Chapter 156: City of the Devil, Flat Chests Are a Disease

Lin Shenlu didn't believe a word of anything An Muxi said about compensating him anymore.

Last time in Dali, An Muxi had worn his hat while sitting in a car driving around Erhai Lake... and a gust of wind blew the hat away...

This time, she was using his exquisite glass bottle.

It was safe to assume that would be gone forever too.

Oh well, forget it.

Who told him to like this woman so much?

Watching An Muxi pick up the bottle and start scooping up the yellow sand from the ground.

"This stuff... you could fit a lot more if you used a plastic bag!" Lin Shenlu said plaintively.

"No way, that wouldn't look good... The scenery all along this road is so magnificent, and the yellow sand in every section is a different color. It's a pity I didn't think of it when we just got on the national highway, otherwise I should have brought along some of the weathered sand from the Yardangs over the water, and the yellow sand from both sides of the U-shaped highway!" An Muxi's beautiful eyes looked at the bottle in her hands, filled with sand that deserved to be savored closely.

"Let's get this straight first... I have a limited number of bottles... and I don't know how many more beautiful lakes there will be ahead... You can only use this one. In case we run out, I have nowhere to buy more bottles!" Lin Shenlu said with deep distress.

According to An Muxi, if she kept scooping all the way along... heaven knows how many bottles would be enough for her.

"You're such a miser... Stingy Lin!" An Muxi gave a soft huff and put away the bottle filled with yellow sand.

"Useless sand is everywhere... How could it compare to the value of my water?" Lin Shenlu muttered.

"What do you know... Sand is something you can't hold in the palm of your hand... It slowly slips away from your grip, just like time... Like water, no one can ever grasp it. Sand that cannot be held... that's why I like it. Since you can't catch it, take it with you instead!" An Muxi said softly.

"Uh... What you said actually makes some sense!" Lin Shenlu rarely agreed with An Muxi's words.

"So... you should contribute a few more bottles!" An Muxi said with a smile.

...

The road ahead was truly desolate.

This was the first time Lin Shenlu truly felt the mystery of a no-man's-land.

This was no longer just a simple unpopulated zone.

Within a radius of hundreds of miles around, as far as the eye could see... basically nothing could be seen.

Boundless Gobi deserts, craggy Yardangs, the most dazzling dark night skies, sand-filled gales, no flying birds in the sky, no growing grass on the ground, little rain or snow across the four seasons, winds strong enough to roll stones along, completely devoid of human habitation for ten thousand miles.

When all the vehicles stopped to rest, Lin Shenlu rode off alone on his dirt bike to scout ahead.

This road was truly terrifying.

Terrifying enough to make someone lose their sense of direction.

Ahead, behind, left, and right were all the exact same scenery.

Only endless sand.

With his sense of speed pushed to the limit, Lin Shenlu raced rapidly across this boundless, desolate land.

Of course, Lin Shenlu didn't dare drive too far away.

After all, it would be disastrous if he really got lost.

Because... there was no cell signal here, and the compass pointed nowhere...

After a brief scouting run, Lin Shenlu returned to the spot...

Staying together with the others was the most important thing.

Lin Shenlu had always thought he was riding in a straight line... but upon driving back, he realized he had indeed drifted off course.

After making a turn, Lin Shenlu rejoined An Muxi and the others.

"Wow! Uncle, is this motorcycle of yours too cool?"

He Ku'er stared in astonishment at Lin Shenlu sitting on the motorcycle.

"Stop putting on that act of someone who's never seen the world. You follow behind my car every day... Haven't you seen it? Hasn't it been hanging on the back of the car the whole time?" Lin Shenlu rolled his eyes at He Ku'er.

"That's different, Uncle. Hanging back there, I thought it was just a decoration... Riding it now feels completely different... I never realized you looked so handsome riding a motorcycle, Uncle!" He Ku'er praised, her gaze locked firmly onto the motorcycle.

"You... what do you mean?" Lin Shenlu's expression turned unfriendly.

"Lend it to me to ride..." He Ku'er looked into Lin Shenlu's eyes with a very aggrieved expression.

"No way... In this whole world, only I am allowed to ride it... Don't you know that a wife and a car cannot be lent out!" Lin Shenlu shielded his motorcycle.

"Am I... not a girl... what are you afraid of?" He Ku'er stepped forward, grabbed Lin Shenlu's arm, and shook it back and forth.

"I'm afraid you'll seduce my bike... My beloved bike isn't into girls..."

He Ku'er rolled her eyes at Lin Shenlu and said, "Damn Lin Shenlu, can't you say something nice!"

