These people from J Country were also there to inquire about tickets, but they were looking into chartering an international flight. They knew all long-distance passenger flights had been canceled, and in the current situation, they couldn’t just rely on J Country.

J Country was spending a massive amount of manpower, resources, and finances to construct air-raid shelters across the region. They had already decided that before the third predicted meteor shower, they wanted all J Country citizens to live normal lives in these newly built and renovated shelters. Of course, they were also planning and organizing rescue efforts, but this would take time.

Under these circumstances, no matter how much they wanted to go back, they couldn’t morally demand that the country immediately risk resources, manpower, and finances to save them. M Country was vast, and J Country people were scattered across different regions. With transportation difficulties, it was currently impossible to safely bring back all those who wanted to return. More importantly, the disaster wasn’t stable yet. What if the plane encountered meteors during the long flight?

Moreover, not everyone among them still held J Country citizenship. Initially, it was their decision to come to M Country to work and settle, seeking a better life by traveling across the ocean. They couldn’t now expect to rely on J Country just because of the disaster. This was a planetary-scale disaster. In fact, W City was doing quite well; they were living fine. They just wanted to try their luck if the opportunity arose.

After discussing, they came up with the idea of chartering a flight, but unfortunately, their request was also denied after waiting. They couldn’t even spend their own money for it. They were all very disappointed. Now, seeing fellow J Country people like Yu Xi and her group inquiring about tickets to go north, they were curious and chatted with them while waiting for their results.

Yu Qi and her group didn’t hide anything and briefly explained their plan to return to their country.

“What? You plan to travel north along the East Coast and then cross the strait?” The J Country people were shocked. This roundabout route would encounter countless unforeseen troubles.

Yu Xi’s group understood why they were shocked. Traveling this way was manageable before crossing the strait because there were port cities along the East Coast. If they couldn’t take a ship, they could take a train or drive themselves. If lucky, they could buy short-distance plane tickets. Despite spending some time, they could reach the A Peninsula.

Crossing the strait wasn’t difficult either. The strait was about 50 kilometers wide, and taking a boat would take half an hour to an hour. Moreover, the strait’s scenery was magnificent. A few years ago, the A Peninsula launched a strait crossing tour project. All they needed to do was sign up with a travel agency, and the visa process was quick.

But problems solvable with money weren’t real problems.

In the minds of the J Country people, the real problem was the second half of the journey after crossing the strait. E Country was vast. On the other side of the strait was the K Peninsula, and beyond that was a large uninhabited area. This region had no railways and only some roads.

The only airport that could quickly traverse this uninhabited area was destroyed during the first meteor shower.

The K Peninsula was now in a semi-closed, self-sufficient state. Many E Country people were trying to get visas to cross the strait to the A Peninsula.

If Yu Xi’s group went to the K Peninsula, how would they travel south?

Yu Xi spoke up, “We have two options. One is to travel along the coastline, and the other is to go to H City on the K Peninsula and take a passenger ferry through the bay. This can save a significant part of the route, and we can figure out how to travel on land after that.”

One of the J Country people looked her up and down, eyes filled with sympathy, “Young lady, you’re being too naive. After the K Peninsula, there’s the uninhabited area. Do you think traveling along the coastline won’t count as an uninhabited area? And while E Country’s overall situation is much better than M Country’s, the status of long-distance passenger ferries is very uncertain now. I have a friend who was in H City on the K Peninsula before the first meteor shower. He thought he could leave before the second predicted meteor shower, but he’s still stuck there…”

The person shook his head repeatedly, directly denying the two routes and then continued, “Our group has more than ten people, and we did consider driving through the vast uninhabited area… but this region would take at least ten days to cross by car, and there’s nothing along the way except for roads. With the impact of the meteors, we don’t even know if the small towns that could supply goods and fuel still exist… the road conditions could be severely damaged, and if the car runs out of fuel, it’s a dead end…”

As the other party analyzed the situation, Yu Xi and her group didn’t interrupt. In fact, they were more inclined towards this route than taking a long-distance passenger ferry across the bay from the K Peninsula in E Country.

