Chapter 125: Into the Wasteland

Crossing the steel drawbridge on the west side of the city the car drove out of the Second Satellite City.

A wide rammed-earth and cement road branched into several smaller paths curving smoothly towards the depths of the Wasteland.

Following the widest road in the center led them onto a massive highway. Though built thirty years ago it still looked mostly flat and broad part of an old highway network stretching out in all directions.

It’s been thirty years since the Cataclysm and the roads suffered severe damage.

However the roads around Qinggang City had been repaired by construction teams from within the walls mostly restoring their original appearance.

But near the High-wall City many temporary roadblocks and high drawbridges had been set up at intersections.

These were meant to prevent attacks from madmen and other dangers.

Lu Xin had grown up in the Second Satellite City and this was his first time truly leaving it.

He looked out the passenger window seeing a dense vibrant expanse of green.

All the plants showed signs of rampant uncontrolled growth.

A faint yet persistent stench of decay hung in the air making him subconsciously tense up.

The sky was a dull grey.

Looking into the distance it felt as if the light itself was distorted making things appear warped.

They looked like grotesque monsters crouching on the ground watching their surroundings menacingly.

…

…

“Haha, come on, let me guess…”

“If it’s Uncle, Auntie, and the cute little sister sitting in the back, then I bet they’re sitting like this, right? Uncle on the left, Auntie on the right, and the cute little sister must be in the middle, right?”

“Or maybe Uncle’s on the right and Auntie’s on the left?”

…

Gecko, driving the car, hadn’t shut up since learning that the seemingly empty vehicle was actually quite crowded.

He’d been chatting non-stop with the ‘family’ in the car since they left the city.

The key thing was, he seemed to be having a genuinely good time…

Lu Xin felt a bit helpless listening to him and gently reminded, “You guessed wrong.”

Gecko paused, then chuckled. “No way. Is the sister on the left then? Or maybe the right?”

“Neither.”

Lu Xin replied without looking up.

Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw Mom sitting upright in the back seat, smiling faintly.

An elegant smile graced her features. Seeing Lu Xin looking at her in the mirror, she chuckled softly.

“This young man is nice enough, just a bit talkative…”

“Should we consider having your sister sew his mouth shut?”

…

Lu Xin considered it, then decided against it.

Looking up slightly, he could hear his sister on the car roof, excitedly enjoying the wind, her happy shouts drifting down.

His father wasn’t in the car right now.

Although the family meeting had unanimously decided that all four of them would go out together to find those people.

But his short-tempered father couldn’t stand the monotony and boredom of the journey. Given his temper, if he were in the car, Lu Xin doubted the vehicle would reach the Knight Orders’ people intact. And Gecko, cheerfully chatting away, couldn’t be guaranteed to keep his head on his shoulders until they reached their destination…

In reality, only Lu Xin, Mom, Sister, and Gecko were in this car.

Of course, Lu Xin didn’t plan on reminding Gecko or explaining anything in detail.

Gecko couldn’t see them anyway.

Usually, Lu Xin chose not to tell people who couldn’t see his family about their existence at all.

He had proactively told Chen Jing because it involved work matters.

He told Gecko because they would be traveling together and might have to fight Ability Users side-by-side, so mutual understanding was better.

As for Gecko’s talkativeness…

Seeing how nervous he was, might as well let him talk if he wanted to…

…

…

“The materials from the City Defense Department don’t seem very useful.”

To prevent the danger of Gecko getting his mouth sewn shut, Lu Xin flipped through the files in his hand and casually mentioned it to Gecko.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Gecko answered immediately.

After chatting with unseen people for so long on the road, he was already panicking inside.

Hearing an answer he could actually perceive felt like a blessing right now. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, he pulled a file from the car door’s compartment with the other, his expression quickly turning serious. “The City Defense Department’s tracking basically failed.”

He placed it in front of him, flipped through a couple of pages, and said, “According to the initial investigation results relayed by the City Defense Department agents, those Ability Users from outside the city didn’t leave immediately after escaping. Instead, they went to an abandoned town about ten kilometers south, stayed for some time in a high-rise building there, and only then set off again, fleeing under the cover of night.”

“Unfortunately, only two agents were tracking this Knight Orders group at the time. They disappeared after investigating the high-rise where the Knight Orders had temporarily stopped. It’s been a full day now with no word, their status unknown.”

“The follow-up investigation team could only track them as far as that abandoned town. They’re currently searching for their bodies.”

…

Lu Xin nodded. “So, are we going there to check it out first?”

“Right.”

Gecko nodded. “First, we’ll take a look at the place they stayed, and see if the investigation team found any leads.”

In the rearview mirror, Lu Xin saw that Mom didn’t seem to have any objections, so he didn’t say anything more.

He just thought seriously for a moment and said, “They’ve had a full day’s head start. Who knows how far they’ve gotten? If we want to catch them, we’ll have to maintain extremely high speed!”

