Chapter 70: Walking on the Border of Death

Sabova led Xiao Fen to the side of a dilapidated jeep and signaled for Xiao Fen to get in.

Xiao Fen looked at the car, which was nothing but a frame—let alone a roof or front windshield, it didn’t even have doors—and gave a bitter smile.

The front and rear doors of the jeep were missing. Sitting in such a car, one had to hold on tight to the front to avoid being thrown out during a sharp turn.

However, having such a vehicle was better than walking on two legs. Every second now was extremely tight.

Xiao Fen nimbly jumped in, watching Sabova sit silently in the driver’s seat. It took her several tries to start the car.

“You don’t like that guy.”

Xiao Fen looked ahead and suddenly spoke.

Sabova started the car calmly. The chaotic crowds were running and shouting constantly around the vehicle, making this dilapidated car seem incredibly lonely instead.

“For someone who survived the nuclear war to become the head of the Reconstruction Council, that’s very normal.”

After driving the car onto the road, Sabova suddenly said this. There was something indescribable in her eyes, seeming like sadness, and also like hatred.

Xiao Fen was just about to say that the councilman was too young to have survived the nuclear war, but he quickly found the answer in his own question.

Those who ultimately survived the nuclear war, apart from ordinary people who were lucky enough to escape, were those bureaucrats and nobles hiding in safer, more comfortable bunkers. These bureaucrats and nobles would re-control this land after the nuclear war and gain even more benefits.

That young councilman was perhaps the son of some bureaucrat in this region. Only with such a deduction could one understand what Sabova was talking about and what she was hating.

Xiao Fen lowered his head and smiled, then turned to look outside the car. This was his first time truly entering the ruins of this city, and also the first time witnessing the true scene of this city.

Although 30 years had passed, the haze of the nuclear war still hadn’t disappeared from this city. Despite various weeds and trees growing wildly here, they still couldn’t hide the decaying scene of this world.

The jeep drove on a narrow lane. This lane might have been a very wide road in the past, allowing at least six cars to drive side by side, but now, this lane could allow at most two cars to pass.

Moreover, there weren’t many vehicles driving on the lane right now; even the occasional few looked very dilapidated.

In fact, discarded vehicles weren’t hard to obtain. To the left of the lane was a pile of discarded vehicles stacked up like a wall, which must have been done by the people who later rebuilt this city.

To clear the road, the people rebuilding the city had stacked the cars that had originally been parked on these streets together, forming the appearance it had now.

This wall of discarded vehicles extended forward in Xiao Fen’s field of view, not disappearing even at the end of his sight.

In this wall that looked like a car cemetery, one could occasionally see one or two cars with relatively intact appearances, but it seemed no one liked to fish out old cars from here.

As if seeing the doubt in Xiao Fen’s eyes, Sabova said softly: “Those cars are often a grave; inside are the bones of entire families who died together. In fact, these walls of discarded vehicles are also a public cemetery.”

Xiao Fen paused for a moment, feeling a sense of desolation in his heart.

The matter of doomsday had seemed distant to the former Xiao Fen. Even though he knew that what Awakened had to do was to keep the Apocalyptic Disaster away from the Real World, these things had never had an intuitive impression on him.

But now, he saw a part of the consequences of this disaster.

“The nuclear pollution situation in this city doesn’t seem that terrible.”

Xiao Fen looked at the creeping grass and tree branches growing into and out of the windows of those discarded cars, suddenly saying: “I thought this city hadn’t completely left the nuclear winter.”

“How should I put it, 33rd Komsomolsk isn’t some big city, so it wasn’t on the enemy’s priority list for elimination. According to battle statistics, two hydrogen bomb warheads and one neutron bomb warhead exploded over this city. Real dirty bombs weren’t dropped here, so, 10 years after the war, the nuclear pollution here had weakened to the point where people could enter.”

Sabova spoke softly, and the scenery outside the car seemed to make this woman a bit dazed. After a while, she continued: “Comparatively speaking, Bofu Castle is much worse. The nuclear radiation there is still difficult to clear to this day. Surviving in that city, one can hardly leave the lead-lined corridors. If you have to work in the wild, you must ensure you have enough protective gear.”

Xiao Fen asked softly: “If the corridors there have problems, what will be the result?”

Sabova tapped her fingers lightly on the steering wheel, then said after a while: “No one knows. Maybe before the lead corridors have problems, people can hide in nuclear bunkers, or maybe it will be even worse.”

Xiao Fen knew what the so-called worse meant. That usually represented humans without any defensive measures dying rapidly under intense nuclear radiation, just like entering a giant microwave. That would be an extremely painful way to die.

Xiao Fen nodded, turning his head to look to the right of the vehicle.

There, buildings were stacked layer upon layer like dominoes. These buildings, all tilting outward, looked like broken tombstones, telling the tragic history of this city.

When a hydrogen bomb exploded, the intense heat, light, and shock wave would obliterate everything within a radius of several kilometers under the warhead, creating a perfectly smooth crater. Around this crater, all buildings would collapse like radiating lines, forming this domino-like shape that looked as if they were about to fall but hadn’t yet.

Looking at these buildings from a distance, looking at the hollow windows in the buildings and the birds flying in the sunset, Xiao Fen suddenly felt a bit sad.

With a “bang,” the vehicle ran over a puddle. Dirty sewage suddenly splashed from the front of the car, which lacked a front windshield, splashing Xiao Fen’s face with mud and waking him from his sentimentality.

He turned his head to glance at Sabova, and vaguely saw that there seemed to be some strange look in Sabova’s eyes as well.

“How long until we reach the target point?”

“In 5 minutes, we will be able to inspect a target before the sun completely sets.”

Xiao Fen nodded, gripping the seat tightly, and said: “Alright, I hope we can find a way to resolve the danger.”

Sabova stepped hard on the gas. The body of the dilapidated jeep made dangerous creaking sounds, as if it would fall apart in the next second.

In the sunset, the car increased its speed slightly, rushing forward unsteadily amidst increasing puddles and depressions.