The Smuggling Route and the Name Alkali Lake

When the snowstorm subsided, the white RV was parked at a rest area 20 kilometers away.

Snowbird descended from the sky carrying Sing Sing, landing on the roof of the RV in high-heeled boots.

The car erupted in chaos.

"Enemy attack?!" Li Qianhuan jumped up like a rabbit caught on an electric shock, staring at the car door, sparks flying from her hand.

"Don't explode! Don't explode! We're on the same side! Put your firecrackers away!"

Sing Sing Chow awkwardly opened the car door, sticking his head upside down into the compartment, his forehead covered in sweat. "This entrance is like cash on delivery for fresh produce. Do I not deserve normal service if I don't pay extra?"

Snowbird, who boarded the train with him, glanced around the carriage, his gaze lingering on Mondo for two seconds before he bowed slightly as a sign of greeting.

The RV is back on the road.

After driving for more than ten kilometers, Sing Sing suddenly sat up straight.

"Etc."

"What's wrong? Is there an oil leak in the car or is your brain leaking water?" Silver Fox gripped the steering wheel with both hands, staring straight ahead.

"The Peace Arch is just 40 kilometers ahead."

Sing Sing Chow counted on his fingers, "Last time I crossed the border, all my documents were in order, and the customs officer even took a picture with me."

"So what?"

So here's the question.

Sing Sing turned around and pointed to a carriage behind him.

"Look what's in this car. An alien, a metal man with a missing arm, a wanted assassin..."

"Who?" Silver Fox asked.

"You."

"Oh." Silver Fox nodded, without any reaction.

Li Qianhuan peeked out from the back sofa, "What do we do then? With our all-villain lineup starting out like this, what's the difference between going through customs and walking into a trap? Turn around and go back to the police to surrender?"

Sing Sing thought for a moment, then looked at Snowbird beside him. "Little Snow Xue, you have a wide network of connections and you're a local, do you know any back alleys or similar places?"

I know a way.

Silver Fox spoke, gesturing to Sing Sing to open the storage compartment and pull out a paper map.

A tourist map left by the previous car owner.

She spread the map on the steering wheel and pulled half a pencil out of the sun visor with her other hand.

"Take Highway 97 north from here and turn into the forested areas of British Columbia."

"There's a logging dirt road that's been abandoned for over a decade. It's marked in detail on the map, but you can still drive on it."

"Follow the dirt road for thirty kilometers, pass through two coniferous forests, and you'll enter Canada directly."

The pencil drew a crooked line on the map, bypassing the markers of three checkpoints.

"Hey sis."

Sing Sing leaned closer to look at the line, marveling at it.

"You're more skilled at planning human smuggling than I am at stealing cars. You must have done plenty of drug trafficking operations abroad before, right?"

Silver Fox rolled her eyes at him.

"OK."

Sing Sing's tone brightened again, "Then let's follow Master Fox's route."

No one objected, but Old Zhou suddenly noticed that her hands were trembling slightly, and her eyes were not looking at the road at all, but staring at one spot.

Sing Sing followed her gaze.

That's a place name forty kilometers north of the dirt road in the forest area, marked with a blue lake.

Alkali Lake, Alkali Lake.

"Hey! Sis! Watch where you're going! Watch where you're going!"

The moment the RV turned from the smooth Highway 97 onto the forest dirt road, everyone in the vehicle experienced what it meant to be in an immersive, four-dimensional vibrating rocking car.

"Clang!"

The RV drove over a pothole, Li Qianhuan was thrown up from the sofa, her head hitting the roof of the vehicle before bouncing back up.

"Holy crap!" she wailed, clutching her head. "Was this road paved with the surface of the moon?!"

"Clang!!"

Another pitfall.

In the back row, Colossus, with its superior weight, sat firmly as a mountain, completely unmoved.

The poor Gambit was being bounced around on the sofa like a deflated balloon.

Even in his unconscious state, he was jolted so hard he kept wincing, and he was spitting out incoherent French words mixed with blood and foam, probably cursing the road conditions to their eighteenth generation.

However, the most tragic one in the whole car was the alien killer Scatter in the corner.

The Alien Maggot was bound into a pupa, and with each bump, it rolled around on the floor, crashing into the Fridge, then the table leg, then the toilet door.

"Waaaaah!!"

"What are you yelling about!"

Sing Sing turned around and yelled.

"A free full-body vibration massage isn't enough to shut you up?"

"Back in my hometown, this kind of massage gun-like treatment would cost at least 188 yuan for a single session at a foot massage parlor with a membership! You should be grateful you got it for free!"

Silver Fox remained silent throughout, his hands gripping the steering wheel.

After driving for more than an hour, the car suddenly slowed down.

The RV is parked.

The low hum of the idling engine reverberated through the cabin, and the vibrations from the steering wheel were transmitted to Silver Fox's palms.

Sing Sing looked up.

Ten meters ahead, a rusty road sign stands crookedly at the intersection.

Left arrow: Alkali Lake, 40km.

Right arrow: Forest depth, heading north.

"Huh? Why did it stop? Did it break down?" Li Qianhuan poked her messy head out from the back seat.

"We've arrived? This is the middle of nowhere, there's not even a toilet stall..."

A metal hand gently pressed on her shoulder, and Colossus shook his head at her.

The Little Firework shrank back into the sofa, and the carriage fell silent.

All that remained was the sound of the engine idling and the wind rushing through the forest outside the car window.

Silver Fox stared at the road sign.

"Now is not the time," Sing Sing, leaning back in his chair, breaking the silence.

Silver Fox ignored him.

"Once you're ready, I'll go with you to take a look."

Silver Fox turned her head, her icy blue eyes staring straight at him. "What makes you think you can?"

What makes you think you can be with me?

What gives you the right to decide when it's the right time for me?

Who do you think I am?

Sing Sing thought for a moment. In those few tenths of a second, many plausible lines flashed through his mind.

He could say, "Because I just saved your life," or "Because I know where Logan Howlett is, you still need me."

He can deliver a hundred beautiful, heartfelt, standard superhero-style lines.

But he is Sing Sing after all; he chose the least human-sounding, yet most natural-sounding, line.

"You still owe me two hundred dollars in appearance fees!"

"Creditors have an obligation to ensure the mental health of debtors!"

Sing Sing, with an upright expression, argued confidently. "What if you're mentally unstable, have a mental breakdown, and try to renege on your debt?"

"In business, I prioritize the security of repayments. So until you repay the money, your life, your memories, and your mental health are all collateral, and I will safeguard them on your behalf."

"..."

Silver Fox withdrew his gaze and stopped looking at the road sign.

Shift gears and accelerate.

The RV roared over the gravel at the intersection, then smoothly turned right and continued north.

The left arrow representing the Alkali Lake grew smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror, eventually shrinking into a blurry white dot before being completely swallowed up by the dark shadows of the vast coniferous forest.