The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 234 - 230 This Doesn’t Make Sense

Chapter 234: Chapter 230 This Doesn’t Make Sense

The first day was uneventful.

The second day was also uneventful.

The third day passed without incident, and even when more than half of the fourth day was over, there was still no trouble.

However, what "no trouble" means depends on the perspective. If encountering zombies or a few scattered bandits counts as trouble, then Gao Yuan and his group faced it every day.

But each time, they got through without any alarm or danger. Even when they encountered obstacles, they were able to resolve them relatively easily, without any crisis that would cause Zhao Qiang to worry.

So whether Zhao Qiang’s sense of crisis was accurate or not was hard to say—he was concerned but might appear to be overreacting.

The car continued on its way, and just this morning, Gao Yuan and his company passed through Tashkent without encountering any particular danger. After passing Tashkent, the next major city would be Ashgabat, with several small and medium-sized cities along the way.

But to Gao Yuan and his group, the small and medium-sized cities in Central Asia felt much like a county city in their own country. So, at least in Gao Yuan’s view, there seemed to be no great risk in the next two thousand kilometers.

The road conditions were still decent, and Gao Yuan had now been forced to adapt to sleeping in the car. The jolting and cramped space were no longer an issue for him.

But beneath Zhao Qiang’s seemingly calm exterior was a restless heart.

"Stop the car! Stop the car!"

Zhao Qiang suddenly shouted. Gao Yuan and Ma Shan, whose nerves were always on edge, were startled awake. He immediately sat up and looked outside.

The route had been following the foothills, and the grand mountain range no longer interested anyone. The beautiful scenery had lost its allure due to aesthetic fatigue. After passing Tashkent, though, they were now on the plains, where they could still see the mountains far away, but the sides of the road were completely flat.

When near the mountains or in a canyon, everyone was on high alert. But in this place, where one could see for miles and miles, as everyone began to relax, Zhao Qiang felt a strong unease.

"I feel something’s not quite right. Stop the car, I want to check it out."

Li Jingang, the driver, stopped the car. Zhao Qiang pulled open the door and got out. Shielding his eyes, he looked forward, seeing no one around, with only bushes or wild grass on the open, unobstructed plain.

Zhao Qiang crouched down. He squatted in front of the car, looking closely at the road ahead.

Panxin also got out of the car, cradling his rifle. After scanning the surroundings, he asked, "Is something wrong?"

"It doesn’t look like it, but my heartbeat is rapid," Zhao Qiang replied, pressing his hand to his chest in a low voice, "and I feel very uneasy."

Panxin was stunned for a moment. "You don’t have heart problems, do you?"

"I have health check-ups twice a year; my heart is in very good shape," Zhao Qiang said.

After speaking, Zhao Qiang stood up and then he raised his binoculars, looking down the highway.

Panxin thought for a moment, then walked to the side and gestured to the truck behind them, calling out loudly, "Have Doctor Wang come over."

Wang Ning had always sat in the passenger seat of the truck; it had become his regular spot.

Wang Ning jumped down and walked over to Zhao Qiang. Zhao Qiang crouched again and, after a few glances through the binoculars, he suddenly said, "Panxin, take a look with your binoculars. Doesn’t that clump of grass ahead look odd?"

Panxin lifted his binoculars.

Zhao Qiang continued slowly, "I know why it feels wrong now. Look at that clump of grass—does it look like tumbleweed? If it’s tumbleweed, why is it lingering by the road? What’s the wind speed now?"

"Around level three," Panxin answered.

"Tumbleweed either rolls across the highway or below it, so why would it stop right at the side of the road? It doesn’t make sense, this is unreasonable."

Panxin looked through the binoculars for a while before he seriously said, "That’s correct. It looks like it was intentionally fixed there. Tumbleweed indeed may stick together into clusters during the rolling process, but there’s a patch of tumbleweed there."

"Hmm, that’s not where tumbleweed should stop, nor does it look like a natural resting position.".

Zhao Qiang stood up again and said, "That’s not right, we need to check it out."

Panxin whispered, "I’ll go, King Kong!"

Li Jingang got out of the car, as did Gao Yuan.

Zhao Qiang whispered, "Doctor Wang, go back to your car. Mr. Jian’er and Mr. Hao, scout it out and see what’s up with that pile of tumbleweed."

Gao Yuan, clearly puzzled, said, "What’s wrong? Is it serious?"

Zhao Qiang frowned and said, "When something goes against the laws of nature, it’s definitely a problem. Better check it out."

Gao Yuan, without hesitating, said, "I’ll go, I’m fast."

Zhao Qiang grabbed Gao Yuan and said, "You can’t, there are things you don’t understand. Let Mr. Jian’er and Mr. Hao handle it."

When Zhao Qiang referred to Panxin and Li Jingang by their codenames instead of their names for the first time, Gao Yuan knew Zhao Qiang was truly nervous, because Zhao Qiang only used codenames in combat situations.

Normally, they used names. Using codenames or nicknames meant there was trouble, a simple distinction in address that reflected the seriousness of the situation.

Panxin and Li Jingang started walking toward the tumbleweed up ahead, spacing about twenty meters apart from each other, one on the left side of the road and the other on the right, both holding rifles and advancing quickly in a combat search mode.

The tumbleweed was more than three hundred meters away from the vehicle, and it didn’t take long for both men to reach the vicinity of the tumbleweed.

Panxin was on one side of the tumbleweed, and Li Jingang on the other. When they were about a dozen meters away from the tumbleweed, Panxin made a stop gesture, then slowly walked forward, looking up into the pile of grass, while Li Jingang kept watch with his rifle.

Suddenly, Panxin stopped moving, and he immediately crouched down.

"Retreat! Directional explosives!"

Panxin’s shout was low and urgent, then he quickly raised his rifle, retreating rapidly with small, swift steps.

The two men swiftly moved away from the tumbleweed, and then Zhao Qiang whispered, "Retreat, fast!"

Zhao Qiang was driving, the engine was still running, and the car was already in reverse. When the command to retreat came through the walkie-talkie, Liu Deguang, who was driving behind him, reversed even faster.

Both vehicles began to reverse, but at that moment, less than two hundred meters away from where Li Jingang and Panxin were searching, several figures suddenly emerged from the ground.

After two flashes of fire, Li Jingang shouted, "RPG!"

The guns fired, and both Li Jingang and Panxin fell to the ground, shooting in the direction of the RPG launch. From the position of the RPG, a machine gun started to fire at Panxin with a long burst.

A dark silhouette flashed past the front of the off-road vehicle. Although it was extremely fast, Gao Yuan was sure he had seen it.

The rocket flew past the off-road vehicle and then exploded not far behind the left side of the vehicle.

The off-road vehicle reversed at high speed, and after a brief moment of confusion, Gao Yuan shouted, "What about King Kong and Mr. Jian?"

Zhao Qiang remained silent. He sharply turned the steering wheel to face forward and immediately said into the walkie-talkie, "First, get out of the RPG’s firing range!"