The Great Desert of Tarikivia.
It was still early in the morning, but the sun was already high in the sky, making the desert weather instantly hot. Every grain of yellow sand became scalding hot, and the heat rose, distorting the scene in the distance.
However, the magnetic vehicles used by the convoy departing from Lieyang Fort were all modified or developed to cope with the heat of the desert. Not only were there temperature control systems in the cars to maintain a relatively pleasant room temperature, but the specially designed tires were heat-resistant and would not melt due to driving on scorching roads.
At this time, Tianyang's convoy was heading deep into the desert along a road, but the road soon disappeared, and the settlement it connected to in the desert had long been abandoned.
After passing the settlement that was almost covered by yellow sand, Tianyang withdrew his gaze from the window and returned to his visit to Lightning Castle.
Before, when Akat from Lightning Castle came to visit, he left a guide behind, so Tianyang was not worried about getting lost.
But he was somewhat curious about the intention of the Lightning Fort. After all, the Kaolis family who built the fort were also sand bandits. Don't they know that Elhoin, who was also a sand bandit, was eliminated by them
Aren't they worried that if one of them doesn't like something, they'll flatten the whole thing
After thinking about it, Tian Yang shook his head and laughed at himself: "It is said that there is a Heavenly Rank guarding it. Can you just demolish it if you want to?"
However, the Chaolis family should have taken this into consideration, so when Akat came to visit last time, he explicitly or implicitly expressed the information that his family had not been sand bandits for many years.
As to whether this is true or not, only they themselves know.
Tian Yang didn't take this too seriously. His idea was to establish business relations with Lightning Castle, but it would not involve anything else. So Tian Yang didn't care at all whether the Kaolis family was still banditry.
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
Led by the guide Caolis, the convoy was driving on a small road, where a few thin trees could be seen every a hundred meters or so. These tenacious plants that could take root in the desert became natural landmarks and an important evidence for the guide to identify the direction.
As night was about to fall, Tianyang was about to give orders to find a place to camp when he heard Redding's voice on the car radio: "Boss, there's something going on up ahead."
This honest and honest guy still couldn't change his way of speaking, but Tianyang didn't correct him. He only asked him not to call him like that when he was in the fortress.
"What's the matter?" Tianyang asked calmly.
"There's a roadblock ahead," Redding said. "The guide was also confused. He said there wasn't anything like this here before."
"Really? Let someone get off the car and see what's going on." Tianyang said calmly.
"good."
The convoy gradually slowed down. Just in front of the path, there was a row of roadblocks, and next to them were three modified, non-uniform light tanks.
Next to the chariot, there were a dozen men sitting in a circle, drinking and eating meat.
When they saw the convoy, they stopped what they were doing and looked up.
The door of a security vehicle in front of the convoy opened, and two well-equipped parliamentary soldiers jumped out and moved towards the roadblock.
The men immediately stood up, grabbed their rifles or long knives and other weapons with unfriendly faces, and followed a
The sturdy man with red hair and a red dragon tattooed on his chest faced the parliamentary soldiers.
The burly man with a dragon tattoo on his chest swung the short-handled hand axe in his hand. There were several light yellow lines on the weapon. As the burly man swung it, the lines on the hand axe lit up, and the yellow sand under his feet suddenly began to flow without wind.
"All of you, stop. This is our territory. If you want to pass through, you have to pay taxes! Pay taxes!"
The two soldiers exchanged glances. At this moment, a man in a cloak, holding his hood tightly with his hands, ran over and said, "Nonsense! This road has never belonged to anyone. When did it become yours? Who are you?"
This was the guide that Acate left for Tianyang. When he heard the burly man's words in the car, he angrily got out of the car and confronted him.
As soon as the guide got out of the car, Redding was worried that he would suffer a loss, so he followed with his soldiers. Qiu Mo, who was sitting in the passenger seat, also got out of the car and walked quietly to the side of the road, not moving forward. However, from his position, he could go around behind those men and outflank them at any time.
Seeing so many people suddenly coming over, and these people were all fully armed, the sturdy man with the dragon tattoo on his chest looked a little nervous, but still shouted in a tough tone: "We are from the Pelikin family, and we are under the order of Lord Renato to set up obstacles here to collect taxes."
The guide of the Caolis family jumped up in anger and said, "Bullshit! Even if you are the Pelikin family, what qualifications do you have to collect taxes here?"
"Get out of the way quickly. I am from the Kaoulis family. Behind me is an honored guest invited by Lightning Castle and the Kaoulis family. You cannot afford to offend them!"
In the magnetic energy car, Tianyang had already lowered the window. The wind blew from the front, bringing the words of the people at the roadblock.
"The Pelikin family..." He smiled. He was almost certain that this roadblock must have been set up in the past few days. The Pelikin family must have heard that he was going to Lightning Castle, so they did some tricks here.
