Hearing his words, Jiang Xi gave him a disapproving look: "This forest is so big, you can go wherever you want."
"If you follow us, who knows what tricks you're hiding?"
The man said, "I'm injured like this, I can't survive in this forest. Why don't you do me a favor and go all the way?"
Jiang Xi was so angry she laughed: "See, this is what a scoundrel is like." After saying that, she turned and left.
Yan Zheng gave the man a deep look, said nothing, and simply took a few steps closer to Jiang Xi.
Three people, two leading the way and one following behind with a backpack slung over his shoulder, walked around the sinkhole from dawn to dusk.
As evening fell and the sun set, Yan Zheng temporarily set up camp in a cave near the upper reaches of a mountain stream.
This is a platform on a rocky outcrop. Yan Zheng has carefully inspected it and found no traces of wild animals in the surrounding area. In addition, the terrain is high and the view is more open.
The cave was small, only two or three square meters, and it was difficult for two people to even stretch their legs while sleeping, but it was the best temporary shelter they had found along the way.
The three wounded men walked for a while, some limping and others injured. In the afternoon, they passed a small marshland with flocks of wild ducks around it, and Jiang Xi and Yan Zheng collected quite a few wild duck eggs.
The third person wasn't idle either; he did everything they did.
When Yan Zheng started a fire at the cave entrance, the man put the eggs he had collected together with theirs. Jiang Xi saw this but didn't say anything. She cooked them together with the rice, and after they were cooked, she divided the sweet potatoes and duck eggs among the three of them.
Jiang Xi wanted to say: See? This person is actually quite easy to talk to. As long as you behave honestly, I won't bully you.
After a meal, with their stomachs full and satisfied, their brains were prone to oxygen deprivation. Under the warm firelight, Jiang Xi and Yan Zheng were talking about the brown bear when she suddenly felt her energy drain away and exhaustion set in. Yan Zheng reached out and pulled her into his arms, letting her lean against him to rest. Seeing how sleepy she was, he gently stroked her hair and said, "Go to sleep."
Another person sat under a tree opposite the campfire, part of his body hidden in the shadows. In the dim light, he looked honest.
A short while later, Jiang Xi fell asleep, and the sound of even breathing could be heard beside her.
The man took a small box out of his black military bag, and Yan Zheng immediately became wary. The man took out a vial of syringe from the box, drew half a vial, gritted his teeth, and injected himself in the back of the shoulder.
Then he closed the box and tossed it to Yan Zheng, saying, "Anti-inflammatory medicine."
Yan Zheng didn't reach for it, only glanced at him, and the man still looked indifferent: "I can't beat you, it's not worth making trouble for myself."
Yan Zheng still didn't move, and asked him, "Are you just planning to keep following us like this?"
Yan Zheng glanced at the face in front of him that was exactly the same as his own. Fate is truly strange, as if there are invisible threads pulling two people who should not have crossed paths.
The man retorted, "Do I have any other choice? Isn't this what you wanted?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the sleeping Jiang Xi and said to Yan Zheng, "By the way, I'll tell you something else. Time in this world is different from yours. Here, the global cold wave happened five years ago, and less than three-thousandths of humanity survived."
"You should know what this means: not only can we not go back to our original world, but we also won't be able to wait for rescue here."
"I don't know the latitude and longitude of this place, but the cold wave has lasted for five years and this place has not been developed by humans. It is most likely an abandoned land."
Yan Zheng hesitated for a moment, then pushed the box back: "Keep it away, we'll use it when necessary."
His voice was somewhat hoarse.
The man paused for a few seconds, then put the items into his backpack.
Then Yan Zheng spoke up again: "You'll sleep in a tree tonight, that shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?"
Yan Zheng recalled his movements and realized that he must have practiced deliberately. In addition to the basics of fencing, he also had some internal martial arts skills. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was as light as a swallow.
As if to confirm his guess, the man took out a rope from his backpack. In the firelight, Yan Zheng saw the grappling hook on the knot, also known as a climbing hook, which outdoor enthusiasts usually use for rock climbing and retrieving objects from a distance.
The man looked up and found a spot on the tree. With a strong throw, the grappling hook with the rope flew out of his hand. He found a foothold on the tree, and then, holding the rope, he did a somersault and climbed up the tree.
There was no sound, and not much movement; only a few leaves drifted down, and even the canopy of the tall tree didn't tremble.
Yan Zheng felt a chill run down his spine. With that kind of skill, he could probably leap back and forth between trees while carrying someone on his back without any problem. No wonder he didn't think of trees when Jiang Xi was kidnapped. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have imagined that such a movement technique still existed.
That night, Yan Zheng and Jiang Xi slept in a cave. It was called sleeping, but the cave wasn't wide enough, so Yan Zheng could only lean against it. Jiang Xi curled up her legs slightly, rested her head on his stomach, and covered herself with her down jacket. The two of them made do like that for the night.
**
As the sun rose, the rosy glow slowly spread across the mountains and forests. Jiang Xi, wrapped in her down jacket, sneezed several times. The air in the forest was damp, and the temperature was low at night, so she caught a chill.
So, in the morning, Yan Zheng specially searched for a kind of herb in the forest, which was somewhat similar to Isatis root. He had also met it in the Miao village before. He also found a bunch of wild scallions and brewed a strong pot of it for Jiang Xi to drink.
Once she had sweated and regained her strength, she continued on her way.
It wasn't that they didn't care about her, but in the deep mountains and dense forests, besides the trees and flowers, wild beasts were a real threat. If they couldn't return to the cave every day, the danger at night would increase.
Moreover, the temperature is indeed low at night, and if this continues, the cold will only get worse, and even he may not be able to endure it.
We kept our heads down and kept walking until noon when we finally emerged from the heart of the dense forest. The vegetation became less dense, and the path became much easier to walk on.
Jiang Xi could no longer feel her legs. Cold sweat poured from her bones, and her back ached terribly. She forced herself to stay strong and not give up.
During this time, Yan Zheng offered to carry her on his back, but she refused. If she had to rely on others for even this short distance, how could she shamelessly claim to survive here?
At noon, Yan Zheng settled Jiang Xi by a spring, told her to wait a while, and when he came back, he had a gray rabbit in his hand.
Jiang Xi sat by the fire and said remorsefully, "The injury on your arm can withstand a few more times of your abuse."
Yan Zheng stirred the rabbit soup in the pot, and with his other hand touched her forehead, saying, "It doesn't hurt anymore. It's cool now, so it'll heal faster."
As soon as he finished speaking, the man returned from the woods, carrying a bundle of things wrapped in banana leaves, and went straight to the spring.
打开是一包野果子，有几个野橘子，还有一种青色的瓜，长得有碗口那么大，他把瓜洗了，用手劈开，剜出里面黄澄澄的瓜籽，又用叶子垫着放到了姜曦跟前。
“生病了就要多吃维生素。”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com