Chapter 102
Once you exit the south gate, the road gradually narrows.
Starting from the South Gate, it takes another half an hour to walk to the foot of Yangkui Mountain.
The dirt road beneath our feet was frozen solid, making no soft sound when we stepped on it; it felt more like stepping on an iron plate.
The surrounding mutated branches were twisted and tangled together, with unmelted snow clinging to them. Judging from the color of the bark, they were clearly damaged by frost. A few shriveled wild fruits, frozen black, were also stuck on the branches.
Jiang Shu impulsively picked a few for testing.
"Drip—Highly toxic, not for consumption."
"Drip—Highly toxic, not for consumption."
Ginger Tree: ...
This is an inauspicious start.
Han Lei laughed and said, "Big Tree, if the wild fruits here were edible, they would have been picked long ago."
So there's no need to try it; you definitely can't eat it.
Jiang Shu threw away the fruit, "I wonder what the situation is like up in the Qiling Mountains. It would be best if we could get more wild vegetables or something."
Their family doesn't seem to be lacking in meat these days.
But we're short of vegetables!
Not eating leafy greens can easily lead to constipation!
Mutants are no exception!
Jiang Zhi glanced at him and said, "Why don't you just take a look for yourself?"
Jiang Shu wanted to see, but the miasma in the mountains was very strange, and even with his supernatural abilities, he couldn't see much.
As they spoke, the six of them quickly arrived at the foot of Yangkui Mountain.
As soon as you step inside, a chilling aura hits you.
Thick white fog billowed up from the depths of the mountain foot, so thick it was almost dripping water, as if trying to engulf everything around it in chaos.
The path beneath our feet was hidden in the fog; all we could see were the pebbles a few steps ahead and a few withered saplings.
Further in, everything was shrouded in fog. You couldn't see what the mountains looked like, or even the shadows of distant trees. It was not much different from a horror movie set in the past.
Upon seeing this scene, Ah Song and the others slowed their pace, their initial ambitions greatly diminished.
"Ah Kuan, was the Qiling Mountain Range always this gloomy?"
Ah Kuan swallowed hard. "There used to be fog too, but it was much better than now..."
Upon hearing this, Ah Song subconsciously looked at Jiang Zhi and Jiang Shu.
Han Lei: "A-Zhi, shall we go in now?"
Jiang Zhi shook her head, "Let's wait a little longer."
When they set off, Jiangzhi tried to contact Qiuqiu in the Spirit Pool.
Inside the base, they could only sense the enemy's location intermittently.
The changes in this connection were very subtle; along the way, the connection grew stronger as they approached the Qiling Mountains.
It felt like some kind of signal was amplified in a specific environment.
This time, Jiangzhi sensed again, just like a radio finally tuned to the right channel, and the location of the chirping chirp became clearer and clearer.
Even the location of the mountain and the corner where it will land is beginning to take shape.
The ginger tree knew that the ginger branches were responding to the chirping.
He didn't say anything.
I've missed Ershun terribly these past few days.
I wonder how the silly golden retriever and the eagle sister are doing. I hope they don't get bullied by some powerful mutated creatures when they go into the mountains.
Looking at the endless, smog-shrouded mountains, Jiang Shu was worried. "Which mountain are Qiuqiu and Ershun on? There are so many mountains, how are we going to find them?"
Mentioning Er Shun and Qiu Qiu, Asong and the others' eyes lit up, their voices filled with excitement: "They're in the mountains!?"
Jiang Shu: "There's definitely one, but with so many mountains, it might not be easy to find."
Jiang Zhi ignored the others and instead lowered her eyes to stare at the ground as if she were concentrating on something.
After a moment, she finally looked up.
There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice: "Chirp chirp... I feel like I can't move right now."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shu's heart leaped into his throat, and he hurriedly asked, "What happened? Where's Ershun? How is Ershun?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a few clear "chirps" suddenly entered Jiang Zhi's mind, carrying a joyful spirit, like the joy of someone who has eaten and drunk their fill.
"It should be fine," Jiang Zhi said, somewhat amused. "It's probably because he ate something delicious and is too full to move."
As she spoke, she looked up at the distant, rolling mountains and said, "Let's go, let's go around to the next mountain. I can feel that Qiuqiu and Ershun are over there!"
The bird and dog were located on another mountain, Min'an Mountain, which is farther from the base.
Han Lei and the other two had no objections; having a clear direction was better than stumbling around in the fog.
"Okay, let's go around it."
The six of them walked along the continuous mountain range, surrounded by withered branches and fallen leaves. The only sound was the "crunching" of their feet; it was eerily quiet.
