Chapter 119: The Big Pit
About five meters ahead, a massive crater cratered the asphalt, looking as though it had been smashed open by some tremendous force.
Its jagged edges plunged one or two meters down, completely severing the road from side to side.
“The lane is blocked. We can’t get through,” Wang Qiang said, straightening up and brushing the grit from his palms, his brow knit in a deep scowl.
Everyone climbed out of the vehicles and gathered around the crater to evaluate the situation.
Out here in the middle of nowhere, taking a detour was practically out of the question; the road was flanked on either side by steep, rocky inclines and dense, forbidding woods.
“This pit… it doesn’t look like a natural sinkhole,” Jiang Jue murmured, crouching at the rim. He rubbed a pinch of loose soil between his fingertips, his sharp gaze scanning the fractured earth. “It looks more like something burst through from underneath, or…”
“Or someone blew it open on purpose,” Su Mubai finished calmly, having walked over unnoticed.
Standing a short distance back, his eyes settled on several charred streaks along the inner wall. “Look over there. Those are burn marks.”
A heavy silence descended over the group.
If this was man-made, it meant the surrounding area was anything but safe.
“Regardless of how it got here, the real problem is getting across,” Chu Yang said, scratching the back of his neck as he turned to Wang Qiang. “Qiangzi, you’re an Earth-type user. Can you fill this in? At least build a temporary path solid enough for the cars to roll over?”
Wang Qiang stepped up to the edge, drew a deep breath, and pressed both palms firmly against the dirt.
A dull yellow glow radiated from his hands, rippling outward across the ground.
The earth along the crater’s rim began to shift and churn, flowing like a living current into the deep cavity.
The progress was slow, and beads of sweat soon broke out across Wang Qiang’s forehead. Manipulating such a massive volume of soil all at once clearly placed a heavy toll on his stamina.
The others didn’t stand by idly; they kept a sharp watch on the surrounding perimeter or helped clear away loose rubble that threatened to slide into the trench.
Lin Weiwei hovered close to Lin Xiao, nervously tugging at his sleeve as she whined in a hushed tone: “Brother Lin, the sun is boiling hot, and I’m getting dizzy… How much longer do we have to stand here? In the middle of nowhere like this, what if something attacks us?”
Lin Xiao kept his eyes locked on Wang Qiang’s progress, offering only an absent-minded grunt. “We can move as soon as Wang Qiang finishes. Go wait in the shade by the car.”
“I don’t want to. I want to stay right beside you,” Lin Weiwei pouted, swaying his arm back and forth. “Come sit in the car with me, it’s cool in there. It’s so dusty out here, my clothes are getting filthy…”
Her delicate, breathy voice sounded gratingly out of place against the tense stillness of the road.
Li Yu and Jiang Lin, who were carrying a heavy stone away from the verge, exchanged a look of pure, mutual exasperation.
Lin Xiao was growing visibly annoyed by the constant tugging, but finding it awkward to snap in front of everyone, he reined in his temper and muttered, “Stop making a scene. Everyone’s busy working. Just be patient for a little longer.”
Though Lin Weiwei pursed her lips in discontent, she finally kept quiet. Still, she remained glued to his side, her eyes drifting toward the spacious, comfortable RV nearby, a flash of envy flickering in her gaze.
After nearly half an hour of grueling effort, Wang Qiang finally packed enough earth and rock into the pit to form a passable slope, though the surface remained soft and uneven.
“That’s the best I can do. If we take it slow, one car at a time, we should manage,” Wang Qiang panted, wiping the sweat from his eyes. His face was pale, visibly drained from overusing his ability.
Jiang Jue nodded. “Lin Xiao, drive your car across first to test the ground. The rest of us will follow.”
The crossing was tense but went without a hitch. The three vehicles crawled over the makeshift ramp one by one, safely navigating the broken stretch of road.
Yet the unexpected delay had cost them the daylight; the sky had already bruised into twilight.
Reaching the next populated town before dark was now impossible.
When night settled completely over the wilderness, they pulled into a flat clearing backed by a low hillside to set up camp. All around them stretched empty terrain and the dark, looming shapes of distant ridges; there wasn’t a single building in sight.
“Looks like we’re sleeping under the stars tonight,” Chu Yang announced, hopping down from the cab and retrieving several camping tents and sleeping bags from his spatial storage. “Good thing I stocked up on these just in case.”
With everyone lending a hand, two large two-person tents were pitched in short order.
Wang Li fired up a portable burner to cook a simple dinner—a hot broth of canned ribs simmered with dried seaweed and beans.
The savory steam drifted on the chilly evening breeze, smelling heavenly to a crew that had been driving through the heat all day.
Lin Weiwei looked down into her bowl, her brow furrowing as she mumbled under her breath, “Ah… is this all we’re eating? It looks so watery and plain… I barely have an appetite…”
Though spoken softly, the complaint carried clearly across the quiet campsite.
Wang Li froze mid-ladle, an embarrassed, awkward look flashing across her weathered face.
The others around the circle paused their movements as well, turning their eyes toward Lin Weiwei.
Feeling the sudden weight of their stares, Lin Weiwei realized her mistake. She quickly lowered her head and used her spoon to push the soup around, not daring to utter another word.
A short distance away, Li Yu, Jiang Lin, and Chu Yang gathered while handing out bowls and spoons.
Jiang Lin shot a sharp glare toward Lin Weiwei, then looked away, speaking in a whisper meant only for the three of them: “Unbelievable. I used to think I was high-maintenance, but compared to her, I’m a saint. What era does she think we’re living in? Does she think she’s sitting in a five-star restaurant ordering off a menu? Having hot food that fills your stomach in this world is a blessing, and she’s complaining about the taste?”
Li Yu curled her lip, agreeing in a low murmur. “Exactly! If she hadn’t latched onto our squad, she’d probably be starving on cold scraps right now. Sister Wang worked magic to make something this good with limited ingredients. She really doesn’t know how lucky she is.”
While Chu Yang felt it was bad form to talk behind someone’s back, he couldn’t bring himself to feel any sympathy for Lin Weiwei either.
He kept his voice hushed. “Alright, let it go. Let’s finish handing these out, eat, and get some sleep. We have a long drive tomorrow.”
A few portable camping lanterns were set in the middle of the circle, their gentle glow washing over the tired faces around them.
The group ate in relative quiet, the silence broken only by the soft clatter of spoons against bowls.
Once the meal was finished, sleeping arrangements became the next puzzle.
Having set up only two large two-person tents, there clearly wasn’t enough room for everyone to sleep comfortably.
Chu Yang and Jiang Jue would naturally take the RV, which was spacious, climate-controlled, and offered the best security.
That left the rest of the group to be sorted out: Wang Qiang, Lin Xiao, Su Mubai, Little Yu, Wang Li and little Niu Niu, Jiang Lin, Li Yu, and Lin Weiwei.
Wang Qiang scratched his head, looking back and forth between the two tents. “How about… we put the men in one tent and the women in the other? It’ll be a tight squeeze, but it beats sleeping out in the open.”
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