Jing Shu immediately shared what was on her mind. At this point, everyone was restless. Whenever someone had an idea, they'd all throw it on the table, hoping for anything that could get them closer to the fleet. But after so many days, all they'd managed was to keep moving forward. There really wasn't another way.
Judging from Lǚ Liu's report, things weren't looking good either. The other search teams hadn't found the fleet.
"You've 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're stuck taking the whole stretch." Lǚ Liu spoke up, then added, "Still, it's possible we're just too slow, so we haven't reached the end yet."
Jing Shu frowned. She had to admit, Lǚ Liu wasn't wrong. With no light outside, no one could see more than half the road ahead. Only she wasn't affected by the darkness and could see clearly.
Yang Yang turned to her. "Jing Shu, you've got 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, a stabbing pain hit her head, like it was splitting open. Huge chunks of memory seemed to vanish again. Something was definitely off here. There had to be a connection.
Yang Yang frowned deeply. "If that's true, then it's bad." He remembered how dangerous that trip had been. After they returned, he'd 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. They probably shared the same kind of secret.
"Why's it bad?" Lǚ Liu asked while straightening Jun Bao's clothes. Whenever she wasn't driving, she was fussing over his gear, acting more like a meticulous personal butler than a teammate. Compared to her, Jun Bao looked completely helpless.
Jing Shu's earlier bet had clearly failed. She'd 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. The little mud splatters he did get were carefully wiped away by Lǚ Liu every night.
"This involves a confidentiality agreement," Yang Yang said quietly. "Long story short, our situation's not good. If I'm right, we've ended up like the fleet—stuck in some kind of enclosed area we can't get out of."
"That's impossible. We've got radar and satellite comms. We can contact the outside anytime, so how could we be trapped?" Lǚ Liu frowned. She double-checked their navigation data. Everything was normal, no signal loss, no danger alerts. "Even if something happens, we can always turn back."
"But how long are we gonna 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 what she stored in the Cube Space, but that might mess with their recorded numbers and cause trouble.
They hadn't brought any resupply. The plan had been simple—five days to complete the mission and, at the very least, find the fleet. The distress signal they'd received had come from somewhere around here, and there was only one road. By logic, they should've crossed paths by now.
But instead of rescuing anyone, they couldn't even find a trace of the fleet. They were stuck at square one.
"We've 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 can still keep moving."
She continued, "We'll have to conserve water, but it should last ten days to half a month. And food's fine too. We're out of snacks, sure, but we've still got 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. It'd be too embarrassing if the rescue team ended up needing rescue themselves.
Jing Shu knew worrying wouldn't help. At least they weren't walking 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.
Another three or four days passed. 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.
Even Lǚ Liu started realizing something was wrong. No matter how slow they were, they'd 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're stuck in a looping path, do you?" she asked.
Hao Yunlai was the first to respond. "No way. We've 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 sludge. When the water reached halfway up their calves, the minibus had to stop. Any further, and the engine might die. Worse, the mud was rising fast, thick enough to reach the car doors and start seeping inside.
The high beams cut through the misty darkness, revealing black mountain slopes where streams of mud and stones were sliding down. Ahead of Jing Shu stretched a vast basin now swallowed by a massive mud pit, bottomless and glistening under the lights.
Everyone put on protective boots and stood under the beams, staring grimly at the mud.
"The road's blocked."
Even Jing Shu had never seen a mud pit this huge before.
"We've been driving along higher routes before," Lǚ Liu explained. "But the elevation's been dropping. All the water from the mountains is flowing down and pooling here, turning it into a swamp."
Yang Yang raised two fingers. "Good news and bad news. The good news is we're not looping—we've finally hit a new section. The bad news is, this mud pit's 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. If the minibus went in, it'd get stuck for sure.
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'll have to…"
"Have to what?" Yang Yang asked.
Hong Bin pointed to the pedal-powered attachment by the door. "We'll have to switch to manpower. Basically, we'll be pedaling like a giant bicycle. Slow as hell."