340: Chapter 332 The Girl and Farid: Adding Twists and Turns to the Selection Competition

The assistant quickly reported the news of a large influx of foreigners into the country to the President sitting in the car.

The President thought for a moment; it was currently uncertain whether Seventeen required students to be locals. If the answer was no, there was a risk of the spots being taken by outsiders.

In the President's vision, the students' identities should ideally belong to the security departments or the military, though civil servants were also acceptable.

If they were ordinary citizens, that would also be fine.

After all, they were their own people; as long as they were provided with sufficient benefits, they wouldn't be recruited away by foreign countries.

But it was hard to say for foreigners.

They didn't identify with Russia to begin with, and if they happened to dislike Russia, wouldn't it be like using one's own resources to raise traitors?

That simply wouldn't do.

Therefore, he immediately ordered the borders to be sealed and suspended all international flights to the country, allowing departures but no arrivals.

At the same time, he mobilized idle troops and dispersed them to various locations to search for wolf bones.

His subordinates knew the gravity of the matter and acted immediately, completing the execution quickly.

In response, people from various countries who were buying tickets to Russia were very upset.

Mountain Gate only recruited Chinese people, so there was no point in going there, and Hogwarts was the same—they wouldn't take anyone except those from Ying Country.

Finally, Seventeen appeared without nationality restrictions, yet you closed the doors and won't let us in? This is too much!

Unwilling to let the rare opportunity slip through their fingers, they refused to leave the airport halls, and some even raised banners in protest.

The airport leadership was also helpless.

What's the point of protesting here with me?

I want to go myself, but what can I do if they've closed their airspace?

Fly there by force? Aren't you afraid of being shot down by a missile?

Only later, when the news broke, did the leader find out that there really were people who didn't fear death.

That was an international airport in France.

Shortly after the burly man scattered the wolf bones, the Directors of the airline belonging to that airport gathered at the scene. They requisitioned a passenger plane, boarded it themselves, and even brought along the staff who had signed up. The entire plane was packed as it flew toward Russia.

Sitting on the plane, the Director was smug; with hundreds of people on board, would you dare shoot me down?

Of course, even if they were certain Russia wouldn't open fire, they didn't dare to charge in blindly. Everyone knew the Russians' style; if you flew into their territory without a word, fighter jets would immediately come up to drive you away, and if you dawdled for a second, they'd greet you with their weapons.

So they took another approach. What to do? "Ah, my plane has a malfunction, requesting an emergency landing now."

Everyone is from Blue Star and talks about humanitarianism; you can't just watch us die, right?

However, they underestimated the President's determination.

A malfunction, is it?

Here, I'll let you use a secret military airport.

The President did not hesitate to expose a secret island airport within territorial waters to let this large passenger plane, which had been flying for over ten hours, make an emergency landing. This truly stunned the Directors on the plane and the leadership of various countries.

Except for the three countries that had already established contact with the transcendent.

The benefits they had gained from the transcendent made them very certain that if the same situation were placed on them, they would make the same choice without hesitation.

The Russian President received a report from his subordinates that the passenger plane had landed safely, but the passengers were all clamoring that they felt unwell and were hungry, demanding to be treated in a hospital within the country.

The subordinate added that these people were all prominent figures in Western Europe, and they threatened that if they were treated with neglect, they would certainly spread the word once they returned.

Playing these tricks on me?

The corners of his mouth curled up as he immediately ordered the top doctors in the country's medical field to be sent there, and even at any cost, various top-tier medical equipment was transported to the scene by military transport planes.

Neglect? Is this neglect now? Even your presidents don't get this kind of treatment.

He then ignored these clowns and urged the driver to go faster, while swearing in his heart that if he could obtain a wolf bone, he wouldn't mind giving up being President!

In a nation where all citizens, including the President, were becoming fanatical, Farid was the calmest one.

It wasn't that he didn't care about the wolf bone; on the contrary, he cared more than anyone.

It was just that... he already had victory in his grasp!

After leaving the Kremlin Palace, Farid unhurriedly took a red string from a handicraft shop on the street.

The reason for using the word "took" was that the Shop Owner had already disappeared, clearly having gone to look for wolf bones as well.

Judging by the wide-open door, he had left in a great hurry.

Tossing a large-denomination LB on the counter, Farid walked out and got into his car. He wrapped the red string twice around the wolf fang, hung it around his neck, and then started the car and drove out of Mosco.

Just as he left the city, he felt the wolf fang against his chest emitting waves of coldness.

Initially, he didn't know what this meant until he turned east and the coldness began to intensify; only then did he realize it was guiding him toward the location of a wolf bone.

