Chapter 34: Starting Today!

The sky was gloomy, and thick leaden clouds pressed down heavily, blocking out all sunlight.

On the empty wilderness, six rusty, roofless off-road vehicles, covered with various patches and decorated with hanging bone ornaments, formed a long line as they sped along with engines roaring, kicking up a long trail of dust.

Almost every vehicle had seven or eight prisoners sitting or standing on it, howling wildly into the wind like beasts without any restraint, filled with a sickly excitement and madness.

In the lead vehicle, which was the most intact and had the most space, Blood General sat in the back seat with his arms crossed, resting with his eyes closed. Beside him, Tie Shan seemed to want to speak several times, looking like he was hesitating.

“Tie Shan, you’ve followed me for quite some time now. Have you forgotten how to speak?”

Amid the roaring and bumping, Blood General opened his eyes and said with a half-smile,

“You think I’ve been giving Chen Chong special treatment because he cast some kind of spell on me?”

Tie Shan smiled sheepishly and said, “How could General be fooled by him? I just found it a bit strange, that’s all.”

Blood General turned his head to look at the desolate scenery quickly receding outside the window and chuckled softly, “That kid really did bring me quite a surprise. Tie Shan, normally, since you’ve been with me so long, you have every right to know the situation. But this matter is of great importance. Let’s wait until we return to the Territory to discuss it in detail.”

Tie Shan was slightly shocked; he had not expected Blood General to be so cautious. He could not help but say,

“If this matter is so important, then that kid…”

“That kid is a smart one, and he has ambition. He won’t do anything stupid. He wouldn’t dare.”

Recalling Chen Chong’s calm and composed attitude in front of him, Blood General’s expression turned playful.

“The Bloodline Gu was just used up and needs to be nourished again with my heart’s blood. It can’t be used for now. He seems to be an Initial Awakener, so he has some value to be cultivated. It’s just a pity he’s still too weak. Observe him for a while first. When this matter is settled, if he’s still alive, then I’ll bestow another one upon him…”

Tie Shan chuckled grimly, “I think that kid will certainly be grateful to General then.”

…

Chen Chong naturally had no idea about the conversation between Blood General and Tie Shan in the lead vehicle. At that moment, he was squeezed into the back seat of the second off-road vehicle, fiddling with the tactical knife he had retrieved.

Because of Blood General’s change the previous night, the minions in the vehicle were still somewhat wary of Chen Chong, or perhaps they simply didn’t want to stir up trouble. No one initiated conversation with him. Having been on night watch, their eyelids were drooping, and they were dozing off.

Ignoring the thugs beside him, Chen Chong gazed through the window at the sky, where it seemed he would never see the sunlight.

“Clouds this thick… Could it be because of a nuclear winter?”

Now that he knew this world had become like this because of the Great Cataclysm and global nuclear explosions, he could not help but make the connection.

At dawn, he had set out with Blood General and the group of minions, heading for the Crimson Territory a hundred kilometers to the northwest. The eight Scavengers from the Dawn Gathering Place were crammed into the vehicles behind him.

As for Qiao Jun, the Scavenger captain, he had disappeared after daybreak. He must have been released by Blood General to return to the Dawn Gathering Place and serve as a hidden agent.

During the journey, the sky was vast and the land desolate. It seemed the convoy was traveling a relatively safe route. At the very beginning, they had encountered several waves of charging wolf-type Radiation Species, but after the thugs in the vehicles fired wildly and continuously, these packs of wolf-type Radiation Species left behind a few corpses and retreated hastily.

“As expected, before one’s individual strength reaches a certain level, the power of a team is far greater than that of a single person.”

Witnessing this scene from the vehicle, Chen Chong could not help but sigh. In the situation just now, if he had been traveling alone on foot through the Wilderness, encountering these packs of Radiation Species, he would most likely have ended up directly as their breakfast. However, Blood General’s subordinates, relying on the mobility of their vehicles and their fierce firepower, could repel these Radiation Species without suffering any damage.

“It seems the places where gathering places are established must be areas where Radiation Species are sparsely distributed and where no powerful Radiation Species exist.”

As the convoy advanced and they encountered fewer and fewer Radiation Species along the way, a thought surfaced in Chen Chong’s mind.

The Ruin Outpost was about a hundred kilometers from Blood General’s Crimson Territory. After eighteen years since the Cataclysm, most of the Wilderness around the gathering places had been swept clean by Scavengers. The closer one got to a gathering place, the safer the Wilderness became relatively.

Just as Chen Chong was deep in thought, the minion driving suddenly let out a cheer:

“We’re almost there! Damn it, I’ve made it back alive once again, haha!”

Chen Chong’s heart stirred, and he immediately stuck his head out of the window to gaze ahead.

At the end of his line of sight, a ruined area had already appeared. Within the ruins, the outlines of intact buildings seemed faintly visible, and he could barely make out a few chimneys of modest height belching thick black smoke.

Blood General’s Crimson Territory was here!

Chen Chong’s heart stirred slightly. After the convoy advanced another few kilometers, the small town-like Crimson Territory was right before his eyes. Chen Chong then realized that the ruins he had seen from afar were actually simple barricades built from broken walls and rubble, and deep trenches had been dug into the ground, surrounding the entire small town.

The whole Crimson Territory seemed like a miniature town built amidst the ruins. In Chen Chong’s estimation, it was even smaller than a university campus. A crude wall nearly two meters high stood tall, fortifying it. Two sentry towers stood on either side of the main gate, and two minions acting as sentries, upon seeing the approaching convoy, seemed to shout loudly downwards:

“The General has returned, the General has returned!”

Then, the rusty railing gate was quickly pushed open by several minions. Passing all the way through the barriers constructed by layers of barricades and trenches, Blood General’s convoy drove straight in, continuing along the road deeper into the Territory.

Chen Chong narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over everything through the window.

Most of what he saw were dilapidated and low houses, filthy and muddy ground, with the faint stench of feces and urine.

On both sides of the road, besides the minions with their faces painted with blood-colored grease, he occasionally saw figures with dirty faces and ragged clothes, looking like beggars. When Blood General’s convoy drove by, they hurriedly shrank back and hid in the corners, looking utterly terrified. It was clear what kind of life these survivors lived under Blood General’s brutal rule.

“We’re finally here.”

Only then did Chen Chong let out a long breath.

Now, even though things had deviated from his original plan, he finally had the conditions to start cultivating.

In just two short days since his prison break from the base, he had fully experienced the cruel and dark side of this world. His desire for strength had long since reached an unbearable peak!

Chen Chong was already impatient. The practice of the three martial arts, [Ultimate Infinite Qigong], [Vajra Indestructible Divine Art], and [Qi Blast Cannon Fist], would start today!