Chapter 75 075 Lost Myself Again
Qin Xiaoxiao immediately lost all her bravado and sat back down on her little stool, looking dejected.
Having finished most of the work in the morning, Qin Xiaoxiao didn't plan to do any more.
Firstly, she couldn't let her persona crumble; she was a delicate, sickly beauty, and it was quite impressive that she could do so much. Secondly, her previous life was too exhausting. Although she only lived for a year in the apocalypse, that year was more tiring than living for twenty years. Therefore, she didn't intend to do anything earth-shattering in this world; her goal was to simply languish and survive until old age.
Bored, Qin Xiaoxiao started thinking more and more. She suddenly remembered the young woman she had met that morning and wondered if she had found her stepson.
Qin Ye didn't go to work that morning because his father had stuffed him into the search team for Qin Gouzi. Su Lu, who had been forcibly added by Su Zhiyuan, was also with them.
At this moment, Su Lu was yawning with his eyes half-closed, looking like he hadn't woken up yet. Anyone who saw him would want to give him a whack.
Qin Ye sighed helplessly, "You've been yawning all morning and you're still not awake? It's almost noon, isn't it?"
Su Lu yawned again and shook his head, saying, "I can't, I really can't, I want to sleep."
After saying that, he didn't care where he was or how dirty the ground was. He plopped down on the ground, leaned against the tree, and closed his eyes.
Qin Ye was furious.
I should have known better than to ask. Now look what happened, she actually fell asleep.
If it were his own younger brother, he would have beaten him to a pulp.
Qin Ye clenched his fingers, but ultimately didn't go through with it.
After all, the two families have a good relationship, and the elders get along like brothers. In particular, Su Lu is the darling of the Su family elders. If you really hit him, his father can beat him into the same "Su Lu" as him.
"Alright, rest here for a while and don't wander off. We'll go up the mountain to take a look. If we can't find it, we'll head a little further up to Cat Ear Mountain. If we still can't find it, we can come back and pick you up."
Su Lu nodded indifferently, found a comfortable position, and continued to sleep.
Qin Ye sighed inwardly and led a dozen or so young people from the village uphill.
As soon as Qin Ye and the others left, Su Lu opened his eyes, frowned slightly, and looked into the depths of the mountains with a hesitant expression.
Should we continue following that place...?
This is a bit tricky!
Was what he saw a few days ago really not a hallucination?
...
Su Lu hadn't made up his mind yet, but Qin Xiaoxiao, who had finished work at noon, had already arranged with Old Mrs. Qin to go up the mountain to take a look.
She wasn't looking for anyone; she just wanted to pick some more mushrooms at the foot of the mountain so she could make some mushroom sauce and bring it to Qin Wei another day.
Qin Wei has been away from home for work for some time now. He calculated that he will have a few more days off. When he goes back, he can bring some mushroom sauce back with him, which will be a good addition to his meal.
Qin Xiaoxiao didn't dare tell Grandma Qin that she was going up the mountain. She only said that she would go back to the educated youth settlement for lunch and then wanted to sleep a little longer. So she took the sweet potatoes that Grandma Qin had prepared for her before leaving.
With food in hand, Qin Xiaoxiao decided not to return to the educated youth settlement. She took out a basket from her spatial storage, carried it on her back, and slowly made her way up the mountain.
Qin Xiaoxiao quickly found a patch of mushrooms and excitedly squatted down to start digging.
While digging, my old habit kicked in again; I got so focused on picking mushrooms that I forgot to remember the route.
When she looked up again, she had no idea where she was.
Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, Qin Xiaoxiao felt like crying.
She was so frustrated with herself. She had promised to play it safe, but how did she end up in such a dangerous situation?
After all, it's a mountain. Although there's not much danger in the front of Cat's Ear Mountain, that's only relatively speaking. Who knows if wild boars or wolves might run down from Cat's Ear Mountain?
What if she encounters a poisonous snake? Even if she screams for help, no one will listen.
Qin Xiaoxiao didn't dare to move. She stood there for a long time and decided that she couldn't just sit and wait to die. She had to save herself.
After carefully recalling the places she had passed and the obvious landmarks, and then examining the small pits dug around her, Qin Xiaoxiao followed these pits back.
At first, Qin Xiaoxiao was on the right track, but as she walked, she went astray. Because there were too many and too scattered pits, she thought she was on the right track, but in reality, she turned in a different direction and walked towards the other side of the mountain.
Almost no one walks around here. The villagers take the well-trodden paths that they use year after year to go up the mountain. Even if they go into the woods, the locals can tell which way to go and they will never get lost.
Qin Xiaoxiao's mistake was that she didn't stay in the village for long and wasn't familiar with the surroundings, so she got lost again.
As she walked, Qin Xiaoxiao realized something was wrong, because she couldn't see any more of the little pits she had dug. So Qin Xiaoxiao stopped again and stood still, afraid to move.
Qin Xiaoxiao sighed, thought for a moment, and decided to turn back.
Fearing she would get lost again next time, Qin Xiaoxiao made a point of memorizing the route this time, but unfortunately, she still got it wrong.
"It'll eventually get out of there. At worst, my family will find out and I'll get a beating from Grandma. But it won't hurt. If I just act cute, I can get away with less. It's no big deal."
As Qin Xiaoxiao walked, she tried to cheer herself up, thinking about how to escape a beating from her grandmother. However, due to a momentary distraction, she took the wrong turn and it was too late by the time she realized it.
Qin Xiaoxiao seriously doubted whether she was being too carefree. Although there were no zombies or anything, this deep mountain forest was still very dangerous!
Qin Xiaoxiao suddenly sensed a crisis.
This won't do. In just one month, she's lost all the alertness she'd developed in the apocalypse. If a few more years pass and someone harbors ill intentions towards her and tries to kill her, wouldn't she be at their mercy?
Qin Xiaoxiao closed her eyes and made a silent resolution that from now on, no matter where she was, she would always be vigilant. One or two such incidents would be enough, but there must never be a third time, otherwise she would have wasted a year in the apocalypse.
Letting out a long breath, Qin Xiaoxiao carefully examined the terrain again, meticulously searching for the traces she had left behind. At this moment, she deeply regretted not learning how to track people during the apocalypse; otherwise, she wouldn't be in such a passive position today.
Qin Xiaoxiao searched for a long time but couldn't find the road. Instead, she found a thicket of thorns.
She had never been to this thorny thicket before, and even if Qin Xiaoxiao was naive, she knew she was going in the wrong direction.
Qin Xiaoxiao was at a loss and decided to rest for a while before trying to figure out how to get out.
Sitting on the ground facing the thorny thicket, Qin Xiaoxiao, chin in hand, began to ponder how to get out.
While thinking, Qin Xiaoxiao idly threw pebbles into the thorny thicket. After throwing two pebbles, Qin Xiaoxiao suddenly realized something was wrong.
This thicket of thorns was very dense and must have covered a large area. At least from the outside, you couldn't see the other end of the thicket. The reason Qin Xiaoxiao felt something was wrong was that few people would go into such a thicket of thorns because it would easily damage their clothes. In those days, it was not easy for people in the countryside to make new clothes. Who would go here to collect firewood? Most people would cut firewood from the edge inwards.
However, Qin Xiaoxiao found several broken thorn bushes at the edge of the thorn forest. Moreover, these thorn bushes were all deliberately erected and placed on top of another thorn bush for concealment, which meant that someone had entered the thorn forest.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
