Chapter 1770: Chapter 1769: The Stronghold of the Church of the Grim Reaper

In front of the old stone house were some worn-out tires, wheel hubs, and some simple mechanical parts.

A man covered in grease was squatting beside these mechanical parts, repairing a motorcycle.

Just then, a soft voice sounded above his head, "Hello, may I ask where this truck is from?"

Without looking up, the man continued disassembling the motorcycle in his hands, "Picked up by the roadside. It was already broken and smelly when we found it. Now it’s in repaired condition. If you want to buy it, five thousand federal coins, or cryptocurrency or goods of equivalent value."

He tightened the screws in front of him with a wrench set to a fixed torque, "This truck is a bulletproof truck, but it was damaged before it reached me. I can’t guarantee it’s as good as the original, only that it can run. If there are any problems within a year, you can come back, and I’ll fix it for you."

He hung the wrench on his waist and stood up, "But even the lowest config in the city sells for at least thirty thousand federal coins. For this price of five thousand, don’t expect too much."

He looked up in the direction of the voice.

Only to find the place empty.

Hurriedly, he turned his head to check the patched truck nearby. It was still there, not stolen.

"Another guy who asks but doesn’t buy," the man shook his head, squatting down again to continue fiddling with the motorcycle in front of him.

······

Meanwhile, about twenty kilometers outside the Wanderer Camp, He Ao walked on the hardened road, scanning the surrounding traces.

This was the place where the wanderer mechanic recalled he ’picked up’ the truck.

When he arrived here, there were three damaged trucks parked. He only chose the best-preserved one.

The remaining two were now nowhere to be seen, not even a wheel hub left.

Clearly, they were picked up by other wilderness wanderers.

Such iron items are extremely scarce resources in the wilderness, whether kept for personal use or sold, they are very worthwhile.

He Ao lowered his head, his foot stepping on the hard dirt ground, his gaze sweeping over the bumpy surface.

This was a rather wide merchant road, about twenty meters wide, enough to accommodate four large trucks side by side.

However, this road wasn’t cement-hardened, just a bright-pressed area paved with some simple gravel and reinforced plastic blocks on the dirt.

Most Federation merchant roads are simple and cheap dirt roads.

Cement roads are easily destroyed by bombs and exotic beasts, and maintenance costs are high. These dirt roads have low maintenance costs and can be abandoned or rerouted at any time, forming the main type of Federation merchant roads.

If encountering battles or exotic beast attacks, that cause craters, other merchant teams can immediately take a detour.

Of course, these teams usually carry robots that can quickly repair such roads, recording repair videos to apply for road repair subsidies from Federal Central afterward.

Usually, these subsidies cover road repair costs with a small profit, making road repair a welcome task for merchant teams.

The potholes ahead of He Ao had obvious repair traces.

Clearly, some merchant team repaired it, just not fully done, likely meeting the minimum standard for subsidies.

Though if a later team with those large-track cargo trucks pressed over it, it would mostly revert.

But this road hadn’t had such large trucks pass, and for such a wide merchant way, despite being a bit off the beaten path, encountering these large trucks is quite likely.

This indicates the craters weren’t created too long ago.

The wanderer mechanic likely saw the damaged trucks about three days ago.

In summary, these trucks were probably attacked four to five days ago.

In Wild’s memory, the children’s remains were transported around that timeframe, calculating that four or five days ago should have just reached here.

And the truck design looked like those transporting remains.

Judging from the crater structure, it was likely created by a small electromagnetic cannon.

The use of an electromagnetic cannon suggests the attackers weren’t ordinary wilderness wanderers, nor were they strong Transcendents.

If it were powerful Transcendents like He Ao, they could directly suppress the convoy and seize the vehicles without damaging them.

Therefore, the attackers were likely elite mercenary squads or high-level wilderness wanderers with sophisticated equipment.

But now, the question arises.

These small trucks didn’t look valuable, and from Wild’s memory the convoy didn’t seem wealthy.

Why would such an elite team attack this convoy?

Moreover, the small trucks weren’t carrying cigarettes, firearms, or precious metals, but some bloody remains.

The mechanic revealed the trucks had a residual stench, but the contents of the truck cabin had been moved.

This leaves two possibilities: the convoy repelled the attack, but some vehicles were damaged so they transferred the remains into other trucks to press on.

The second possibility is the convoy failed to block the attack and was entirely hijacked.

In this scenario, the attackers moved the remains from the damaged trucks and took them.

This second possibility seems unrealistic.

What kind of elite mercenary squad would transport away remains?

Plus, the mechanic was likely the first to discover the scene and didn’t find bodies or torn remains by exotic beasts.

This indicates neither side was significantly harmed; if there were casualties, they likely took companions and left.

If the convoy won, this situation is normal.

If the attackers won, then it implies a peculiar sense of ’justice’—orderly bandits or naive newcomers.

Further, Wild’s memory suggests many in the convoy belonged to the Church of the Grim Reaper.

Since the Church valued these remains, it’s unlikely they wouldn’t arrange powerful Death God Priests to accompany them, but attackers with superior equipment might not defeat the Priests.

All in all, it seemed the convoy won, carrying on with the remaining team; this scenario is closer to the truth.

Yet, He Ao felt something amiss.

Primarily, the merchant road was surrounded by a vast wilderness, where an attack happening unnoticed is very likely.

It’s doubtful there were any eyewitnesses at the scene; reviewing memory seems improbable.

The merchant road site was also damaged from repairs and passing vehicles, and judging by the marks, a heavy rain occurred afterward, blurring the remaining traces.

