Early in the morning, after a simple breakfast, Xiao Wen pulled a grumpy Wen Le out of the cave. Huang Yao was instructed to seal the earthen wall and to reopen the entrance upon their return with the correct password.
Before leaving, they both changed into white clothing from head to toe and wore white hats on their heads. It would be difficult to spot them in such a heavy snowstorm.
Following the directions given by Huang Tao, Xiao Wen led the way down the mountain. Despite the strong wind and heavy snow, they could still vaguely see smoke in the distance.
When they approached, Xiao Wen carefully circled around and shook the rope connecting them to Wen Le to prevent them from sinking into the snowdrifts. This time, the location was not as easy to navigate as the cleared area on the mountaintop. If they were to fall into the snow, they would be buried alive.
Wen Le had never been pressed down by Xiao Wen without any point of leverage before, and he couldn’t help but grimace in pain.
“D*mn it, help me lose weight when we get back!” Wen Le said through gritted teeth.
Xiao Wen grinned and turned Wen Le’s head with his hand to prevent him from glaring at him.
Wen Le took a moment to catch his breath before spreading his mental awareness in all directions, being careful to watch out for any other ability users with spiritual powers.
The two of them carefully moved toward the direction of the bonfire, finding a cleared area near the fire. Wen Le was afraid of crushing the snow and did not approach too closely, so he directly sent both of them into the darkness.
“We can’t go any further. Yi Feng and Qi Rui have also collapsed,” a hoarse female voice reached the ears of the two.
The two held their breath and listened quietly.
“We can’t stay here and wait to die. The teacher said that this blizzard will last a long time. Although I can start a fire, we have no food or medicine. If we continue like this, the teacher and the others will all die.” A deep, low male voice also slowly came through.
Start a fire?
Xiao Wen and Wen Le exchanged a glance. Xiao Wen looked around while Wen Le withdrew all the mental power distributed around and supported it all to the front.
It turned out that there was not only one bonfire, but a big one in the middle, surrounded by about ten people lying or sitting, and there were also many small bonfires around the periphery. The firewood burned was estimated to have been dug out from the snow, otherwise, there would not be such a big smoke, let alone be seen from afar by Huang Tao in the blizzard.
Wen Le sneered. No wonder these people were still alive on the sixth day of the snow-capped mountains. Using mental power to see, there were not only one fire-based ability users among this group of people, but after careful discrimination, there were two fire-based ability users, one water-based ability user, and even a thunder-based ability user. However, except for the fire-based ability user who was still sitting, the colors of the other three abilities were already very gray, even worse than when they met Huang Yao.
Wen Le poked Xiao Wen and wrote what he saw in the snow.
After Xiao Wen finished reading, he gestured for him to keep watching.
“What about the equipment?” The hoarse female voice paused for a while before coming through.
“Thinking about equipment when we’re almost dying?”
Wen Le couldn’t help but nod, agreeing with the man’s words.
“These are all the latest equipment. The teacher reminded us before passing out that we must bring them back. If we leave them here, and the teacher wakes up…”
The man sighed, “Didn’t you see the classmates who mutated in the meteorological experiment station? Or do you think there’s no one turned into a zombie on the school side? The whole world is probably filled with zombies. We came with a class of nearly forty people, and only seventeen of them didn’t mutate. When we escaped from the experiment station, only eleven people were left. Based on this proportion, the situation in the city is probably even worse. Even if we go back, no one can take care of the equipment on the mountain.”
Wen Le continued to nod.
Classmate, you’re too smart.
“What should we do?! If we don’t go out, we’ll die. If we go out, we’ll still face death!” The hoarse female voice growled low, but her mental power was clearly not broken yet.
“Why think so much? Stay alive first and then figure it out. Keep working!” Saying that, Wen Le felt the fire-based ability user standing up and walking towards the place where they were hiding.
Wen Le shuddered and pulled Xiao Wen to run.
They stopped to catch their breath after running a distance.
“They sound like some students. What should we do?” Wen Le asked Xiao Wen after catching his breath.
Without hesitation, Xiao Wen picked up Wen Le and ran back.
“Let’s go back first.”
Returning to the cave and giving the correct password, the two of them patted off the snow on their bodies before entering. The others naturally gathered around them, and Xiao Wen began to recount what had happened.
“It must be a student from Q University. I saw on TV before that the meteorological research institute at Q University imported a batch of world-class equipment. Since it was the first time it was introduced domestically, it was reported in the news. I didn’t expect the laboratory to be located in the Yunyi Mountains,” Huang Yao recalled after hearing Xiao Wen’s story.
“What should we do then?” Yin Chengyang looked at Wen Le, who had already given him some doubts with his changing moods.
Wen Le shrugged. He had only reminded everyone not to forget the cruelty of the apocalypse. As for whether to save people or not, it was up to Xiao Wen and Han Ya. As for Han Ya, with his brain, the possibility of being tricked was very low.
