"Top, stay close, don't wander off, it's dangerous here."
Worried about potential dangers nearby, I called out to Top, who was running ahead to scout the way. When Top heard me call, it turned around to check my location and waited for me to arrive.
In the morning, we had just walked a short distance along a mountain path when a thick fog rolled in ahead of us. The fog was so dense that we couldn't see anything in the forest.
"Coo...coo coo coo..."
At that moment, several unidentified night birds began to coo intermittently in the foggy forest. Their calls sounded like background music in a horror movie, and were rather eerie.
Seeing this, I couldn't help but frown. The thick fog ahead was clearly a dangerous area, and once I entered it, I wouldn't be able to immediately assess the potential threats within.
Taking a detour would be even more inadvisable. I'm not familiar with the terrain here, and taking a detour would not only waste a lot of time, but I would also have a high chance of getting lost and not being able to find my way back.
There's no other way now; barging in recklessly is definitely not an option.
My several brushes with death have taught me a lesson; I dare not joke with my own life. A few large, ferocious beasts lurking in this thick fog would be enough to keep me alive for several lifetimes.
I sighed, put down my load, and sat on a nearby rock to wait.
In a little while, the sun will come out, and the fog in the mountains will naturally dissipate on its own. However, it's hard to say when the fog will dissipate; it depends on the terrain.
Generally, sunny locations receive more sunlight. The fog usually dissipates on its own within about half an hour after sunrise.
If you encounter a Yinshan area, it's hard to say; the fog in the mountains may not thin out until half a day has passed.
But I have no choice now; I can't change anything except sit and wait.
But just when I thought the sun would come out soon, the weather changed suddenly, and it started to rain heavily.
I inwardly groaned; this was really troublesome. After the rain, the fog in the mountains didn't dissipate much; instead, the roads became even more slippery and difficult to walk on, and there was a risk of slipping and falling.
Fortunately, I had wrapped my jerky in leather beforehand to make it waterproof, otherwise it might have expanded several times its original size before I even got home.
My mood is as torrential as this rain. I took out a hide from a sand beast, spread it out, and Top and I took shelter under it to avoid the rain.
The rain in the rainforest isn't like the rain back home, which comes and goes quickly. This downpour lasted for two hours straight, without stopping for a moment.
The water from countless heavy rains flowed over the surface of the soil in the mountains, carrying away some of the soil and making the water flowing down the mountain yellow with a muddy smell.
I could even hear the roaring sound of rushing water coming from the foot of the mountain not far away. I imagine that the stream must have transformed into a surging dragon, crashing and raging below.
Flash floods are also a major problem. This is a tropical rainforest, so the rainfall is naturally much greater than in other places, and flash floods are a common natural disaster.
I've thought about dealing with the threats from various deadly animals, but I really don't know what to do about natural factors like flash floods.
Even if I could build a boat, I wouldn't dare to go rafting in unfamiliar waters.
Because you never know whether the terrain ahead will be mudflats or cliffs, only those "experts" who stage photos on TV to attract attention would dare to sail in such fast-flowing waters.
After arriving in this rainforest, I found myself sighing more often.
Thinking back, my old home was much more comfortable than this place. Even during the rainy season, I only had to get through that month or so, and the rest of the year was quite comfortable.
However, the desire to go home kept me going until I got here; thinking too much was pointless. As long as I kept going, maybe I could discover the secrets of this land and find my way out.
I discovered that this land seems to be larger than I imagined. I originally viewed the entire landscape from a high mountain east of the lake in my hometown.
At that time, all we could see was floating clouds beyond the land. Now, Top and I have walked for a long time, and it still seems like we have no end in sight.
Now I can't help but wonder if my previous judgment was wrong, or if some special reason about my field of vision caused what I saw to be something other than the real scene.
Perhaps hidden beneath those vast white clouds is a large, interconnected land, but some optical reasons prevent me from seeing it.
If that's the case, then this is a continuous continent, which explains the migratory birds that migrate south.
Thinking of this, a stronger sense of hope rekindled within me.
As long as I'm on the mainland, I'll keep going. If one year isn't enough, then ten years. One day I'll encounter human civilization again and return to my rightful place.
My idea came true not long after. I did encounter something resembling human civilization, but it wasn't what I wanted; in fact, it was a terrifying nightmare for me.
So much so that I had to rack my brains to destroy this thing that seemed to be civilized, but that's another story. Right now, I still have to think about how to deal with the current situation.
After another half hour of rain, it finally stopped. And then, for the first time ever, the sun peeked out after the rain.
The sunlight cast its rays, creating a huge rainbow bridge across the misty mountains, which looked absolutely beautiful.
Everything seemed to have returned to a peaceful life, except for the rumbling sound of the torrents at the foot of the mountain, the mountains had returned to tranquility once again.
After the sun came out for a while, the fog in the mountains thinned out considerably. Some birds began to chirp and fly through the woods in search of food, and some small animals also came out of their burrows to experience the rain-soaked forest.
I found a small, cute animal on some trees that looks a lot like a squirrel, with a big tail.
Unlike squirrels, they have three bright colors on their bodies: red, yellow, and white, which have a metallic sheen. These colors are somewhat similar to those of a golden pheasant.
On their bushy tails is a huge diamond-shaped white ring, which looks like a giant white eye from a distance.
We still have to keep going. As for how to deal with that stream, we'll consider that once we get there.
The mountain path became very slippery after the rain, and since I was carrying a load on my shoulders, I had to be even more careful.
Top was still walking a little ahead of me, keeping a distance of about five meters. Its senses were more sensitive than mine, and Top took on the task of scouting the way all along.
Just as we rounded a bend in a ravine, Top suddenly let out a warning scream.
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