Pausing for a moment, He Ku'er continued, "Besides, isn't your wife over there drinking tea..." He Ku'er glanced sideways at An Muxi, who was sipping fruit tea.

"Don't talk nonsense..." Lin Shenlu glared at He Ku'er.

"She hasn't officially agreed yet!" Lin Shenlu added sheepishly, blushing slightly.

"Uncle... look at that deadpan expression of yours! Just tell me, will you lend me the car or not? I also want to experience being a female biker for once!" He Ku'er recalled the sexy, alluring yet fierce look of female bikers on Douyin.

"You... your temperament doesn't suit a female biker... You don't even have the yoga pants for it..." Lin Shenlu glanced sideways at He Ku'er's chest.

Must a flat chest be considered a medical condition?

It simply couldn't support the sexiness of yoga pants!

He turned his head and glanced back at An Muxi.

Now *she* was prime material for a female biker!

When An Muxi put on yoga pants... her curvaceous upper body would be full and rounded... with a three-dimensional shape, and her slender, straight, and supple lower body truly... Lin Shenlu got lost in his own mental wonderland.

However... a goddess of temperament like An Muxi seemed... not to be interested in motorbikes.

Shifting his vision back to He Ku'er.

Lin Shenlu pushed the motorcycle over, preparing to mount it back onto the rear of the RV.

He Ku'er watched Lin Shenlu's retreating back with a resentful expression, making a fist-punching gesture in the air.

Then she looked down at her own chest.

Damn it, why didn't she develop properly when she was little?

She was going to buy yoga pants the moment she got back!

...

While Lin Shenlu was moving the motorcycle, Zumureti walked over.

Water droplets of sweat dripped from her healthy wheat-colored skin under the sunlight.

Even the sweat seemed to reflect a brilliant glow.

Reti's dressing style was very sexy.

Her light-colored, form-fitting tank top was already completely soaked through.

The damp water stains on her back were especially prominent.

Moreover, the skin exposed outside her clothes was covered in a fine layer of sweat.

This kind of visual effect was extremely captivating.

Lin Shenlu couldn't help wondering, just how hot was this girl?

None of the other girls around were this hot, yet Reti was constantly sweating.

Perhaps it was because her name had the character for "hot" in it?

"Brother Lin, is this motorcycle a BMW?" Reti asked, looking at the car logo.

Lin Shenlu nodded.

"A BMW HP2 Enduro, an older model, the engine displacement is only 1170cc," Lin Shenlu said with a nod.

"This bike must be very expensive, right?" Reti asked.

She had heard that many motorcycles could rival cars in value.

"Over a hundred thousand yuan, not too bad. Mostly I just wanted to experience the thrill!" Lin Shenlu gently stroked the body of the dirt bike.

The smooth curves looked very majestic.

Especially the combination of dark gray and deep blue on the car body, which carried the strong aesthetic of a sky god of war.

Reti clicked her tongue in amazement... She truly couldn't imagine a motorcycle costing over a hundred thousand yuan. Wasn't that about the price of her second-hand Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Couldn't you buy many off-road motorcycles for just a few thousand yuan?

...

After everyone had rested enough, they prepared to hit the road again.

The Mars Camp was located about thirty kilometers away from the side of the highway.

There were basically no roads at all.

If you could call them roads, they were just tracks left behind by previous vehicles.

Barely qualifying as a path.

Driving like this offered yet another unique flavor.

Because it was next to Oboling, there were many vehicles traversing the area, and consequently a multitude of tire tracks.

And it was very easy to take a wrong turn.

Lin Shenlu didn't know when exactly his phone had lost its signal.

The road conditions were truly not very good.

Lin Shenlu's driving skills were quite decent, and he drove with rock-solid stability, being an old hand at this after all.

He cruised slowly inward. Of course, this wasn't even the hardest road to drive on; compared to the road leading ahead to the Devil's Eye at Eykyn Spring, this felt as bumpy as a washboard.

The whole way was a constant *thump-thump-thump-thump*...

As the driver of the lead vehicle, Lin Shenlu naturally drove at the very front.

The RV moved at a very slow pace, which caused all the cars behind it to slow down as well.

After driving for a while, Lin Shenlu furrowed his brow. There were simply too many tire tracks on the road ahead, instantly leaving him confused and unsure of which way to drive.

The navigation system also had no signal.

Lin Shenlu's sense of direction could only rely on keeping a general bearing.

Trying his best to move forward along the broader path.

The road ahead clearly split into two different sets of tire tracks...

Lin Shenlu grew somewhat conflicted. Which one should he follow?

The direction with visibly more tire tracks should surely be his destination, right?

Yet this path didn't quite align with his general direction?

Could it have been created by other vehicles coming here and taking a shortcut?