The branches of the bare trees were intertwined, coiled overhead like old tree roots, and the wind whistled through the gaps in the branches, stinging one's face.
Before long, the group arrived at the foot of Min'an Mountain.
Looking up from below, this mountain is steeper than Yangkui Mountain, which is closer to the base, and you can see mist swirling in the valley, making the air feel colder than elsewhere.
The six exchanged glances, all seeing caution in each other's eyes. Jiang Zhi took the lead and started walking into the mountains, with the others following closely behind.
They walked very quietly, afraid of disturbing anything.
Occasionally, the crisp sound of a dry branch breaking underfoot echoed through the silent mountains, only to be quickly swallowed up by the thick fog.
In the summer, Jiang Zhi thought the Qiling Mountains were cool, but she didn't expect that after the temperature dropped, it would be a bit hotter than it actually was.
Jiang Zhi looked at the testing instrument.
It's 2 degrees Celsius, which is indeed a few degrees warmer than outside.
The further in you go, the heavier the smog becomes and the lower the visibility becomes. The shrubs that were originally frozen to death around you sprouted shiny new leaves, with smog droplets condensing on the leaves.
Ah Song was so happy that he squatted down to take a look, and it really was a newly grown tender leaf, only the size of a palm, but it was surprisingly tender in this temperature.
"Sister Zhi, these are holly leaves! There are still quite a few around here!"
As soon as Ah Song finished speaking, the others looked around and saw that the trees next to them, which were frozen like charcoal, had indeed sprouted new leaves.
The others were relieved to see that there were indeed still mutated plants on the mountain that hadn't completely frozen to death.
—There really is a way to survive in the mountains!
Ah Kuan couldn't resist picking up a few tender leaves to test them.
"Drip - Moderate toxicity, consumption in moderation is recommended."
Upon hearing this sound, Ah Kuan's face lit up with ecstatic joy. "Boss! We can eat it!"
As he spoke, he couldn't wait to pick the leaf.
Then he asked Jiang Zhi, "Sister Zhi, should we stop here for a bit?"
Ah Kuan's condition ultimately stemmed from the fact that his family had no food reserves.
If he saw anything edible, he would want to uproot it and stuff it all into his basket.
Before Jiang Zhi could answer, Han Lei laughed and said, "No rush. If new leaves can sprout even when it's frozen like that, the situation in the mountains shouldn't be too bad."
Jiang Zhi agreed: "Our main purpose today is to explore. If we find something good, we can stop and collect it slowly."
Let's go.
Upon hearing this, Ah-Kuan couldn't help but glance back at the sparse tender leaves around him, smacked his lips reluctantly, and finally clenched the leaf in his hand before quickly catching up with the group.
The six people continued up the mountain. The mountain path was not steep, but the ground was wet and slippery, and it was easy to slip if you didn't step firmly.
Jiang Shu walked at the front, gripping a bone stick in his hand and probing the muddy ground with each step.
The bone stick made a soft "plop" sound as it was inserted into the mud, and he used the leverage to move upwards step by step.
Jiangzhi gripped the tree branch and began to push it into the soil, using the force to climb upwards.
The stick was poked into the wet mud, and when I stepped on it, I sank into a shallow pit. Before long, the sole of my shoe was covered with a thick layer of mud, and even the fur next to it became dirty.
It's incredibly heavy to lift my foot.
Even the ginger twigs and ginger trees were struggling, let alone Han Lei and the others behind them.
The mountain mist, like water-mixed ash, obscured my vision.
The six of them climbed for nearly half an hour, their foreheads beaded with sweat. When they looked up again, the bushes in front of them gradually appeared normal.
Although the leaves were covered in frost, the branches showed a strong resilience.
It lacks the brittleness of withered branches and the somberness of dead wood.
You can even see quite a few pine trees with pine cones on them!
These pine trees are not too close together, with the trunks about four or five meters apart, but they are all exceptionally thick. The thinnest trunk requires two people to barely encircle it.
The pine cones on top are as big as a human head, and they look really tempting.
"Sister Zhi..." When A-Kuan and the others saw these pine trees, they were reluctant to leave.
Pine trees are really good!
Whether it's pine needles, pine cones, or tree bark, they are all edible after processing.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhi understood. With supplies scarce, people naturally couldn't resist the temptation of food.
"Okay, let's pick some pine cones. Let's agree beforehand that we can't be more than 3 meters apart."
Han Lei readily agreed, then turned to Ah Song and the other man and said, "Okay, be careful. The mountains are wet and slippery, it's easy to fall. If you slip and fall, it'll be a huge loss."
