Chapter 146: Advancing into the Southwest

The younger aunt and the eldest aunt did not give up on trying to extract some benefits from Zhang Wenhao, but Zhang Wenhao remained completely immune to it all, not taking it to heart in the slightest. At noon, the family celebrated together at a nearby restaurant. Even when deeply concealed, the jealousy of certain individuals could still be detected in subtle clues. Zhang Wenhao did not care. Since some people's hearts were not aligned with yours, forcing the issue was useless. It was far better to live one's own life well, to take care of those truly worth caring about, and to let the rest go as they pleased.

In the afternoon, Zhang Wenhao saw Su Ruoran off at the airport. That spirited and capable Qing Wu observed him throughout the journey yet spoke very little, to which Zhang Wenhao paid little mind. After Su Ruoran's flight took off, Zhang Wenhao hurried back to the restaurant, as he had dinner with his mother's family scheduled for that evening.

Compared to the Zhang family, his mother's family was much more harmonious, and everyone was genuinely happy for Zhang Wenhao. The dinner left both his body and mind deeply pleased. After seeing off his relatives and friends one by one, Zhang Wenhao returned home to pack some clothes in preparation for tomorrow's journey.

Hearing that Zhang Wenhao was leaving by plane, his parents originally wanted to see him off at the airport the next morning, but Zhang Wenhao made the excuse that the airport was too far and he could simply take a taxi, sparing his parents the trouble. Unable to win against him, his parents had no choice but to agree.

Early the next morning, his parents accompanied Zhang Wenhao downstairs. Seeing him carry his travel bag into a taxi, they offered a final round of instructions before watching him leave with reluctant eyes.

Once the taxi drove out of his parents' line of sight, Zhang Wenhao had the driver take him to the spot where he had parked the G65. Afterward, he unlocked the rented garage and stepped inside the G65 AMG.

The fuel tank was full, the engine oil was full, and it had undergone a comprehensive maintenance check. The vehicle had accumulated just over ten thousand kilometers, having passed its break-in period not long ago. Its condition was exceptionally pristine—an off-road behemoth at its absolute peak.

Zhang Wenhao felt a wave of relief. He pulled the pistol that Ning Qian had left him out of his travel bag and placed it underneath the driver's seat. The reason he brought this gun along was purely as a precaution. After all, humans were made of flesh and blood; until his Body Strengthening Technique reached a sufficient tier, facing firearms would still leave him feeling immensely powerless. Therefore, bringing this weapon was an absolute must.

The travel bag contained mostly clothing and daily necessities, with very little else. He still had several hundred thousand in balance on his bank card, and funds were coming in daily. Both Melody and the consumables store he ran settled accounts via checks, with the money deposited separately into his two cards. This way, he could ensure he had sufficient funds while away, giving him a greater sense of confidence.

Driving out, Zhang Wenhao remembered that once he reached the mountainous regions, the car's fuel consumption would be extremely high and the fuel tank alone wouldn't suffice. He went to one of the best supply stores in Jiangcheng and bought two 25-liter explosion-proof jerry cans. Zhang Wenhao placed the two rectangular iron gasoline cans in the front passenger footwell, pushing the passenger seat as far back as possible to barely manage to fit them in.

Having completed the final preparations, Zhang Wenhao mentally reviewed his route, meticulously detailing every single intersection to ensure everything was ready. Shifting into drive and stepping on the accelerator, this beast—not yet officially released domestically—charged forward.

Joining the expressway from the High-Tech Zone, Zhang Wenhao headed in the direction of Hunan. He planned to spend the entire day driving to Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan, rest there for the night, and hit the road again the following morning, which would allow him to enter the territories of Yunnan and Guizhou by nightfall.

The car's sound system played Xu Wei's music, specifically his favorite song, *The City I Miss*. Although he had not yet left the borders of Jiangcheng, a profound sense of nostalgia welled up in Zhang Wenhao's heart, prompting him to mentally despise himself for being such a sentimental softie.

The melancholy was short-lived. Once this mechanical beast began to cruise smoothly along the expressway, Zhang Wenhao's mood transformed entirely. He felt both excited and full of anticipation for this trip to Yunnan and Guizhou.

