The world is vast.
Without the aid of transportation, the area a person can travel within seven days is very small.
Xia Chuhe rubbed his face, his voice weary: "Brother Yan, what's in those places we can't reach in the dungeon?"
Wang Yan scratched his head: "How would I know?"
Du Zhen, who had already been alerted when Xia Chuhe explored the cellar, couldn't help but speak up: "Most dungeons are very small; what we see is the whole world. Those stable large dungeons are all registered by the authorities. This ice and snow world is just a small world; other places have collapsed."
Upon hearing this, Xia Chuhe hesitated for a few seconds before telling Du Zhen his speculation that humans had once lived in the instance.
Du Zhen was not surprised by this: "Our goal in entering the instance is very clear: to collect resources. We don't consider anything else."
Xia Chuhe nodded obediently and said no more.
Her life path and Du Zhen's path were different, so there's no need to elaborate.
Du Zhen's goal was to live, and to live well.
Xia Chuhe's goal is...
Her life lacked long-term goals and meaning.
It was there when my parents were alive, but now... it's gone.
We live simply because we cannot die.
In that case, let's make life more interesting. For example, explore dungeons.
Just when Du Zhen thought Xia Chuhe wouldn't dwell on it any longer, Xia Chuhe said, "I might not be able to travel with you tomorrow. I haven't been to the east side of the dungeon yet, and I'd like to go take a look. Could you please look after Lu Dangui? If nothing happens to me, I'll come here tonight to meet up with you."
Du Zhen was speechless for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
As Lu Dangui slept, her eyelashes trembled slightly.
Xia Chuhe kept the spoils of her fishing, taking only the dried meat and leaving the rest to Du Zhen and the others as protection money she was paying for Lu Danggui.
Before dawn, Xia Chuhe stepped onto Wang Yan's shoulders and left the cellar.
Centered on the initial snow house, the only area unexplored is to the east. Xia Chuhe wrapped his fur tightly around himself and headed east. After a few steps, he heard the crunching sound of footsteps on the snow behind him.
Looking back, Lu Dangui was carrying a bloody beaver leg and a lot of fish, following behind her without saying a word.
Xia Chuhe asked helplessly, "What are you doing following me?"
Lu Dangui: "I want to eat... cake."
Xia Chuhe: ...I shouldn't have told you how delicious the cake was, I really owe you one.
Xia Chuhe resignedly put away the food in Lu Dangui's hands, and the two of them went to the east of the world together.
Having spent the previous few days sleeping during the day and being out at night, Xia Chuhe had forgotten about snow blindness. These past two days, her eyes have been hurting from the glare during the day, and she walks forward with her eyes half-closed.
Lu Danggui reminded her, "You're veering off course."
Xia Chuhe was bewildered. Everything around her was white, and she felt that it was already quite remarkable that she could distinguish east from west and north from south.
But remembering that Lu Dangui had led her to a safe house in the sandstorm, Xia Chuhe didn't struggle, and Lu Dangui became the one who led the way.
The two walked for a short while before they saw the woods that Du Zhen had mentioned.
The grove wasn't large, smaller than Xia Chuhe's farm. There were animal footprints around the grove, the tracks of which were thicker than the tree trunks.
Xia Chuhe couldn't stand it after only a few seconds: "So flashy."
Lu Dangui said slowly, "It's not snow."
Hearing her say that, Xia Chuhe suppressed her discomfort and tried hard to discern the positive aspects.
It's definitely not snow that's sparkling.
The shimmer of snow is soft and even, without appearing as individual specks.
The flashes of light in the woods were more like...reflectors.
Standing up there, you can even notice that all the rearview mirrors are concentrated in the same area.
Xia Chuhe walked along the cliff towards the reflective area, and before he even reached it, he noticed that the woods had changed.
Elsewhere, the forests are dense, piled up together without any gaps.
There are gaps between the trees in the reflective area, and when these gaps are connected, they form the letters SOS.
There's definitely someone here.
But... how do we get down?
Xia Chuhe used a small iron stick from Lu Danggui to cut two pieces of clothing and covered her face. She then picked out four of the thinnest and widest pieces of wood from the farm and tied the planks to her feet with loose willow branches. She first tried it on flat ground; it was slippery, so there wasn't much of a problem.
Xia Chuhe distributed the equipment to Lu Dangui and had Lu Dangui learn her movements.
Lu Danggui learned very quickly; he grasped the concepts immediately.
Xia Chuhe praised her: "Have you ever skied before? You look very skilled."
Lu Dangui shook his head blankly: "I don't remember. I only remember you giving me something, and then you left. I went to the base, worked for others, and later joined the reserve army, running dungeons every day. And then... I met you again."
Xia Chuhe remained silent, forcing a smile: "It's okay, I don't remember the past either."
At that moment, she felt that she and Lu Dangui were like two perfectly matched teeth on the wheel of fate, and the wheel of fate began to turn the instant they touched each other.
Xia Chuhe and Lu Danggui tested the homemade skis again and again, but Xia Chuhe was still not satisfied.
"I'll go by myself. You wait for me on the cliff. We'll spend the night in the cave, okay?" Xia Chuhe made clear arrangements for Lu Danggui.
Lu Dangui refused: "I'll go with you."
Lu Dangui took off his skis: "I can give up everything, I'll follow you."
Xia Chuhe sighed, not to save two pieces of wood.
She compromised: "Put on your mask, strap on your skis, and let's go. Keep your balance and don't fall."
The two braved the wind and snow, rushing down the slope.
There were no obstacles on the hillside, and the slope was not steep. Xia Chuhe went down the slope with ease, and a sense of exhilaration, as if he owned the world, welled up in his heart.
They glided smoothly to the edge of the woods, where Xia Chuhe packed up their gear.
She didn't dare to venture into the forest rashly, but instead chose the path opened by SOS and followed the letters into the woods.
The bare branches stretched towards the sky, and Xia Chuhe felt increasingly strange as he walked.
She stopped, noticing something strange—it was too quiet. Apart from her and Lu Dangui's footsteps, the woods were utterly silent; not a single bird chirped.
Xia Chuhe reached out and broke off the branch closest to her. The branch broke easily, and there wasn't a trace of green in the bark.
This is a dead branch.
Xia Chuhe used a small iron rod to cut open the tree bark. The bark, covered in snow, was moist, but the inside was dry.
This is a dead tree.
Xia Chuhe inspected several trees, and the result was the same for all of them.
This is a dead forest.
Xia Chuhe let out a breath: "Let's go."
She began to feel fortunate that Lu Danggui was still there.
Otherwise, she would really wonder if she was the only living being in the world.
When you reach the second S, the surroundings are no longer just trees, but also animal carcasses.
A huge corpse.
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