Sporting hair that stood on end like sea urchins, everyone set off once again. After passing through the Stone Forest and driving for another four hours, the group finally exited the Rocksea Forbidden Zone at noon.
The static electricity clinging to Evelyn Ford vanished as soon as she left the Rocksea Forbidden Zone. Her whole body relaxed, and the ache in her bones and throat faded away.
"The desert is just ahead," Ethan Dawson said. "It’s a huge expanse, and it will probably take us several days to cross. But once we get through it, we’ll be in Frelia."
Everyone grew excited at his words.
"Then let’s get going! The sooner we reach Frelia, the better," Quincy said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
Ethan Dawson shook his head. "I suggest we rest here for a day and then push through the desert in one go. The desert is no less dangerous than the Rocksea Forbidden Zone."
"Alright," Evelyn Ford said, agreeing with Ethan’s suggestion.
"The desert is no place to camp for the night. It’s also prone to sandstorms and quicksand. We’ll have three people in each vehicle take turns driving and push through in one go."
Evelyn Ford took out gasoline and had everyone fill up their tanks.
"Ethan, do you remember the general layout of the desert?"
"I do. We won’t go wrong as long as we head toward the Northwest."
Evelyn Ford took out her compass and found it was working normally again. With it, they wouldn’t lose their bearings and could save a significant amount of time.
Evelyn gave Ethan a pen and paper, asking him to sketch a rough map of the area.
After a moment’s thought, Ethan sketched out the general terrain.
"Are there any oases?"
Ethan nodded. "Yes, and there’s a highway. I’m just not sure where the access point is anymore. But if we head toward the Northwest, we’re bound to find it."
"Alright. We’ll set up camp here for a day. Let’s prepare some cooked food to take with us so we don’t have to stop to cook on the way."
Evelyn put the map away, grabbed her binoculars, and left the RV. She went to a slope up ahead to survey the distant landscape.
There was no dense fog, so she had a clear view for ten kilometers in every direction. In the distance, however, there was only an endless desert—nothing but yellow sand as far as the eye could see.
Back in the RV, Evelyn took ingredients and firewood out of her space and had Officer Graham lead a few others in preparing a meal.
"We probably won’t have much time to cook once we’re in Frelia, and we definitely can’t be openly taking things out like this. So let’s make the most of today. Everyone, get to it. Let’s prepare a few months’ worth of cooked meals. Once we’re out of the desert, we’ll switch to that other RV. There are a lot of us, so it’s best to keep a low profile."
"Understood."
Everyone was full of vigor. Evelyn took out large iron woks and buckets of water. Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell were in charge of cooking the rice, Joelle Finch and Wyatt Vaughn washed the vegetables, Quincy and Miles Vaughn chopped the meat, and Peter Owens tended to the fire...
After a busy afternoon, they had filled over a thousand meal containers with a variety of meat, vegetable, and seafood dishes. Evelyn and Officer Graham handled the stir-frying, and by the end, their wrists were trembling from the effort.
By eleven o’clock that night, all the containers were packed and stored away in Evelyn’s space. The group had a simple meal of leftovers before heading back to their vehicles to sleep.
「The next morning」
At six o’clock sharp, the vehicles set off.
The journey across the desert was expected to take three days of non-stop driving, day and night. Of course, to prevent tire blowouts, they had to stop and rest for half an hour every four hours.
Evelyn was worried about encountering sandstorms or quicksand. Their group had always had terrible luck; disasters and calamities seemed to follow them wherever they went.
With Ronan Kendrick driving, Evelyn sat in the passenger seat, binoculars and whistle in hand. She needed to constantly monitor the road ahead. If she spotted any wild animals or quicksand, she would immediately tell Ronan to make a detour and warn the vehicles behind them.
The desert crossing was surprisingly smooth. They encountered no sandstorms, not even any quicksand. At eight that evening, as they were crossing the weed-strewn Tencend Flats, a highway appeared before Evelyn’s eyes.
She couldn’t resist rolling down the window and sticking her head out to make sure.
"Ronan, I’m not seeing things! The highway! Look, it’s right over there!"
Illuminated by the vehicle’s headlights and their flashlights, Evelyn could also see a crooked sign beside the highway.
The two large words "Whirlwind Highway" were written on it.
Evelyn couldn’t quite describe what she was feeling. The sight of those two words on the sign made her nose tingle, and she felt an overwhelming urge to cry.
Evelyn blew her whistle to alert the cars behind them. The others inside the RV were just as excited, crowding around the windows to stare at the nearby sign. Ronan brought the vehicle to a steady stop in front of it. Quincy and Officer Graham immediately jumped out, eagerly wiping the dust from the sign with a towel and straightening it up.
"Whirlwind Highway. So that’s what this road is called. What a strange name."
"It probably has something to do with camel humps, right? After all, this is a desert."
"Haha, could be."
Wendy and Zoe were excited too. Evelyn took out her phone, intending to take a photo of each person standing under the Whirlwind Highway sign.
"Let’s take a family photo," Taylor Vance suggested.
They were long past being just a group of individuals. ’From the moment I chose to share my secret with them, from the time we all escaped the forest and the forbidden zone side-by-side... or maybe even long before that, we’d already become a family.’
"Yeah! A family photo!"
Evelyn smiled. "Okay. Let’s set up all the camping lights. I’ll take an individual photo of everyone first, then you can break into smaller groups for more pictures. We’ll do the big family photo at the very end. How does that sound?"
"Great!"
The first person to be photographed was Taylor Vance. He was the anchor of the group.
The second was Zion Lowell, their head of logistics. This family couldn’t function without him.
Then came Officer Graham, the group’s "housekeeper" and the one who worried about everyone the most.
Peter Owens, who had joined them partway through the journey, was quiet and capable.
Miles Vaughn, hot-tempered but completely reliable.
Wyatt Vaughn, who looked like a sweet young girl but was a true powerhouse.
Quincy, the undisputed king of chatter.
Joelle Finch, quiet and unassuming, but a great beauty.
Ethan Dawson, a late addition to the team but already fully accepted.
And finally, the adorable Wendy and Zoe.
And her beloved Ronan Kendrick.
After the individual portraits were finished, Evelyn took plenty of group shots. Surprisingly, the most popular person to take a picture with was Ronan. Even little Zoe was hugging his leg, begging for a photo together.
"Alright, everyone, time for the family photo! Wendy and Zoe, you’re in the front. Mr. Vance and Mr. Lowell in the middle. Tall people on the sides. Everybody smile!"
Evelyn propped her phone up in front of them and set the ten-second timer. She rushed back to Ronan’s side, interlacing her fingers with his. Next to her, Quincy slung an arm over her shoulder, flashing a goofy grin.
"Okay, say cheese!"
CLICK! The phone took a burst of ten shots. Every single person was smiling. Someone had even placed a small red flag on top of the "Whirlwind Highway" sign behind them.