Luo Hanshuang heard the roar behind the car and stuck out her tongue slightly, though it did increase her attention.

However, since she was paying attention to the safety of driving, it resulted in the mouse horde pursuing for about twenty minutes.

This was still under the premise of Qu Jianlei continuously using the Golden Wheel Skill.

It must be said, no matter how intelligent a group is, once caught in a frenzy, those who can remain calm are definitely a minority.

Qu Jianlei caused a lot of damage, but those mice kept on pursuing relentlessly.

Aunt Han worried that he couldn't maintain stable output and even suggested whether he should consider dumping the mouse corpses on the car.

In her opinion, the mice might be agitated because the bodies of their comrades were being taken away.

However, Qu Jianlei stated everything was under control, and if there was really a need to hurry, he still had the Machine Cannon.

After twenty minutes, the mouse horde, which had closed to within less than three hundred meters of the off-road vehicle, finally slowed down.

They might have been scared, but Qu Jianlei preferred to believe these guys couldn't run anymore.

Even an A-level Warrior must watch their Inner Breath; continuous high-intensity running, even for a robot, must consider part wear.

Finally, he put away the Golden Wheel and used the Anti-Mecha Sniper Rifle to take out a few of the closer B-levels, and the horde finally slowed down completely.

Then he returned to the car. Chubby White Sweet immediately asked, "Brother Ran, is your Inner Breath still sufficient?"

Qu Jianlei pulled out a cigarette and lit it, lazily replying, "Don't worry, this is just a small scene."

In his years in the Imperial, he's seen many scenes more dangerous than this one.

Aunt Han glanced at him through the rearview mirror and spoke in a deep voice, "Is the direction still correct?"

"More or less," Qu Jianlei casually replied, "Feels like it's not far now."

His listless attitude about everything was a bit of a downer.

Luo Hanshuang drove for a few more minutes and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you curious about what we found?"

"Some energy-laden items, I guess," Qu Jianlei still lazily said after taking a puff.

"I'm not interested in others' finds."

"Huh, you actually guessed it?" Luo Hanshuang was a bit surprised, "This was something the three of us acquired together, we all have a share."

"Not interested," Qu Jianlei replied without hesitation.

"You don't even ask what it is and just refuse outright?"

"It's not hard to guess," Qu Jianlei casually answered, "Where mutant beasts gather, there are bound to be good things... that's common knowledge."

Since he had already determined it was a Secret Realm related to the Divine Land, he naturally thought of those legends of the Divine Land.

Chubby White Sweet pouted dejectedly, feeling like the other's attitude was that of a conversation killer.

But Aunt Han looked at him again, "Outside the Mist Mansion it's not necessarily like this... you really are familiar with the Mist Mansion."

"Not as complicated as you think," Qu Jianlei took another puff, "The rules here are just a bit different."

Isn't that called familiar? Aunt Han silently sighed, looking out the car window, "It's about to rain."

Qu Jianlei casually replied, "No worries, we're about to see water."

Half an hour later, the off-road vehicle indeed saw a body of water, but it wasn't a river; it was an expansive, boundless pond.

The three of them stopped about a hundred meters from the shore, got out to take a look.

Luo Hanshuang walked to the water's edge, observed for a while, and said, "The water is clear, but not very flowing. Is this a lake?"

Aunt Han glanced at Qu Jianlei, "A little more to the left, and it's a river?"

She remembered that the directions they pointed to had slight differences.

She was confident in her Perception, but now it seemed... maybe the other's Perception was correct?

Why clarify so clearly? Qu Jianlei was a bit speechless.

But finally, he indicated, "Where there's a lake, there's bound to be a river. We'll find out by walking along it."

As he spoke, rain began to fall. Luo Hanshuang caught a couple of drops and shouted, "Oh, the rainwater has energy."

Qu Jianlei didn't respond, turning to walk back to the off-road vehicle, "I'll clean and skin those mice."

Having taken on the role of bodyguard for pay, he had to do the things a bodyguard should do.

Aunt Han also reached out to catch a couple of raindrops, sensing the energy within, she looked thoughtfully at his back.

Could this also have been part of your plan?

Immediately after, Luo Hanshuang turned her head and shouted, "The smell of blood... aren't you afraid of attracting mutant beasts?"

Aunt Han grabbed her and pulled her away from the lake, "With you shouting loudly like that, be careful not to attract mutant beasts from the lake."

Qu Jianlei muttered back, "Then you stand guard. Keeping the fur attached takes up too much space."

He was quite right; a car full of mouse corpses, once cleaned and skinned, only took up half the car trunk.

The furs and innards really did take up a lot of space.

However, these things weren't thrown away. Aunt Han saved some of them.

She said these things might be useful because, with many mutant beasts, the most valuable parts aren't necessarily the flesh.

Seeing this, Qu Jianlei and Luo Hanshuang imitated her and saved some as well.

The two women's Storage Talismans already had limited space, and this nearly used it all up.

Fortunately, Qu Jianlei had plenty of Storage Talismans, and after leaving three mouse corpses, the rest were stored after being cleaned.