He Ao rubbed his brow, observing the merchant road, then raised his bracelet, pulling up an offline map and roughly pinpointing his location.

He gestured and confirmed the direction, looking ahead along the merchant road.

Following this route, its final destination should be Minte City; after Minte City, it passes through the Northern Gate, linking with the Northeastern Federation—it’s a classic route from Ains Economic Zone to Federation Northeast Economic Zone.

But obviously, these convoy vehicles can’t go so far as Minte City.

He Ao traced on the map.

The furthest the convoy could go is...

His gaze fell upon a city marked on the map.

’Ains’?

Is the destination of this convoy Ains?

Aren’t those bodies transported out of Ains, and now they are being transported back to Ains?

Why?

Some kind of special ’feint strategy’? The purpose is to make people in Ains believe those bodies have already been transported out.

As he pondered, He Ao gently rubbed his temples.

He couldn’t quite understand what the Church of the Grim Reaper was trying to do.

However, his purpose here is to investigate why Morolin came here initially.

The encounter with these trucks was merely a coincidence.

Logically, there should be some kind of fixed outpost for the Church of the Grim Reaper here? Otherwise, Morolin wouldn’t frequent this place.

Perhaps, these convoys aren’t heading to Ains, but to a fixed outpost of the Church of the Grim Reaper?

This place is near Ains, under the noses of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a group of Angels, if the Church of the Grim Reaper set up a fixed outpost here, it certainly shows some audacity and skill.

However, this could also be some kind of ’concealment under nose’.

He Ao gazed at the road ahead, gradually advancing along this trade route, with purple brilliance covering his pupils.

His speed was extremely fast, moving as if flickering through space.

However, behind him, a giant mecha was slowly emerging from the depths of the sky.

It was his nuclear-powered mecha, Hades.

Through the radio equipment on Hades, He Ao’s bracelet can actually communicate with Hades, and naturally, he can summon Hades at any time.

For some reason, He Ao always felt that some things might have happened before he even knew it.

The time he can respond now may not be that much.

If nothing is discovered ahead, he may have to quickly pilot Hades back near that Wanderer Camp to search for further clues.

After walking one or two kilometers continuously, the entire trade route seemed quite normal.

The giant mecha slowly descended behind He Ao.

It seems that there’s indeed no clue here.

The time of the event is a bit too far back from now, leaving no effective clues.

The giant mecha thruster unleashed a surging airflow, landing behind He Ao, making the surrounding grass and trees rustle fiercely.

"Caw—Caw—Caw—"

The flocks of birds in the forest were suddenly alerted and flew away in all directions.

At this moment, a giant eagle, seemingly awakened, suddenly charged out from the forest, heading towards where He Ao stood.

This seemed to be the exotic beast controlling the nearby areas.

He Ao raised his head and glanced at the eagle.

The cannon muzzle extended from the arm of giant Hades, aiming at the eagle.

At the very last moment, He Ao suddenly raised his hand, preventing Hades from taking action.

Faint purple brilliance covered his pupils, in an instant, the eagle arrived in front of He Ao.

Subsequently, the eagle halted slightly, as if momentarily forgetting what it intended to do, fluttering in mid-air.

He Ao raised his hand, and the eagle naturally landed on his arm.

He Ao gazed at the eagle in front of him, observing the faint shadow covering its body.

Exotic beasts also have souls, but most of the time, their souls are quite illusory, rapidly dissipating immediately after death.

He was surprised to find that this eagle’s soul seemed to have undergone some kind of mutation, much more resilient than an ordinary C-level exotic beast.

Most of the time, such soul-related mutations are due to a strong extraordinary power related to souls nearby, invisibly affecting the exotic beasts in the vicinity.

He Ao raised his hand, and the eagle on his arm spread its wings, suddenly taking flight towards the northeast.

It seemed to have forgotten what it wanted to do, only wanting to head towards the direction that caused it the most ’pain.’

He Ao raised his hand, directly grabbing one of the eagle’s claws, allowing it to carry him into the sky.

Hades quickly ascended, disappearing into the mountains.

The large mecha was too conspicuous; if it continued forward, it might be discovered by other Wilderness Wanderers.

Soon, He Ao’s figure accompanied by the eagle flew through the forest, the wild wind howling past his cheeks.

After crossing several mountain peaks, the eagle’s speed faintly started to slow down.

He Ao let go, allowing his body to naturally fall, gliding through the gaps between leaves, landing on the soft and decayed forest floor.

Faint purple brilliance covered He Ao’s pupils, quietly observing the dense forest.

The forest was unusually quiet, so quiet that He Ao could hear his slight breathing.

The blazing summer sun shone in the sky, yet it seemed unable to penetrate the leaves of the surrounding trees, with only a cold brilliance laying on He Ao’s body.

If one word were used to describe the state here, it would be ’dead silence.’

It seemed there was no life here at all.

The eagle in the sky continued to fly forward.

"Caw—"

At that moment, an illusory skeleton giant hand suddenly extended from the void, capturing the eagle and instantly crushing it, assimilating its soul into the skeletal hand.

He Ao raised his head, looking towards the skeletal giant hand.

The skeletal giant hand slowly stretched forward, and a huge skeleton about a hundred meters tall gradually emerged from the void.

It stood there, as if it was another peak among these mountains.

It lowered its head, silently gazing at He Ao.

The surroundings remained vast and barren wilderness.

He Ao looked down, gazing beyond the enormous skeleton.

A faint, barely visible road running through the forest was now revealed behind the skeleton.

Where there is a road, there are people.

An invisible and terrifying pressure pervaded this dense forest, carrying a chill that pierced to the depths of the soul.