Rip—
As the massive convoy moved forward, someone rolled down a car window—
“Pah!”
Immediately, they got a mouthful of sand.
The closer they got to the west, the less anyone dared to open their windows. The sandstorm that had swept through the northern base at the beginning of the year and then retreated had only become more severe near the desert’s edge.
The nearest small cities were all draped in a yellow “coat,” covering the high-rise streets.
After traveling for a full week, as they neared the desert, no one was willing to step out of the vehicle to rest anymore.
Even cooking was abandoned… A gust of wind could sweep by at any moment, and no one could tell whether they were boiling plain porridge or sand. So they all simply stayed inside their vehicles, gnawing on dry rations.
Huang Yongjun had been eating dry rations for several meals and couldn’t take it anymore. “Brother Lu, I’m going to chat with Xiao Hui for a bit.”
Lu Tao frowned.
He glanced at his companion, who had more muscle than brains, and only gave a brief warning: “She’s from the Research Guild. Think things through when dealing with her.”
“Got it, got it.”
Huang Yongjun waved a large hand dismissively, not taking it to heart at all.
Xiao Hui was beautiful, gentle, and had even evolved intelligence-related abilities… Most importantly, she had no combat power. Sticking close to this “little sister” was mutually beneficial. They complemented each other perfectly—what was there to worry about?
Huang Yongjun, familiar with the routine, knocked on the most luxurious and eye-catching vehicle of the Research Guild. As soon as he opened the door, a spicy and fragrant aroma of hotpot hit him in the face.
Looking inside—whoa!
Several self-heating hotpots were placed on the seats, each one steaming continuously.
“Brother Yongjun is here!”
Qi Huiling popped her head out from the back seat, smiling as she pulled Huang Yongjun into the vehicle. “Perfect timing! We’re making self-heating hotpot. Come try some!”
Luck was better than timing—Huang Yongjun took a deep breath, practically drooling. “Xiao Hui, you sure have a lot of supplies. Even on a trip, you can bring this many self-heating hotpots.”
“Then Brother Yongjun should eat more! These are all quality products from the Guild’s food processing plant—way better than those expired rations!”
She handed him a fully heated hotpot. Huang Yongjun picked up a fork and stirred through it, fishing out potato slices, seaweed, lotus root, vermicelli, and even a sausage!
He eagerly shoveled several bites into his mouth before sighing in delight, “Amazing!”
Qi Huiling also had a hotpot on her seat. At that moment, she was squatting in front of it, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear while nibbling delicately on a potato slice.
Huang Yongjun was momentarily entranced.
When he came back to his senses, he reached out attentively. “Xiao Hui, let me hold the hotpot for you. I don’t mind the heat.”
“No need.” Qi Huiling turned her head and smiled. “Brother Yongjun, you haven’t told me yet—why did you come looking for me?”
In truth, there was no particular reason. He just wanted to spend more time with her.
But since Xiao Hui had asked, Huang Yongjun casually made something up. “Why did you guys build a base in the desert? It’s so far and inconvenient—what’s the point?”
“To keep people away, of course.”
“Some Battle pets are extremely violent. If anything unexpected happens during research, the entire base could be in trouble.”
“As for other locations, more or less, they all have zombies. So we chose a small city in the desert. The harder it is to find, the better—this way, no one can sneak into our base and steal our research.”
“Speaking of which, if it weren’t for this sudden incident, we wouldn’t have exposed our base either.”
If Lu Tao were here, he would definitely ask—where would a zombie horde come from in the middle of the desert?
But Huang Yongjun lacked that kind of awareness. After asking the most superficial question, he simply stared at Qi Huiling eating, paying no attention to the others in the car.
Qi Huiling, on the other hand, took the initiative to introduce the veiled woman sitting in the back: “This is Si Wei, a Tier-5 fire-ability user, sent by the guild to protect me personally.”
“Oh.”
Huang Yongjun glanced at her indifferently, making no impression other than noting that she had a decent figure.
“Xiao Hui…”
“Ah, I suddenly remembered something!” Qi Huiling interrupted him, her tone considerate. “Brother Yongjun, you’d better be careful after entering the desert.”
“Careful of what?”
“There are poisonous scorpions in this desert. We originally captured them for experiments, but they later escaped from the lab and hid in the desert. It’s been a long time now… Who knows how much they’ve multiplied?”
Huang Yongjun’s expression changed. “Poisonous scorpions? Escaped from the lab?”
Qi Huiling let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. It’s also the fault of those who were stationed at the lab at the time—they were too incompetent and let them escape. But Brother Yongjun, you don’t need to worry too much. The two strongest ones are only at Tier-6. Even if you encounter them, you’re an earth-ability user with such strong control over sand and stone. This desert is basically your training ground!”
