Chapter 78 Leaving the Forest~ The wind speed seems to be...
The wind seemed to be quite strong this time, with a slight whistling sound and a hint of menace that hadn't been there before.
The gray hair on her shoulder fell lightly, as if cut by a sharp blade, until it blended into and disappeared with the gray-white fallen leaves...
With a pale, sallow face, he touched his short, gray hair and said, "The wind has become lethal."
Touhui's expression wasn't good either. He gave Touhuang a deep look and said, "Take the children and leave."
Touhuang looked at him but didn't nod.
"Nobody knows how much longer we'll have to run. My health isn't good; I'll only hold you back," Touhui sighed.
Translucent Yellow lowered her eyes slightly, and before Translucent Gray could urge her any further, she turned around and pulled Translucent Purple and Translucent Green away.
Translucent purple and translucent green subconsciously glanced back at translucent gray, then at translucent yellow's unpleasant expression, but ultimately dared not say anything.
Watching their departing figures, Touhui breathed a sigh of relief, carefully reaching behind his back to take out a cigarette case.
"As expected, there are still hidden goods." A yellowish voice suddenly rang out.
Startled, Tou Hui coughed repeatedly, and his cigarette pack slipped to the ground: "You... how did you get back?"
Touhuang sneered, "If I don't pretend to leave, will you take out your treasured possessions?"
What could Touhui say? He could only obediently hand over the cigarette pack.
"Search them!" Touhuang and Touzi had already discussed this, so Touhuang didn't say much and simply gave them a look.
Without saying anything, Tou Zi and Tou Lü exchanged a glance and rushed forward to search each other.
Touhui certainly didn't want to be searched, but after resisting several times, seeing the cold smile on Touhuang's face, she finally chose to obediently obey.
After searching Tou Zi and the others and finding two more cigarette cases on Tou Hui, they obediently retreated behind Tou Huang.
Touhuang looked at Touzi and said, "I'll stay with him. You guys go."
With a cold expression, Tou Zi refused without hesitation: "We are family, we should go together."
Translucent Yellow and Translucent Gray tried to dissuade them several times, until a new wind came and another person had their hair cut off, before they finally gave up trying to persuade them, thanks to the insistence of Translucent Purple and Translucent Green.
"Hiss..." Tou Hui touched his arm, which already had seven or eight scratches. "No, let's give it a shot and keep running."
Translucent Yellow touched the scratch on her cheek, then looked at Translucent Purple and Translucent Green, and nodded.
The four continued their escape, fleeing for their lives with the wind chasing them.
"Then why are you all sleeping here again?" Sang Zhitao asked curiously.
Touhuang shook his head: "I don't know. We kept running, but in the end we couldn't run anymore, and the damage from the wind was getting worse and worse. We finally collapsed in the wind."
“Until now…” Touhuang glanced at the tent, “we were woken up by you.”
Seeing that there were no injuries on their clothes or skin, Tou Lan frowned: "Could it be that you never left and were just hypnotized?"
"Hypnosis?" Touhuang frowned, following the other person's gaze to Touhui.
The severed hair was still there, there were no wounds on the arms, and the protective suit, which was full of holes, was intact. It certainly didn't look like it had just gone through that desperate run at night.
Touhuang rubbed his temples, momentarily at a loss for words.
"You didn't experience any of this yesterday?" Tou Hui looked at Tou Lan and the others, whose faces showed dark circles from lack of sleep, but who didn't appear as exhausted as the others, and was a little curious.
Tou Lan stiffened, a hint of embarrassment flashing across her face.
When Touhui didn't receive a reply, she looked at him in confusion and immediately took in his expression. She then looked at the others, who all seemed unsure of what to say, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
What did you encounter?
The translucent yellow, translucent purple, and translucent green all looked at them curiously.
“When we... woke up, it was still black. Like you, we couldn’t see each other’s tents or find the entrance,” Tou Lan said, touching the tip of her nose.
"And then?" Touhui waited for a while without receiving a reply, and couldn't help but urge him on.
“…That’s all.” Tou Lan replied hesitantly.
"Huh?" Touhui looked at him in disbelief, then subconsciously looked at Sang Zhitao and the others, as if hoping to get a new negative answer from them.
“Yes, we just saw it getting dark.” Sang Zhitao nodded, agreeing with Tou Lan’s answer.
"...So, while we were running for our lives, you were looking for us in the dark?" Touhui said, somewhat speechless.
"No... no." Sang Zhitao smiled awkwardly and quickly explained, "We really don't dare to act rashly, so we can only sit at the door and wait."
"So you were waiting for us while we were running away." Touhui twitched the corner of his mouth, unsure of what to say.
"Uh...no, not really." Sang Zhitao denied again, "We didn't wait long before it got light."
"..." For a moment, none of the four people in the yellow robe responded.
"It really is..." Touhui couldn't help but complain, "a thoroughly enjoyable prank."
Touhuang looked relieved, then walked up to Touhuiyan and opened his arms: "Hand over the stuff."