Although the guidance was very vague, providing only a general direction, it was already much better than the people outside blindly trying their luck in the wilderness and forests.

And so, he drove, following the "navigation" of the wolf fang, heading further and further away.

The route was not a straight line; since leaving Mosco, Farid had already turned at least seven or eight times.

He was somewhat puzzled, wondering if the wolf bone itself was moving.

Or had the wolf bone targeted by the wolf fang landed on something that could move?

However, he soon discovered that his guess was wrong.

Glancing at the navigation screen on the car's center console, Farid felt a chill of horror.

This wolf fang... could actually automatically select the most suitable highway?!

When Farid first discovered the wolf fang's function, he thought that by identifying the direction through the increasing cold, he could only travel in a straight line, which made him feel a bit worried.

A car couldn't handle just any road condition; let alone narrow and rugged mountain paths, even a highway with severe potholes would be very difficult to drive on.

If it jolted too hard, it would break down on the spot.

Once far from the city, it was inevitable to encounter mud roads or even no roads at all.

At that point, he would probably have to go on foot.

He didn't fear the hardship, but he feared that walking would be much slower than others driving vehicles, and the wolf bone would be snatched away first.

To his surprise, after traveling for a while, he found that every time he encountered an intersection, the cold from the wolf fang would suddenly drop to a bone-chilling level.

Eerily, the bone-chilling cold wasn't on his chest where the wolf fang rested, but in his left and right arms.

Farid tested it and figured out what it meant.

If the left arm was cold, turn left; if the right arm was cold, turn right.

Impressive!

As expected of a transcendent item!

Farid marveled, starting to make his own little plans in his heart.

Previously, he had intended to return the wolf fang to Tevan after getting a wolf bone, but seeing how powerful it was now, he decided to play dumb.

If Tevan asked for it, he'd return it, but if he didn't mention it...

Thinking that he might obtain a transcendent item, Farid couldn't help but chuckle greedily: "Hehe... Shit!"

Halfway through his laugh, a woman suddenly pounced out from the grass by the roadside and fell heavily onto the road face-down.

The woman wasn't very far from the front of the car. If Farid hadn't reacted quickly and slammed on the brakes, the car would have run right over her.

"Are you looking for death!" He rolled down the window in a rage and stuck his head out to yell.

But after yelling for a while, the woman still lay motionless on the road.

What's going on?

Doubt clouded Farid's eyes.

The woman wasn't dressed warmly, wearing only a short-sleeved shirt and jeans. Although the season was gradually entering summer, it was still cold due to Russia's geographical location.

Lying on the ground for so long without moving at all, there were only two possibilities.

One, the woman was a bandit intending to trick him into getting out of the car.

Two, she had fainted.

The woman was lying face-down, her left arm limp to the side and her right arm hidden beneath her body, making it impossible to tell if she was holding a weapon.

In this situation, Farid's best choice would be to ignore her and drive away, but after all, he belonged to the National Security Agency and couldn't just leave a citizen to die.

So he got out of the car, pulled out the pistol at his waist, and slowly approached.

When he reached her side, she still didn't move.

Carefully circling to the right, his hand on the trigger and the muzzle aimed at her head, he used his foot to pull out her right arm from under her stomach.

Her hand was empty.

Farid did not let down his guard. He used his foot to flip the woman over, and upon seeing her face, he put away his gun with a look of surprise.

He recognized this woman; she was the Young Woman who had accompanied him a few months ago to help Tevan find the entrance.

Why was she here? Dressed so lightly and fainted?

He knelt to check her and confirmed she wasn't injured. Farid picked the woman up and placed her in the back seat, then sat back in the driver's seat, turned the heater to the maximum, draped his coat over her, and started the car to continue forward.

As the road became bumpy, the car began to jolt, and the Young Woman woke up after a while.

She stared blankly at the car roof, and after a moment, she realized she had been saved. She quickly sat up: "Thank you, sir, I almost... wait, it's you?"

"I'm glad you remember me." Farid didn't look back and asked, "Why did you appear here? And wearing so little clothing—aren't you afraid of freezing to death?"

The Young Woman awkwardly touched her hair and slowly recounted what happened.

It wasn't actually that complicated. As soon as the burly man disappeared, she immediately set out on a journey to find a wolf bone, but things hadn't gone very smoothly along the way.

Well... to be precise, it was rotten luck.

First, just as she reached a deserted area, her car ran out of gas. She tried calling for help, but no one answered; clearly, the staff on the other end of the line had also gone to chase their transcendent dreams.

