Kaelin and Zixuan arrived at the designated rendezvous point, where Mo Yan, Zhao Heng, and Yue Tianlang had already been waiting for quite some time.
"Looks like everyone's here," Tianlang said with a pleasant smile.
Mo Yan glanced at Kaelin and said, "Miss Kaelin, your performance, if you will."
Kaelin smirked. "You bet! Feast your eyes!"
She raised her ring, and with a gleam of light, a military-grade off-road vehicle materialized out of thin air in front of everyone.
"WTF?!" Mo Yan recoiled in shock. "You really brought a car?!"
"Of course I did! How else do you think the top-ranked gunslinger in the entire game gets around?" Kaelin grinned smugly. "Alright, everyone in!"
"Wait!" Mo Yan suddenly shouted.
"What now?" Kaelin asked, annoyed.
"I just remembered something important."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"…Do you have a driver's license?" Mo Yan asked, dead serious.
"License? Nah. Why? You think I need one here?" Kaelin said with one hand on her hip, brow raised.
Mo Yan felt a chill run down his spine. His survival instincts were screaming.
"Uh… is it too late to change my mind?"
"What?! You don't trust me? My family runs an auto repair shop, okay? I've got the skills!"
"That only makes me more nervous, to be honest…"
"Can't you have some faith in me?!" Kaelin yelled, arms akimbo.
Zixuan tried to calm things down. "Come on, don't make a scene. At least in-game, Kaelin's ranking is undisputed."
"Yeah," Zhao Heng chimed in. "And even if something goes wrong, you're not the only one in the car."
That, of course, lit Kaelin's fuse.
"Excuse me?! Hey! You wooden block—what's that supposed to mean?! You call that helping?!"
Zhao Heng ignored her, brushing off the commotion as he calmly said, "No time to waste. Let's go."
Amid Kaelin's outraged yelling, Mo Yan reluctantly climbed into the passenger seat. Once everyone was aboard, Kaelin grabbed the wheel with a wicked grin and entered full "race queen" mode.
"YAHOO!"
With a burst of music and a stomp on the gas, the vehicle tore across the wildlands. Thankfully, they were surrounded by nothing but open plains—had anything wandered into their path, it'd have been roadkill for sure.
"Whoa~! This thing is insane!" Tianlang leaned forward from the back seat, wide-eyed. "At this pace, we should reach the City of Sin by nightfall!"
"Exactly! So hang tight—'cause we're kicking it into overdrive!"
Kaelin flashed a dangerous smile and floored it past 200 km/h. Mo Yan instinctively reached for the door, clearly reconsidering all his life choices. The others frantically double-checked their seatbelts while Zixuan cast three layers of protective wards over the entire vehicle.
"Is this really okay…?" Mo Yan muttered, his face pale.
Two hours of heart-pounding highway madness later, they neared the base of Mount Direwolf. Kaelin finally eased off the gas and carefully maneuvered onto a narrow dirt path. But just as things began to calm down…
"There's something up ahead," Mo Yan said, suddenly alert.
A wagon was stopped dead center in the road. The driver trembled on the seat, while three others stood guard behind the wagon—completely unarmed. In front of them, a pack of at least ten stone wolves bared their fangs, ready to strike.
"Stone wolves? Out here?" Zixuan's brow furrowed.
Stone wolves were unique to Supreme Teyvat, typically found clinging to cliffsides and ravines. Their rocky camouflage allowed them to ambush prey, but they rarely attacked unprovoked. And they never ventured far from the mountains.
"This is odd," Zhao Heng said grimly.
"Doesn't matter. We need to help them," Mo Yan said.
"Kaelin, stop the car!"
Everyone unbuckled and prepared to jump out—but Kaelin smiled mischievously.
"Help? Why bother with all that? This is a rare chance for some stylish heroics! Leave it to me!"
Mo Yan felt that chill return.
"Wait, you're not planning to—"
"Bingo! The simpler, the better~!"
"NO—DON'T YOU DARE—"
But it was too late. Kaelin dropped the gearshift and floored the pedal again. Everyone barely had time to strap back in.
200 km/h straight into the wolf pack.
The roar of the engine turned every head—human and beast alike. Just as the vehicle was about to slam into them, Kaelin cranked the wheel and executed a perfect 360 drift, tires kicking up dust as the SUV skidded to a thunderous halt. Every single wolf within range was either sent flying or pinned in place by the sheer shockwave of the maneuver.
Inside the vehicle, Mo Yan and the others stumbled out, pale and nauseous. Even the onlookers were stunned speechless.
"Um… what is this thing?" the middle-aged man who'd been leading the group stepped forward and tapped the hood. Mo Yan and the others collapsed onto some nearby rocks, still dizzy from Kaelin's "stunt."
As they caught their breath, the wagon driver bowed repeatedly.
"Thank you all! If not for your help, we would've been done for!"
"No need to thank us," Tianlang said with a smile. "But tell me—where are you from, and why so few guards?"
A blond man nearby replied, "Oh, we're locals from around Mount Direwolf. This gentleman here wanted to cross the mountains and do business in the City of Sin. He hired my older brother, sister, and me to escort him."
"Wait… sister?" Mo Yan blinked and turned toward the group. Sure enough, among them was a tall woman with violet hair.
"You three aren't mercenaries, are you?" Tianlang asked.
"Not at all," the middle-aged man replied. "We're siblings—hunters, actually. We were out tracking game when we ran into this guy and decided to travel together."
"Hunters?" Mo Yan frowned. "But you're not carrying any weapons…"
"I said the same thing," the wagon driver chimed in. "But Mister Williams here keeps avoiding the question."
Williams scowled. "What, you saying a hunter can't be a weapon? Besides, you're the one who begged us to come, and now you're acting all high and mighty!"
The driver scratched his head. "Okay, fine, I got a little desperate. But you gotta admit—it's not every day you meet hunters who take down monsters bare-handed."
"You little—want me to smack some respect into you?!" Williams roared.
As the two bickered, Tianlang stood awkwardly between them.
"So… can I take it you're traveling together out of convenience, then?" he asked carefully.
Williams folded his arms and looked away. "More or less. We were headed this way anyway."
"In that case, why not travel with us?" Kaelin suddenly suggested. "We're also heading to the City of Sin. The more, the merrier, right?"
"Sounds good to me!" the driver said, eyes lighting up. "Though… I don't have any money for protection fees or anything…"
"No worries. We're headed the same way," Kaelin said breezily. She then turned to her companions. "Hey, you three done resting yet? If so, let's hit the road!"
Next Chapter: [Chapter 16 - Shadows Beyond the Pass (即将到来)]
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