dhibooks Chapter 483 New Information
Chapter 483 New Information
After the first group got ashore, the second group started walking, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth groups.
When it was Xu Xiaoyan's turn, she took a deep breath, tightened the shoulder strap of her backpack, and then grasped the hand of the stranger in front of her.
The hand was large and rough, with calluses and cracked wounds on the palm, but it gripped her hand so tightly that her fingers ached a little.
Lan Yue took her hand from behind.
The river water was much colder than I had imagined. The moment I stepped in, I thought I had stepped into a bucket of crushed ice.
Her body shuddered uncontrollably, and her teeth chattered.
The current was much faster than she had imagined.
She searched for footholds on the pebbles at the bottom of the river, curling her toes and gripping the gaps between the stones with each step to avoid being swept away by the current.
When she reached the middle of the river, the water was up to her waist, almost up to her chest.
Her T-shirt and jacket were soaked at the hem and stuck to her stomach, feeling icy cold.
Someone shouted something to her left, but it was hard to make out what they were saying; it was probably something that had been washed away by the water.
She didn't turn her head to look; she didn't dare to, afraid that she would lose her balance if she did.
Her entire attention was focused on her feet and the hand that was tightly holding hers in front of her.
More than half an hour later, everyone finally waded across the river and stepped onto the land on the other side.
The moment Xu Xiaoyan stepped out of the river, her legs went weak and she almost knelt on the ground.
Lan Yue supported her waist from behind, helping her take a few steps forward.
The two sat down on the ground by the shore.
Once you cross the river, you've stepped onto a plain.
This side of the river and the other side are completely two different worlds.
On the other side are mountains, with cliffs that could collapse at any moment and bottomless ravines.
On this side is a plain, a land that stretches as far as the eye can see.
People started to appear along the roadside, not houses, but ruins with half-collapsed walls or just piles of rubble.
The road conditions have improved considerably. Although it is still uneven, at least it is hard, so you won't sink in when you step on it, and you don't need to exert all your strength to fight against the resistance under your feet with every step.
The sun rose, and its rays pierced the distant horizon, spilling across the gray-brown plain.
Xu Xiaoyan took off her coat, wrung it out, put it back on, took off the rain cover from her backpack, shook off the water droplets, folded it, and stuffed it into the side pocket.
After the group regrouped, they continued their journey. The pace on the plains was much faster than in the mountains, and Xu Xiaoyan and Lan Yue started walking at the front of the group.
After traveling on and off for fifteen days, Xu Xiaoyan began to feel unwell.
The sun was so strong that it turned her skin from white to red, and peeled off layer after layer of skin on her lips.
Every time her lips came into contact with water or food, the cracks would throb violently, causing her to gasp in pain.
So she took a thin jacket out of her backpack, zipped it all the way up, pulled the hood up over her head, and then pulled the drawstring so that only her eyes and the tip of her nose were showing.
Lan Yue looked at her attire, a slight smile playing on her lips, and then did the same thing.
On the evening of the twenty-first day, the group stopped on a slightly raised hillside.
It's called a hillside, but it's actually just a small mound that's a meter or two higher than the surrounding ground.
On a plain as flat as a tabletop, this slight difference in elevation can be considered "high ground".
Using the word "water source" here is a bit too polite.
In Xu Xiaoyan's mind, a water source should be a river, a lake, a spring, or at least a stream, but the water source here is a tiny trickle.
But in this place, having water at all is a blessing. While Lan Yue went to queue up to fetch water, Xu Xiaoyan started gathering firewood.
Calling it firewood is a bit of an exaggeration; there's hardly anything on this plain that could be considered firewood.
The only things that could actually be burned were some dried grass stems and withered branches that had been blown here by the wind.
Xu Xiaoyan bent over and carefully searched the ground. The basket in her hand was one she had woven a couple of days ago when she had nothing else to do.
While resting in the evening, she saw several clumps of bushes by the roadside that were taller than the others, about knee-high, with slender and resilient branches.
He put down his backpack, squatted down next to the bushes, and broke off the branches one by one.
Then, using a weaving method that she herself wasn't quite sure was right, she wove them into a rough basket.
When Lan Yue saw the basket, she remained silent for a long time. After looking at Xu Xiaoyan's expectant expression, she finally gave a very accurate evaluation: "Ugly".
"But it can hold things," Xu Xiaoyan added.
"I didn't say you can't pretend," Lan Yue said. "I said you're ugly. These are two different criteria."
"That's enough," Xu Xiaoyan laughed, stuffing the uniquely ugly basket into Lan Yue's arms.
"You're carrying this because you think it's ugly, so you have to bear this ugly thing."
Lan Yue carried it for an entire afternoon, then quietly returned it to Xu Xiaoyan without explaining why.
At this moment, the ugly basket was filled with grass stems and dry branches. It looked like a lot, but in reality, it could only burn for a very limited time.
Xu Xiaoyan carried the bag towards the edge of the camp. She and Lan Yue had a fixed habit: every time they set up camp, they would choose the edge of the camp.
Although the inner areas are safer, with more people surrounding them, and they feel safer, they don't want that kind of safety.
What they wanted was an escape route. If something happened, they wouldn't need to go through the dense crowd; they could simply take a few steps back and disappear into the night.
Today they chose a spot behind a small mound.
The mound wasn't big, only about a meter high, just enough to block the wind blowing from the center of the camp.
They stacked two backpacks side by side to make a backrest and laid a waterproof tarpaulin on the ground as a cushion.
Several stones were arranged to form a stove about the size of a fist, just enough to support the small stainless steel pot, which was only the size of a palm.
Lan Yue returned with the water. She carefully placed the basin next to the stone stove, squatted down, and adjusted its position so that it was firmly wedged between the three stones.
Xu Xiaoyan took out a bag of dried mushrooms from her backpack, grabbed a handful and poured them into a basin, then added some salt.
The dried mushrooms changed color from grayish-brown to dark brown, and their shape changed from a wrinkled little clump to a complete and recognizable form.
A rich aroma filled the air and drifted into the camp on the wind, attracting the attention of those who were munching on compressed biscuits.
Xu Xiaoyan knew the fragrance would attract attention, but she didn't try to hide or conceal anything.
It wasn't that she wasn't afraid of causing trouble, but that she had no choice but to either keep eating compressed biscuits or endure the pressure and eat them in large bites.
It's their business if others want to covet it; they can't keep compromising themselves just to put on a show.