mtl008 Chapter 278 Collection 6
Chapter 278 Collection 6
Fu Qian was somewhat reluctant to look at the patch of herbs, but she didn't know that Wang Hao's suggestion was correct. They needed to be well-prepared before they could pick the herbs.
If we can pick these herbs, we should be able to complete half of our target.
She was happily thinking to herself, but her feet didn't stop moving at all.
The three quickly walked to the spot where they had climbed down the ravine, found the climbing rope, and Wang Hao, carrying Liu Yu on his back, was the first to grab the rope. He shook it a few times to remind the people above that they were about to go up.
Wang Tang, who was on the mountain, saw the climbing rope moving and was very excited. He knew that Wang Hao and the others had found Liu Yu, so he quickly went forward and grabbed the rope.
Once they determined the weight on the climbing rope, the three of them started pulling on the rope and pulled the person up.
When Wang Tang saw Wang Hao carrying the unconscious Liu Yu up, his face was full of anxiety, and his eyes were filled with worry and unease. "Liu Yu, how is he? Is he injured?"
Wang Hao patted Wang Tang on the shoulder and reassured him, "Don't worry, Fu Qian has already been checked. She probably lost consciousness due to the impact when she fell with the black bear, but her overall condition is stable."
"We'll talk about the rest when we get back to the cave. Fu Qian and the others are still at the bottom of the mountain. Let's pull them up first."
Soon, Fu Qian, Liang Zi, and Ye Jingmo were all pulled up the mountain.
After putting away the climbing ropes, the group headed back towards the cave along the same path they had come from.
When Zhao Mingkai saw Liu Yu being carried back, he was startled and quickly laid a quilt on the ground for him to lie down on.
Wang Tang stood beside Liu Yu, his eyes filled with regret and worry. If he hadn't been careless, how could Liu Yu have chosen to perish together with the black bear, falling into the deep ditch together?
After the rescue operation, everyone was exhausted and thirsty.
While they were in the cave, Zhao Mingkai had already started a fire and boiled some water. Ye Jingmo took out two bear paws from his backpack and put them in the stove to burn them, removing the fur and odor.
He took the charred bear paw to the stream to wash it clean, then returned and cut it into small pieces with a knife, putting it into a pot.
Wang Hao waited until Fu Qian finished checking all of Liu Yu's wounds and confirmed that he was really alright before he finally felt relieved. He rubbed his throbbing temples and gathered everyone together.
"Let me make this short. The reason I called everyone together is that we found a large patch of vanilla flowers at the bottom of the ditch."
This one sentence made Zhang Tianmeng's eyes light up, and she immediately asked excitedly, "Then, Captain, why didn't you pick them?"
"Because many snakes gather at the bottom of the ditch, and some of those snakes are highly venomous. Before the apocalypse, if you were bitten, you would die before you could get to the hospital. Now, there is no serum vaccine."
Wang Hao's expression was serious. "We need to find a way to drive away the snakes before we can go down and pick the herbs. Otherwise, we'll just be feeding the snakes."
Zhang Tianmeng looked at Fu Qian beside her and asked in a low voice, "Didn't the base provide any snake repellent drugs?"
Fu Qian sighed and took out two small bags of yellow medicine from the medical kit. "These two small bags of realgar are more than enough to scatter in the cave to drive away snakes, but to drive away snakes in the deep ditch, it's just a drop in the ocean."
Everyone present fell silent. What could they do? They didn't recognize any herbs used to repel snakes, and the only thing they knew about, realgar, wasn't even found in this mountain.
Zhang Tianmeng looked dejected, her shoulders slumped. "Is there really no way for us? I'm not willing to give up that patch of herbs."
"That patch of vanilla flowers is enough for us to collect in several days, so why is it located in the midst of the snakes?"
"Think about it from another angle, if it weren't for those snakes guarding the area, we might not have even discovered these herbs."
Zhao Mingkai comforted Zhang Tianmeng, saying that life is never perfect and everyone will eventually have regrets.
The main problem now is how to drive away the snakes and safely descend into the deep ditch to pick herbs.
Everyone frowned, pondering a solution.
Jiang Li searched his mind for anything she knew that could be used to repel snakes, when suddenly an idea struck him—he remembered a place she had seen on a map.
