Chapter 76 Honey Forest "This... how did I get here..."

"This... how can this be..." Touhuang stared in disbelief at the edge of the garden area in front of him.

In their minds, the garden area, just like its name suggests, is a world of flowers, with all kinds of plants, both novel and common, filling the entire area, and every household's door and windowsill are adorned with flowers.

As the spaceship passed overhead, the entire garden area looked like a giant flowerbed.

But what appeared before them now was a yellow world filled with gloom and decay.

The flowers that once bloomed everywhere are gone.

The once beautiful scene of every household having flowers is gone.

The once vibrant residents of the Garden District, who used to adorn themselves with flowers, now wander the streets listlessly.

"Let's change our clothes first," Sang Zhitao whispered a reminder.

Upon hearing this, everyone sought cover and changed into protective suits more suitable for the garden area.

"I'll help you with the initial purification, so that they won't discover that we're more heavily polluted," Sang Zhitao said hastily as a Garden District Gem Person walked past, realizing that their bodies were more transparent than hers.

After hearing her words, everyone quietly took a few steps back and hid in the Time Sand Corridor, where they were purified one by one with the help of Sang Zhi Tao.

Only after the transparency she achieved was almost identical to that of the Gem Man in the Garden District did Sang Zhi Tao collapse to the ground.

"Blue Star!" Tou Lan exclaimed and rushed forward to carefully help her up.

"It's alright, I was just a little overworked," Sang Zhitao sighed, patted his arm, and comforted him.

After a while, her complexion improved considerably, and she stood up and said to Toulan, "We need to cross the entire garden area. Do you think it would be safer to go around it?"

Tou Lan thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Okay, wait for me a moment."

They stayed there until dawn the next day before Tou Lan stared at her bloodshot eyes and said, "From where you just saw, head southwest along the Honey Source Forest, and you'll reach the border between the Garden District and the Star Moon District."

“Southwest…” Sang Zhitao gestured, pointing to the right, “This way?”

"Mm." Tou Lan nodded.

"Okay, let's go." Sang Zhitao waved.

The group walked along the Honey Source Forest.

What was once a lush green forest is now a gray, desolate landscape.

"It's so quiet..." Tou Lü frowned and remarked unconsciously.

"Yes, why is it so quiet?" Sang Zhitao frowned, also somewhat puzzled.

"Let's be on guard first," Tou Lan said after thinking for a moment.

The group formed a triangular formation and slowly moved forward.

The surroundings were indeed eerily quiet, with only the rustling of their footsteps on the fallen leaves, which added to the deathly stillness of the dimly colored forest.

The Honey Source Forest was longer than they had imagined. They walked for a long time, stopping three or four times in between, but still did not reach the end.

"It seems we might have to spend the night in the forest." Tou Lan frowned, somewhat worried.

"It's alright." Sang Zhitao looked up at the sky. "Let's find a suitable place to set up camp first."

Tou Lan nodded, and after instructing Tou Qing to protect Sang Zhi Tao, she took Tou Hui and Tou Huang to find a suitable place.

They were lucky; there was an open, flat area not far away.

After leading Sang Zhitao to the open space, Tou Lan and the others took out a palm-sized device from their backpacks, placed it on the ground, pointed to the center, and took a few steps back.

The instrument emits a soft start-up sound and then forms beautiful tents on the spot.

Sang Zhitao entered one of the tents. The interior space was larger than she had imagined, almost like a one-bedroom apartment, and even had some basic furniture.

Sang Zhitao touched the wall, feeling the soft texture beneath her hands, and her desire to bring this technology back to Earth grew stronger.

"It's a pity it's not something you can use for a long time," she sighed.

In the garbage city, when many people can't find materials to build houses, they pick up these basic tourist tents to take shelter, but these tents have their drawbacks.

First, if you put other things inside the tent, you can't pack them up with the tent.

Secondly, this type of tent can only be used for a maximum of one month and is not suitable for long-term living.

Thirdly, this thing isn't easy to find in the Garbage City.

The few they had were the result of a long period of saving by Tou Lan and his friends.

"Everyone, get some rest. We'll set off early tomorrow morning." After eating some gemstone fragments, Sang Zhitao and the others went into their tents in pairs.

“Jinglan, Jingqian, you can live with me.” Sang Zhitao looked at the two sisters who had been barely noticeable.

“Okay.” Tou Lan looked at the four tents and nodded.

There were nine of them in total, and logically speaking, it would be more appropriate for Sang Zhitao to occupy a tent, given her status.

The only arrangement was that Jinglan and her sister were the only three girls, and it was really inappropriate for them to be squeezed together with the boys.

After a peaceful night, the group ate some gemstone fragments early the next morning, packed up their tents, and continued on their way.

And so they walked for another day and night, remaining vigilant.

"Something feels off," Sang Zhitao thought to herself as her biological clock woke her up in the morning.

She glanced instinctively at the small window of the tent, only to find it completely dark outside. She muttered to herself, "Did I get up so early today?"

