It was said that the northern side of the wilderness was covered all around with yellow sand.
But on the southern side where Qing Chen was, there was actually plenty of vegetation, making it quite similar to the mountainous forests in the Outer World's southern area.
The sky above was so blue that one would feel refreshed upon looking at it.
After driving for dozens of kilometers on the mountain road, the two pickup trucks finally reached the main road.
It was Qing Chen's first time seeing a highway in the wilderness. Before this, Li Shutong always made sure to pick small roads for them to travel through.
At this time, news of Li Shutong's disappearance had probably started brewing among the insiders of the federation.
But they were all currently in the wilderness. There was no internet coverage in this place.
Before making their trip, Qing Chen had asked his teacher how famous he was, wouldn't people recognize him no matter where he went?
Li Shutong's answer was that very little video footage of him was ever released to the public. Those from the corporations might be able to recognize this person who had been living in seclusion for many years, but for ordinary people, there was no such possibility.
Thus, Li Shutong raised his collar when the autumn hunting team passed by and only let it down after they had left.
Of course, he also said the reason he did that was not that he was afraid to be discovered, but because he was too lazy to silence them all.
Perhaps, this was the way of an action-packed life. Qing Chen too wanted to live such a life.
Just like the expressways in the Outer World, there were wired fences installed on both sides of the road.
Qin Yiyi looked at Qing Chen's novelty-filled gaze and explained, "They're here to prevent wild beasts from intruding. Because some of them are very big, if you were driving at a high speed and spotted them late, you won't be able to stop in time. Between every few kilometers of the highway, there's an underground culvert designed to facilitate the passage and migration of the animals. This way, they won't have to damage the fence either."
The girl was curious as despite seeming was the first time he had come to the wilderness, the boy did everything dexterously. His actions were very skilled, not at all like someone on his first trip.
Along the way, Qing Chen could occasionally see some cloud towers. The black, gigantic ‘mushroom' towers standing still by the roadside were like a kind of unique landscape.
But these cloud towers looked to have been deserted, their bodies mottled with rust.
It seemed like some of the general knowledge Jiang Xue told him before were merely hearsays, as she herself had never been to the wilderness.
Li Shutong previously talked about the Inner World's utilization of weapons.
He said humans were still using firearms due to a very simple logic: to kill someone, one bullet was enough to do the job.
Diesel engines were something of a similar existence.
Qin Yiyi spoke, "A long long time ago, you could still drive electrical vehicles on the highway, but later on, people found out that diesel engines worked better in the wilderness, so to travel long distances, they would choose to drive diesel vehicles. Gradually, the cloud towers lost their uses, and the corporations couldn't be bothered to repair them."
"Then what about mechanical limbs?" asked Qing Chen.
"We carry wireless chargers in our car." Qin Yiyi pointed at the pickup behind them and said, "Next to the iron cage, there's a black box containing Venus-3 lead-bismuth alloy reactor. My dad bought it from the black market, that thing was really expensive. They say it was once used as a generator for mountain-type war tanks."
Qin Tong peered at his little sister and coughed.
What he meant to convey was, that no matter how much you liked this boy, you shouldn't sell out our family properties just like that.
Qin Yiyi shot her brother a glance. "What are you coughing for? Someone of uncle's status won't care about the kind of junk we have."
Cooperatively, Li Shutong looked at Qin Tong and said, "That's right, I don't."
He wished he could go back to his seat inside the car now, keeping them out of sight, out of mind.
Qin Yiyi curiously stared at Li Shutong. "Uncle, I don't think you're a bad guy, but why are you so mean to him? Even if he's a servant, you still have to treat him like a person. You see, his feet are all bloodied."
She pointed at Qing Chen.
Li Shutong mischievously asked, "You're protesting against me for him?"
"It's not really a protest." Qin Yiyi thought and said, "I just kind of feel bad for him."
This girl of wilderness, even her way of speaking was very straightforward.
Qing Chen changed the subject, "Why do you guys hunt, is it because you need the animal hide?"
"Of course not," Qin Yiyi's eyes were wide open, "the hide isn't worth much, that's something only low-end hunters do, and you don't even need to go to ‘that place' to do that!"
Qing Chen knew they were going to a forbidden land, but he didn't expect that for ordinary people, even directly calling it ‘forbidden land' was something they avoided doing.
Qin Yiyi continued, "We specialize in capturing live animals, we're considered mid-end wilderness hunters!"
"Capturing live animals?" Qing Chen asked, "For the corporations' research purposes?"
"Not at all," Qin Yiyi explained, "If the corporations need anything, they can directly dispatch armed troops to catch it. What we capture are animals that will become the pets of the bigwigs in the city. Those people are really strange, some of them like lizards and snakes, and there's also someone who likes spiders with huge heads, a species that only exists in ‘that place'. But the scariest thing about ‘that place' is not this kind of visible danger."
Suddenly, a roar resounded from north of the highway.
Almost at the same time, both Li Shutong and Qing Chen moved to pull up their collars…
Everyone turned their heads to look at the convoy of cars moving as fast as lightning to catch up and then overpass them, speeding towards the south.
Eight black off-road cars, all stamped with a white symbol.
Qing Chen could tell what it was at a glance… Mount Fuji.
To be honest, he truly didn't expect to see Mount Fuji in the Inner World.
Qing Chen whispered a question, "This is?"
Li Shutong answered, "It's the Kamidai Family's convoy, your fiancee should be inside one of those cars."
Qing Chen found it odd. "Ah? She said she was going back to the family."
Li Shutong laughed, "The Kamidai Family had Kamidai Josuke bring two girls this time, each for a political marriage with the Qing Family and the Chen Family. Looking at the direction they're going now, their destination should be the Chen Family, as their main base is in the south."
In a low voice, Qing Chen spoke again, "I thought they were also going to participate in the autumn hunting."
"They won't," replied Li Shutong, "The autumn hunting is a convention for the younger generation of Li, Qing, and Chen Families, they won't invite the Kashima and Kamidai Families."
Li Shutong continued, "Part of the reason is that Kashima and Kamidai are located in the north, whereas the autumn hunting takes place in the south. Another reason is that the combat force in the younger generation of the Li, Qing, and Chen Families all consider the Kashima and Kamidai Families as outsiders, so they keep advocating to thoroughly annex or even destroy those two. Among them, the Li Family has the firmest standpoint against the Kashima and Kamidai Families."
Qing Chen mused, no wonder the Kamidai Family wanted to have political marriages with the two other Families, they must have felt a sense of crisis.
Suddenly, Qin Yiyi tilted her head and asked, "What are the two of you whispering about?"
Li Shutong smiled. "Nothing."