Ah Song and the others happily exclaimed, "No problem!!"
I never expected that I could actually find food in the Qiling Mountains.
If the residents of the base, whose eyes were green with hunger, knew this, many would probably risk their lives to come here.
The group's minds started racing: if they could get more today, they might be able to go to Area B and exchange it for some staple foods like coarse grains to fill their stomachs.
After responding, everyone immediately dispersed with great enthusiasm.
In such low visibility, you could see that their clothes, which were covered with golden thread lotus, faintly glowed.
But that only increases the distance by a few meters; if you're any further away, you'll be swallowed up by the gray smog.
Seeing that the surroundings were relatively safe, Jiang Zhi decided to take action.
She remembered the roasted pine nuts she had eaten before, and couldn't help but miss the taste of pine nuts.
Most importantly, pine nuts can be pressed for oil!
She remembered the few barrels of rapeseed oil in the house; they had cost a lot of money to get them, and even though they used them sparingly, there wasn't much left.
If we can collect enough pine nuts to extract oil, we can occasionally make some fried food to satisfy our cravings—just thinking about golden and crispy fried meat chunks and fried sweet potatoes makes our mouths water.
While Jiang Zhi was making plans, Jiang Shu and Niu Dali had already started fighting.
Jiang Shu rubbed his hands together, eager to get started. "Brother Dali, you shake this tree hard later, and I'll pick up the falling pine cones. Remember to control your strength so you don't break the tree."
Niu Dali replied in a simple voice, "Okay."
Niu Dali walked to the pine tree, rubbed his thick palms together, and stretched out his arms to hug the sturdy trunk.
With a strong effort, the frost flowers on the branches fell down in a flurry.
Then a few "thump" sounds were heard, and two or three pine cones covered with a thin layer of ice fell from the mist and rolled twice in the pile of dead leaves.
"Hey, it's fallen!" Jiang Shu rushed over quickly, bent down, and caught the pine cone with his clothes.
The mutated pine cone still looks like a cone, with thick layers of hard shell.
The ginger tree held several ripe, yellowish-brown pine cones in its hand.
He picked up one of the ripest ones, and with a forceful push using his two thumbs along the seam of the scales, he pried it open with a "crack".
The scales were very brittle; they could be easily torn open along the grain, revealing two or three plump pine nuts wrapped in a thin skin.
Jiang Shu chuckled.
"Come on, let's make it a great start today!"
As he spoke, he popped a few pine nuts into his mouth and made a "beep" sound.
"Drip - Moderate toxicity, can be consumed in moderation."
Jiang Shu's eyes lit up instantly, and his grin widened even further. "We got it!! Ah Zhi, we're going to have pine nuts to eat!"
He deliberately lowered his voice, but even so, his excitement was still palpable.
The mutated pine nuts are now the size of a thumb. Before, I felt that eating them wasn't enough, but now I can chew one for quite a while.
Just as Jiang Shu was about to offer some pine nuts to Jiang Zhi, he was surprised to find a thin, translucent layer of pine resin on his hand, like a coat of varnish.
Jiang Shu rubbed it between his fingers and brought it close to his nose. He could smell the unique bitter aroma of pine resin mixed with the scent of oil, which was richer than the smell of fresh pine needles.
He turned the pine cone over and saw that the scales of the pine cone were covered with pine resin and looked shiny.
"Wow, this has quite a bit of pine resin." Jiang Shu laughed and shook his hand, the pine resin sticking to his fingertips, and he couldn't rub it off no matter how long he tried.
He picked out a pine nut from between the scales, carefully scraped off the oily film with his fingernail, pinched it up, and handed it to Jiang Zhi: "A-Zhi, try it. It's so oily, the nut must be plump."
After Jiang Zhi took it, he handed one to Niu Dali, saying, "Brother Dali, you should try one too."
Peel open the pine nut shell with ginger twigs to reveal the glossy, plump kernels inside.
The moment it enters your mouth, the slightly bitter taste of pine oil mixed with the rich aroma of pine nuts spreads on your tongue: "Hmm, it tastes better than the dried pine nuts I used to eat."
Jiang Shu chuckled, "Time waits for no one, let's hurry up and collect more."
While they were tasting the food, Han Lei had already climbed a tree not far away.
Han Lei squatted on a thick branch, holding a short knife in his hand, and was chopping down the branch.
Where the blade sliced, pine needles and twigs fell down in a rustling sound.
Meanwhile, Ah Song and Ah Kuan were collecting pine needles and pine cones under the tree.
