Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator

Chapter 182 - 177: Decision, Changing Course
He had truly let himself go, like a kid in a candy store, gorging himself on food and drink. He’d lived it up for a full week before reluctantly leaving.What’s more, there was an Archbishop there who had made his heart flutter.

For a towering, burly man like him to admit such things was, frankly, a bit embarrassing.

”We’re going to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss right now,” Chen Pingchuan said, cutting off Gorzo’s awkwardness with decisive finality.

”What?”

Liu Haofeng and Gorzo whipped their heads around at the same time, their faces masks of disbelief. They stared at Chen Pingchuan with eyes as wide as saucers, completely baffled by his decision.

Just moments ago, Gorzo had accepted Chen Pingchuan’s invitation to join their team. Because of the damage to their battle car, Chen Pingchuan and Liu Haofeng had decided to head to the nearest city to find a Mechanician who could repair their ignition system.

Now, Chen Pingchuan had suddenly decided against finding a Mechanician. Didn’t that mean he was abandoning the battle car?

Seeing the shock in their eyes, Chen Pingchuan had no intention of explaining. Could he really say, ”After getting the armor, I’m already invincible below level eight, so who needs a damn battle car?” If he said that, the two of them would definitely think he was an idiot, especially since that was often how he viewed others.

Chen Pingchuan slowly rolled his neck, his expression a mask of nonchalance as he repeated, ”I said, we’re going to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Erzhuang, you lead the way. Xiaoliu, you drive. It’s settled!”

With that, Chen Pingchuan ignored them and turned his gaze back out the window. He suddenly enjoyed the feeling of looking up at the blue sky. Watching the clouds gather and disperse, his heart felt an unprecedented sense of peace. The worries and clamor of the mortal world were carried away by the gentle white clouds, leaving only the pure sky and himself.

[Ding! Your spirit has attuned to the workings of heaven and earth. Spirit attribute +0.1]

”Huh?”

The system’s notification snapped Chen Pingchuan out of his ethereal state, his expression impassive.

Hasn’t the simulator been upgraded? Why am I still getting notifications? Besides, this state of Unity of Heaven and Man should only exist in cultivation novels. Not only did it actually happen in a cyberpunk world, but it also had a pretty good effect.

Chen Pingchuan tried to re-enter that wondrous state of feeling merged with the world.

Unfortunately, his deliberate effort was in vain; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t achieve it. He tried staring at the clouds without blinking. In the end, his eyes grew so dry that his tear ducts began to secrete tears automatically. Even so, the perpetually silent simulator remained unresponsive, offering no prompts.

With no other choice, Chen Pingchuan could only give up.

Just then, through the front windshield, Chen Pingchuan saw a black dot growing larger at the edge of his vision. A few seconds later, the dot resolved into the shape of an off-road vehicle.

”Watch out!” he warned the two in the front seats softly. ”Someone’s ahead!”

He first grabbed the weapon lying nearby and handed it to Gorzo before picking up his own gun. He quickly and carefully checked the magazine—not bad, it was full.

In the driver’s seat, Liu Haofeng was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles had turned white from the lack of blood flow.

The oncoming vehicle was moving extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, it was only a few dozen meters away.

BEEP.

The driver of the other vehicle laid on the horn, the sound particularly jarring in the tense atmosphere. However, the vehicle showed no sign of stopping. It just sped past their car, kicking up a gust of howling wind.

”Phew…” Liu Haofeng let out a long sigh of relief, his taut nerves finally relaxing a bit. He tried to defuse the awkward tension with a joke, ”The outside world really is dangerous. A single passing car was enough to get me all tensed up.”

Sitting in the passenger seat, Gorzo chimed in with feeling, ”Yeah, this Kailing Province is pure chaos. I’ve heard there are three super factions here: the Genetic Legion, the Mechanical Legion, and the Blood Beast Ban. Plus, you’ve got Black Demons everywhere, not to mention countless criminals who stop at nothing. Oh, right, and there are those psychos who just stop people on the road for no reason.”

Gorzo paused, a hint of confusion in his eyes. ”I really don’t know what kind of treasure could be in this backwater to attract all these factions…”

At this, Gorzo suddenly trailed off, as if a thought had just struck him. He was startled, wondering to himself, Could all these factions be here looking for Chen Pingchuan? After all, he’s the World-Ending Demon God from the Grand Elder’s oracle. Am I actually competing with these super factions for him?

Gorzo put a stop to his speculation.

In a flash, several more black shapes appeared at the end of the road.

”Something’s not right!” Chen Pingchuan’s brow furrowed, and his warning echoed in the cramped vehicle. ”Slow down! Let’s see what’s going on up there!”

Hearing this, Liu Haofeng didn’t hesitate or ask a single question. He slammed on the brakes, and the car began to slow.

As they decelerated, the small black dots at the end of the road rapidly grew closer. It was a convoy: several camouflage-painted off-road vehicles, an alloy-plated armored car, and a large truck. A fully-equipped armored squad.

Suddenly, a car zoomed past them from the front. Its window rolled down, and a young-looking man yelled at them, ”Hey! You guys in the car, run!”

”Behind you, there’s…”

His voice was somewhat young and seemed well-intentioned. However, the car was moving too fast; the rest of his words were instantly drowned out by the howling wind, and the three inside couldn’t hear him clearly.

”Boss, what… what should we do?” Liu Haofeng was at a loss. He only heard the words ”run.” He had no idea why they should run, where they should run to, or what danger lay ahead. They couldn’t just change course again based on a stranger’s cryptic shout.

”Turn around. We’re going back the way we came.”

Chen Pingchuan didn’t hesitate this time. He had a gut feeling that the danger ahead was related to him, and he was learning to trust his intuition more and more.

If this is about me, then there are far too many possibilities.

Just as Gorzo had suspected, the mere thought that the three major factions in Kailing Province were likely all looking for him made his scalp tingle.