Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“What’s wrong?” Zhang Yanfeng saw that Lu Shu was slightly absent-minded. He did not know Lu Shu’s identity, thus he also did not know just how surprised Lu Shu was when he walked into the base and saw Luo Nan’s photo.
The base was made up of three temporary buildings arranged in a triangle. There was a heater that ran on fuel. One of the empty spaces were filled with neatly arranged boxes of canned food.
Lu Shu shook his head. “You are very experienced. Can you determine how long this place has been abandoned for?”
“It’s impossible,” said Zhang Yanfeng. “Normal, familiar places are much easier. Just see how much dust there is and you will be able to determine how long the place has been deserted. But this is also my first time coming here, thus I have no information that can help us.”
“Hm. Wait for me,” said Lu Shu. He walked into the temporary building.
“Aren’t you afraid that Wang Zhe will go ahead first?” Zhang Yanfeng was uncertain.
“He is sending us to our deaths,” said Lu Shu calmly.
Zhang Yanfeng was surprised. At first, when Lu Shu had just joined the group, he knew that Lu Shu wanted to go to Death Valley. If he was just an ordinary person, Zhang Yanfeng would not think too much of it. But Lu Shu was evidently not normal. His target was Death Valley. He definitely knew more than Zhang Yanfeng.
Something must have happened here for a strange young man like Lu Shu to come here.
Lu Shu opened every drawer in the temporary building, hoping to find some clues. He found a survey journal, but its contents were unimportant. It was as if the people in this base did not receive orders to enter Death Valley. Instead, they observed the mutation of animals here.
Lu Shu looked at the dates. The latest entry was written four months ago.
After that, everyone here disappeared, except for Luo Nan.
Lu Shu thought about it and said, “Let’s take a rest here. There’s something I need to settle.”
In the distance, the blue light above the Kunlun Mountains was still flickering. The black mountains were like an abyss.
At first, Lu Shu had wanted to enter the mountains at night to see what had happened. But he scrapped this idea because of Luo Nan. He wanted to see what was going on here first.
Lu Shu could not find Luo Nan’s employment pass here. The picture was a group picture with over 20 people there. To be honest, Lu Shu had no way of confirming whether Luo Nan was the Class C expert assigned to protect this base. If he had worked in the wilderness like everyone else, it would make sense for him to be in the same picture as everyone else. Lu Shu shoved the picture into the Seal of Lands to ensure that no one else would see it.
Zhang Yanfeng did not question Lu Shu any further. He turned on the heater. There was a generator beside the heater. It was the end of June, but because of their elevation, it was still very cold, especially at night.
Snow started to pile up on the Kunlun Mountains. Suddenly, snow started to fall outside.
The temperature in the temporary building slowly rose. This small base was like a warm house. Everyone felt slightly relieved.
Lu Shu stood at the door of the temporary building. He stared blankly at the Kunlun Mountains. The others started to take out their coats. Wang Yan’s husband kept apologizing to Wang Yan, but she had no intention of accepting his apology. After all, being left behind in a life-or-death situation was a very traumatizing experience.
Zhang Yanfeng boiled a kettle of water on the heater. At high elevations, the boiling point of water was very low, but under normal circumstances, heating water to 70 degrees Celsius was enough to kill most bacteria. One had to boil water for 20 minutes before being able to kill bacteria that were more resistant to heat, but they did not care much about this in the wilderness.
Zhang Yanfeng passed a cup of hot water to Lu Shu. He saw the blue light shining down on the wilderness and sighed. “How beautiful. The first time I went hiking, I followed a friend. Back then, I saw the vast night sky and the wilderness, and knew that I belonged here. You can’t see snow in June in other places. How nice it would be, if we had brought alcohol. Isn’t there a poem? Night is falling and snow is approaching. Friend, will you share a cup with me 1 … what’s the next line?”
Lu Shu paused for two seconds. “Alcohol for the driver, tears for the family?”
“From Zhang Yanfeng’s distress, +666!”
Zhang Yanfeng choked. He suddenly asked, “Why do you always pause for two seconds?”
“I have to use my skills within two seconds,” said Lu Shu as he looked into the distance without turning back. His face was lonely and cold like snow.
“From Zhang Yanfeng’s distress, +66!”
Zhang Yanfeng felt very uncomfortable. So humiliating people is your skill?!
Lu Shu suddenly turned around and said to Zhang Yanfeng, “You should have a satellite phone, right?”
Frequent hikers definitely had a satellite phone. Zhang Yanfeng took out a satellite phone from his travelling bag and passed it to Lu Shu. Lu Shu walked to one side and made a call.
Zhang Yanfeng cooperated with Lu Shu as after encountering the giant bear, he found that Lu Shu was very mysterious. An enigmatic young man like him was worth investing in.
But he was not sure where exactly this young man came from.
Lu Shu came back and returned the satellite phone to Zhang Yanfeng. “We will rest here for two days to wait for my team mates.”
Zhang Yanfeng was dumbfounded. “Are your teammates nearby?”
“No, they are at the provincial capital of Qingzhou,” said Lu Shu.
“Then they will probably take five or six days to reach here.” Zhang Yanfeng calculated the distance. They had walked through the Kumukili Desert for four days, and took five days to reach this place. Even if Lu Shu’s team mates were Practitioners, they would probably take five or six days.
“No, two days are enough,” said Lu Shu with confidence. It was as if he was not in the slightest bit worried that his teammates would not be able to reach here in two days.
Just how strong were they?
Zhang Yanfeng, who had always thought that Lu Shu was enigmatic, suddenly realized that he might have underestimated Lu Shu’s strength!
Suddenly, someone walked out and asked, “What are we doing after this?”
“We will rest here for three days. There is canned food here. I looked at the canned food and the expiry dates are still far away. We have enough fuel for electricity as well,” said Zhang Yanfeng.
“Why don’t we take the same route back? Why are we staying here for nothing?” Wang Yan stood at the door and suddenly chipped in.
“You can go back by yourselves,” said Lu Shu peacefully. “No one’s stopping you.”
He then walked towards the Kunlun Mountains. Before he left, he said to Zhang Yanfeng, “I’m going to take a walk. Don’t follow me. It’s not a place that you can go.”
Zhang Yanfeng did not oppose him. He knew that following Lu Shu would just make him more tired. Although he wanted to rely on Lu Shu, he could not leave his life entirely in Lu Shu’s hands.
