Chapter 264 There's a Strange Old Man in the Cave
Kong Wange appeared deep in thought, muttering to herself, "What can we do?"
Zhao Xiaohe clung tightly to the tree trunk and whispered, "Sister Kong, I saw the rope in your bag. Could you use it to pull me up?"
Kong Wange's face darkened, and her eyes narrowed: "You were following me?"
Zhao Xiaohe looked flustered and honestly confessed, "Sister Kong, I was just thinking that since you come from the countryside, you must know the mountain climate better than us. I was just thinking of following you and picking up some scraps. I didn't have any other bad intentions."
Kong Wange chuckled: "Compared to Wen Xiaoxiao, you're not stupid. But you're not just trying to follow me around and pick up the scraps, are you? You've come all the way in front of me, clearly wanting me to pick up your scraps."
Zhao Xiaohe was speechless after being rebuked. After a long while, she gritted her teeth and said, "At worst, you can pull me up, and I'll give you half of the wild ginseng I picked."
"It seems you haven't realized the seriousness of the problem." Kong Wange turned and left.
Zhao Xiaohe panicked and cried out to her retreating figure, "No, no, no, Sister Kong, I misspoke. Don't go. I'll give you all the ginseng. You saw it when you went through my bag. I had a five-year-old ginseng and an eleven-year-old ginseng. I'll give them both to you, okay?"
Kong Wange smiled brightly: "Sister Hehe, we're all classmates, how could I accept this? Wait here, I'll pull you up right away."
Zhao Xiaohe: "..."
What a self-serving attitude!
Kong Wange took a rope out of her large satchel and tied it to a tree trunk on the edge of the cliff.
She swung down the other end and sat down leisurely, saying to Zhao Xiaohe, "Alright, figure out how to grab the rope and get up yourself. This is all I can do for you. You'll have to climb the rest of the way yourself. Good luck!"
Zhao Xiaohe dared not speak her anger, adjusted her posture, and shakily stretched out a hand to grab the rope.
Then she let go of the tree trunk with her other hand and grabbed the rope. Fortunately, she had learned to climb. She pushed her hips back and stepped on the protruding footholds of the cliff.
Using both hands and feet, he finally climbed up.
Having survived the ordeal, Zhao Xiaohe breathed a sigh of relief and glanced back casually.
That one glance nearly made her heart jump out of her chest!
Suddenly, a snake appeared to be coiled around another branch of the crooked tree.
The snake wasn't large, but it had a triangular head and was covered in brightly colored patterns, clearly indicating a highly aggressive nature, and it might even be venomous.
At this moment, it is flicking its tongue and swimming up the branch towards the top of the cliff...
Zhao Xiaohe has been afraid of two kinds of animals since she was a child: one is a creature without feet, and the other is a creature with a lot of feet.
At that moment, I was scared half to death.
"ah--"
Zhao Xiaohe screamed, a huge survival instinct erupting within her. She grabbed Kong Wange, hoping to have her stand in front of her.
Kong Wange had no idea what was happening. Before she could react, she felt herself being pulled by a tremendous force.
He stumbled, stepped on a stone, slipped, and slid down the cliff.
Fortunately, she reacted quickly and grabbed the thick tree branch that Zhao Xiaohe had been hanging from, thus avoiding falling to the bottom of the cliff.
Looking at Zhao Xiaohe, who was still in shock on the cliff, she gritted her teeth and said, "What's wrong with you? Pull me up."
Zhao Xiaohe was terrified of the snake.
The snake was watching her intently from a branch diagonally above, as if it would pounce down at the slightest movement she made.
Zhao Xiaohe's face turned as white as a sheet, and her teeth chattered so loudly she could barely speak: "Kong...Kong Wange, the rope is still here. I was able to climb up, so you can definitely do it too. Take your time climbing. I...I'll be going now..."
Kong Wange: "?"
She had just swung the rope to Zhao Xiaohe's side, but the rope was now close to the cliff face, and she was hanging from an overhanging tree branch, unable to reach the rope at all.
Before she could say anything more, Zhao Xiaohe had already grabbed her handbag and run away in a flash.
Kong Wange really wanted to swear.
Isn't this just the story of the farmer and the snake?
She was furious, but there was nothing else she could do. She could only try to loosen one hand and reach for the dangling rope.
Unfortunately, I failed three or four times.
Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye. She was unsure if there were any other classmates around and was hesitating whether to press the alarm when a man's voice came from below the cliff.
"You wild girl, your arm strength is amazing! You've been hanging there for so long without getting tired. Young people really know how to have fun!"
Kong Wange was taken aback. She took her hand out of her handbag and tried to look down, but from her angle, she couldn't see a single person. She tensed up and asked, "Who?"
"Who I am doesn't matter, look at your head first."
Kong Wange subconsciously looked at the area diagonally above her, following the reminder.
A triangular snake, its tongue flicking, its eyes gleaming with a cold, eerie light, was staring at her.
Kong Wange's pupils suddenly contracted.
It would have been better if they hadn't looked at each other, but once they did, the venomous snake stopped lying in wait and suddenly sprang up to attack Kong Wange.
In a moment of desperation, Kong Wange disregarded everything else, grabbing a tree branch with one hand and scattering a packet of yellow powder that she had developed herself with the other.
The snake, after being touched by the powder, suddenly lost its energy. Its tail brushed against Kong Wange's nose before it fell off.
At that very moment, a hand reached out from the cliff below, scooped up the falling snake, and quickly withdrew. Immediately afterwards, a mocking voice came: "Hey, not bad."
Kong Wange was still in shock and didn't notice these details. She breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "May I ask which teacher you are? I am a student of Yudao Academy. My name is Kong Wange. Can you help me?"
Based on the person's voice and tone, she deduced that he was around fifty years old. Since he wasn't one of their classmates who participated in the assessment, he must be a teacher from the academy.
After all, this is a desolate mountain wilderness, and it's impossible for passersby to wander around here.
As soon as he finished speaking, a head suddenly popped out from under the crooked tree.
From Kong Wange's perspective, what appears to be a large, hairy mushroom suddenly growing out of the cliff face is quite terrifying.
She was startled and nearly fell off the tree.
The strange old man, seeing that he had frightened her, felt no remorse but rather quite pleased: "You wild girl aren't afraid of snakes, so why are you so scared of me?"
Kong Wange thought to herself, "You're much scarier than a snake."
After all, it's normal for snakes to appear on cliffs, but is it normal for a person's head to stick out?!
However, upon closer inspection, she realized that it wasn't a head growing out of the cliff face, but rather a natural cave in the cliff, from which the strange old man's head was peeking out.
Kong Wange breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Teacher, please stop making fun of me. Could you please swing that rope that's hanging down? Otherwise, I can't reach it, and I'm almost out of strength."
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