After about half an hour of crawling along at a snail's pace, the three vehicles finally entered a mountainous area. However, although it was called a mountainous area, the surrounding hills were not very high, and the originally lush trees had long since disappeared, replaced by barren, desolate sandy hills. Occasionally, some dead trees and the bleached bones of humans or animals could be seen, making it look as if they had fallen into a desert, with nothing but sand in sight, the scenery monotonous to the extreme.
The sun was gradually setting in the west. After entering the mountainous area, the wind and sand had noticeably decreased, and visibility had greatly improved. The lead pickup truck began to increase its speed to about forty miles per hour. However, not five minutes later, after the three vehicles had successively climbed a steep slope, the pickup truck signaled a right turn and slowly stopped by the roadside.
"Lin, this will do. We don't know if there's a suitable place further ahead!" Gao Chujing, wearing sunglasses, jumped out of the car with Boss Hu and walked over to Jack's vehicle, pointing at a nearby single-story house with a small yard, saying, "There's a house here, so we won't have to set up a tent!"
"Alright, at least we have a roof over our heads!" Jack nodded, turned off the engine, left the keys in the ignition, and jumped out of the car, calling for everyone to get out.
"Huh? What kind of broken place is this? Why is it all rotten wood?"
Jiao Jiao frowned in displeasure, exclaiming as she stood behind Jack with her white Gucci handbag. She had changed from the polo shirt she wore in the morning into a bright red dress, and on her feet were a pair of white peep-toe wedge shoes. Her appearance did not resemble that of a survivor at all; instead, she looked more like a wealthy lady on an outing.
Jiao Jiao's reaction was entirely due to the dark brick house in front of them. Although the yard was not small, the entire right side of the yard was almost filled with broken and unbroken rough timber. Some wooden boxes, nailed into square shapes, occupied a third of the yard, stacked so high that they were even taller than the house.
"...Marcus Flag Town Guangyu Wood Processing Factory?"
Thomas Xu bent down and pulled out a white wooden sign from the sand pile in front of him. The sign clearly stated in black brush strokes that this place used to be a wood processing factory, not the residential area they had imagined.
"Huh? This tiny place is a factory? Aren't you afraid of laughing your teeth out!" Boss Hu looked incredulously at the wooden sign in Thomas Xu's hand. Although the yard of this shabby place was somewhat spacious, that dilapidated house, even counting the building area, probably didn't add up to one hundred and fifty square meters. No matter how you looked at it, it had nothing to do with a factory.
Thomas Xu pouted and threw away the wooden sign, then rushed inside, kicking open the two almost decorative doors. He waved his gun around inside for half a minute but came out empty-handed. After exiting, he shook his head helplessly and said to Jack with a long face, "It seems we still have to set up tents tonight. There are only three rooms inside: an office the size of a toilet, a storage room the size of a closet, and a living room, which you can see is completely taken up by that big saw!"
"Huh? I knew today wasn't a good day. I picked up a Marcus calendar yesterday that said today is not suitable for traveling. It's windy and sandy, and we have to sleep outdoors!" Boss Hu immediately frowned. He definitely wouldn't sleep well in a tent, and setting it up would require the men to work hard. At the very least, they would have to throw out those broken boxes in the yard. They couldn't just set up the tent on the road, could they?
"Damn it, starting a fire tonight is easy; we don't even need to gather firewood!" Gao Chujing also shook his head with a bitter smile and moved to the side to start moving boxes out.
"Lin Ye, let's sleep in the office tonight; there's a Thomas sponge sofa in there!" Jiao Jiao also came out after taking a look around the house. Seeing Jack nod, she immediately waved to Jiang Yan and No. 6 outside the yard, commanding, "Hey, you two, bring all our bedding into the house, and don't forget my little red bag; it has my underwear in it!"
"Okay, Jiao Jiao Jie!" Jiang Yan quickly nodded and hurriedly ran out with No. 6.
Everyone started to get busy. The men, being the strong laborers, handled the heavy lifting, while even the limping William Peng forced himself to do what he could. The women, meanwhile, unloaded things from the car while discussing what to eat for dinner. However, girls like Bing Bing and Ryan Li, after taking down their backpacks, began to circle around their men, sweetly handing them water and wiping their sweat.
The raging wind and sand gradually calmed down, and the sky began to darken. After Jack and Michael returned from patrolling, the clutter in the yard had been cleared out by the men, except for those heavy logs. All the wooden boxes were thrown outside the door, and a few that looked good were chopped up for firewood.
