The faint light pierced through the paths between the mountains, and the off-road vehicle under the night glided across the shallow water on the crooked riverbank, slowly moving forward.

Accompanied by the silent and dark flowing water, the sound of rushing echoed in the ancient and tranquil dense forest.

A white-haired elderly dressed in simple casual clothes followed behind the speeding off-road vehicle. His steps were slow, as if strolling leisurely along the edge of the riverbank.

Yet in this manner, he managed to maintain a distance similar to that of the off-road vehicle, closely following behind it.

He Ao looked up, his gaze sweeping over the bright crescent moon in the sky, then lowered his head to glance at the gurgling water of the river beneath his feet.

On both sides of this small river are mountain hollows. The current of the river is very rapid, and now it seems to be the high water period, with most of the surrounding riverbanks being covered by the flow. The water is not deep, but it carries a certain momentum, masking the dim and uncertain places in the waterway ahead.

If it were winter, during the dry season, with the river frozen, this road would likely be much easier to navigate.

But now it is the high water period, and it’s necessary to have someone who is very familiar with the terrain lead the way. It is best to travel during the day for safety, reducing the risk of accidents on the river.

He Ao looked up again, glancing at the rapidly advancing off-road vehicle shining brightly ahead.

Clearly, the driver of this off-road vehicle is very familiar with this road, to the point where he can quickly navigate the riverway under the dim night sky, precisely finding each landing spot for the tires.

He Ao continued to slowly move forward along the narrow river, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding peaks.

In the wilderness, most of the time, the danger does not come from the road itself being unclear but from other living ’dangers’, those powerful exotic beasts lurking in the mountains, Gobi Desert, and secluded valleys.

This road should not be some kind of fixed trade route. Such trade routes have been explored for decades or centuries, allowing people to roughly understand the boundaries of various powerful exotic beast territories, minimizing the risk of attacks.

Furthermore, the Federation issues regular cleanup missions, having the Consortium Mercenary Corps clear the trade routes to ensure their continuous passage.

These Consortium Mercenary Corps primarily operate on the core trade routes, and the Corps themselves will also clear the exotic beasts on the trade routes. This was one of the initial reasons the Federation permitted consortiums to have Mercenary Corps.

Outside the cities and high walls, to ensure the Federation’s transportation and logistics, some organized ’private militias’ can play a significant role, shouldering some societal responsibilities.

However, the small road He Ao is taking now is clearly not one of those trade routes.

This road should be a temporarily emerging ’road’, maintaining a certain stability during a specific phase.

And the reason for this stability is generally...

He Ao looked up, gazing at the top of the mountain peak on the left side, where a faint gleam of light seemed to be kindling.

Like eyes flickering in the pitch-black night, sweeping across the night sky.

.......

"Has this road always been here?" The woman sitting in the passenger seat, with a seatbelt fastened and holding a child in her arms, looked nervously into the darkness ahead as the vehicle bumped along.

"Of course not, this road only appeared last year, and few people know about it," the lean figure in the driver’s seat maneuvered the vehicle through a puddle, causing water to splash up, "It was a path figured out by us who often wander outside, only we know this road, using it to transport some special goods."

"We set out at night, aren’t there any exotic beasts around here?" The woman reached out, gripping the handle inside the car, cautiously asking, "Usually, when traveling on such non-trade routes, there are attacks, right?"

Then she seemed to realize something, quickly saying, "Is it because the powerful exotic beast nearby died? That’s why this area is so quiet?"

"What are you thinking?" The lean figure sneered, gripping the steering wheel tightly, pulling out a cigarette to light from his pocket, and sticking it in his mouth, "On the contrary, it’s exactly because a very, very powerful exotic beast has arrived nearby that we have such a quiet and peaceful road."

"Huh?" The woman was slightly stunned, "Why?"

"You are not familiar enough with this wilderness," the lean figure scoffed, "If you and your child died, would your house remain empty there?"