The way they moved so skillfully showed they were experts.
Jiang Shu: "Brother Lei, why are you guys collecting pine needles? Can you eat them?"
Seeing that it was about time, Han Lei nimbly jumped down from the tree.
He patted the pine needle fragments off his hands and laughed, "Why can't we eat them? Blanching tender pine needles thoroughly will remove most of the bitterness. Chop them up and mix them with barley, and they'll last us a little longer. Besides, these things burn very well, so even if we don't have enough to eat, we can still keep them as kindling."
Poor families live in their own way.
Moreover, pine needles are highly nutritious, much better than barley.
Ah-Kuan and Ah-Song were busy with the testing, and they were overjoyed with their abundant harvest.
"Drip - Moderate toxicity, can be consumed in moderation."
"Drip—Highly toxic, not for consumption."
"Drip - Moderate toxicity, can be consumed in moderation."
...
To everyone's surprise, most of them were moderately toxic.
A single pine tree here can yield hundreds of kilograms of pine needles and pine cones, and some even more.
For pine cones, if one pine nut is found to be moderately toxic, the rest are generally similar, which saves a lot of time.
Although Jiang Zhi and her siblings were stronger than Han Lei and his friends, they grew up in the countryside, and when it came to making a living in the mountains, Han Lei and his friends were more experienced.
Their harvest was much greater than that of Jiang Zhi and the others.
The six of them worked in this area for more than two hours, collecting almost all the plump pine cones and dry pine needles they could before stopping.
Several burlap sacks lay bulging on the ground, exuding the fresh scent of pine resin, a sight that brought joy to the heart.
Once the burlap sack in her hand was full, Jiang Zhi put all the hundreds of kilograms of harvest into her spatial storage device.
Looking at the sack that had vanished into thin air, Han Lei couldn't help but sigh, "It's so convenient to have a space device like this. If we had to carry it ourselves, we probably would have been too heavy to move by those hundreds of pounds, and we wouldn't have made it this far."
Ah Kuan was staring at the few small pine cones remaining on the branches when he heard this and immediately replied, "Sister Zhi, these pine trees are doing just fine, so other plants in the mountains can definitely survive too! Let's walk a little further, maybe we can find some edible wild fruits, tender vegetables or something!"
At least so far, apart from the thick fog that wouldn't dissipate, they hadn't encountered any danger. It seemed that they might actually find a way to survive in the Qiling Mountains.
Han Lei, however, was not so optimistic. He frowned as he examined the surrounding vegetation: "The surviving mutant plants we see now are all able to take root and grow in the cold winter. As for the others, we'll have to go further ahead to find out."
If we could find more edible mutant plants, people wouldn't be so treasuring a few pine cones like they are now.
These words dampened the excitement of finding food that everyone had just experienced.
Finally, Jiang Zhi said, "No matter what, we still gained something today."
"Let's go, we still have some time."
Let's continue climbing and take a look.
They're still quite a distance from Chirp here, so they need to hurry and keep exploring upwards.
Han Lei: "Let's clean the mud off the soles of the shoes first."
If we don't clean it soon, my legs will feel as heavy as if they were tied with bricks.
Jiang Shu rubbed his shoe directly against the trunk, scraping off a few clumps of mud with the thick sole of his shoe.
Jiangzhi also found a sharp stone and deftly scraped away the mud from the cracks, then stomped her feet on the grass twice.
The others also had their own methods, either rubbing against the tree trunk or scraping with stones, and they were all very quick and efficient.
After the six of them cleaned the soles of their shoes, their steps became much lighter, and they continued climbing up the mountain.
This time, the path was significantly more difficult to traverse, with the slope becoming steeper and the fallen leaves mixed with a thin layer of ice making it slippery to walk on.
The fog was so thick it resembled an impenetrable cloud; looking ahead, one could only see two or three steps, with only blurry tree shadows in sight.
The group could only grab onto the branches around them for support, and they had to make sure each step was firmly planted before daring to move.
After climbing for more than half an hour, Jiang Zhi felt her whole body stiffen from the cold. She looked back and saw the figures of several people appearing and disappearing in the mist, their steps heavy.
He couldn't help but say to Jiang Shu, who was clearing the way ahead:
"Brother, is there anywhere ahead to rest?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shu steadied himself and then squinted at the road ahead.
The shadows of the trees just two steps away became blurry black lumps.
It still looked lifeless, frozen.
After a moment, Jiang Shu said uncertainly, "There seems to be a place ahead where we can rest. You wait here, I'll go up and take a look."
With that, Jiang Shu gathered his strength and climbed more than ten meters upwards using both his hands and feet.