Lin Shenlu recalled an article he had reviewed before that seemed to mention this.

Because the roadbed along the way was quite firm, many off-road vehicles were taking shortcuts.

Instead of taking the large curving road up the mountain, they crossed straight over it, and in the distance, you could catch sight of the Oboling Yardang cluster.

Speaking of the Oboling Yardang cluster, that was a place Lin Shenlu was determined to explore.

Once a place in your world is dubbed the "City of Devils," you naturally want to explore it too.

This was Oboling, located on the northwestern edge of the Qaidam Basin.

With an annual precipitation of only a dozen millimeters and an evaporation rate of over 3,000 millimeters, it was one of the three most hyper-arid regions in the world.

Tens of millions of years of wind and sun had withered all life here, creating this utterly barren Yardang landscape.

This was the place on Earth that least resembled Earth.

It was also hailed as "the place on Earth that most resembles Mars."

Oboling's peculiar terrain caused the winds losing their direction here to emit eerie sounds.

The rocks exposed on the surface were rich in iron, creating a powerful geomagnetism that easily caused compasses to malfunction. There were no paved roads, no base station signals, and as far as the eye could see for hundreds of miles, there was nothing except desert and Gobi, with no landmarks, and no clear route instructions on some maps and navigation systems...

All of this added even more mystery to Oboling, which was why people also called it the Devil's City.

Because of this, ordinary people could not easily reach it relying solely on navigation. Getting lost, getting stuck in the sand, and difficulties in rescue often made people hesitate and turn back from afar.

From a distance, Oboling looked like a strange, protruding ridge deep within the boundless Gobi desert.

Yet it possessed a Yardang landform formed 75 million years ago, with an average altitude of 3,260 meters and a total area of about 21,500 square kilometers.

It was the largest wind-eroded earth forest group discovered in China to date, and one of the largest and most typical Yardang landscapes in the world.

Legend has it that when you look at it from afar, Oboling is just a strange yet low ridge. Please don't be surprised that it's so low—it truly is just a ridge. But deep within Oboling, there is an isolated fairyland, and even more dreams waiting to be discovered.

That was the Yardang landscape most suited for photography. Climbing up Oboling and looking down from a commanding height, the Yardangs were boundless and magnificent. Looking up from low to high, the craggy Yardangs stretched into the deep blue sky, and viewing the scene from different angles gave completely different feelings.

The legendary Devil's City of Oboling had no concept of a scenic tourist area.

This was simply a barren wasteland. Adventure enthusiasts who wanted to enter Oboling had to go to nearby towns, relying on word-of-mouth or hand-drawn maps, carefully tracing the faintly visible tracks of predecessors within the barren Yardang no-man's-land to explore.

Of course, nowadays, due to the establishment of the Mars Camp, Oboling was managed. After leaving the Mars Camp, you could enter Oboling by following Mars Highway No. 1.

That was also the place Lin Shenlu planned to explore next.

A terrifying forbidden zone of life where no birds flew in the sky, no grass grew on the ground, and no human presence existed—the Devil's City.

...

Of course, that was for the journey ahead. Right now, what Lin Shenlu needed to do was find the Mars Camp.

After hesitating for a long time, Lin Shenlu ultimately chose to follow the path with more tire tracks.

Presumably, it also led to the Mars Camp...

After all, that path following the general direction was simply too difficult to drive on.

Not long after Lin Shenlu crossed over, he encountered a fork in the road, and he instantly hesitated, unsure of which way to go.

One side looked like a major road, but the other side had several flags planted along the edge.

Just as Lin Shenlu was agonizing and hesitating, he decided to stop the car and think it over.

And right at that moment, he happened to run into a car with local license plates!

Lin Shenlu quickly got out of the car to wave and greet them!

The car on the opposite side stopped accordingly.

"Big brother! Excuse me, is this the road to the Mars Camp?" Lin Shenlu pointed toward the direction that looked like the main road.

"Definitely not, haha! Just follow the direction of the flags; that's considered a shortcut... If you go that way, you'll miss the camp..." the local big brother who stepped out of the car said with a hearty laugh.

Lin Shenlu immediately felt a bit awkward. If he hadn't happened to run into someone, he might have driven until he was completely lost...

Bidding farewell to the local big brother, Lin Shenlu and his group drove forward without looking back.

Lin Shenlu's lead RV could only move slowly.

And not long after, a large Land Cruiser 5700 caught up from behind.

"Didi-di..." An Muxi noticed a notification pop up in the Rose Squad chat group.

It was sent by Naihe.

*The Most Beautiful Girl in the Group*: Oh my god, a Land Cruiser 57? Up in the Northeast, the absolute kings of status are the Land Cruiser Prado, Range Rover, and the Big 57!