She quickly found the wiring diagram and located the location she wanted to see.
Fu Qian noticed Jiang Li's actions and, thinking she had discovered something, immediately asked, "Jiang Li, have you discovered a way to repel snakes?"
Her words drew everyone's attention.
Jiang Li didn't intend to hide anything, so she spread out the topographic map in front of everyone and pointed to a location on it.
Upon closer inspection, Zhao Mingkai realized it was the remains of a dormant active volcano, known as the Twin Star Volcano.
It gets its name from another active volcano called Twin Moon Volcano, and the two volcanoes are located not far apart. Twin Moon Volcano is situated not far from Wufeng Mountain.
Twin Star Volcano is located next to Mount Guangyan, about 50 kilometers away.
This volcano is a dormant active volcano that has not been active for thousands of years. Later, the province turned it into a tourist attraction, and government agencies, schools and other organizations like to go there for outings. It can be said that it is very famous in the area.
"Twin volcanoes? Is there anything special about that?"
Zhang Tianmeng scratched his head, somewhat puzzled. What did snake repelling have to do with volcanoes?
"Hey, Jiang Li, stop keeping us in suspense! Tell us quickly, what's so special about the crater?"
Fu Qian held Jiang Li's arm, unable to suppress her curiosity.
Jiang Li smiled brightly, which added even more color to her already radiant face. Ye Jingmo stared at her face and couldn't help but be captivated by her smile.
"Sulfur is abundant near volcanoes. Although sulfur cannot directly repel snakes, the gas produced by burning it, like realgar, can repel snakes and insects."
"If we can get enough sulfur, we can also drive away the snakes in the deep ditch."
"Yes, that's a good idea, and this material is relatively easy to obtain compared to what we have now."
Zhang Tianmeng excitedly said that there are places to collect sulfur, but she doesn't know where to find other snake repellents.
If we were to search for other snake repellents like looking for a needle in a haystack, I don't know how long it would take.
Although Twin Star Volcano is 50 kilometers away, the round trip, including the search for sulfur, will only take about a day.
Looking at Ye Jingmo's expressionless face, Wang Hao said thoughtfully, "It takes us about five hours to get to Twin Star Volcano. From a financial perspective, it's a substantial return."
But deciding who to send to fetch the sulfur was another big problem.
Since Zhao Mingkai and Liu Yu were both injured and could not act easily, the only option was to select from the remaining people.
Wang Hao's gaze swept across the crowd, and A Li volunteered, "Let Mo Ge and I go on this mission together. Captain Wang needs to lead the team here and can't leave easily."
"Fu Qian is a medic, and there are still two wounded soldiers here, so it's not good for her to leave. Wang Tang has some injuries, which are not fatal, but he definitely needs to rest."
As for Zhang Tianmeng and Liangzi, neither of them are from around here, and they're not as familiar with the terrain as we are. Considering everything, Mo Ge and I are the most suitable.
Jiang Li listed out all the reasons why she volunteered.
“Pudding, I’ll keep it.”
Then it will join Liangzi's team and continue searching for herbs, so that neither side will be delayed.
After we bring the sulfur back, we can go to the deep ditch and pick the herbs.
Jiang Li's words were reasonable and well-founded. Wang Hao indeed couldn't place all his hopes on the herbs in the deep ravine; he still needed to spend time searching for herbs in the mountains and forests.
"Then it's settled. You two go to the Twin Star Crater to collect sulfur and come back, but be careful and don't come back injured. If we get two more wounded, our team will be out of a job."
"Since it's decided, let's set off tomorrow morning and try to get there and back as early as possible."
Then Wang Hao's eyes sharpened as he looked at the others. "The rest of you continue searching for herbs on Mount Guangyan. Besides the herbs in the deep ravine, we'll definitely need to collect them from other places as well. The more we can collect, the better."
Everyone nodded in unison; after talking for so long, they were all starving.
At that moment, the aroma of meat wafted from the pot over the campfire, attracting everyone's attention.
Zhao Mingkai was worried that boiled bear paws would have a fishy smell, so he gritted his teeth and put the leftover bag of self-heating hot pot ingredients into the pot to boil.
However, before adding the ingredients, he first served out three bowls of bear paw soup without any toppings.
