Snake Den

The first vehicle to break down even sparked a small dispute. Another vehicle was running low on fuel and wanted to buy its fuel.

The vehicles ahead were driving so hard that only ghosts knew how long it would take to wear them down.

That suggestion met fierce resistance from the stranded vehicle. "If we give you our fuel, what are we supposed to do?" The two vehicles got tangled up there while the others continued the pursuit.

Not long after, another vehicle broke down, reducing the pursuing vehicles to nine.

Qu Jianlei was relatively slow to notice, because the cargo piled high in the truck bed blocked his view.

When modifying the light truck, he had installed rearview mirrors. This standard feature on Blue Star cars was extremely rare in the Wasteland.

In such open terrain, you could drive however you wanted. Why install rearview mirrors?

Even so, the mirrors did not show everything.

When Qu Jianlei happened to glance back, he noticed something was wrong. "Those headlights... there are only nine vehicles left?"

He did not believe anyone among the pursuers would dare drive at night without their lights on.

Xiao Jing had been sitting in his lap the whole time. Hearing that, he craned his neck hard, then wrapped his arms around Qu Jianlei's shoulders and leaned out to look.

"Sit still," Qu Jianlei snapped impatiently. "You're blocking my view."

After counting the headlights, Xiao Jing sat back down. "You knew they would break down? Was that your backup plan?"

"Not my backup plan," Qu Jianlei replied evenly. "I wouldn't place my hopes of survival on someone else's mistakes."

He was not surprised by this sudden development, but he truly had not considered that factor before.

Xiao Jing froze for a moment, then said regretfully, "It would've been nice if a few more vehicles had broken down."

Qu Jianlei fell silent. After a while, he spoke. "You did well today. Otherwise, we wouldn't have lasted this long."

"Today really was exciting," Xiao Jing said, both exhilarated and shaken. "I thought we were done for."

"We had to take this risk," Qu Jianlei answered, Calm and Collected. "Fortunately, our Luck wasn't too bad."

"You call this not too bad?" Xiao Jing could not help complaining. "I never expected to draw so many vultures..."

The Wasteland's vultures were much like those on Blue Star: scavengers.

Qu Jianlei said nothing. No wonder Third Master only dared carry the silver badge on him. One small mistake, and he would die without even a burial place.

Seeing that he was silent, Xiao Jing asked again, "What about your backup plan?"

"It's already underway," Qu Jianlei replied calmly. "It could have started earlier, but it isn't too late now."

Xiao Jing looked completely confused. "I don't understand. Can you explain it more clearly?"

Qu Jianlei actually smiled at that. "I forgot. Your sense of direction is terrible."

"I'm heading toward Three-Colored Marsh."

"Three-Colored Marsh..." Xiao Jing thought for a moment, then sucked in a cold breath. "That dangerous place famous for mutated venomous snakes?"

On Qu Jianlei's first day in Hong Five, people at the Supply Station had told him that the Hong Five Residential Area had several notoriously dangerous places.

Three-Colored Marsh was one of them, famous for venomous snakes.

Qu Jianlei replied flatly, "We don't have enough companions, so we can only ask wild beasts for help."

If Xiao Jing had not suddenly come up with that idea, he would have charged into another dangerous area long ago. That had been the backup plan he had considered.

As for the odds of success, even he was not sure.

All he had in mind was one thought: Anyone who wants to screw me over, even if I die, I'll drag you down with me.

Because of Xiao Jing's suggestion, he had successfully jumped off the truck to block them three times, forcing the pursuing vehicles to maintain a certain distance.

To be honest, he had never considered doing this before, because he had never counted on Hairless Freak at all.

Call him paranoid or say his thinking was flawed—he was used to being alone and had never thought about receiving help from others.

Xiao Jing had given him an unexpected surprise, giving him enough time to choose the most suitable dangerous place.

The pursuing vehicles also realized something was wrong. "Damn it, they're not heading for Three-Colored Marsh, are they?"

After chasing each other through the dark for so long, it was easy to lose one's sense of direction while circling around. But none of those who had dared join this were simple people.

They might not have possessed Qu Jianlei's freakish sense of direction, but most of them made their living in Hong Five.

As long as they saw roughly recognizable landmarks along the way, they could generally tell where they were.

It would have been truly strange if no one among the adventurers in those nine vehicles had figured out Qu Jianlei's intentions.

Still, some were not familiar with Hong Five. "A marsh... aren't you worried the vehicles will get stuck?"

"Three-Colored Marsh is just its old name. It dried up long ago," someone replied with a laugh. "But there are especially many mutated venomous snakes there."

"What's there to fear from venomous snakes? Our protection is good, and we're fast."

"That's not the point. There's a kind of snake called an Iron Wire Snake. They're incredibly tough and can wrap around the axles."

"I brought some Snake Repellent. I'm considering selling part of it now. Anyone interested?"

Quite a few adventurers had brought Snake Repellent, but most had not.

The Wasteland's soil was the most heavily polluted, and most snakes had mutated. There were very few kinds of snake meat that could be eaten.

The venom of some poisonous snakes was indeed useful, but once it was mixed with mutated elements, few people dared use it.