An Muxi was stunned...

"What's a Big 57? I've heard of Prados and Range Rovers though..." An Muxi asked Lin Shenlu curiously.

Lin Shenlu pointed at the car that had just passed ahead and said, "That's the Big 57! A Lexus LX570!"

Pausing for a moment, Lin Shenlu smiled and said, "Up in their Northeast, those three cars really are the kings of status!"

The Big 57 left everyone in the dust and slowly disappeared from Lin Shenlu's sight.

It was completely normal for cars to overtake Lin Shenlu.

The road was indeed difficult to travel, but the RV was bound to be the slowest.

As long as the direction was right, there wouldn't be any problems.

Lin Shenlu found that the subsequent road conditions became even more difficult, with uphills, downhills, and sandy dirt sections.

It looked nothing like a stretch of road that an RV could handle.

Yet all of it was successfully conquered by Lin Shenlu, this veteran driver.

"I can't tell, your driving skills are really steady!" An Muxi couldn't help praising him.

"Of course, I can drive on any kind of road!" Lin Shenlu was actually feeling somewhat anxious himself.

On quite a few sections of the road just now, he felt like he was about to flip over.

And he also worried about the car getting stuck...

Fortunately, they weathered every hazard safely.

If they really got stuck out here, there would truly be nowhere to turn for rescue.

Lin Shenlu's gaze was locked tight, his eyes fixed on the road ahead...

Slowly... the silhouette of a white car appeared in Lin Shenlu's line of sight.

Was that... the Big 57 from just now?

"Look, he was driving so fast earlier, and now he's slow!" Lin Shenlu said with a smile.

An Muxi also gazed intently ahead.

"No, Lu'er, that car seems to have gotten stuck..." An Muxi said softly.

Lin Shenlu looked closer.

Sure enough.

The Big 57 not far ahead was obviously listing to one side.

All its tires had sunk deep into the sand and soil of the ground.

Moreover, as Lin Shenlu's vehicle got closer and closer, he could clearly see the wheels spinning frantically, kicking up countless clouds of dust, but to no avail.

"Let's go lend a hand..." An Muxi looked at Lin Shenlu with a trace of sympathy and said softly.

Lin Shenlu nodded, knowing that An Muxi's kindness had been triggered.

Ever since he had known An Muxi, though she gave people the impression of being aloof and keeping others at a distance...

The longer time went on, the more one could discover her hidden kindness.

That was the innate nature of a person.

Such a lovable An Muxi.

"Let's get out of the car and go ask!" Lin Shenlu said.

Turning on his hazard lights, Lin Shenlu slowly parked the car in a safe spot.

The vehicles behind him stopped as well.

The deeply trapped Big 57 finally stopped struggling.

Lin Shenlu walked forward and gently knocked on the car window.

The window slowly rolled down.

To Lin Shenlu's surprise, the person inside the car turned out to be another girl.

A short-haired girl.

Her neat bangs just covered her eyebrows, and the sides extended past her ears, making her look like an exquisite mushroom.

The girl's red lips were especially vibrant, and she was biting down on a lollipop inside her petite mouth.

Perched on her delicate little face was a small pair of round sunglasses.

The girl gently pushed her sunglasses up, revealing a pair of round and lively almond-shaped eyes.

Her other hand pulled the lollipop out of her mouth, and she asked in a rich Northeastern accent: "What's up, big brother?"

Lin Shenlu was genuinely shocked.

How could such an exquisite and pretty girl have an accent like that?

Was this the power of pure Northeastern heritage?

Naihe in the rear car was also a Northeastern girl, yet her Mandarin was extremely standard.

"Uh... I saw your car got stuck, and I wanted to ask if you need help? We have a lot of cars in our convoy, we can pull your car out!" Lin Shenlu quickly explained.

"Aiyama, that would be fantastic! I've been stuck right over here... puttering around for ages... and couldn't get it out at all! And this car's been beaten up all over..." Without a second thought, the short-haired girl cupped her fists in salute toward Lin Shenlu.

This was the first genuine Northeasterner Lin Shenlu had ever interacted with.

He hadn't understood several words in that string of sentences.

Yet this tone was certainly bold and straightforward!

"Don't say another word, let's get to work, big brother! We can chat more after the car is out!" the girl said with a smile.

Lin Shenlu nodded and waved back toward He Ku'er and the others.

His own RV would find it a bit strenuous to pull the Big 57 out.

However, the Cyber Tank or Zumureti's Jeep Grand Cherokee would have no problem at all.

"What is it, Uncle?" He Ku'er walked out wearing a white dress, white silk stockings, and holding a black lace parasol as she asked.