The sky was very low, because of the dark clouds.
In the blizzard, it was difficult for everyone to see the road ahead, but they had to move forward, because staying in place would only lead to death.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Li Yu rolled down the car window, and the cold air from outside immediately blew in. Li Yu looked at the roads on both sides and said to Lao Lü, “We should be nearing the suburbs.”
Lao Lü shook his leg, glad they were almost there.
The two vehicles, one in front of the other, slowly drove along.
Under the onslaught of the blizzard, they dared not increase their speed too much, nor could they.
Time slowly passed, and it was almost five in the afternoon.
Finally, Da Pao in the front car spoke to Li Yu over the walkie-talkie, “We’re almost there! Just up ahead.”
Li Yu looked at the sky; it was dim, but there was still some light, enough to see some things clearly.
“Xiao Hang, lead the way directly to find the inverter,” Li Yu said.
Since they had arrived, the sooner they found the inverter, the better, to avoid any complications from a long night.
The suburbs of the City Center were desolate.
In the cold wind and snow, some civilian houses were buried so deep in snow that only their rooftops were visible, and many trees had fallen.
Even in such an environment, there were still some living animals, though they were hard to spot.
The surfaces of the tall buildings in the distance were covered in ice, and as their vehicles drove in, it felt as if they had entered a world of ice and snow.
“Pao Ge, go directly to the City Center, on Yuyuan Road. That’s where we bought the photovoltaic solar panels before,” Li Hang said.
“Alright. But I’m not very familiar with this area. Lao Xie, you guide us,” Da Pao said.
Lao Xie got up from the back seat and walked behind Da Pao to give directions.
“Let’s go to the main road first; the path there is easier to navigate,” Lao Xie said.
In this city of ice and snow, white was the main color, with black as an accent.
Amidst the black and white, there were also various dilapidated and decaying items, haphazardly placed, but most were half-buried.
They dared not drive too fast on the road.
The snow inside the city was over one meter thick, and they weren’t sure if there was a pit or a ditch beneath that thick snow.
So, they had to slow down.
Inside the city, in a tall building in the distance, several figures flashed by.
They were watching Li Yu’s convoy as if they had seen hope.
However, Li Yu and his group did not see any of this.
Amidst the roar of the engines, Li Yu and his group slowly drove towards the City Center.
The sky also gradually darkened.
Inside the car.
They were currently conversing.
Lao Lü turned on the car lights, and under their illumination, they could see things a few meters away: “Boss Yu, it looks like we’ll have to stay here tonight.”
“Hmm, let’s find the inverter first. This blizzard won’t stop anytime soon.”
“I know a good place later where we can park. It’s best not to leave our car exposed to the wind and snow, otherwise, it will be troublesome to start tomorrow, and our car will probably be buried after one night.”
“Alright.”
At 6 PM, they finally arrived at the location Li Hang had mentioned.
With the continuous snowfall, constantly shoveling snow, and always having to be careful of the road ahead, it was extremely mentally taxing.
Yuyuan Road.
Photovoltaic Solar Brand Flagship Store.
Everyone looked at the ransacked store, their hearts sinking.
It was even colder than the chill brought by the weather.
Li Yu, Li Hang, and Lao Xie got out of the car.
Li Yu walked inside with a flashlight, still wanting to search again.
Li Hang and Lao Xie followed closely behind. What the hell, everything here had been looted clean!
The three of them went inside and searched carefully for a while. They found some usable solar components, but their base already had these items.
However, they still packed all these items to take with them. After this issue with the inverter, they realized that when it came to parts, there was no such thing as too many, only too few.
When you really needed them, it would be a desperate situation.
Everyone packed up the items from the flagship store, but after searching all around, they still couldn’t find a grid-tied photovoltaic inverter.
Suddenly, Lao Xie shouted, “Xiao Hang, is this it?”
Li Hang quickly ran over and took the box.
It hadn’t been opened yet, but it looked like it had been soaked in water and then frozen.
The entire box, inside and out, was covered in ice shards.
Seeing a hole in the box, Li Hang’s heart sank. If this thing had been soaked in water for too long, it was useless.
Sure enough, when he opened it, he saw that the surface of the inverter inside was rusted, and there was a layer of ice shards on it.
Sigh.
Li Hang sighed. This one was very likely useless, but whether it was or not, he would know once he tried it back at the base.
“How is it? Is this still usable?” Li Yu walked over and asked.
“There’s a high probability it’s useless, but it’s not certain. I’ll try to fix it when we get back.” Hearing this, Li Yu didn’t have much hope either.
He had wanted to come here to take more back, to avoid having to search again if something broke next time.
But he hadn’t expected that after searching for so long, every single one he found was broken.
“Xiao Hang, didn’t you say there was an electronics wholesale market? Let’s go check there,” Li Yu said.
“Right, we can go check there again,” Li Hang nodded and said.
This electronics wholesale market, to be precise, was also in the direction of Liberation City, but it was in the suburbs.
In a blizzard, inside the city would be much safer than in the wilderness.
The wind and snow from outside drifted into the dilapidated store, and Li Yu and the others walked out.
“Lao Lü, you said there was a good place before, what made it so good?” Li Yu asked after getting into the car.
“It was a hotel, with an awning where we could park. It was also on high ground and close to the main road, less than 2 kilometers from here,” Lao Lü said.
Li Yu pondered for a moment, thought it was feasible, and then picked up the walkie-talkie to speak to Da Pao: “Da Pao, you follow behind us. We’ll go ahead and find a place to rest first.”
“Alright.”
The cold wind howled, and the blizzard danced.
In this freezing blizzard, many things needed attention. Their shoes couldn't get wet, or their toes would be ruined.
Therefore, they wore waterproof, non-slip, high-top shoes.
Inside the car, Li Yu, wearing gloves, used a cloth to wipe the fog from the car window. Along the way, he had to wipe it every so often.
The temperature difference between inside and outside the car was too great, and the contrast of hot and cold would create a lot of fog. Without wiping it, it was impossible to see the road ahead clearly.
Two kilometers was very close, but for them, it was also very far.
In such thick snow, even with a car that could clear snow, their speed was like a snail’s pace.
After more than ten minutes, they finally arrived at the location.
The place was indeed very convenient, right next to the main road, only 8 meters away from it.
This was a well-known hotel brand, with a wide and long driveway. The entrance led to a basement, but this basement was already buried under snow.
Further up, the central flowerbed, one could tell, used to be incredibly grand and exquisite, but now it was just piled with snow.
Going even further up, there was a large steel-framed canopy, supported to a height of six meters.
It looked quite grand.
“We can park right there,” Lao Lü pointed to the area under the canopy.
That area under the canopy was the main entrance of the hotel. In the past, this spot was used for vehicles leaving or entering the hotel, but usually, long-term parking wasn't allowed.
Li Yu looked at the location. In this blizzard, zombies were rare, and people wouldn't last long outside either.
Therefore, when considering parking locations, the primary factor was not concealment, but rather the ability to avoid the danger of being buried by the blizzard.
