3: [Doomsday RV] Pending activation

Lv0, Not Activated.

This meant that other than being "still drivable," it was no different from an ordinary car.

If someone targeted it and stole it, everything would be over.

“Help—!”

A sharp female voice.

Qin Lin turned his head and saw an old woman slumped in the snow by the roadside, holding a five- or six-year-old child in her arms.

The child's face was purple from the cold, and they could no longer make a sound while crying.

The old woman saw the car, and hope erupted in her cloudy eyes:

“Please! Take us to the hospital! My grandson has asthma—”

Qin Lin stepped on the brakes.

The wheels skidded half a meter on the ice before coming to a stop.

He rolled down the window, and the biting cold wind poured in.

“Get in.”

The old woman froze for a second, then scrambled over while holding the child.

Qin Lin got out of the car to help them pull open the rear door.

It was packed with supplies, so two people could barely squeeze in.

“Thank you... thank you...”

The old woman was incoherent.

Qin Lin closed the door and returned to the driver's seat.

He turned the heater to the maximum; the child in the back began to cough, but their complexion improved slightly.

“Which hospital?”

“City First Hospital... the nearest one...”

Qin Lin changed direction.

The City First Hospital was less than two kilometers from here, but with current road conditions, it would take at least twenty minutes.

Although he had lived through a year and become cold-blooded, there were still some things he couldn't bear to watch, causing his heart to soften.

The car moved forward slowly.

The old woman kept thanking him from the back, explaining she was picking up her grandson from school when the weather suddenly changed, and the child's asthma medication was at home, and now it was flaring up... Qin Lin listened quietly, his gaze scanning the street.

The chaos was escalating.

A jewelry store was smashed open, and several people rushed inside.

But they soon came out empty-handed.

At a time like this, gold was worth less than a piece of bread.

In front of a pet shop, a girl was crying while holding a shivering dog that had already frozen stiff.

The most shocking scene was at the intersection.

Four cars had crashed together; one was flipped on its side, and gasoline was leaking all over the ground.

Several people tried to drag the driver out through the window, but the driver was stuck, and their screams were particularly shrill in the cold wind.

Then Qin Lin saw flames.

He didn't know who had ignited something, but the flames leaped onto the oil-slicked road—

“Boom—!!”

The shockwave from the explosion made Qin Lin's car shake.

The child in the back seat burst into tears from fright; the old woman held him tightly, trembling herself.

Qin Lin gripped the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator a bit deeper.

He had to leave the main road as soon as possible.

The scene at the City First Hospital was even more terrifying than the streets.

The parking lot was packed with cars, and all entrances were blocked.

The glass doors of the emergency building were shattered, and the crowd was squeezing inside like sardines.

Doctors in white coats stood at the door trying to maintain order, but their voices were completely drowned out.

Cries, screams, and angry curses were mixed together.

Someone fainted and was stepped over directly.

Qin Lin stopped the car two hundred meters away.

“This is as far as I can go,” he said, looking back. “Go the rest of the way yourselves.”

The old woman looked at the tide of people outside, her face pale.

“This... how can we get in...”

“You have to get in even if you can't,” Qin Lin's voice was calm. “Your grandson needs medicine, and the hospital pharmacy is inside the building.”

The old woman gritted her teeth and got out of the car with the child.

Before leaving, she suddenly turned around, pulled a jade bracelet off her wrist, and stuffed it through the car window.

“Young man... I don't have anything valuable... take this...”

Qin Lin took a look.

It was a very ordinary-looking jade, not worth much.

But he accepted it.

“Go on, hurry.”

The old woman bowed deeply, then wrapped her clothes tight and rushed toward the crowd holding her grandson.

Qin Lin watched her back disappear into the chaos, then shifted into reverse and turned the car around to leave.

He casually placed the jade bracelet on the dashboard.

He didn't need it, but sometimes, accepting someone else's gratitude was a form of comfort for them.

At least it made the old woman feel like she wasn't entirely a burden.

The road to the Auto Repair Shop passed through an old urban area.

The level of chaos here was lower.

Because most residents were hiding at home, there were fewer people on the street.

But Qin Lin saw an even more disturbing sight:

Smoke was coming out of the chimneys of some houses.

It wasn't from fireplaces; it was the smoke from burning furniture.

On the third-floor window of one building, a white cloth was hung with "SOS" written in red paint.

But no one responded.

Rescue?

In the face of such a nationwide sudden change, how much could the government's rescue forces cover?

Furthermore, this was only just the beginning.

Qin Lin glanced at the thermometer inside the car: -22°C.

And it was still dropping.

The air he exhaled formed frost patterns on the inside of the windshield.

He had to turn on the wipers to scrape it off.

The wiper fluid had frozen, so they could only scrape dry, making a piercing sound.

The cell phone signal was completely gone.

The time on the screen was stuck at 1:17 PM.

77 minutes had passed since the descent of the Black Light.

The world had changed for 77 minutes.

The Auto Repair Shop was at the end of a remote alley.

The iron gates were tightly closed, with a heavy lock hanging on them.

Qin Lin got out of the car and took a hydraulic cutter from the trunk.

He had bought this yesterday, and now it was coming in handy.

“Snap.”

The chain snapped at the sound.

He pushed open the iron gates, drove the car inside, and then relocked the gates from the inside.

He used an iron bar to wedge the door bolt.

Now, it was temporarily safe here.

The Auto Repair Shop wasn't large; it had one main workshop, two small warehouses, and an office.

Several cars waiting for repair were parked in the workshop, and tools were scattered messily on the workbenches.

The air had a heavy smell of engine oil.

Qin Lin parked the car at the very back of the workshop, near a maintenance pit.

Then he began to inspect his "Doomsday RV."

Walking around the car once, there was no change in its appearance.

It was still that shabby black sedan, with peeling paint and a loose bumper.

But when he placed his hand on the hood—

【Doomsday RV】

【Level: Lv0 (Not Activated)】

【Activation Progress: 1/24 Hours】

【Energy: 7/100 (Generated by engine idling)】

【survival points: 1 (Automatically earned every hour of survival)】

【Driver: Qin Lin】

【Passengers: 0】

【Others: Unlocked】

【Warning: Outside temperature -25°C, vehicle insulation is insufficient, it is recommended to find a heat source】

Insufficient insulation?

Qin Lin touched the car door.

The metal was bitingly cold; although the temperature inside the car was higher than outside, it was only around zero degrees.

The heater was working hard, but the old car's air conditioning system was inefficient and consumed fuel quickly.

If this continued, he wouldn't last through the night.

He needed a heat source.

Qin Lin walked into the office.

A calendar hung on the wall, turned to June 15th.

There was an old-fashioned electric heater on the desk; he plugged it in, but the indicator light didn't turn on—there was a power outage.

That was normal.

Under extreme low temperatures, transmission lines would ice up and break, and substations would malfunction.

The city's power system wouldn't last long.

He rummaged through the warehouse.

He found several barrels of diesel, some repair tools, and a box of rusty parts.

Also, a wood-burning iron stove.

An old-fashioned one, with a chimney.

Qin Lin's eyes lit up.

He dragged the iron stove to the center of the workshop and picked up some discarded wooden boards from the yard.

He poured diesel on them and lit them with a lighter.

“Whoosh.”

Flames flared up.

The heat spread rapidly, and the temperature in the workshop began to rise.

Qin Lin moved the car closer to the stove, then sat in the driver's seat, looking at the translucent interface before him.

【Ambient temperature increased, vehicle insulation pressure reduced】

【Activation Progress: 1.5/24 Hours】