For the next few days, Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao did not continue traveling at night because their biological clocks were completely disrupted, which was quite uncomfortable.
So, the two of them resumed their previous pattern of examining treasure maps and making notes at night, and traveling during the day.
...
One noon,
At a makeshift, rather rudimentary rest stop,
Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao were taking a break by a table, enjoying freshly roasted wild boar belly and bread, with a cola, feeling quite content.
Of course, it wasn't that Ye Feng particularly liked resting here; he had come to gather information.
He had encountered several such simple rest stops along the way. These stops were set up by the Explorer's Guild, ostensibly to provide services to explorers, but mostly to make money.
However, Ye Feng couldn't be bothered with that. What interested him was why there were so many people on his way to the treasure locations marked on the Huozhong Lu and Shehunshi Milu. And why were these people heading in the same direction as him?
"Damn it, a while back I saw a lunatic who actually drove into a thunderstorm area in a Hummer!"
"Haha, he probably got a good welcome from the ground lightning. I'll check it out when I get a chance, maybe there are some leftover supplies!"
"Supplies my ass. I went there yesterday, didn't see any trace of the Hummer. Probably turned to dust from the lightning..."
"Did you go to the wrong place? That thunderstorm area isn't fixed..."
...
"Shotgun Brother, are they talking about what we saw a few days ago?"
"Shotgun Brother, look, that Hummer outside the rest stop..."
"I'm not blind!"
...
Ye Feng was leaning against a tree trunk, leisurely sipping cola and pondering whether the large number of people heading in the same direction as him was a coincidence, when a discussion drifted over from nearby.
"Big brother, it seems like they're talking about us~"
Hearing this, Xiao Xiao whispered to Ye Feng.
"Hey, kid, did you drive that Hummer parked next to us?"
As soon as Xiao Xiao finished speaking, a loud voice boomed from beside them. Ye Feng turned his head and saw a burly man with a large beard, a bandolier slung across his shoulder.
"Kid, that car was lost by our Boss Hu yesterday. You stole it, and you dare drive it around here now?!"
"You've got some nerve! Do you even know who our Boss Hu is?"
"Exactly, you dare steal Boss Hu's car? Are you tired of living!"
After the burly man finished speaking, his subordinates began to shout, throwing mud at Ye Feng.
Looking at the burly man and his indignant subordinates, Xiao Xiao was stunned. Their ability to twist facts was outrageous. If she hadn't known the truth, she might have actually believed that Ye Feng had stolen their car...
"Kid, ah!~"
As soon as the burly man spoke, he let out a scream. Ye Feng had slapped him, distorting his face and making his teeth fly out with blood.
Before the other party could react, Ye Feng grabbed the burly man's shoulder and squeezed.
"Crack~!"
"Ah!~"
The burly man's shoulder blade instantly fractured. He let out a pig-like scream and was thrown a considerable distance by Ye Feng. Below where he fell were sharp, jagged rocks.
"Ah!~"
The burly man, still in mid-air before he hit the ground, let out another piercing scream. A large eagle, which had suddenly descended from high above, swooped down and snatched him away.
The eagle's dark claws, like steel hooks, instantly pierced the burly man's shoulder, lifting him into the sky.
"Ah!~ Ah!~"
The burly man struggled and screamed, trying to break free.
Seeing this, the eagle opened its beak and pecked sharply at the burly man's head. The burly man's screams instantly ceased, and his body went limp...
"What the..."
Ye Feng was somewhat speechless. This was completely unexpected.
"Brother, spare my life!"
"Spare my life, it was all the idiotic burly man's orders!"
"That's right, the stupid burly man told us to frame you, it has nothing to do with us!"
"Spare my life!"
...
Seeing this, all the burly man's subordinates knelt and begged for mercy, shifting all the blame onto the burly man who had been carried away by the eagle.
"These guys..."
Ye Feng was even more speechless. Just a few seconds ago, these people had been calling him "Boss Hu" with every breath, and now they were calling him "idiotic burly man" and "stupid burly man"...
"Crack!~"
Suddenly, one of the kneeling men, a burly man with a mustache, drew a pistol, looked up, his face filled with malice and triumph.
But before the man could pull the trigger, a blood line appeared on his neck.
"Pfft~ hiss!~"
Blood gushed from the mustache man's neck, severing his head...
"Ah~!!~"
"Ah!~"
"Ah~ save... my... life..."
This scene terrified the burly man's remaining subordinates. They scrambled and crawled away, but after only a few steps, their heads all fell to the ground.
"Hmm?"
Ye Feng frowned slightly.
He himself had dealt with the mustached man, but the remaining subordinates of the burly man had been killed by another group of people who happened to be walking towards the rest stop.
Those people, wielding large sabers, looted the bodies after the killing.
"Little brother, you've got good skills. Interested in joining our Blood Blade Gang?"
A middle-aged man, who appeared to be the leader, walked into the rest stop and winked.
"Not interested!"
Ye Feng returned to his seat and continued drinking his cola.
The middle-aged man didn't press the issue. He took his men to find a spot in the rest stop and began eating and drinking.
"What's going on around here? Why are so many explorers gathered, and they all seem to be heading in the same direction!"
Ye Feng opened a bottle of ice-cold beer and handed it to a sturdy man in his forties or fifties, carrying a large shotgun on his back, who was none other than "Shotgun Brother" from their earlier discussion.
"Little brother, you haven't been here long, have you!"
Shotgun Brother chuckled, took the beer, took a big gulp with a smile, and then passed it to his subordinate.
"Mhm!"
Ye Feng nodded slightly.
"Little brother, this isn't much of a secret anymore. These explorers are all drawn here by an ancient ruin!"
As he spoke, Shotgun Brother pointed in a direction.
"This..."
Seeing this, Ye Feng frowned, because that direction was also where the treasure map pointed.
"I don't know who spread the news, but they said there's an ancient ruin in that direction with astonishing treasures inside... As a result, waves and waves of explorers have come..."
"Even the Explorer's Guild has set up many temporary rest stops along the path to the ancient ruin for explorers to rest..."
Saying this, Shotgun Brother lowered his voice and glanced in the direction of the rest stop owner, "Little brother, this is just the Explorer's Guild's stated purpose. Their real goal is also the treasure of the ancient ruin..."
"This... ancient ruin, astonishing treasures?"
Ye Feng was taken aback.
He looked around. Could the ancient ruin treasure that this large group of people were after be the same one on his treasure map?
...