The First Order

In fact, even Ren Xiaosu did not know that keeping the heater on for an extended period of time in an idling vehicle would cause carbon monoxide poisoning. If the occupants of the vehicle were awake, it might be fine. But if they were not, then it might really be possible they would not regain consciousness ever again.When Li Ran heard what Zhou Yingxue said, she immediately woke the others up. Everyone started shivering in the cold wind after they got out of their vehicles. Some of them were even showing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning already.

Carbon monoxide poisoning would cause a person to feel very uncomfortable. Everyone sat in the wilderness wrapped tightly in their clothes, but when a gust of cold wind blew past, the coldness seeped right into their bones.

Curious, Ren Xiaosu asked Zhou Yingxue, “How’d you know something like that?”

“In the past, I often used this method to create scenes of accidental death. It was just that I would also need to resort to other methods of killing back then.” Zhou Yingxue smiled and said, “After all, I don’t like seeing blood.”

Only now did Ren Xiaosu realize she was not just a gluttonous maidservant, but also a very real former intelligence agent who was good at assassination, infiltration, and intelligence gathering.

Li Ran slowly moved to the campfire and sat down. But unexpectedly, she did not question Zhou Yingxue on why she had not warned them earlier. Rather, she whispered a soft “thank you” to her.

Zhou Yingxue smiled and said, “You’re welcome.” Then she prepared to go into the tent to sleep.

Li Ran asked, “Can I sleep in the same tent as you?”

Zhou Yingxue said, “There’s no such agreement in the contract. Plus the tent isn’t big enough for the two of us.”

This time, Li Ran seemed to be unusually calm. “Then do you remember that in the contract, there’s also a term that says you can’t sleep earlier than your employer?”

Zhou Yingxue was stunned. Even this tactic was being used?

She thought for a moment, then said, “Fine, I won’t sleep then!”

Ren Xiaosu sighed. A catfight between women would only lead to heavy losses. They could clearly have just gone into the tent together to sleep, and it was absolutely spacious enough to fit two people, yet they both ended up sitting by the campfire and whiling their time away.

However, he was fine with this. He just sat by the campfire and read his book. He could not sleep at this time. Since someone had scattered nails on the road, there would definitely be a follow-up. Be it selling tires or other plans, Ren Xiaosu decided this matter would have to be taken care of first.

Li Ran looked Ren Xiaosu up and down. She realized the book he was reading looked very unfamiliar to her. It was titled Golden Age.[1]

“Who wrote that book? Why haven’t I heard of it before?” Li Ran asked.

Ren Xiaosu glanced up at her. “This book is from before The Cataclysm, so it’s normal that you haven’t heard of it.”

Li Ran did not say another word. She looked at Ren Xiaosu and felt a little curious. He was clearly quite well-built and was Zhou Yingxue’s assistant too, yet he actually took the time to read books even though he had a job that constantly engaged in fighting and killing?

Zhou Yingxue noticed Li Ran sneaking peeks at Ren Xiaosu. She said, “Assistant, bring me my water bottle.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhou Yingxue speechlessly. He did not know what this gal was up to this time.

But then, the hum of engines came from afar in the wilderness. It even sounded like someone was happily shouting something out there. Ren Xiaosu said, “The people who’re here to change your tires have arrived.”

The ten plainclothes guards of the tour group already had their pistols drawn and were ready to shoot at any moment.

But they were surprised by the fact that there were actually around six vehicles in the convoy dashing over. One of them even had a heavy machine gun mounted on it.

One of the people in the vehicles shouted, “Do y’all wanna change your tires? Only 20,000 yuan each, what a fair deal! Of course, if you don’t need a tire change, we’ll leave immediately! We also provide tire patching services at 8,000 yuan each!”

Fang Zhi wanted to curse at that guy. Usually, a normal tire would cost at most slightly over a 1,000 yuan to change. Moreover, the spare tires these people had on their vehicles looked really worn-out. It was obvious they were used tires taken from somewhere else and were just barely usable.

However, with a heavy machine gun pointing at him, Fang Zhi was somewhat apprehensive about scolding him.

Since when did the Central Plains become so chaotic that even the vehicles providing tire patching services were equipped with heavy machine guns? Was there no one around to enforce the law?!

Being within range of the heavy machine gun, the ten guards suddenly felt a little powerless.

The other party did not get too close to the tour group either. The person in the vehicle only used a loudspeaker to shout their offer to them.

The people in the repair team said, “So do you need a tire change or what? We still have other places to go!”

From the looks of it, they probably scattered the nails in quite a few other areas too.

Li Ran said to Zhou Yingxue, “If you kill them, I’ll add another 100,000 yuan to your reward.”

Zhou Yingxue blinked and said, “I was told to take a back seat for the escort mission and just look pretty.”

Li Ran clenched her teeth. “I didn’t say ‘look pretty.’”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned for a moment. Why were women always focused on such trivial things?

When Zhou Yingxue heard that, she all the more did not want to care about Li Ran anymore. “I’m only responsible for your safety, and they’re not threatening you right now. If you don’t wanna change tires, they’ll be off anyway. So I can’t be considered to have violated the contract. I’m a bodyguard, not a fighter.”

But just as she finished speaking, Ren Xiaosu shot to his feet. “Wang Ergou?!”

That person in the vehicle was also stunned. He carefully sized up Ren Xiaosu and said, “Xiaosu?!”

“Hahaha, you guys really came to the Central Plains!” Ren Xiaosu laughed as he walked towards that convoy. Even in the face of that heavy machine gun, it posed no threat to him.

That person in the vehicle cried out, “Everyone, lower your guns! Can’t you see? It’s Xiaosu!”

Then the person jumped out of the vehicle. He was wearing a dirty fur coat and limping as he walked. Ren Xiaosu asked, “What happened to your leg?”

“Ugh.” Wang Ergou said with a laugh, “I got into a conflict with someone while I was working, but the other party did not kill me and just broke my leg.”

“Weird. You even managed to get your hands on a heavy machine gun, and you still encountered a troublesome person?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.

“It was a lone woman.” Wang Ergou sighed and said, “You don’t know how dangerous the world has become now. That woman wearing a black cap was driving in an off-road vehicle by herself, so I thought it was a definite done deal. But before I could clearly see what was going on, she had already taken care of all of us. That’s why we’re keeping our distance from our targets now even though we’re equipped with a heavy machine gun. When we repair any vehicles, there will also be people keeping watch. Someone has to stay at the vehicle and be ready to fire at a moment’s notice.”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. “Is that woman you’re talking about dressed in a black combat uniform?”

“Eh? You’ve seen her before too?” Wang Ergou was surprised. “You offended that bitch as well? I have to warn you: You can’t afford to offend her.”

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Did y’all manage to see what her power is?”

Wang Ergou said, “I think she can control sand. At that time, she straight-up moved the sand and made our vehicle mounted with the machine gun sink into the ground.”

Ren Xiaosu didn’t expect this answer, because he had suspected the woman was the mastermind controlling the paper cranes!