Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 330 Who is this?
The weather in early February already seemed to hint at the arrival of spring.

Even the frozen rivers seem to be thawing, so ice jams are bound to occur next, right?

Li Wei was driving his enchanted war chariot south of the small town. From the road, he could see a vast expanse of frozen river.

In summer, the river is about a thousand meters wide at its widest point, and the current is relatively calm. Before the apocalypse, the shipping industry on this river must have been quite developed.

The south bank of the river is made up of some low, undulating hills, and the section near the river is relatively steep. At this moment, Li Wei wondered if it was just his imagination, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fleeting shadow on a low hill a few kilometers away on the south bank. It was a little fast.

It's a pity Ah-Dai wasn't there, otherwise he should have been able to see it clearly.

Thinking this, Li Wei continued driving at a steady speed without making a sound, but when he reached a fork in the road ahead, he immediately turned off and headed for another route.

He wasn't being overly suspicious or paranoid; it was just that the two hundred-plus men he was leading were mostly new recruits and novice mercenaries with little combat ability, so there was no need to take any risks.

There's more than one way to the river fortress, so there's no need to go through that.

The driver of the electric bus behind was oblivious and calmly followed. There were a total of eight buses, which was quite a sight. When passing through an abandoned town, they would disturb the mutated creatures hidden there, but they were not much of a threat. At a speed of 70 kilometers per hour, they could easily shake them off.

Li Wei frequently checked the rear using the rearview mirror. Later, he simply pulled over and let Alex, the deputy chief engineer of the engineering department who was in the same car, drive, while he himself went to the last car.

This vehicle was used to transport high-quality logs. Li Wei jumped directly onto the roof, his feet firmly planted on it like nails. He scanned his surroundings, and for some reason, a slight unease arose in his heart.

This is really a bit unbelievable. Could it be that some skilled player came to raid their base and just happened to run into their team?

But it shouldn’t be!
As for mutated creatures or wandering superhumans, they pose no threat whatsoever during periods other than radiation storms.

The convoy continued forward, and thanks to the relatively smooth road, the speed did not decrease.

After walking for another half hour, Li Wei's unease finally dissipated.

It seems the distance has widened.

"Something's still not quite right. Although Ah Dai has been swindling and recruiting all sorts of followers lately, it never shirks its responsibilities and patrols this route every day. But even it hasn't found a single clue. This is quite amusing."

Nothing else changed. The detour only delayed them by an hour, and they arrived at the Riverside Fortress smoothly. The enchanted war machines and six buses drove into the fortress's underground level to recharge.

Everything seems peaceful here as well.

Li Wei specifically asked Thomas and Javier about it.

"Nothing unusual. Javier and I take turns leading patrols every day, especially focusing on the south bank of the river, but nothing has happened. However, we need to be careful of ice jams caused by the melting ice!"

"Understood. Thomas, you will suspend patrols for the next few days and be on high alert. Javier, you will deal with the new free citizens and assign them some work. The Sith will be in charge of the daily training of the three newly recruited soldiers. I'm going to scout out the south bank."

Li Wei instructed that the south bank of the river had always been a neglected area, not only because they didn't have time, but also because the river was wide enough to act as a natural barrier.

Without further ado, he crossed the ice and entered the NA area.

The south bank is mostly hilly and mountainous, with some undulating hills, but overall it is flat.

You can see some well-preserved river embankments and riverside roads on the south bank. Occasionally, you can see a few rusty, broken-down trucks huddled together, as if huddling together for warmth. Some snow remains, the air is very humid, and the dry grass on the ground makes a rustling sound when you step on it.

The tall trees stood silently, like guardians of the world, protecting the last vestiges of dignity, even though everything had been overturned.

Li Wei felt right at home here, nimbly traversing several hills and small mountains, simultaneously memorizing the terrain he saw. That's right, his fourth professional card—the rare scout card—was about to be upgraded to three stars, making it at least twice as easy for him to gain reconnaissance experience as before.

However, compared to reconnaissance experience, Li Wei was more eager to improve his scout destiny, so whenever he had the chance, he was willing to venture out alone.

After traveling south for forty or fifty miles, Li Wei finally came across a fairly large town, slightly smaller than a county town but larger than a small town, with relatively well-preserved buildings.

Based on experience, there should be a level 5 mutated creature here.

Li Wei only observed the town from a distance for a while and did not intend to enter it. He had come to find the source of his unease, and this place was too far from where he had been before.

He then continued his journey eastward, but instead of taking a straight path, he only went to the highest points of the terrain.

This is the best reconnaissance method. Combined with his current powerful eyesight, he can obtain a cross-sectional reconnaissance zone of about ten miles with just a few steps.

They continued forward for about forty or fifty miles, and as darkness fell, Li Wei still hadn't found anything.

