A sudden rustling came from the right.
“Who’s there?!”
Then she realized the sound was very much like a vine crawling across the ground. Having spent so much time in the mountains, she was already familiar with it.
She quickly asked Da Bai, “Do you know what that is?”
“Just a leaf.” Da Bai replied, its childish voice tinged with annoyance: “Sister, let’s go. It smells awful here.”
Wen Xian immediately understood. Da Bai’s sense of smell was extremely sharp, clearly, many people had died in the central square, otherwise it wouldn’t react with such disgust.
“Alright, let’s move back a little.”
Da Bai hurriedly led her away. The rustling sound continued to follow them. When Da Bai finally stopped, Wen Xian looked behind her. “Is that the willow tree from Feihua Pavilion?”
‘Rustle!’ The sound instantly became excited, as if it knew she had guessed correctly. Wen Xian couldn’t help but smile, reaching out her hand: “Come here.”
The next moment, a cold branch wrapped around her wrist, and a soft, delighted voice rang out: “King King, you’re back!”
Wen Xian clearly felt the excitement of the little willow branch. She gently touched its small leaves, her voice carrying a smile: “Have you been well all this time?”
“Yes. After King left, I went home. They fought, but I didn’t go out.”
“They fought?” Wen Xian asked quickly. “Who fought whom? By the way, do you know what happened in the central square?”
The tender little tips of the willow branch swung happily in her palm. It could feel that King’s energy had grown much stronger, and it loved being near King. Its voice was sweet: “After King left, many animals ran down from the mountain and fought humans. One day the fighting was fierce, people died, animals died, and the ones that survived all left.”
Wen Xian was stunned. The fleeting thoughts she had glimpsed before suddenly snapped into clarity, connecting into a line.
The day she went up the mountain, she had heard the roars of fierce animals. She continued to hear them intermittently until she saw the bodies of Da Bai’s parents, their pack, and the black snake in the valley. Only then did she understand the battle between the wolf pack and the black snake.
That fight had lasted at least four or five days. During that time, she had never seen any other animals in the mountains. Where had they gone?
Now it became clear, many animals had fled to the ancient town at the foot of the mountain, clashed with humans, and the result was a brutal massacre on both sides.
From Da Bai’s disgust, it was clear that the central square had likely become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
For a long moment, Wen Xian couldn’t speak. Da Bai seemed to sense her unease, turning its massive head to gently nuzzle her leg, its childish voice soft: “Sister.”
In the darkness, Wen Xian pinched its triangular ears, feeling their warmth and the slight, subtle twitch of displeasure. She finally smiled and said to the willow branch, “Can you take me to Feihua Pavilion to rest for the night?”
“Of course, of course, naturally we can!”
The little willow branch was overjoyed and led her by the hand. Wen Xian switched on her phone’s flashlight, and suddenly a beam of light cut through the darkness, illuminating the plants on the ground and many bodies whose outlines were hard to make out.
The vague stench she had only smelled before now became sharp and overwhelming, the scent of rot stabbing into her nose…
She instinctively held her breath, keeping her eyes on Da Bai’s back as she lowered her gaze slightly and returned to Feihua Pavilion.
This was still the willow branch’s territory, no foul odors, no foreign objects. Wen Xian rested in the same second-floor room as before, tidied it up a little, and prepared a mattress for Da Bai.
With Da Bai and the little willow branch beside her, her heart felt relatively calm, though she couldn’t sleep soundly all night. Her dreams were fragmented, flashing distant memories and strange, violent clashes, dark and heavy.
When she woke the next morning, her complexion looked pale.
She didn’t plan to return to the central square, nor linger in the ancient town. After a quick wash and a light meal, she bid farewell to the willow tree.
The little willow branch was reluctant; it wanted to stay close to King, but its home was here. In the end, it broke off a strip of jade-green willow, giving it to Wen Xian.
Wen Xian knew the willow branch could survive if planted, but this one was extremely tender, glistening with fresh moisture. She even felt an almost irresistible urge to bite it.
The little willow branch said to her, “This is my avatar. When it grows, it will become me.”
Wen Xian didn’t fully grasp the weight of its words, but since it was the little willow branch’s avatar, it must be precious. She quickly placed it into the planting plot in her space and then mounted Da Bai to leave.
The ancient town’s gate was far from the central square, untouched by the previous battle. Wen Xian thought for a moment and decided to search the passing farms.
The first household she encountered was already empty. A two-story concrete house had been half-destroyed by a mutated bougainvillea. She went inside to check, finding signs of looting and little of value. In the kitchen, hidden under the thickest growth of bougainvillea, she surprisingly found seven pieces of cured meat, a small stroke of luck.
Along the way, she turned on a faucet, there wasn’t a single drop of water. She had no idea when the supply had stopped.
At the second household, she discovered three partially rotted corpses. She still felt a twinge of horror but was no longer paralyzed with fear as she had been at first. She found fifteen pieces of cured meat here, apparently freshly prepared for the new year, early preparations that now fell into her hands.
