22: Chapter 22 Ghostly Encounter

He sighed with a bitter face:

"We have been trapped for five or six days! The gasoline in the cars has long since been completely exhausted. All the vehicles are paralyzed here; we can neither leave nor stay. We are being trapped to death alive!"

"This damn place is exactly like a 'ghost wall'. No matter which direction we drive in, we end up circling back to the original spot. We just can't get out no matter what!"

Captain Liu Ruyan frowned slightly and continued to ask:

"In these past few days, have you encountered anything like anomalies or Vengeful Spirits?"

Chen Fei narrowed his eyes and tried hard to recall. He shook his head like a rattle-drum, his face full of confusion:

"That's exactly what's so bizarre about it! Let alone anomalies, I haven't even seen a single hair of any living creature. As far as the eye can see, it's all yellow sand—empty and terrifying!"

After a brief discussion, the two convoys immediately decided to set up camp on the spot and huddle together to ponder ways to escape The Desert.

The ordinary survivors of the Voyage Convoy swarmed over as soon as they stopped, staring at the Dawn Convoy's flying vehicles, unable to look away, their eyes filled with naked envy.

Some people circled the vehicles, their hands itching fiercely, unable to resist the urge to reach out and touch them.

The people from the Dawn Convoy immediately stepped forward to block them, scolding them with cold, stern faces. These were their life-saving assets; how could they let outsiders touch them casually?

The people from the Voyage Convoy could only retract their hands in dismay, watching eagerly with a mix of bitterness and envy, but they could only look and never touch.

In the apocalypse, who wouldn't want to possess a flying car capable of soaring into the sky to escape disasters?

It's just a pity that they didn't have that kind of fate, nor did they meet a captain who could give them that kind of confidence.

On the other side, the Transcendents of the two teams also formally met.

Captain Liu Ruyan walked at the very front, with Zhou Che, Lin Wan, and others following slowly behind, their posture calm and composed, without the slightest agitation from being trapped.

Opposite them, Chen Fei led the way. Including him, there were four Transcendents in total, each one looking distressed and haggard, worn out by this ghost of a desert.

They had been trapped for five or six days. They had tried every method they could, but no matter which direction they went, they ended up circling back to the original spot. Unable to break out, they had long been at their wits' end.

Chen Fei stared at the Dawn Convoy's flying vehicles, and a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him. He hurriedly spoke up:

"The ground is impossible to traverse; it's all 'ghost walls'. Since your cars can fly, why not fly directly into the high altitude and try to break out of this desert!"

These words awakened Zhou Che. He cursed himself inwardly for being foolish. The Convoy had long possessed the ability to fly; he had actually been focusing on finding a path on the ground and had forgotten about this.

However, he remained calm on the surface, revealing nothing, and only quietly gave Captain Liu Ruyan a look, signaling that the secret of the vehicles' flight should be discussed internally later.

Chen Fei was a perceptive man. As soon as he saw the expression of the Dawn Convoy, he knew the other party didn't want to leak core secrets, so he tactfully stopped asking.

The two teams didn't exchange further pleasantries. They simply swapped information on their exploration of The Desert and shared some scarce supplies before dispersing to return to their respective camps.

Zhou Che took Lin Wan and Captain Liu Ruyan back to the modified motorhome and locked the doors to discuss countermeasures.

The ground path was impassable, all 'ghost walls'. To break the deadlock, they could only fly to high altitude. By overlooking the entire terrain of The Desert, they might find a way out.

Zhou Che immediately made up his mind and installed the remaining wraith cold crystal onto his motorhome to ascend and explore.

Once the cold crystal was installed, Zhou Che directly pressed the accelerator. The motorhome slowly lifted off the ground, climbing higher and higher.

On the ground, the survivors of both convoys tilted their heads, staring fixedly at the mid-air, their eyes wide with shock.

Chen Fei, in particular, widened his eyes, his face full of disbelief, unable to collect his thoughts.

