Chapter 125 Chapter 125 Lost in the Mountains
He Junxia was still thinking about this until she went to bed.
But even if they didn't catch any prey, they could still hold out for another day with the supplies they had.
He Junxia closed her eyes and relaxed her body to enter a light sleep state. She looked like she was asleep, but in fact she would wake up at the slightest disturbance.
Matteo, who was in charge of guarding the first half of the night, trembled, hugged his arms and looked around vigilantly.
The mountain forest at night and the vibrant green river during the day are two completely different worlds. The night wind blowing from the mountains brings with it the distant howling of wolves, one after another, extremely eerie.
The dense treetops overhead formed an impenetrable net, and the winding and rugged marks on the bark looked more like human faces screaming in pain.
The trees deep in the forest stretched out their branches in the cold moonlight, their twisted and evil branches looking as if they were claws of terrifying ghosts that wanted to take people's lives.
The night wind rustled the shadows of the trees, a sound like laughter or whispers. The rustling accompanied the nightly cuckoo's call. The frightened boy huddled close to his companion, trying to absorb their warmth.
Matthew swallowed nervously, lowering his eyes to avoid observing anything further. His right hand tightly grasped a burning branch, ready to throw it without hesitation if the imagined killer or terrifying animal appeared.
Fortunately, it is Christmas Eve.
He Junxia opened her eyes in the second half of the night and took over from Matteo.
Perhaps it was because of the fear in the first half of the night that caused his mind to be highly concentrated. Suddenly, the burden on his shoulders was lifted and the boy quickly fell into a deep sleep, snoring loudly.
He Junxia smiled lightly.
With nothing else to do, he reached out and began massaging his leg muscles. After a day of walking, a lot of lactic acid had accumulated in his muscles. Massaging them now would help alleviate the soreness tomorrow.
…
Sunrise in the East
The gentle morning sun dispelled the remaining chill of the night, and the mountains and forests turned back into the vibrant green mountains.
The sixty minutes before and after sunrise is the peak period of bird singing. Several different sounds can be heard from the big tree that He Junxia is leaning against.
Some are crisp and sweet, some are charming and graceful, and some are hoarse and low. The birds' calls rise and fall one after another, playing a spring rhapsody with different highs and lows.
"Theo, wake up."
He Junxia woke up Matthew who was sleeping soundly.
The young man opened his eyes dazedly, and was suddenly frightened by the huge figure that came into his sight. He fell back suddenly, and his head hit the tree trunk behind him.
"Ouch, hiss, it hurts."
The boy's facial features wrinkled up, and he grimaced in pain when he reached out to touch the back of his head.
He Junxia burst out laughing.
Matthew glared at him unhappily: "David, you're still laughing. You almost scared me to death."
He Junxia raised his hands in surrender: "Do you want to come with me to see if there is anything we can find in the trap?"
Matthew's eyes lit up, and he immediately ignored the pain at the back of his head and became alert: "Go, we must go."
It was his first time making a trap in the wild.
What?
I didn't set the trap. No, no, no, you are totally wrong. The trap was the joint work of David and I. I contributed a lot to it!
He Junxia and Matteo first checked several simple traps on land. One of the traps had been triggered, and there were signs of a struggle around it, but unfortunately, the prey had escaped in the end.
Matthew was dejected.
They didn't have much food with them, only a bottle of Coke and a 320g can of luncheon meat. If they didn't have any more food, they might starve to death in this mountain.
He Junxia lowered his head to observe the traces near the trap: "Look, there are footprints here. The traces are very obvious. It should be a rat."
Matteo: ...
Matthew, who initially thought it was a hare, breathed a sigh of relief and was no longer as depressed as before.
Just run away, but I still find it hard to accept eating rats.
After checking all the land traps, they still found nothing. He Junxia patted the boy on the shoulder and went to the place where they had placed the rattan basket in the stream yesterday evening.
"Fish, there are fish!"
As soon as he got close, Matteo shouted excitedly and rushed into the water impatiently to hold up the wicker basket filled with many small fish.
He Junxia was infected by the excited and cheering boy and couldn't help but smile happily. However, compared with the small fish that had already fallen into the wicker basket and could not escape, his attention was more focused on the pool in front of the stone wall.
He Junxia had dug a small, deep pit in front of the stone wall, the water in the pit reaching about his knees. Because the stone wall blocked the stream, fish swimming upstream couldn't pass through the cracks in the stone wall like the stream, so they had to stay in the pit.
He Junxia casually counted and found four or five small fish several inches long in the pit. They would be good dry food to take with them on the road after fishing them out and drying them over a fire.
He Junxia tried to reach out and grab it, but of course she failed. Although the small fish lived in the mountains and had never seen humans, there were still many predators in nature.
He Junxia waved to Matthew.
"Throw the fish in the wicker basket onto the shore and knock them unconscious. The two of us will also block the river ahead and drain the water from the pit."
Matteo picked up a stone and knocked out the lively little fish in the wicker basket, then picked up a big stone and placed it at the location designated by He Junxia.
The stream here is quite narrow and was soon blocked by rocks, so only a small amount of water could flow in.
He Junxia came to the original stone wall and removed a few stones that did not affect the structure to release the water. The stream flowed out more than it came in, and before long, several nimble little fish were trapped in the small puddle and unable to save themselves.
He Junxia easily pulled the fish ashore.
These fish should be river perch, with spiny dorsal fins and black stripes on the sides. He had eaten them during his second internship and they tasted pretty good.
He Junxia asked Matteo to destroy the stone walls on both sides, took out the knife he carried with him, gutted the fish he had caught on the spot, and used the stream to wash away the blood and internal organs.
He took out a tin can from Matthew's backpack and scooped out a large can of river water. He smiled at the boy who was diligently moving stones on the other side and said, "Let's have fish soup this morning."
