A deafening sound of bombing came from up ahead.
The drivers on the road were stunned for two seconds, then burst into absolute panic.
Some abandoned their cars and ran back, while others honked their horns furiously and cursed. The entire Route 72 was in complete chaos.
Ling Feng watched the growing flames and the mushroom cloud rising into the sky in the distance, not stopping for even a second.
"Stop watching!" Ling Feng turned his head and roared at Carol and Lori, who were still dazed. His voice was so loud it shook them back to their senses. "Get in your car immediately and leave this place!"
Carol snapped out of it, clutched Sophia tightly, and ran toward the blue station wagon nearby.
Lori's face was as pale as paper. She pulled Carl's hand and backed away repeatedly, her face full of panic.
"Go!" Ling Feng had no time for small talk. He turned around and strode toward his parking spot.
Against the chaotic crowd, not far ahead, a man in plain clothes with an extremely muscular build was pushing through the crowd, sprinting desperately toward Lori and her son.
No need to guess, it was definitely Shane.
But there was no time to deal with him now. He would worry about that after settling down.
"Ling!"
Before he even reached her, Andrea had already leaned half her body out of the car window, anxiously slapping the car door. "What is going on ahead? Did something huge happen?"
"The military is dropping incendiary bombs. That city is finished." Ling Feng pulled open the back door. "Go to the back seat. I'll drive."
Andrea clearly understood the severity of the situation. Without a word, she opened the door and got out.
Ling Feng slid into the driver's seat and tossed the heavy M200 tactical gun case onto the leather passenger seat.
He yanked the seatbelt and buckled it, gripped the steering wheel tight with his left hand, and slammed the gear into drive with his right.
"Hold on tight!"
He floored the gas pedal.
The engine roared like a beast. The road ahead was already blocked into a pile of scrap metal, and Ling Feng had no intention of taking the conventional route.
He wrenched the steering wheel hard to the right. The tires ground harshly against the curb, the car let out a grating metallic screech, and it charged straight into the overgrown wasteland beside the road.
The car jolted violently, with weeds and mud flying everywhere.
The two women in the back seat screamed in terror.
Amy clutched the back of the front seat tightly, while Andrea was thrown against the car door, nearly dropping the glock 17 in her hand onto the floor mat.
"You're crazy! There's no road here at all! We're going to flip!" Andrea screamed.
"Shut up and hold on."
Ling Feng ignored her completely.
His gaze pierced through the windshield, scanning the undulating terrain ahead with focus. In this kind of uneven grassland, as long as he didn't hit hidden ditches or abandoned vehicles, charging through wouldn't be a problem.
The car sped through the wilderness for four or five hundred meters.
On the Route 72 beside them, the road was a long, deadlocked line, filled with desperate, crying people and figures abandoning their cars to flee.
Just then.
"Ling!"
Ling Feng's ears twitched. The sound was faint amidst the noisy environment, but he heard it clearly.
He immediately rolled down the window and looked toward the right front in the direction of the voice.
Across a shallow depression, on another parallel dirt road, a line of cars was driving forward desperately in a single file.
Leading them was an old, dilapidated Ford pickup truck, followed by a large RV in the middle, and several private cars behind.
That shout just now had come from that familiar blue station wagon.
Carol leaned half her body out of the passenger window, waving that plaid shirt desperately, afraid Ling Feng wouldn't see her.
In the Jeep ahead of the station wagon, Lori was also pressed against the window, looking over.
"At least you have some conscience." Ling Feng chuckled and honked the horn twice. Two crisp beeps served as his response.
This group was likely heading to the Quarry to establish a Camp, as per the original plot.
Following the main cast would not only allow him to control the plot's direction but also keep all those women in his grasp; it was the perfect place to grind for points.
He jerked the steering wheel.
The front of the car dove straight into the deep depression.
"Ahhh!" Amy shut her eyes in fear.
A strong sense of weightlessness hit them. Ling Feng gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, never letting off the gas.
The undercarriage scraped hard against the edge of the depression, then the tires gripped the mud, and a surge of power pushed the entire car up the slope, leaping directly onto the side road.
He settled in steadily right behind Carol's station wagon.
The whole maneuver was seamless.
In the back seat, Andrea was panting heavily, her eyes staring blankly at the broad back in front of her.
She had thought the car was about to flip into the pit, but this man had not only pulled the car out but also merged into the convoy with incredible stability.
Amy recovered, leaning forward from the back. She didn't care about the danger at all, gripping the back of the driver's seat, her chin nearly touching Ling Feng's shoulder.
"Ling, you're amazing! I thought we were going to die just now!"
The young girl's crisp voice was filled with blind adoration, and even the heat of her breath against Ling Feng's neck felt incredibly real.
"I told you, I would take you away safely." Ling Feng freed his right hand, not even turning his head, and skillfully pinched Amy's soft cheek.
"Mmm." Amy blushed and shrank back half an inch, but she didn't pull away, instead letting him take liberties with her face.
[Ding! Intimate physical contact detected, Pleasure Points +100!]
Ling Feng was in a great mood. He took the opportunity to pat Amy on the head, making the little girl blush even more.
Andrea took all of this in.
A few hours ago, she definitely would have drawn her gun and pressed it against this rogue's forehead.
But now, she only felt her throat go dry and leaned back in her seat without a word.
In these few minutes as the world collapsed, without this Asian man, the two sisters would probably still be waiting to die on that road of death.