As the person said, waiting for ship tickets could take more than ten days. The longer they delay on the road, the less safe it becomes. Besides, they haven’t secured a boat yet. If they are unlucky and get stuck in the middle of the sea during an early meteor shower, it would be a dead end. Even if the meteors didn’t hit the ship, it could still cause a tsunami.

Driving through the uninhabited area didn’t have these concerns. E Country is vast, with many areas uninhabited, so while there are no train routes, there are many roads built deep into the territory. These roads don’t have rest stops, but every few days, they might pass through a small town with supermarkets and gas stations for long-distance travelers to resupply.

The current situation causes concern for others about finding a meteor-damaged town and being unable to resupply fuel and goods. However, this isn’t a concern for Yu Xi and her group because their space holds enough supplies to last for years, and over 10,000 liters of fuel—enough to go anywhere they want.

They just need to study the route carefully to avoid getting lost.

Of course, they couldn’t explain all this to the other party. They could only say that they planned to assess the situation after reaching E Country and that their priority was reaching the A Peninsula to shorten the journey time, ensuring the safety of the latter part of the trip.

“You’ll need to hurry. There are eighty-six days until the next predicted meteor shower. It sounds like a lot, but it could come early, so the less time you spend on the road, the better.”

“Exactly, that’s why we’re inquiring about plane tickets. The ship tickets are sold out.”

At this moment, the ticket agent gave them the results of the inquiry: there were two vacant seats on a flight to S City in J Country in two days. They asked if they wanted them.

With only two tickets available and the flight heading east, they couldn’t take them.

Ya Tong comforted Yu Qi, “Let’s try again tomorrow. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll go by land and see if there’s a way to cross the border. I have some friends in J Country; I’ll call them later to ask.”

After exchanging goodbyes with the other J Country people, they prepared to leave, but someone called them back, suggesting they exchange phone numbers.

“Even though your plan sounds crazy and we poured a lot of cold water on it, we still admire your determination to return home. We’re all strangers in a foreign land, so let’s exchange numbers. If you manage to return to our country, let us know. We’ll be happy for you.”

Ya Tong smiled, exchanged phone numbers with the speaker, and comforted them, “Don’t worry. This is just the early stage of the disaster. All countries are caught off guard. Once we get through this period, there will be rescue efforts, and passenger flights might resume. It might just take some time.”

The other person smiled and said, “We are doing okay here. We have houses, jobs, families, and children. As long as the city we live in is safe, it doesn’t matter if we go back or not. It’s just a thought… But there are some students who didn’t plan to stay here long-term. After the disaster, schools have closed, and now they have problems with food and accommodation. They are relying on our help…”

Ya Tong thought for a moment and asked how many students were in this situation.

“Excluding those who have friends or relatives they can go to, there are still two to three hundred students left. There are quite a few of our countrymen in W City, but not all of them are willing to help. It’s okay for now, but in the long run… sigh.”

They were applying for help from all sides, but in the current situation, it was difficult everywhere.

Yu Qi and Ya Tong exchanged a look, each understanding the other’s thoughts. They whispered for a moment, then Ya Tong asked the others to wait a bit and went to make a phone call.

After the call, she informed them that they could help too. She was a shareholder in a company, with a branch in L City and the headquarters in X City, not far from here.

She had already contacted people at the company, which could also provide some assistance. They could take in about twenty people. As long as the company wasn’t destroyed by meteors, this offer would stand.

This was also why she dared to max out her credit cards. As a shareholder, even if she didn’t return to work, she would still receive money in her bank account at mid-year and year-end. Whether she could transfer this money back home later was uncertain, but offering help to her compatriots now was a good choice.

She then took out paper and pen from her travel bag (space), wrote a letter, and handed it to them as proof for the students seeking help.

The other person was surprised to receive such substantial help while just visiting the airline office. Twenty people were quite a number!

