journey is meaningless. Of course, if I have a choice, I am still willing to eat and die in the shadows.”

On the 14th day of the trip on Highway 77, still a thousand kilometers away from Zuoxian County, Lin and Ma led their horses into the high road on foot. Altitude snowfield. At this time, Lin Wu discovered that there had been some changes in the Phantom’s personality. It was actually able to allow Xiao Wai to lie on its back alone.

Maya and Lin Wu were dressed like blind monks, with a piece of black cloth tied around their eyes to resist damage to their eyes caused by ultraviolet reflection from the snow, which is commonly known as snow blindness.

Every one or two hundred meters, Maya would stop, and the two of them would use engineering shovels to dig out the snow on the ground. The snow is not thick, and it only takes a few shovels to reach the bottom. They use this method to confirm the position of the road and constantly correct their direction to ensure that they are always walking on the road.

We set up camp at 6pm and traveled a total of 25 kilometers that day. After the tent was opened at nine o’clock in the evening, the two people who were frozen like grandchildren finally felt the warmth. A campfire is provided when the tent is closed, but not when the tent is opened.

At this time, it was minus 5 degrees outside the tent, and the temperature inside the tent was 10 degrees. Of course, it was warmer next to the campfire. The two picked up the matching quilts in the dormitory and made a bed by the campfire. They wrapped themselves in quilts and ate dried meat. Needless to say, it still feels quite pleasant.

But the good times didn’t last long, and a wolf howl broke the tranquility.

Maya immediately sat up: “Wolves can survive at minus 55 degrees.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Lin Wu came out of the tent, brought Phantom and Sandstorm in, and placed them beside the campfire. Just kidding, this is not a ship base, this is a big tent. By the way, Lin Wu threw three animal traps at the entrance of the tent. If you don’t come, forget it. If you come, you have to contribute your meat and fur.

What Lin Wu was not afraid of most was fighting in the base. His endurance was so strong that he could stab him with accuracy with every blow. Coupled with Maya’s sword skills and hound Xiaowai, even if they don’t use their guns, the opponent has no chance of taking down the tent without dozens of wolves. It’s even more boring to use guns, one shot at a time, unlimited headlocks.

On the other hand, Maya was still a little worried. She put on her night vision goggles and carefully avoided the bear traps when she went out to check, but she couldn’t see any trace of the wolves. I waited there for a long time, but no more wolf howling was heard. Maybe Shuguang was compassionate and didn’t want a one-sided meat delivery time to happen.

Although no wolves were found, Maya saw something magical: zombies.

Theoretically speaking, there are no towns or villages nearby, and it is impossible for zombies to appear in the wilderness. The mountain forest near the sawmill is infested with zombies, and that’s because there were traces of human activity there.

“Lin Wu.”

Reluctantly, Lin Wu wrapped himself in a quilt and walked to the entrance of the tent to put away the animal trap to prevent the followers from suffering. As soon as he came out of the tent, a cold air hit him with fine snow, and Lin Wu instantly felt that his whole body was not well. Maya pointed a hundred meters away: “There.” Handing the night vision device to Lin Wu.

Lin Wu saw the zombies: “Two zombies? Do you want to go take a look?”

“No, there are no safety measures.” When they explored the road during the day, they had ropes tied around their waists, and the other end of the rope was tied to the mount to avoid stepping on the ground. .

Lin Wu asked: “Is there a village nearby?”

Maya replied: “I can’t rule out this possibility. Do you still remember the washing machine?”

“Remember, I will remember it for the rest of my life.”

Maya ignored Lin Wu’s tone and said: “The one by the wilderness road The only complete washing machine was found in a desert town. Do you think you can find something here? In spring and summer, there is no snow in the area. Maybe there is a village or small town.” “Let’s go

back first. .” Lin Wu shivered and returned to the campfire. He stopped using the animal trap and turned on the base safety zone alarm. What if Maya wants to go see the snow at night and steps on it? A broken leg is a small matter, but being beaten to death is a big deal.

Don’t worry about wolves, let alone zombies. Zombies have active areas, and deviating from the area requires a process. They cannot reach the safe area of the base in one night. Unless the safe area is its active area.

