Witnessing the long johns on the seat vanish into thin air, Xu Wanli couldn't help but marvel.
Immediately, he didn't waste time and checked the seats row by row.
"Found it!"
Soon, Xu Wanli stopped at a position in the middle-rear—the internal entrance to the luggage compartment.
Inside the bus, there was a row of emergency seats that allowed passengers to directly enter the luggage compartment to store and retrieve luggage.
Now, he dared not stay outside alone, so he could only put the food piled in the aisle into the luggage compartment one by one in this way.
It took more than ten minutes of effort to fold down the seat, pull open the iron hatch, and then move the boxes one by one.
It took him more than half an hour to put all the food into the luggage compartment.
"Phew."
Xu Wanli returned to the driver's seat slightly fatigued to rest.
He opened a can of Red Bull to replenish energy and pondered his next plan.
The thick fog outside persisted, the temperature continued to drop, and drivers and passengers parked on the emergency lane would arrive one after another.
As the number of people increased, and the food in the Service Area could not be replenished, a food crisis would erupt within a few days.
But the most serious problem was not water and food.
It was the monster hidden in the thick fog!
If that monster wasn't dealt with, or if it had the ability to infect, they would not be able to safely leave the Service Area...
"Ashiba, who threw trash on the hood of my palamela?!"
A clumsy voice came from outside.
Xu Wanli's thoughts were interrupted, and he looked up at the parking space in front.
Across a green belt about half a meter wide, a brand new sapphire blue sports car was parked opposite.
"You have the guts to do it but not to admit it, huh?!"
"Ashiba!"
"Lowly migrant workers, are you men?!"
Next to the sports car, a scrawny man less than 1.7 meters tall held an umbrella and roared towards the Service Area Hall, occasionally spouting a few words in the Kimchi Country language.
From the passenger seat.
A petite girl, 1.6 meters tall with a generous bosom, stepped out.
The girl glanced at the hood.
Seeing only an empty plastic bag soaked in rainwater on it, she couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
This Kimchi Country boyfriend was very good to her, and his family was very rich.
Unfortunately, he always held a bad prejudice against his other compatriots.
"This trash bag might have been blown by the wind, don't be angry."
"Hey, baby, why aren't you holding an umbrella? Hurry back to the car, it's cold outside."
The man seemed to dote on the girl very much.
He immediately went forward with his umbrella, tilted the umbrella in his hand towards the girl, and coaxed her softly.
Then he stopped his indiscriminate cursing, and with a smiling face, he amused the girl, and they walked towards the Service Area Hall together.
"Are they going to the Service Area?"
Xu Wanli withdrew his gaze.
He quickly pressed the door open button, rushed out of the car, and jogged to catch up with the two.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with the girl finding a Kimchi Country boyfriend.
A few years ago, when he was tightening screws in Yangcheng, he had seen too many creatures who tried various ways to throw themselves at Africans, and he had long developed an extraordinary immunity.
"Hmm?"
Hearing the hurried footsteps from behind.
The Kimchi Country man turned around, naturally pulled the girl into his arms to protect her, and stared at the approaching person with hostility.
"What do you want to do?"
"I'm going to the Service Area Hall."
Xu Wanli wore a black baseball cap, one hand reaching for the lamb horn hammer at his lower back, his eyes scanning around.
Even though he guessed that the monster didn't hunt during the day, he didn't dare to relax his vigilance even a bit.
But his appearance made the Kimchi Country man associate him with a certain rainy night killer, and fear spread in his heart, his footsteps retreating one step, and the hand holding the girl's shoulder also changed to clinging to her back.
"Then don't follow us, stay far away."
Perhaps influenced by her boyfriend's values, the girl's eyes showed a clear hint of disdain when she looked at Xu Wanli.
She didn't hold prejudice against male compatriots.
The premise was that their status and position were not too different.
And the Xu Wanli in front of her, dressed in clothes that cost no more than five hundred yuan in total, was obviously not worth her polite treatment.
"You're right."
Xu Wanli nodded in agreement.
He glanced at the girl, who was over eighty points in looks, petite but surprisingly well-endowed, and then at the thin, short Kimchi Country man.
