23: Chapter 23 Treating Them as Laborers

Just when everyone was looking dejected, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Zhou Che.

The sky was a no-go, the surface was blocked, so what about underground?

He looked at Chen Fei and asked directly, "Captain Chen, have you tried digging a tunnel downwards to break out from underground?"

Chen Fei was stunned for a long while before he reacted, waving his hands with a bitter expression: "We didn't dare to think of that! We don't even have tools; we can't just dig the sand with our bare hands. It's impossible to dig."

Zhou Che scoffed and said slowly, "If there are no tools, then make them. There are always more solutions than problems."

After speaking, he directly activated the Mechanic Sequence. A metallic luster shimmered in his palm, and the scattered iron scraps on the ground instantly coalesced.

In the blink of an eye, several thick and sharp custom-made iron shovels dropped in front of Chen Fei and his group.

Zhou Che lifted his chin, making it clear that they were to start digging; he was treating the Voyage Convoy like manual laborers.

Holding the iron shovel, Chen Fei felt absolutely terrible.

Whoever had the strength held the absolute right to speak. They couldn't beat him and couldn't afford to offend him. Even if they felt bitter and aggrieved inside, they dared not utter a single word of complaint and could only resignedly accept their fate.

Chen Fei led several Transcendents from the Voyage Convoy, gripping the custom-made iron shovels and digging fiercely into the yellow sand.

They dug for half a day, piling up high mounds of sand. The group was drenched in sweat, their arms sore, and they couldn't even catch their breath.

When digging deep, the iron shovel made a "clanging" sound as it slammed hard against a solid object, unable to dig even another inch.

The group took turns, putting all their effort into smashing and digging, but the ground remained completely unmoved.

It was clearly the same barrier as the one in the sky, completely sealing off the path underground as well.

The people of the Voyage Convoy instantly lost heart, heads drooping in total despair. With both the sky and the ground being dead ends, it was as if they were meant to be trapped to death in The Desert.

Zhou Che watched with cold eyes; it seemed there was no way out underground either.

Right now, he could only look for a breakthrough within this The Desert, but with the lesson of the Wraith Black Mist still fresh, he didn't dare to go out and search for a way out alone.

If he were to encounter the Wraith Black Mist again, wouldn't there be no one to act as a shield?

This kind of dangerous manual labor should be done by Transcendents anyway.

He signaled Captain Liu Ruyan to pass on the message, telling Chen Fei's group of Transcendents to search for a way out separately.

But then he thought, this group had been trapped for five or six days without a clue; they were useless trash, and relying on them was pure nonsense.

Zhou Che looked at the few members of the Voyage Convoy as if they were trash; the meaning was obvious: you are all trash.

Being looked at like that by Zhou Che, the few Transcendents from the Voyage Convoy were confused, not knowing when they had offended this lord.

Zhou Che called Lin Wan to set off with him, calculating in his heart that if they were to run into the Wraith Black Mist again, at least he would have a helper and someone to look out for him in a crisis.

The two left The Convoy and slowly headed deep into The Desert.

They hadn't gone far before Zhou Che and Lin Wan simultaneously activated the Lord of the Blood Moon Sequence.

Intense blood mist instantly burst forth from around them, steadily spreading out over a ten-meter radius. Any anomaly in the surroundings could not escape their perception.

Just like that, area after area, they searched carefully in a carpet-like fashion, searching for a good half a day.

Suddenly, the blood mist Zhou Che had projected stalled abruptly, as if it had hit a wall of copper and iron; it couldn't penetrate even a bit.

His eyes sharpened, and he immediately controlled the blood mist to tightly wrap around the area in front.

Looking closely, it was actually a square, completely transparent box, hidden in the air and invisible to the naked eye.

Zhou Che reached out to touch it, and as soon as his fingertips made contact, the box fell directly into his palm.

The originally transparent body of the box instantly lost its luster, turning ink-black, with not a single ray of light able to penetrate it.

The next second, a system notification sound suddenly rang out in his mind.

[ Detected that the host has obtained an strange object: heaven and earth ]

[ strange object effect: Constructs an exclusive barrier, isolating all external detection, and can also create a closed illusion cage ]

Meanwhile, over at the camp.

Not long after Zhou Che took Lin Wan out to search for clues and left the camp, trouble immediately broke out among those who had stayed behind.

In the Voyage Convoy, a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked survivor, carrying a pile of junk, approached the Dawn Convoy camp, wanting to trade for some drinking water and dry rations.

But since they had been trapped for so long, any usable supplies had long been exhausted; he didn't have anything good in his hands.

Everything was just junk, not useful supplies at all.

The people of the Dawn Convoy took one look and immediately lost their temper, personally driving the person away without leaving any room for politeness.

This monkey-cheeked man was aggrieved and unconvinced. He turned around, gathered five or six people, and rushed back in a swarm, surrounding the Dawn survivor who had just driven him away.

With fierce expressions, they made it clear they intended to force a trade and seize the supplies by force.

However, the people of the Dawn Convoy didn't indulge them at all. Everyone present surrounded them, heads held high, their eyes chillingly cold.

The stance was clear: get it straight whose territory this is!

Your Transcendents have to obediently go dig sand as manual laborers and don't even dare to breathe loudly in front of us; you small fries dare to cause trouble?

No one expected that this group was simply being used as pawns.

The ones egging them on from behind were the very Transcendents of the Voyage Convoy.

They saw that Zhou Che had taken the main Transcendents out, leaving only two Transcendents to guard the Dawn camp, and instantly conceived an evil plan.

They had a good plan in mind:

The Dawn Convoy looked formidable, but now that they were scattered, if they could defeat them one by one, there was still a chance to win.

After all, they had been trapped for so long, and their supplies were bottoming out. Even if they could really walk out of The Desert, without food or drink, most of them would starve to death anyway. It was better to take a risk and gamble!

The ordinary survivors from both sides instantly began brawling, and the scene descended into total chaos.

The people of the Dawn Convoy protected their supplies with red eyes, refusing to give an inch.

They had risked their lives to trade for this food and drink; they couldn't just hand it over, even if it meant fighting to the death!

As they fought, they roared at the top of their lungs: "Don't run if you have the guts! When Mr. Zhou returns, you'll be in for it!"

But the people of the Voyage Convoy were already starving and desperate, their minds clouded by the thought of supplies; they didn't care about any Mr. Zhou.

They pounced like madmen to snatch the supplies, striking hard and viciously, just wanting to get the supplies immediately to survive.

They only thought about wanting the "good fruit" right now.

Just as the brawl between the ordinary people began, the Transcendents from both sides were immediately at odds.

Due to Zhou Che's misjudgment, he believed that the four Transcendents of the Voyage Convoy were all useless characters, so he hadn't had any guard against them.

This resulted in all four Transcendents of the Voyage Convoy being at the camp, not having gone out to search for clues at all, giving them an immediate advantage in numbers.

Looking at the Dawn Convoy, Luo Xi was seriously injured and unconscious, lying on the bed unable to move. Only Ruan Xiaoxiao of the Physician Sequence and Captain Liu Ruyan of the Pathfinder Sequence remained; both were support types with very weak combat power.

The Transcendents of the Voyage Convoy had sinister looks in their eyes, deciding on the spot to strike first, planning to eliminate these two directly and swallow the entire Dawn Convoy.

Once the other two returned from collecting clues, they would kill them too, and then all the supplies of the Dawn Convoy would be theirs.

Captain Liu Ruyan swept a cold gaze across the opposite side, her tone chillingly icy: "Are you trying to rebel? It seems I'll have to give you a taste of bitterness!"