Seven colorful camping tents were set up in two rows in the yard, with a roaring bonfire in the middle. A few women interested in cooking were huddled by the bonfire, being personally guided by the limping chef William Peng on how to cut the meat. Meanwhile, Thomas Xu and a few other men simply moved all the sofas and tables from the office into the yard. The desk was used as a dining table, and four men sat in a row on Thomas's old sofa, enjoying massages from the young girls behind them like lords.
Thomas Xu set his Apple phone to music mode and casually tossed it on the table. He patted Bing Bing, who was massaging him, and asked her to bring each of them a bottle of beer chilled in the car fridge. After taking a refreshing gulp of beer, Thomas Xu turned to look at the three women who were massaging Jack's shoulders, legs, and feet. Feeling a bit jealous, he whispered to Gao Chujing beside him, "Old Gao, it's really infuriating how some people have all the luck. We each have one girl, but Lin Ge is surrounded by beauties—Bai Ru, Cao Mei, and Jiao Jiao. Sigh~ I've decided; I need to work hard and definitely get two more of those flight attendants into bed tonight!"
Gao Chujiang turned his head to look at the round-faced girl behind him who was giving him a massage. He forced a smile and bared his teeth at her, then turned back and pouted at Thomas Xu, saying, "You really don't know the hunger of the starving when you're full. At least you have one, but I don't even have half. Last night, I thought I could have a little story with Xiaomin, but who knew that girl was as cunning as a ghost? She was fine with holding hands and hugging, but when I tried to take it further, she wouldn't have it. It left me feeling so restless, it's driving me crazy!"
"Ha~ Then don't be so picky. Isn't this Nana who's giving you a massage pretty good? Although she's just average looking, at least she's a flight attendant, and her figure is just right. If we get her a pencil skirt, we can even play with the temptation of uniforms!" Thomas Xu took a sip of his drink, leeringly glancing at Nana behind Gao Chujing, who blushed as if she sensed it and even threw a flirtatious wink at Thomas Xu.
"Sigh~ You guys just know how to leave all this junk for me!" Gao Chujing smacked his lips in annoyance, leaning against Thomas Xu and whispering in his ear, "You heard what Liu Lan said last night. This woman named Nana is basically a public bus; she's not good-looking and acts like a lovesick fool. Any man can get with her. Just now, Lao Hu was sneaking his hand into her pants on the bus. If it weren't for Ryan Li and my daughter being there, they probably would have hooked up on the bus. Do you think I, Gao, can settle for such trash?"
"Come on, it's not like I'm asking you to marry her. What's there to be picky about when it's free?" Thomas Xu smirked, looking at Gao Chujing with disdain.
"That's not the point. We're not just physically empty; we're psychologically empty too. Finding a woman we can talk to would provide some comfort. What can I talk about with someone like Nana? What does she even understand?" Gao Chujing said with a bitter face, letting out a heavy sigh.
"So who else can you find here? The high-quality, well-cultured ones are all over with Brother Lin. Even that college girl has been taken by his third wife as a personal maid. You can't possibly be interested in… A-Xue, right?" Thomas Xu seemed to think there was a possibility, glancing at A-Xue who was walking around with Michael. He suddenly sat up straight and whispered to Gao Chujing, "Lao Gao, this isn't a joke. Although A-Xue doesn't have a man, she has a dog, and that dog is fierce. If you dare to have any ideas about her, be careful; you might not even know how you died!"
"What… what are you talking about? How could I dare to have any ideas about A-Xue? You've seen how Michael bites; he's fierce. Plus, I wouldn't dare to climb high with a woman who's into interspecies relationships!" Gao Chujing hurriedly shook his head, but then suddenly became shy, speaking to Thomas Xu in a bashful tone, "Actually… I think Lu… Lu Jia is pretty good. Although she's young, she's very intellectual, and she's about to become a damn it person, knowing the ups and downs of life. I… I like her gentle nature!"
"Get lost! Gao Chujing, I'm telling you, if you dare to have any ideas about my sister-in-law, be careful I'll fall out with you!" Thomas Xu's face instantly fell, glaring at Gao Chujing with a warning look. Then, with a huff, he suddenly stood up, walked a few steps to Lu Jia, who was talking to William Fang, and gently said, "Come on, sister-in-law, after sitting in the car all day, let me accompany you for a walk outside. Pregnant women need to exercise more!"
"Hey!" Although Lu Jia was a bit surprised, she happily followed Thomas Xu out of the yard, shoulder to shoulder. Gao Chujing felt extremely awkward watching Thomas Xu leave in anger, heavily slapping himself on the face and muttering, "Damn it, I really have a loose mouth. How did I suddenly get carried away?"