More than an hour later, on a winding, gray road between the trees, a tall, dark figure slowly emerged from the dense forest.
The figure was clad in a heavy, pitch-black bulletproof suit and wore a helmet, with deep brown goggles scanning the surroundings to ensure there were no other living beings before it slid down the slope by the roadside.
With a rustle, it brought down a patch of black mud and dry leaves, gliding down the slope like a slide onto the road.
After landing, it stood still and brushed off the mud and rotten leaves from its body.
The figure looked up and quickly spotted three dark green jeeps parked by the roadside.
“Finally found it!” it sighed, a tone of joy seeping into its voice.
After circling around for over an hour, it had finally located the vehicles left by Zhao Zhenghong and his group.
Hastening towards the first vehicle, it examined the rugged utility of the military jeep.
The car was like a blocky assembly of two rectangular pieces joined together: the larger part formed the cabin, and the smaller part made up the front.
The two large round headlights, protected by a steel wire grid, stood out like frog eyes, remarkably striking.
The figure approached the driver’s side, pulled the door handle, but it wouldn't budge.
Lowering its gaze, it fished out three keys from a pocket outside, the shield-shaped keys also military green, adorned with silver star markings.
Gripping one end of the key, it pulled with force, revealing a silver strip key tucked within the casing.
“Just like a door key, it’s not automatic,” it muttered, locating the keyhole on the door and inserting the key to turn it.
Click.
The door opened.
“Lucky me. Got it right on the first try.”
Glancing at the red LCD screen on its collar to confirm that the readings were normal, it leaned inside, rummaging around.
The interior of the vehicle was simple—just a dashboard, seats, and an embedded radio, nothing else, not even air conditioning.
With a tug, the figure opened the roof, revealing that it was a foldable roof, with strips of solar panels lining the top.
“It’s actually an electric vehicle, solar-powered!” it exclaimed with delight.
Soon, it noticed wires connecting the solar panels into the cabin.
Continuing to rummage, it quickly found the display for the solar-charged battery.
It was a small, round black-and-white LCD screen, walnut-sized, hanging to the left of the driver's seat, hidden behind the steering wheel, barely noticeable.
Squeezing the screen and taking a look, it confirmed, “The battery is full! This has way more power than my previous one!”
In high spirits, the figure dashed to the driver’s seat, trying to start the engine.
The vehicle responded well—moving forward, backward, and turning left and right without issue, indicating that the car was in perfect shape.
Descending from the car, it placed a hand on the door.
‘Enhanced Solar Vehicle: Increased capacity, improved comprehensive protection, and enhanced durability.’
At first, it hesitated to enhance too much.
From previous tests, it realized that the larger the size, the longer the time needed for enhancement.
So it decided to test it out first, refraining from enhancement and instead observing the countdown duration.
Soon, a black line flickered and disappeared into the car.
A mechanical voice echoed:
‘Would you like to enhance the solar vehicle?’
Ignoring the voice, it stepped back and glanced at the countdown that had appeared on the vehicle: 11 days, 4 hours, and 5 minutes.
“That long?” Its expression froze beneath the helmet. “As expected, the larger the size, the longer the time.”
Eleven days was too long for a black mark, which wasn’t good news for it.
‘But a solar vehicle that can move anytime, with basic protection, combined with the shining stone blanket, means I can explore other places instead of staying put all the time.’
The figure felt a bit troubled.
‘Wait!’ Suddenly, it halted, ‘What materials do I need to gather?’
In this era where food and supplies had to be cultivated or collected, staying still or moving to distant places didn’t matter much.
The only place worth traveling to was the shining stone mine.
However, walking to the mine didn’t take much time, and driving would only be slower.
After careful consideration, it realized the vehicle seemed to have little purpose for it aside from transporting water.
With that thought, a decision flashed in its mind.
It quickly rummaged through the trunk of the vehicle and found a toolbox.
Taking out the tools, it dismantled the vehicle’s solar engine in quick succession.
Fortunately, the solar system of the vehicle was quite crude.
It was clear the creator didn’t care for aesthetics or hidden wiring, only functionality mattered.
This made dismantling easier for the figure.
With speedy movements, it managed to remove the solar engines from all three vehicles, piling them together and carrying them back to the safe house.
Making multiple trips, it took almost two hours to finish transporting everything.
Additionally, it removed three light bulbs from the vehicles along with the necessary wiring.
Now it wouldn’t need to wait for Li Runshan to bring supplies; it could get the lights set up itself.
Upon returning to the safe house and looking at the piled-up items, it felt a surge of satisfaction.
“With these, I can just install them when I need the vehicle. If I don’t need it, no one can drive away the three cars.”
Next, it swiftly located a corner in the cave to install the vehicle lights, connecting the wires, and hooking up the solar engine.
Click.
As the switch was turned on, for the first time, bright lights illuminated the dim cave.
The pure white light softly illuminated every corner of the safe house, casting a warm glow on the figure's pale and rugged face.
Staring at the light, it suddenly felt a wave of emotion wash over it.
Lost in the brightness for a while, it eventually sat down with a lifted spirit, resting for a bit before moving the remaining clutter to a corner, and continuing with great vigor to excavate the second stone chamber.
With the rays of light guiding it, it felt like its strength had surged back.
