Chapter 99: Going home!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu could only count himself fortunate to have escaped quickly enough and was even glad to have encountered those Experimentals along the way. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to avoid the volcanic eruption zone.
The built-up pressure in the volcano finally erupted. Qing Zhen watched the sights from the ruined city and said with a sigh, “What a pity.”
No one knew what he was feeling pity for this time.
Someone beside Qing Zhen asked, “Boss, what do we do now?”
But just as the question was asked, an earthshaking roar of a creature came from the crater of the volcano. The sound of that roar seemed to travel dozens of kilometers in an instant!
Ren Xiaosu looked back in surprise. At the peak of the volcano, he suddenly saw a huge claw grabbing onto the edge of the volcano’s crater. It looked like it was something trying to climb out!
There was actually a creature hidden inside that volcano? What kind of creature could possibly live in magma? Something that terrifying had even appeared now? Then what kind of terrifying existence could that creature he had encountered at the river but not seen with his own eyes be?
Qing Zhen sighed and said, “Such a thing actually exists? Let’s temporarily pull out of the Jing Mountains from the west. The mission is a failure.”
Qing Zhen’s trusted aide who was standing next to him said in shock, “Just what the hell is that....”
“Yan Tao, call that useless brother of mine,” Qing Zhen said as he kept his gaze on the volcano. “If that thing crawls out, or a large number of Experimentals get forced south because of the eruption, Stronghold 113 will be in danger.”
The trusted aide whose name was Yan Tao wondered if Qing Zhen really thought the stronghold would fall. He instinctively went to retrieve the satellite phone but discovered that the usually working satellite phone couldn’t make any calls.
The heatwave caused by the volcanic eruption began to sweep through the entire mountain range. Keep in mind that there wasn’t only one volcano in the Jing Mountains. Seeing this, Qing Zhen said, “Let’s leave this place first!”
This sea of fire looked like it was about to bury the secret of the Jing Mountains.
Xu Man and the others who received their orders to retreat continued firing in an orderly manner as they did so. They did not start panicking because of the volcanic eruption. Caught in this dangerous situation, they became even calmer.
When they finally came out of the forest and arrived at the edge of the city, someone who was with Qing Zhen triggered a remote in their hand. In an instant, a line of fire was lit as the dividing line between the city, and the forest started burning.
The explosives the Qing Consortium had buried here beforehand were detonated all at once and completely contained the Experimentals to the north of the forest. Even for creatures as strong and tough as the Experimentals, half of them were still killed or wounded by the explosives detonating. As for the remaining wave of Experimentals that had not been affected by the explosion, they could only watch from behind the wall of fire as the Qing Consortium’s personnel made their retreat.
The Experimentals did not linger here for long. Instead, they went back into the forest, seemingly to look for another route to bypass this area.
Panting, Xu Xianchu returned and came up to Qing Zhen. He lowered his head and said, “Sorry, I didn’t manage to bring Xu Xianchu back.”
“It’s OK.” Qing Zhen shook his head. “Get in the car, we’ll head west. There should be another route there that can bring us back to Stronghold 112.” Qing Zhen then turned around and left. The sound of his leather shoes tapping on the ground gave an aura of calm to his footsteps.
A large convoy of military transport trucks and off-road vehicles, as well as many other heavy machines, were parked at the edge of the city.
Xu Man did not move. Qing Zhen turned around and looked at him. “You want to ask me why I got our people to save you? Don’t feel too touched by that. It’s just business between us. I only got our people to save you because I still have use for you.”
Xu Man stammered as though he was going to say something.
In the end, Qing Zhen laughed and said, “Save your words of loyalty. I’ve never believed in that.”
But at this time, a soldier up ahead shouted, “This is bad! Our vehicles can’t be driven anymore. Come over and take a look at what’s happened to the tires...”
Xu Man was startled. “What happened? Are the tires punctured? We brought along tire jacks and machinery to patch up tires and fill them with air.”
The soldier said with a bitter expression, “It’s not a puncture. Our vehicles’ tires have been slashed....”
Xu Man and Qing Zhen were confused.
The smile on the previously calm Qing Zhen stiffened. “...Xu Xianchu, this is the first time I’ve been so keen on killing someone. Xu Man, bring me my uniform....”
Qing Zhen and Xu Man knew that “Xu Xianchu” had escaped south, but they really hadn’t expected something like this to happen.
In Xu Man’s opinion, it should have been enough to just puncture the tires. But rather than that, their opponent had chosen to slash the tires?!
By slashing the tires, it would mean that everyone from the Qing Consortium would have to leave the Jing Mountains on foot. It wasn’t really that dangerous, but it would definitely make them look pathetic, especially if they were wearing a white suit.
Xu Man whispered in a soft voice behind Qing Zhen, “This mission failure might make the consortium punish you.”
Qing Zhen did not mind that. “It’s fine, those old fogies will still need someone to do their work for them. I’ll just treat it as taking a vacation for some time.”
