The Wilderness

Before setting off this time, Qing Chen was no longer alone when packing up the campsite.

Qin Yiyi didn't even help with her own campsite, but quickly started folding up tents and small stools for him.

They even helped Qing Chen find the six "Thor" ignition artifacts from the extinguished campfire.

The girl approached Qing Chen, handed him the cleaned "Thor" mask, and said, "If you start hitchhiking, it won't worsen your foot injury."

After speaking, the girl returned to Qin Cheng's side and asked in a low voice, "Dad, how much is the penalty for breach of contract usually for servants?"

Old man Qin Cheng glared at her irritably. "You stay in the car and don't talk to that boy."

"No," Qin Yiyi grabbed onto the truck bed and jumped inside, completely disobeying orders.

Girls in the wilderness are all wild, like little wildcats, and once they reach a certain age, they are no longer under their parents' control.

Although they were city dwellers, Qin Yiyi her parents and had basically become like a wild child.

Qin Cheng sighed as he looked at his rebellious daughter, then said to Qin Tong, "Later, you go sit in the back of the truck and keep an eye on your sister so no one takes advantage of her. She might listen to you a little when you talk to her, but she won't listen to me at all when I talk to her."

"Okay," Qin Cheng sighed as well.

Sitting in the car, Qing Chen noticed that in the back of the pickup truck, covered by a green tarpaulin, was a cage that was completely empty.

Inside the vehicle he was sitting in were some scattered tools for hunting animals and repairing cars.

The pickup truck's engine roared like a wild horse galloping, sounding incredibly powerful.

He took a small stool out of his backpack and gave it to Li Shutong, who sat down on it quite naturally.

No matter how bumpy the pickup truck was on the dirt road, Li Shutong sat steadily.

At this moment, Qin Yiyi, hugging her knees, asked, "Uncle, what level are you? How dare two people come to the wilderness and head south?"

Even now, they are still located on the outskirts of the city.

There are many production bases here, and the Federal Second Group Army is stationed nearby. Troops patrol here from time to time, so it is not considered dangerous.

However, things are different further south. Even if you don't get close to the Forbidden Zone, it is still dangerous for ordinary people.

Last night, Qing Chen asked Li Shutong: Are the people in the next camp a family?

Li Shutong answered yes.

Qing Chen was puzzled. Why would the whole family travel together in such a dangerous place as the wilderness? What if they all got into danger? After all, there were women in the neighboring camp who weren't good at fighting.

Li Shutong replied: They were forced to leave the city to make a living because they couldn't find a way to survive there.

The reason why the family must stay together is that in such a dangerous place as the wilderness, people outside of blood ties cannot be trusted.

If a team camps in a remote place and someone gets up in the middle of the night and secretly drives the vehicle away, the remaining people are no different from waiting to die.

Those who are abandoned will immediately transform from hunters into prey.

In this day and age, you can't even trust your own family, let alone outsiders.

According to Li Shutong's judgment, the old man Qin Cheng was the leader of this group, and the remaining young men were either his sons, nephews, or nieces.

At this time.

Li Shutong looked at Qin Yiyi and asked with a smile, "What level do you think I am?"

Qin Yiyi and said, "C-Class."

Li Shutong shook his head. "I am S-level."

Qin Yiyi pouted. "Fine, don't tell me if you don't want to. You're so stingy."

In the girl's eyes, Li Shutong had simply made up a lie to deliberately deceive her.

Qin Cheng sat to the side, remaining silent. He watched his sister chatting with Li Shutong, and his heart was filled with anxiety.

However, her younger sister has always been smarter than her and better at reading people. She must have noticed from the conversation with this middle-aged man that he doesn't seem to have a bad temper.

While everyone was chatting, Qing Chen sat in the car, holding his e-reader and turning pages.

Qin Yiyi glanced at it; the reader displayed photos of plants with small captions next to them.

This was obtained by Lin Xiaoxiao for Qing Chen, so that he could memorize all the known plants in the Inner World.

Some are edible, some can be used to draw fresh water, some can be used to treat external injuries, some are medicinal herbs that can be used to treat symptoms, and some can be used to temporarily deal with poisons—the variety is endless.

Qing Chen wrote this down to prepare for any unexpected situations he might encounter in the wild in the future.

As I looked down at the e-reader, a slender hand reached into my field of vision, holding a bright red apple.

Qing Chen watched silently. There were many small wounds on the hands, and calluses on the knuckles. It was clear that the hands were from years of hard work.

Qin Yiyi said, "Here, this is for you."

After saying that, she stuffed him into his arms before Qing Chen could refuse.

Qin Yiyi continued, "There's an apple orchard 30 kilometers west of the campsite. It's not part of the production base. Wild apples are usually very sour, but the apples picked from that orchard are big and sweet. My family has been picking apples here for three years in a row. They're delicious, you should try them."

Generally, fruit trees must be fertilized and pruned during their fruiting period. For example, tangerines also require trunk girdling to make the fruit sweeter.

Therefore, wild jujubes and wild apples are generally small and sour because they have not been cared for by fruit farmers.

But Qin Yiyi said it was a wild apple grove.

There's no reason for it to produce sweet fruit.

Li Shutong looked at Qin Tong and said, "Tell your father to be careful when he goes to that apple orchard again."

"Why?" Qin Tong, somewhat surprised.

"There are already signs of Forbidden Zone appearing there. Perhaps a superhuman died there decades ago. Even before it took shape, it covered an area of more than 30 square kilometers. The superhuman who died was probably at least a B-Class," Li Shutong thought for a moment and said, "The fruit is fine now, but maybe if you eat it in a few years, it will have a hallucinogenic effect. After eating it, you will see dragons flying in the sky and insects crawling on your body... Mild hallucinations are fine, but if it is severe, you won't have time to save yourself."

Most importantly, insects and wild beasts in the Forbidden Zone will also mutate, and unpredictable evolutionary directions will emerge.

In recent years, there have been more and more Forbidden Zone.

"Are these apples still edible?" Qin Yiyi asked.

"Yes," Li Shutong nodded, "the Forbidden Zone hasn't been formed yet."

Qin Yiyi handed an apple to Li Shutong: "Here, have one too."

Li Shutong laughed, "You didn't give it to me earlier, why are you giving it to me now?"

Qin Yiyi glanced at Qing Chen furtively. "I'll only give it to him, not to you. I'm worried you might secretly make things difficult for him."

Li Shutong burst into laughter, suddenly realizing that this journey would be very enjoyable.

Qing Chen was thinking that he hoped nothing bad would happen to Nan Gengchen, who had been taken to a dangerous wilderness.

However, upon further reflection, he realized that he should be worried about whether this kid could withstand Li Yinuo's robust physique...