Reborn amidst natural disaster, my childhood sweetheart and dad help me stock up and win effortlessl

Chapter 276 Collection 4

If the watch had been able to communicate, Jiang Li would have immediately told Wang Hao and the others the news.

With this cave, they no longer needed to travel back and forth between the mountain and the car every day, spending a lot of time and energy.

Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo climbed up the cave, covered it again with the wild grass beside it, and marked the spot.

Jiang Li, who had just emerged from the cave, did not see Pudding guarding the entrance and looked puzzled.

Where did Pudding go?

Jiang Li pondered to herself, and the next second, Pudding ran back with a bamboo rat in its mouth.

Pudding spat out the bamboo rat, sat obediently, and wagged its tail, waiting for Jiang Li's praise.

The bamboo rat had its throat bitten off by Pudding, and a large amount of blood spurted from its neck, soaking its fur. It lay motionless on the ground.

Jiang Li suddenly realized that the most common animal in the bamboo forest was the bamboo rat. Pudding must have seen the bamboo rat that ran out and killed it as prey.

Jiang Li put the bamboo rat into her spatial storage, patted Pudding's head, and praised, "Pudding is really amazing, she even brings her own food when she goes out."

Ye Jingmo glanced at his watch; it was almost five o'clock. If he continued exploring deeper into the bamboo forest, it would get dark soon.

When Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo were almost at the stream, they took out the bamboo rat from their spatial storage and had Pudding carry it.

They just didn't expect to be the first to arrive; people arrived one after another after that.

There was no unnecessary chatter; everyone decided to discuss everything once they got back to the car.

If you wait until it's completely dark, the mountains and forests will become even more dangerous, as all sorts of animals will come out at night, making it even more difficult to walk on the mountain paths.

Finally, as darkness fell completely, everyone rushed back to the car.

Zhao Mingkai, who was sitting in the driver's seat with his eyes closed, heard a knock on the door. He looked up and saw Wang Hao and the others. He immediately opened the car door and let them in.

Did you find any herbs today?

Zhao Mingkai had been in the car all day, with no one to talk to and no way to move. He was going crazy with boredom.

Everyone started taking out storage bags from their backpacks, and Wang Hao recorded today's gains on his watch.

"Liangzi and I found two fragrant herbs."

As Zhang Tianmeng spoke, she took out two sprigs of herbs from her storage bag and put them into the small refrigerator that came with the car.

This was specially provided on the vehicle by the base to prevent the vanilla flowers from losing their activity after they wither.

"Hehe, we found three."

Wang Tang held up three fingers, smiling to reveal his white teeth, which made his already dark skin appear even darker.

“Fu Qian and I also found three,” Wang Hao paused as he took notes, his serious face softening with a smile. “It seems everyone had a good harvest in the bamboo forest.”

"Yes, and if we hadn't rushed back, we could have searched deeper into the bamboo forest; there are still many places we haven't looked."

Liu Yu looked at Ye Jingmo with a scrutinizing gaze, "Captain Ye, how many herbs did you pick?"

The others looked at Ye Jingmo and Jiang Li with curiosity, thinking that they must have gained a lot.

"We found a total of fifteen herb plants,"

The moment they opened their mouths, everyone was stunned. Fifteen herbs—if that were distributed among others, it would be a five-day workload.

Even though I knew Ye Jingmo and the other person would gain a lot, the difference here is too big.

"You found more than a dozen herbs in the bamboo forest, but that doesn't make sense. How big of an area would you have to search to find that many herbs?"

Zhang Tianmeng scratched her head, still looking puzzled.

Zhao Mingkai couldn't hide his curiosity. He had just heard the numbers being announced as two, three, three, and so on, and thought that the team would only harvest a dozen or so herbs at most today.

As a result, Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo unleashed a powerful move, and the two of them had already collected more than ten plants.

Wang Tang was questioning his life, wondering if God was judging people by their looks and luck. Otherwise, how could the amount of herbs and flowers picked from the same mountain be so different?

“Eleven of them were picked from the same spot in the bamboo forest,” Jiang Li said, which silenced everyone again.

Good heavens, we searched high and low, like a carpet search, to find just a few plants, while you guys found more than a dozen in one place.

What about our hard work?

The crowd's eyes were filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred; they wished they could immediately transform into evil villains and steal the luck from Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo.

Faced with such intense gazes, Jiang Li coughed twice, embarrassed, scratched his head with one hand, and looked around.