She had no other choice but to sit in the car and wait to see if any passing vehicles could lend her some gasoline.

Then something even more unfortunate happened.

She waited for a full seven hours, and not a single car was seen.

Humans have become accustomed to the various conveniences of modern cities and have forgotten how terrifying nature outside can be.

She was too lazy to even put on a coat when she left, thinking it would waste time, and food and water were out of the question. She had originally planned to buy them on the way, but she hadn't realized she'd forgotten to gas up the car a few days ago, leading to her breaking down in a no-man's land.

After waiting seven hours without seeing anyone, and with no gas for the heater, she was forced to get out and walk forward in hunger and cold, hoping there would be a human settlement ahead.

Unfortunately, after walking for a full hour, the surroundings remained the same unchanging wilderness, devoid of life.

Her strength was exhausted, and she sat by the roadside in despair, waiting for death to come knocking.

To her surprise, when her consciousness was already blurring, she saw Farid's car approaching from afar, so she hurriedly got up to stop it.

However, she overlooked that her body was already weak to the extreme, on the verge of fainting. Standing up suddenly was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Farid knew the rest of the story.

Farid said with a dark face: "I was wondering why there was a car parked by the roadside; I thought the owner had gone into the nearby woods to look for wolf bones."

"Listen, lady, I don't have time to take care of you right now. I'll drop you off once we reach a place with people."

"No! I want to look for wolf bones with you!"

"Don't even think about it!"

"That we could meet in such a remote place must be the guidance of the transcendent!"

Farid hesitated.

Indeed, this area was very remote, and the road conditions were poor; almost no one would come here.

Five wolf bones had flown far from Mosco, so naturally, people wouldn't look near Mosco; they all rushed far away via smooth, wide roads.

If he didn't have the wolf fang "navigation," he would have certainly made the same choice, and it would have been impossible to meet her.

Hmm...

Farid's expression flickered with uncertainty.

Taking her along wasn't a problem; the trunk was full of food, water, and spare gasoline. It was just... how many wolf bones could the wolf fang guide him to?

If there was only one, who would it belong to?

After a long silence, Farid asked, "Why did you take this road?"

"Huh?" The Young Woman was nervously waiting for the verdict. Suddenly asked, she was stunned for a moment before snapping back: "I don't know, I just picked a direction at random after leaving Mosco."

"Should I praise your luck or..." Farid's mouth twitched. "I can take you along, but let's agree beforehand: the first wolf bone belongs to me."

"If... if it still works after that, I will help you find a wolf bone."

The Young Woman was very pleasantly surprised and didn't notice the word "it."

She had been prepared to be kicked out of the car, but unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better—Farid was not only willing to take her along but also to help her find a wolf bone.

Why hesitate for such a good thing?

"Okay!"

Thus, the long journey that should have been traveled alone became a journey for two companions.

To be honest, it felt pretty good.

The Young Woman was good-looking and had a sweet voice, adding a bit of fun to the tedious journey.

The wolf bone targeted by the wolf fang seemed to be very far away.

The two of them sped along, stopping to restock supplies whenever they encountered civilization, then continued on their way.

After traveling on and off for half a month, they reached the outskirts of a city they had never been to before.

Parking the car steadily by the roadside, Farid pulled out his pistol, climbed over the guardrail, and crept into the woods.

The Young Woman following behind was very puzzled by his caution: "Are there bears here?"

"It's not bears I'm guarding against."

Farid said in his heart at the same time: It's people.

People, which naturally included the Young Woman.

Although they had agreed beforehand, he was still worried that the Young Woman would be overcome by greed and attack him.

Additionally, it was to guard against any locals in the vicinity.

The transcendent was everyone's desire; if he was seen obtaining a wolf bone, he probably wouldn't be able to leave here in one piece.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly.

After trekking through the woods for half an hour, Farid stopped by a stream. He knelt and reached into the slightly warm water, fumbling around until he fished out a wolf bone that looked no different from an ordinary bone.

"Found it!"

Farid couldn't help but tremble all over, nearly dropping his gun.

"That's great!" The Young Woman jumped on the spot. "As agreed, you'll help me find one next!"

She didn't make a single move to snatch it. Farid, who had seen much darkness, felt a trace of comfort in his heart: "Of course, we said... Watch out!"

Bang—"

At the moment he shouted, Farid decisively fired toward the Young Woman.

The Young Woman was a bit dazed. Even if you don't want to help me find a wolf bone, you don't have to kill me, right?

After recovering from the loud gunshot, she found that no pain came from her body. She looked up at Farid in confusion.

Farid held his gun, rushing toward her with a ferocious expression: "Get down!"