"Would some other relatives come to inherit it?" The woman hesitated for a bit, softly saying, "If no relatives show up, the camp bullies would probably just take it over."

"That’s exactly the point," the lean figure chuckled, steering with one hand and extending the cigarette out the window, "Just as with knowing that once a house is vacated, someone will come to claim it, it’s the same logic in the wilderness. If a ruler dies, other rulers around, or exotic beasts living in this place, will come to claim it."

With the cigarette in his mouth, he continued, "Exotic beasts are just beasts; they are more chaotic than our camps. Their fights are purely brutal brawls and attacks, and these battles will last for a long time, initially at a high intensity, with fights visible everywhere.

"Later, the intensity will reduce, but there will still be strong aggression. During this phase, all exotic beasts in the region will be very sensitive, and at any hint of an abnormality, they will launch direct attacks, attacking any passing caravans or travelers nearby.

"If that was the case, this small road would not exist at all. We would be surrounded by easily agitated, fierce exotic beasts."

"Will those exotic beasts keep on being chaotic?" The woman asked, slightly curious.

"How could they?" The lean figure slightly raised an eyebrow, "If this constant self-slaughter continued, no matter how prolific, the exotic beasts in the wilderness would all die out. After the acute tense period, exotic beasts will maintain a certain balance until a new ruler emerges and reclaims this area."

He turned the steering wheel, steering the vehicle into the forest off to the side, "Or they will maintain this balance until all exotic beasts get used to this balance, leading to the birth of a new stable forest Order."

"So which situation does this small road belong to?" The woman asked cautiously, "Has a new balance been formed?"

"No, it’s neither of those situations," the lean figure shook his head, cautiously lifting his head to glance at the left-side mountain peak that stood in darkness, piercing into the clouds, exuding a terrifying sense of suffocation.

The lean figure slightly shrunk his neck, a strong sense of fear flashing in his eyes, then he turned his head back, continuing, "A new, powerful external ruler has arrived here, directly subduing all the surrounding exotic beasts, making them not dare to make any noise, directly forming a new Order."

He swallowed, continuing, "This way, under this new Order, we can find some stable roads that allow us to pass through smoothly, and only in this manner can we create such a road that never existed before but now does."

"Does that mean we are safe on this road?" The woman seemed to get it partially and nodded, then turned to ask.

"Not safe," the lean figure replied casually.

The woman slightly paused, instinctively holding the child in her arms tighter and grasping the door handle.

The gaunt figure seemed not to notice her action, placing his hands on the steering wheel, gazing at the deep forest ahead, and continued speaking, "We don’t know what the new wilderness overlord in this nearby area intends to do, what its habits are. Such powerful exotic beasts are very intelligent, and their personalities are difficult to gauge.

"Its changes could happen in an instant. This road is passable now because it suppresses nearby exotic beasts, keeping them from approaching, and has not attacked us passersby."

Seemingly remembering something, he paused, "But suddenly one day, or even in a moment, it might attack travelers passing by, or let other exotic beasts come over. For now, we can only say that this road has been fine for us these past few months, but we can’t be sure it will always be fine."

"What if that powerful exotic beast starts attacking us?" the woman shrank back, cautiously asking.

"There’s nothing we can do," the gaunt figure shook his head, calmly replying, "Wait for death."

Hearing this, the woman hesitated slightly. She raised her head, glanced bewilderedly at the gaunt figure, and then lowered her head again.

"What’s wrong? I told you this road is dangerous," the gaunt figure glanced at her, casually asking, "Regretting it now?"

"No regrets," the woman smiled slightly, looking down at the sleeping child in her arms and whispering, "Actually, the camp isn’t much safer than the wilderness. Listening to you, if we figured out the exotic beast’s routines, it doesn’t seem so dangerous. Besides, even if we encounter danger, it’s just death,"

She lifted her head, looking at the somewhat wide road ahead, "The thoughts of exotic beasts are actually much purer than human hearts."

Hearing her words, the gaunt figure paused again, saying nothing further.

