Chapter 58
"Shushu, do you feel that the ice isn't as hard as before?" After paddling the sled for a while, Wang Jie felt his arms were a little sore, so he got off and dragged along by the handle at the front of the sled, while Tong Shu continued to sit on it and help him.
The sharp ski poles easily pierced the ice. Tong Shu nodded, "It's definitely different from before. The sleds aren't as smooth as the wooden boats we used to be." With that, Tong Shu took a thermometer out of her bag and placed it beside her, watching the mercury drop rapidly before finally settling at minus thirty degrees Celsius.
"The temperature is starting to rise too." Tong Shu frowned. They were wearing special thermal clothing and were not so sensitive to changes in the outside temperature. "Brother Jie, come up quickly. If the ice below melts, we might fall in."
Wang Jie was also startled when he saw this, and quickly returned to the sled.
"We still need to build a small wooden boat. The sled doesn't provide buoyancy, and it always feels a bit unsafe," Wang Jie said with a sigh.
"Once we leave Z City, we'll drive. My dad said the RV has a buoyancy device." Tong Shu said as she struggled to adjust the direction of the sled. The plants growing from under the ice were growing too fast. Right now, the bare ice surface was covered with branches of varying thicknesses, and the broken ice blocks piled up, making the road ahead increasingly difficult.
"Hand me the shovel, I'll shovel the ice from the front, you paddle forward," Tong Shu said to Wang Jie.
“I think we should stick to the mountain path. At least we’re walking on solid dirt. This ice is both difficult and dangerous,” Wang Jie suggested, handing over a shovel.
Taking the mountain path meant that the journey, which would normally take three days, would take five days or even longer. However, given the current situation, the mountain path was indeed a better option. After a moment's thought, Tong Shu agreed, and the two changed direction and headed towards the foot of the mountain.
"This...this is..." After rushing for a while, Wang Jie finally arrived at the foot of the mountain before sunset. He looked up at the towering trees in front of him and was dumbfounded. He could not believe that this was once a small hill less than 400 meters high.
Tong Shu had a premonition, but she was still shocked by the situation. This small mountain, which locals often hiked on, was now completely like a primeval forest. The afterglow of the setting sun could not penetrate the dense canopy of trees, and looking into it, the deepest part was pitch black.
Tong Shu and Wang Jie both swallowed hard.
"...Can we go back in?" Wang Jie stammered.
"...Let's go, we're already here," Tong Shu replied, forcing a smile.
They put away their sleds, each carrying a bag, and cautiously ventured into the forest. Although the temperature had risen somewhat, it was still below minus thirty degrees Celsius. There was no need to worry about wild animals suddenly appearing, but the instinctive fear of the dark made them even more careful.
Fortunately, there were still fallen road signs on the mountain path. Even though they had been overturned by giant trees, they still provided Tong Shu and his companion with a direction to move forward. The two put on bright headlamps and followed the signs, groping their way forward.
"Shushu...did you hear anything?" As they walked, Wang Jie leaned closer and asked nervously.
"What's that sound?" Tong Shu gave him a strange look.
"Hey, turn around, turn around!" Wang Jie's eyes were stung by the light from the headlamp, and he couldn't open them for a moment.
With this interruption, Wang Jie lost all interest in what was happening around him and focused solely on walking forward.
The two of them walked for another two hours, finally reaching a flat area. It used to be a fairly large viewing platform, from which you could see a small bay looking down the mountain. Perhaps because the ground had been paved with cement, the vegetation here wasn't as lush as they had seen along the way. The two decided to pitch their tents here for the night.
A copper pot was set up, and Wang Jie picked up a lot of dry branches from the side. There was nothing else on the mountain now, but branches were the most plentiful.
The firewood was lit, and the warm yellow flames shone on their faces, bringing a sense of hidden security. Tong Shu waited for the water in the pot to boil, then put in two packets of instant noodles and cracked in two eggs, which served as their dinner.
"I really can't eat well when I'm out with you," Wang Jie complained, staring at the bubbling pot.
Tong Shu rolled her eyes at him and threw the chopsticks at him: "Then do it yourself!"
Wang Jie chuckled and brought out a bowl: "Just kidding."
"It's good enough to have a hot meal, why are you complaining?" Tong Shu waited for him to finish serving, then hugged the pot and slurped down her noodles.
Although there are unlikely to be wild animals in the mountains, there might be humans wandering around like them. Tong Shu is much more cautious now, and she would never do something like ordering takeout on a small island and eating it herself.
After finishing their meal, Tong Shu instructed Wang Jie to dig a hole and bury the eggshells and trash. The two then took out their tent to rest.
"Why don't we go back to the island to rest? This forest feels weird and eerie, it's not very safe," Wang Jie suggested while he was busy.