Translucent Gray stiffened, and after a long standoff with Translucent Yellow, he sighed and took out several cigarette boxes to hand to the other person.
After inspecting each cigarette one by one, Toutiao finally put them away with satisfaction.
Blue looked at Gray in shock: "How come you still have more?!"
Tou Hui looked up at the ceiling, waited a while, then looked down and realized everyone was still waiting for his answer. He could only sigh and say, "I was wrong."
Tou Lan shook her head helplessly, stopped nagging him, and turned to Tou Huang: "Please keep an eye on him."
The man in the yellow robe nodded silently and glared at the other person.
Touhui awkwardly touched his nose and said nothing more.
"What do we do next?" Tou Lan asked Sang Zhi Tao.
Sang Zhitao thought for a moment before asking, "According to the plan, when can we leave?"
Tou Lan pondered for a moment: "According to the original plan, we should be able to reach the edge of the forest around nine o'clock tonight."
"Try not to spend the night in the forest again. We can't guarantee that nothing else will happen during the night or that we'll be able to get out safely."
After thinking for a moment, Sang Zhitao continued to ask, "If we don't rest in between and keep marching at full speed, can we get out before nightfall?"
Tou Lan silently considered it in her mind: "Okay."
"Then it's settled. Everyone, pack your things quickly, and we'll set off immediately. Let's try not to spend the night in the forest tonight," Sang Zhitao nodded and said.
The others turned around and started packing without hesitation, while Tou Lan went to find Sang Zhi Tao.
"I just looked up some information, and what we experienced last night should be a unique dreamscape from the Honey Forest." Tou Lan organized her thoughts and continued, "Almost every part of the garden area has unique attractions, but in my memory, a dreamscape should be a happy dream, but what we encountered was..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but Sang Zhitao understood what he wanted to say. She pursed her lips before continuing, "It should be similar to the Time Sand Corridor, both of them have been destroyed."
"It seems the situation is worse than we thought." Deep blue eyebrows and eyes were filled with deep worry. "Since sixteen years ago, everything has been heading towards the worst possible outcome."
"...Let's take it one step at a time," Sang Zhitao sighed.
The original book doesn't describe what the Dark Duke did to the kingdom; it only mentions his ambition to seize the throne. After all, it's a children's story about friendship, and some things don't need to be explained very clearly.
Neither of them went into details, but they both understood each other's thoughts and reached a tacit agreement.
The group quickly continued their journey with their luggage.
The group ate as they walked, conserving their energy while trying not to waste any time.
Finally, as evening fell, they emerged from the Honey Source Forest.
The Star and Moon District finally appeared before everyone.
Looking at the silvery-white buildings, the silvery-white ground, and the silvery-white plants, shimmering in the moonlight, the four of them immediately thought of that gray-white expanse at night, and their expressions turned somewhat grim.
"I'll go check it out first." Touhuang took out a robot the size of a fingernail and carefully placed it on the ground.
He pressed a button on the robot, and eight thin claws instantly sprang out from its side, moved up and down a few times, and a red light appeared on its head.
"Let it go and take a look." Without waiting for their reply, Touhuang directly controlled the little robot to leave.
After a long time, the robot's findings were received by Touhuang.
“There’s an abandoned yard about 600 meters away; we can rest there temporarily,” Touhuang said.
“Go ahead, let’s rest a bit and set off again tomorrow,” Sang Zhitao said.
No one said anything more and nodded in agreement.
Six hundred meters isn't a long distance, but since they had entered illegally, they didn't dare to go in openly. They could only take advantage of the moonlight to slowly move to the front of the courtyard and then climb over it.
"Rest first, don't turn on the lights." After carefully instructing them, Sang Zhitao found a place to lie down.
The others didn't say much either. They hadn't slept much the night before, and after another day of marching, they were exhausted.
Even the next morning, when Sang Zhitao and the others woke up, they still sent robots to investigate.
After receiving confirmation that everything was safe, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door a crack, and was about to leave.
"Who are you?" a cold voice came from behind.
The group quickly turned back and rushed over, gripping their weapons and becoming alert.
The speaker was a boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old. He had blue skin that resembled that of Tou Lan, and a pair of beautiful blue eyes.
"I'm sorry, we stayed here last night and we're leaving right now," Sang Zhitao explained as she stepped forward.
"You're from Garbage City?" the boy asked directly, pointing out their origins.
No one answered him, but their faces were filled with unpleasant emotions.
The young man had already guessed without them answering, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "I am the owner of this courtyard, and my name is Tou Dian."
“It seems we are destined to meet, as all my companions have the character ‘透’ in their names,” Sang Zhitao said with a smile as she chatted about everyday things.
The boy was somewhat surprised, but didn't say anything.
"We're leaving right away, please keep this a secret for us," Sang Zhitao said to Tou Lan and the others, before turning to Tou Dian.
Tou Dian nodded silently in agreement, and then said, "Can you take me with you?"
Sang Zhitao paused for a moment, then subconsciously shook her head.
Tou Dian's eyes were filled with disappointment, but before Sang Zhi Tao could see clearly, they turned completely red.
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