Even with Jiang Zhi's enhanced eyesight, she couldn't see her brother's shadow at such a short distance.
A few minutes later, her brother's voice came over: "Come up."
Jiang Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.
He turned to Han Lei and the others behind him and said, "Hold on a little longer, we'll rest there for a while."
Han Lei and the others, panting heavily, agreed.
The heavy clothes greatly restricted movement, and the difficult mountain paths made it especially strenuous.
After moving forward for another ten minutes or so, the group finally arrived at the place Jiang Shu had mentioned.
It was a sheltered mountain hollow, with several huge rocks standing in front of the mountain wall, barely keeping out the biting cold wind.
Niu Dali, who was last to catch up, reached out and grabbed a protruding rock. Unexpectedly, the rock was covered with a layer of slippery moss. Before he knew it, he suddenly tumbled half a foot down.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhi reacted quickly and pulled him back, preventing any accident from happening.
Jiang Shu quickly reminded them, "There's a lot of moss here, be careful."
Upon closer inspection, everyone noticed that the small valley, measuring only a dozen square meters, was completely covered with a layer of green moss, a soft and slippery expanse that felt smooth and slippery underfoot.
What's even more unsettling is that stepping on it splashes out quite a bit of water.
Ah Song felt a chill run down his spine: "Is this a mutated green-haired creature?"
"Green moss" is what they call moss in their area.
To everyone's surprise, after climbing the mountain for so long, this was the first time they had seen such a large expanse of green, which turned out to be moss.
Jiang Shu's eyes lit up. "Can this be eaten?"
Jiang Zhi remembered that the mutated creatures in the base were recorded there.
"We can't eat it. This thing grows very fast after it mutates, and it absorbs a lot of water. One pound of moss can absorb more than ten pounds of water or even more. If a person eats even a little bit, it will easily cause bloating."
Han Lei nodded. "When there was a food shortage in the past, some people tried to fill their stomachs with this moss, but they died of dehydration before they could last a day."
He kicked the slippery green moss on the rock with his toe: "This thing looks inconspicuous, but once it's in your stomach, it's like a sponge. It can absorb all the moisture from your body and won't stop until it's completely dry."
So this thing is only for use; it's absolutely not for eating.
Especially when it is extremely dehydrated, people should not touch it carelessly, otherwise it can really suck the moisture out of a person's body, and if it gets on you, you might be dried out.
I never expected that the moss would still be so vibrant after the cold snap.
It seems the older generation was right—
The more inconspicuous something is, the more likely it is to take root in this world.
"Let's deal with it."
Han Lei stood still and took the lead in clearing away the mutated moss on the ravine.
Just as the group was about to throw the mutated moss down the mountain, a childish voice suddenly echoed in Jiang Zhi's mind.
"I want...I want..."
Jiang Zhi abruptly stopped, nearly dropping the tools in her hands. She instinctively turned her head—Han Lei and the others were busy dragging moss down the mountain and clearly hadn't noticed anything amiss.
The voice was so clear, like a child who had just learned to speak, with a slightly mumbled urgency, as if it were right next to her ear.
Jiang Zhi frowned, her heart skipped a beat for no reason, and she involuntarily took a half step back, her gaze returning to the pile of moss that had been shoveled up.
"I want...I want..."
That childish voice kept echoing in her mind, like an old record stuck in a loop, just like the word "territory" kept repeating in her dream last night.
This time, Jiang Zhi was certain that the sound came from the seed in her mental pool.
She tried touching the moss on the ground, and the sound stopped abruptly.
Jiangzhi felt like she wasn't quite right in the head—what would a seed need moss for?
The most important thing right now is to stop that annoying noise.
Jiang Zhi composed herself and said to Han Lei and the others, "Don't throw these moss away yet, I'll keep them for later."
As soon as he finished speaking, the restlessness in his mind indeed stopped.
Seeing that Jiang Zhi looked strange, Han Lei wisely didn't ask any more questions.
"Okay, then put them all in the baskets."
He quickly found a relatively flat stone and gathered the collected moss over it.
The damp moss, clinging to the stone in clumps, smelled of moisture and earth, like a piece of green velvet soaked with water.
Jiang Zhi squatted down and carefully picked out the pebbles and dead branches entangled in the moss, then rubbed the moss with her fingertips to check for moisture.
What's going on with that seed in my head? It can't be that white light in the grasslands, can it?
Jiangzhi was lost in thought when Jiangshu, noticing the moss piling up and constantly seeping water, couldn't resist going over to check it out.
"Drip—low level of toxin, edible."
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