"That place is a cave that I accidentally fell into. The cave never sees sunlight all year round, and somehow a dozen or so herbs grew there. Then they were a lucky find for me and Mo Ge."

Before Jiang Li could finish speaking, Fu Qian stepped forward and grabbed her hand, muttering something, which startled Jiang Li, who thought something had happened.

Fu Qian ignored Jiang Li's shocked expression, instead touching Jiang Li's hand with a strange smile on her lips, her face becoming increasingly intoxicated.

Wang Tang was a little confused by Fu Qian's behavior. "Fu Qian, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to ride the coattails of the lucky koi fish. It used to be said that forwarding this lucky koi fish image would bring good luck in exams and work."

Now there's a human-shaped koi fish right in front of me. If I touch it myself, I'm sure I'll get some good luck.

"I'll just wait and see if I accidentally fall into a hole and find a dozen or so herbs; then I'll be laughing all the way to the bank!"

A scene flashed through Fu Qian's mind, and she couldn't help but want to laugh out loud.

Wang Tang and Zhang Tianmeng's eyes both flickered. Why hadn't they thought of this approach?

But before they could even take any action, they were deterred by a pair of cold eyes.

Ye Jingmo's cold eyes hardened into sharp blades as he stared fiercely at Wang Tang and Zhang Tianmeng's outstretched hands, as if he could cut them off at any moment.

It's one thing for Fu Qian, a girl, to hold Jiang Li's hand, but these two grown men also want to hold it?

Wang Tang and Zhang Tianmeng reluctantly withdrew their hands, inwardly crying out, "Why aren't we girls? We wanted to shake hands too!"

"Alright, let's get down to business."

Wang Hao interrupted the others' playful banter, took out a topographical map of Guangyan Mountain, and spread it out on the carpet in the car.

He took out a pen and drew their route for the day on the map, while the others sat around him, observing carefully.

"The bamboo forest we visited today is here," Wang Hao pointed to the red-marked location on the map. "Should we continue deeper into the forest, or change direction?"

Wang Hao wanted to continue deeper into the mountains and forests, where the chances of finding herbs would be greater, allowing them to collect the herbs needed for the mission sooner.

However, the chances of encountering wild beasts in the depths of the mountains and forests also increase significantly. The area is full of dangers, and you could lose your life if you're not careful.

He didn't know whether the others wanted to collect the materials on the outskirts first, or if they wanted to go directly into the forest.

"Let's go straight into the forest. I don't think there are many herbs and flowers on the outskirts. If there are, they've probably been picked by people from other bases."

Liu Yu knew that going deeper into the mountains would be even more dangerous, but how could they catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger's den? Coming out of the base was already an adventure, so what was a little more risk?

The others nodded in agreement with the idea.

"Another problem is that if we go into the mountains, we can't just keep coming back to the car. That would take too much time and energy."

Zhang Tianmeng frowned and said that if they had to travel back and forth like this every day, they would spend a lot of time on the road.

A temporary encampment in the mountains is urgently needed.

Wang Hao nodded. "That is indeed a problem."

In the past, he would have chosen to camp on the mountain and find a safe place to pitch his tent and go camping.

But now, in the thick fog and within the mountains and forests, all sorts of animals are hidden, and plants they don't recognize have also grown. Where is a suitable place to set up camp?

Wang Hao crossed his arms, frowned, and looked at Ye Jingmo beside him. "Jingmo, what are your thoughts?"

Jiang Li blinked, and Yang Qi's smug expression appeared. "Actually, we were just about to talk about this. The cave we mentioned earlier is actually quite suitable as a temporary shelter."

"Is that the cave where you picked the herbs?"

After listening to Jiang Li's detailed description of the cave's size and location, Wang Hao stroked his chin and said, "Then let's go to that cave tomorrow to check out the situation. If it's suitable, we can put our things inside first, so we don't have to run up and down the mountain."

“If we take everything up the mountain, then we won’t need anyone to stay in the car for the time being. We can just find a secluded place to hide the car and drive it out when we need it.”

After the meeting, everyone started preparing dinner, and Jiang Li contributed the bamboo rat that Pudding had caught.

The group spent the afternoon searching for traces of vanilla flowers. By the time they realized it, it was almost evening. They rushed back in a hurry, let alone go hunting.

Everyone thought they would have to make do with half a can of nutritional supplements that night, but Pudding brought them a pleasant surprise.