Maya returned to bed and continued to eat shredded meat: “Whether it’s 99, 88, or 77, it’s very desolate all the way down. We only met the Yunmeng tribe on Highway 88, and it was because of the broken bridge, and Yunmeng The tribe is still far away from the broken bridge. Along Highway 77, you can occasionally see small broken buildings left by humans. Why is there a human gathering point?”

Lin Wu: “Curiosity is up again?”

Maya nodded: ” We are just discussing, and I will not let my curiosity interfere with our plans. Of course, we can let Xiao Da fly for once tomorrow morning.”

…

At six o’clock the next morning, when the sun rose, Lin Wu closed the tent, Maya Use the campfire to heat up bacon for breakfast. The flight was launched at seven o’clock, and only two minutes after taking off, Lin Wu discovered the target: a plane.

“A plane?”

“A plane.” Lin Wu described: “The fuselage was disconnected and the roots were disconnected.”

Maya opened her imagination: “The plane escaped from the epidemic area, but unexpectedly there were zombies on the plane, which eventually caused the plane to make an emergency landing here. Lin

Wu wondered: “Why do you think this scene feels familiar to me?”

“What else did you find?” “

A rough calculation shows that there are about 70 zombies around the plane. They are widely distributed and inactive. In terms of relative density, It’s very low.” Lin Wu said: “We are walking due north. The plane is to the east of us. Do you want to take a look?” “We

must go.” Maya said: “We need sunglasses, and maybe we can also find warm clothes. .”

…

The plane was in a depression three kilometers away. This is a medium-sized passenger plane. The fuselage is partially buried in the snow, but most of it is exposed. The density of zombies in the surrounding area is very low, so there is no need to specifically clean them up.

The plane was split into two, with a bit of iron connecting the front and rear, and the escape slides were opened at the front and rear ends. Maya stepped on the back of Sandstorm, grabbed the nose of the plane with both hands, and got into the cockpit. Lin Wu entered the aircraft through the slide on the rear fuselage.

The interior of the plane was a mess, but not too bad. Most of the seats were still in place, and a large number of makeshift oxygen masks were hung in the middle. Some luggage compartments are open and some are closed.

Lin Wu bent down and touched a black suitcase on the ground with his hands. Its surface was like ulcerated skin, which would break if he scratched it. Inside is even more rubbish like ashes, which will shatter at the slightest touch. This is typically a completely corroded item.

Maya: “This is a treasure.”

“What treasure?”

“Treasure of electronic components.” Maya said: “You can dismantle the cockpit.”

Lin Wu said: “Okay, then I will trick Su Shi over and let him play. Years of demolition fun.”

“I’ll go to the front cabin to have a look.”

“Okay.” Lin Wu pushed open the bathroom door, and a zombie jumped out. Lin Wu closed the door as fast as light with his bare hands. He was still frightened and furious: Damn it. ! How many times? Is it fun? Is this interesting? Can’t you try something different?

Open the door and the zombies will come out, close the door and get a critical attack. Open the door and the zombies will come out, close the door and get a critical attack. Opening the door… was repeated more than ten times. Although the zombie was not dead, as the door hit the zombie’s head again and again, Lin Wu was finally relieved. After killing the zombies, Lin Wu entered the bathroom, looked up and down for a while, and found that there was no way to hide anything in this place, then turned and left the bathroom.

Lin Wu reached out and opened a luggage compartment, only to see a zombie howling in the luggage compartment, revealing its teeth that were rotten and filled with maggots.

Lin Wu closed the luggage compartment at super-light speed. After a long time, he stretched his head out of the window, and Lin Wu roared: “Shuguang, I’ll f*c*k you.”

Opening the luggage compartment, the zombie stretched out his head, Lin Wu activated the woodpecker strategy, and used the hatch to hit the zombie’s head crazily and rapidly, forcefully killing it. The head explodes.

When he arrived at the next luggage compartment, Lin Wu learned his lesson and opened it only a crack. There were no zombies, just a suitcase turned into trash.

(End of chapter)