49 Apocalypse Rules

The middle-aged woman hesitated for a moment at Guan Tong’s words, then turned off her flashlight.

Illuminated by the truck’s headlights, she got a clear look at Guan Tong’s face. He was young and clean-cut, looking like a student of about eighteen or nineteen.

Based on looks alone, Guan Tong didn’t seem very aggressive. It was just that the large iron pliers in his hand would naturally make a woman with a child a little nervous and afraid.

She watched Guan Tong warily and said, "I’m from Sun Family Manor. I read online that there’s less snow in less populated areas, so I brought my daughter here. Where are you from, young man?"

"I came from Yunhua."

Guan Tong knew of Sun Family Manor. It was a village over forty kilometers away; he had even passed it on his drive here.

"Mommy, I’m cold..."

Just then, the little girl’s voice came from behind the woman. Hearing her, the woman quickly picked up the girl and put her back in the truck.

Then she said to Guan Tong, "Young man, my daughter and I are just going to live in the truck. If you have your own place to stay, let’s not bother each other."

"Okay."

Hearing the middle-aged woman say this, Guan Tong was more than happy with the arrangement.

"But be careful. Don’t damage the path I cleared," he added as a reminder.

"Alright, we’ll be careful."

Hearing the middle-aged woman agree, Guan Tong said no more and turned to walk back to the camp he had set up, following the path.

The middle-aged woman also got back into the truck. Her daughter asked curiously, "Mommy, was that big brother bullied into hiding here too?"

"I don’t know." The woman stroked her daughter’s forehead and warned her seriously, "You have to stay with Mommy at all times these next few days. Don’t go running off on your own, understand?"

She hadn’t expected anyone else to be on Mingdao Mountain. Although Guan Tong didn’t seem like a bad person, she was with her daughter—two females facing an unfamiliar adult male in the wild. She had to be extremely careful.

After all, in this time and place, if any violent crime were to happen, she wouldn’t get any help even if she called the police.

"I know, Mommy. Mommy, I’m a little hungry."

"Okay, there’s food in the truck. Mommy will get you some."

Before the Apocalypse Rules, the woman was a long-haul truck driver.

Driving a big rig like this meant she often spent whole days in the vehicle, so she was used to keeping plenty of food on board. Besides, before leaving this time, she had deliberately packed the truck with a large amount of food from home—enough for her and her daughter to last for the remaining twenty-odd days.

She took out a bag of fruit bread, tearing it open for her daughter to eat. At the same time, she didn’t forget to lock the truck doors.

This way, she could sleep more soundly at night. If someone wanted to force their way in, they would have to break a window.

The woman kept the crowbar right by her side, ready to be grabbed at a moment’s notice.

"Mommy, I’m full."

"Okay, if you’re full, go to sleep now."

This kind of large truck had a sleeper bunk. Although it was narrow, it was big enough for one person to sleep in.

Back when her husband was still alive, the couple used to drive the truck together, taking turns. When one got tired, they would go rest in the bunk while the other took over.

The woman watched her daughter slowly fall asleep in the bunk. She leaned back in her own seat, gazing at the snowflakes outside the window, the worry etched between her brows impossible to smooth away.

Because the truck’s headlights were left on, visibility in the area improved significantly. Guan Tong benefited from it slightly at his camp, able to see his surroundings more clearly.

However, with someone else nearby, he was still a bit cautious. He broke some of the branches he had stored, scattered them on the ground in front of his camp, and covered them with snow.

This way, if the mother and daughter tried to sneak over in the middle of the night, their footsteps on the branches hidden under the snow would make a sharp CRACK, waking Guan Tong up in time.

This might seem overly paranoid, but for his own safety, it was necessary.

Guan Tong wouldn’t let his guard down just because they were a seemingly helpless mother and daughter.

On the contrary, so many people had died since the era of the Apocalypse Rules began. The fact that this mother and daughter had survived meant they had something special about them.

Besides, with "black box" items like Psychic Power artifacts, no one knew what kind of item the other person might have. If you underestimated someone because they looked weak, you risked being defeated when they pulled out a powerful artifact.

For now, they were like well water and river water—not mixing. Each was fighting to survive against the Rules on their own, and both sides were happy to keep it that way.

「The night passed without incident.」

The next day, Guan Tong woke up and looked toward the large truck.

The mother and daughter hadn’t gotten out, which was normal. The truck itself was essentially their camp. There was no need to come out unless it was necessary.

After a glance, Guan Tong looked away and went about his business as usual.

After a quick bite to eat, he grabbed his folding shovel and began clearing the snow that had fallen on his path overnight.

The task wasn’t difficult, but the challenge lay in its repetition—it had to be done every single day for a month.

If he slacked off for even one day, the accumulated snow of two days, combined with ice, would increase the difficulty by an order of magnitude.

And so the day passed. He and the mother-daughter duo coexisted peacefully, not disturbing one another.

Another two days passed peacefully.

「Three days later, June 9th.」

When Guan Tong got up to clear the snow, he saw the mother and daughter also clearing the snow near their truck’s doors.