Wang Hao even enthusiastically pulled Pudding into his arms and gave it a deep kiss on the forehead.

Pudding rubbed its head against Wang Tang's clothes. Wang Tang thought Pudding was being affectionate with him and smiled, showing his teeth.

Pudding: You audacious scoundrel, does anyone think they can kiss a dog like that? Ahhh, the dog is dirty, I need to wipe it clean right away.

The campfire flickered beside the vehicle. Liangzi turned the skewered bamboo rat over, its deep red, charred skin glistening with a faint sheen of oil, dripping into the fire and sparking tiny embers.

The bamboo rat that Pudding caught weighed nearly six pounds; it was incredibly fat.

Wang Hao used a knife to cut the bamboo rat into evenly sized pieces and distributed them to everyone's bowls.

Pudding got the biggest piece, after all, it was the food it caught, and everyone else benefited from it.

After dinner, Wang Hao and Liu Yu set up a tent next to the car, and within a few minutes they had it up and running smoothly.

The tents provided by the base have built-in frames and do not need to be disassembled. You just need to go inside, set up the tent, and then fix the four corners, and it's ready to use.

The only tent was given to two girls—Jiang Li and Fu Qian—while the others squeezed into the car to sleep.

Zhao Mingkai volunteered to keep watch for everyone. He had been in the car all day and wasn't as tired as the others.

Fu Qian changed the dressing on his wound, which was slowly healing, but it was not as good as expected, and he would probably need to continue to rest.

Zhao Mingkai didn't want to continue being a useless person, so he wanted to do his best to help everyone.

A cool night breeze blew gently, causing the campfire to sway from side to side and the firewood to crackle.

After a long day, everyone fell asleep the moment they lay down on the bed.

……

In the early morning, dew covered the car windows, as if a light rain had fallen, and the breeze carried a slight chill.

Jiang Li got up early, which was unusual for her. She glanced at Fu Qian, who was still sleeping next to her, tiptoed out of the tent, and stretched her body outside.

Zhao Mingkai held a thin stick in his hand, poking at the firewood in the campfire, on which hung a pot that was bubbling away.

"morning."

"morning."

Zhao Mingkai greeted Jiang Li warmly, and his previously pale face, which had become somewhat pale due to his injury, gradually regained its rosy hue.

"Wait a little longer, the soup will be ready."

Zhao Mingkai stirred the soup in the pot with a spoon, revealing bones with some minced meat inside.

"These are... the bones that the bamboo rat chopped down last night?"

Jiang Li was a little confused when she saw the bones. How did they still have food? Then she suddenly remembered that Wang Hao had removed the bones from the bamboo rat beforehand when they were roasting it yesterday.

She initially thought it was to make eating easier, but it turns out it was for making soup in the morning.

While the two were chatting, the others gradually woke up.

Ye Jingmo walked towards Jiang Li. He was still a little unaccustomed to not sleeping with Jiang Li last night.

Seeing that Jiang Li hadn't buttoned up her outer clothes, Ye Jingmo frowned and stepped forward to button them up for her.

"It's cool and humid in the mountains this morning, so make sure you're dressed warmly. Are you planning to go back and continue taking your medicine?"

Ye Jingmo's lips curled down slightly as he feigned anger.

"I know, I just woke up and didn't notice." Jiang Li pressed her face against Ye Jingmo's arm, revealing a flattering smile.

She didn't want to take Chinese medicine anymore; it was practically torture, the kind she had no choice but to endure.

Wang Hao put a small bag of compressed biscuits into the soup pot, which could be considered his main dish.

Soon, the thick bamboo rat bone broth porridge was ready.

Jiang Li slurped up the bone broth, which had a hint of the aroma of compressed biscuits, and felt that it had gained a certain flavor, making the broth even more delicious.

After breakfast, everyone busied themselves packing up.

Wang Hao and Ye Jingmo drove off to find a place to hide the car, Zhao Mingkai and Fu Qian extinguished the campfire with soil, and the others sorted out the supplies and items they had taken from the car.

A short while later, Wang Ha and Ye Jingmo returned.

The group began to walk into the mountains and forests, following the route they had taken yesterday, and easily reached the bamboo forest.

Following the previous markings, Ye Jingmo and Jiang Li led everyone to the cave.

Ye Jingmo used his hands to peel away the weeds that were covering the hole, and everyone could see that there was a hole underneath.