Once all the wild animals had returned to the forest, the three of us finally breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the beach, breathing heavily.
"Brother Sihai, I think we should go back and check first. But none of us know what the situation is at the camp. Why don't I go back and check it myself? Anyway, I have a gun with me, so it shouldn't be a problem."
After Chen Jian finished speaking, he turned to look at me, seemingly waiting for my approval.
Upon hearing Chen Jian's words, Liu Jiaojiao immediately stood up excitedly. Perhaps because it was too cold last night, coupled with their fear and anxiety, the women's physical condition was not very good. Liu Jiaojiao swayed and almost fell, but Wang Xiaoxiao quickly got up and supported her.
"Brother Jian, the situation over there is unclear. I'm worried about you going back alone... How about I..."
Before Liu Jiaojiao could finish speaking, I immediately interrupted her.
"Don't worry, how could we let Chen Jian go back alone and risk his life at this time? Chen Jian and I will go back. Wang Ping's leg is not good, and I'm afraid he can't handle such a long journey. I'll leave you one more gun. You wait here. If Chen Jian and I find that the situation over there is okay, then fire a shot into the air. Don't come over after firing one shot. We will fire two shots in quick succession, with an interval of about 60 seconds. If I fire two shots within 60 seconds, then you come over, which means the situation over there is safe. Do you understand?"
Wang Xiaoxiao shook her head immediately after hearing what I said, and Xiao Qiang, who was standing next to her, directly voiced his opposition.
“I think we should continue to hide here for now. Bai Wei and his group haven’t gone back yet. If something else happens over there, what problems can the two of you solve even if you go back? I think it’s better for us not to separate at this time.”
Of course I know all the women are worried about our safety, but in this situation, we must ensure we have food and light a campfire as soon as possible, otherwise, continuing to hide here wet is definitely not going to work.
"I've made up my mind. Don't worry, Chen Jian and I can handle it. You just need to stay here and protect yourselves. That's the biggest support you can give us, understand?"
Liu Jiaojiao and the others sighed when they saw that they couldn't persuade us.
Wang Ping then looked at Chen Jianyi and me and said seriously, "This gun is enough for me. We have enough bullets, and my aim has been pretty good lately, so you don't need to worry. There might be many wild animals waiting for you in the woods when you go there, so you should keep this gun. We'll stay here, and I will make sure everyone is safe. Trust me!"
No matter how much Chen Jian and I pleaded to leave the gun in my hand, the group of them refused. In the end, I had no choice but to tell them to find a good hiding place and that no matter what danger they encountered, they should not try to fight it head-on. They should hide if they could, and that keeping their lives safe was the most important thing.
Wang Ping nodded repeatedly, assuring me that he would protect everyone. Only then did Chen Jian and I cautiously return to the woods.
Because there were still so many wild animals in the woods that had just run in, we were extra vigilant the whole way, and our minds were constantly on edge.
After walking for about half an hour, we finally arrived at the campsite where we had been before.
Chen Jian looked at me and whispered, "Why don't I go up first and you stay down to provide support? If anything happens up there, I can let you know. Otherwise, if we both get into danger, wouldn't we just be running away?"
I knew Chen Jian wanted to give me a chance to escape.
But in the current situation, how could I possibly let him take the risk alone?
Besides, Chen Jian's physical condition wasn't much better than mine. After all, I came from a military background and had many years of training experience, so I shook my head at Chen Jian.
"You hide behind the tree first, I'll go check it out, and if there's no danger up there, I'll call you."
Chen Jian wanted to say something, but I ignored him, grabbed him and pulled him under the tree roots, and then quickly went up the mountain.
After arriving at the mountain, I couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed because the warehouse where we had stored firewood had collapsed, and the rice seedlings were all leaning to one side or the other. I didn't know if there was any chance of saving them.
The houses belonging to Bai Wei and his group have also collapsed by half, but the houses we built before are still in good condition.
Only the fence of Wang Ping's small courtyard collapsed, because the fence of his courtyard was built by us before, and it was probably not secured properly.
However, this is not a troublesome matter at all; it can be easily resolved by rebuilding it.
I quickly went back into the house and looked it over carefully. Only some bottles and jars that we had placed there earlier had fallen to the ground. Apart from that, the house was still very sturdy.
My heart ached, but thankfully we managed to save our camp this time.
I immediately fired a shot into the air, then silently counted to 60 before firing another shot. Chen Jian, who was under the tree, quickly ran up, looked around, and couldn't help but smile.
"Oh, we're so glad we built this house last time, because it collapsed once. So we were extra careful this time. Luckily, it didn't collapse, which saved us a lot of trouble!"
I nodded and couldn't help but sigh, "Yes! Fortunately, these short-legged birds were kept in cages before, so they weren't lost. Go and kill one of the short-legged birds. I'll go and bring in some firewood to see if we can still start a campfire. When Wang Ping and the others come back, they can have some hot soup."
Chen Jian nodded, his face beaming with a smile, and his whole demeanor seemed to have improved.
We immediately divided the work and got busy. By the time we put our soup in the pot, Wang Ping and the others finally came running up, panting.
When they saw that all our belongings were intact, all the women's eyes welled up with tears, and Xu Wei sobbed and cried incessantly.
Wang Xiaoxiao looked at Xu Wei, her face showing a mixture of excitement and relief, but she still tried to comfort Xu Wei.
"Alright, alright, it's not a big deal, is it? Stop crying. Let's go inside. The campfire should be lit by now. Let's change out of these wet clothes. DouDing and DouDing's mother are soaked too. We need to deal with these wet clothes and eat something first, otherwise they might get sick if they stay wet like this."
Xiao Qiang nodded in agreement: "Yes, I'll go in and get some more herbs that can cure the illness. Let's drink some hot tea. We've finally survived this disaster. No matter what, as long as the house is still there, there's still hope."
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