Simply put, hunting venomous snakes was not profitable. Although some snakes were worth hunting, nobody came to a Snake Den to hunt them.

Still, carrying some Snake Repellent was common among adventurers.

Someone immediately accused the seller on the Public Channel of being unscrupulous for selling Snake Repellent at a time like this.

The other side refused to accept that. My Snake Repellent was bought with money, not picked up off the roadside. Am I supposed to give it to you for free?

They were mostly minor squabbles. They had already chased this far, and not only had they suffered losses, they had also burned through quite a bit of fuel.

After dividing up some Snake Repellent, the convoy chased the Open-Top Light Truck into Three-Colored Marsh.

Three-Colored Marsh had once been purple, green, and yellow, though it was hard to make out the colors at night.

Nighttime had one advantage, however. Winter was approaching, and snakes were far less active at night.

Qu Jianlei drove with his headlights on, plowing recklessly forward. He ran over quite a few snakes without drawing any attacks.

The convoy followed silently for more than ten minutes before someone suddenly cried out.

"Bastard... that guy threw out fuel mixed with White Phosphorus and Sulfur!"

White Phosphorus could spontaneously ignite through slow oxidation in nature. If it was mixed with fuel and ignited, the oxidation process could be skipped entirely.

White Phosphorus produced highly toxic white smoke when it burned.

They were out in the wilderness, so no one was too afraid of the toxicity. A little breeze would disperse it, and the air would dilute it.

Discussing toxicity without considering dosage was nonsense.

But adding Sulfur to it was utterly vicious. Sulfur helped combustion, sure, but more importantly, this was a Snake Den.

The amount of mixture Qu Jianlei scattered was not much, but the instant it ignited, the entire Three-Colored Marsh erupted! His truck was fast and charged ahead at the front. The startled venomous snakes hesitated for a moment, then lunged directly at the nine vehicles behind him.

Many of the venomous snakes had not even smelled anything. They had simply been alarmed by the reactions of their "companions."

Snakes were especially sensitive to vibrations in the ground. When Qu Jianlei passed by, it was only the pressure of tires rolling over the ground, which did not draw much of their attention.

But the violent reaction of their own kind was different—had some danger appeared? In almost an instant, countless densely packed venomous snakes surged toward the nine vehicles behind.

All nine vehicles were sturdy and durable. Three were open-top vehicles, but their tops had been covered as well.

On top of that, everyone had Snake Repellent. In theory, it should not have been a problem.

But... the snakes had gone mad! Countless venomous snakes launched themselves into the air and smashed heavily against the vehicles behind. Some struck metal plating, while others slammed into glass.

Quite a few of them were mutated snakes, and the force of their leaps was no weaker than a Gauss Rifle bullet.

Bulletproof glass could stop Gauss Rifle rounds and even a small number of Gauss Machine Gun bullets.

But how could any bulletproof glass withstand countless bullets striking it? And just when it rained, it poured. "Iron Wire Snakes! There really are Iron Wire Snakes! The vehicle is slowing down!"

Iron Wire Snakes were actually worth hunting. Their skins and tendons were exceptionally tough and could fetch a decent price.

Their meat was edible too, and it did not taste bad. It was especially chewy.

But they were truly difficult to deal with. If dozens of them swarmed together, they could entangle a vehicle until even its wheels could not turn.

The appearance of Iron Wire Snakes meant things were becoming troublesome.

Then something even more terrifying appeared. "Winged Snakes! There are actually Winged Snakes!"

As their name implied, Winged Snakes were snakes that could fly. Many people claimed snakes could fly, but that was really just leaping.

Winged Snakes could truly fly. Even without mutating, they were no weaker than Mutated Beasts.

There were not many Winged Snakes in the Wasteland, and everyone had treated them as mere rumors.

Who would have thought that four or five black shadows were now flying overhead? No one knew whether any of them had mutated.

"Retreat, retreat now!" Someone truly could not endure it anymore. Wealth might tempt people, but they had to stay alive to spend it! "But... we're slowing down too fast," someone cried out desperately. "We might as well charge forward!"

Charging forward was not so simple. Three-Colored Marsh was not small; it covered several hundred square kilometers.

Gradually, the nine vehicles became surrounded by venomous snakes of every kind.

In the vehicle ahead, Xiao Jing turned to look back and asked with lingering fear, "You calculated all this?"

"No. I was only giving it a try," Qu Jianlei replied, Calm and Collected. "What I was sure of was that it could slow them down."

He was being a little modest. He had considered all the relevant factors.

What he had used was not fuel, White Phosphorus, and Sulfur powder. Anyone who thought so was mistaken.

Based on his own analysis, he had used one centigram of an Energy Block, along with quite a lot of Sulfur powder and Pheromone.

Of course, he had some confidence in that formula, which was why he had chosen this place to escape.

Even he had not expected the Snake Den to react so violently.

But now was clearly not the time to ponder it carefully.

"Go check the back. Whoever gets free the fastest, sweep them with the Gauss Machine Gun."

"It doesn't matter whether you can stop them. The important thing is to make things difficult for them!"

(Daily update. During the new book period, all kinds of support are welcome.)