CHAPTER 653: CHAPTER 544: IS THE VOLCANO ABOUT TO ERUPT? (TWO-IN-ONE)

Three o’clock in the afternoon.

Blazing sun overhead.

After filling up with diesel, Li Yu and his companions raced along, drawing ever nearer to Big Camphor Tree Base.

In this sweltering weather, anyone outside the vehicles, or outdoors in general, would inevitably be soaked in sweat before long.

Li Yu got into the Unimog, sitting by the window, watching the roadside vegetation wilt under the scorching sun, and opened the bulletproof glass.

A wave of heat hit him in the face.

Past two in the afternoon, the temperature still hadn’t dropped.

Li Yu turned to one of the team members in the vehicle and said, "Check how hot it is now, will you?"

This team member was previously part of Team Qin and was named Yu Wei.

Yu Wei put the thermometer outside the vehicle for a few minutes.

Then he brought it back in and stuttered while looking at the temperature displayed, "The temperature outside is, 46 degrees!"

degrees?!

It seems that the temperature has been rising rapidly recently, even hotter than it is now at midday.

A flicker of contemplation passed through Li Yu’s eyes, recalling the experience before his rebirth, he felt contemplative: It seems that the eruption is imminent.

So he asked Yang Tianlong, "How much longer until we reach the base?"

Yang Tianlong replied, "With the Unimog’s speed, we can return before seven o’clock this evening; as for the loader, it will be around ten o’clock at night."

Li Yu glanced at the slow-moving loader following their vehicle.

They were all part of the same convoy; they couldn’t just leave the loader behind.

So the convoy’s top speed was maintained at around 40 km/h.

For the Unimog, this was akin to crawling, but there was no helping it; they couldn’t return first and have the loader and its crew arrive later.

It looks like we won’t make it back today; we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Thus, Li Yu said to Yang Tianlong, "Let’s drive for another two hours, find a place to stay for the night up ahead, rest early today and set off for the base first thing tomorrow."

Yang Tianlong couldn’t help but suggest, "Actually, maybe, with our current firepower, we could risk traveling at night by vehicle?"

"No way," replied Li Yu without a second thought, "You’ve seen the horrors of the night yourself; I’d rather be late than take the risk. These zombies are no joke."

Seeing Li Yu’s resolute mindset, Yang Tianlong no longer pressed the issue.

Indeed, it was as Li Yu said: although during the day there were few zombies on the roads and the ones encountered were relatively weak.

But at night, zombies emerged from every dark corner and were generally much stronger than during the day.

Li Yu’s mood was heavy, as he remembered from his previous life that this year, around mid-August, global temperatures would peak and trigger widespread volcanic eruptions. After the eruptions, the whole world would be plunged into darkness.

Then would come rapidly dropping temperatures and acid rain.

Thick volcanic ash and acid rain would drastically affect agricultural cultivation.

Even more terrifying, in the boundless darkness, the outbreak of zombies would become much more violent.

Layers of volcanic ash would float down, covering the ground.

The entire world would be shrouded in darkness.

However, fortunately, Big Camphor Tree Base, where he was located, wasn’t in a volcanic or seismically active zone; other than the sky turning dark and the subsequent acid rain, the impact wasn’t that substantial.

The East Coastal region, the Western Alliance, including the Northeast, all had volcanoes and would be greatly affected.

Magma bursting forth from volcanoes, for areas near volcanoes, this was a true apocalypse.

He remembered that many animals died after the volcanic eruptions in his past life, and his survival was owed to finding a relatively stable bomb shelter.

In this life, he was not alone; he led a group of people.

Time was of the essence.

Li Yu felt a sense of urgency; today was July 10th.

Only a little over a month remained until the global volcanic eruptions.

His advocacy for building underground agricultural bases was also due to this.

After the volcanic eruptions, with no sunlight, crops could not perform photosynthesis or survive.

Additionally, the acid rain that would fall had a significant impact on crops.

He had to speed things up. Li Yu thought about the current progress at the base.

The several dozens of acres of crops in the base would be ready for harvest early next month; they needed to be harvested before the eruptions affected their area.

As for the Western Alliance?

Li Yu was somewhat worried. As long as the Western Alliance didn’t cause trouble within this month, then in the near future, they should also lack the energy to bother them, right?

However, none of this was known to the people in the convoy.

And he couldn’t possibly tell anyone.

Nor did he need to; currently, he held a dominant position in the base and had the power to veto or affirm many decisions.

The sun slowly traveled from east to west.

Inching towards the west.

They had finally passed Nanling and entered the territory of Gan City.

But Gan City was vast, and considering the speed of the loader, they still needed four to five more hours to reach Big Camphor Tree Base.

As the sun set, the team in the front vehicles—led by Luo and others—started looking for tonight’s lodging.

....

Meanwhile.