Survival in Sequences: Eighteen Years Old, Slaying Monsters Like Horses

Chapter 85 An Unexpected Encounter with a Strange Car Team

Guided by the worker ants, the convoy struggled forward for most of the day in this boundless swamp.

The surrounding scenery, however, remained almost unchanged.

Muddy puddles, twisted dead trees, persistent fog, and seemingly endless mud underfoot.

If the worker ants in Fu Xiaojian's hand hadn't been pointing in such a clear direction, he would have suspected that they were just going around in circles.

After the initial excitement wore off, Jiao Jiao gradually calmed down, leaning against the passenger seat of the pickup truck, her small face showing a hint of fatigue from using her abilities, silently recovering her energy.

Xu Si drove at the back of the convoy, remaining vigilant at all times. His "Star Trail" perception spread outwards from him as far as possible, like an invisible spider web.

The upgraded [Wax Messenger] moves exceptionally smoothly and seems to be more adaptable to complex terrains like swamps.

The bumps and tire slippage seemed to have been reduced a lot.

Suddenly, the lead vehicle screeched to a halt, and Fu Xiaojian's urgent voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Something's up ahead! Slow down, be on alert!"

Everyone in the convoy tensed instantly, and Xu Sixing narrowed his eyes as he looked ahead.

Where the fog thinned slightly, along the edge of a relatively open body of water, lay the wreckage of several broken vehicles!

The car body was twisted and deformed, covered with a thick layer of mud and weeds, as if it had just been pulled out of an old pond.

Scattered around the wreckage were broken pieces of luggage and miscellaneous items whose original appearance was no longer recognizable, and the air was filled with a filthy, stuffy smell mixed with rust and silt.

"Is it the wreckage of another convoy?" The bus carrying Tashan couldn't see the specific situation ahead, and neither could Xu Si.

"I don't know! Ignore it for now, the convoy will detour." Fu Xiaojian's order was quickly carried out, after all, the strange body of water they encountered last time had caused them a lot of trouble.

The convoy slowly circled around the ominous wreckage area, everyone holding their breath, afraid of disturbing anything that might be lurking beneath the murky waters.

"It seems like it's been quite some time. They're probably some unlucky soul who wandered into this swamp before us." Fu Xiaojian's voice came through the walkie-talkie, carrying a heavy sense of sympathy for his kind.

The worker ants stubbornly pointed in a certain direction, as if the scattered fragments were just insignificant pebbles by the roadside.

The convoy continued on its way, but the atmosphere became even more somber than before.

Jiao Jiao also put away her previous liveliness, and while driving, she silently watched the monotonous and desolate scenery slowly passing by outside the window.

The convoy continued for about an hour in the dead silence, when the fog ahead seemed to thin out a little and visibility improved slightly.

"Be careful, the terrain may change." Xu Si, whose Star Eyes were always activated, was the first to notice this change.

The monotonous mud and puddles ahead were replaced by low mounds covered with dark green lichen. The dead trees became sparser, replaced by twisted, gnarled shrubs with unhealthy gray-black leaves.

The ground beneath our feet seemed to have hardened a bit; although it was still muddy, the risk of getting stuck was significantly reduced.

"Are we... almost at the edge of the swamp?" Jiao Jiao asked hopefully.

"The worker ants haven't changed direction, that's possible," Fu Xiaojian replied cautiously, not letting his guard down.

The closer you get to the edge, the more likely you are to encounter other convoys that have been similarly drawn there, or...

In Xu Si's "star trail" perception, those scattered, weak energy fluctuations seemed to have become more active, but they still did not form a clear threat prediction.

The disturbances from this swamp still exist, but have lessened somewhat.

The convoy carefully drove along the edge of the gradually solidifying mound, the withered black bushes casting distorted shadows in the blood-red light, like lurking ghosts.

"There's smoke." Su Su's cool voice came through the walkie-talkie, tinged with wariness.

Xu Si also saw it; it was the bluish-white smoke column from a campfire burning in the wild.

"It should be a convoy, let's go check it out!" Fu Xiaojian's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

The convoy slowly approached the column of smoke. Everyone gripped their fists tightly, their expressions tense. Encountering a convoy at the edge of the swamp was neither a good thing nor a bad thing.

As they drew closer, the outline of a makeshift camp built on a mound gradually became clear.

The campsite was very basic, consisting of a campervan, two SUVs, and a red and white ambulance. It seemed to be a temporary rest stop rather than a long-term stay.

As the convoy slowly approached, the details of the camp came into view.

Several mud-covered tents were pitched on the relatively dry ground, and seven or eight figures sat around the campfire, their clothes tattered and their faces haggard.

Upon seeing someone approaching, they already had weapons in hand and stood facing off against Fu Xiaojian and his convoy.

Fu Xiaojian signaled the convoy to stop a few dozen meters away from the camp. This distance indicated that there was no hostility and also made it easier to deal with any emergencies.

He stepped off the stunt truck alone, raised his hands to indicate he was empty-handed, and shouted, "We mean no harm! We were just passing by, saw the fireworks, and wanted to ask some questions!"

A commotion broke out in the camp, and a middle-aged man who looked like the leader stepped out. He had a hideous scar on his face, running from his brow bone to the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were sharp but weary.

"You came from the swamp?" His voice was hoarse, filled with heavy wariness.

"Are we out of the swamp now?" Fu Xiaojian didn't answer; instead, he was incredibly relieved, as it seemed they had truly made it out.

The convoy encountered no strange occurrences in the latter half of the journey, indicating that this place truly is the territory of the [Rotten Swamp Overlord].

Thinking about this, he felt both relieved and still shaken.

The scarred leader was also observing Fu Xiaojian and the convoy behind him.

His eyes dimmed, especially when he saw that the convoy in front of him had clearly been through many battles and had so many survivors.

"I guess so. If we keep going, we'll be able to get out of this damn swamp for good."

Scarface seemed to be a very easy person to talk to.

"Thank you so much. Let me introduce myself again. I am Fu Xiaojian, the team leader of the Xin Huoche team and a member of the Trail Blazers."

Looking at the convoy of less than ten people in front of him, Fu Xiaojian had a different thought.

Seeing the other members of the team promoted to Sequence 2, he was also anxious, but he had been trying to figure out the way to promote to the Trailblazer Sequence until now.

The speed of advancement in the Trail Blazers' ranks is positively correlated with the safety mileage of the Trail Blazers and also with the number of people protected.

If given the opportunity, he would naturally want to bring this "caravan" under his command.

On the one hand, the fleet has too few vehicles, resulting in a low margin for error. On the other hand, the fleet has an excessively high proportion of women. The current fleet is almost entirely composed of men, which can greatly improve the fleet's population structure.

After all, there's a saying that goes, "Men and women working together makes the work easier."

In the end times, sometimes it is this kind of ethereal emotion that can sustain people to go further.