Although the G65 was a thoroughbred off-road vehicle, the surging power delivered by its 12-cylinder engine effortlessly propelled its nearly three-ton weight. On the highway, it traveled at high speeds while remaining as steady as if it were standing still.

The seven or eight-hundred-kilometer journey was completed in one smooth stretch, save for stopping at service areas along the way to refuel and eat. When Zhang Wenhao exited the highway in Changsha, dusk was just falling. Unwilling to drive at night, he found a hotel in Changsha and stayed for the night.

Early the next morning, Zhang Wenhao set off once again.

The car traveled smoothly through a light mist. Even before truly entering Yunnan and Guizhou, the highway had already begun winding around and tunneling through mountains. Five minutes prior, the car was still at the foot of a mountain; five minutes later, after passing through a lengthy tunnel, it emerged to find the road suspended almost entirely between two towering peaks, surrounded by steep and rugged mountains. Aside from the tunnels and the elevated bridges connecting them, there was not a single path left for pedestrians.

Zhang Wenhao could not help but sigh. The geographical conditions here resulted in severely inconvenient transportation, which was the fundamental reason why development in Yunnan and Guizhou had always lagged behind. Someone once described Guizhou by saying that across the entire province, apart from the provincial capital Guiyang, almost everywhere else was mountainous terrain.

Zhang Wenhao had previously thought this statement was a bit of an exaggeration, but upon truly setting foot on this land, he realized it was no exaggeration at all. Surviving here was far more difficult than in the plains.

By the afternoon, Zhang Wenhao had already crossed into the border of Guizhou Province. However, because expressways only offered exits near cities, he had no choice but to exit at the nearest city, Tongren. Once off the highway, Zhang Wenhao grabbed a quick bite on the street to fill his stomach. Next, relying on his memory, he headed toward Wanshan Township, located more than 130 kilometers away from the city center—a notoriously impoverished mountainous region.

Out of this journey of over 180 kilometers, fewer than 60 kilometers consisted of proper, manageable roads. The remaining paths grew increasingly poor and treacherous.

The mountain-encircling roads were paved not with concrete or asphalt, but carved directly out of the mountain terrain, littered entirely with loose gravel. Beneath the tires sounded like strings of firecrackers as stones were constantly flung away by the treads. Fortunately, the vehicle was equipped with underbody armor and a rugged chassis, meaning such pebbles had no real impact on the car.

From time to time, boulders larger than ostrich eggs blocked the center of the road, forcing Zhang Wenhao to keep his speed around thirty kilometers per hour while continuously dodging the massive rocks on the road surface.

On roads like this, apart from large trucks, off-road vehicles, and tractors, any other small passenger cars could forget about making it up. A slightly lower chassis would likely cause them to break down anywhere. The poor road conditions resulted in very few vehicles; at times, Zhang Wenhao was the only car winding endlessly around a mountain, ascending in solitude and descending in isolation.

Deep among the mountains lay a flat basin: Tongxiang County, a small county town nestled deep within the great mountains. Zhang Wenhao first checked out the county seat. Its bustling commercial area could be circled by car in ten minutes, and gas stations were pitifully scarce, none of which carried 97-octane gasoline.

This left Zhang Wenhao feeling rather depressed. If there was no 97-octane fuel here, he would be in serious trouble. Since he intended to head to Wanshan Township, he needed the closest possible supply point—most importantly, one where he could refuel. Otherwise, if his car broke down in the mountains, he would be completely finished with zero room for maneuver.

This G65 was great in every aspect, but its sole drawback was that it absolutely could not run on 93-octane fuel. This was a common ailment of high-end off-road vehicles. It wasn't that it couldn't run on 93-octane at all; it could run, but definitely not for long. Because the octane rating of 93-octane fuel was too low and it contained excessive impurities, the fuel filter would easily clog first. Once clogged, the engine would be starved of fuel supply and would stall immediately. Even if the filter remained problem-free, high-performance engines had high compression ratios; prolonged use of low-grade fuel would cause severe damage to the engine.

Without 97-octane gasoline, Zhang Wenhao was unsure whether this G65 could manage five hundred kilometers on 93-octane fuel—at most, a thousand.

After searching extensively, Zhang Wenhao finally spotted a 97-octane fuel dispenser at a Sinopec gas station.