He had thought the Dawn Convoy's flying cars could only fly at low altitudes hugging the ground; he hadn't expected them to be able to soar directly into the high sky. This ability was too heaven-defying!

The Transcendents of the Voyage Convoy were filled with envy, feeling incredibly bitter.

With this kind of high-altitude flight capability, the anomalies, ravines, and obstacles on the ground were all just for show. There was no need to fear them at all; they could dodge most of the crises directly.

But they only dared to grumble in their hearts; they didn't dare to harbor any crooked thoughts.

The entire Dawn Convoy consisted of flying vehicles. Their strength was obvious. If they really provoked them, this small group of theirs wouldn't be enough to fight them; it would be purely courting death.

Zhou Che's motorhome flew to an altitude of eight hundred meters and finally stabilized.

He leaned over and looked down, his expression instantly tightening.

The outline of the entire desert was clearly displayed before his eyes; it was actually a perfectly square shape with straight edges!

Zhou Che's heart skipped a beat, and he cursed inwardly.

This was definitely not a naturally formed desert; it had clearly been forcibly remodeled into this state by some kind of strange power!

Zhou Che stared at the eerily orderly desert below. Refusing to give up, he directly controlled the motorhome to continue charging into the high altitude.

He wanted to see exactly what kind of trickery was hidden in this damn place!

The motorhome climbed all the way, just reaching an altitude of one thousand meters, when suddenly a dull "thud" sound occurred.

The entire vehicle slammed hard against an invisible barrier. The car body shuddered violently, unable to move even half an inch higher, as if it had crashed into a solid wall of copper and iron.

Zhou Che's eyes turned cold, and he gave Lin Wan a look:

"From the sunroof, punch it with everything you've got. Let's see if we can break this damn thing!"

Lin Wan immediately gathered her strength, mobilizing the Sequence power of the Lord of the Blood Moon. She clenched her fists and, through the sunroof, threw two heavy punches at the barrier above her head!

The heavy punches landed, but the barrier didn't move at all.

Let alone cracks, there wasn't even a ripple or a trace of fluctuation. It was hard beyond imagination.

Zhou Che's heart sank to the bottom of the abyss. It seemed the path to break through from the sky was completely cut off.

But he refused to believe in evil. He stepped up himself, mustered all his strength, mobilized all the Sequence energy in his body, and threw both fists out, slamming them fiercely against the barrier!

Two ferocious forces smashed into it, but the barrier remained as stable as Mount Tai, without any damage at all.

Instead, in the next second, a crisp system notification sound suddenly exploded in his mind:

"[Detected that the host has come into contact with an strange object: heaven and earth]"

"[strange object Effect: Defines a fixed area to form a closed cage. Living beings inside the cage cannot go out, and forces outside the cage cannot intrude, completely isolating the inside from the outside.]"

Zhou Che was stunned on the spot, his mind filled with astonishment.

So it turned out it wasn't a natural desert, nor was it a strange illusion; it was an strange object that had trapped them all here!

He couldn't help but curse; this strange object was simply too outrageous!

The scope of its coverage was terrifyingly large, forcibly turning the entire desert into a desperate cage. If they couldn't crack this strange object, they would be trapped here until they died.

Seeing that breaking through by ascending was completely hopeless, Zhou Che controlled the motorhome to slowly descend and land steadily in the middle of the camp.

As soon as the car landed, Chen Fei rushed over, asking about the situation at high altitude with an anxious face.

Zhou Che didn't beat around the bush and said bluntly:

"The sky is sealed off by a hard barrier. Even with full force, we couldn't break it. The path to the sky is completely cut off; we can only find a way on the ground."

After hearing this, the last bit of hope on Chen Fei's face completely vanished. He was full of disappointment and sighed heavily.

He had thought that by relying on the flying cars, they could break out from the sky, but in the end, it was all for nothing.

They had tried the ground path countless times, and it was all 'ghost walls'. Now, thinking of breaking out from the ground was even more hopeless.