Jing Shu immediately shared the concerns that were weighing on her mind. At this point, everyone was restless, their nerves frayed like worn rope after days of driving through the devouring void. Whenever someone had an idea, they threw it onto the table immediately, hoping for any scrap of logic that could get them closer to the fleet. But after so many days, all they had managed was to keep the engine rumbling forward. There really was no other way but to press on.
Judging from the reports Lǚ Liu had compiled, things weren't looking good elsewhere either. The other search teams scattered throughout the region had found no trace of the heavy trucks.
"You have only been here once, and you still remember the way through this mountain range? For all we know, the route you took before was a shortcut, and now we are stuck taking the whole stretch," Lǚ Liu spoke up, her voice reflecting the fatigue of the journey. She added, "Still, it's possible we are just too slow, so we haven't reached the end yet."
Jing Shu frowned, her eyes fixed on the dark shapes of the mountains passing the window. She had to admit that Lǚ Liu wasn't wrong. With no light outside, no one could see more than a few meters of the road ahead. Only she was unaffected by the darkness and could see the jagged rocks clearly.
Yang Yang turned toward her, his face shadowed by the dim interior lights. "Jing Shu, you have something on your mind, don't you?"
"Don't you think this place feels a lot like the time we got trapped in the mountains back in America?" Jing Shu said. The moment she finished the sentence, a stabbing pain hit her head, as if her skull were splitting open. Huge chunks of her recent memories seemed to vanish into the fog again. Something was definitely wrong here. There had to be a connection between that disaster and this endless range.
Yang Yang frowned deeply, his brow furrowing as he leaned back. "If that's true, then it's bad." He remembered how dangerous that trip had been. After they returned, he had filed countless reports, and he knew it hadn't been luck that saved them. His eyes flicked toward Jing Shu. She was hiding something, just like Zhen Nantian did. They probably shared the same kind of secret.
"Why is it bad?" Lǚ Liu asked while straightening Jun Bao's clothes. Whenever she wasn't at the wheel, she was fussing over his gear, checking the zippers and smoothing the fur of his cloak. Compared to her focused movements, Jun Bao looked completely helpless, like a doll being dressed.
Jing Shu's earlier bet had clearly failed. She had joked that Jun Bao's pristine white outfit wouldn't stay clean for more than a day or two, yet even after all this time, he still looked spotless in the cabin light. Any little mud splatters he managed to get while stepping outside were carefully wiped away by Lǚ Liu every night with a damp cloth.
"This involves a confidentiality agreement," Yang Yang said quietly, his voice dropping an octave. "To put it simply, our situation isn't good. If I'm right, we have ended up like the fleet—stuck in some kind of enclosed area we can't get out of."
"That's impossible. We have radar and satellite communications. We can contact the outside anytime, so how could we be trapped?" Lǚ Liu frowned. She double-checked their navigation data on the glowing screen. Everything looked normal. There was no signal loss and no danger alerts. "Even if something happens, we can always turn back."
"But how long are we going to keep driving? How much gas do we have left? Do we even have enough other supplies?" Jing Shu asked. If push came to shove, she could secretly top up the tank using the fuel she stored in the Rubik's Cube Space, but that might mess with their recorded numbers and cause unwanted questions.
They hadn't brought any resupply for a long trek. The plan had been simple—five days to complete the mission and, at the very least, find the fleet. The distress signal they had received had come from somewhere around here, and there was only one main road. By logic, they should have crossed paths by now.
But instead of rescuing anyone, they couldn't even find a trace of a tire mark. They were stuck at square one.
"We have still got enough gas for five more days," Lǚ Liu said. "But don't stress about that. Once we find the fleet, fuel won't be an issue. Even if we run out, the minibus will be able to keep moving."
She continued, "We will have to conserve water, but it should last ten days to half a month. And the food is fine too. We are out of the fancy snacks, sure, but we still have plenty of compressed biscuits and energy bars."
Her words finally calmed everyone a bit. Even if they were trapped in the mountains, at least they had supplies to survive. It would be too embarrassing if the rescue team ended up needing rescue themselves.
Jing Shu knew that worrying wouldn't help. At least they weren't walking through the snow this time—that alone made things a lot better than the American mountain disaster. All she could do now was keep training with the Cube Space, pushing her mind to bridge the gap.
Another three or four days passed in a blur of gray stone and white fog. The mountain roads still didn't end. Each time they finished climbing one peak, another appeared ahead, an endless chain of mountains rolling into the distance like frozen waves.
Even Lǚ Liu started realizing something was wrong. No matter how slow they were, they had traveled hundreds—maybe over a thousand—kilometers by now. Even if the range stretched on for ages, crossing it shouldn't have taken more than a day. So why were they still here?
"You don't think we are stuck in a looping path, do you?" she asked.
Hao Yunlai was the first to respond from his bunk. "No way. We have been walking real roads the whole time, not circling the same spot." He had his whole family with him, and no one would dare mess with him anyway.
It turned out he was right. They weren't looping, but something else was wrong.
The shallow mud on the road started turning into deep, viscous sludge. When the dark water reached halfway up their calves, the minibus had to stop. Any further, and the engine might die from the intake. Worse, the mud was rising fast, thick as cold porridge, and reaching the bottom of the car doors.
The high beams cut through the misty darkness, revealing black mountain slopes where streams of mud and stones were sliding down in a slow, silent crawl. Ahead of Jing Shu stretched a vast basin now swallowed by a massive mud pit, bottomless and glistening like oil under the lights.
Everyone put on their protective boots and stood under the beams, staring grimly at the sludge.
"The road is blocked."
Even Jing Shu had never seen a mud pit this huge before.
"We have been driving along higher routes before," Lǚ Liu explained, her breath fogging in the cold. "But the elevation has been dropping. All the water from the mountains is flowing down and pooling here, turning the entire valley into a swamp."
Yang Yang raised two fingers. "There's good news and bad news. The good news is we are not looping—we have finally hit a new section of the mountains. The bad news is, this mud pit is blocking our only way forward. There's no road left except the one we came from."
The mud was so thick that walking through it would be nearly impossible, let alone driving a heavy bus. If the vehicle went in, it would get stuck for certain.
Hong Bin's weak voice came from the back. "There's still some good news. Yang Yang, remember how we modified the minibus yesterday? It's now amphibious. Well, sort of. The refit wasn't finished, so it's a one-time function. If we switch to water mode now, we won't be able to turn it back. Once we hit land again, we will have to…"
"Have to what?" Yang Yang asked.
Hong Bin pointed to the pedal-powered attachment by the door, his face pale. "We will have to switch to manpower. Basically, we will be pedaling like a giant bicycle. It will be slow as hell."