“No way,” Tong Shu refused. “I can sense what’s going on on the island from the outside, but once I’m on the island, I know nothing about the outside world. What if there’s someone next to me when I come out tomorrow? All our efforts will be wasted.”
"...In this deep mountain forest, who would come here?" Wang Jie muttered, and obediently went to set up his tent.
“Otherwise, you can go back to the island, and my dad can come out with me tomorrow morning,” Tong Shu said.
"No, how could I leave you out alone?" Although Wang Jie wasn't very brave, as the eldest of the three younger generation and the only boy, he knew from a young age that he had to protect his two younger sisters. He already felt extremely guilty when Qin Xiaoxiao got into an accident while under his care, and he couldn't possibly let Tong Shu have any more accidents now.
Tong Shu didn't say anything more, but simply pitched her tent a little closer to Wang Jie's.
The two dug a deep pit, threw in a lot of dry branches, and let the fire burn. With the bright firelight, the two went into their respective tents to rest.
In the dead of night, the firelight dimmed, and the two, exhausted from a long day, were fast asleep. In the darkness, a faint rustling sound gradually grew louder, and a slender shadow crept into the inky night, slowly approaching the tent.
"...Ugh, what's up..." Half-asleep, Wang Jie felt a tickle in his nose. He turned over and clicked his tongue impatiently. "I'm exhausted, let me get some sleep..."
Wang Jie thought Tong Shu was deliberately staying up to tease him, and he was extremely annoyed. Even after he said that, something still kept trying to get into his nostrils.
"...So annoying! Stop messing with me, Miss!" Wang Jie closed his eyes and reached out to grab it, but the grab startled him so much that he broke out in a cold sweat. The texture in his hand wasn't the human skin he had imagined, but a dry, rough, hard shell, like vines and withered branches.
Wang Jie was jolted awake. He couldn't find a headlamp for a moment, and the pain in his nostrils became more and more intense. He gritted his teeth and pulled hard on the dry branch. The intense pain shot straight to his head, accompanied by a strong tingling sensation. A stream of liquid gushed out of his nasal cavity. Wang Jie knew without a doubt that it was his nosebleed.
"Shushu! Shushu! Are you alright? Something's happened! Wake up!" Wang Jie covered his nose with one hand and frantically searched for the headlamp he had placed beside him with the other.
At this moment, Tong Shu couldn't make a sound. Her mouth was stuffed with a vine as thick as a child's wrist. She gritted her teeth with all her might to prevent the vine from going any further down her throat, and her hands clung tightly to the vine as she struggled against it.
Wang Jie didn't hear Tong Shu's response for a long time, and his mind was in turmoil. After finally putting on his headlamp, he could see what had entered his tent. He saw vines, each about three fingers thick, piercing through the tent and now waving their branches arrogantly, their tips even stained with blood.
Wang Jie pulled open the tent and scrambled out. The vines seemed to be sentient; seeing him about to run, they immediately twisted and followed him out.
"Shushu!" Hearing the commotion coming from Tong Shu's tent, Wang Jie rushed forward and unzipped the tent. Tong Shu was almost suffocating. Through her teary eyes, she saw Wang Jie come in and felt a sense of relief, as if she had finally been saved. She quickly freed one hand to make a pressing gesture.
Wang Jie suddenly remembered the bottle of pesticide Tong Shu had given him. He quickly took the pesticide out of his bag and sprayed it vigorously at the base of the vine.
Fortunately, Tong Shu's guess was correct. Even though the vine had become aware and could attack people, it was still no match for pesticides. It seemed to feel intense pain and suddenly retracted all its branches. Tong Shu's mouth was finally clean. She breathed a sigh of relief, turned over, took out another bottle of pesticide from her bag, and sprayed it retaliatoryly at the disgusting vine.
"I...go..." Tong Shu's voice was hoarse. The pesticide was so strong that the vines withered before they could all be removed from the tent. One large vine was coiled inside the tent like a snake, making people feel nauseous.
"What happened to your nose?" Tong Shu asked, noticing the blood in Wang Jie's mouth.
"And you're telling me? This thing crawled in while I was sleeping and went into my nostrils. Luckily, I wasn't sleeping too soundly, or my brain would have been sucked dry by now," Wang Jie said with lingering fear. He had just sprayed the vine that attacked him with pesticide.
"I was hoping that this time it would only be giant trees, but I didn't expect that this kind of monster that can attack people would appear." Tong Shu kicked a withered vine, his brows furrowed.
On the other side, Wen Shaocheng's special forces team and the supply ship from the north of the city led a group of people to rest on the ship.
The patrolling soldiers, flashlights in hand, trudged across the slightly muddy ice, making a "crunching" sound.
From the shadows, a vine quietly emerged from the bottom of the boat, its sharp head swaying from side to side, aiming at the patrolling soldier's ankle before suddenly striking.
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