He only gazed at the road ahead, slightly furrowing his brows.

"What’s wrong?" The woman noticed his change, instinctively gripping the door handle nervously, "Did that exotic beast overlord really change its mind?"

Click—

The gaunt figure stepped on the brakes, and with a violent jolt, the whole off-road vehicle halted.

Amidst this violent trembling, the child in the woman’s arms blinked awake quickly, opening his mouth, seemingly about to cry.

"Baby, it’s okay, baby..." The woman hurriedly rocked the child, trying to prevent him from crying,

While beside her, the gaunt figure in the driver’s seat had already pushed open the car door and jumped out.

The woman hastily soothed the child and then also pushed open the car door, jumped out, and walked over to the gaunt figure’s side.

By now, the gaunt figure had taken out a small flashlight, shining its light on the ground ahead.

"Is it traces of some terrifying exotic beast?" The woman, holding the child, quickly approached.

"It’s tire tracks," the gaunt figure looked at the somewhat muddy road ahead, "The ground here has softened, it rained a couple of days ago, making it easier to leave traces. There are many tire tracks, with many trucks having passed through. It looks like some kind of special convoy,"

He walked forward, using the flashlight to illuminate one of the wide and deep tracks, speaking slowly, "Ordinary trucks can’t leave such tracks. These should belong to armed vehicles within a convoy, armed with mobile electromagnetic cannons at that."

He shone the flashlight again, observing several tracks around him, "And not just one vehicle, it’s a fully armed convoy. But this convoy shouldn’t face any danger on normal trade routes, so why take this small path? In a hurry?"

"What do you mean?" The woman looked up at the gaunt figure, quietly asking, "Didn’t you say only a few of you knew this road?"

"Yes," the gaunt figure nodded. He put away the flashlight, glanced around at the dim night, and casually said, "So, someone sold us out, revealing this road to that outside convoy."

He walked back toward the off-road vehicle, "We can’t take this road anymore. Don’t tell anyone, and don’t come here again."

"What do you mean?" The woman hesitantly followed the gaunt figure, "Aren’t you all on good terms?"

"We are on good terms," the gaunt figure stopped at the driver’s door, opened it, and casually said, "But like you said, human hearts are far more complicated than the exotic beasts in the wilderness."

Saying that, he shook his head, "I should have sold it first. Maybe I could have fetched a good price."

The woman lowered her head, walked to the passenger seat, and turned her gaze to the towering peaks around, trying to change the topic, "There really aren’t any exotic beasts around here. Has the new overlord’s territory become so vast that they don’t dare come close?"

"This is just the core area," the gaunt figure climbed into the car, "There are no exotic beasts around here. As you go further out, they will appear."

The woman climbed into the car holding the child, closed the door, and hearing the gaunt figure’s words, widened her eyes in surprise, "We haven’t left the core area yet? Is the core area this big? What kind of size must that exotic beast overlord be?"

"From our previous speculation," the gaunt figure restarted the vehicle, casually saying, "That exotic beast might be right by our side."

"What do you mean?" The woman was shocked, gripping the door handle all at once.

"You haven’t come here before, have you?" the gaunt figure continued to ask.

"There are more exotic beasts here, it’s more dangerous," the woman shook her head, "I’ve never gone this way."

Hearing this, the gaunt figure fully started the vehicle, turned his head, and looked out the window, "Do you see that mountain on the left?"

The woman followed the gaunt figure’s gaze, seeing that ever-present peak among the mountains. It seemed their path had always been circling this mountain. With a hint of guessing, she said, "That exotic beast is on that mountain?"

"No," the gaunt figure pressed the accelerator, "There didn’t use to be a mountain here."

The woman was slightly puzzled, then suddenly gripped the door handle tightly.

······

At this moment, at the end of their line of sight, on the top of that towering mountain, an eye shimmering with light was lighting up in the darkness.

It gazed at the elderly with white curly hair in front of it, crouching, hiding in the dark cave, its gaze tense and cautious.