That evening, after returning, Yu Xi and the others held a meeting, deciding to stay in W City for three more days to check for available flights and contact Ya Tong’s friends in J Country to see if they could find another way to enter.

If after three days they still couldn’t find a flight or a way to enter J Country, they would look for a small boat with a cabin to travel north along the coast themselves. This was their backup plan.

However, the next evening, Ya Tong received a call from one of the compatriots they met the day before.

The caller asked if their group consisted of only three people or if there were others.

“Just the three of us.”

“Good, if it’s just the three of you, I know a friend who flies a small plane. It can take up to three passengers. The plane’s maximum range is about 1900 to 2000 kilometers. If the price is right, he can take you directly to A Peninsula.”

Ya Tong: …!!

This news was even better than finding a flight to U City in J Country, because even if they got to U City, they would still have to find a way to continue north, likely driving and then finding another boat to get to A Peninsula.

But now, a small plane could directly fly them to A Peninsula!

The pilot was an M Country native. Later, Yu Xi and her group learned that this pilot’s daughter attended the same school as the students Ya Tong was helping.

With commercial flights, trains, and ships all fully booked, short-haul small plane services like his were in very high demand. His schedule was booked for the next month. If it weren’t for his daughter’s request, he wouldn’t have set aside a day to take on Yu Xi’s group’s business.

This event left Yu Xi and her group in awe, and even Ya Tong’s friends, Feynman and his wife, were deeply moved. If Ya Tong hadn’t been kind-hearted enough to help her compatriots, even if they had learned about the small plane, they would likely have had to wait a month for their turn. They certainly couldn’t afford to wait that long. By helping others, they also ended up helping themselves.

Their departure was scheduled for two days later.

In the meantime, the three of them busied themselves with preparations for the upcoming journey. First, they went to a car repair shop, where they had their modified and reinforced SUV inspected and repaired once more. They replaced the tires, bought plenty of engine oil, spare parts, and several spare tires, among other necessities.

Since Yu Xi’s storage space was not yet full, they continued shopping at the supermarket. The area around W City was relatively unaffected, so the supermarkets were well-stocked. They replenished their supplies with 40 cases of 5-gallon water containers, 10 cases of 24-bottle water packs, and stocked up on warm clothing suitable for the colder climates of A Peninsula and E Country.

They set aside a portion of their cash for crossing the strait and obtaining visas, while another portion was kept for converting into E Country currency once they arrived. The remaining cash was used to buy food supplies, including several cases of convenience foods, canned meat and fruits, 200 cups of coffee from various cafes, and a large quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables.

On the day of departure, Ya Tong left a box of supplies for Feynman and his family, including flashlights, lighters, candles, bottled water, canned food, instant noodles, medicines, and nutritional products and milk powder for their child. She didn’t inform them in advance, but left a note in their storage room, expressing gratitude for their hospitality and help over the past few days.

Then, the three of them drove to a forest near the airport, where they found a secluded spot without cameras. They took out three pre-packed backpacks and warm clothes, stored the SUV, and headed straight to the airport.

An hour later, the three of them were in the air.

The small plane was indeed tiny, with just four seats including the pilot’s. Although they were nervous during takeoff, the pilot was skilled and the plane was in good condition. The pilot told them that they would reach A Peninsula by noon if they maintained their current speed.

He mentioned that he had made a lot of money with his plane recently but had a rule of only flying during relatively safe periods.

“Relatively safe periods?”

He nodded, explaining that some experts had developed a method to calculate periods of relative safety between meteor showers. He believed that eventually, scientists would be able to predict absolutely safe periods, allowing everyone to avoid meteor showers accurately.

Yu Xi looked out of the plane’s window.

They were flying over a heavily affected area. From this height, the scars left by the meteor showers were glaringly obvious, like the skin of an injured person, with the once-flat earth now pockmarked with craters. Buildings had collapsed, bridges were destroyed, and people had lost their homes, forced to seek refuge elsewhere.

For this world, the apocalypse had only just begun. She couldn’t help but think about her original world. When the apocalypse officially began, what would her city and the world she lived in become?