He wasn't in a hurry. He found a sheltered spot, took off his backpack, took out his scout cloak and a soft wolfskin blanket, curled up there, ate something and drank some water, then closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

When he woke up again, it was already midnight. The surroundings were quiet, with only a gentle mountain breeze blowing. Under the starry sky, there was an indescribable sense of detachment and dreamlike beauty.

After eating some more food and relieving himself in a deep pit, Li Wei continued on his way. The mountains and forests under the cover of night were always his domain. Moreover, the night had another advantage: it was even more suitable for climbing to higher ground and enjoying the view.

An hour later, when Li Wei climbed to the top of a mountain and looked around, a smile finally appeared on his lips. He had found it.

In the southeast direction, about twenty miles away, there was a faint fire. It should be a campfire, but it was in a very remote location in a valley. If you weren't standing on high ground, it would be quite difficult to see.

Next, Li Wei approached silently. He didn't go directly to her, but instead circled around her in huge circles.

This is the caution that scouts must exercise.

Sure enough, just as expected, five or six miles away from the campfire, he discovered more than twenty traps of all kinds, very ingenious and very well hidden.

This was definitely deployed by experienced hunters, not only for hunting mammals, but also for hunting intelligent beings.

Some traps are deliberately designed to deceive, intentionally revealing themselves, but in reality, they conceal deadly traps, with three or five more traps following behind.

That's really amazing. Li Wei thought that this series of traps alone could wipe out an elite ten-man squad.

Who is this person?
Are you a player?
There can't possibly be any player camps in this area, oh, not necessarily.

Some terrain dimension data flashed through Li Wei's mind.

If we take Scarface's starting scavenging camp as the coordinates, and travel about 500 miles northeast, that's his starting point.

This location is separated by a large river, and the straight-line distance from Scarface's camp is about 200 to 250 miles. However, it should be noted that the bridge across the river at Scarface's camp has been destroyed and cannot be crossed except in winter.

In addition, the south bank is surrounded by hills and dense forests, and the roads are not very developed. Without accurate location information, it would be quite difficult for the two to meet.

As for the distance between here and Li Wei's camp, the straight-line distance is even more than 300 li.

So this really is a player camp?

So whose camp could it be?
Now that we've entered the eleventh month since the game started, this camp should be developing quite well!

As he pondered this, Li Wei carefully avoided the various ingenious traps and continued to explore and infiltrate the central area. What he found was truly astonishing—how many traps had been laid!

"987...988..."

As Li Wei ventured deeper, he still kept track of the traps. Seriously, this was even affecting his own people's movement in and out. At this moment, he even felt a bit curious and wanted to see just how many traps there were.

He bet that some traps might be undetectable even to players with +1 or +2 perception.

Are there any traps that even his +4 perception wouldn't be able to detect?
It's highly unlikely.

[You have successfully detected one thousand one-star and two-star quality traps. Your reconnaissance experience +100, your scout destiny +1, currently at 16.]

A message appeared silently, which surprised Li Wei!
Could there really be such an unexpected gain?

We have to continue, because there are still countless traps ahead.

Large, medium, small, tree-mounted, surface-level, underground, pit-based—all sorts of traps! Had he encountered a trap maniac?
Thank you, thank you so much, brother!

At this moment, Li Wei even forgot his original purpose, and in the dark night, he was enthusiastically searching for every possible trap.

Unfortunately, there are no traps of three stars or higher. This is not a trap upgrade map. Many traps are duplicates. Their purpose is not for exhibition or for perverts like Li Wei to appreciate and befriend. They are simply for defense against invaders.

So after Li Wei went around in circles again, he barely managed to collect 3000 traps, gain 200 reconnaissance experience points, and +2 Fate Points. After that, there were no more traps.

By this time, the fire in the valley had long since died down, and dawn was approaching. Li Wei could even hear faint snoring. Then he spotted two hidden sentries and two visible sentries.

This defense is really strong.

But who is this person?

Li Wei was filled with questions. In the dim light of dawn, he could clearly see that the two sentries looked like humans, but were taller and more robust, with a total height of nearly two meters. In the current environment where the temperature could reach minus ten degrees Celsius, they were still able to expose their upper bodies. Their skin was a strange inky black color, and their hideous muscles seemed to be covered with some kind of runes.

Most importantly, their faces, with deep-set eyes, high cheekbones, and broad foreheads, look more like Nigos—not the Nigos of the past, but the Neanderthals!
However, perhaps it doesn't seem so, because the two sentries have long arms and legs, look strong and powerful, and there seems to be a dark blue light flashing on the powerful bow on their backs.

Their combat strength is not low! One is four-star, and the other is five-star.

So there can't be any mistake; this is the source of Li Wei's unease before.

(End of this chapter)