“Are there still eleven people inside?” Han Ya asked.
Wen Le nodded.
“If we wait for them to come up on their own, can those people hold on?” Han Ya asked.
Wen Le shook his head decisively. Just now, he saw that even the three supernatural beings were probably on the verge of collapse.
“What does everyone think?” Xiao Wen understood Han Ya’s thoughts and asked everyone else.
“They are just a bunch of kids, it shouldn’t be too bad to help them out,” Uncle Mo said, unlike the other hesitant ones. Wen Le was still likable when he was talking to him, and Uncle Mo was not worried about him changing his mind.
With Uncle Mo’s words, Huang Tao and Huang Yao also nodded. They had not studied for many years and were a bit envious and fond of the students still studying in the ivory tower. In their opinion, students in the ivory tower were not as cunning as society people and were generally more innocent.
Mo Yan and the others remained silent and reserved their opinions. Xiao Wen and Han Ya looked democratic, but it was actually quite authoritarian. If they did not agree to save people, they would have made it clear a long time ago. How could they have the possibility of giving them suggestions?
“Have you checked the situation inside?” As soon as they entered, they noticed that the large stone at the entrance of the small cave had been moved. Although the entrance was wide open and there should be no danger, Xiao Wen still confirmed it.
“Yes, there is a cave connected to the small cave about ten meters away. It should be the inner part of this mountain. There is no ventilation, so if we block the entrance of this side, it will be a completely closed space inside, and the air flow will not be smooth, so it is not suitable to move in there,” Han Ya explained.
After Mo Yan and Yin Chengyang confirmed that there was no danger, he took the light bulb on the wall and went in for a look.
Wen Le saw Xiao Wen silent and asked Huang Yao to go into the mountain cave with him. After a while, they both came out with dirty faces.
Wiping off the dust on their bodies, Wen Le shook his head at Xiao Wen.
“The mountain wall inside is too thick, and Huang Yao can’t dig through it.”
Xiao Wen looked at the cave they had been living in for six or seven days. Everywhere were things brought out by Wen Le. If they didn’t want to expose their space, they had to put away most of their things.
“Putting them away is useless. We all have rosy cheeks and don’t look like we’re trapped in the mountains, hungry and cold,” Wen Le dismissed Xiao Wen’s thoughts. He didn’t create the space to make everyone suffer. Otherwise, he might as well not have bothered.
“Zhou Quan, Huang Tao, help Uncle Mo and Huang Yao pack up their things. You four can sleep inside with Yan Yan tonight while we guard outside. Those people have a lot of abilities, so we should be cautious. We don’t have to put away the things inside. If they ask, just tell them we have space, but don’t mention it’s mine,” Wen Le ordered.
Although the air inside didn’t circulate, it was fine as long as they didn’t block the entrance.
Zhou Quan stood up and started packing up, and Huang Tao followed. Han Ya asked Wen Le to take out five military shovels and, together with Yin Chengyang and Mo Yan, they started digging a path down the mountain.
Xiao Wen couldn’t carry people back and forth.
Shoveling snow is already tiring, let alone on a mountain, where they had to twist and turn around trees and rocks. When they finally saw the black smoke, all five of them wanted to give up and leave.
“Are the people on the other side still alive?” Yin Chengyang shouted at the top of his lungs, as per Han Ya’s suggestion. The snow that hadn’t been shoveled yet fell down with a thud.
“I should have let him clear the way by shouting,” Wen Le muttered. The snow wall that collapsed was even faster than they could shovel.
“Alive!” A voice louder than Yin Chengyang’s came from the snow wall that had yet to collapse.
Even Han Ya’s mouth twitched, silently speechless.
Unlike Xiao Wen and Wen Le’s mixed emotions, the boy and girl who emerged from the collapsed snow wall couldn’t help but want to cry and laugh at the same time.
The boy was better off, grinning through teary eyes at them, but the girl couldn’t hold back and cried out, covering her mouth.
Wen Le could understand the feeling of seeing hope in a desperate situation.
Although the boy had previously managed to stay calm and pave the way for survival, seeing hope ignite in his dull eyes made it easy to guess that he too was forcing himself to stay positive despite despair. Perhaps he just didn’t want to wait for death, even if he knew he might not make it out alive.
The group continued to clear the fallen snow to the side, and approached the two youngsters. Xiao Wen patted the boy’s shoulder.
These two looked like they were under twenty years old, even younger than Wen Le. It was really not easy for them to hold on until this point.
Fortunately, they were found not too late. If these two had collapsed as well, the remaining one would have probably given up hope and waited for death.
Therefore, humans are social creatures. Only by supporting each other can we overcome unimaginable difficulties.
🤧 This better not be a trap to make me emotional only to throw it back in my face later.
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the update!!