novelaction Chapter 277 Collection 5
Chapter 277 Collection 5
"Without a bit of luck, you really can't find this place." Liu Yu couldn't help but sigh at Jiang Li's bad luck when he saw the cave in front of him.
Wang Hao stepped forward and knocked on the cave wall. The sound was dull, indicating that the cave was very solid and there was no danger of sudden collapse.
"This place is quite nice. The cave is spacious inside, and the entrance outside is so well hidden. We can go to the bamboo forest, cut some bamboo, weave it into a lid, and add some weeds on top to cover the cave."
Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction, feeling that this was indeed a perfect place to take refuge.
Zhao Mingkai tidied up the ground deep in the cave and put down his backpack. "You guys go out and collect herbs and flowers, while I'll sit inside the cave and weave the lid. We'll finish the cave door today."
After tidying up the cave briefly, everyone went out to search for herbs.
Having not finished exploring the bamboo forest yesterday, Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo continued their search.
Thanks to Pudding's exceptional sense of smell, the two found three more herb plants.
Jiang Li carefully picked some herbs from under the pile of trees. When she looked up, she realized that they had unknowingly reached the edge of the bamboo forest.
She carefully put away the herbs and walked over to Ye Jingmo, who was digging bamboo shoots.
"Brother Mo, if we keep going, we'll be leaving the bamboo forest. Do you think we should go take a look?"
Ye Jingmo used a hoe to dig out the bamboo shoots buried deep in the ground, and kicked the bottom of the bamboo shoots hard with his foot. With a crisp cracking sound, the bamboo shoots broke.
He bent down, picked up the bamboo shoots, and threw them into the basket next to him.
"There's no need to take that risk. We've almost finished exploring the bamboo forest, and the others should be close behind. We should choose a direction to continue this afternoon."
Ye Jingmo rested his hands on the handles of the hoe, gazing at Jiang Li with a nonchalant yet authoritative look.
"So don't sneak over there. Curiosity is the last thing you should have during a natural disaster."
"Hehe... Brother Mo, if you're not going, how could I possibly go alone?"
Jiang Li blinked her big, watery eyes. She wasn't the kind of person who was stubborn enough to insist on playing a lone hero.
However, Jiang Li still stood in the bamboo forest and looked out. It seemed that there was a peach grove adjacent to the bamboo forest.
Jiang Li wasn't entirely sure if it was a bamboo forest, as it was far away and shrouded in thick fog, greatly obscuring her vision.
The two chatted as they walked back, and soon they arrived at the cave.
People gradually returned. Wang Hao, Fu Qian, Zhang Tianmeng, and Liang Zi all came back, leaving only Wang Tang and Liu Yu still missing.
At first, everyone thought they were delayed because they were picking herbs, but as half an hour passed, everyone realized that something was wrong.
As the group emerged from the cave, preparing to search in the direction Wang Tang and the other man had gone, a staggering figure slowly emerged from the thick fog.
Wang Tang was in a terrible state, his clothes were covered in all sorts of scratches, his hair was a mess like a bird's nest, and the wounds on his face were even more shocking, with a bloody gash running from behind his ear to the corner of his eyebrow.
Is this awkward?
Zhang Tianmeng quickly stepped forward to help Wang Tang and carefully guided him into the cave.
"What happened? Why are you alone? Where's Liu Yu?"
Wang Hao asked anxiously, his brows furrowed, his unease reaching its peak at that moment.
Wang Tang immediately became agitated and grabbed Wang Hao's hand tightly, "You... hurry and save Liu Yu... quick!"
Fu Qian took out first-aid medicine from the medical kit and was disinfecting Wang Tang when his sudden violent movements caused the wound, which had stopped bleeding, to bleed again. Fu Qian quickly comforted Wang Tang.
"Take your time, don't get agitated. The wound will start bleeding again soon."
Wang Tang ignored him and quickly recounted the events to everyone: "Liu Yu and I were originally looking for fragrant herbs in the bamboo forest, but we gradually moved to the side of a deep ditch."
It was already the agreed time, but we happened to see a fragrant herb growing in a crevice in the ditch. We figured that since we'd already seen it, we couldn't miss it.
Luckily, I had some rope in my backpack, so Liu Yu said he would go down and pick some. He tied the rope to the tree, and I held onto it.
