Chapter 569: The Attack Site

There were no more suspicious signs along the way, and Du Zhengyi couldn't be sure if the shadow he had glimpsed earlier was an illusion. He sped toward the glacier for half an hour, arriving at a wide area where the He Gu forked, where a dilapidated shed stood on the hillside.

"What is this?" Majiang lowered the car window first and poked his head out to look. "Is it a stop for nomadic people? It looks like it might have been a settlement once."

"No," Du Zhengyi said. "This practical style, you can tell at a glance it's Han migrant workers."

"Makes sense," Majiang smiled. "No prayer flags, and no layout rules either. Since you've stopped anyway, can I get out to take a leak?"

"Wait a moment, Doctor Majiang," the female Mage behind him suddenly called out. "Take a good look outside; the entire camp has been torn apart."

Majiang pulled back the hand he was about to use to push open the car door and closed the window, looking out again through the glass. The iron frames that had originally secured the shed at the camp were still there, but the waterproof canvas on top had been shredded, flapping loudly like flags in the wind of the He Gu. A fair amount of cooking equipment was scattered on the ground, and a few stainless steel lunch boxes were being blown across the ground by the strong wind. He looked up and into the distance; there was a set of machinery connected to a conveyor belt in the He Gu, though he couldn't tell what it was for. But two oversized trucks were still parked by the edge of the He Gu, their wheels sunk into the silt. It looked like these two trucks were just right for dismantling and loading the complex machinery from the river; perhaps the trucks were there to transport the equipment.

"Did they strike it rich, enough to eat and drink for the rest of their lives, so they just abandoned the machines and trucks?" Majiang asked skeptically.

"I don't know," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice. "Don't get out of the car yet; let's keep moving."

"Alright." Majiang gave up readily, though he glanced at Du Zhengyi with suspicion. "Do you know where we're going? So, where are we heading?"

Du Zhengyi did not answer him. The convoy began to leave the He Gu, gradually ascending the slope along the forked valley and climbing back onto the hilly section. There were still tracks left by construction vehicles on the ground, forming a path sufficient for an off-road vehicle; this path was basically in the direction Du Zhengyi wanted to go. Perhaps it was a slight detour, but it was a ready-made road, and in terms of cost-effectiveness, it was actually the most sensible choice.

Du Zhengyi's thumb tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel. Just as Majiang was about to speak, Du Zhengyi made a "shh" sound. Majiang fell silent, shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and let his gaze drift out the window, when suddenly, the corner of his eye caught something on the top of a hill.

He turned his head sharply; there seemed to be a few black animals on the hill. Du Zhengyi's speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, the hill was far behind. He peered toward that spot again, but even with a Mage's eyesight, he couldn't see clearly.

"What's going on?" Majiang turned his head and muttered, glancing at Du Zhengyi. Du Zhengyi's expression remained unchanged, but he began to sense that Du Zhengyi had already entered a state of combat readiness. He turned back to look at the two Battle Mages in the back; Xiang Qian was silent, her attention seemingly focused on her own knees. Yan Hao, on the other hand, was somewhat uneasy, constantly looking back.

The glacier was no longer far away. The off-road vehicle drove into a mountain hollow, and Du Zhengyi's speed was pushed almost to the limit. Majiang's patience finally reached its limit. "Du Zhengyi, you're driving too fast, the road conditions here are terrible. Can you slow down a bit?"

"I won't flip the car," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice.

"I know you won't! But look, my phone has already counted thirty thousand steps just from the bumping. If you keep this up, my balls are going to be shaken to pieces."

"Shut up!" Du Zhengyi suddenly barked.

Just then, Majiang let out an "ah." In his Mage's vision, he thought he saw the shadow of his own convoy appear in the distance. "What is that?"

"Those are parked cars," Du Zhengyi said, frowning.

Majiang grabbed the car door nervously. About a minute later, even he could clearly see the black off-road vehicles parked there. It wasn't just that they were parked; the doors were open, as if they had broken down. There was another one behind, facing backward, flipped over and lying on its side on the road.

"The marks on the ground," Du Zhengyi said vaguely.

Majiang hurriedly looked out, but before he could see clearly, he heard Xiang Qian behind him say, "They were suddenly attacked. Humans were fleeing in our direction, and something caught up to them. It has immense strength."

"What?" Majiang pinched the bridge of his nose. The car had stopped, but he found himself too nervous to focus his attention on what was on the ground.

"Immense strength," Du Zhengyi added. "The bumper is shattered; that thing even ripped the car's engine out. This wasn't done by a Mage; no matter how crazy a Mage is, they aren't this crazy."

"What?" Majiang found that he could only say this one word.

"Don't get out," Du Zhengyi pushed open the car door and jumped out. "Yan Hao, stay in the car with Majiang."

"Huh?" Yan Hao's voice was blown back into the car by the strong wind. In the blink of an eye, both Battle Mages had already appeared next to the abandoned cars.

"Holy shit." Majiang covered the lower half of his face. Through the car glass, he finally saw clearly that the front hood of the off-road vehicle was almost still closed, but there was a shattered hole in the middle of the bumper below. The engine, like the car's guts, had been ripped out and left outside. Even though it was just machinery, he felt a bit like vomiting.

Du Zhengyi and Xiang Qian pulled open the car doors to check inside, then turned to the car behind. Majiang slowly calmed down; a stain on the outside of the hood became clearer and clearer in his eyes. He was a Doctor and understood the body well, allowing him to slightly adjust his visual capabilities. Slowly, he discerned that it was a pool of blood. Once there was a reference point, he could see more—from a pool of blood to even more blood, spread throughout the entire mountain hollow, all the way to a tree on the hillside.

Majiang took a deep breath. "Yan Hao, do you know of any animals that hang corpses on trees to eat?"

"Cheetahs, maybe," Yan Hao said, curiously observing Du Zhengyi's actions.

"Cheetahs probably wouldn't want to tear apart a car, right?" Majiang said. "You guys often capture High-Reaction Mages, right? Have you ever seen a High-Reaction Mage that eats people?"

"Huh?" Yan Hao asked in surprise, only then coming to his senses. "No... no. But I lack experience. That should... there shouldn't be such a perverted Mage, right?"

Du Zhengyi left the car, and Yan Hao immediately shut his mouth and looked at Du Zhengyi. Following the direction Du Zhengyi was looking, even he saw the corpse in the tree this time, his body leaning back sharply. "I... what is that? Ugh, ugh, that's fucking disgusting!"

(End of chapter)