MTLNOVEL Chapter 329: Blizzard Strikes!
"Drive carefully, the situation outside is complicated right now, we must always be cautious." Shang Xue'er put aside that bit of strangeness in her heart and said lightly.
Yang Tianlong felt a bit awkward, steadied his mind, and focused on driving.
Thankfully, they had fitted the tires with snow chains, otherwise they would have surely flipped the car just now.
Dapao, driving ahead, was pushing forward with full power.
The road ahead was covered in snow, and in some thicker parts, it was almost over two meters deep.
It was also fortunate that they had modified this vehicle into a snowplow, otherwise, if it was just in its normal state, the vehicle would have had a lot of difficulties passing through.
With such thick snow, everyone had to keep pushing it away, and the tires were equipped with anti-skid chains, seriously affecting their driving speed.
Under normal circumstances, a distance of less than a hundred kilometers, with full-speed driving, it would only take a little over an hour to arrive.
Now they had been driving for almost half an hour, but they had covered less than one-sixth of the journey.
Li Yu, sitting in the vehicle, was somewhat irritated, having been out for so long but now the progress was excruciatingly slow.
Inside the Unimog, there was air conditioning and an electric heater, keeping it warm as the air conditioner was running continuously.
Previously when the vehicle stopped, the windshield wipers had to be retracted. In such times, once ice forms and then the wipers are activated, they can easily become stuck, leading to short circuits and other issues.
Southern was originally moist, so when the temperature dropped suddenly, it was like a simultaneous attack of cold magic and physical force.
11 AM.
They could see that they had completed four-fifths of the journey, and it seemed they might arrive in the city before noon at 12 PM.
During the journey, everyone was on edge.
Southern was originally full of mountains and hills, and the roads they passed were flanked by forests, with many places bordered by cliffs up to tens of meters high - a result of mountain road construction from years past.
"Brother Yu, it's starting to snow," Dapao said suddenly as he looked at the road ahead.
Li Yu was startled to hear it. Snowing!
He quickly rolled down the window, and sure enough, as soon as he rolled it down, he felt the cold wind whistling in, along with snowflakes.
But these snowflakes were not big, just sporadic flakes.
Snowfall from the sky was a very troublesome thing. Although temperature might rise slightly during a snowfall, it was still very cold.
Lao Xie, Lao Lv, and Xiao Hang, sitting at the back, also hastened to the window to look.
"The snow is getting heavier," Lao Lv frowned slightly, he had always been a bit worried.
Li Yu looked through the rear-view mirror, saw the truck following them, and picked up the walkie-talkie to say, "Tianlong, Xue'er, it's snowing now, you have to keep up and not get lost. Contact me immediately if there's any problem, got it?"
"Understood."
"Understood."
The truck they were driving had a sealed cargo area containing items such as engine oil. Much like the Unimog, which constantly ran the air conditioning, it also consumed a great deal of energy, including the air conditioning in the truck behind which consumed energy as well.
The snow was getting heavier, changing from light flurries to moderate then heavy snow, all in a matter of minutes.
Dapao drove, snowflakes continuously drifted into the vehicle's window due to the vibrations of the car, shaking the snowflakes off.
The windshield wipers kept moving, scraping off the newly fallen snowflakes.
The snow keeps getting heavier, a blizzard besieging them.
Feather-like snowflakes flutter down from the sky one by one.
They had experienced such blizzards before, but only indoors. Now, witnessing such heavy snow from inside a car, they felt an indescribable fear.
"Brother Yu, it's really hard to see clearly now, what should we do?" Dapao asked.
In such a blizzard, the main issue is visibility, which is only a few meters. The drifting snow makes it impossible to discern the road from the car, but if you get out, you'd get so lost you couldn't see someone right in front of you.
The blizzard arrives suddenly, cold winds blowing, carrying snow from high places down to lower ground, filling valleys and drainage ditches.
The Southern area, known for its high and low terrain, now features deep snow.
They were already moving slowly, shoveling snow to pave their way on the uniform white road surface. Now with the snowfall, the road ahead is even less visible.
"Keep going, drive even slower, everyone come together to look for the road, try to recall the preceding road surface," Li Yu said.
Previously along the way, some areas were marked by roadside trees, at least indicating the direction of the road. Later on, when some trees were missing, they had hit the barrier, nearly flipping over the bridge.
Although there's no water under the bridge now, if the vehicle slides down, given its weight, the scene would resemble a person falling into water.
Jumping in would be like being submerged, vanishing without a trace.
Extra cautious, their speed was already extremely slow, maintaining the pace of a brisk walk.
"Tianlong, keep up closely, it's a blizzard outside and you can't see clearly," Li Yu shouted into the walkie-talkie.
"Got it, we know," came the reply.
In the current situation, stopping is akin to waiting for death, and there's no telling how long the snow will last. If the vehicles stop, they risk stalling, and if they stall, it would be big trouble.
Passing another cliff, Li Yu is now glued to the car window, scrutinizing the outside to make out the road.
Snow covered both sides of the cliff, and the surrounding peaks were already piled high with snow. Now with the fresh snowfall, it faintly feels like there could be an avalanche.
Li Yu is worried, but not continuing to move and leaving this place would also present big problems; under such temperatures and conditions, the city is much safer than the countryside.
Yang Tianlong and Shang Xue'er in the trailing vehicle are also very tense, the snow constantly drifting past their windows making it hard to see ahead.
Yang Tianlong is even more careful to follow the Unimog closely, not daring to be distracted.
Snowflakes whirling down, landing on the ground, the windows, the roof.
The area they had just driven over would soon be buried by snowflakes, with no trace visible after a while.
The blizzard brings the sky low.
The distant white snowy expanse and the dark sky blending, as if merging into one.
One look invites an inexplicable sense of oppression.
During the blizzard, everyone feels the snowflakes pounding on the roof, the relentless 'thud thud thud' never ceasing.
Li Yu asks, "How much longer will it take us to reach the city?"
Calculating briefly, Dapao says, "With our current speed, it will likely take another forty to fifty minutes."
"Actually, it's not far. Everyone hold on a little longer, we'll be there soon," Li Yu encourages everyone.
When faced with adversaries, humans might muster courage, yet when facing nature, people always seem insignificant.
This snowstorm is indeed a difficult test for them. Now with nowhere else to go, they can only grit their teeth and push forward.