Well, that was true.
Huang Yongjun’s expression returned to normal.
Qi Huiling picked up another piece of seaweed, chewed it slowly, swallowed, and sighed again. “I actually wanted to tell everyone about this, but some people don’t trust our guild at all. If I bring up the fact that the experimental scorpions escaped, they’ll just use it as another excuse to attack us.”
“So after thinking it over, I decided not to say anything. Who knows? Maybe we won’t even run into those scorpions this time. After all, they only emerge when they smell a strong scent of blood.”
“What I’m really worried about are those independent ability-user teams. If any of them get separated in the desert and run into the scorpions, that would be bad.”
Huang Yongjun was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly grinned.
“Xiao Hui is still as kind and considerate as ever. But if that really happens, it’s just their bad luck—it has nothing to do with you.”
“Brother Yongjun, you’re teasing me again~~~”
After some playful banter, Huang Yongjun hopped off the vehicle.
Once only insiders were left in the car, Qi Huiling had the leftovers from the self-heating hotpots cleaned up, then leaned back against her seat and closed her eyes to rest.
Even with her eyes closed, she could still feel an intense, unignorable gaze directed at her.
Qi Huiling opened her eyes and met the veiled woman’s stare. “What? Feeling sorry for that dear cousin of yours?”
Lin Weiran was silent for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I’m not feeling sorry for her.”
She was merely reminded of something from a few months ago—no, it had already been more than half a year…
Back then, something similar had happened. The long-faded memory of Zhao Zhenyu, the man who had betrayed their team… Just now, Huang Yongjun’s expression had overlapped with his.
And what was Zhao Zhenyu’s fate?
He had been ruthlessly thrown into a zombie horde by Su Su, torn apart until not even a complete corpse remained.
As for Wu Zhi in the beginning, he had also died at the fangs of the venomous snake Su Su had raised.
It must have been from that moment that she started concealing her true abilities, secretly enacting revenge one by one using the most despicable methods.
Until a few months ago, when it was Si Zhe’s turn.
Recalling Si Zhe’s miserable state at the time, as well as his continued downfall since then, an overwhelming hatred surged in Lin Weiran’s heart.
She clenched her hands tightly.
Qi Huiling didn’t wait for her reply and instead asked with amusement, “If it’s not because you feel sorry for her, then is it because you can’t bear it?”
“I really don’t understand you sometimes. When you first joined the guild, you told the Sage everything about the southern base’s forces as a token of allegiance.”
“When the war pets became capable of taking human form, you reminded the Sage that your cousin and that Tier-5 venomous snake might come.”
“And yet, all I did was subtly hint at Huang Yongjun—why are you reacting like this?”
Lin Weiran’s face tensed. “Researcher Qi, I’m just worried that your little tricks won’t be enough to kill her.”
“Then you don’t need to worry,” Qi Huiling chuckled softly. “From here on, it’s all up to Huang Yongjun’s methods.”
Lin Weiran bit her lip and said nothing more.
Of course, she wanted Huang Yongjun to kill Su Su. She was utterly tired of this situation—no matter where she went, Su Su would always catch up and suppress her. If Su Su were allowed to live, history would undoubtedly repeat itself.
The convoy resumed its journey. All vehicles followed the tracks left by those ahead, steadily and orderly making their way into the desert.
Su Su’s off-road vehicle was at the rear, followed by two or three more vehicles—these belonged to independent ability-user teams who had joined the mission.
At this moment, the one sitting in the driver’s seat was Pang Cancan, who had never gotten the chance to obtain a driver’s license but had forcibly learned to drive.
She was focused on the convoy ahead while continuously chewing on dried squid.
In just a few short months, thanks to good food, restful sleep, and plenty of physical activity, she had grown several centimeters taller.
The only thing that hadn’t developed as she wished… remained as flat as ever.
Pang Cancan snuck a glance at Su Su, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
The place she wanted to look at was completely blocked by a thick python. Its head was even resting atop the highest peak.
It was curled up comfortably, knowing exactly where to position itself.
Grinding her teeth in jealousy, Pang Cancan withdrew her gaze and focused on driving. However, in that very moment, a sudden, overwhelming gale swept through the area.
A massive wave of sand rapidly gathered in an instant, surrounding them from all directions. Within moments, a sandstorm formed, engulfing everything in sight and violently slamming against the car.
In just a few breaths, the yellow sand had piled up against the windshield, and all the side windows were completely blocked—visibility was reduced to nothing!