Liu Yu easily picked the herb, and we were all very excited at that moment, but suddenly…”
Thinking of this, Wang Tang's face showed a trace of fear. "A black bear appeared out of nowhere and stood behind me."
If Liu Yu hadn't warned me, I would have dodged and avoided a fatal blow, but its claws still grazed my face, leaving a wound.
"I reacted quickly and took out my gun to shoot at the black bear, but the bear seemed to feel no pain and ran towards me desperately."
Liu Yu climbed up using the rope, thinking that the two of us working together could subdue the bear, but it was no use at all.
The black bear quickly rushed in front of me, its paws raised high.
I had run out of bullets and hadn't had time to reload. I thought I was going to die. But then Liu Yu ran over, grabbed the black bear from behind, and jumped into the ditch beside him.
I called out to him several times from the edge of the ditch, but he didn't answer. I wanted to go down into the ditch to check, but I didn't have the right tools, so I immediately ran back.
After hearing Wang Tang's words, no one dared to delay and immediately followed him to the deep ditch where Liu Yu had fallen.
Reaching the ground beside the deep ravine, Jiang Li thought they had reached the mountaintop. The thick fog floated in the air like soft clouds, resembling a beautiful painting, but behind this painting lurked a deadly danger.
Wang Hao looked down but couldn't see the bottom of the ravine. The thick fog obscured his vision, and he couldn't assess its height.
"Bring out the longest rope, I'll go down and explore."
Zhang Tianmeng immediately took out a climbing rope about 100 meters long from her backpack, found a large tree nearby that required two people to hug, and secured the rope to it.
After securing the safety equipment around his waist, Wang Hao slowly slid down the ravine using the climbing rope.
Everyone stared intently at the climbing rope, observing its condition.
If the climbing rope starts to shake violently, it means the rope is not long enough, and someone above needs to help Wang Hao pull the rope to assist him in climbing up.
If the rope reaches the bottom of the ditch, Wang Hao will pull it taut from below.
After waiting for about seven or eight minutes, the climbing rope was taut. Ye Jingmo stepped forward and tugged at the rope, but there was no change in its tension, which meant that the rope was long enough to reach the depth of the ravine.
“We don’t need everyone to go down. Fu Qian, Liang Zi and I will go down together. The three of you can stay here, but be careful of your surroundings. There may be other wild beasts coming here.”
Ye Jingmo told Liang Zi and Fu Qian to put on their safety gear, then quickly walked to Jiang Li's side. "If necessary, take out that submachine gun. Don't worry about wasting bullets; your safety is more important."
Jiang Li stared wide-eyed, her round pupils revealing her dissatisfaction with Ye Jingmo's arrangement. He then went downstairs himself, leaving her aside.
They didn't consider her feelings at all.
Ye Jingmo saw the dissatisfaction in Jiang Li's eyes. He touched Jiang Li's head with his hand, said nothing more, put on his safety equipment, grabbed the rope, and began to slide down.
Hearing the sound of the climbing ropes hitting the mountain, Jiang Li subconsciously gripped the hem of her clothes tightly. She walked to the edge of the mountain and looked at Ye Jingmo and the others, her heart filled with worry.
Ye Jingmo and his two companions quickly descended to the bottom of the ravine using the climbing rope. Wang Hao stood beside the rope, waiting for their arrival.
“I just scanned the surrounding area with a flashlight, but I couldn’t find any trace of Liu Yu. We might need to search the surrounding area a bit more.”
The four of them used flashlights to barely illuminate their path as they searched for Liu Yu.
The fog in the ravine was even thicker than the fog on the mountain; if it weren't for the powerful flashlights, they would have barely been able to see each other.
"This fog is so eerie! I can barely see anyone next to me."
Looking at the scene, Fu Qian felt a little panicked; she felt like she was in a horror movie.
Wang Hao took out a small rope from his backpack and had the three people next to him tie it on so that they wouldn't get separated if they weren't careful.
If you get lost here, it will be very difficult to find someone.
Suddenly, Fu Qian felt something brush against her feet, cold yet smooth to the touch. She felt a chill creep up from her feet and spread throughout her body.
Seeing that Fu Qian didn't move, Wang Hao was about to ask her a question when Ye Jingmo pulled him and covered his mouth.
