Chapter Nine, The Desolate Thief (Part One)

Approaching fifty, Lip took the pipe from his mouth and tapped on the car window. He was the leader of this small trading caravan, transporting goods back and forth from the safe zone to the surrounding wasteland for resale. He had been doing this for over a decade and was quite familiar with the route to the Valley of Adventure.

Do not shoot!" Li Pu hurriedly stopped Xiao You, walked up, and returned the identification to the young man.

"What kind of joke is this? That spider is bigger than me! Damn it, how did such a thing come to exist in this cursed place? It's too bizarre..."

Puge couldn't help but shoot a glance at this guy, who clearly still held a grudge over the kick that Puge had dodged earlier. It was already generous of Puge not to teach him a lesson, yet this fellow still had that irritatingly smug look on his face. If it weren't for the need to catch a ride, Puge would have long since given him a good beating.

Is your name An Luo

Just as the convoy was slowly entering the canyon, the vehicle suddenly collided with something with a loud bang. Xiao You quickly slammed on the brakes, and the inertia of the car pitching forward and backward jolted everyone inside the vehicle awake.

However, that person quickly shifted their body and continued to doze off

The young man pulled a document from his pocket. Lip turned his head slightly towards the nearby Xiao You, who ran over to take the document and threw it directly to Lip. Then, he intended to deliver a hard kick to this guy's right foot to subdue him. However, unexpectedly, the guy shifted slightly, and Xiao You ended up kicking a stone beside him.

While Li Pu was dozing off, Xiao You took the opportunity to quietly glance at the person sitting behind him in the reflection of the mirror. After all, it was unusual for a caravan to suddenly have a stranger traveling with them. He raised his head to look at the mirror, which reflected the figure of a person draped in a long robe sitting in the rear seat.

"Are you also going to Adventure Valley?" Park Ge assumed a probing tone in his inquiry.

"May I catch a ride with you?" Puge inquired once again

However, today he felt quite nervous, as there was an unfamiliar person in the team, sitting right behind him in the carriage. That person was draped in a white desert robe and seemed to be leaning against the carriage, apparently asleep

Lip quickly drew his pistol from his waist, while Xiao You directly got up from the ground and retrieved a submachine gun from the compartment of the driver's seat. Several individuals who had descended from the truck also rushed forward, each holding a weapon and standing guard in front.

"What a formidable presence this is... Are you planning to rob us?" the somewhat unattractive young man asked with a hint of fear.

Xiao You did not dare to say much and involuntarily changed his tone, saying: "You go and change the tire."

"Yes!" replied Li Pu succinctly with a single word

Xiao You's face was ashen with anger; this guy was indeed not as handsome as himself, and no matter how he looked at him, it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Don't move!" With a command from Li Pu, the simultaneous sound of several guns being cocked caused the young man to immediately raise his hands and obediently halt his steps

Before long, a young man clad in a gray robe emerged from across the alley.

This relatively handsome young man responded with a sound and nodded. His name is Xiao You, the son of a distant relative of Li Pu. He has been following Li Pu for three to five years, and naturally, Li Pu is very at ease with him leading the way

In the distance, on a winding and uneven road, several vehicles are slowly moving forward, fully loaded with goods

No! The little girl next to me was the first to speak up and express her opposition.

Due to the fact that the wasteland is considered a dangerous area, and because Lip's caravan is too small to hire mercenary groups for protection, they naturally procure some weapons for self-defense from the library with their own personnel.

Li pulled out the pistol, chambered a round, and his expression turned dark and serious. He said to Xiao You: "First, change the tire; I will take care of these screws."

Xiao You couldn't help but glance a few more times; this fellow looked so strikingly beautiful, almost like a woman, which naturally piqued his curiosity. Moreover, he had never seen Shang Chang bring such a handsome man to Adventure Valley, leading to an increasing sense of doubt in his heart.

The intense and oppressive sunlight poured down from the azure sky. In the distance, beyond the desolate wasteland, occasional patches of lush, low vegetation could be seen, and some animals in the far distance suddenly began to move.

Lip hesitated for a moment, then nodded in response: "Sure."

"Hand over your ID card!" Li Pu's tone remained tense, showing no signs of relaxation; he maintained a significant level of vigilance towards any stranger.

Xiao You saw the stone that was stuck in the car tire, and he couldn't help but curse. Not only that, the car's tire had already been punctured and deflated by several screws, and on the road ahead, a row of sharp screws was scattered across the half-meter stretch in front.

Indeed, in the wasteland, you can freely use various types of weapons and even commit murder, which can be considered as freedom according to hetushu.com. No one will restrain you; however, if you commit a crime in the safe zone, the Adventurers' Guild will issue a bounty across all nations, and you will be forced to live forever outside the wasteland.

The young man shrugged, took the document back, and stuffed it into his pocket. Naturally, he felt a sense of protest in his heart regarding this name, which was nothing more than the name of a protagonist from a certain novel he had read online, now shamelessly altered and used as a fake identity on an ID card.

The three large trucks filled with cargo behind also came to a stop at the rear of the vehicle, and several drivers even leaned out of their windows to see what was happening

He heavily patted the shoulder of the young man who was focused on driving and instructed, "Go further ahead and turn into that canyon!" After saying this, he turned over, pulled the hat down to cover his face, and leaned back to doze off.

Hello, hello, hello, what do you want to do? Kill someone to silence them? Be careful, or I will scream for help... This guy still has the demeanor of a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water

Lip frowned as he looked at him. Based solely on his experience, this young man indeed did not seem to be lying. However, the fact that he remained so composed and calm under the threat of all those guns made him quite suspicious

The car suddenly jolted, and he hurriedly turned his head back to focus on driving. When he looked back in the mirror again, he noticed that the long robe of the person in the back seat had suddenly been lifted, revealing a delicate face, causing Xiao You to stare in a bit of a daze.

Noon

"What are you doing here as a student?" Li Pu still asked with some suspicion

Puge rubbed his nose, sighed, and fabricated, "I came out to look for my parents"

Just as Lip was using a dagger to sweep away the screws on the road ahead with a branch, a voice from the right side of the canyon shouted out like the sound of a pig being slaughtered

Upon waking, Lip reacted with heightened vigilance as he reached for the side compartment next to his seat, retrieving a handgun. He then followed Xiao You directly out of the car to assess the situation

Subsequently, a few individuals from the convoy came down one after another to the front to assess the situation. Li Pu exchanged a few words with those convoy members, and then the expressions of those individuals darkened as they nodded and hurried back to the vehicles behind.

Xiao You returned to the car and took out the toolbox, while the robed man who had been dozing off inside the car curiously leaned his head out to look outside. Xiao You ran to the back of the car, removed the spare tire, and hurried back to start changing the tire.

Clearly, this situation is man-made

Damn! Xiao You cursed as he held his painful foot, gritting his teeth and suddenly raising his gun to aim at him