Chapter 1791 — An Encounter on the Way, Part One

However, despite what Old Master You had said, all the other patriarchs present merely exchanged knowing smiles...

This was the third day since Gu Mengyao and the others had left West Star Mountain Village. Since they were three young women traveling together, they drove during the day and, after leaving the highway at night, found a large budget hotel in whatever city they happened to reach.

Whenever they checked into a hotel, Xiao Shu carried Wei Zhao on her back. She looked as though it took everything she had, but no one else could help her. Wei Zhao's body was simply too hot; apart from Xiao Shu, nobody could stand being near him!

Yet Xiao Shu was astonishingly tough, holding out for several days running. No one knew where she found such explosive strength.

Of course, since they stayed at a different hotel every night, no one grew suspicious. Whenever the three women checked in, they simply explained that Wei Zhao had caught a cold and was running a fever. The flush covering his body made it easy enough to tell that he was ill.

As for the flush on Xiao Shu's face, no one thought it unusual. They all assumed she had become flushed from exhaustion after carrying Wei Zhao.

"We're almost there..." Tang Yun studied the map in her hands and could not help letting out a sigh of relief. They had traveled by highway the entire way, so there had naturally been no danger, but they had still been afraid that some unexpected complication might arise...

Yet, as the saying went, the more you feared something, the more likely it was to happen. They had made it safely through the entire journey, only to run into trouble at the very last stop!

Because of Snow Valley's unusual geographical location, once Gu Mengyao had driven past the final stretch of highway, they could only continue along mountain roads and narrow country lanes.

Along the way they passed fields and villages. But just as they were driving down a narrow lane lined with trees on both sides, they discovered a fallen log lying across the road ahead, blocking their way!

"What is this?" Gu Mengyao brought the car to a halt and stared at the log in the road.

"Should I get out and move it?" Tang Yun did not think much of it. The log was not particularly large. It would take some effort, but she could move it by herself without too much trouble.

"Don't!" Gu Mengyao stopped Tang Yun almost instinctively. She and Xiao Shu had often traveled together before, so she naturally had more experience than Tang Yun. She had never personally encountered a log blocking the road, but she had heard people talk about such things. Usually, only a very small number were trees that had broken naturally and fallen across the road. Most were deliberately placed there by people!

And the purpose of doing that was to block the road and rob passing travelers!

"What is it?" Tang Yun asked, taken aback.

"It may be dangerous." Gu Mengyao locked the car doors and said nervously, "What if we've run into road bandits..."

"Road bandits?" Tang Yun was startled. When she looked at the log more carefully, her heart gave a sudden jolt. Its broken edge was neat and sharp, nothing like a tree that had snapped naturally and fallen there. It truly looked as though someone had cut it down and deliberately laid it across the road...

No sooner had Tang Yun finished speaking than two dark figures sprang out from near the log. Seeing that Gu Mengyao and the others had not opened the doors, they swaggered straight over and stopped beside the driver's seat of the Grand Cherokee. One of them rapped impatiently on the window. "Get out! Get out!"

Gu Mengyao had already closed the windows, but the men outside were shouting so loudly that she could still hear them clearly.

The two men did not look like decent people to begin with. And the fact that they had appeared right in front of the log left their intentions obvious enough!

This was not the first time Gu Mengyao had faced danger. The peril she had encountered at the bank and in the amusement park had been far more frightening than this. But Wei Zhao had been at her side then, and they had come through both incidents safely and with ease.

But now Wei Zhao had suffered qi deviation and was still unconscious. How was she supposed to deal with these two men?

"What do you want?" Gu Mengyao did not dare open the window. She could only crack the sunroof open a tiny bit and call out to them.

"Huh? Women?" One of the burly men in black laughed loudly. "I opened this mountain, and I planted these trees. If you want to pass through, pay the toll!"

"You want money?" Gu Mengyao was not stupid. She immediately understood what the man meant.

"Clever!" The burly man gave a sinister little laugh. "No need for me to spell it out. Hand over everything valuable on you. My brother and I are after money, not the car. Once you give us the cash, we'll naturally move the log and let you pass!"

"How much do you want?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"What, you didn't hear me? Hand over whatever you have! Bank cards too. And tell me all the passwords!" the burly man said, evidently convinced that he was being witty.

Gu Mengyao frowned slightly. She had brought her bank card with her, and before coming to West Star Mountain Village, she had asked Daddy to put a substantial amount of money into the account. She had intended to use it to purchase the Ice Spirit Sacred Fruit, but it seemed that money was not going to survive the day... Of course, Gu Mengyao had no idea how valuable the Ice Spirit Sacred Fruit truly was. If she had known, she probably would not have cared about this amount of money at all.

But if they refused to pay, there was no way they would be able to leave. Gu Mengyao gritted her teeth and said, "We can give you money. I'll throw the cash and bank card out through the sunroof, and I'll tell you the password too. But you have to let us go!"

Gu Mengyao's thinking was simple: once the money was gone, she could have Daddy transfer more to them when they reached Snow Valley. There was no need to invite trouble merely to protect the money they had on hand. Getting past this place was what mattered.

"No. Get out of the car. We want to check for ourselves!" The burly man in black clearly did not believe her.

Gu Mengyao did not want to get out. She was afraid that doing so would lead to further complications. But the man was stubborn, and she found herself at a loss. "We're women. It isn't convenient for us to get out. We'll give you the money and the card, and you won't be short a single cent. There's a million in my bank account. I'll tell you the password right now. You can call and check the balance!"

"A million?" The burly man in black exchanged a glance with the other burly man, who was bald. A strange light flashed in both their eyes. They had been robbing travelers in this area for quite some time, specifically targeting people on self-drive tours. They always struck once and moved on to another location, so they had managed to avoid trouble all this time.

Even so, every robbery they had carried out so far had only earned them enough for food and drink. They had never dared steal a car. For one thing, cars were difficult to dispose of: they had license plates and matching chassis numbers, making it easy for the crime to be traced when the vehicles were sold. So they only took valuables and always let the cars go.

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