Lin Xian said, "Food isnât the most urgent issue. The main thing is water. Now, itâs because of the desert drought. If it really gets to the point where thereâs water but itâs undrinkable, thatâs the real trouble. So, we can only hope the Phoenix Society quickly develops technology to resist and filter the dark invasions in the water, otherwise, humanity wonât even last this year."
"Donât worry, there will definitely be a way." KIKI immediately encouraged Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan, "Whatâs wrong with you two? Donât you even have this little confidence in us? Have you forgotten, humans are also evolving. As long as we can adapt to the power of those dark invasions, it will actually accelerate our evolution!"
Lin Xianâs tone hesitated upon hearing this, then he smiled and said, "That does make sense."
"Hehe~"
At this moment, Ning Jingâs voice came through the communication channel: "Captain Lin, all the rescued people have been screened one by one. They are all teams that recently encountered sand bandits in the no-manâs land. Most of them are small teams, so they were targeted by the sand bandits. The longest anyone here has been there is six days. We suspect those sand bandits might be selling their prey once a week, regardless of age or gender."
Lin Xian nodded: "These people are probably valued based on the peak Spirit Vibration Value data, likely used for researching superpower people, or perhaps thereâs some other purpose?"
Lin Xian then explained Lao Moâs situation and his speculations to the various team leaders. When they learned that Lao Mo and his group had actually rushed into the Western Desert from the Wei River side, everyone was a bit shocked. These team leaders were quite familiar with the routes and terrain and knew that itâs impossible to drive such a distance in one night, especially in the Extreme Night fog.
"Thatâs too bizarre. Could it be that they were swept here by some monster in the Star Abyss, or is there something like a space-time anomaly in Star Abyss?" Shi Deyuan said with a puzzled expression.
"Rushing into the Western Desert overnight, unless their vehicle was equipped with a plasma pulse propeller..." Qian Deli also commented lightly.
Monica, holding a wine glass, said sharply, "If itâs not their own issue, then itâs the weirdness in Star Abyss. Weâve already seen plenty of strange situations, but since that Lao Moâs group is alive, then they probably didnât encounter an Abnormal Body, but something... even more bizarre."
Upon hearing this, many acknowledged it. In the Star Abyss, encountering an Abnormal Body head-on, the configuration of Lao Moâs team wouldnât possibly survive. Since they charged out of the night and werenât marked with a Dark Mark, it suggests that the situation they encountered canât be simply explained away as a monster.
"Lao Hu, tell us about your situation." With this in mind, Lin Xian opened his mouth directly to call Hu Lushou.
At this time, Hu Lushou was lying on the sofa of his luxury RV, listening to everyoneâs talk. When he heard Lin Xian calling him, he immediately sat up with a serious expression and said, "Uh, Captain Lin, youâre talking about the Iron Power Team, right? Is it those two all-terrain heavy-duty RVs?"
"Yes."
Hu Lushouâs eyes narrowed: "Then I remember. Before it got dark, I did see those two vehicles among those teams. At that time, I also thought the modification on those two vehicles was incredible..."
Knowing that Lin Xian valued this matter, Hu Lushou didnât dare to be vague and immediately recounted the detailed situation he had encountered before.
"Back then, we followed the route from the Wei River all the way toward Silent City. Along the way, tens or hundreds of teams had already gathered. Initially, we thought with such a big group, weâd surely have some support along the way."
It wasnât just Hu Lushou who thought this way; in fact, all the teams at the time had the same goalâfollow Silent City to Jin Hai!
With such a massive convoy moving, there was still some degree of safety, not to mention having a moving Mechanical City. But with the arrival of that nightâs darkness, all positioning instruments and even compasses lost their function. Coupled with numerous Abnormal Body attacks, all the teams were in chaos, and even the stationary Silent City started urgently roaring through the mountains to get moving. Thus, all the teams madly escaped using the moving Mechanical City as their coordinates.
But Silent Cityâs electromagnetic guns echoed throughout the night. Hundreds of teams endured an entire night of rushing, yet dawn never came. Most of those teams faced severe casualties, with despair permeating under the dark night.
Hu Lushou didnât know where his team ended up in some deep forest. There was no direction, no landmarks, and everyone was engulfed by increasingly thick fog.
The night poured down as thick and sticky as asphalt, the fog seeping out of the ground like a living thing. At that time, hiding in the vehicle, Hu Lushouâs face was ashen. He seemed to hear intermittent horn sounds from afar, but they were definitely not ship hornsâmore like a kind of giant cephalopodâs internal organs contracting in mucus, squeezing out groans. The moonlight outside the window had long warped into a sickly blue-gray, as if shining through the decomposing corpse of a jellyfish a hundred million years ago.
Even recalling it now, Hu Lushou shudders a bit. That night, they seemed to have stumbled deep into the Black Abyss, entering a world as if in Hell. Just looking out of the window would make his retina feel like burning, as if countless rusty steel needles were piercing through his optic nerves into his cerebral cortex. Outside, giant shadowy figures as big as mountains dissolved and regrouped in the fog. Occasionally, a limb covered with coral-like bone spurs or half a face made of decayed petals and gears would appear, making it hard to distinguish between reality and illusion.