“Mm,” Jiang Chan replied briefly.
“The road is not safe, how about… we go together?” Chen Yan suddenly spoke, looking directly at Jiang Chan.
His tone revealed no emotion.
Jiang Chan paused in her steps.
Together? Her first instinct was to refuse.
Going with him could trigger one of those deadly ghost missions at any moment!
Last time she almost died on the mountain road, this time she almost got buried in the mine! What about next time? But... the words of refusal were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them back.
Pork...seeds...although troublesome, they are all real, high-quality goods!
Following this "mission trigger" is dangerous, but it seems to be the only way to reliably obtain survival supplies at present.
In the apocalypse, people who are terrified of hunger have their greed for food resources outweigh their concerns about risks.
“…Okay.” Jiang Chan finally uttered only one word, then pulled Xiao Tao along and took the lead.
Chen Yan seemed relieved and helped Zhou Shi catch up.
The four left Qinghe Village in silence and set off again on the desolate official road.
The sun was high in the sky, and the weather was hot and dry.
After walking for about an hour, a simple thatched hut appeared beside the official road ahead.
A tattered cloth hung on the shed, with the word "tea" written crookedly on it.
A middle-aged man with a weathered face squatted outside the shed, guarding two large wooden barrels.
"Take a rest, Master's wife," Chen Yan said.
The four of them walked to the tea stall.
Several crooked low tables and long benches were placed in the shed.
"Water? Three coins a bowl." The shopkeeper's voice was hoarse as he pointed to the wooden bucket.
The murky water sloshed slightly in the bucket, and obvious sediment and sand particles could be seen suspended in it.
Chen Yan shook his head, "Can't I rest my feet without drinking water?"
The boss sighed, "Okay, move over and sit here..."
The four found a corner to sit down and each took out their water pouches to drink water.
Jiang Chan and her group weren't the only ones resting at the tea stall.
Several men, equally weary from their journey and with hungry faces, sat around a table, talking animatedly.
"Have you heard? Up on Black Wind Ridge!" A man with a full beard lowered his voice, speaking mysteriously, "I've heard there's a celestial abode there!"
"A deity?" Someone's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"How could it be fake?!" The bearded man slammed his hand on the table. "My great-uncle's neighbor's cousin went there as a镖师 (bodyguard/escort) in his younger days! He said he saw with his own eyes a golden palace shining in the clouds halfway up the mountain! And cranes flying around!"
"Goodness..."
Everyone listened intently, their faces showing longing.
"I've heard that the immortal can turn stones into gold and scatter beans into soldiers!" another tall, thin man chimed in. "If we were lucky enough to run into one, we could kowtow to the immortal a few times and say a few nice words..."
"Yes, yes, yes!" someone nearby immediately chimed in, their eyes gleaming with fervor. "A mere drop of something between the fingers of a deity—be it elixirs or gold—would be enough to feed us for generations! Immortality is out of the question, but at least we'd live to be a hundred, with no worries about food or clothing!"
"If only I could get a magic date or peach to taste..."
"That would be like reaching the top in one step!"
An almost morbid excitement permeated the tea stall.
These disaster victims, struggling on the brink of life and death, placed their last sliver of hope in the ethereal "gods".
It seemed that the more earnestly they discussed it, the more likely the deity would appear and bestow blessings.
Chen Yan listened to these discussions, his brows furrowing slightly, seemingly finding them absurd. He couldn't help but ask, "Black Wind Ridge? Where exactly is it located? Is it really that miraculous?"
"It's just to the northwest! It'll take another two or three days to cross that mountain ridge!" Seeing his interest, the bearded man became even more enthusiastic, gesturing wildly, "It's amazing! Sincerity is key! I've heard that when people get lost in the mountains, it's the gods who send cranes to guide them out!"
Jiang Chan listened coldly to these increasingly outrageous "miracle stories," her heart unmoved. In the apocalypse, she had seen plenty of these survivor bases where people placed their hopes on illusory things.
A deity? A Midas touch? If they really had that ability, how could the world be so parched?
However, just as Chen Yan asked about the exact location of Black Wind Ridge, the disaster victims described the "cranes leading the way"!
[Ding!]
That cold, death knell-like electronic voice exploded in the depths of Jiang Chan's mind without warning!
[Key information detected: A legend of immortal cultivation! Quest loading...]
Cultivating immortality? Would she even survive to return?! Is this lousy system trying to kill her?!
An instinctive sense of resistance instantly overwhelmed her!
She almost immediately screamed in her mind, "No! No!! No mission!!!"
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