Chapter Forty-Six: As Far as the Eye Can See, It Is All My Home

Seeing that everyone had already gotten into the vehicles, Gavin started the engine, looked straight ahead, and said,

"The view is truly fucking expansive."

With those words, Gavin stepped on the gas pedal, and the gentle breeze instantly grew stronger.

Feeling the February cold wind sweeping across his face, Gavin curled his lip.

"The ventilation is also truly fucking powerful."

"Haha, at least we still have a car to drive. That's already not bad at all, Boss!"

Eugene slapped his thigh and chuckled maliciously until he was choked by the cold wind, coughing a couple of times before putting away his laugh and asking Gavin,

"Stop joking, man. Where are we heading next?"

"You had everything planned out step by step before, but this time you haven't really explained much. Is the road ahead even more dangerous than the previous ones?"

"How could that be?"

Facing Eugene's question, Gavin raised a hand, breathed into his palm, and spoke to Eugene in a slightly louder voice.

"I'm not laying out a plan this time because the road ahead genuinely doesn't need one."

"Once we clear the hurdle of Corsicana, we will completely leave behind the Dallas-Fort Worth and Arlington urban agglomerations."

"From here onward for one hundred and eighty kilometers, you probably won't even find a small town of one or two thousand people along the road."

"Besides, once we turn past the airport, we'll see the Chambers Reservoir. Apart from a loose resort area surrounding the reservoir, there are no more obstacles in front of us. There's simply no need to formulate a plan."

With that, Gavin slightly slowed down the vehicle.

The cold wind blowing at over a hundred kilometers per hour was just too harsh on the face.

In the passenger seat, hearing Gavin's words, Eugene opened his mouth in excitement and remarked,

"Well, that's great then. No danger is great! But what about the airport? Isn't there still an airport ahead?"

"Yeah, there's an airport, but can't we just avoid going in?"

Gavin looked at Eugene as if looking at an idiot and teased,

"You've seriously never been to Corsicana Airport, have you? After the road leading to the airport branches off from the main road, it extends for nearly six hundred meters before reaching the airport."

"As long as we don't go that way, could the zombies working the night shift at the airport possibly fly six hundred meters and jump into our car?"

"I told everyone to stay alert simply so they wouldn't become too complacent."

Having said that, Gavin shook his head and continued driving.

After driving another six kilometers like this, Corsicana Airport came into view.

Just as Gavin had said, their two vehicles merely took a turn, leaving the airport far behind as they rushed onward toward the Chambers Reservoir.

Looking off into the distance toward the airport, Gavin licked his wind-dried lips and said,

"Not bad. The airport is much safer than I expected. My only worry earlier was that a plane might have crashed onto the highway and blocked the road."

"That kind of bullshit happens all the time in movies, but reality is thankfully not that melodramatic. We got lucky—"

Accompanied by Gavin's laughter, Eugene's gaze also shifted to the Chambers Reservoir.

Though it sounded like a mere reservoir, the Chambers Reservoir was actually a fairly large lake, locally referred to as Lake Richard because its location fell within the boundaries of neighboring Richard County.

The reservoir was shaped roughly like the Chinese character for "person" (人), splitting left and right, with a total length of nearly twenty-eight kilometers, an average width of around six kilometers, and its narrowest points ranging between 2.3 and 2.6 kilometers.

Of course, bridges and roads spanning the lake had been constructed at the two narrowest sections of the lake.

As for the Chambers Resort that Gavin had mentioned, its location was right between the two "legs" of the character-shaped lake.

The route Gavin was about to take would cut straight through the space between the two legs of the Chambers Reservoir and then cross the long bridge spanning the lake to the east.

At this moment, gazing at the crystal-clear lake water, Eugene licked his lips and spoke in a calm tone,

"It looks so peaceful here. If I had known, I should have brought my sister and my nephew here for a camping trip."

"Yeah, this place is indeed quite nice. You should have come camping here long ago, preferably renting a house in the resort area."

Gavin nodded, validating Eugene's sentiment.

Hearing this, Eugene shot a suspicious glance at Gavin and asked,

"Why would I rent their houses? Isn't it fine if I just bring a camping blanket? Or do their rental houses come with free male and female models, and maybe a 36D wet nurse for my nephew?"

After this piece of banter, Eugene shifted back and forth against the backrest, reached behind him, pulled out a scrap of torn leather, and tossed it out of the car window.

As for Gavin, after thinking for a moment, he explained to Eugene,

" Trust me, coming to this resort to rent a house and vacation is absolute value for money."

