Mushroom Forest, this is Lan's clan.
"When I saw the storm, it reminded me of it."
Upon hearing Feng Hong's words, Jiang Yunlan froze, her eyes widening slightly.
You are very much like this flower.
She felt she heard what Feng Hong hadn't said aloud. She let out a soft breath, a smile playing on her lips, a strange sense of happiness washing over her.
Before she could say anything, she heard Mo Rong say, "It looks a lot like a snowflake. Lan will like it, so I gave it to Lan and wanted to see her smile."
There's no particular reason for sending flowers; the only reason is that I want Lan to be happy.
“I like it very much.” Jiang Yunlan said, picking up a maple-leaf clematis that had fallen beside her, raising a bright smile, her eyes crinkling.
"Let's have dinner first before packing," she said, standing up and walking to the food storage area to select her dinner. "We'll set off from the cave tomorrow."
The clan's only remaining food consisted of a small amount of smoked furball meat, along with some dried fruit and spring fruit, which could be eaten without cooking. The few foods that required fire were the newly laid eggs of the large bird.
Food, weapons, fleece blankets, pottery, seeds, fresh water, domesticated animals… Jiang Yunlan checked each item to be loaded onto the cart, not forgetting to tell Feng Hong and the others to first spread hay on the wooden cart. The three old orcs were in poor health, and some hay on the cart would make them feel less uncomfortable.
As the morning light grew brighter, the beastmen, following Lan's instructions, loaded the items they had packed the day before, basket by basket, onto the wooden cart.
"Maple syrup, and these three jars of seeds, protect them well." Jiang Yunlan placed the three wooden bowls containing the seeds onto the wooden cart and secured them to the inside of the cart's side panel with vines.
The seeds in the bowl sprouted and grew tenderly white in the soil.
Ginger, wild peas, and chives. These were the three plants Jiang Yunlan had placed in the bowl. Of these, ginger and wild peas were the ones she wanted Maple Sugar and the others to cultivate. The extra chive seeds were simply to help Maple Sugar understand the importance of planting, which she had planted now.
Chives have a short growth cycle, and a batch will be ready before the beastmen find a new habitat. By then, Maple Syrup will understand why she wanted her to grow plants.
Maple Syrup looked at the three wooden bowls Lan had placed in the car and nodded seriously. She understood; the soil needed to be watered when it was dry.
"And this too, do you still remember how to make this?" Jiang Yunlan took out a rough and simple sanitary napkin made of vines, hay, and fluff, and looked at Maple Syrup with concern.
Maple Syrup and the others don't menstruate in the fall and winter, and it's very likely they'll only menstruate in the spring, like some animals on Earth. This worries her, fearing they might not know how to use sanitary napkins, even though she's taught them several times.
Looking at what Lan was holding, Maple Syrup nodded confidently. Lan had taught her this for a long time during the snow season, so even though she had learned how to do it herself.
Sanitary napkins must be clean and changed frequently. If the fluff used to line the vines and hay runs out, replace it with soft leaves. She remembered everything Lan said.
Jiang Yunlan was relieved and smiled with relief. She had already explained the other matters to Maple Syrup during the snow season.
It doesn't matter if the wooden cart is gone, it doesn't matter if the animals are missing, it doesn't matter if everything is abandoned. As long as they can survive when danger strikes.
She believed that the beastmen would surely find a new habitat safely.
"Does Lan really have to come later?" Maple Sugar asked, puzzled.
Lan had other matters to attend to in the cave, and they could wait until she finished before leaving the forest. The beastmen didn't understand why Lan insisted they leave early, but Lan had already said so…
Jiang Yunlan sighed helplessly and said with a smile, "I'll come find you soon. Yan Lin is here too. He's a fast runner."
Hearing this, Ah Bai couldn't help but glance at Yan Lin. He was the orc who had been carrying Lan while running, and he could run just as fast as Yan Lin. He only regretted that he was a rabbit orc and his combat strength was not as strong as Yan Lin's, so he couldn't stay with Lan.
For the first time, Ah Bai, who was always timid and had a low self-esteem, had a strong desire to become stronger. If he were as strong as Yan Lin, he could tell Lan that he also wanted to stay.
Rock subconsciously touched his shoulder. He couldn't run fast anymore, and staying behind would slow down Rock Forest. He should do as Rock Forest said and leave with Maple Sugar and the others first.
"Lan should come find us soon, we'll leave lots and lots of waypoints! We'll make sure Lan doesn't get lost." Feng Hong looked at the little squirrel-beastman cub and smiled cheerfully.
Although Lan was only accompanied by Yanlin, an orc, which did make her a little worried, she trusted Lan.
Lan said she would come to find them soon.
Jiang Yunlan listened without responding, but simply smiled and offered a maple-leaf clematis, saying, "It's getting late, let's go."
Feng Hong happily accepted the pure white flowers, placed them in Qiu Guo's arms as she sat in the cart, and pulled the wooden cart: "Let's go!"
Cotton, now in beast form, sat in front of another wooden cart, looking back at Lan. He slowly rose and pulled the cart down the gentle slope. Having survived another snow season, he was now an adult beastman, capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility Lan had entrusted to him—pulling the cart.
Maple Syrup, leaning on her cane, walked alongside Rock, Ah Bai, Mo Rong, and the half-grown Black Soil, gradually turning into small black dots.