They caught nine perch, four of which were small and put into jars for soup, and the remaining five were dried and used as food.
To be honest, the wild fish soup without any seasoning to remove the fishy smell is not tasty. The soup has an aroma that is not suitable for human smell and taste, but He Junxia and Matteo still drank up all the soup.
Now is not the time to be picky.
…
After breakfast, we continued on our journey.
I walked for nearly ten hours yesterday, and my leg muscles were sore, especially in my calves and mid-thighs. It hurt with every step I took.
Even if He Junxia had massaged vigorously for dozens of minutes last night, this situation could not be avoided, not to mention Matthew who was lazy and just wanted to sleep.
Even with He Junxia's warning, he just pressed it casually. She had never expected that disobeying her brother would lead to her suffering. The pain from the lactic acid accumulation made her breathe in and out continuously.
If I go up and down, climb a slope, or jump into a pit, it will be even more troublesome and the pain will come in waves.
He Junxia had planned to stop after half an hour to find a place for Matteo to rest. His mission was to get his good friend from Jiangxi Yuanzhe home alive, so naturally, his health was his top priority.
But Matteo firmly rejected his proposal.
The sooner he reached the cabin, the sooner he might be rescued. He couldn't delay his good friend just because of the pain in his leg.
Seeing that he was very determined, He Junxia stopped trying to persuade him. It was a good thing that they could get to the cabin earlier.
The two walked for nearly five hours, and the sunlight from the red sun overhead gradually became scorching hot. He Junxia and Matteo were both sweating profusely.
"Take a break and avoid the sun. It's the hottest time of the day now. If you rush, you'll get a heat stroke."
This time Matteo did not refuse.
He was really tired, and the water they had boiled and put into plastic bottles last night had already been finished.
The two of them found a shady place to sit down and rest. Matteo opened his mouth and breathed deeply, and after a few minutes he felt dry mouth and tongue.
Fortunately, they were walking along the river, not far from the water source. He Junxia asked Matteo to sit down and rest, while she took the tin can and empty water bottle to the river to fetch water.
He used a branch to explore the path to push aside the dense grass and trees, and a conspicuous white color came into view. It was a group of female wild goats drinking water, and there were also a few cute goat kids.
He Junxia swallowed.
Although the little goat's fluffy white wool looked like clouds in the sky and its coquettish cries to its mother were very cute, he wanted to eat mutton more than admiring the cute little goat.
If they could hunt a kid, he and Matteo wouldn't have to worry about food for a while.
He Junxia immediately locked onto a lively baby goat. The little goat was very curious and started jumping around after drinking a few sips of water.
He hid in the grass and approached cautiously, but the alert mother goat seemed to smell a strange scent in the air, stopped drinking water and looked around.
He Junxia accidentally made eye contact with an adult goat and thought to himself, "Oh no!" He immediately rushed out and tried to catch the nearest goat, but the goats reacted faster than him.
In the blink of an eye, the white flock of sheep ran towards the jungle on the other side of the river and disappeared.
He Junxia: ...
Forget it, I was just trying it out. It’s normal if I can’t catch it.
The wisher's body had walked for more than ten hours, hadn't rested well at night, and was hungry, thirsty, and tired. In this situation, it was lucky to be able to catch it.
He Junxia filled the tin can and plastic bottle with water. He did not tell Matteo about his encounter with the goats. It would be pointless to tell him and it would only add to his regret.
He placed the tin box filled with water on the fire and turned to Matthew and said, "Stretch out your legs. I'll give you a massage. It should relieve the pain."
Matteo stretched out his legs hastily.
They are good brothers, so there's nothing wrong with pressing his legs. He doesn't feel embarrassed at all about taking advantage of him.
"ah---!"
The boy screamed in pain in his droopy voice, and Matteo's tears came to his eyes.
He looked at He Junxia with tears in his eyes: "You are murdering me."
He Junxia pressed his right fist against the corner of Shang Pian's mouth and laughed sullenly, "It's not like you haven't seen the school football team get massages to relax after training. They screamed much more miserably than you did."
"I haven't even tried hard yet, and you can't do it anymore?"
“I can do it!”
Matthew gritted his teeth.
Men can't say no; this is an instinct etched in their genes, and even people from another world are no exception.
He Junxia saw that his eyes and cheeks were red, not just from crying but also from anger, so she stopped teasing him.
It's strange.
He wasn't the type to joke with strangers he had just met, but he couldn't help but behave with Matteo the way the wisher remembered.
He Junxia asked the system in his heart. He felt that he was seriously affected by the wisher. Similar situations had not occurred in previous missions.
Although the wisher's memory will make him feel closer to the people he cares about, it will not affect his language behavior.
[I know, that's because the Space-Time Administration will protect the consciousness and emotions of interns to prevent them from losing themselves.]
He Junxia understood it immediately.
So far, he has only completed five disaster missions, three of which were internship missions, protected by consciousness and emotions.
Of the two remaining wishers with official tasks, one is an orphan with almost no friends, and the other is a dog, so even if he is affected, it would be difficult for him to notice.
I think that in my previous life, I voluntarily stayed with my child, which also had a certain impact on my memory.
He Junxia rubbed his sunburned head and stopped thinking about it.
System 444 seemed to have misunderstood his actions, thinking that he was worried about this matter, and tried to comfort him.
[Xiao Xia, don't be afraid. I'm here to keep you from getting lost in the mission world.]
[As you complete more tasks, the influence of the wisher will gradually decrease, and then you won't have to be afraid anymore.]
He Junxia pursed her lips and smiled.
[Thank you, Xiao Si]
[Hey, hey, you’re welcome. We’re the main rulers.]
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