Chapter 251: Fiery Desert
Translator: AbyssrulerEditor: Lucas
He had gambled on this without thinking it through. There really was no guarantee this time. He simply believed in Skeleton, and in the end he had actually yielded great results. Solon felt a little embarrassed. This had no relationship to his capabilities at all. To use a colloquial phrase, he had won without doing anything.
The Shiny Silver skin of the Wind God also sold more than 5 million units. This skin cost about the same as an entire mech. It was also one of CT's important sources of profits. Players would purchase these decorations only if they really liked a certain mech.
He had earned another round of fortune without having to use his brain. This was awesome.
Additionally, Skeleton disappeared again. This was nothing special. It was likely that he would not appear easily anymore. But Solon was not an idiot. He could sense that there was a good relationship between Skeleton and OMG. As long as he tended to OMG's projects carefully, there would be chances of Skeleton appearing again in the future.
Wang Zheng, Zhang Shan, Meng Tian, and Zhang Runan had already embarked on their journey towards the IG training grounds after receiving the IG notification via Skylink. The first round of the second part of IG would be carried out at Gil Town in the Sahara desert of Earth's Africa region.
After governance and geographical transformation, the original Sahara desert of more than 8 million square kilometers had shrunk to 4 million square kilometers. But it remained the largest desert on Earth, a hostile place for foreigners.
The Asian region did not have a direct flight that reached Gil Town in the Sahara. They could only transfer at the pearl of the Sahara desert – Jessen City.
Before leaving, the principal treated Wang Zheng and his group to a meal at the best hotel in the capital. "Just do your best. Let others remember you. Our Ares College is also a famous school with a few hundred years of history!"
Gu Te was drunk and had said a lot. He patted Wang Zheng and the other three members on the shoulder. He was putting a lot of hope on them. "The burden may be heavy, but I believe in you guys."
On the second day, Wang Zheng and his group headed to Jessen at Sahara. They were very surprised that they had actually travelled in a first-class cabin.
"This is all I can do."
Gu Te and Zhuo Mu sent them off at the departure gate. The help that they could provide was limited. Some pressure could only be handled by Wang Zheng and his group themselves.
Jessen, the pearl of the Sahara. Green coconut trees were scattered around the city. Water drawn from deep underground reservoirs nourished all this vegetation, preventing the sands from expanding further. Even though this was the desert, the unique scenery and massive investments made this place one of the most famous and popular tourist spots on Earth. It was also a favourite hangout spot of the rich.
When they were exiting Jessen's airport, holograms appeared one after another. These were the city's image cards. "Welcome to the miracle oasis, Jessen".
"Here, you can find all you need. Jessen is the address for everything..."
In this city, you could not see a single grain of sand. It was unusually clean and tidy, with green trees flourishing. There were bright flowers everywhere and there was a humidity control machine every 500 meters. These controlled the entire city's humidity to keep it at an optimal level for human bodies.
In the fragrant air and moving on the roads were all kinds of luxury cars.
"What! What is that? Did I see wrongly?"
Zhang Shan started shouting. From the back seat of a luxury car, a huge tiger head popped out. It was enjoying the cool wind brought by the speed of the car.
When he turned his head, he saw a majestic lion sitting on the passenger seat of another sports car.
"This is not strange. This is Jessen, the heaven for the rich to show off," Meng Tian said lightly.
Other rich people would have expensive cats and famous dogs as pets. Jessen citizens kept highly endangered and exotic beasts as pets. Those who put in a little effort would get animals that were produced naturally and not by gene reproduction.
As they chatted, more than 10 people walked out from the VIP tunnel at the other side of the airfield. The few people walking in front smiled immediately when they saw Wang Zheng, and his group and strode towards them.
"Sister Runan, haha, what a coincidence! This is a meeting from a thousand miles brought about by fate."
The people approaching them were Yuan Ye and his group from Europa. They did not expect to bump into the people they wanted to meet the most upon landing.
Yuan Ye's gaze was mostly on Zhang Runan. Obviously, the period of one holiday did not dampen his enthusiasm for wooing Zhang Runan.
To this, Zhang Shan could only say that he admired his enthusiasm. Europa citizens did have a unique taste.
Wang Zheng smiled. "Let's walk together."
Zhang Runan's eyes showed extreme dissatisfaction. It was obvious that she did not want to.
"Brother Shan, is the Skylink number that you gave me a fake or real one? I called so many times, but none went through." Yuan Ye pulled Zhang Shan aside. He was asking about Zhang Runan's Skylink.
"Don't you know how to change a Skylink to call? Your number was blocked by Runan long ago."
Zhang Shan patted Yuan Ye's shoulders. Wooing a girl was easy, but wooing Runan was not. Yuan Ye should cherish this opportunity he had as Zhang Shan was willing to help him out here and there.
Yuan Ye was stunned. His number was blocked? That was so cold-hearted. But...he liked her even more. A woman with such personality was rare even in the Mu Wei Federation, and he liked this type of girl.
Zhang Shan very quickly became part of the Europa trio. Zhang Shan was a person who talked fast. Very quickly, he purposely led the topic to Ability X. Yes, he could finally stand tall, and he could not wait to let the whole world know.
