Chapter 40: 40
The route to the Jing Mountains was difficult to travel on as it was mostly made up of dirt roads.
While sitting in the pickup truck bed, Ren Xiaosu occasionally saw some concrete surfaces on the road. But for whatever reason, those roads had crumbled a long time ago and were in a state of decay.
Ren Xiaosu had once heard from the schoolteacher, Mr. Zhang, that the concrete roads were left behind from the time before The Cataclysm. The structure of the roads had degraded after so many years, and most of them were now covered by layers of dirt.
This was the case with most of the "major" roads linking the strongholds together. However, these dirt roads had a slightly more even surface due to more vehicles traveling on them.
In reality, not many vehicles traveled between the strongholds. Back at their own town, Ren Xiaosu and the others would only see nonlocal vehicles coming to Stronghold 113 about a dozen times a year. Even that was considered quite a lot.
The wilderness was not all desolate. On the contrary, it took only dozens of kilometers after leaving town before they were greeted with lush greenery everywhere. Over the years, the vegetation got even lusher.
However, Ren Xiaosu didn't feel that this was a bad thing. Back in town, food was usually considered a scarcity. Since he could not have meat, he would eat more vegetables. He had also noticed that the cabbages planted by Zhang Jinglin were getting larger than before.
Ren Xiaosu even specifically asked Zhang Jinglin whether he had used any fertilizers to grow them, but he denied it.
This was a good thing. Perhaps one day a single potato might even be enough to feed a family of three.
When Liu Bu made Ren Xiaosu sit in the bed of the pickup, he never could have expected that Ren Xiaosu would do something.
The cargo bed was filled with food and water provisions they brought with them from the stronghold. There was no need to lock such items up, so they were simply covered with tarps.
While Ren Xiaosu sat in the cargo bed, he lifted the tarp out of curiosity. He had a look under it and immediately saw the word "cracker." Then he lifted another tarp and saw bottled water.
Because of the bumpy road, the vehicles did not go fast. In reality, the band did not fear wild animal encounters. After all, they had 12 soldiers from the private army who were carrying loaded weapons with them. As such, they did not have to worry too much about any beasts.
Although a wolf attack had taken place earlier, the wolves were long gone and hiding in the mountains several hundred kilometers away from here. There was absolutely no need to worry that they would suddenly return.
According to past experience at the stronghold, it would take at least a year of recuperation for them to come back and be active in the area again.
So what worried the convoy the most at the moment was what would happen if the vehicles broke down.
Half of these soldiers from the private army were trained in automobile repair, but they couldn't possibly bring a full set of spare parts for the expedition with them.
While this made the journey slower, it was better than having to walk there.
In between, Ren Xiaosu insisted on getting out to relieve himself. As a result, the entire convoy had to stop and wait for him. This made them even more displeased with him, but Ren Xiaosu was not bothered by it. He faced everyone's complaints as if it were nothing.
The convoy continued moving until noon. When they came to a stop, Liu Bu jumped out of the vehicle first. He laughed happily and said, "I've stayed in the stronghold for too long. It's such a great feeling to come out here and see the sweeping vistas."
A soldier laughed and said, "Yeah, that's right. I've gotten terribly bored from staying inside the stronghold all the time."
In fact, everyone had such thoughts from the moment they set off on this expedition. They were all in the mood to enjoy the scenery, chat, and laugh. However, this would likely not be the case in a few days.
In the past, Ren Xiaosu also thought that it was rather lovely when he first came out to the wilderness to hunt.
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