Xu Yuehua guessed, "Since we've come here, it must be because of some opportunity. We might even need this opportunity to get back. Be careful then, we absolutely have to find out what this opportunity is."
“Alright!” Yan Qing replied firmly.
After finishing eating all the wild animals, Wang Mang stretched and let out a loud burp.
Xu Yuehuai smiled and said, "It's not easy to feed you properly. You wiped out this huge beast. You're really amazing!"
Wang Mang chuckled sheepishly, "Hahaha, it's been so long since I've eaten this much. Where shall we go next?"
Xu Yuehuai stood up, looked at the hazy mountains in the distance, and had already made up her mind.
"Let's go back to where we camped last night and see if we can find anything useful to set up a new tent. After all, everything here is unknown to us, so safety comes first."
The three of them couldn't wait to set off for the camp. Along the way, they carefully observed their surroundings, afraid of missing any clues.
Xu Yuehuai would stop every now and then, use a branch to part the grass, and carefully examine the traces on the ground, hoping to find signs of human activity.
“Look, there are footprints here.” Yan Qing pointed to a series of shallow footprints on the ground, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes.
“But it looks more like a wild animal,” Xu Yuehuai squatted down, carefully compared them, and shook his head helplessly.
Returning to the campsite from the previous night, they found that a large area had been ravaged by the night winds and wild animals.
Xu Yuehuai sighed and said to the two of them, "We need to build a sturdier tent; we can't sleep outdoors tonight."
So the three of them divided the work: Xu Yuehuai was responsible for finding suitable tree branches as a frame, Yan Qing was responsible for collecting weeds and leaves as stuffing, and Wang Mang used his brute force to fix everything firmly in place.
After some effort, a new tent was erected on the leeward slope. Although simple, it was enough to keep out the cold night wind.
As the sun set, the three sat around the campfire, enveloped in silence.
Xu Yuehuai broke the silence: "We need to find the others, at least to find out if Li Lei and the others have also come here."
Yan Qing frowned in thought: "But how do we find it? This place is so big, and we have no sense of direction."
Wang Mang suddenly interjected, "Why don't we make some marks or leave a signal so that if they see it, they'll know where we are?"
Xu Yuehuai's eyes lit up: "Great idea! We can leave some conspicuous markers along the way, such as arranging branches into specific patterns, or lighting smoke signals."
As night fell, the three took turns resting and keeping watch.
Xu Yuehuai lay in bed, tossing and turning, her mind replaying the events of the past few days.
She realized that this unexpected adventure might be an integral part of their lives, and that it would profoundly affect their future, regardless of the outcome.
The next morning, as dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight seemed like nature's gentlest brushstrokes, dappling the tents of Xu Yuehuai and the others.
The three of them gradually regained consciousness, and their gazes were all drawn to that ray of light, as if they were all searching for clues to escape this endless cycle.
"Another day, the same forest, the same silence," Xu Yuehuai sighed softly.
She stood up, dusted off her robes, and gestured for everyone to prepare to depart.
Wang Mang and Yan Qing quickly packed their belongings and followed Xu Yuehuai into the dense forest, which was both familiar and unfamiliar.
“Today, we need to change our strategy,” Xu Yuehuai thought as she walked. “If we continue to search blindly like this, we’ll probably only be wasting our time.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Mang asked unwillingly, "So we're not going to look anymore? We can't just stay here forever, can we?"
Yan Qing cast an inquiring glance, clearly full of anticipation for Xu Yuehuai's plan: "Your Highness, what brilliant plan do you have?"
Xu Yuehuai stopped and looked into the distance, a resolute glint in her eyes: "Instead of taking the initiative, let's turn the tables and light a fire deep in the woods. We can use the firelight to attract those hiding in the shadows."
The three reached a consensus and quickly got to work. They found a relatively open space and began collecting firewood.
Xu Yuehuai personally arranged the bonfire to ensure it would attract attention without immediately spiraling out of control.
Wang Mang, on the other hand, seemed somewhat impatient, constantly fanning the fire haphazardly with a branch in his hand, trying to speed up the flames.
"Wang Mang, be careful, don't get yourself into trouble," Xu Yuehua warned. But before she could finish speaking, a sudden gust of strong wind, combined with Wang Mang's carelessness, caused the fire to spiral out of control, and the raging flames quickly engulfed the surrounding trees.
"Whoosh—!"
"This...this fire, could it be the answer we've been searching for?" Xu Yuehuai stared at the raging inferno before her, her face pale and her voice trembling.
Yan Qing was also stunned, muttering to himself, "I never imagined that the source of all this would be ourselves."
Wang Mang was filled with remorse, kneeling on the ground and covering his face with his hands: "I, I didn't mean to! I just wanted to hurry... I didn't expect it to cause such a big fire!"
"It's too late to say all this now. Get out of here quickly; saving your life is the most important thing!"
Xu Yuehuai made a quick decision, pulled Yan Qing up, and the three of them ran with all their might in a direction away from the fire.
Behind them, wildfire devoured everything like a ferocious beast, turning the place where they had just stood into ashes.
After an unknown amount of time, when the three finally stopped and looked back, they saw only scorched earth and billowing black smoke, a stark contrast to the lush greenery they had seen before.
Xu Yuehuai felt a mix of emotions and deeply reflected on her actions.
"This cycle of cause and effect is truly ironic. We wanted to find a way out, but we inadvertently became the instigators of this disaster." She murmured to herself, her gaze deep, as if she could see through the sea of fire to a more distant future.
Just then, dark clouds suddenly filled the sky, thunder roared, and then large raindrops poured down, miraculously extinguishing the raging fire. In the rain, the three looked at each other in silence, their hearts filled with complex emotions.
"The rain has stopped, the fire is out, but our predicament doesn't seem to have changed." Yan Qing broke the silence, his tone tinged with helplessness.
Xu Yuehuai took a deep breath, her gaze hardening once more: "At least, we've proven the answers we sought. This fire, this rain, are nature's response to us. Since such a commotion has been made, yet no one has shown up, it means there are indeed only the three of us here. But that doesn't mean we have no hope."
She looked up into the distance, her eyes gleaming with unwavering determination: "We must continue our search, for both the truth and the way home. Remember, as long as we have a breath left, there is hope!"
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