There were quite a few vehicles lined up to refuel at the station, forming a long queue stretching seven or eight hundred meters. Several workers were busy at three 93-octane fuel dispensers. Zhang Wenhao saw a notice posted on the station stating that starting tomorrow, 93-octane fuel would increase by 0.49 yuan per liter and 97-octane by 0.53 yuan per liter. This likely explained why so many cars were waiting in line.

Coincidentally, there were no cars in front of the 97-octane pump. Zhang Wenhao bypassed the long queue and drove straight up to the 97-octane dispenser. However, the refueling attendants were all busy at the 93-octane pumps. After Zhang Wenhao called out for a while, a young man hurriedly ran over.

"Oh!" The young man cried out in surprise upon reaching the car, saying, "I thought it was a G55, but it turns out to be a G65! This car hasn't even been launched in the domestic market yet, has it?"

Zhang Wenhao gave a consenting hum and asked, "Is the 97-octane gasoline here plentiful?"

"Plentiful." Knowing that Zhang Wenhao's car bore military license plates and likely had a formidable background, the young man spoke very politely. "Ours is a notoriously impoverished county. The wealthy have all left, and very few stay behind, so high-end cars rarely come here to fill up on 97-octane. I reckon we still have several tons left in stock."

With that, the young man could not suppress his curiosity and asked, "Why on earth would you drive such an expensive car out here?"

"Just came to visit some relatives," Zhang Wenhao casually fabricated a lie. The other party didn't mind and filled the car to the brim, along with the two 25-liter jerry cans. After Zhang Wenhao paid him, the young man hurried back to the 93-octane pumps to resume his work.

Getting back into the car, Zhang Wenhao pondered the distance from here to Wanshan Township. The terrain of Wanshan Township was far worse than this; this place could at least still be considered a small basin, whereas Wanshan Township was truly deep within a cluster of grand mountains. Reportedly, there were only four villages in total—one at the foot of the mountain and three halfway up the slopes.

It was roughly fifty kilometers away from Wanshan Township, and the road conditions for these fifty kilometers were abysmal. For this 12-cylinder beast, driving on such roads would consume at least thirty-something or even forty liters of fuel per hundred kilometers just to endure it. A single tank of gas could only cover a maximum of one hundred and fifty kilometers, failing to even sustain two round trips. Consequently, once his car drove over there, he basically couldn't afford to drive around casually; if he moved about too much, he might not even make it back. Fortunately, he had prepared two backup jerry cans. Professional explosion-proof fuel cans were expensive and carried no safety hazards, a method chosen by many self-driving enthusiasts heading to Tibet to avoid failing to find quality fuel on the road. This way, even if the fuel in the main tank was exhausted, relying on the reserves would allow him to drive the vehicle back.

...

After spending the night in the county guesthouse, Zhang Wenhao drove toward Wanshan Township early the next morning. The difficulty of the roads to Wanshan Township far exceeded his expectations, though fortunately, the off-road performance of the G65 was truly formidable, handling such terrain with effortless ease.

Along the way, Zhang Wenhao did not even catch sight of a single tractor, only occasionally spotting a few farmers driving animal-drawn carts across the mountains. This only deepened his sentiment: while the natural scenery here was breathtakingly beautiful, struggling to survive here compared to the outside world was far too arduous.

After spending nearly three hours on the road, Zhang Wenhao finally drove the car into Wanshan Township, only to discover that the so-called Wanshan Township was essentially just a single village.

Because there were only four villages in the immediate vicinity, with just one built on a small patch of flat terrain at the foot of the mountain, the township government was stationed right there. The entire township had a population of just over two thousand. Word had it that county leaders were preparing to merge these four villages into one and abolish the township administrative status.

As soon as the car entered the village, many children playing on the ridges of the fields were immediately attracted by the square-shaped vehicle roaring with a tremendous engine growl. They excitedly swarmed around it. For the children here, tractors were common, but cars were far too rare; even the township head traveled by tractor when going out, and there wasn't a single automobile in the entire township.

Helpless, Zhang Wenhao reduced his speed to five kilometers per hour and honked the horn to signal the children to scatter a bit. To his frustration, upon hearing the car's horn, the children became even more excited. Some children even began climbing onto the vehicle, and within moments, the roof, the hood, and the side running boards were crowded with five- and six-year-old kids.

