"Ugh, my head hurts!"
Zhuang Mian felt that the world or herself was constantly spinning, and she seemed to be in one of those luxurious steel buildings called roller coasters in the old times. She slowly stood up with her hands on the ground and forced herself to regain consciousness.
"What...place is this?"
Looking at the lush green forest in front of him, Zhuang Mian felt a little confused.
The 24-year-old security captain is a native of Hope City. He has never seen such a scene in this final city where there is almost no space for greening.
"Maybe it's the world after death..."
This strong security captain, who usually frowns and is serious, is now like a child who has discovered a new world, full of curiosity about everything around him.
This is inevitable. Zhuang Mian has never seen a living tree since he was so old...
There was still dew on the grass on the ground, and after just a few steps, the soft branches brushed her face.
In fear of the unknown and closeness to nature, Zhuang Mian decided to explore the area nearby. No matter how he came here, it seemed that he would not be able to go back for a while.
Wilderness survival is not a compulsory course for students in the Hope City Security Team, so she can only take it for granted and do things that she thinks are beneficial to survival to ensure her own safety.
Zhuang Mian picked a large handful of wild fruits and held them in front of him with the front of his clothes.
If nothing goes wrong, this will be her staple food for the next few days, provided that it is not poisonous.
Returning to a relatively flat grassland in the forest, Zhuang Mian began to plan his future which seemed to be becoming a little strange.
Although they had come to a wilderness they had never seen before, the leisurely environment also made Zhuang Mian feel very relaxed.
There is no such thing as "relaxation" in Hope City. Everyone is a small part of the huge machine that maintains the continuation of humanity, so that abstract crimes in the outer city can even become interesting stories passed on by word of mouth.
Although there was nothing in this dense forest, it brought her the relaxation and freedom that she had not felt since she started school.
With the help of non-toxic wild fruits and river water, Zhuang Mian's survival in the wild lasted until the third day.
After the initial period of curiosity, Zhuang Mian gradually regained his senses. After experiencing the long rumbling of his stomach last night, Zhuang Mian learned a new truth -
Humans cannot survive forever by eating fruit alone.
She admitted that the first fruit was indeed very sweet, a taste she had never tasted before, but if she continued like this, she felt that her whole body would turn into that light green color...
Zhuang Mian thought about it and decided to expand the scope of her exploration. She packed all the fresh wild fruits into a shoulder bag made from her coat, and then walked upstream along the stream.
It seemed that at the same time she was about to start exploring, a light pink butterfly appeared beside her.
After walking along the stream for several hundred meters, Zhuang Mian finally found the stunningly beautiful butterfly. The butterfly was like a guide. After noticing that Zhuang Mian was observing it, it began to fly in another direction.
"Isn't that a dense forest over there?"
Driven by curiosity, Zhuang Mian followed along to find out what was going on. After passing through the dense forest and climbing over a small hill, Zhuang Mian saw reclaimed and cultivated fields on the other side of the mountain.
There are other people here! I am not the only human being in this world!
For the first time, Zhuang Mian felt the security of being in the presence of others like her. This was a feeling she had never experienced before while living in the crowded City of Hope.
In the next half day, Zhuang Mian completely realized the saying "a horse will die if it runs to the mountain". She walked for a whole day before entering the village on the horizon. It was already dusk and there was almost no sign of human activity outside the house.
Zhuang Mian knocked on several doors before he was able to stay in the village for one night.
The villagers did not seem to be that hostile towards this strangely dressed stranger. Although their accents were a bit strange, they were still able to communicate with Zhuang Mian almost without any obstacles.
However, no villagers here seemed to be able to see the existence of the little butterfly, and that strange creature always surrounded Zhuang Mian like a projection of something.
After living here for a few days, Zhuang Mian heard a lot of news -
It seemed as if I had come to another world. There was neither the City of Hope nor the meteorites falling from the sky, nor the strange beasts that almost drove humans to extinction. This was just the border of a small country called "Huai'an".
Zhuang Mian thought about it for a long time and finally decided to settle down here first. After all, there were so many things that attracted her here.
Farming is a job passed down from generation to generation for the people in this small village, but for Zhuang Mian it is a kind of labor he has never seen since he was born.
It was already the end of summer. If Zhuang Mian chose to cultivate the land at this time, then as a penniless outsider, he would most likely starve to death in the winter.
After fully understanding the current situation, Zhuang Mian decided to become a "tenant farmer" and use the help he provided to each household in the village during this period as a reward, in exchange for food from these villagers to survive the coming winter.
As for a place to live, Zhuang Mian was lucky enough to knock on the door of an old widow on the day he arrived. The old woman's children seemed to have passed away for many years, so the two sides helped each other and the days passed quickly.
Autumn came quickly. Seeing the crops in the fields gradually mature and swell, Zhuang Mian, who had always eaten a comprehensive nutrition bar as his main meal, actually felt a sense of joy of harvest slowly lingering in his heart.
One cool morning, Zhuang Mian was still dozing on the bamboo bed in the old widow's house, when he suddenly heard the sharp and abrupt sounds of gongs and drums in the village.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Zhuang Mian jumped up from the bed, only to see that the old woman who was originally sitting at the door enjoying the cool breeze had now bounced up like a spring. She seemed to have encountered great fear, and her hands and feet were shaking constantly.
Zhuang Mian hurried forward to support the other person, but he only heard a repeated murmur:
"The white soldiers are coming! The white soldiers are coming..."
Zhuang Mian, who was totally unable to understand what the other party was afraid of, settled the old woman down and walked out of the yard. However, he found that many people in the village behaved in the same way as the old woman after hearing the sound of gongs and drums.
"What's going on?"
Zhuang Mian hurried back to the yard, only to see the old woman had already torn off a piece of cloth and started folding up the things she had accumulated throughout her life.
There was also a newer piece of cloth on the bamboo bed, which was obviously prepared for Zhuang Mian.
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