Luo Hanshuang took out a water purifier from the storage talisman. Although she had brought a lot of fresh water, why waste it, right?

Qu Jianlei, on the other hand, took out a water quality monitor. After finding no major issues, he filled two large barrels with water.

The three of them then got into the car and continued along the lakeside until dusk, when they finally spotted a river.

To guard against unknown threats, they chose not to camp by the water but on open ground about 500 meters away from the water's edge.

Every one of them had brought tents, but they ultimately decided to rest inside the vehicle.

They also brought plenty of supplies, so they set up a sun umbrella against the rain and cooked rat meat underneath it.

During the waiting period, Qu Jianlei took out materials and set up a defense array around them, using an energy block as a power source.

Luo Hanshuang wasn't too surprised by this; she had learned from her older brother that he was capable of setting up arrays.

However, Aunt Han was dumbfounded, muttering softly, "I thought I was already well prepared..."

She was able to adapt to the conditions of the wild, so a bit of hardship wasn't an issue. This time, considering the young lady, she was especially thorough with the supplies.

"But comparing it to your preparations, what I've done just doesn't seem to measure up—there's even an array... Is there anything you can't do?"

The feeling became more evident during dinner, "And you make such delicious food!"

Qu Jianlei didn't mind her muttering; what he was interested in was, "Turns out, regular rats taste the best."

The rat meat did have a somewhat earthy taste, but he used strong seasonings to cover the flavor. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Surprisingly, neither of the women was particularly averse to the strong flavors.

That night, they naturally took turns keeping watch, and Luo Hanshuang was no exception—there were simply too few of them.

However, considering she would be driving the next day, they let her take the first watch.

Early the next morning, the three of them followed the river upstream. They hadn't gone far when they discovered a lush forest.

At this point, Aunt Han, with her wood attribute, came into play, managing to carve a path through the woods practically.

Unfortunately, the path was still impassable by car, so Qu Jianlei and Luo Hanshuang had to trek on foot.

The two escorts could bear the ordeal, but Luo Hanshuang found it quite challenging.

Although she was a C-level, her stamina far exceeded that of an ordinary person, but after trudging for three days, she finally couldn't help but complain.

"How much further until we're out of the woods? I feel like I can't keep going."

Qu Jianlei curiously asked, "The internship is only a month long. With the two of us helping, you're already complaining. What about your classmates?"

"A month is the minimum, not the maximum," Luo Hanshuang replied sullenly, "Entering straight into the wilderness, what bad luck!"

"Alright, we're almost out," Aunt Han finally spoke, "It'll take at most another half day."

Being wood attribute, she had the most say in the forest.

Although Qu Jianlei also had some perception ability, since someone else was helping, why should he exert himself?

With Aunt Han's judgment, the three of them continued without stopping for the night, munching on dry rations as they went.

After three hours, a large rock appeared ahead, the exposed part reaching about five stories high.

The trees ahead became gradually sparser, using this rock as a boundary.

However, it wasn't until the evening of the fourth day that they fully emerged from the woods— there were still trees ahead, but they no longer obstructed the view significantly.

They didn't stop but kept moving another ten kilometers. Only when it got dark did they clear a piece of land to park the SUV.

Then they took out the cooking equipment and made dinner. Qu Jianlei once again set up the defense array.

During those few days passing through the forest, the defense array indeed proved effective, blocking attacks from mutant beasts and keeping insects at bay.

They didn't kill the mutant beasts, not because of kindness, but because the dense forest was too unfriendly to travelers.

If they accidentally provoked some herd, it would indeed be troublesome.

Those days in the forest were neither good for eating nor sleeping, but today they could finally enjoy a proper meal and good night's sleep.

However, halfway through their meal, Qu Jianlei was the first to put down his food, looking coldly in a certain direction.

Immediately after, Aunt Han also turned her head towards the same direction.

Seeing this, Luo Hanshuang reached for the single soldier machine gun on the ground, "What's going on?"

"It's nothing," the two escorts shook their heads in unison, with Qu Jianlei adding, "Don't underestimate my defense array."

Aunt Han had been curious about the array's power, though she hesitated to inquire directly—it was a bit taboo.

Now was a good time to ask, "What's the strength of this defense array?"

Qu Jianlei casually replied, "It can withstand the simultaneous attack of three B-levels, but the energy block consumption is quite high."

"Three B-levels?" Aunt Han picked up her bowl to continue eating, "You should have said earlier, made me nervous for nothing."

Qu Jianlei rolled his eyes, "You didn't ask, to begin with," then he resumed eating as well.

"Didn't want to seem too nosy?" reiterated Luo Hanshuang, and she picked up her bowl too.

They had only taken a few bites when rustling sounds arose in the distance.

Luo Hanshuang was barely able to remain calm; her fingers twitched slightly.

Then, not far away, a startled shout came, "Leng Bingbing!"

Luo Hanshuang reached for the gun, momentarily stunned by these words, "Chubby?"

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