People Looking for a Ride

Everyone was stunned.

They huddled on the ground, watching the cars that had come earlier turn into fireballs.

Soon, someone realized that they had no cars available.

The vehicles belonging to Qing Chen and his crew were all blown up.

The car that Director Zhou and his team arrived in was still there, but the car keys, along with the assassins, were taken away by Shadow...

Federal vehicles have undergone countless generations of anti-theft technology development. Even without fingerprint, iris, or voiceprint start programs, they absolutely cannot be driven away without a key.

The crew members looked into the campsite; their tents had been completely torn apart and could no longer even block the wind.

In other words, they would have to spend the rest of their days in the cold wind.

The snow was falling heavier and heavier, and the beautiful scenery that everyone had been looking forward to turned out to be extremely dangerous.

Liu Liqun stood there in the snow, stunned. "What are we going to do? It's at least 600 kilometers to get back. If we try to walk back, we're afraid everyone will die in the snow."

Their supplies and food were still found in the destroyed vehicles.

Sun Chuci quickly realized what was happening and said to everyone, "We can only continue north to the town outside Forbidden Zone 065. Although it's expensive there, at least it's a populated area with vehicles. Compared to the distance to City No. 10, it's only another 120 kilometers to that town. We can make it."

According to the marching speed of the army, the speed of forced march is about 45 to 75 kilometers per day, while the speed of rapid march is 200 kilometers per day.

However, the physical condition of the crew members and artists was far inferior to that of the soldiers, and it was also snowing heavily.

It would probably take three or four days just to walk those 120 kilometers.

Some people will inevitably give up on the journey, but they have no other choice.

Meanwhile, Qing Chen was thinking about something. It turned out that Shadow had even thought of this. The other party had long been certain that the crew members had to go to the small town outside Forbidden Zone 065, and there was no other choice.

He suddenly sighed, "It must be very hard for someone who is an enemy of their own shadow."

Shadow knew there was something wrong with the vehicles, but he didn't warn the crew beforehand.

Those in positions of power clearly never valued human life.

Why would someone like that help me?

After Song Niaoniao got up, she didn't run to the vehicle. She silently looked around the crowd and found that Qing Chen was no longer there. Suddenly, she felt a sense of loss.

The agent asked in a low voice, "What do we do now?"

Song Niaoniao said, "What else can we do but follow the group northwards?"

The agent looked troubled. "I've heard that small town is a den of thieves who squander their money. It's not that I'm afraid of spending money there, it's that I'm afraid someone there will try to take advantage of you."

Song Niaoniao pondered for a moment, "Following Sun Chuci, these people are not bad, and they are related to the Qing family. As long as they are willing to help, we should be fine."

The agent muttered under her breath, "That person invited you over, but didn't take you with them when they left. How far have things progressed between you two? Did you hold hands?"

Song Niaoniao was both amused and exasperated. "Sister, what are you talking about? I was just repaying him for saving me once. There's nothing between us."

The agent muttered, "All men are the same. He invited you over but didn't take you with him. He definitely doesn't care about you... Let me tell you, you can't be too eager to get close to him, or he'll never take you seriously."

Song Niaoniao smiled and comforted her, "Sister, maybe he has something more important to do. After all, Shadow came in person, how could he care about such a trivial matter?"

Zhou Cang, standing to the side, looked strange upon hearing the agent discussing him so openly.

Qing Chen hid in the crowd, looking just as bewildered as everyone else.

The snow is getting heavier.

Qing Yi said to his protectors, "Pack the supplies in the camp. We need to get going as soon as possible. Oh, and take Sun Chuci and the others with us. They are Master's men; we can't let them die in the wilderness."

The protector hesitated for a moment. "Why didn't that person take you with them when they left...?"

Qing Yi's expression turned cold. "How dare you discuss matters concerning the sir? Go and gather supplies."

The protector fell silent. He led his men to collect the few remaining foods in the camp. Some wanted to complain that they had taken all the food, but they dared not speak when they saw Qing Yi's subordinates.

After thinking for Qing Yi said, "Leave us the food we need, and give the rest to them."

The protector paused for a moment, seemingly puzzled.

Qing Yi said, "If the gentleman were here, he would probably do the same."

After a moment's thought, the protector threw out a quarter of the supplies he had collected, and then walked at the front to clear the way in the heavy snow.

Qing Yi beckoned to Sun Chuci: "Come with us."

It must be said that the protector arranged by Qing Yi's father was quite competent.

