Road Survival, I Have a Hint System!

"Ah!" The blond thug collapsed on the ground, clutching his neck in agony, his legs kicking wildly.

Zhang Tuohai walked over and took a look, realizing that the guy's luck was really terrible.

Two pellets had hit him—one struck his neck, leaving a blood hole the size of a bottle opening, with blood gushing out. The other pellet had hit his lung, forming a hole the size of a coin.

However, Zhang Tuohai was certain that due to the cavitation effect, the guy's lung had been shredded by the bullet.

This kind of injury—there was no saving him.

"System, do the cheetah and that thug leader still pose any threat?" Zhang Tuohai didn’t rush to check the cheetah but instead asked the system for confirmation.

[The cheetah still has the ability to retaliate. The gold-toothed one is already dead.]

"Goodness, no wonder it's a large carnivore. Its vitality is this strong!" Zhang Tuohai aimed the shotgun at the cheetah again and pulled the trigger.

Seven or eight pellets hit the cheetah.

[Cheetah is dead.]

"Hmph, no matter how cunning you are, you still end up drinking my foot water." Zhang Tuohai slung his shotgun over his shoulder and approached the cheetah's corpse.

He stabbed it with a skinning knife.

[Obtained 500 grams of leopard meat * 150] [Obtained torn leopard skin * 1] [Obtained 1 set of internal organs] [Obtained normal essence * 1]

It was a standard haul.

However, the torn leopard skin left Zhang Tuohai feeling a bit disappointed.

If only he had used armor-piercing bullets, he might have gotten a complete leopard skin.

After piling these ordinary materials to the side, Zhang Tuohai carefully picked up a blueprint for a car fan.

[Car Fan Blueprint: Level 1 car accessory, can be used for cooling. It's a great helper during high temperatures.] [Materials needed: 10 units of metal scraps, 1 unit of metal ingot, 10 units of metal parts, 1 unit of electronic components.] [Note: Limit of two per car.]

"The other materials are no problem, but electronic components are a bit scarce. Looks like it's time to stock up on those."

Zhang Tuohai, having made so many items, had noticed a pattern—anything requiring electricity always needed electronic components.

It seemed that electronic components were among the most important materials.

Zhang Tuohai put away the fan blueprint and walked over to the vehicles of the thug leader and the blond lackey to start scavenging.

The two cars hadn’t been modified, still looking like worn-down wrecks.

On the back seat were some Level 1 materials, with two buckets of instant noodles piled in a corner.

The most valuable item was probably the 100 units of gasoline in one barrel.

Other than that, there was nothing.

Truly poor.

Zhang Tuohai spat on the ground, but he also knew that this was probably the situation for most average players.

Following the principle that "even a mosquito’s legs are meat," Zhang Tuohai packed everything into his own car, not leaving a single item behind.

Finally, he also conveniently took the car cores from both vehicles.

At this point, he had collected three car cores.

Gathering the last of the supplies, Zhang Tuohai prepared to return to his own vehicle.

As soon as he reached the roadside, he spotted someone crouching next to his car, fiddling with something.

Startled, Zhang Tuohai quickly moved to observe from the side.

He saw a shifty-looking middle-aged man squatting in front of his car, poking at the lock with a piece of wire.

A car thief!

Zhang Tuohai was furious.

He had gone through so much trouble and risked his life to collect all these resources, and now, someone was about to steal everything from him. That would be a huge joke!

This guy dared to steal his car right in front of him? Unforgivable!

"What do you think you're doing? Stand up!"

Zhang Tuohai aimed his gun at the car thief.

"Boss, it’s a misunderstanding, really!" The car thief, seeing the gun in Zhang Tuohai’s hand, froze, his hands shaking as he raised them.

"How did you target my car?" Zhang Tuohai asked coldly.

"Boss, I was just passing by and saw this nice car. I got a bit itchy and thought I’d practice my skills. I swear I didn’t mean anything else. Please let me go."

The middle-aged man’s legs were trembling.

"So, you weren’t specifically targeting me?" Seeing the man's demeanor and hearing his words, Zhang Tuohai felt a bit relieved.

If it was just bad luck, so be it. But if someone had specifically marked him, he would have had to be much more careful.

"Boss, I really was just passing by. I have some water in my car. I’ll give it all to you, how about that?"

As the man spoke, he turned and started walking toward his car, seemingly to get the water.

[Be careful, he has a hunting crossbow in his car!]

The system's synthetic voice suddenly warned him.

Without thinking, Zhang Tuohai pulled the trigger.

Boom!

Twelve pellets hit the middle-aged man at close range, turning him into a sieve.

[Danger neutralized.]

Zhang Tuohai walked over and found that the man's hand had already reached for the handle of the hunting crossbow.

This hunting crossbow was far more powerful than the one Zhang Tuohai had previously used.

The bow arms were longer, and the string tension was much stronger, with arrows that were a foot long.

Even with his stab-proof vest, if Zhang Tuohai had been hit at close range by this crossbow, he probably would’ve been injured.

"Indeed, you can’t trust anyone you meet out here."

Tossing the man’s body off the side of the road, Zhang Tuohai started scavenging his car.

Besides the hunting crossbow, he found a case of bottled water and a bag of bread.

"Still poor," Zhang Tuohai muttered, clicking his tongue as he dismantled the car.

The incident with the middle-aged man reminded Zhang Tuohai that he needed to improve the security of his vehicle.

Ideally, he should install some sort of automatic defense system.

At the very least, he needed a better, more secure lock.

Otherwise, if he left to scavenge for supplies and someone stole his car, that would be a disaster.

However, now wasn’t the time to worry about that—everything could wait until the race was over.

After getting back in his car, Zhang Tuohai crafted the fans.

Once the two fans were running, the temperature in the car dropped noticeably.

Feeling the strong breeze from the fans, Zhang Tuohai felt absolutely refreshed.

He had never thought that simply having a fan could feel this good.

"This thing has to sell for a high price—no way I’m trading the blueprint for anything."

In high spirits, Zhang Tuohai drove onward.

[Warning, the poison zone is contracting. Please turn right at the next intersection, cross the iron bridge, and enter the city of ruins.]

"A bridge? There's a bridge here?" Zhang Tuohai glanced out the window at the endless desert, curious as to why there would be a bridge in such a place.

However, as soon as he turned at the next intersection, everything became clear.

The desert had turned into a hard Gobi plain, and at the far end of the Gobi, a deep canyon cut across the road. Only a rusted iron bridge spanned the canyon.

Zhang Tuohai looked behind him—the black wall of clouds was surging like a tidal wave, rushing toward his direction.