"Need a hand?" Wu Qian asked. The road had too many turns, and I couldn't drive and check the map simultaneously, so I asked her to see where this road led.
Wu Qian got up, knelt on the armrest box, crawled from the back seat to the passenger seat, and started operating the navigation system. She quickly found the destination of this road: Zhongnan Mountain.
"It's a dead end. There's no road ahead," Wu Qian said.
I saw it. But the map was acting strange. From the aura, Yao Yao and the others had entered the "no-road zone," yet they were still moving forward on the highway. This meant this new road wasn't fully integrated into the navigation system. There must be a road ahead, and perhaps other destinations as well.
Indeed, when the Mercedes navigation indicated the road ended, the asphalt disappeared. What extended forward was a cement road, just over three meters wide. It was newly built. I wished I had used Sabia's BeiDou navigation system, which could update road conditions in real-time. I didn't know whose system the Mercedes was using, but it was unreliable!
Without my instruction, Wu Qian called the number from earlier. Bai Qingcheng was on the highway. The enemy had gone in another direction, and we were still pursuing.
Bai Qingcheng was also confused. "Northwest direction? There's nothing there."
Wu Qian looked ahead. "There's truly nothing, just the vast Zhongnan Mountain."
Beyond the road beneath our tires, there was nothing in sight except for the forest, and the mountains were very tall.
Now, the distance between us and the enemy car was two kilometers. The car in front had slowed down slightly due to entering the narrower cement road. I decided to stop and examine the map carefully.
I stopped the car, opened the mobile map, switched to nature mode, and observed the actual terrain of the surrounding mountains. Wu Qian leaned over from the passenger seat. A fragrance enveloped me. I couldn't indulge in the intimate tenderness of a beautiful woman next to me, so I focused on the map. I discovered that the terrain about thirty kilometers ahead looked quite familiar. I quickly reached into my pocket; the chessboard map I had drawn earlier was still there. Comparing them, it was easy to tell: the mountains thirty kilometers away were precisely the location of the chessboard!
So, this was the shortest route to the chessboard. It was a shame it wasn't shown on the map, otherwise, we wouldn't have made Sanyang Town our base.
The Mountain Sea demon race probably just discovered this road. No, not necessarily. Looking at the smooth, glistening cement road, without a speck of dust, perhaps the Mountain Sea demon race had recently built it for convenience, even repaving the asphalt road!
It was easy to understand. After all, this was their domain. Moreover, the various positions on the chessboard would require significant manpower and resources. Xu Ran had told me before that such martial arts contests between two major demon races usually took place on wooden platforms. The Mountain Sea demon race should inherit this tradition. This would mean building wooden platforms on top of each peak. The engineering task was not small; it required transporting a large amount of building materials into the mountains, hence the construction of this road.
But one thing I couldn't understand was why they were bringing Yao Yao back? Wasn't she captured here!
Could it be that Long Yue was still inside the chessboard? And they were bringing Yao Yao to see Long Yue?
That didn't seem right either. Long Yue was the one who captured Yao Yao. Why bring her back?
I couldn't figure it out, so I stopped thinking about it and decided to catch up. I noticed that while we were chasing, there were a few more demon auras about three kilometers behind us. However, their aura levels were quite low, unlike the two vans in front, which concealed eight great demons with blue auras. The five behind were all low-level lesser demons, and there were three human auras, possibly a construction crew transporting materials up the mountain.
"Did you figure anything out?" Wu Qian asked.
I shook my head. "No. Let's keep chasing. There's no other way."
I took a screenshot of the map, marked the route of this new road, and our position relative to the chessboard, then sent it to Lin Xi.
We continued on our way and chased for a full half-hour, completely entering the deep mountains and old forests. Yet, the condition of the cement road remained intact, and there were even several simple bridges built in the middle. I wondered how the Mountain Sea demon race had chosen this route. They certainly possessed some road construction expertise. If we could achieve peace, and they were responsible for infrastructure construction in all remote areas, we would truly become a nation of builders...