However, in Sun Hang's heart, he still clung to a last shred of hope—hoping that during the time he lost consciousness, he was merely driving aimlessly around within the Shuzhou Territory and hadn't ventured into the Surrendered Area...

After all, the uninhabited rural areas within Shuzhou Territory were quite similar to this place. As long as Sun Hang could find a road, all his problems would be solved.

Just as he was thinking this, a figure suddenly emerged from the darkness and staggered towards the SUV.

Sun Hang immediately stepped on the brake.

His right hand instinctively rested on the rifle placed on the passenger seat.

"Not coming with good intentions..." Sun Hang muttered to himself.

As the figure approached, Sun Hang instinctively held his breath.

However, to his surprise, the visitor was not a demon or ghost, but an old woman with a slightly hunched figure. She carried a wicker basket and leaned on a cane, walking with a shaky gait.

It was only then that Sun Hang noticed that there was a dirt road, almost buried by dust, under her feet.

Human?

Is this really not the Surrendered Area?

No way... there's no one, let alone a septuagenarian, wandering alone in such pitch-dark wilderness... especially without any lighting equipment.

"Click."

Sun Hang unlocked the safety of his assault rifle.

The old woman showed no special reaction to the SUV parked in front of her. She simply bypassed the car, like an ordinary passerby, and slowly walked past.

But as she passed the window, she turned to glance at Sun Hang inside the car.

Their eyes met, and in hers, Sun Hang saw a complex mix of emotions.

Confusion, pity, and a hint of kindness... the sort of look an elder might give a younger person who has lost their way.

The old woman barely audibly sighed, lowered her head, and continued walking.

While Sun Hang was hesitating, she suddenly returned, came to the front of the SUV, lifted her withered arm, and gently tapped on the window glass.

"..." Sun Hang hesitated for a moment, but finally rolled down the window and asked as politely as possible, "Grandma, is there something you need?"

"Little one, are you hungry?" the old woman asked.

Her voice was hoarse and rough, and the gaps in her teeth let her words whistle... aside from her presence, Sun Hang could find nothing unusual about the old woman.

The fact that she turned up here at this time was the most peculiar thing of all.

"Uh... not really." Sun Hang scratched his head, "By the way, do you know where we are? My car's navigation is broken, and I'm lost."

"Shh..." The old woman pressed a finger to her lips and said softly, "Don't ask... don't ask..."

Sun Hang squinted... Could this old woman be mentally ill?

Maybe her family wasn't watching her carefully, and she sneaked out here to this wilderness?

Sun Hang's gaze swept over the old woman's wrists and neck, looking for an ID bracelet or tag with family contact information... Alas, there was nothing besides a seemingly worthless homemade silver necklace around her neck.

Even if this isn't the Surrendered Area, under the eternal night, the entire Shuzhou Territory, apart from Tianfu City, is scarcely safe... Small towns and villages can barely protect themselves, let alone this desolate wilderness.

No one can predict what might leap out from the shadows... In fact, the current state of the Shuzhou Territory, apart from the large human settlements, is little different from a Surrendered Area; the Federation Government just hasn't officially acknowledged it yet.

"May I ask where you're going? It's pitch dark and desolate here, it's not safe. Why don't you point me in a direction, and I'll drive you a bit?" Sun Hang asked tentatively.

Yet the old woman still shook her head, "Don't ask... don't ask... little one, are you hungry?"

This time, before Sun Hang could respond, the old woman shakily removed the cloth covering her basket and took out a piece of food resembling a rice cake, offering it through the window.

"Grandma, I'm not hungry, you keep it for yourself," Sun Hang began to decline, but the old woman released her hold, and he was left catching the "rice cake."

The rice cake was cold, but unlike Sun Hang's usual experience with cold rice cakes, it was soft and sticky to the touch.

"Be careful... on the road." As Sun Hang took the rice cake, the old woman smiled a simple smile, took two steps back, and continued on her original path.

"Grandma—" Sun Hang still wanted to call her back, but in the next moment, he became rigid as if struck by a Body-Stabilizing Skill, frozen where he stood.

He saw the "old woman" in the rearview mirror.

It was a mass of flesh walking, with each step dropping what might be blood or pus, her right-hand "cane" was actually a piece of bone extending from her wrist, and the "basket" on her other arm was in fact a lump of tumor-like growth.

The only thing unchanged was her still shuffling gait.

"Tsk..."

Sun Hang glanced at the "rice cake" in his hand and then brought it to the rearview mirror.

What lay in his palm was no rice cake but a piece of writhing carrion.

"Blinding Skill? Or is it a distortion in my perception?"

"No, it shouldn't be perception distortion... If it were, even if I saw 'her' true form in the mirror, my brain would tell me this was a kindly old woman... not some monstrous aberration..."

Sun Hang looked at the rice cake in his hand again, took out a container for holding "dangerous items" from the storage box, and placed the item inside.

Unfortunately, Sun Hang wasn't very familiar with snacks from the Federation's Southwest Region; otherwise, he would have recognized—this was not a rice cake, but a Yundian specialty: Er Kuai.

Sun Hang thought for a moment, then pressed the gas pedal and turned the car to catch up with the old woman.

"... Grandma, do you know where the nearest village is?"

The "old woman" glanced at Sun Hang, shook her head, and murmured, "Little one, are you still hungry... Was one Er not enough for you to eat?"

Sun Hang: "..."

[P.S. Another half-chapter later.]