"Blue Star, get up quickly, something's wrong outside." A voice called out from the nearby tent.

"What's wrong?" Sang Zhitao asked.

“It’s still not light, that’s not right,” Tou Lan reminded her. “I checked the time, and it should be light by now.”

Sang Zhitao frowned, a bad feeling creeping into his heart. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What about the others? Are they all safe?"

"The tents, some purple, some green, some yellow, some gray, are all completely silent." Tunlan's voice betrayed his panic.

"It's alright. They're quite capable in combat. If they really encountered a crisis, they would definitely leave clues for us. They couldn't just disappear without a trace like this," Sang Zhitao reassured them.

After hearing this, Tou Lan could only sigh: "You all need to be careful too, and call the police if anything happens."

Sang Zhitao thought for a moment before reminding him, "I remember these tents were modified by Touhuang. Try to find the modification openings and connect them to each other, trying to keep them all in one place."

A translucent blue sound came from the other side of the wall.

About half an hour later, Tou Lan and Tou Qing emerged from behind the wall.

The two tents each melted away one wall, and the remaining space connected to form a large space.

"What do we do now?" Tou Lan looked at Sang Zhi Tao with concern.

"Are you sure you didn't hear anything?" Sang Zhitao asked repeatedly.

“I’m sure there isn’t any.” Tou Lan nodded, then continued to remind him, “Tou Qing was on watch all night last night, he would definitely have noticed any movement.”

Tou Qing nodded repeatedly: "I really didn't hear anything."

“If you really didn’t hear anything, then they might still be in the same place, just separated from us,” Sang Zhitao said after thinking for a moment.

"Separate them?" Tou Lan and the other looked at each other, completely puzzled.

“I don’t quite understand the principle, but my intuition tells me they’re not far apart,” Sang Zhitao said. “We tied ourselves together with a rope, then opened the door and went out to take a look.”

Tou Lan pursed her lips, glanced at her younger sister, and after a long while nodded in agreement: "Okay."

None of the five were fond of procrastination. They quickly found a rope, tied it around each other's waists, and then took a deep breath before heading to the door.

"Shall I open it?" Tou Lan placed her hand on the doorknob and looked at Sang Zhi Tao.

Sang Zhitao nodded, and her blue hand gently pressed down on the doorknob.

The outside was better than expected; at least they could see large objects on the ground, which relieved everyone.

"I'll go out first." Tou Lan lifted her foot to walk out.

"Wait a minute." Sang Zhitao stopped him. "Let's go together, so we can look out for each other."

Tou Lan was somewhat puzzled, but seeing the worry in everyone's eyes, she could only nod in agreement.

As soon as she stepped onto the ground, Sang Zhitao frowned.

This feels completely different from how they walked a couple of days ago.

“Blue Star…” Tou Lan called out to her subconsciously.

"Let's go check out where the tents are." Sang Zhitao moved a few steps in one direction.

Everyone followed and moved in that direction.

"Bang!" A muffled sound rang out.

Sang Zhitao touched her forehead before raising her hand to touch the thing blocking her way.

“It’s a tent!” Sang Zhitao exclaimed softly.

Tou Lan quickly stepped forward and touched the tent.

"Let's find the entrance and see if we can get in," Sang Zhitao reminded everyone.

The group touched the transparent object and circled it several times, but still couldn't find the entrance.

"What do we do now?" Tou Lan frowned deeply.

“Wait.” Sang Zhitao thought for a moment and continued, “There’s nothing we can do right now. What we see with our eyes is very different from what we actually see. If we run around recklessly and something happens, we won’t be able to find our way back.”

Tou Lan nodded.

The group unanimously chose to wait outside, bringing out chairs from inside the tent and sitting in rows outside.

I waited for who knows how long, but it was still so dark.

Touqing couldn't stand it anymore. She ran to the missing tent and carefully touched it several times before dejectedly returning to the small stool.

After some time, they all started to feel sleepy.

"Is it getting a little brighter?" Sang Zhitao asked subconsciously, looking around at her surroundings.

"It's dawn?!" Tou Lan instantly woke up.

Sang Zhitao looked at the translucent blue and said, "I think it's a bit too bright. What do you think?"

After carefully examining the area, Tou Lan nodded with a pleased expression: "It is brighter now."

While the two were talking, the other three woke up.

The five people watched nervously at the spot where the tent had disappeared, fearing that it would not return by dawn.

Daylight came much faster than expected, and soon everything returned to how it was when they entered the forest.

Sure enough, the missing tent reappeared in front of them.

"Let's go." Sang Zhitao got up, walked quickly towards the tent, looked at the door that had reappeared, and pulled the doorknob.

Inside the tent, which was bathed in a yellowish light, four people were sitting back-to-back on the ground, sleeping comfortably.

Sang Zhitao touched her sweat-dampened back and let out a deep breath.

"I'll go wake them up." Tou Lan quickly stepped forward and woke up several people.

"We're back?" That was the first thing Touhuang said as he opened his eyes.