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Chapter 23: A Sudden Knowledge Gap
Night had fallen. Moonlight blanketed the plains, and the campfire crackled softly.
Strictly speaking, camping out in such a remote wilderness was a dangerous thing to do.
The nighttime grasslands were far more complex and dynamic than during the day, with their unpredictable environment and diverse wildlife activity. Without trees for shelter, a single gust of wind could send a tent flying. And the snakes, rodents, and mosquitoes were just the beginning—every one of them required vigilant defense. Beyond those, most mid-level predators in the food chain were nocturnal hunters, emerging under the cover of darkness.
For example, nearly all feline predators were nocturnal creatures, true night owls. Like Rosette, who spent most of her daytime napping lazily in the car but would disappear into the grass to hunt as soon as night fell.
Smaller, solitary animals also tended to forage at night. During the day, they were too conspicuous and an easy target for predators. The cover of darkness at night offered slightly better survival odds.
This was particularly true for herbivorous mammals like antelope. Nighttime was their time to rest. Although they stayed alert, they were still far easier to approach at night than in the open fields during the day.
In such an environment, it was particularly unfriendly to outsiders like Gu Lang. Humans, after all, could not sleep with one ear always pricked up like animals. This was why someone had to stay awake and keep the campfire burning when camping in the wild. After all, the term “sleeping like a dead pig” doesn’t apply to actual pigs. If danger strikes, pigs can run faster than humans.
Unfortunately, Third Brother Gu had ventured out alone, without the ability to keep watch overnight. Worse, as Wang Ping had observed, it seemed this guy didn’t even know much about wilderness survival. If he hadn’t slept in the same car as Rosette the previous night, where her predator scent kept other animals at bay, who knows what might have happened.
In this regard, meeting Wang Ping and Rosette—whether it was good luck or bad luck for Gu Lang—was hard to say.
Gu Lang appeared unusually downcast tonight, or perhaps he hadn’t fully recovered. After hastily lighting the campfire, he didn’t even bother preparing dinner and crawled into his sleeping bag in the tent, dozing off.
Wang Ping had initially planned to get him to talk more before they rested, hoping to glean more about Gu Lang’s identity and profession. After all, people often feel the urge to vent after a rollercoaster of emotions, reminiscing about bittersweet memories. Wang Ping himself used to tell Anna all about his embarrassing childhood moments.
Especially since Gu Lang had a talkative streak—he could chatter away even with no one to listen.
But seeing Gu Lang’s current state, Wang Ping felt he had miscalculated. Perhaps the emotional blow had been so severe that it had sapped even the desire to talk.
Still, with Gu Lang turning in early, it gave Wang Ping another opportunity.
He had rummaged through the glove compartment and the backpack on the rear seat countless times before but had never found any of Gu Lang’s identification documents or anything related.
This was odd. Abroad, unlike in China, not carrying identification could lead to serious trouble. Law enforcement abroad could be quite harsh with unidentified individuals. Travelers or expatriates typically kept their ID on them at all times—getting locked up simply for lacking ID was no joke.
Especially someone like Gu Lang, who was driving a car. At the very least, he should have kept his driver’s license in the car. But when Wang Ping had checked the glove compartment, he had only found a cellphone with no signal—nothing else.
Now, the off-road vehicle, which Wang Ping wasn’t sure if Gu Lang had bought or rented, had only one place left unchecked: the trunk.
In the two days Wang Ping had been observing, Gu Lang had only opened the trunk twice—once to fetch tools for a car repair and another time to grab a spare medical kit when bandaging Rosette.
Both times, it had been outside Wang Ping’s line of sight. Whether it was coincidence or intentional on Gu Lang’s part, he couldn’t say.
From the tent came the faint sound of Gu Lang’s heavy breathing, suggesting he wasn’t sleeping peacefully. Wang Ping crept up to the tent and peeked inside, spotting Gu Lang curled up in his sleeping bag, brow furrowed as if trapped in a nightmare.
Rosette wasn’t back yet, and there were no signs of animals nearby. After a moment’s thought, Wang Ping turned and made his way to the car, slipping in through the front windshield.
The sky wasn’t completely dark yet. The moonlight and campfire illuminated the inside of the car well enough. Even if there had been no light, it wouldn’t have mattered—Wang Ping absolutely loved his current eyes, which were as good as any night-vision goggles.
The trunk was closed, but that was no issue.
Most off-road vehicles had an open trunk design connected to the cabin space. Some might have a partition board installed for better organization, but most didn’t. The space behind the back seats usually served as the trunk.
The reason Wang Ping hadn’t checked earlier was that he didn’t want to make his intentions too obvious.
Climbing over the back seats, he slipped into the trunk.
The trunk was neatly arranged. Two silver metal cases sat side by side where Wang Ping landed.
The cases didn’t look like typical luggage—they were much smaller. They weren’t locked, only secured with clasps. On the case to the right rested a leather pouch and a backpack. Further in, under the seats, were some tools Gu Lang had used before.
Wang Ping pressed lightly on the backpack and felt it contained soft items, likely clothes.
Knowing how sharp his claws were, Wang Ping didn’t dare press too hard, lest he puncture the bag. Carefully, he used one claw to open the leather pouch.
Inside were all the documents he hadn’t seen before.
Gu Lang had clearly stored all his important items in the trunk. Perhaps when searching for the spare medical kit earlier, he’d taken out the pouch from the backpack and forgotten to put it back.
There it was: ID card, passport, driver’s license. Alongside some loose cash and a stack of bank cards, there was also a rental deposit receipt and a temporary driving permit. In some countries, a Chinese driver’s license wasn’t valid, so car rental companies often provided temporary permits for foreign customers. But with the car in its current state, Gu Lang could kiss his deposit goodbye—he might even owe extra.
From the documents, everything seemed normal.
Wang Ping finally learned his human "sidekick’s " real name: Gu Lang, born five years after Wang Ping, making him just 23 years old. He was from Hangzhou and appeared to be somewhat well-off, judging by the number and type of bank cards. Whether he was a young entrepreneur or a bored second-generation rich kid, Wang Ping couldn’t tell.
What intrigued Wang Ping the most, however, were the two metal cases beneath him. From the look of them, they clearly held something unusual.
The cramped trunk space made it impossible to open the cases without first opening the trunk.
Could it be weapons?
Given the box’s design, Wang Ping guessed they might contain firearms. Just from what Wang Ping knew himself, there were no less than twenty different types of firearms using boxes of this model.
“This box has to be opened,” Wang Ping thought.
He climbed back to the back seat, then exited through the windshield and circled to the rear of the car.
After staring at the trunk for a long moment, he resisted the urge to slap himself—he didn’t want to ruin his face.
“Damn it, I was so focused on needing the key to open the trunk that I forgot there’s a switch inside the car!”
Jogging back inside, Wang Ping found the trunk release button on the dashboard near the steering wheel and pressed it.
Click.
The lock released with a soft sound. Wang Ping slipped back into the car, crawled into the trunk, and pushed the trunk open. Moonlight poured in.
Ignoring the right-side case, which was below the backpack, Wang Ping turned his attention to the left metal case.
Taking a deep breath, he unclasped the case and lifted the lid.
“What… is this?”
Under the moonlight, the contents of the case were revealed—a strange device resembling a misshapen router, without antennas.
A cable extended from a metal port on the device to somewhere behind the car’s inner panels. Nearby, a row of indicator lights blinked steadily. Foam padding surrounded the device, alongside a row of rectangular batteries.
Wang Ping hadn’t expected this. What had begun as a simple investigation into Gu Lang’s background had quickly brought him to the edge of his knowledge.
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