"Every unsold house in the resort comes with free-to-use dinghies and a full set of fishing gear after a short-term rental, and you can even request free horse rentals from the resort to ride horses over to visit my farm."

"Is that so?"

Hearing this, Eugene said amusingly to Gavin,

"No wonder you're giving this sales pitch. Turns out it has some connection to your family's farm."

"You think it just has *some* connection?"

Hearing this, Gavin suddenly turned his head and looked at Eugene with a very strange expression.

Eugene couldn't figure out what emotions were hidden in that look, but he somehow felt offended, so he muttered unhappily,

"Quarterback, why are you looking at me like that? Is there something stuck in my teeth, for fuck's sake?"

"Hehe, I'm looking at a penniless guy with zero imagination. You actually didn't realize that the resort belongs to me too!"

"Fuck, you damned rich bastard..."

At that, Eugene instinctively cursed, but no sooner had the curse left his mouth than a sudden realization hit him, and he hurriedly asked Gavin in shock,

"Wait, what did you say? You're saying this resort that stretches as far as the eye can see belongs to you too?"

"Does that mean you're already fucking home? But isn't your house a farm? So where the hell is your home, holy shit!"

With those words, Eugene's facial features tightened as he stared fixedly at Gavin.

Meeting Eugene's shocked and expectant gaze, Gavin smiled, raised his right hand to face the howling cold wind, and said,

"That's right, I am home."

"Eighty-five kilometers forward from this exact spot, across a tract of land approximately twenty-five kilometers wide, it all belongs to me."

"Nearly a third of that land was completely acquired by me through farm consolidation, forming a massive fourteen-thousand-acre ranch."

"As for the vast stretches of land centered around the reservoir, those were leased and entrusted to me by the state government for development."

"Badass!"

Hearing Gavin reach this point, Eugene slapped his thigh hard and exclaimed in excitement,

"I never expected you to be so filthy rich. Damn it, yet I can't even afford to buy a brand-new car. This fucking America!"

"Haha, you cursed too early."

Gavin laughed, interrupting Eugene, and continued,

"This fucking America not only left you with no money to buy a new car, but it also allowed me to build a resort without spending a dime of my own cash."

"Don't forget, the state government commissioned me for the development. Because I took on the commission, not only did I get super high tax exemption policies, but they also threw in an airport for free—"

"All in all, just the property taxes I save every year amount to way more than sixty million bucks, and that alone was enough to build the resort."

"And since I already own the land, why would I spend my own money on construction? Of course, I use the land as collateral for loans."

"So here's the question: who the hell do you think I'm supposed to pay back now? Should I just toss two tons of gold through the roof of the White House, haha!"

Amidst his loud laughter, Gavin rounded a corner and arrived at the road sign for the Chambers Resort.

Looking at the lush green resort before him, Gavin continued speaking to the silent Eugene,

"Alright, stop rolling your eyes. We're temporarily safe once we reach this point."

"Although I didn't personally participate in the planning and construction of the resort, I at least know this:"

"Throughout this ten-kilometer-long natural scenic area, there are only twenty-four large manors built along the roadsides, and sixty-four lake-view villas close to the lake."

"As for the remaining area, it's packed with so-called nature parks and amusement parks, plus a dozen small docks, and a whole bunch of snack shops and gift stores."

"Building this resort was purely for tax exemptions; otherwise, who would expect a generic scenic spot like this to blow up into Disneyland?"

"Besides, I didn't use my own name to advertise the place, so the properties here sell terribly, and the tenants are pitifully few."

With that, Gavin recklessly stepped on the accelerator, accelerating straight into the resort area.

Along the roadside, every manor sat at the end of a tree-lined driveway at least a hundred and sixty meters long, and the distance between manors was generally maintained at no less than three hundred meters.

Watching the manors continuously passing by on both sides, Eugene swallowed hard and said with a shocked expression,

"The luckiest thing in my fucking life is probably running into a goddamn capitalist like you on the very first day of the apocalypse!"

"I honestly feel like every single house here is exceptionally suited to be our base camp. The mattresses inside must be softer than a fifty-buck hooker!"

"No."

Gavin abruptly cut Eugene off, a cheerful smile playing on his lips as he went on,

"Even though this place is sparsely populated, the vegetation coverage is way too high, and visibility is severely restricted."

"Besides, we have a better option."

"We *must* go to the ranch manor, not just because my parents are there, but because all my guns are there!"

"Not to mention there are countless Angus cattle."

"Of course, at a time like this, we should really start praying."

"Praying that we don't run into tens of thousands of zombie cattle!"