165: The road is difficult and there is always a clever plan

From the moment Shen Bei and the others left Qianjin Camp, to their intrusion beyond the safe zone, and then to Red Canyon.

Subsequently, they emerged from the Swamp Deadwood Forest.

Their route increasingly deviated from the location specified by the officers.

Now, they arrived at a desolate wilderness.

Traversing the wilderness, the Zha Tian Gang encountered many Vicious Beasts of various kinds.

They avoided them when possible.

If they couldn't evade, they engaged in a collective battle, swiftly resolving the situation.

On the fifth day,

they left the wilderness and officially entered the mountain range.

The view, which had been a barren plain, was now completely transformed; suddenly, immense, towering peaks rose from the earth's surface, steep and lofty, resembling not true mountains but rather some kind of miraculous rock carving, wreathed in green smoke and white mist, possessing a staggered beauty.

The higher they ascended the mountain, the more the originally lush trees gradually disappeared, replaced by countless rugged, strange rocks and natural caves, which looked like a forest of ghosts or gaping demons.

Shen Bei glanced at the map again.

The direction turned north.

As the journey progressed,

the Zha Tian Gang had now detoured behind Qianlin City.

Shen Bei pushed aside the dense grass, and with one look,

Qianlin City was built against the mountain, on a spur of a large mountain range.

The layout within the city, however, was much flatter, with continuous palaces, and beyond them, markets connected; expanding the view further, villages and fortresses were also well-distributed.

From a distance, a man over two meters tall with four arms could be seen standing at a sentry post on the city wall; the man held a sword in each of his four arms, looking extremely ferocious.

"Good heavens," Du Ziteng said, hiding himself and speaking voluminously, "Is this Qianlin City really a city? I thought it would be incredibly backward, but it's not much different from our ancient cities."

This was also Shen Bei's first time seeing the actual scenery of an earth's surface Cave city, and he couldn't help but nod: "It seems the Earth Cave World's development tree primarily focused on Martial Skills."

While the people of earth's surface focused on technology.

This resulted in completely different architectural styles.

The architecture of Qianlin City did not appear grand or magnificent; rather, it was solemn and dignified, somewhat similar to ancient Chinese architecture but distinctly different.

It lacked artistry but heavily emphasized practicality.

At this moment, Qi Chuanyu pointed at the four-armed male guard and asked, puzzled, "His form isn't normal, is it?"

"Apocalypse Cult's human modification technique?" Shen Bei stroked his chin and uttered a sentence.

Qi Chuanyu pondered for a moment: "I knew it, how could the Apocalypse Cult have human modification techniques? They must have learned it from the earth's surface Cave people."

"Look what that is!" Liao Zhongyang suddenly pointed towards the front of Qianlin City: "It looks like… humans!"

"Hmm?"

Shen Bei's eyes twitched slightly, and he strained to look into the distance.

Indeed!

They really were humans!

And not just one.

Actually, the appearance of humans and 'normal' Stranger are quite similar.

Only the color of their pupils is somewhat different.

Here, 'normal' refers to leaders like Crimson who appeared at Diaobingshan Coal Mine.

But it doesn't include that four-armed guard, or the Stranger with horns from textbooks.

If it weren't for the difference in clothing, they might have almost missed it.

Although the clothing of the Stranger is diverse, most maintain a rough style.

Like wild primitives.

Human clothing, however, has long evolved from mere warmth and modesty to aesthetics.

Shen Bei observed carefully for a while.

He discovered that these humans were also somewhat different.

One of them was one-eyed, his right eye covered by a black eye patch.

The several humans behind him were bound with ropes, seemingly captives.

The one-eyed man was talking to an Stranger, casually pointing at the captives behind him.

The Stranger walked over, turned back the humans' lips to inspect their teeth, then waved his hand, and a few more Stranger came over and pushed the captives into a house.

The one-eyed man also entered another house with the Stranger and disappeared.

"Who the hell is this?" Du Ziteng cursed, labeling this human: "He's the true collaborator, the human traitor!"

Qi Chuanyu's jaw clenched, making a clicking sound: "He's definitely no good; damn it, what's the difference between him and a translator if he's mixing with the Stranger!"

"Selling humans, huh!" Niu Yanben went straight to the core of the problem.

Shen Bei had heard Professor Gu Xinrou mention that the Headhunter Tribe had a habit of capturing humans, escorting them to the earth's surface Cave, and trading them for supplies with the Stranger.

He hadn't expected to see it actually happening here.

At the same time, a question that had surfaced long ago reappeared in Shen Bei's mind.

That is…

How the hell did this one-eyed human bring captives into the earth's surface Cave?

One must know, this was Luan County's Permanent Dungeon!

It was a place where the entrance was controlled by the military.

Every human entering the earth's surface Cave needed to be registered.

Shen Bei thought Professor Gu Xinrou's mention of human trafficking only occurred in foreign earth's surface Caves.

After all, foreign countries were more chaotic, especially some smaller nations.

Any one of the Eight Great Killers, if brought out, would be enough to overthrow the government of such a small country, especially in Africa.

Thus, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Headhunter Tribe could do whatever they wanted in these countries.

But Shen Bei had never imagined that such a thing would happen in China!

"It's probably been infiltrated like a sieve, right?" Shen Bei thought to himself.

If there wasn't someone in the military to assist and erase entry records, such a thing would certainly be impossible.

Moreover, there must have been more than just this one-eyed man from the Headhunter Tribe who entered.

To travel from Qianjin Camp to Qianlin City, the journey involved many unknown dangers.

It was unlikely that the one-eyed man alone could ensure all captives arrived at Qianlin City alive.