Seeing the hungry looks in everyone's eyes, Wang Hao didn't say anything, and took a bowl to the pot to pound meat.
living comfortably without anybody's help.
Seeing Wang Hao's actions, the others quickly understood and took out their own bowls to scoop meat from the pot.
The stewed bear paw meat was tender yet still chewy, and the spicy aroma masked the bear paw's fishy smell, stimulating the taste buds and making it impossible to stop eating. Everyone broke out in a light sweat.
Zhao Mingkai and Wang Tang worked together to half-lift Liu Yu, who was lying down, and poured bear paw soup into his mouth. After feeding him a bowl of soup, the two began to eat.
After lunch, everyone rested for a while before going out to look for herbs again.
Jiang Li and the other person walked through the bamboo forest and headed deeper into the mountains.
Jiang Li arrived at the peach grove, which she hadn't explored that morning, just as she had hoped. The peach trees were in full bloom with pale pink blossoms, carrying a delicate fragrance.
The ground was covered with peach petals blown down by the wind, carpeting the entire area like a pink, elegant carpet.
Since entering the peach grove, A-Li has found that it is like a filming location for a fantasy drama, full of dreamlike and ethereal atmosphere. If it were before, this would definitely be a popular spot for internet celebrities to take photos.
Stepping into this beautiful place instantly lifted my spirits.
Jiang Li hummed a little tune, but her eyes were scanning her surroundings, looking for places where there might be fragrant herbs.
Upon seeing a fallen peach tree ahead, Jiang Li's eyes immediately lit up, and she quickly walked to the peach tree.
Pudding sniffed every part of the peach tree, leaving no corner unchecked, but unfortunately, she couldn't find any trace of vanilla flowers.
Seeing Pudding's actions, Jiang Li knew there were no vanilla flowers here, but he was not discouraged and continued to walk to the side.
This forest is so big, there's bound to be some herbs to be found.
Sure enough, hard work pays off.
Jiang Li found a herb on a dead peach tree. Its location was very peculiar, growing in the gap between the branches of the main trunk, as if it were parasitizing the peach tree.
The vanilla flower grew in a very remote location; Jiang Li wouldn't have noticed its existence if she hadn't looked up.
The problem is how to remove it.
The peach tree was about three meters tall, and its trunk was rotten, making it impossible for an adult to climb it.
Should we cut down this tree? But wouldn't that damage the herbs on it? Jiang Li hesitated.
"Stop worrying about it. You can use this time to find the next herb plant and just chop it down with a knife."
Seeing Jiang Li's face scrunched up, Ye Jingmo knew she was struggling with whether or not to cut down the peach tree. He gave her a direct answer to prevent her from agonizing over it any longer, as it was getting dark.
Jiang Li looked around to make sure no one was there, then took out a chainsaw from her spatial storage and felled the peach tree in two swift movements.
Jiang Li fanned away the dust that had been kicked up when the peach tree collapsed. After the dust settled, she excitedly ran to the peach tree and picked the fragrant herbs from it.
Hehe, another herb flower has come in, another profitable day.
Jiang Li's eyes crinkled with a smile, like a little fox that had just stolen a chicken.
"Ah Li, it's about time we went back."
Today, because they went to a deep ravine for a rescue operation, they came out later than usual, and it's almost dark now.
Jiang Li looked at the peach grove shrouded in thick fog and felt a little regretful. She wanted to explore the entire peach grove in one go.
However, considering that they would be heading to Twin Star Volcano tomorrow, Jiang Li didn't want anything to go wrong today, so she and Ye Jingmo returned the way they came.
On their way back, the two passed through a bamboo forest and spotted a bamboo rat gnawing on bamboo shoots.
Pudding rushed over without waiting for the two to give orders.
The bamboo rat nimbly dodged Pudding's attack, squeaking in fright as it turned to run back to its burrow. Ye Jingmo picked up a stone from beside him and, without hesitation, hurled it in the direction the bamboo rat was heading, completely stunning it.
The mouse was completely dazed and slowed down its running, so Pudding caught it immediately. Pudding pounced on it, biting its throat, and blood gushed out.
Soon, the struggling bamboo rat stopped moving.
Ye Jingmo and Jiang Li went to the stream, processed the bamboo rat, buried its skin and unwanted internal organs in the soil, and returned to their burrow with the clean bamboo rat meat.