March 12th, 342 AD, 9:00 AM.
Tang Li drove to the western city toll station.
Although tolls were no longer collected, passage into and out of City A through the underground tunnel required passing this point.
When Tang Li arrived, there were still military personnel on duty guarding the area.
"Traffic control ahead, please present your transit pass!"
A sentry stopped Tang Li's car and said.
Tang Li produced the transit pass that Zhao Xiaoqing had arranged for her, and the sentry then allowed her to proceed.
There were also underground tunnels connecting cities.
The underground tunnel Tang Li was currently using had been excavated along the original highway.
However, it hadn't been fully excavated; only four lanes on one side were dug out, separated by barriers in the middle to create two-way traffic.
After leaving the toll station, there were no lights along the way.
Only at intervals, skylights were opened in the ceiling of the tunnel. These provided ventilation and also allowed some sunlight from the outside.
As a result, the tunnel was quite dim.
Fortunately, the ice and snow on the walls reflected the car's headlights a long distance, and Tang Li also possessed eyes that could see clearly in the dark, so none of this posed an obstacle to her. kuAiδugg
"Guoguo Jie, can you help me keep an eye on the route? Let's go to the B City Exchange to have lunch and rest, and then continue our journey in the afternoon."
Upon hearing Tang Li's suggestion, Tang Guo, while not objecting, asked with a hint of confusion,
"Lili, City A is only a 10-hour drive from Jiangcheng. If we step on the gas, we'll be there tonight. Why do we need to stop in City B?"
Tang Li explained to Tang Guo, "Ten hours was the speed before the apocalypse."
"Now, only part of the underground tunnel is open, and many sections are impassable. The light is insufficient, and we can't drive too fast. Even without any unexpected issues, it will take 20 hours to reach Jiangcheng at full speed."
"Besides, Director Zhao mentioned that there are still many dangers along the way. We need to conserve our strength to deal with these dangers that could arise at any moment."
"Since we're not in a hurry, there's no need to rush. Traveling through two cities a day, we can reach Jiangcheng by the evening of the 15th."
There was another reason Tang Li didn't mention.
It was that she needed to stop in seven cities along the route to convert the material allocation coupons in her account into physical general-purpose coupons and to replicate the general-purpose coupons in her spatial storage into her material allocation coupon account.
Therefore, a stop in every city was necessary.
Missing even one city would mean a loss of over 900,000 points in income.
Hearing Tang Li's explanation, Tang Guo understood and said, "That makes sense."
"So, does that mean we only need to drive for about 5 hours each day?"
Tang Li nodded, "That's what it sounds like, but the travel time for these four days isn't evenly distributed. The first two days, we'll only need to drive for a little over 4 hours each, while the last two days will require almost 6 hours of driving per day."
Tang Guo didn't say anything further.
She focused on helping Tang Li navigate, looking at the map and pointing out the way.
Occasionally, openings appeared on both sides of the underground tunnel.
These led to towns and small counties.
They were dark and Tang Li didn't inquire about them.
From City A to City B, over the course of two hours, Tang Li only encountered one convoy heading towards City A from a town, and no other people.
By a little past 11 AM, Tang Li and Tang Guo finally arrived at City B.
Under Tang Guo's direction, Tang Li turned the car onto the岔路 leading to City B.
After passing through the City B toll station, they entered the city.
Shortly after, they arrived at the City B Exchange.
The City B Exchange was very similar to the City A Exchange. It also had a VIP channel, offered accommodation services, and a restaurant.
In fact, exchanges in cities across the country were all like this.
Some large cities even had more than one exchange.
Tang Li looked at the brightly lit City B Exchange, feeling as if she had traveled through time.
In her previous life, after the City A shelter was scattered, she had come to City B and stayed in one of the few surviving safe buildings after the major earthquake.
However, at that time, the place was already in decline, and most people had already migrated to Jiangcheng.
In this life, she was passing through here on her way to Jiangcheng, and the people here had not yet migrated to Jiangcheng.
When Tang Li drove the car into the underground parking garage of the City B Exchange, Tang Guo was reluctant to get out.
"Lili, you go by yourself. I'll just eat instant noodles in the car."
Tang Guo had thought they would be driving for 10 consecutive hours before leaving, so she had kept all their food supplies in her luggage.
As she spoke, she rummaged through her luggage for hot water and instant noodles.