Taking advantage of Xiao Wen’s speed, the two of them returned to the cave earlier than everyone else. Wen Le took out some food and canned goods from his space, as well as some pots, bowls, and utensils. Finally, he brought in five cotton blankets, any more than that and they would have been suspected. They could make do for a few days, and whether they fully welcomed Huang Tao and his group into the team or kicked them out, Wen Le could easily bring out anything from his space.
After piling up the things they had brought to the back of the cave, the two of them started collecting dry grass and tree branches while the weather was still good.
By the time Yin Chengyang and the others found the cave, it was almost completely dark and they couldn’t see where the clouds were. Wen Le had already fixed the rechargeable light bulb on the wall of the cave. After Yin Chengyang and the others came in, they organized the things in an orderly manner and left Huang Yao to take care of the still unconscious children. Everyone else went out with small flashlights on their watches and collected as many dry branches as they could find around the cave.
“Rabbits!” Wen Le whispered in surprise.
Others also saw two large rabbits emerge from a hole not far from Wen Le.
Xiao Wen quickly went up and grabbed the two unsuspecting rabbits.
“There are more here!” Mo Gang said softly from the other side.
Yin Chengyang wasn’t as fast as Xiao Wen, so he had to use three shots to leave the rabbits that had crawled out of nowhere behind.
“Zhou Quan, take Uncle Mo into the cave. It’s almost dark, and the animals in the mountains are all running out.” Xiao Wen used the rope handed to him by Wen Le to tie up the two rabbits and handed them to Zhou Quan.
Zhou Quan held the rabbits in one hand and helped Uncle Mo with the other. Uncle Mo was also holding three dead rabbits killed by Yin Chengyang and they headed back to the cave in the dark.
“Be careful, there’s more than just rabbits in these mountains.” Xiao Wen reminded everyone.
Everyone gathered the collected dry grass and tree branches together. Wen Le and Huang Tao carried them into the cave. Compared to the others, these two were too slow in hunting animals.
The others didn’t go far either. They carefully chose a good spot and waited for the animals to come to them.
After all the firewood was collected, Wen Le pulled Xiao Wen out of the cave, and the two of them worked together to hunt.
It wasn’t until both of Wen Le and Xiao Wen’s hands were full and the wind outside started to pick up that they stopped. Tightening the rope in his hand, Xiao Wen pulled Wen Le with one hand and dragged the rope full of prey with the other.
By the time everyone was in the cave, the wind outside was so strong that it could blow people away. Huang Yao followed Xiao Wen’s instructions and built a wall of dirt at the entrance of the cave, leaving only a vent for ventilation.
Uncle Mo and Huang Tao lit the firewood, and compared to the cold wind outside the cave, the inside felt warm and cozy.
Huang Yao was cooking on a rural stove and had made a simple stove using clay, with a pot on top…
Then everyone became tangled.
Because they had been relying on Wen Le’s space for food and water, they only had a box of mineral water in the car for cover. If they relied on this box of water to survive, they wouldn’t dare to use too much water for cooking.
“Let’s use this box of water for now. We won’t worry about running out of water even if it snows later.” Xiao Wen waved his hand and instructed Yin Chengyang to fill the pot with water.
Since Xiao Wen spoke up, no one else hesitated.
The first three rabbits they had killed were already cleaned before they returned, and now they were put in the pot to stew.
They ate some steamed buns with rabbit soup, and managed to get through this meal.
With food in their stomachs, they didn’t feel as cold anymore. No one wanted to pack up their things, they all hurriedly gathered around the hunted animals. They couldn’t compare to Xiao Wen, who had superhuman speed. He was able to catch the animals alive and tie them up with a rope, while the others could only rely on violence to secure the unlucky creatures’ corpses.
Wen Le noticed Huang Yao was alone cleaning up after their meal and awkwardly came over to help.
Huang Yao humorously took the bowl from Wen Le’s hand. Although Wen Le was helping to clean up, his eyes kept glancing at the pile of animals. It wasn’t his fault, as Wen Le had lived in the city before the apocalypse and was a small business owner. He had no chance to come into contact with wild animals. As for the mutated animals in the apocalypse, they were as if they had taken some kind of enhancing drug, with their size increasing more than twice and no longer looking as cute and furry as they once did.
“Go play over there. I’ll take care of things here,” Huang Yao pushed Wen Le towards the group of people.
Wen Le scratched his head in embarrassment, “I’ll come back later. Let me help clean up here first.” Although they had saved him, Wen Le didn’t have the face to let an injured woman clean up for everyone.
Huang Yao took the pot from Wen Le’s hand again, “You’re just a little kid. How can you clean up properly? This water can’t be wasted. Just stay on the side!”
A kid…
Wen Le wanted to cry. He was a 20-year-old man after all… cough… even though he was a bit skinny, he couldn’t be considered a kid!
Huang Yao couldn’t see the tears in Wen Le’s heart as she quickly packed up their belongings and washed the dishes with the least amount of water before putting them against the wall.
After searching all the animals, Huang Tao was amazed. He was also a born and raised farmer who occasionally ran up the mountain when he was young and had seen many rabbits and squirrels, but he had never seen so many wild animals like pheasants, wild boars, and yellow weasels.