They had no choice. If they let the snow pile up, in a few more days, it would reach the level of the doors. It would be a big problem if the doors got blocked by frozen snow.

However, the middle-aged woman cleared the snow differently than Guan Tong. She simply started the truck and slowly drove forward, reversed, turned the wheels a bit, drove forward, and reversed again.

She was using the truck’s powerful engine and heavy, tall tires to smash and crush the snowdrifts, packing them down firmly. It had to be said that this method was far more efficient than clearing snow by hand.

After they were done over there, the truck door opened, and the mother and daughter got out. They used small tools to clean off the tires.

At that moment, Guan Tong was clearing his own path. When the little girl saw him, she also grabbed a small shovel and started helping at the end of the path, digging out snow and tossing it aside.

Seeing this, Guan Tong felt it was only polite to walk over and say thank you, since she was offering to help.

The little girl grinned at him, showing her teeth, seemingly finding the whole activity very amusing.

Her mother, however, hurried over and said apologetically, "Sorry, I hope she isn’t causing you any trouble, young man."

"Not at all. I was just thanking your daughter for helping me clear the snow."

"This kid isn’t helping, she just thinks it’s fun." The woman sounded a little helpless. "It’s so cold, I told her to stay in the truck, but she insisted on coming out to play in the snow."

"It’s normal for kids to be playful."

After chatting like this for a bit, they gradually lowered their guards.

Over the past three days, neither side had done anything to make the other uncomfortable. This led them both to believe the other probably meant no harm and was just an ordinary person.

So, after talking for a while, they learned some basic information about each other.

The woman said her name was Wang Yan. She used to be a truck driver, but after the Apocalypse Rules appeared, she stopped working and stayed home to take care of her daughter.

Guan Tong also told her that he had been a third-year high school student, but with work and school suspended, he wasn’t in school anymore.

"It’s good that you made it to your third year of high school, young man." Wang Yan looked at her daughter, Chen Na, who was playing in the snow with the small shovel, and a worried expression crossed her face. "My girl here was only in sixth grade, she hasn’t even started middle school. I’m not very educated myself, how am I supposed to teach her in the future? And it’s not good for her to only take online classes and have no contact with other people."

"Maybe schools will reopen later," Guan Tong said. "They might just take a different form."

Wang Yan said, "A few days ago, I heard the government is opening a major academy in the Capital and recruiting from all over the country..."

"That’s an academy to help students develop their Psychic Power, right? It probably doesn’t teach other basic subjects."

"Oh? Is that so..." Wang Yan sounded disappointed.

Just then, Guan Tong asked, "Ms. Wang, I have a question I’m curious about, I hope you don’t mind."

"Haha, it’s fine. Go ahead and ask."

"The news that there’s less snowfall in less populated areas spread within hours of the rule’s appearance, right? Why did you only drive your daughter out here to escape the snow several days later, Ms. Wang?"

Hearing this, Wang Yan’s expression grew complicated. She looked like she wanted to say something but held back, unsure of how to put it.

At this, the little girl, Chen Na, who had been squatting on the ground playing in the snow, looked up, pouted, and said angrily, "It’s because people in the village were bullying us! That’s why Mommy took me and left!"

"Bullying?" Guan Tong was quite surprised.

He thought that communities like villages were different from cities. In the city, many people didn’t even know their next-door neighbors, living completely atomized lives. That was why they were more willing to follow official commands and act on government directives during a disaster.

But in a village, the residents saw each other all the time; basically, everyone knew everyone else. In a situation like this, they should have quickly banded together to face the disaster. How could bullying even occur?

Wang Yan hadn’t wanted to talk about it, but her daughter Chen Na had a quick tongue. She could only nod helplessly. "Some people saw that it was just the two of us, a widow and her child, and came to our house to take some food. They said they’d pay it back later, but..."

The little girl, Chen Na, huffed. "They robbed us! They took a case of instant noodles and a case of yogurt from our house. Mommy was saving those for me!"

"I can’t believe that happened."

"It’s true. A case of noodles and a case of yogurt isn’t a big deal, really. But I thought, it’s only been a few days and this is already happening. If we stayed, who knows if they’d come back to take other things..."

Wang Yan sighed as she spoke.

"To be honest, I’d be fine, but I couldn’t risk my daughter going hungry. So, I waited until night, and we left the village in the truck. I figured the truck had a full tank of gas, a strong engine, and high tires, so some snow on the road wouldn’t be a problem."

"I see..."

"Speaking of which, you’re pretty brave yourself, young man," Wang Yan said. "Daring to come all the way here from Yunhua alone. Yunhua is far from here, over seven hundred li."

"All for the sake of survival."

"Yeah. Ever since this rule came out, I don’t hope for anything else. Just being able to live is enough."

"Today is already the 9th. A third of the rule’s effective period will be over soon," Guan Tong said. "Based on the amount of snowfall here, as long as we clear it every day, we should be able to get through this safely."

Wang Yan nodded. "I just wonder how things are in the village, and in Yunhua, where you came from, young man. That’s a big city, the snow must be incredibly heavy there, right? After nine days of this blizzard, I can’t even imagine what the city must look like..."