“How are we going to handle that Ren Xiaosu?” Xu Man asked.
“If he doesn’t die in the Jing Mountains, he’ll definitely find a way to get back to Stronghold 113.” Qing Zhen thought for a moment before saying, “When the satellite phone works again, tell Luo Lan to keep a watch out for now. As for how to handle him, I still haven’t thought of it yet. Also, get him to quickly send Zhang Jinglin away. That person must not die under our watch. It’s quite possible that someone has already been sent out to assassinate him.”
...
Ren Xiaosu was indeed the person who slashed the tires of the Qing Consortium’s vehicles. At that time, the Qing Consortium’s people were still busy fighting the Experimentals, so he decided he might as well do it.
Besides, Ren Xiaosu had been running from the Qing Consortium’s pursuit for some time, so he couldn’t vent his anger if he didn’t get his revenge!
The volcano behind him was still erupting. The moon in the sky was already covered by the plumes of ash and smoke in the air. Moreover, the volcano’s eruption seemed like it was getting more and more violent.
Ren Xiaosu was a little puzzled. What was that roaring creature in the volcano’s crater? Even at the end, he did not see it fully emerge out of the crater.
As he left the city, he watched the Qing Consortium detonate explosives at the edge of the city. Ren Xiaosu once again witnessed how terrifying explosive weapons were in the possession of humans.
Ren Xiaosu kept heading back south via the original route he had taken here. He suspected there could still be a few sporadic Experimentals along the way, just not as many as the entire nest he had stumbled upon. In fact, Ren Xiaosu was no longer as scared.
With his shadow clone’s super strength and dexterity wielding the black saber, his destructive power was incalculable.
With the two skills stacked, it became a much more powerful combination. Somehow, this seemed like the path forward for Ren Xiaosu. However, this path might be littered with many more twists and bends.
On the way back to Stronghold 113, it wasn’t the Experimentals that would be the most dangerous to encounter, but those face bugs and the wolf pack.
Ren Xiaosu recharged himself while being carried on his shadow clone’s back. Meanwhile, the shadow clone was going so fast that it felt like it was floating in the air. It even looked like its legs were casting an afterimage behind it as it ran.
Although this made Ren Xiaosu look like he was disabled and needed to depend on someone to carry him, he did not care...
In between, he even went back to the cave they had spent a night in. There, he discovered that a line of elegantly written words had appeared at the top of the cave: “It’s right behind you.”
These words were not here before, and they looked like they were still fresh in the rock. In Ren Xiaosu’s memory, he remembered that Yang Xiaojin had fallen behind on the day they set off from here. For some reason, he suddenly felt that this line of elegant writing must have been made by Yang Xiaojin to scare people for fun.
“How mischievous, eh?” Ren Xiaosu continued on his way back south after having a look here.
An hour later, the forest fire caused by the volcanic eruption spread southwards. The entire Jing Mountain range had become a sea of fire. Ren Xiaosu could vaguely hear the sound of wild animals running behind him. It sounded like they were escaping to the canyon. However, this didn’t really bother Ren Xiaosu.
It had taken them a long time to get here, but it felt much faster when he was going back. It only took half a day before Ren Xiaosu reached the canyon again. He looked into the canyon and that shimmer of light above the towering cliff walls. Ren Xiaosu did not hesitate any further.
As long as he was fast enough, the face bugs, wolf pack, or even loneliness could not catch him to him!
The shadow clone carrying Ren Xiaosu ran through the canyon like a gust of wind. The face bugs atop the towering cliff walls sensed the aura of a human and swarmed out. But as soon as they came out, Ren Xiaosu had already made it out of the canyon!
The face bugs were left silent on the cliff for a long while. All of them were communicating with their feelers with one another. “Did a person pass by here just now?”
“The fuck can that be a person?!”
The moment he passed through the canyon, dawn broke. In the sky, golden rays of light penetrated through the cloud cover. When Ren Xiaosu saw this sight, he felt a little more spirited. He had gained a lot in his trip to the Jing Mountains this time, even though he didn’t stay for long.
But when he got back to the canyon again, it suddenly felt like it had been a long time since he was here. It felt like a century had passed.
He wondered how Yan Liuyuan and Sister Xiaoyu were doing at home. Ren Xiaosu was really anxious to return home.
Ren Xiaosu could dimly sense some movements coming from the forest. He was startled before realizing that the wolf pack had stayed around the entrance of the canyon all this while, as though they were waiting for him to come back!
Soon after, the slowly approaching wolves watched as Ren Xiaosu, who was laying on his shadow clone’s back, ran through the gaps in their pack. They didn’t even have time to react!
The wolf pack stopped in their tracks and quietly watched Ren Xiaosu’s receding figure as he left. He was even faster than they were....
The Wolf King also fell silent. Had they been waiting here for nothing all these days?!