The convoy sped along this remote road toward the suburbs.
In the rearview mirror, the sky over downtown Atlanta was completely shrouded in rolling black smoke.
The deafening bombing sounds gradually faded into the distance, replaced by the monotonous hum of engines.
The car was strangely quiet.
Ling Feng held the steering wheel with one hand, pulled a marlboro from his pocket, put it in his mouth, lit it with the car's cigarette lighter, and took a deep drag.
Smoke dispersed in the car.
Only then did he have the leisure to size up the convoy ahead.
Shane was in the leading pickup truck; he was undoubtedly the core backbone of the convoy.
The large RV behind it had to be that meddlesome old man, Dale.
Further back were a few cars driven by nobodies.
As long as he followed this team to the Camp, his combat skills and this heavy sniper rifle in his hands would definitely make a splash in this small group.
By then, not only Amy, but Lori and Carol could be slowly developed...
Compared to doing things openly, he preferred the feeling of doing them in private—a sense of sneaking around, full of excitement...
Lori and Shane shouldn't be an item yet; there was a good chance. According to his guess, they only hooked up after staying at the Quarry for a long time.
As for Carol? A weak woman suffering from domestic abuse was the best target to take advantage of. Thinking about it, it seemed Andrea was the hard one to deal with...
Take it slow.
The scenery on both sides of the road became increasingly desolate, gradually replaced by tall forests and hills.
They had driven about ten kilometers or so.
The leading pickup finally hit the brakes. The taillights lit up with a harsh red glow, and the entire convoy began to slow down, pulling over to the gravel shoulder one by one.
Finally stopped.
Ling Feng exhaled the last puff of smoke and slammed the brakes to a stop, pulling the handbrake. Before the car had even fully settled, the doors of the cars in front were opening one after another.
The door of the large RV opened. Dale, wearing his signature bucket hat and clutching a pair of binoculars, looked anxiously toward Atlanta.
Shane jumped out of the pickup truck, carrying a Remington shotgun in his hand, and walked to the side of the road with a grim expression.
Lori took Carl's hand and walked quickly to his side. The group gathered together, discussing something in urgent tones.
Carol also got out of the car, holding Sophia.
Ed, that fat pig, slowly wiggled out from the driver's seat, still cursing. Apparently, the bumps along the way had made him very unhappy.
"Are we here?" Amy peeked out the window. It was the middle of nowhere, with no buildings in sight.
"It's probably just a temporary rest. Let's get out first." Ling Feng pushed the car door open.
He pulled out the car keys, turned around to grab his weapon from the passenger seat, and slung it onto his back.
Andrea said nothing. She tucked the glock 17 into the back of her waistband, pushed the door open to get out, and followed closely behind Ling Feng, holding Amy's hand tightly.
In the open space not far away, everyone's gaze was drifting toward Ling Feng from time to time.
A completely unfamiliar SUV, an Asian hunk who had suddenly burst out of the massive traffic jam, and who was also carrying two beautiful women—it was just too eye-catching.
"Ling!"
Carol set Sophia down and walked over quickly. She seemed somewhat excited; the thrilling escape from just moments ago still had her heart pounding.
"It's a good thing you followed us, otherwise we probably would have been separated." Carol said with deep emotion, though she didn't know why herself.
Little Sophia beside her also poked out half her head and gave Ling Feng a shy smile.
"It's good that everything went smoothly." Ling Feng replied casually, then reached out and rubbed Sophia's blonde hair, a gesture so natural it couldn't be faulted.
At this moment, Lori also led Carl over.
"Ling, the way you were driving just now was too crazy, but I really want to thank you for warning us." Lori took a deep breath and tucked some messy hair behind her ear.
She turned to look at Shane, who had followed behind her. "Shane, this is the man I mentioned to you earlier. He helped Carol a lot."
Shane stopped two meters away, looking Ling Feng up and down. His sturdy frame, built from years of being a police officer, was full of oppressive presence in front of ordinary people.
But the man he was facing now was half a head taller than him, carried a heavy sniper rifle on his back, and had an untamed look on his face.
"Pal." Shane's tone carried a professional interrogation style and a hint of undisguised vigilance. "Lori told me what happened on the road just now. Thanks for helping Carol."
"Just a small thing." Ling Feng said, hands in his pockets, his tone flat. "I just couldn't stand some trash polluting the air."
He said that, but Ling Feng was muttering to himself: You don't even know Carol, why are you thanking me?
Ed, standing in the back, happened to hear this. His face immediately turned the color of a pig's liver, but he stiffly shrank his neck, not daring to make a sound.
Shane nodded along with Ling Feng's words, his gaze naturally falling on the weapon on Ling Feng's back.
"That thing of yours looks like it has heavy firepower." Shane pointed, his chin slightly raised. "The world is in chaos now. Since you're going to follow us, we need to lay our cards on the table. What's your name? What did you do for a living?"
This was an investigation, and also a show of authority.
Lori and Carol to the side pricked up their ears, and even Andrea stared intently at Ling Feng, wanting to hear what this crazy man's background was.
Ling Feng raised an eyebrow, not even taking his hands out of his pockets, looking down at the arrogant deputy sheriff.
"Ling Feng." He curled one side of his cheek, his voice low but filled with arrogance. "As for what I did for a living, you don't need to worry about that. You just need to know that the gun on my back isn't for answering moronic questions."