But he was very curious about how the Pelkin family had the courage to do such a suicidal thing.
"Is their patriarch crazy?" Tian Yang smiled faintly, then picked up the communicator and said, "Redding, don't waste time talking to them, take down the roadblocks for me. Anyone who resists will be killed."
"receive."
In front, Redding put down the communicator and showed his white teeth: "The boss is getting impatient. Boys, take down the roadblocks for me. Anyone who resists will be executed!"
“You dare!” The burly man with a tattoo on his chest immediately changed color, and star energy escaped from his body. It turned out that he was also an Ascender.
He raised his axe high, and the yellow sand on the ground was pulled by an invisible force, forming strips of yellow sand that rolled up and swirled around the big man, looking quite imposing.
Qiu Mo, who was standing by the road, snorted, clapped his hands on his waist, and unsheathed the 'Silent Snake'. He leaned forward, flashed towards the direction of the roadblock, and locked onto the man with the evil dragon tattoo.
Seeing Qiu Mo rushing towards him, the man with the dragon tattoo roared loudly, his star energy surged, and his hand axe, carrying strips of sand, chopped towards Qiu Mo with terrifying force.
Qiu Mo smiled and had no intention of confronting him head-on. He kept moving his feet. Although he was not as fast as Tian Yang, he still quickly moved away from his previous position and went around to the side of the opponent.
boom!
The big man smashed the ground with his axe, and dust suddenly rose up. The sand belts twisted their bodies like poisonous snakes, sweeping across the roadblocks in front, and cutting those roadblocks with unusual sharpness.
In the hustle and bustle, the big man's chest heaved, making the dragon tattoo on his chest seem to come alive and look extremely ferocious.
He turned suddenly, rushed out of the dust, organized the offensive with his axe, and attacked actively.
The long sword in Qiu Mo's hand outlined an illusion. After blocking several swords, he shook his wrist and the long sword in his hand suddenly twisted at an incredible angle, bypassing the big man's hand axe and slashing across the opponent's neck.
The dragon tattooed man stopped moving immediately, his eyes kept rolling, and after a moment, blood gushed out of his neck. He stretched out his hand to cover it, but it was impossible to cover it, and blood gushed out from the gaps between his fingers like a fountain.
Soon, the big man fell to the sand and turned into a twitching corpse.
Once the big man was dead, the other men dared not to show off their strength. Except for a few who were shot dead by the parliamentary soldiers, the rest got into the chariots and fled like the wind.
Redding kicked the roadblock away, allowing the soldiers to clear the bodies and the convoy to continue moving forward.
At noon the next day, they arrived at a small oasis where a simple camp was built. According to the guide Caolis, this Fengya camp was controlled by a big sand bandit and was an important place for nearby bandit groups of all sizes to sell stolen goods and replenish supplies.
The big sand bandit had a relatively neutral stance and did not lean towards any force. Instead, he won some fame in the desert. The Fengya camp also became bigger and bigger, from only twenty or thirty people in the past to more than a hundred people stationed there now.
The oasis is located among several thick stone pillars that resemble teeth. Fengya Camp took advantage of the terrain to build simple walls between these stone pillars, constructed watchtowers, and installed machine guns.
The process of entering the camp was smooth. The brand of Kaolis was quite popular here. They parked the car in the parking lot near the entrance of the camp. Tianyang and Qianhong got out of the car and took Chiying with them, and went deeper into the camp under the guidance of a guide.
There is a bar here that serves food and drinks. The guide sincerely invites Tianyang to the bar to dine and rest.
As for Redding and others, they stayed in the convoy, and Tianyang only brought a team of guards with him.
As soon as he entered the camp, Tianyang smelled a strong odor. This smell was definitely not fresh. It was a mixture of alcohol, animal feces, garbage, and an extremely subtle smell of blood.
Tianyang couldn't help but frown and regretted getting off the bus.
The camp was full of simple houses, with only one or two stone houses and most of them wooden houses. There was no planning in such a place, so these houses were scattered here and there, or close together, forming a more complicated route.
When passing by an alley, Tianyang saw two men with bruised faces and noses tied to wooden stakes. Behind them were several men in cloaks holding pistols. Bang, bang, bang, a few gunshots rang out, and the two men on the stakes were killed.
Then they untied the ropes and pulled the body away, then used a shovel to scoop up sand and stones to cover the blood.
During the whole process, people were coming and going nearby, but no one took a second look or asked any questions.
It seems that Fengya Camp has long been accustomed to such things.
Of course Tianyang didn't ask, or rather, he didn't care what happened.
Anyway, as long as others don't cause him trouble, he is too lazy to meddle in other people's business.
Just when the bar was in sight, a thin figure came towards Tianyang with his head lowered, but when he was still two steps away from Tianyang, he suddenly fell to the ground with a cry of "ouch".