Upon hearing that Zhang Shan had awakened his Ability X, the trio, Dayna, Conrad, and Ai Weiman, smiled at the same time. They were not arrogant, and they shared some of their experiences. "Your frame of mind is very important at the initial stage of awakening the ability. You must be cautious against rushing your progress. Everything is just a matter of time. Of course, you cannot slack in your training. Do not think that training is not effective. It is like fishing for gold in a big river, you will gain results eventually."
Yuan Ye's eyes widened. "Sh*t, even you have awakened an ability?"
"Haha, of course. Look at who I am. Such a good body, such talent, such potential. In the future, I will definitely become a general, no, an admiral..."
Here, we willl omit about 500 words of his boasting. Once the topic was opened, Zhang Shan could not wait for the whole world to praise him. No one knew whether to laugh or cry. They had seen arrogant people, but Zhang Shan was on a different level.
"Tch, don't irritate me anymore. How do we get to Gil Town? This is your territory. I will leave the travel arrangements up to you guys."
Wang Zheng smiled. "This is our first time here as well. I heard that there is only one flight per week. If we are lucky, we can make it."
Gil was an extremely small desert town. There were only about a few dozen families there. Life there was almost completely isolated from the rest of the world.
Upon checking at the information counter of the long-distance passenger terminal, they found out that the flight to Gil Town for this week would be leaving in three days.
"Three days? Are there any other ways?"
"Of course. You could also rent the small, four seater X64 flying shuttle. Depending on the weather, you could get there in about four hours." The employee at the terminal smiled and introduced the alternative transportation.
"This sounds good, how do we rent one?" Yuan Ye nodded. It will be two shuttles for eight people. This was common in their hometown.
"The deposit for each X64 shuttle is 1.5 million dollars. It will be 1 million milky way dollars for each hour. In the event of sandstorms, we will have to increase the fees by 10%. Passengers will also have to pay for 5% of the maintenance fee if there is any accidental wear and tear."
Yuan Ye stared blankly at the person who was explaining the rental conditions. "What!? Is this highway robbery?"
"Sorry, Sir, what we have here is already a very fair official price. You can go ask at the black market over there. The lowest price is double the official price. And...now we only have one X64 left. May I know if you guys will be renting it?"
The employee maintained his smile, but his eyes showed that he did not care if they rented the shuttle or not. He did not lack customers.
Damn, Earth was so sinister...
Wang Zheng smiled. "Are there any other ways to reach Gil Town?"
The employee was still quite professional, so he said smilingly, "If you are not in a hurry, you may choose to rent camels. Their desert genes are strengthened. They are cheap and your safety is guaranteed. At the same time, you can have the full experience of desert life..."
"We are running a little tight on time. Do you have any desert jeeps?" Wang Zheng interrupted the employee's sales pitch and requested directly.
"Of course, 3,000 milky way dollars for one day. It is quite worth it..."
"You do not need to sell it. We will take the desert jeeps. Two of them. Is there any problem?"
"Yes, I will prepare them for you immediately."
Soon, two desert jeeps were rolled out. They were a little old, but they came fully equipped with desert travel installations, GPS, and a set of field supplies including water, food, and survival resources like tents packed in every jeep.
You could see from the dark-skinned face of the employee from before that he was a little red with embarrassment. "I'm really sorry. Because of promotional activities recently, the demand for these is extremely high. These are the last two desert jeeps. The model may be a little old, but we have just done maintenance on them last month. There should be no problems in their functions. If you don't mind them, I can give you a 'friends of staff' discount, 2,100 milky way dollars for one day."
Wang Zheng checked the jeeps. With his experience from repairing mecha at OMG, he grasped the status of the two jeeps very quickly. "No problem, we can leave now."
"Are we not going to around?" Yuan Ye was stunned. They had just landed and had not had the time to tour around this city that was the pearl of the desert.
"Time is money, my friend." Zhang Shan patted Yuan Ye and sat in the jeep driven by Dayna's trio.
Yuan Ye quickly responded and immediately sat right beside Zhang Runan.
Zhang Runan glanced at him. "Go in the back."
No others words were needed to exude pressure on him. Yuan Ye sheepishly changed to a back seat.
The sounds of jeeps rumbled. The two jeeps drove towards the desert. Everyone was excited about the journey. It was not common to have this kind of unique desert experience. It was difficult to have such an opportunity to enjoy freedom like this, as the group had never experienced life in a desert. And this scenery was even more refreshing for Yuan Ye and his group. Various topics were brought up continuously. Everyone took turns to drive. It was very exciting to drive through the sand dunes too, especially with these jeeps with old-fashioned wheels – the feel of friction was quite enjoyable.
Wang Zheng did not drive for long before Zhang Shan switched with him. At this moment, his Skylink rang. Surprisingly, it was ... Lin Huiyin.
"Brother Wang Zheng, how are you? I have a new single coming out again. You must remember to listen to it, OK?" Huiyin's sweet voice came out from the Skylink.
Wang Zheng smiled knowingly. "Don't worry, I will definitely support you. Are you doing well?"
Lin Huiyin was in her room. It was current nighttime on Aslan. "With me here, everything is OK. I am standing at your side. She is very busy now. But Cousin is planning a surprise for you. You can look forward to it."