Chapter 531: Chapter 531

So Jing Shu immediately voiced her thoughts. At this juncture, everyone shared whatever ideas they had. Everyone was anxious and wanted to find the fleet as soon as possible. Yet, after so many days, they had no other option but to keep moving forward relentlessly.

From Lu Liu’s reaction, the situation didn’t look good either, as the other teams hadn’t found the fleet.

"Can you remember the way through this mountain range after just one visit? Maybe you took a shortcut last time, and now we might be taking the long way around the entire range," Lu Liu said, then added, "But I also won’t rule out the possibility that we’re just moving too slowly, and that’s why we haven’t finished yet."

Jing Shu frowned. Lu Liu’s words made sense. In the current darkness, they couldn’t see the outside clearly, only able to make out half the path. Jing Shu, however, was unaffected by this and could still see everything distinctly.

"Jing Shu, do you have any ideas?" Yang Yang asked.

"Do you think this place... looks like the time we got stuck in the mountains on our trip to the United States?" As soon as Jing Shu finished her question, her head throbbed as if it were about to explode, and her memory seemed to fragment further. There’s definitely something fishy about this place, she thought. There must be some connection.

Yang Yang frowned. "If that’s really the case, it’s actually bad news." He understood the dangers they had faced last time and had made numerous reports after their return. Their escape then... was definitely not a fluke. Looking at Jing Shu, Yang Yang realized she must have a secret, he thought. She and Zhen Nantian must share common secrets.

"Why is it bad news?" Lu Liu asked while tending to Jun Bao’s attire. If Lu Liu wasn’t driving, she would invariably be taking care of Jun Bao’s personal needs, serving him with the meticulousness of a personal valet. In comparison, Lu Liu seemed like an all-capable superhero, while Jun Bao appeared utterly helpless.

Jing Shu’s bet had paid off. She had gambled that Jun Bao, dressed flamboyantly in white, would be covered in mud within a day or two. Yet, several days had passed, and his clothes remained immaculate. Any slight specks of mud were meticulously cleaned off by Lu Liu each day.

"This... involves confidentiality agreements," Yang Yang said, his eyes narrowed. "In short, our current situation may have worsened. If I’m not mistaken, we, like the fleet, will soon be trapped in a certain region and unable to escape."

"How could that be possible?" Lu Liu said disbelievingly, double-checking the expedition map. "We have radar and satellites and can contact the outside world at any time. How could we be unable to get out?" Everything on the map appeared normal, with no indication of communication or safety issues. "If we encounter danger, we can return at any time."

"But when will we reach our destination? How long will our fuel last? Do we have enough other resources?" Jing Shu asked. If things got dire, she thought, she could secretly add some oil. But they surely had a precise measure of it, and her adding more might just make things worse.

They had no resupply. The plan had been to complete the mission within five days, or at least find the fleet, because the fleet’s distress signals originated from nearby, and there was only one road. So, by any logic, they should have encountered them by now.

But now? Forget rescue. They hadn’t even found a trace of the fleet and were completely stuck in the first stage.

"We still have enough gasoline for five days of driving," Lu Liu said. "But as long as we find the fleet, gasoline won’t be an issue. Don’t worry about that. Even without fuel, the minibus can still move."

"If we conserve our water, it can last another ten to fifteen days."

"Don’t worry about food either. Though we’ve run out of our own snacks and treats, we brought plenty of Compressed Biscuits and energy bars."

Lu Liu’s words did calm everyone somewhat. Being trapped in the mountains wasn’t a major concern since they had sufficient supplies. After all, they couldn’t have come out on a rescue mission only to end up needing rescuing themselves—that would be far too embarrassing.

No matter how anxious Jing Shu felt, it was no use. At least they weren’t traveling on foot, which was a far better situation than their experience in the United States. She could only focus on practicing her Magic Cube intensely.

They traveled for another three or four days, yet the winding mountain road seemed endless. They were still deep within the mountains, crossing one peak only to face another, an unending chain of rolling ranges.

Even Lu Liu began to realize something was amiss. No matter how slow their pace, they must have covered hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers in the past few days. Even if this border mountain range was long, crossing it laterally should have taken a day at most. Why was it taking so long? she wondered.

"Could we be experiencing what they call a ’ghost hitting the wall’?" Lu Liu asked. "Are we just going in circles in the same place?"

Hao Yunlai had the most authority on this matter. He shook his head and said, "We haven’t encountered a ’ghost hitting the wall’; these are real roads we’re traveling." Indeed, with his entire family arrayed neatly beside him, who would dare attempt any trickery?

It soon became clear they weren’t going in circles. The previously shallow muddy water suddenly deepened into a mire. When the mud reached their lower legs, the minibus had to stop. If they continued, the engine might stall, and the rising mire could seep through the minibus’s door seals.

The minibus’s high beams cut through the darkness, illuminating the frigid mountains. They revealed a mudslide starting to flow down from the nearby dark peaks. Ahead of Jing Shu, a vast depression in the land was rapidly turning into an enormous, seemingly bottomless morass. The rıghtful source is 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹•𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒•𝙣𝙚𝙩

Wearing shoe covers, Jing Shu and her companions stared at the expansive morass, their expressions grim under the minibus’s lights.

"The road is blocked."

Jing Shu had never seen such a vast morass before.

"The routes we took to get here were at higher elevations, even though they wound through the mountains," Lu Liu explained. "But now, the terrain is sloping downwards, so all the muddy water is flowing to this low point, congregating and forming this large mire."

Yang Yang held up two fingers. "I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. The good news is that the mountain roads we’ve traveled weren’t repetitive; we’ve clearly reached a new area. The bad news is that this mire seems to block our path forward. Besides turning back, there are no other roads."

The mud in the mire was incredibly viscous, making it difficult to extract oneself after stepping in. The resistance the minibus would face if it tried to drive through was unimaginable.

Hong Bin’s soft voice carried over. "There is still some good news, Yang Yang. We modified the minibus the day before yesterday to make it amphibious. However, because the conversion was done hastily, its function is a one-time use. If we switch to water mode now, we won’t be able to change it back. So, if we encounter land again, we’ll only be able to..."

"Only be able to do what?"

Hong Bin pointed to the bicycles mounted near the minibus door. "We’ll have to use these to provide manual power. It will be very slow."