“Hehe…”

Hearing Lu Xin, Gecko chuckled lowly. “Brother, I think it’s time to show you…”

“Just how wild we Spider-types get when we get our hands on something we can control…”

…

As he spoke, Gecko shifted gears and steadily pressed the accelerator all the way down.

A distinct pushback sensation began. Lu Xin rolled up the car window.

He could see the scenery outside start to blur as it rushed backward at increasing speed.

As a Spider-type Ability User driving such a high-spec steel beast, Gecko’s abilities quickly became apparent.

The needle on the instrument panel seemed pulled towards higher numbers by an invisible hand.

The engine roared like a beast, sending a tingling vibration deep into their bodies.

Ahead, the cracked pavement, weeds breaking through the earth, and deep potholes made driving extremely difficult.

But under Gecko’s seemingly effortless yet incredibly agile control, the car maintained an uncanny stability.

The scenery ahead rushed wildly towards them, then flew past behind.

At this moment, Lu Xin genuinely felt like the car could fly.

“Whoosh!”

Gecko didn’t even slow down when turning into a winding intersection ahead; he actually accelerated.

Coordinating the steering wheel and accelerator, the heavy car executed a smooth drift, precisely and easily turning into the new intersection while also dodging a rabbit sprinting across the path, plunging deeper down the long road.

The only sign of respect he showed the road was a quick glance forward.

He didn’t even have both hands on the steering wheel.

Even Lu Xin couldn’t help but marvel at the peculiar beauty of watching a Spider-type use tools…

And his sister…

He glanced in the rearview mirror. His sister had been flung off during the turn at the last intersection and was now angrily chasing after them.

…

…

With Gecko driving at his usual standard, the car reached the abandoned town in less than twenty minutes.

Tall buildings, overgrown with weeds, loomed like giant monsters, occasionally revealing fragmented structures.

At first glance, it evoked a sense of unsettling decay and gloom.

The car didn’t enter the town but stopped at its edge beside a largely intact high-rise building.

When the car finally stopped, Lu Xin couldn’t help but let out a slight sigh of relief.

Gecko’s expression, however, had turned serious. He reached out the window and made a hand signal.

From the seemingly deserted town, two figures dressed in camouflage, looking like soldiers, quickly ran out.

They both carried guns, and one held a freshly printed document.

Reaching the car window, they saluted and reported succinctly, “By order of the City Defense Department, sharing real-time intelligence with you:”

“We arrived here at four this morning, by which time we had already lost contact with our two colleagues. After conducting an initial investigation, we confirmed the targets stayed in the high-rise ahead for over half an hour.”

“Later, by examining tire tracks and road conditions around the high-rise, we determined the targets are a team of seven with five motorcycles and one off-road vehicle. The tracks suggest they decided to leave suddenly, heading south.”

“However, the surrounding terrain and road conditions are extremely complex. We cannot currently determine their exact route.”

“We also haven’t found any trace of the two missing colleagues.”

…

As they spoke, they handed over the file. It contained not only a more in-depth analysis of the situation described but also photos of leftover food and cigarette butts from the people upstairs, along with preserved evidence.

“Finding them based on just this… it’s going to be tough…”

Gecko mused, glancing over at Lu Xin.

Although he was now the Vice-captain following Lu Xin on this tracking mission, he didn’t actually know what to do next.

Of course, perhaps the higher-ups didn’t know what to do either.

The City Defense Department agents outside the window clearly looked puzzled too.

They knew a special tracking team was coming out of the city to meet them and that they were required to provide full assistance.

But they still didn’t understand. Everything that could be investigated had been. The targets left very few clues, making even determining their escape route difficult. As for tracking them… how could anyone pursue them across the vast Wasteland?

…

…

As everyone’s attention focused on him, Lu Xin silently glanced at his Mom in the rearview mirror.

“Take the path to the left.”

Mom sat elegantly in the back seat, a gentle smile on her face.

She gave directions softly, seeming quite confident.

Meeting Lu Xin’s questioning gaze in the mirror, her delicate smile remained unchanged as she explained softly,

“Since we’re paying guests a visit, how could we not know where they are?”

Then, her smile grew even more captivating. “When one of them wanted to take a look at you back then, I saw him too.”

…

Lu Xin felt relieved. He nodded gently and put down the materials the investigation team had handed over.

He took out a small notebook hidden in his left breast pocket. Shielding it from Gecko’s view, he slowly flipped to a page marked “Mom” and wrote: “Can track people she has seen…?”

Then he put the notebook back and calmly told Gecko, “Take the small path to the left.”

Gecko’s expression was a bit strange.

He carefully glanced at Lu Xin. “Brother, you know tracking and investigation?”

“I don’t.”

Lu Xin answered honestly. Then, glancing in the rearview mirror, he added softly, “But I have family helping me.”

In the back seat, a happy expression slowly spread across Mom’s face.