Chapter 96 Departure
Lin Fan protested, "Boss, you're trying to break up our friendship."
Gu Yanxu said, "Your objection is rejected; your protest is invalid."
Bai Jiyang said, "Then I'll take turns driving with Brother Linzhou."
Bai Tang looked at Lin Fan and said, "You and Lin Feng can take turns driving."
Lin Fan: "Waaaaah, you guys are bullying me."
Bai Jiyang: "Brother Lin Fan, this is called striking first."
Raymond Lam joined in the fun, teasing him: "What's wrong, bro? I don't eat people, are you looking down on me?"
Lin Fan wiped away non-existent tears and immediately said in a fawning tone:
"How could that be? Our Raymond Lam is handsome, dashing, and a muscular man. How could I possibly look down on him? I'd be overjoyed."
Everyone watched Lin Fan perform his stand-up comedy and burst into laughter.
Bai Tang said, "Okay, this is only temporary. We can take turns driving on the road."
Lin Fan cheered instantly: "Hahahaha, long live sister-in-law!"
....
With less than three days until their departure, Bai Tang and the others have been staying at home as usual for the past two days.
Actually, it's not just them who are staying at home; as long as those who are unemployed are staying at home, no one would think of going out in this hot weather.
The daytime temperature has reached 50 degrees Celsius, and the sun is strongest at noon.
Chen Weiliang and Zhao Lei sent a message saying: Meet at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning outside the base gate, and depart promptly at 6:30 a.m.
Bai Tang knew why she had to get up so early to leave, because by noon the sun would be so hot that she couldn't walk, and she was worried that the car tires would easily burst due to the heat.
The drought-resistant trees inside and outside the base have sprouted green buds due to the extreme heat.
However, most of the drought-intolerant plants had already died, and the high temperatures had melted away all the ice on the outside.
The earth was parched and cracked from the sun, but fortunately their base was backed by mountains and rivers, so they didn't lack the water they needed for daily life.
.....
Soon it was the night before departure, and during dinner Bai Tang said:
"Everyone should get some rest early tonight. We need to get up early tomorrow to continue our journey. We probably won't be able to get a good night's sleep for at least the next week."
Lin Zhou said, "It's a thousand kilometers from our base to the Beijing base. If we take the highway, it will normally take more than ten hours to get there."
However, we don't know the exact condition of the roads outside, so we might have to take a detour.
Lin Fan: "Don't worry, even if we take a detour, the base's team will be with us."
Suddenly, I realized that following the base's group wasn't so bad after all.
After dinner, everyone went to bed early to rest.
At 4:50 a.m. the next morning, Bai Tang's alarm clock rang.
Then Bai Tang and Gu Yanxu got up to pack their things, and also woke up Lin Fan and the others.
Bai Tang quickly put away unnecessary items in the house into her space, and then took out some simple breakfast from the space.
After the group finished their meal, still half asleep, Bai Tang took out some ice water from her spatial storage and told them to wash their faces to wake up.
After doing all this, the six of them drove three cars, locked the gate, and headed towards the base entrance.
When they arrived at the base gate, there were already quite a few vehicles nearby, including some RVs, which made them less conspicuous.
Bai Tang and his team arrived at a moderate pace, neither too early nor too late. After they parked their car, several other teams arrived one after another.
Their team had quite a few people and vehicles, and most of them were military and government personnel.
There are also some small teams like Bai Tang's that have family members at the Beijing base, which is why they are following the main force of the base.
Gu Yanxu recalled that this had never happened in his previous life, because the extreme heat in his previous life was that the temperature rose from minus sixty degrees Celsius to sixty degrees Celsius in a single day, and then the temperature rose higher and higher each day.
However, this extreme heat is different from the last one. Temperatures have been below 50 degrees Celsius for a whole week, which is why official bases across the country dared to say that they would gather at the Beijing base.
...
Bai Tang and his group arrived at 5:10 and waited in the car for 20 minutes. There were people registering people at the front of the convoy, mainly to see if all the teams had arrived.
When they were registered in their vehicles, the staff gave each vehicle a walkie-talkie.
The staff member said, "Everything is done according to what's said over the walkie-talkie."
After registration, the staff walked towards the car of the team behind them.
By the time they finished counting and everyone had arrived, it was already 6:20.
Once everyone was accounted for, Chief Chen spoke into the walkie-talkie:
"Now that everyone is here, we'll set off immediately. We hope that everyone will refrain from causing trouble and follow instructions while on the road."
If anyone causes trouble, don't say I'm heartless.
Please take good care of each other on the way.
Set off!"
With a command from Chief Chen, the cars in front of the convoy slowly drove away, and the cars behind followed immediately.
Bai Tang and his three cars were in the middle of the convoy.
The lead car headed towards the Beijing base, following the highway location on the map.
The vehicles behind them naturally followed the car in front, maintaining a certain distance to avoid any unexpected situations.
For the first hour after departure, the road was relatively smooth.
Gu Yanxu was driving, while Bai Tang looked at the scenery outside.
As they passed through the city, Bai Tang saw the tall buildings that had been soaked by rainwater for a long time.
Now, after being exposed to the sun for so long, cracks have appeared, and it might collapse at any time.
It was already past seven o'clock, the sun had fully risen, and the temperature outside was gradually increasing.
Bai Ji did not turn on the car's air conditioning when they first set off.
He also told Lin Fan and Bai Jiyang, "Don't turn on the air conditioner when the sun is just rising in the morning, so that the car won't be able to handle the heat at noon."
Not only did they not turn on the air conditioning, but Chief Chen also said on the walkie-talkie:
"Don't turn on the air conditioner between 7 and 8 in the morning. Let's get used to the temperature first, otherwise the journey ahead will be very difficult for us."
Or even if we turn on the air conditioning, we shouldn't set the temperature too low, otherwise we might not have enough gas for the road.
As time went on, the outside temperature rose higher and higher, reaching 30 degrees Celsius, which was still acceptable to the human body for the time being.
Bai Tang glanced at the time; it was already past nine o'clock. Almost three hours had passed, and they had only traveled less than a hundred kilometers. It seemed that the roads were difficult to travel in the extreme heat.
Chief Chen then said over the walkie-talkie, "We didn't take a break in the middle, so we'll find a shady place to rest for thirty minutes later."
After resting, we continued our journey, traveling a little further before the sun reached its peak heat.