The beastmen, who don't understand the language of flowers, wouldn't comprehend the apology Lan hadn't uttered.
The meaning of the Maple Clematis flower is: Forgive me.
She said: Please forgive me for deceiving you. I will not be coming to you anytime soon.
022 watched as the nascent civilization it had originally intended to observe, a still-weak mixed-race clan, left the foot of the mountain and calmly floated beside the squirrel-orc cub. Long before it guessed Lan's intentions, it had decided to stay by Lan's side.
The recorder can freely change the civilizations it observes. It has decided that while Lan is still alive, it will only observe civilizations where Lan exists.
Jiang Yunlan was the first to avert her gaze from watching the beastmen depart. She took out her prepared baggage, walked to the wooden shelf, picked up the ice crystal, and placed it in the pocket of her coat. Her fur coat originally had no pockets, but when she told the elf she was leaving the cave, the elf conveyed excitement.
It wanted to go outside with her to see the world.
So Jiang Yunlan added a pocket to her fleece jacket. She had originally intended for the elf to go with Maple Syrup and the others, but the elf didn't want to. Therefore, she didn't refuse it again.
Elves dislike orcs. Even now, besides Jiang Yunlan, only Feng Hong, who consistently clears snow from its air conditioner during the snow season and isn't afraid of being chilled by its cold air, can barely get close to it.
Jiang Yunlan gently patted the ice crystal stone, which was stuffed into her pocket and could only be seen peeking out slightly, then slung her vine backpack over her shoulder and looked at the golden leopard beside her, saying, "Yanlin, let's set off too."
The rock-like creature, now in its beast form, crouched down, waiting for the tiny cub to climb onto its back before standing up. It lowered its head, biting its vine bundle, then looked ahead, gathering its strength to charge down the gentle slope.
Destination: Mushroom Forest.
The whistling wind blew past her ears, and Jiang Yunlan almost buried herself in the golden fluff of the rock forest. She gripped the rock forest's fur tightly with one hand and protected the ice crystal stone with the other, her eyes fixed on the passing scenery without blinking.
Fortunately, although Yanlin ran very fast, he ran very steadily, and the little cub was never left behind.
There were so many trees in the forest that Yanlin had to stop every time he ran for a while so that Lan could leave written and stone trail markers so that he wouldn't get lost.
Jiang Yunlan didn't quite remember how many days it took to reach the Mushroom Forest. All she could recall was the increasingly lush greenery and a touch of gold.
After a snowy season, the number of animals in the forest gradually increased. Just as the beastmen could sense the danger posed by the giant beasts, the animals could too.
Some of the more perceptive animals had long since fled the forest, but others remained oblivious to the presence of the giant beast and continued to live contentedly in the forest.
"Gah—"
Jiang Yunlan heard birds chirping and looked up. A black bird was flying overhead, heading in some direction.
She remembered Yan Lin saying that he saw a black bird in the Mushroom Forest, yelling at the dead squirrel beastman.
Have we arrived at Mushroom Forest yet?
We've arrived at the Mushroom Forest.
Yanlin rushed forward and burst into the dreamlike forest.
The gentle sunlight illuminated the small mushroom grove. There were no animal calls; everything was exceptionally quiet and peaceful, allowing visitors to unconsciously relax their tense nerves.
A forest of short, strange mushrooms. Jiang Yunlan had expected a forest described in this way to be terrifying, but the reality was quite the opposite.
She was stunned by the beautiful mushroom forest and thought she had accidentally stumbled into the dwelling of elves.
This mushroom grove isn't scary at all. The mushrooms are many times larger than normal mushrooms, but they look rather small compared to the surrounding trees.
A pink, umbrella-shaped mushroom was hit by a stone. The seemingly soft mushroom cap was dented slightly by the impact, but it quickly bounced back, causing the stone to fall to the ground.
Jiang Yunlan tested the stones, and then tried them with twigs and fragrant food.
The soft mushrooms didn't react; not a single spore fell. She even began to suspect that they weren't mushrooms at all, but rather magical mushroom-shaped creatures with jellyfish-like bodies. Otherwise, she really couldn't understand why they were translucent and so dreamlike in their beauty.
"Yanlin, let's go." She said to Yanlin beneath her, searching for the squirrel beastman's corpse in her field of vision.
Several seasons have passed, and she doesn't know how the body has become. She's a little scared. This will be the first time she's faced a decomposing corpse.
One, originally a living orc.
Jiang Yunlan didn't show her emotions, but secretly gritted her teeth. She was used to bearing everything on her own.
All her fear and dread were useless; she couldn't show it.
Yanlin found the familiar stone marker, stopped, and bent down to let the cub on his back down. He completely ignored the flower-covered corpse beside him. It was just the corpse of a squirrel-beastman, not one of his own kind.
The moment Jiang Yunlan noticed the corpse, her first reaction was to look away. But quickly, she forced herself to look directly at his face.
These are the original owner's people. She shouldn't fear him, but rather remember him.
Jiang Yunlan covered her mouth and nose with one hand and squatted down in front of the squirrel-like beastman, looking at him. He looked very much like the original owner of this body; no wonder they were beastmen from the same clan.
Unfortunately, the original owner's memories did not surface.
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