Chapter 81: Four Days in the Wilderness (Part Five)
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As the sky gradually darkened, Zhao Kaihe, who had gone to search for Zhang Yinjie and Cheng Dan, had not returned yet. On the foreign team’s side, they started getting noisy, “Hey, guys, is our food ready? It’s almost 7 o’clock, and we haven’t eaten yet.”
Zhong Rui exchanged glances with the people around him, then took out his phone and dialed Zhao Kaihe’s number. The call lasted less than 2 minutes.
“How is it?” Chihuahua asked.
Zhong Rui’s expression remained unchanged, “Cheng Dan injured her leg. Brother Zhao is carrying her back, and it will take about another thirty minutes.”
“What about Zhang Yinjie? Isn’t Cheng Dan his girlfriend? Why is Brother Zhao carrying her?” Taichu had no good feelings for Zhang Yinjie.
“Zhang Yinjie got stung in the eyes by wild bees, making it inconvenient for him to move.”
“Hahaha, serves him right.” Chihuahua and Taichu couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
However, soon they found themselves in a predicament again. The agreed-upon time for handing over the food was 7 o’clock, and now it had to be delayed. Wouldn’t those foreigners think they were making excuses to deliberately delay?
Just as they were thinking about this, Joey, accompanied by two companions, walked over, smiling, “We’ve come to collect the spoils.”
Zhong Rui hesitated, “Sorry, we had a small accident on our side. Can you wait for a few more minutes?”
“I say, you guys,” the large black man on Joey’s left complained, “can’t you be more straightforward? So slow, just like women.”
The only woman present, Tang Weilan, stepped forward, her momentum fierce, “What’s wrong with being a woman? Can’t women be straightforward? If you have to wait, you’ll wait. Why so much nonsense? I’ve heard about your competition, relying on your experience to bully a group of novices. Do you still have the nerve to show off!”
Tang Weilan, with a strong E-language accent, left those foreigners stupefied with her imposing aura.
Zhong Rui and the others secretly gave a thumbs up to this handsome lady.
Joey chuckled, “The beauty is right. We were too impatient. Let’s wait a bit more. I believe you Z people are still very trustworthy.”
While they were talking, a rustling sound of leaves rubbing against each other came from the woods. Everyone turned to look, only to see two figures slowly appearing in their sight.
“An Bu, Jian Ningxuan, you…” The words suddenly stopped, and Zhong Rui stared at them in a daze, momentarily forgetting what he wanted to say.
Jian Ningxuan held a folded bucket in one hand, a tree branch in the other, carrying a large bag on his shoulder, and a string of wild vegetables hung around his waist. There was even a mosquito-repellent grass inserted into his hat. He exuded the demeanor of an old bird who had been wandering in the mountains all year round.
An Bu was similar to him, returning fully loaded from head to toe.
She scanned the campsite and asked, “Where’s Brother Zhao?”
“Brother Zhao went to pick up Zhang Yinjie and Cheng Dan. He won’t be back for a while,” Zhong Rui and the others couldn’t stop examining the ingredients they collected.
“Haha, it looks like you’ve already prepared the ingredients. Well done,” Joey walked up to Jian Ningxuan, quite satisfied with the ingredients they had gathered.
An Bu looked at Zhong Rui, “How did your harvest go?”
Zhong Rui pointed to the ground, “It’s all here.”
An Bu said, “Keep these for ourselves. We’ve already prepared the foreigners’ ingredients.”
Zhong Rui and the others were surprised, “You’ve prepared the ingredients for all eleven of them?”
An Bu nodded with a smile.
Joey didn’t understand Z language and thought they were counting the ingredients together. But seeing An Bu taking a bag tied to Jian Ningxuan’s backpack and handing it over to him, he was puzzled. “This is your winnings.”
Joey took the bag with doubt, found it quite heavy, put it on the ground, and opened it to take a look. His face immediately turned strange. His companions were no exception, their faces all showing signs of “losing color.”
“Mice?” The big black man couldn’t believe it, staring at An Bu. “You actually gave us a bag of mice?”