Wang Hao turned his head in confusion and saw Ye Jingmo with a serious expression. Following Ye Jingmo's gaze, the light shone on the snake wrapped around Fu Qian's feet.
The snake's head is shaped like an inverted triangle, its body is covered with black scales, and it occasionally sticks out its red tongue, revealing sharp fangs inside its mouth.
Ye Jingmo took out a dagger from his waist, slowly squatted down, and just as the venomous snake sensed the danger and was about to attack, Ye Jingmo swiftly raised his hand and plunged the dagger into the ground.
A sharp dagger plunged into the snake's head, pinning it to the ground and rendering it unable to move.
Fu Qian immediately withdrew her foot, only then realizing that her back was already soaked with sweat. She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.
"We need to find Liu Yu quickly and leave this place immediately."
The light shone on the ground, and then the four of them saw a snake, seemingly disturbed by the light, crawling through the grass.
"Could this be a snake pit?"
Fu Qian felt like her whole body was going to tremble. She was most afraid of these soft-bodied creatures. If she had known there were snakes down there, she would never have come down.
"I'm afraid so," Wang Hao said with a wry smile. This was truly a double whammy. He had just seen quite a few venomous snakes. If he were bitten, even a god couldn't save him.
The four continued deeper into the area and saw a dark shadow in the distance.
When they got closer, they found that it was Liu Yu who had fallen off the cliff.
Liu Yu was unconscious, with a black bear lying on top of him. He was covered in blood, and his clothes were tattered, as if he had been pulled out of a pool of blood.
Fu Qian strode forward and squatted down to check on Liu Yu's condition. "From what I can see, he is only unconscious due to falling from a height. However, the black bear under him acted as a cushion, which reduced most of the impact force. He has not suffered any serious injuries."
"Now that we've found them, let's get out of here quickly."
Wang Hao didn't want to stay in the ditch for too long; it made him feel uncomfortable.
Wang Hao squatted down with his back to him, and Liang Zi and Ye Jingmo supported Liu Yu's body, placing him on Wang Hao's back. Wang Hao grabbed Liu Yu's arm and held him to his chest.
Liangzi used a rope to secure Liu Yu to Wang Hao to prevent Liu Yu from falling when they climbed up later.
"You can go."
"Wait a moment."
Before Wang Hao could finish speaking, Ye Jingmo interrupted him, and he turned his head to look at Ye Jingmo.
Ye Jingmo used a dagger to cut off the black bear's two paws, then put her into his backpack, his movements as practiced as if he had done it hundreds or thousands of times.
“The black bear is dead, so we can’t take the whole one back. But we can take two bear paws back and make a meal. That can also help the two patients recover.”
Ye Jingmo spoke with righteous indignation and a calm expression, which won the unanimous approval of everyone.
A black bear is incredibly heavy; they wouldn't have left it here if they had a way to carry it back whole. Taking two bear paws back now is at least a taste of meat.
Ye Jingmo carefully put the bear paw into his backpack. He tilted the flashlight and accidentally shone it in one direction. When he looked up, disbelief flashed in his eyes. He seemed to see a patch of white vanilla flowers.
Wang Hao and the other two walked forward, but found that I might still not have followed. Instead, I was looking in a certain direction with a slightly stunned expression.
Ye Jingmo snapped out of his daze, pointed in that direction, and said to Wang Hao and the other two, "There seems to be a large patch of fragrant herbs over there. Take a look and see if it is."
A huge area?! The three people, shocked by this statement, quickly raised their flashlights and shone them in that direction.
The blooming white flowers appeared and disappeared in the thick fog, as pure and holy as celestial maidens, enticing everyone.
Fu Qian instinctively wanted to walk in that direction, but Liang Zi suddenly grabbed her.
"There are snakes over there."
Liangzi warned, but his eyes remained fixed on the vanilla flower.
Fu Qian was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening and hurriedly looked down at the ground. She discovered that in front of the vanilla flower, there were colorful snakes gathered together, forming a snake swarm, seemingly protecting the vanilla flower.
"Let's leave here first and go back to discuss how to pick these herbs."
With Liu Yu unconscious on their backs, they certainly couldn't act now; they needed to go back and plan carefully.
Otherwise, lacking weapons and snake-repelling drugs, and with a dependent child in tow, any rash action would be nothing more than providing warmth to the snake swarm.