The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 98 Detour Tactics
Yao Dan hadn't arrived yet. It turned out that her car had risked flying back a few hundred meters before nearly colliding with another aircraft. She quickly landed back on the ground and didn't dare to move.

Yu Qing also wanted to go out of the city again, so they decided to go together to find Yao Dan and the others outside the city.

There were very few cars leaving the city at night, so Yu Qing's car left the city relatively smoothly, but by the time he arrived near Yao Dan and the others, it was already almost dawn.

Yu Qing believed that there must be no flying objects in the air above the lane leading into the city next to his car, because due to the heavy fog, vehicles there would definitely land on the road and move slowly.

So he instructed Yaodan to cut across his trajectory before flying back. Those entering the city, seeing the thick fog from afar, wouldn't foolishly rush in like Yaodan; they would slow down to land, allowing Yaodan to land at that junction, but on the outbound direction.

Yu Qing was waiting for Yao Dan at the junction of the air and land transportation. There was almost no fog there, and Yao Dan and the others could see his flashing headlights with the naked eye.

However, Yao Dan was impatient and didn't care about any of that. At this point, he wasn't afraid of getting into a car accident anymore. He rushed around recklessly and finally reunited with Yu Qing and the others.

When Yao Dan saw Yu Qing, she lowered her head in grievance and remained silent.

Yu Qing pulled her into his arms, stroked her head, and said, "My darling has suffered. Tell me how I can make it up to you?"

"I want to go to all the places you guys go."

"Okay. Let's go back and explore that Long Creek crater first, and then we can repair it, how about that?"

Yao Dan then smiled.

"Chang'e, you should take Danggui and the others back to Qiongshan... which is Changxi. Yaodan and I will go there and then come find you later. However, I need to use this car with air conditioning."

Without waiting for Chang'e's reply, Yu Qing had Daji and the others take Danggui to the back of the car, while he and Yaodan drove towards the Changxi bomb crater at breakneck speed.

When the car descended to the bottom of the pit, dozens of meters above the ground, Yao Dan said, "Husband, there's nothing special about this place. Why did you bring me here specifically? Is there something you need?"

“Smart! We came here to find a river.”

Yao Dan laughed and said, "How could there be a river in such a deep pit? It's more likely to be a pool or lake."

"But there's not a single drop of water here; it's all flowed away, hasn't it?"

"You mean an underground river? That flows to a lower place?"

"Yes, it should flow to Changxi, which is now Qiongshan. No matter where the continuous mist in Qiongshan comes from, its ultimate source is water. If we can find the entrance to the underground river, we can go downstream to Qiongshan."

"Didn't that road lead directly to Qiongshan? Why did we take such a long detour?"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "It can't be explained in a sentence or two. Let's find the entrance first."

Their car circled the area twice in the air but couldn't find it. On the third lap, Yu Qing noticed a mark on the cliff that was different from the others. Elsewhere, there were occasional vertical lines left by water level subsidence, but here were marks of water erosion!

They approached and examined the area closely, and found a large hole about ten meters in diameter in the place covered by vines.

Yu Qing carefully brought the car closer to the cave entrance and saw that there really was a riverbed about ten meters below. Ignoring the plants, he drove straight down.

Good heavens! The space below could easily hold a hundred cars like his!

The car skimmed across the ground for a moment towards the river before tentatively landing on the water. Feeling the water was deep enough, they switched to swimming mode. The underground river was at least thirty meters wide, and they slowed their pace as they drifted downstream, carefully avoiding the rocks in the river.

The biggest problem now is that they can't know their exact location on the ground. But one thing is certain: the water temperature near Qiongshan should be rising sharply, producing a lot of fog.

Yu Qing was still somewhat worried that the riverbed might suddenly experience an unexpected fault. To prevent any sudden changes in the height of the floodwater, Yu Qing had Yao Dan tie a buoy made from a piece of material broken off from the vehicle to a green rope and throw it about 20 or 30 meters in front of the vehicle from time to time.

If a sudden drop-off like a waterfall occurs, the buoy will definitely disappear instantly. In this case, you can fly the car close to the water surface in advance to avoid it.

The darkness here also frightened him somewhat. Although the headlights illuminated the area ahead brightly, it never felt as reassuring as bright sunlight.

They don't know how far they've drifted, but the riverbed seems to be getting narrower, though thankfully there's still enough space for them to pass.

Suddenly, a terrifying sight appeared ahead: columns of fiery red lava shot out from the water, crashing against the cave wall above before falling back onto the water, splashing up countless droplets of water mist.

Yu Qing hurriedly pulled the car up and hovered it on the water.

He shouted, "Look where the mist is going!"

"My lord, I can't see anything. All I see ahead is hot lava and fog."

"Oh no! This means the fog exit is further ahead. If we want to get out from there, we have to cross this lava zone."

"This is too dangerous. Even if we could squeeze through the gaps in the sprayed concrete, the temperature would be too high. Besides, what if the exit is too small to get through? Let's go back."

"To keep Qiongshan shrouded in dense fog year-round, how much water vapor would be needed to replenish it? Besides, we hardly saw any fog on our way here, which means that the fog that forms here has all drifted away. From this, I can conclude that this opening is not small; if not several kilometers, it must be several hundred meters wide."

"Do we really have to risk going to Qiongshan from here? Our original route won't work?"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "We're going to a special place called Yunxian Pavilion in Qiongshan. There's a queue outside that's over a hundred years long before we can get in, understand?"

"I only understand part of it. How do you know that the exit is where you're going?"

"The thick fog in Qiongshan started from Yunxian Pavilion and spread outwards. If the exit isn't there, where else could it be?"

Didn't you say the exit is at least several hundred meters, maybe even several kilometers wide? Are you sure that once you go out from there, you'll definitely reach Yunxian Pavilion and not some other place nearby?

"They're quite clever. To create an ethereal scene, they created a purple fog before the thick fog appeared. I think their Cloud Pavilion wasn't originally at the exit; they accidentally opened it up while creating the purple fog. To keep it a secret, they've cordoned off the exit."

"My lord, I understand. We found a place with purple mist near the exit, which is somewhere inside the Cloud Immortal Pavilion."

"Should we take this risk?"

"No. Have you taken a fancy to one of those peerless beauties at Yunxian Pavilion again?"

"Yes, there are a hundred."

(End of this chapter)