Lowering the window, Zhang Wenhao said to the children in standard Mandarin, "Don't climb on the car! It's not safe if you fall!"

These children couldn't understand Mandarin at all and simply chattered away in a thick, hard-to-understand local dialect, leaving Zhang Wenhao with no choice but to sigh. Powerless to do otherwise, he locked the central doors, afraid that some mischievous child might try to pull the door open. The interior space was already packed to the brim, and even if they couldn't get in, dropping things might injure someone.

The commotion caught the attention of adults laboring in the fields, and many of them were drawn over as well. Someone shouted at the top of their lungs from a field ridge, though Zhang Wenhao couldn't understand. Soon, however, more and more people began surging over out of curiosity, watching Zhang Wenhao's car approach closer and closer.

Township Head Tian Fugui was busy in his own field when a villager ran over and said, "Township Head, hurry up to the head of the village and take a look! Someone drove a big car in!"

"What?" Tian Fugui asked in utter astonishment, "Who would drive a car out here?" Then, he couldn't help but scold, "Sanwazi, how many times have I told you, it's the head of the township, not the head of the village. We're still a township here, after all."

"Oh, who cares about that? 'Head of the village' just rolls off the tongue," the man known as Sanwazi said, pulling Tian Fugui by the arm. "I reckon it might be a big leader from the county coming to inspect our work. You better hurry up and go welcome them."

Tian Fugui put down his hoe, patted the dirt off his clothes, and walked over in quick strides behind Sanwazi.

Zhang Wenhao managed to drive the car as far as the entrance of Wanshan Township, but could advance no further because his vehicle was surrounded not only by more children but also by layers upon layers of adults.

With no other choice, Zhang Wenhao turned off the ignition, stepped out of the vehicle, and asked aloud, "Are the township leaders here?"

"The leader will be here in a moment," a villager replied with a chuckle and heavily accented Mandarin, adding, "Sanwazi went to fetch the township head."

Barely managing to understand his words, Zhang Wenhao nodded lightly.

Tian Fugui quickly ran over. Seeing numerous children clambering over a square-shaped automobile, he immediately stepped forward and barked a reprimand. His words seemed exceptionally effective and held great deterrence over the children; moments later, the kids jumped down from the vehicle one after another and darted into the crowd to find their respective parents.

Tian Fugui had assumed a leader had arrived, only to find that the driver was a young man of about twenty, which left him even more astonished. He asked in heavily accented Mandarin, "Young man, what brings you to Wanshan Township?"

"Hello," Zhang Wenhao said politely. "I'm a student at the Nanjiang Provincial Medical College. My purpose in coming to Wanshan Township this time is to serve as a volunteer doctor."

Along the way here, Zhang Wenhao had already observed the surrounding environment. Apart from a single power line, there wasn't even a telephone line, nor were there any cell towers in sight. On his way here, noticing the mobile signal growing increasingly weak, he had made a call to inform his parents that he was entering a mountainous area without signal so they wouldn't worry. Just five kilometers after hanging up, the phone completely lost service. Judging by this, Wanshan Township clearly lacked communication infrastructure, so he could casually spin this tale without fear of being exposed.

Upon hearing the terms "medical college" and "volunteer doctor," Tian Fugui's eyes lit up, and he blurted out excitedly, "That's wonderful, simply wonderful! Our area has the most severe medical shortages. When you say volunteer, do you mean it's free?"

Zhang Wenhao merely smiled faintly at his slight mispronunciation and replied, "Yes, my purpose in coming this time is to provide free medical treatment to the villagers here. Whether it's the consultation fees or the cost of medicine, everything is completely free."

Tian Fugui was stunned for a moment before eagerly stepping forward to grasp Zhang Wenhao's hand, shaking it with intense emotion. "This is truly a blessing from the heavens! Our township lacks everything, but doctors are what we lack the most. We do have a health clinic in the township, but there's only an elderly village doctor. Short on medicine, he can only rely on gathering wild herbs from the mountains to treat the villagers. Whenever anyone falls slightly seriously ill, we have to transport them to the county seat by tractor or donkey cart. Your arrival couldn't be better! You're a college student who has seen the world, unlike our old country quacks here who can only treat a common cold or fever."