Be More Confident

The dark-faced man looked at the group of Wilderness People around him, eager to try, but still shook his head. "Winter is coming soon, we can't afford to cause any trouble."

Just then, a young man with a wolf pelt draped over his shoulder stepped forward and said, "Dad, think about it. A dozen or so Boundary-011 model drones, plus more than thirty new diesel engines—isn't that enough for us? Who knows what other good stuff the Autumn Hunt Convoy might have. If we take these things back to the hearth, maybe the elders can let us be closer to the hearth when we worship the totem."

When the young man mentioned the hearth and totems, the dark-faced man fell silent, seemingly somewhat tempted.

The young man continued, "Dad, you know those spoiled brats from the Autumn Hunt are all show-offs. There aren't many who can actually fight. If a few of them die, they'll all run away in terror. Old Liu from the South fought them before. If we have a favorable position, it's not like we can't fight them."

"What do children know?" the dark-faced man said. "Killing them will attract the Group Army's encirclement and annihilation."

"Even if we don't kill them, the Group Army's encirclement and suppression efforts haven't stopped," the young man said. "If we kill them now, we can disappear into the mountains to the west. We know how to bypass the Forbidden Zone; the Group Army rarely goes that way. It's going to snow heavily in the mountains soon. Once the snow seals off the mountains, who will be able to find us?"

In earlier years, the autumn hunt involved venturing into Forbidden Zone to hunt wild animals.

Now, just as Li Shutong said, this group of people no longer dare to hunt wild beasts in Forbidden Zone, but only dare to hunt those Wilderness People who never resist.

The Wilderness People all know that the Autumn Hunting Team is all show and no substance. It's just a bunch of spoiled brats who come to the wilderness to hunt and kill Wilderness People at will, relying solely on advanced technology and the Wilderness People's fear of retaliation.

The autumn hunting ceremony had been going on for over a hundred years without any major mishaps, so the group of spoiled young men became increasingly relaxed, treating the wilderness like their own backyard.

But the dark-faced man hesitated. He knew his son was right, but his cautious habits over the years made him unwilling to take the risk.

The young man was silent for a moment before saying, "Dad, if you don't dare to go, I'll bring some people with me."

The dark-faced man glanced at him with a sneer, "It's too early for you to think about standing up for your father and dividing the family property."

There's a reason why the Wilderness People have never truly united.

This land has been a place of constant conflict, where everyone's wildness has been amplified to the extreme.

When a lion grows old, a young and strong male lion will try to take its place.

If it weren't for the mysterious fire pit in the snow-capped mountains that kept them afloat, the battles in the wilderness would probably be even more bloody and intense.

The dark-faced man said, "Let's go take a look at Zhizi Lake. Maybe it wasn't the Autumn Hunting Team that did it. But if it really was them, I won't just stand by and watch Zhang Tongdan die."

The Wilderness People camp was abuzz with excitement. They arranged for a group of men to lead the women into the mountains, heading west along the edge of certain Forbidden Zone.

Once they succeed, the main force will rush to join them.

They fled before the heavy snow blocked the mountain pass.

9 a. m.

The dark-faced man led the team toward Zhizi Lake. Everyone was dressed in camouflage suits woven from branches and leaves, and they carefully traversed the mountains and fields.

Before they even got close to the area of Zhizi Lake, someone noticed the buzzing sound of a drone coming from ahead.

"What's going on? We haven't even entered the drone's blockade range yet!" the dark-faced man asked the man beside him. "How did you do the reconnaissance?"

The burly man who reported the news in the morning was also stunned, "We're still more than ten kilometers away from Zhizi Lake, definitely not within the cordon area, boss. The drone's control range is only 7 kilometers, and they're moving this way!"

The dark-faced man pondered, "This action is a bit unusual. It seems that Zhang Tongdan alerted them, causing them to begin a search operation in the vicinity."

There was no time to think; he immediately ordered his men to shoot down the drone.

However, just as they were about to fire, the drone deftly flipped several times and flew back.

Inside the Autumn Hunt Convoy, the young first mate wearing holographic glasses said, "Found them. There are indeed Wilderness People lying in ambush nearby. It looks like they shot down that drone earlier. However, I don't recommend pursuing them. We just estimated that they outnumber us, and we can't confirm their weapons and equipment..."

Before he could finish speaking, someone slammed on the gas and sped off in the direction of the Wilderness People.

The middle-aged man next to the first mate frowned and looked at Li Yinuo: "You should have stopped him."

Sitting in her car, Li Yinuo said nonchalantly, "I saw those guys this morning after they took Dopamine pills. They're in a crazy state right now, and nobody can stop them. It's fine, let them go to their deaths. They'll come to their senses after dying once."

The middle-aged man sighed, then said to the first mate, "Send out all the drones to provide fire support."

Li Yinuo could sit idly by, but he couldn't.

In this world, social status is very important. Those who came out with the Autumn Hunting Team were destined to be the ones cleaning up messes. Those young masters and ladies didn't care about any danger.

When Qing Chen and Li Shutong returned to the camp, all their belongings had already been packed into the car.

Qin Yiyi noticed that Qing Chen was covered in dust, as if he had just rolled on the ground.

She asked curiously, "Where did you all go just now?"

Li Shutong smiled and said, "Give us both an apple, and I'll tell you."

Qin Yiyi made a face. "At your age, you're still trying to trick people into eating apples. Aren't you ashamed?"

Despite saying that, the girl still took out two apples from her bag, gave the larger one to Qing Chen, and the smaller one to Li Shutong.

"Okay, can you answer my question now?" Qin Yiyi asked.

Li Shutong didn't seem to mind at all. He said cheerfully, "I'm going to teach him how to climb mountains."

"Do I need to be taught how to climb mountains?" Qin Yiyi, puzzled.

Qing Chen said, "The mountain climbing we're talking about might be different from what you understand."

A 90-degree right-angle cliff, climbed freehand.

This is something many people wouldn't even dare to dream of.

On the cliff, the only place to get a foothold might be a crack, or even less.

Although Qing Chen had memorized every move Li Shutong made, there was still a gap between memorizing and actually learning it.

He still doesn't know what the Life and Death Trial is; he only knows that he is about to climb a very, very high mountain.

I will watch a snowfall again in the future and shout at the top of my lungs in the place closest to the sky.

Thinking about it this way, Qing Chen seemed to still have some expectations for that kind of life.

As they were speaking, an explosion suddenly came from the vast mountains and fields in the distance.

The enormous sound echoed and resonated through the mountains, startling flocks of birds into flight.

The location where Qin Yiyi and the others were located was blocked by mountains, so they couldn't see anything except for the dark flocks of birds flying from the west to the east in the sky.

Qing Chen thought for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Teacher, could this be related to the words I carved?"

Li Shutong said, "Be confident, it's definitely related to you."

For new readers, please note that the book updates daily at 6 PM: if you open Qidian at 6 PM, it will definitely have already been updated.

Also, it will be available on June 1st, and I will try to update as much as possible throughout June. Thank you for your support.