“These are mountain mice, rich in nutrients, with an exquisite taste. Each one weighs about a pound or more. It should be enough to cover your bet,” An Bu had set up a noose trap, originally intending to catch rabbits, but ended up catching a dozen mountain mice that came out in groups to forage.
“No, no, no, we don’t eat mice!” Several foreigners shook their heads repeatedly, their faces full of disgust, as if they had seen something terrifying.
“Are you sure you don’t want them?” An Bu, seeing their determined attitude, took out another bag from the other side of Jian Ningxuan’s backpack and handed it over, “How about this? Do you want them?”
This bag contained various insects, which they found even more unacceptable. Strictly speaking, this group of people were only extreme sports enthusiasts, not experts in wilderness survival. They would always prepare sufficient compressed food or purchase locally during their camping trips. The reason they asked Z people to help them find food was just for some amusement. As for non-mainstream ingredients like mountain mice and insects, most people dared not put them in their mouths.
An Bu said indifferently, “These are all good ingredients. If you don’t want them, the remaining vegetables, berries, and fish and shrimp won’t be enough.”
Joey turned around and consulted with his companions. Finally, he said, “OK, we only want vegetables, berries, and fish and shrimp. Regardless of the quantity, we’ll consider your bet fulfilled.”
Zhong Rui and the others simultaneously exclaimed with joy, showing happy expressions.
An Bu looked at them regretfully: Do you know you’ve lost a billion?
She didn’t say much, just combined the vegetables and fish and shrimp they collected with those of Zhong Rui and handed them all over to the group of foreigners.
Jian Ningxuan silently sat beside An Bu, watching her light a fire and boil water.
An Bu glanced at him, teasing, “Your fish is gone.”
Jian Ningxuan had a face with a “baby not happy” expression.
An Bu comforted, “It’s okay, I’ll make something even more delicious than fish.”
Jian Ningxuan: Waiting obediently for food…
An Bu found a flat stone nearby, cleaned it, placed it near the fire to heat, and then took out several mountain mice from a sack on the ground. Holding a small knife, she went to the river to handle them properly. When she returned, Zhao Kaihe, Zhang Yinjie, and Cheng Dan had all returned, bringing back some vegetables and berries.
Zhang Yinjie and Cheng Dan took a casual stroll outside, resulting in one with a swollen face and the other with a sprained leg, looking quite miserable. At this moment, they had lost their previous arrogance, hanging their heads in low spirits.
An Bu greeted Zhao Kaihe and then flattened the processed mountain mouse meat on the hot stone slab. She continued to clean the insects.
The others at the camp were also busy cooking. They had handed over their ingredients to the foreigners, so they could only eat compressed food.
“Hey, An Bu.” Tang Weilan walked over, holding a bag of dried vegetables and several packets of seasoning, suggesting, “Can I taste the food you make later? I’ll exchange it for this.”
An Bu smiled, “No need to exchange, just eat. The ingredients we gathered today belong to everyone. As long as you’re willing, everyone can come and eat.”
“Thank you. However, you better keep these things; you might need them,” Tang Weulan still handed the items to An Bu.
“Okay, thank you.” An Bu noticed that Tang Weilan had brought several kinds of seasonings, which were indeed useful, so she didn’t refuse.
At this point, the mountain mouse meat had been half-cooked. An Bu used a small knife to flip it several times, brushed it with sesame oil, and continued roasting. Then she threaded the cleaned insects onto wooden sticks and placed them on a makeshift grill.
The mountain mouse meat sizzled between the hot stone and the fire, the outer skin gradually turning golden and oily. A rich aroma of meat wafted through the air, attracting everyone’s attention. Meanwhile, the insects on the sticks were also cooked, but few dared to eat them.
Tang Weilan, however, was fearless. She took a string from An Bu, bit down on one without hesitation, crunching it loudly. The onlookers couldn’t help but tighten their sphincters, secretly admiring her as a real man.
Jian Ningxuan hesitated for a long time but ultimately gave up challenging the insect meat.
