Chapter 216: Choosing a New Territory

They might steal the fuel, smash the windows, remove its parts, or do something similar. However, with his mental imprint still attached to it, as long as there was even a slightly significant disturbance around the wheel loader, he would immediately know and come over to deal with it.

Therefore, there was no need to worry too much. He had left mental imprints on the windows, mailbox, doors, and other important locations.

The reason Joo Joowon had packed up his belongings so quickly after returning home was not because he was worried about what these people might do. He had simply been considering how much time the journey would take.

"What are you doing?" At the sound of the questioning voice, the people surrounding the wheel loader were startled. The tone did not sound particularly friendly. In fact, it sounded somewhat fierce, causing them to instinctively feel a little guilty.

Joo Joowon’s voice was relatively deep, matching his appearance. Both gave people the impression that she was not someone who would be easy to provoke. However, when they turned around and saw that he had come alone, their courage immediately returned.

"What does it have to do with you? Is this vehicle yours? Who are you to come over here and yell at us?"

Of course, it was not that they could not tell that Joo Joowon was probably the owner of the vehicle. He was even carrying his "luggage" behind his. They were not so blind that they could not figure that out. But he was alone. Naturally, they were willing to pretend that they could not see it.

Joo Joowon let out a cold laugh. He could not be bothered to argue with a group of people who clearly did not understand the situation. He simply raised his hand and spider silk immediately shot forward, binding the people gathered in front of the wheel loader before flinging them toward the sides.

"Ah!"

The people who were thrown onto the ground could not help crying out in surprise. They had never expected Joo Joowon to suddenly attack without saying a single word, much less that he possessed such an ability. They immediately began to regret their actions.

They were all adults, not idiots. Naturally, they knew what kind of people they could afford to provoke and what kind of people they could not.

At that moment, they were terrified that Joo Joowon would cause them trouble. Even after being thrown onto the ground, they did not dare to curse at him again and hurriedly tried to get back on their feet and leave.

However, what frightened them was that some invisible force had bound them, making them completely unable to move.

"Please, spare us! We only came over to take a look! We didn’t do anything!"

Joo Joowon opened the driver’s door and jumped straight inside, completely treating everyone around him as though there were no other living people there. He turned his head and looked at Byeol and Hwi. "Get in."

The large bags of belongings were all secured to the roof of the vehicle, while some supplies were placed inside the cab. It did not take long before everything was packed.

Byeol had always been quite brave, and now he was even less afraid of these people. Besides, Joo Joowon had already demonstrated what to do, so he immediately jumped inside. Hwi followed closely behind.

Once both of them were inside, Joo Joowon directly closed the door and started the wheel loader.

The roar of the wheel loader made everyone tense up. Was he planning to drive over them and crush them to death?

It was not until they saw Joo Joowon drive away without saying another word, leaving without interacting with them at all, that they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After Joo Joowon had thrown them onto the ground, he had simply gone about packing his belongings, completely ignoring their pleas for mercy as though they did not exist. This naturally left them extremely uneasy about what he might do to them.

Fortunately, he had left and as he drove away, they discovered that their ability to move had also returned. One after another, they quickly climbed back to their feet.

"It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t suggested it, how would we have gotten ourselves into trouble with him?!"

"Don’t try to dump the blame on me! If you guys didn’t want to do it, could I have forced you to go over there?"

...

The sound of the wheel loader starting up made Byeol somewhat uncomfortable. The zombies that had followed them from outside the vehicle made him even more nervous, causing his fur to puff up as he instinctively moved a little closer to Joo Joowon.

"Don’t be afraid. They can’t get inside." Joo Joowon comforted him while recalling the routes he knew in his mind, making sure he did not take a wrong turn.

He had already decided to establish his territory in the direction of the nature reserve.

Apart from mountains, Sabi City was mostly surrounded by rivers. Joo Joowon had no intention of going toward the riverside. Humanity’s understanding of what existed beneath the water was extremely limited. Who knew what might appear in the river after the apocalypse?

A place so unknown that even predicting what might happen was impossible was naturally unsuitable for establishing a territory.

Strictly speaking, the other directions did not offer much of an advantage either. Sabi City had been jokingly called a city built on mountains for more than just a day or two, so none of the directions could truly be considered safe.

If something like a beast tide occurred, then apart from the side facing the river, every other side would come under attack. There was not much difference in terms of which direction was safer or more dangerous.

Since that was the case, Joo Joowon might as well stop considering the issue of safety altogether.

After all, there was no truly safe place in the apocalypse in the first place. As long as he could increase his strength quickly enough, danger would never be able to catch up with him.