There must have been a team.

It's just that this team didn't enter Qianlin City.

"Shen Bei, what should we do? Should we rescue those humans being trafficked?"

Qi Chuanyu posed a question in the form of a suggestion.

Clearly, he wanted to stand on moral high ground, but he was also apprehensive.

He might also have been speaking for his own 'conscience'.

Shen Bei rolled his eyes: "If you can beat the four-armed guard, I'll call you awesome; I'll throw Niu Yanben into the sky, and you can brag all you want."

Niu Yanben: …

"Let's go, let's go."

Shen Bei felt there was nothing more to see.

Crossing the mountain as quickly as possible was the main priority.

As for those trafficked humans…

Shen Bei was helpless and powerless.

Even Qianjin Camp couldn't take down Qianlin City; the Zha Tian Gang, these few misfits, should just forget about it.

Upon hearing this, the Zha Tian Gang Four-person Group immediately began to put on an act, looking indignant and righteous, but greatly frustrated because Shen Bei refused to act.

Their general meaning was: It's not that I'm abandoning them, it's that the damned Shen Bei is standing by idly.

We have no choice, we're also very helpless.

Heaven, please see clearly, we are not cold-blooded people; if you're going to strike with lightning, strike Shen Bei.

Although they said this, their footsteps as they left were even faster than Shen Bei's.

"Burying their heads in the sand, seeking fame and prestige, who are they putting on a show for?"

Shen Bei scolded them.

The Four-person Group all rolled their eyes.

Everyone continued to advance deeper into the mountain.

Visibly,

the Vicious Beasts appearing intermittently within the mountain were of increasingly higher rank.

Even from a great distance, they could see Black Bat Giant Beasts constantly soaring through the sky, as well as other flying Vicious Beasts that blotted out the sun.

It took Shen Bei and the others a whole day to cover just one kilometer.

There were simply too many Vicious Beasts.

Once a battle began, it would be like stirring up a hornet's nest.

Sometimes, to avoid a Vicious Beast blocking their path, the group had to lie in a ditch for up to three hours.

This was undoubtedly a great test of patience.

Proceeding like this, Qi Chuanyu felt that it would take an eternity to cross the mountain alive.

However, Shen Bei kept checking the map for their geographical location.

Moving towards the predetermined position.

The group completely abandoned walking on their feet, lying on the ground and crawling forward.

Finally,

after overcoming countless dangers,

they arrived at a large river.

The river surface was almost boundless, resembling a sea.

Niu Yanben scratched his head, somewhat astonished: "We've crossed the mountain, huh?"

Shen Bei shook his head: "No, it's just a river."

"Holy crap, then this river is too big, isn't it?" Du Ziteng was shocked: "It looks like a cast."

Qi Chuanyu gazed at the great river, somewhat bewildered: "So… are we going to swim across now?"

"No."

Shen Bei surveyed the surroundings.

He spread out the map again and found a small, higher mountain peak: "Go up there and wait!"

Everyone was utterly confused.

If there were no boats, they had clearly reached a dead end.

What were they waiting for here?

Waiting for Vicious Beasts to stroll by and perhaps eat some human-shaped snacks?

The group climbed onto a small mountain peak.

The peak wasn't high, only a little over a hundred meters.

Moreover, from the base of the mountain up to about eighty meters, it was completely bare, as if a waterline frequently scoured the area, preventing vegetation from growing.

After passing the eighty-meter mark, besides the growth of grass and trees, there were no large Vicious Beasts, making it somewhat safer.

Time quietly slipped away.

The group scratched their heads, not understanding what Shen Bei was waiting for.

But Shen Bei's patience was immense.

Finally,

after a day had passed,

as the group was chatting idly,

suddenly, the previously calm river surface began to produce sounds of waves crashing against the bank, growing louder and louder; Shen Bei quickly looked in the direction of the sound.

In the distance, the roar of the waves surged, growing louder and louder, instantly transforming into an earth's surface-shshattering sound, deafening!

The ground beneath Shen Bei's feet shook continuously.

Du Ziteng quickly leaped onto a nearby large tree, following the sound with his gaze, and couldn't help but gape in astonishment:

Between the vast mountains, a bright white line rose, growing higher and higher.

The river water surged, engulfing everything in its path!

The great river raged, coming from among the mountains, and wherever it passed, flowers withered, trees perished, and all flying and crawling beasts lost their vitality!

Strangely enough, the river water rose more than ten meters above the banks, yet it seemed to be constrained by an invisible riverbed; the water did not spread out but flowed along that invisible Dao.

However, the rocky mountain where Shen Bei and the others stood was right in the center of the river's impact!

The earth's surface-shattering roar reached the foot of the mountain where the group was; the river water had already swallowed the base of the mountain, and the turbulent river water rose higher and higher, spreading up the mountain, eroding everything in its path.

Then, everyone witnessed a chilling scene.

A smaller Vicious Beast was being chased and torn at by another large Vicious Beast; in their panic, both plunged into the river.

Instantly, the fur and flesh of these two Vicious Beasts dissolved, leaving only two skeletal remains to be swept away by the waves.

"Holy crap!" Du Ziteng's eyes widened, and he exclaimed: "This river water is poisonous!"

"Aren't we just looking for death?! The river water is rising, and we have nowhere to escape!"

Niu Yanben instantly jumped to the treetop, his face full of terror.

But he seemed to remember something, jumped down from the tree, and his face no longer showed any panic.

The others looked at him with disdain.

There's a waterline, why are you panicking, you idiot!

"Get ready, when the river water recedes, we can cross the mountain."

Shen Bei said, chewing on a blade of grass.