An Bu used a small knife to cut the roasted mountain mouse meat into strips, fed them to the hungry cat master one by one. The meat given to the cat was neatly cut, but others had to tear it themselves.
This was the difference between a house cat with a poop-scooping officer and a wild cat.
After the feast of mountain mouse meat, An Bu made a soup with the wild vegetables and berries Zhao Kaihe brought back, to balance the greasiness.
After a hearty wild feast, the relationship among the people had grown closer. They chatted about various topics, leaving Zhang Yinjie and Cheng Dan ignored and pitifully huddled in a corner.
Smack! Chihuahua suddenly slapped himself, and a mosquito died in the palm of his hand, leaving a red mark on his face.
“Tsk, so many mosquitoes in the wilderness,” Taichu extended his arm, “Look, I’ve been bitten several times.”
“Even mosquito repellent doesn’t work. Have these guys become so clever?” Chihuahua looked at the others; they all had mosquito bites, especially Zhang Yinjie, who looked particularly miserable.
Then, he noticed a strange phenomenon near Jian Ningxuan and An Bu, who were a bit far from the crowd. When close to Jian Ningxuan, mosquitoes gathered in large groups, while near An Bu, there wasn’t a single mosquito. Even though the two were leaning against each other, mosquitoes seemed to have a very clear target. What’s even stranger was that Jian Ningxuan, who was targeted by mosquitoes, didn’t show any signs of being bitten.
If he got closer, he would find that a large number of mosquitoes were already lying on the ground on Jian Ningxuan’s side, all overheated. Mosquitoes are attracted to light and heat, but Jian Ningxuan’s body temperature was too high, and mosquitoes couldn’t stand it; he had a natural anti-mosquito buff. An Bu, on the other hand, was the opposite—she had no body temperature, no breath, no sweat, no blood scent, nothing that would attract mosquitoes, so they usually ignored her.
Chihuahua didn’t think too deeply about the anomaly on Jian Ningxuan and An Bu. He just secretly envied them and didn’t pay much attention to it.
The group continued chatting until after nine o’clock, still in high spirits. Zhao Kaihe had to interrupt, “We plan to go to Chunshui River tomorrow for snorkeling training. Everyone should get some rest early to be ready for tomorrow’s activities.”
Everyone responded, dispersing reluctantly and returning to their tents.
The next day, the group of foreigners set off early again, heading to Chunshui River for snorkeling, just like the previous day.
This time, both sides were relatively well-behaved, with no provocations or disturbances, maintaining a polite distance.
An Bu, however, was on high alert because Zhong Rui’s death aura was today, with only six or seven hours left. During this time, she planned to stick closely to him.
“What are you looking at?” Jian Ningxuan couldn’t help asking when she saw An Bu staring intently at the man named “Zhong Rui.” It wasn’t jealousy; he was just purely curious because he exuded a self-confident aura that made ordinary people unworthy of her attention.
“This grand corpse has calculated, there will be a bloody disaster for this person today,” An Bu asserted with a serious tone.
Originally just a joke, Jian Ningxuan’s reaction was unexpected.
“So, are you planning to save him again?” This sentence was spoken very fluently, and the gaze towards An Bu was unusually profound.
An Bu was shocked.jpg: How could the cat master be so shrewd!
“If you insist, I’ll help you.” Although Jian Ningxuan didn’t quite understand, he was willing to share the burden. Happiness and danger came hand in hand. Instead of letting her avoid his sight and act alone, it was better to let her live without constraints within his view.
An Bu hugged Jian Ningxuan and smiled, “Mr. Jian, you’re really considerate.”
Jian Ningxuan had a naturally indifferent expression.
“But Mr. Jian, how many survival skill points do you have?” An Bu said seriously, “This grand corpse can ascend to heaven and descend to h*ll, control the clouds with the left hand and the rain with the right hand, and can do anything. If you want to help me, you should at least learn the most important skill!”
Jian Ningxuan asked, “Which one is that?”
“CPR!”
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