Bagnell clearly knew the Federation's geography extremely well. "Boss, there are several routes. But..." He suddenly glanced at the crowd behind them and lowered his voice. "I'm afraid people from the Federation Comprehensive Academy will follow us. I've already spotted several."
"What do you suggest?" Chen Mu did not believe someone as seasoned as Bagnell would be helpless against this problem.
Sure enough, Bagnell already had a plan. He chuckled. "Boss, it's actually not difficult. There are only a few ways to shake these people off. One is to kill them, but we'd better not do that unless we have no choice. That would tear away any pretense of civility between us and the Federation Comprehensive Academy. Another is to play havoc with their nerves and make them misjudge the situation. That won't work well either. There are too many of us, and we stand out too much. If we travel the normal way, we can only keep changing vehicles. With the Federation Comprehensive Academy's resources, finding us would still be very easy. We'd be better off making them give up on their own."
"Oh? How?"
"We head into the wilderness from here. I know a route smugglers opened up. The beasts along it aren't particularly fierce. It's a long smuggling route, with plenty of wilderness bases along the way. Lots of Card Adepts who don't belong to any faction operate there. They're called jungle Card Adepts. Usually, they use those wilderness bases as staging points to hunt beasts and gather materials to sell. But if they encounter a lone Card Adept, they'll do a little murdering and looting. Even a small team of Card Adepts is a meal they can swallow."
Chen Mu asked in surprise, "Aren't those just bandits?"
Bagnell laughed heartily. "They are bandits. Killing someone in