It worked diligently until noon, then after a meal, started training leg exercises, gradually calming its emotions.
Outside, the sunlight dimmed, thick clouds gathered, and thunder began to rumble.
Not long into its training, a commotion of footsteps abruptly rang out from outside.
“This… this is the place! I see the door!” someone cried out with joy.
Soon, the footsteps grew nearer.
“Come on, I’ll pull you up,” a young woman’s voice rang out.
Moments later, two individuals arrived at the entrance, climbing up the stone steps.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Is anyone there? Is anyone home? We’re part of a convoy passing through and would like to buy some shining stones from you!”
The figure furrowed its brow, glancing at the silver symbol array behind the door, remaining silent, quickly determining they were not phantoms or threats.
It remembered Li Runshan mentioning that recent refugee groups might pass through here and advised it to stay alert.
So it walked over.
Swish.
Pulling aside the peephole cover, it saw two young girls pressed together on the other side.
They were dressed in similar white long-sleeved t-shirts, with long hair tied in ponytails, fair-skinned with bright eyes and delicate features, clearly made up.
The two girls stood one in front of the other.
The one in the front had a slightly more prominent nose, smaller, pinker lips, with a fuller chest compared to the other.
“Hello! Hello!” The girls smiled as the peephole opened. “We wish to trade for some shining stones for our journey. What prices do you have? What items can you accept?”
“Shining stones? I only sell large shining stones, no common shining stones.” The figure replied casually.
Collecting common shining stones was labor-intensive and didn’t yield much profit, so it preferred to keep them as materials.
“For items, we could offer some food or rations,” it answered after a moment of thought.
At present, it lacked nothing, but acquiring some rations for later was a good idea.
“Uh, we only have enough food for ourselves, but we could offer clothes, blankets, small furniture, and tableware?” one girl responded.
“How much is all that worth? Do you have any silver coins?” it asked with a frown.
“Silver... coins?” The girl’s expression grew slightly awkward, “Well, we could help you with some work. You can let us know what heavy labor you need; we can help you finish it faster with more people.”
“...” The figure understood; they were clearly a bunch of poor souls.
“Please, we beg you! Before we arrived, we thought there was a small village here, only to find that all the locals have left! We have run out of shining stones, and if we don’t have shining stone bags for protection tonight, many people will die in our vehicle!”
The girl clasped her hands together, pleading earnestly.
“How many of you are there? How many vehicles?” the figure asked.
“There are a hundred of us in five large buses,” the girl said helplessly.
“Where did you come from?” it continued inquiring, “Why are you fleeing?”
“... We came from the Jade River area, from Yanhe City. When we left, everything was in chaos, and many people died. The Joint Forces dispatched troops twice to help, but it was useless. We saw no hope and had to run,” the girl spoke softly, her eyes filled with red veins.
“Were you attacked by phantoms? Was it a withered woman?” The figure’s heart raced as it quickly questioned.
If even the Joint Forces couldn’t handle the threat they faced, especially in a city-level hope, this was very different from the previous towns.
A city-level hope was far stronger than a town.
It meant that whatever defenses it had, the city had them too, perhaps even more.
If even the city couldn’t hold, that meant it wouldn’t be able to withstand it either.
“It wasn’t a withered woman. It was a speaking person,” the girl trembled involuntarily at the name, as if shivering.
Speaking person.
The figure recalled the danger level information it had heard on the radio previously, where the name of the speaking person appeared among the phantoms—an even more dangerous and terrifying super threat than the withered woman.
“Tell me the detailed information about the speaking person, all the details you know—I want everything! For a reward, I can give you two large shining stones!” the figure hastily declared.
Upon hearing this, the two girls’ faces brightened, and they nodded eagerly.
“Yes!”
Amid the deep green sea of trees, a gray road wound onward toward the horizon's end, where five large buses, painted gray-white, were parked on the left side of the road.
The vehicles were entirely wrapped in thick white metal sheets, with all the windows covered by sturdy wood boards nailed from the inside.
“Is this the convoy?” Not far from the fleet, behind a patch of brown grass, a young man crouched down, his camouflage attire blending into the surroundings, wearing a crown of withered grass on his head.
“Yeah, I heard you mention discovering a few unclaimed jeeps around here, but it seems we’ve stumbled upon a major catch.” Another man beside him whispered with a grin.
“Let the boss know; we should be able to score quite a haul. I just saw a pair of twin sisters among those who got out.” The young man licked his lips, a lewd smile spreading across his face.
“There were just a few young ones missing from the clubhouse; if we can fill that gap here, the boss will be pleased, hehehe."
The other man joined in the laughter.
After observing for a while longer, one of them spoke again.
“Alright, I’m going to contact Sister Yu and have her send someone to meet up here.”
“Good.”
One of them stood up and quietly distanced himself.
The remaining young man continued watching the convoy's movements, though he found it strange that despite five buses sitting idle, only a handful of people had gotten out initially, yet no further activity had been seen for over ten minutes.
These five buses felt as still as five coffins, utterly unmoving and silent.
“What’s going on?” the man furrowed his brow, pulling out a shining stone blanket from behind him and draping it over his shoulders.
Once wrapped, he felt significantly safer.
However, looking at the five buses, he just had a nagging feeling that something was off.
(End of chapter)