Return to the City: The Strongest King
Chapter 643 - 644: Idiot

Chapter 643: Chapter 644: Idiot

Three days later, Song Xiaodong had reached the primordial forests in the northernmost region of China. It was already deep winter, with temperatures dropping below negative twenty degrees Celsius. Whenever he exhaled, his breath instantly froze into a white mist.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, difficult to tread on as each step sank into the whiteness.

A few years ago, while on a mission in this area, Xiaodong had stumbled upon an extraordinary place: a special hot spring. Though outside was icy cold, the water in that spring was scalding hot, containing many special substances with remarkable healing properties. Previously, he had been gravely injured and surprisingly, he had healed quickly after immersing himself in that spring. This time, he was determined to relocate that special hot spring and cure his injuries.

However, Xiaodong could only remember the general direction of the spring and locating it was challenging.

In such a vast primordial forest, especially during the winter, vehicles like cars were useless. Even the best off-road vehicles couldn’t navigate through the woods.

The best option, of course, would be a helicopter followed by a snowmobile, which would be much more convenient.

At the moment, Xiaodong was riding a snowmobile through the forest, hoping to find the hot spring in another two days based on his memory.

At night, while resting in his tent, he was awoken by the sound of footsteps amidst the wind. The steps were clearly not those of an animal, but of humans, and more than one at that.

Xiaodong frowned but wasn’t overly worried. There were hunters in these forests who were usually quite friendly.

After putting on his coat, Xiaodong stepped out of the tent. In the darkness, he saw four people approaching his tent.

To Xiaodong’s surprise, although these four were walking on the snow, their steps were light, barely leaving deep footprints. They were clearly highly skilled experts, not ordinary hunters.

If he hadn’t been injured, Xiaodong would not have feared these four, but his strength was now at most a mere twenty or thirty percent of what it used to be, which made him no match for them at all.

"Who are you?" Xiaodong immediately showed a look of fear and took a few steps back.

The four people came right up to Xiaodong. One of them, wearing a thick fur hat, stepped forward and spoke with a Jiangnan accent, "Young man, we are lost here. Could you please show us the way?"

Xiaodong carefully replied, "You aren’t bad guys? You don’t want to rob me?" Being from the North and deliberately imitating the locals, he managed to convince the four southerners that he was one of them.

"Why would we rob you? Look, young man, we just want you to guide us. What do you say?"

"Guide... No, that won’t do. I’m here to hunt. I don’t have time to show you around. It’s the migration season for reindeers now; if I miss these few days, it will be hard to catch any game."

"Kid, are you going to guide us or not? Speak up, or I will kill you right here!" Another man stepped forward and grabbed Xiaodong by the collar.

"Third Brother, let him go!" the first man said sternly. The aggressive man huffed, shoved Xiaodong away, and Xiaodong fell back onto the snow.

"Young man, my third brother has a temper. Don’t take him seriously. Actually, we just want to hunt reindeers too, but we don’t know where they are. If you take us with you on the hunt, you won’t be hindered, and I can even pay you. How about that?"

Xiaodong still looked wary and stammered, "Really... really?"

"Of course, it’s true." The man took out a stack of money from his pocket and said, "There’s about five thousand here as a deposit. Once you take us to the spot, I’ll give you another five thousand. How does that sound?"

Eyeing the money in the man’s hand, Xiaodong gulped and promptly said, "Add another five thousand."

"Sure, when we get there, I’ll give you ten thousand." The man agreed without hesitation.

Xiaodong snatched the money and said, "Deal, us northerners always keep our word. I’ll definitely take you there. But if you break your promise, my rifle isn’t just for show."

"Don’t worry, we always keep our word."

Xiaodong nodded, then promptly went back into his tent.

The four men quickly set up their tents nearby.

"Damn this bad luck, running into a wolf pack and losing half our equipment, having to ask for help... this is definitely going to slow us down. Hopefully when we get there, the prey won’t have already gone."

"They shouldn’t have. Our guy here is just here to hunt. He won’t leave in a day or two. Even if we arrive two days late, it won’t matter. Plus, if the reindeer herd had already reached this point, he wouldn’t have arrived late. We will definitely make it in time."

"Makes sense. Alright, everyone rest up."

"God, it’s so cold. I am never coming here again. You almost freeze to death. Even piss turns into an icicle right away."

After a few complaints, they too settled down to sleep.

From inside his tent, Xiaodong overheard their conversation and frowned in concern. These people appeared to be targeting someone else, likely planning an ambush. He did not want to get involved but knew he couldn’t escape now. All he could do was play it by ear. Since they were all southerners and unfamiliar with the North, Xiaodong wasn’t worried about being found out.

The next morning, as soon as Xiaodong emerged from his tent, the others followed suit. Watching them clumsily pack up their tents, Xiaodong knew they lacked wilderness survival experience, which he might be able to use to his advantage.

"Kid, walk with us," said Third Brother, grabbing Xiaodong’s collar as he headed for his snowmobile.

Xiaodong exclaimed, "Walk? Are you crazy? In this kind of snow, we won’t cover ten miles in a day. Don’t you have snowmobiles?"

"If we had that, we wouldn’t need you to tell us," Third Brother glared at him.

Shrugging, Xiaodong replied, "Then I can’t go with you."

"Are you going or not?" Third Brother threatened, raising his hand as if he would slap Xiaodong the moment they disagreed.