Besides that, there were some farming tools and grains.
The third and fourth households had already been thoroughly looted, leaving nothing usable. The fifth household was a two-story house under construction, with exposed steel-reinforced concrete on the second floor, most of which was covered by a large-leafed vegetable called wood ear vegetable. Before mutation, the leaves were only about the size of a palm, but after mutation, they had grown as large as a basin. It was said to be very nutritious, but Wen Xian didn’t like eating it, so she didn’t collect any.
She cleared the wood ear vegetables from the yard, revealing a pile of sand and stones, and under the eaves were seven bags of cement. She needed them, so she stored everything in her space.
Along the way, she also encountered many mutated vegetables, most of which had grown enormous: tomatoes the size of melons, chili peppers as long as arms, eggplants as thick as thighs, and Chinese cabbages as tall as her chest. She picked some, pulling out two plants of each with soil to store in her space. Later, she found several packets of seeds in another farmer’s house.
To her surprise, she even found a household that had kept horses. Although the horses were gone, she found two saddles about seventy to eighty percent intact, along with bridles and bits.
She placed one saddle on Da Bai’s back. Its size now was comparable to a full-grown horse, and the saddle fit perfectly.
At first, Da Bai was uncomfortable, even strongly disliking the lingering smell of the horses on the saddle, especially the bridle, which made it snarl irritably. Wen Xian had no choice but to leave only the saddle. To keep it steady while traveling, she would have to hold onto its fur.
This ancient town was somewhat remote, with only one road leading out to Lishi. When she rode Da Bai onto the road, most of the asphalt was overrun by plants, with only occasional glimpses of the original gray surface.
Fields and forests flanked the road, now unrecognizable. The trees in the mountains towered skyward, crops in the fields had grown into small trees, and almost all traces of human civilization had vanished. Wen Xian couldn’t quite put her feelings into words.
The drive from Lishi to the ancient town had originally taken about forty minutes. Riding Da Bai, still adjusting, and dealing with minor unexpected obstacles along the way, it took her almost two hours.
When she saw steel buildings emerging from the jungle, Wen Xian was filled with emotion, she had never liked the noise and coldness of cities, but often, only after losing something could one truly appreciate its meaning.
She had no idea what conditions were like inside Lishi and didn’t dare rush in. Since it was getting late, she and Da Bai found an empty building to rest in.
It was a building materials center. Being near the outskirts of the city, plants had overgrown it, and the five-story building was half swallowed by vegetation.
Fortunately, this didn’t affect Wen Xian much. She first removed the saddle from Da Bai, letting him go find something to eat, then looked for an office on the first floor. Inside were four desks, three computers, and a whole row of filing cabinets along one wall.
She moved the computers aside and pushed the desks together, creating a space for a bed at night. The freed-up corner was perfect for cooking a bit of food.
Having only eaten bread for breakfast and lunch, her stomach was empty and hungry. She searched her space and spotted the cured meat, but cleaning it would be troublesome and waste water, so she gave up. Instead, she chose some beef jerky, two potatoes, a carrot, a handful of noodles, and tore off half a leaf of Chinese cabbage.
While taking out stones and her lighter, she added a simple stove to her supply list. Gas stoves, alcohol stoves, and the like would be ideal. Her hometown in central China was at a higher elevation, and in winter they used large stoves with tables that could both cook and provide warmth. If she found one, she’d take it.
For now, she could only make a makeshift stove from stones, like she did in the mountains.
She placed the beef jerky in water and simmered it for over ten minutes, then added the potatoes and carrot and simmered for another ten. Soon, the whole office was filled with the aroma of beef and potato soup. She added the noodles for five minutes, then the cabbage leaf, and finally a spoonful of chili paste. The meal was satisfying.
In the meantime, Da Bai returned and curiously sniffed near her bowl. Wen Xian picked up a piece of beef and fed it to him. His nose twitched, and though it was a tiny piece, he ate it eagerly. Unfortunately, there was no more, so he could only watch her bowl and lick his lips.
Wen Xian patted his big head. “Next time, I’ll make more and share with you.”
Da Bai nodded, then lay down on the nearby mat, watching her clean up.
After finishing her meal around eight, it was too early to sleep. Outside was pitch black, so venturing out wasn’t a good idea. She regretted not collecting some books earlier and added that to her list.
She opened the window to let the smoke out, left some charcoal, and sat quietly in the dim light for a while before washing up and going to bed early.
In the middle of the night, she woke from the cold. Even wrapped in the quilt, she couldn’t sleep soundly. Reluctantly, she got up to get another quilt, but in the corner of her eye, she saw Da Bai on the mat, snoring softly.
Thinking for a moment, she carried the quilt and laid it next to him, spreading her bed beside him. Da Bai woke up, his greenish eyes gleaming in the dark. When she lay down against him, he rested his big head on hers. Wen Xian felt his warm belly and slowly drifted back to sleep, sleeping peacefully until sunrise.