915: Chapter 91 This is no place for humans.

Liu Hui nodded, suppressing the bitterness in her heart, and forced a smile.

"Go ahead. Come back early. We still need to change the seasonal clothes at home."

Shen Yan leaned down and gently kissed her forehead.

Then, he turned, picked up his duffel bag, and strode out of the room.

Downstairs.

Chen Guangke was parked at the entrance in a heavily modified George Patton off-road vehicle.

The vehicle looked like an armored personnel carrier, its black paint gleaming with a cold, hard luster under the morning light.

Liu Xing sat in the passenger seat. This bioinformatics genius was currently holding a giant silver box, his face full of excitement.

For someone in scientific research, hearing about digging up ancient black technology was more thrilling than meeting their first love.

An Ran was in the back seat.

Today, the Venture Capital Queen had traded her professional attire for a camouflage assault jacket, her hair tied up in a high ponytail, making her look capable and dashing.

"Mr. Shen, all the equipment is ready."

Chen Guangke rolled down the window and patted the steering wheel.

"Satellite phones, oxygen generators, first-aid kits—I even brought two boxes of hot pot base material."

"Sister An Ran contacted a guide in Lhasa. They said he's the most famous 'living map' in the area."

Shen Yan opened the car door and sat in the back seat.

The car cabin was filled with a faint scent of leather and the restless energy of an impending journey.

"Let's go."

Shen Yan only said two words.

The George Patton let out a dull roar, its massive all-terrain tires crushing fallen leaves on the ground as it sped out of the Blue Bay Villa gate.

The destination: Southwest.

Three thousand kilometers away.

On the land closest to the sky, a contest between civilization and technology was about to begin.

As the car merged onto the highway, Shen Yan looked back once.

The outline of Jinghai City gradually blurred in the morning mist.

But he knew that when he returned, Shenyan Group would possess another trump card that no one could block.

This wasn't just a treasure hunt.

It was a beachhead landing against the future.

"Liu Xing."

Shen Yan looked at the scenery flashing past the window and suddenly spoke.

"If you discovered a type of adhesive that could mend a shattered mirror so perfectly that you couldn't even find the cracks, making it stronger than before, what would you think?"

Liu Xing in the front seat pushed up his glasses and turned back, a look of fanaticism in his eyes.

"Boss, that's not called glue."

"It's called the Needle and Thread of God."

Shen Yan smiled.

"Then let's go steal God's sewing kit."

The wind whipped sand and gravel against the thick window of the George Patton like countless dull knives, creating a dense pattering sound.

At an altitude of 4,500 meters, the Zanda Earth Forest was a vista of yellowish-brown folds, as if God had peeled off a layer of the Earth's skin and crumpled it up, tossing it here.

This was the depths of Ali, the forbidden zone of life.

Chen Guangke held a portable oxygen tank, taking a breath feeling like he was taking a massive drag of opium; his usually eloquent mouth was now as purple as an eggplant.

"Brother Yan, this place... really isn't fit for people to stay."

He panted heavily, staring blankly out the window at the earth pillars that resembled ancient castles and tombs.

Shen Yan sat in the passenger seat, holding the old-fashioned military compass in one hand, while swiping at the tablet computer on his lap with the other.

His face showed no signs of altitude sickness, only slightly chapped lips. His eyes were fixed on the desolate Gobi outside, like an eagle searching for prey.

The coordinate point given by the system was five kilometers ahead, but the local magnetic field anomaly was severe, causing the GPS signal to cut in and out intermittently.

"Talk less. Save your oxygen."

Shen Yan didn't look back, his fingers zooming in to the maximum on the high-precision satellite map on the tablet.

An Ran in the back seat adapted quickly. While helping Liu Xing organize the pile of precision sampling equipment, she handed Chen Guangke a bottle of glucose water.

"We're approaching the edge of the Guge Kingdom ruins. Going further in, even the local herders dare not venture."

An Ran's voice was steady. She had done thorough research before coming; this woman was more meticulous than any man when handling affairs.

The guide driving was named Tashi, a dark-skinned Tibetan man, who was currently gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Mr. Shen, the gully ahead is called 'Ghost Crying Valley.' The wind blowing through it sounds like a ghost wailing. Exploration teams that went in before never came out."

Tashi spoke in somewhat broken Mandarin, his eyes in the rearview mirror showing reverence.

Shen Yan turned off the tablet, his gaze piercing through the windshield, seemingly spotting a faint blue guiding line in the air that only he could see.

That line plunged straight into the 'Ghost Crying Valley' Tashi had mentioned.

"Enter the valley."

Shen Yan's voice was not loud, but it sounded exceptionally clear amidst the howling wind.

Tashi paused, about to say something, but upon seeing Shen Yan's uncompromising profile, he swallowed the dissuasion that reached his lips.

The lives of the rich are still lives. Since the boss himself wasn't afraid, he, who was just getting paid to do a job, shouldn't be too cowardly.

The George Patton let out a low roar, its massive tires crushing the weathered stones on the ground, diving headlong into the shadow.

The light inside the valley instantly dimmed.

The earthen walls on both sides were dozens of meters high, like two massive walls trying to squeeze people into a pulp. The wind echoed in the gorge, truly resembling a woman's cry.

After driving for about twenty minutes inside the valley, several white Toyota SUVs were suddenly spotted parked by the roadside ahead.

The words "Horizon New Materials Exploration" were printed on the side of the vehicles.

A few people were gathered around the vehicles arguing about something, with several seemingly professional measuring instruments set up nearby.

"Hey, aren't those old acquaintances?"

Although Chen Guangke was suffering from oxygen deprivation, he perked up upon seeing this scene, leaning out the window to look.

That was another company in the country specializing in material science. Although it couldn't match Shenyan Group's current scale, it was still a tough competitor in the field of polymer materials.

The middle-aged man leading the group, wearing a red assault jacket, was a materials science expert notoriously difficult to deal with in the industry: Zhang Debiao.

Tashi was forced to hit the brakes; the road was too narrow, completely blocked by these vehicles.

Zhang Debiao clearly noticed the monster-like George Patton. He squinted, saw the license plate was from Jinghai, and a hint of surprise flashed across his face.

Shen Yan rolled down his window, and the biting cold air instantly poured into the cabin.

"The road is blocked?"

Shen Yan didn't get out of the car, resting his arm on the window ledge, his tone as casual as if he were asking for directions in a Jinghai alley.

Zhang Debiao recognized Shen Yan, and the expression on his face instantly became fascinating, as if he had swallowed a fly.

"Mr. Shen? To run into the great presence of Shenyan Group in a godforsaken place like this?"

Zhang Debiao stretched the corner of his mouth into a strained smile, but his eyes were full of vigilance.

Competitors are enemies, especially when meeting in the wilderness. Everyone knew the other party wasn't here for tourism.

"Just here to clear my head."