“There is a small mountain behind your Lijia village, right? Don’t you have these things there?” Han Ya casually sat next to Huang Tao, and on the other side of Huang Tao, Huang Yao carefully checked the temperature of the child wrapped in the quilt.
“Today’s animals are like ghosts. They’re not easy to find. The older generation said that when they were young, there were not only wild boars but also wolves in the back mountain. They just haven’t been seen for many years. I don’t know if they’re extinct or just hiding.”
“You guys are lucky. If we were in the city and didn’t have the apocalypse, we probably wouldn’t see these things in our lifetime. Even if we did, it would only be on the dining table.” Han Ya pursed his lips.
Huang Tao looked in the direction he was pointing, and Wen Le was still eagerly squatting among the pile of animals, touching and feeling.
“You guys have a good imagination about the countryside. In recent years, the development of the countryside has allowed us to live a better life. When I was a child, we often couldn’t even eat enough food, and we couldn’t compare to the city. Yao Yao’s parents died early because their lives were too difficult.” Huang Tao smiled bitterly.
Han Ya looked puzzled and asked, “Aren’t you guys…”
Huang Tao understood his question and didn’t have anything to hide, so he answered directly.
“I’m not Yao Yao’s biological brother. I was too young at the time and don’t remember how I became a beggar and ended up in Lijia village. Life was tough back then. The people in the village were kind-hearted, but there wasn’t much surplus food. Luckily, Yao Yao’s parents took me in. Although we were all hungry, we had a home. Later on, things got better and I learned to drive from someone. After that, I started driving a taxi in M City. I wanted to earn money so that the two old folks could have a better life, but unfortunately, they passed away before that.”
“Don’t be too sad. To put it bluntly, even if the old folks were still alive, they wouldn’t have a good life in the apocalypse,” Han Ya comforted Huang Tao and patted his shoulder. Then he changed the subject, “This incident happened suddenly. It’s fortunate that you were able to rush back from M City.”
“No, a year ago, after Yan Yan’s father died, Yao Yao refused to go to the city with me, fearing that she would be a burden to me. But as a widow with an orphan, she couldn’t make a living on her own and the villagers didn’t like her and her daughter. So, I came back to the village to farm. There needs to be a man to support the family,” Huang Tao explained.
Wen Le, who was curious, finally satisfied his curiosity and walked over to join them. He overheard Huang Tao’s words and chimed in, “The people in the village seemed quite friendly to us. Not only did they let us stay, but they also gave us two chickens. Although they are a bit superstitious!”
Huang Tao sighed at Wen Le’s innocent curiosity and said, “Most people in the village are not well-educated, and the deeply ingrained feudal thoughts have been passed down from generation to generation. When Yan Yan was born not long ago, his parents passed away. The people in the village said that he was unlucky. Then, Yan Yan’s father suddenly passed away without any warning. Those people then firmly believed that Yan Yan was cursed. If I hadn’t come back, Yan Yan’s mother and him would probably have been drowned in the spit of the villagers.” Huang Tao turned his head to look at Huang Yao, who had been silent all along, with a heart full of distress.
When he moved in with the Huang family, Huang Yao had just learned to walk. Over the years, the elderly couple had treated him as their own son, and Huang Tao had watched Huang Yao grow up with his own eyes. Huang Yao, who was meek and honest as a child, had silently endured the strange gazes from the villagers in recent years. As the older brother figure, Huang Tao couldn’t bear to see him suffer.
Wen Le couldn’t bear it in his heart and couldn’t help saying, “If the people in the village are like this, why do you still wait for death obediently after obtaining superpowers?” It was rare to see superpower holders being bullied by a group of ordinary farmers like this!
It was no wonder that Wen Le was so upset. After the apocalypse, as long as one was a superpower holder who had escaped from the city, apart from being targeted and bullied by other superpower holders, they would all live a relatively decent life. Even after he awakened his mental powers, which had seemed useless in the initial stages, he still lived a much easier life than when he was being protected by Xiao Wen’s group. If he hadn’t been surrounded by a dozen mercenaries, who were all superpower holders, and almost exhausted all of his powers, he wouldn’t have…
Upon thinking of this, Wen Le’s face turned pale and his body trembled uncontrollably.
Fortunately, no one noticed Wen Le’s expression. Upon hearing Wen Le’s words, Huang Tao’s eyes were filled with sorrow.
“At the beginning, I also wanted to escape, but the villagers surrounded us and risked their lives to stop us. If we were to try to escape, we might hurt the villagers. We have lived together for so many years, how can we bear to harm them?”
Han Ya sneered, these two people were too honest. People want them dead, yet they still have so many concerns!
But seeing Huang Tao’s sadness and tears silently falling from Huang Yao’s eyes, Han Ya held back his words. Anyway, they have completed their mission and Huang Tao, who looks slippery, did not have any defenses against them. Han Ya comforted Huang Tao and stood up to join Uncle Mo, who was organizing their supplies, to help with the task.
It’s good that the first people who decided to help aren’t bad people.
Thanks for the update!! 💞 💞
Thanks for the chapter!