He replied calmly.
"People and animals really can't get too close."
Xu Wanli was not good at cursing.
To avoid conflict, he was used to agreeing first, no matter what the other party said, and then applying the other party's insulting words to the other party or their family members.
Learning by doing.
After speaking, Xu Wanli noticed someone getting out of a car a few meters ahead, so he quickly passed the two and jogged to catch up.
This time it went smoothly, and he was not discriminated against.
He and the other person walked to the Hall together, not speaking along the way, and without any other eye contact.
This was good.
However, the fog was even denser in the morning.
At a distance of more than thirty meters, without the neon lights as a reference for direction, the two almost went the wrong way, taking a detour of nearly half a circle before seeing the faintly visible Service Area building.
Arriving at the Hall.
Xu Wanli wrapped himself in his clothes and went straight to the Luosifen Restaurant, ordering everything he wanted to eat in one go.
"Handsome guy, one bowl of three-liang Luosifen, add a fried egg, a deep-fried egg, a braised pig's trotters, and a portion of snail meat. How much is it?"
This time, he wanted to be extravagant!
At the same time, he also experienced the feeling of ordering without asking the price.
Awesome!
"I'm sorry, the braised pig's trotters and snail meat were sold out last night, and the deep-fried eggs haven't been made yet. Only fried eggs are available, does that work for you?"
The waitress's voice pulled Xu Wanli back to reality.
"None?"
Xu Wanli was very angry.
It was rare for him to splurge without looking at the price, and you tell me there's nothing, only fried eggs?
Aren't fried eggs standard?
However, he didn't make things difficult for the waitress.
"Business was that good last night?"
"Yes, I heard another batch of guests arrived around 3 AM, and they bought all the remaining dishes in the restaurant."
The waitress was on the day shift.
She heard it from her colleague when she took over.
It made sense, as among the few restaurants in the Service Area, only the Luosifen Restaurant sold hot food 24 hours a day.
Those people arrived in the middle of the night, braving the cold, so of course they wanted something hot to eat.
"Another batch?"
Xu Wanli turned his head and scanned the Hall.
Only then did he notice many new faces lying in various corners, sleeping in their clothes, occupying most of the tables and chairs.
"Then I'll have one with two fried eggs."
"Okay, please wait a moment."
A few minutes later.
Xu Wanli carried the freshly prepared Luosifen and found an empty seat.
While eating, his gaze inadvertently scanned the surrounding customers.
These people looked worried, many coughed lightly or heavily a few times, had no appetite for food, slumped in their seats in a daze, and those with normal vital signs were mostly constantly checking their phones, gathering and discussing the latest news online.
But no one mentioned anything about the monster.
"Did that monster only attack the drunkard?"
Xu Wanli breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Fewer monsters were good news for him.
With the numerical advantage of the people in the Hall, no matter how powerful that monster was, they could find a way to deal with it.
"This is bad!"
In the corner seat of the Hall, a kind Woman was changing the hemostatic dressing for the bus driver when she discovered in horror that the bus driver had stopped breathing.
"He... he's dead!"
"Dead?!"
Several older men quickly gathered around, reaching out to check the bus driver's breath and pulse, and then, imitating doctors in movies, opened the bus driver's eyelids to check his pupils.
It was finally confirmed that the bus driver had died.
No one was surprised by this result.
But their hearts and morals were tormented.
Many people wondered if the outcome would have been different if they had risked taking the bus driver to the nearest city hospital for treatment last night?
Were they... indirect murderers?
"Let's wait for the rescuers to arrive."
A middle-aged man withdrew his hand with a complex expression.
He looked at the hundred or so people in the Service Hall and said in a deep voice, "When the temperature rises at noon, the fog will dissipate, and then the highway will be unsealed, and rescue personnel will arrive very soon. Everyone should first report to the law enforcement officers and deal with it according to their instructions."
This decision was unanimously approved by everyone.
A young Woman spoke softly.
"I called the police several times this morning, but it kept saying 'line busy'...
"Line busy?"
Everyone who heard this was stunned.
Then they all took out their phones and tried to dial.
Without exception, the phone indicated 'line busy'...