Putting aside their skill level, the other person walked in front to break the wind for Qing Yi, and even slowed down so that Qing Yi, who was relatively shorter, could step on the snow he had stepped on.

The two people have completely different stride lengths, but the protector can adjust his stride to make Qing Yi walk more comfortably.

Qing Yi said from behind him, "I'm sorry, my tone wasn't very good just now, but a gentleman is a gentleman."

The protector smiled. "Young master, you don't need to explain, I understand. By the way, what about Li Yu? He's still alive."

Qing Yi turned around and glanced at Li Yu behind him, then smiled and said, "People like this won't survive in this small town. Let's go."

At this moment, the others in the camp saw that Qing Yi others left decisively and quickly followed.

Of the twelve assistants Li Yu brought with her, only eleven remain—five men and six women.

One of them was shot and killed during Director Zhou's interrogation.

Li Yu said, "We shouldn't leave. News of what happened here will definitely get back to the Federation soon, and my friends will come to rescue me. Don't go with them. Traveling 120 kilometers in this heavy snow will take three or four days; we'll freeze to death on the road. I can't go that far!"

His assistant urged him, "Hurry up and leave. No one will come to rescue you. The nearest city is more than 300 kilometers away."

What they didn't say was that Li Yu's friends were nothing but fair-weather friends, and no one would actually come to his rescue.

Li Yu didn't want to leave, but that was because she was too spoiled.

This guy used to threaten to quit acting because of a minor hand injury, causing the entire crew to stop working.

The assistants were surprised that the other party would still be so willful under these circumstances.

Li Yu looked at the male assistants and said, "I really can't walk that far. How about I give you some money, and you can make a simple sled out of the tent and pull me along? One million each, five people together would be five million, it's not too strenuous."

The assistants exchanged glances, all of them tempted.

In their view, it should be possible to walk more than 100 kilometers if everyone works together, right?

People usually only earn three or four thousand a month. If they can get a million, they can open a small shop in the federal government and pay off a batch of loans.

The assistants exchanged glances. "We can get it and sign the agreement."

Li Yu's eyes lit up. "Sign! Sign it now!"

Five million is nothing to him; with his film salary, he can earn it back in just two days.

Liu Liqun instructed the stagehands to tidy up the usable items on the ground, while he himself dismantled several tents, saying that they might still be usable if pieced together.

Not only that, this guy even stripped off several dead people's clothes, saying he wanted to put them on himself.

As Liu Liqun stripped off his clothes, he glanced at Li Yu and muttered, "Money really can make the devil turn the millstone. Even in this desolate wilderness, they can still use money to treat people like livestock... Zhou Cang, don't just stand there, come and help."

Zhou Cang smiled and said, "Boss Liu, you really don't hold back at all."

Liu Liqun smiled wryly, "We stagehands have cheap lives. When we used to clean up the costumes of the props, it was always much more difficult than it is now. Just think of those dead people as props."

However, at that moment, the howling of wolves came from the distance in the snowy night. Qing Chen looked up and was shocked to see vultures circling in the sky.

These wild beasts of the wilderness smelled the blood and finally came over.

Qing Chen frowned. In this sparsely populated wilderness, what size would the wolf pack be?

If the wolf pack targets them, the superhumans will be fine, but the ordinary people who fall behind may really have no chance of survival.

As he pondered, he turned to look south, where seven 'crows' draped in black linen cloaks were rapidly approaching.

The leader was none other than an old acquaintance, April.

The crows moved swiftly across the snow, their cloaks fluttering wildly in the strong wind.

Within minutes, the crows had arrived at the camp. April glanced at the corpses in the camp but ignored them.

She asked the group, "Um... are you going to that small town in the north? Could you hitch a ride with us?"

Qing Chen was stunned. Even the crows from the Tribunal of Taboos had come. Didn't this mean that an extremely fierce battle was about to take place in the town?

At this moment, Liu Liqun said to April with a wry smile, "I'm sorry, none of the vehicles in the camp are usable."

April frowned her delicate, willow-leaf eyebrows. "Don't I see some perfectly intact vehicles outside the camp?"

Liu Liqun explained, "Those cars... don't have car keys."

April was stunned, her little face instantly turning bitter. "It's all Qing Chen's fault. Not only did he make us go on a business trip, but we didn't even get a ride."

Qing Chen thought to himself, "What does this have to do with me?" He asked curiously, "Did you come all the way here?"

"No, it's not that. We hitched a ride to a place a few dozen kilometers south, but the ride we got was rerouted to another location, so we had to continue hiking north," April sighed. "This is such a rip-off..."

Sorry for only finishing writing now.