“Yueye... Yueye...” Someone softly called her name by her ear.
“...Huh?” A young voice came from her mouth... The first thing she saw was a face full of concern.
“Time to head out...” Wang Tong looked exhausted. He’d been on the last night watch...
“You worked hard...” Yueye gave him a grateful smile. Everyone had put so much into this team.
“It’s okay... We’re all doing the same, aren’t we...” Wang Tong scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
“Anyway, thanks for all your hard work...” She rubbed her eyes a little... Then she suddenly noticed Wang Tong still watching her from the side.
“What is it...?” Yueye’s face stiffened as she looked at Wang Tong. Her pale blue eyes flickered away. She had no idea what strange things he might be thinking.
“Go wake the others...” Yueye added. She felt her face getting hotter and hotter. She didn’t really want to be around Wang Tong right now, and his stare was making her nervous...
“You really are Yueye...?” Wang Tong asked, staring at her.
“Obviously!” Yueye shot Wang Tong an annoyed glare.
“...No, it’s just... seeing you turn from a boy into a girl... I didn’t expect it to suit you so well...” Wang Tong patted Yueye on the shoulder, then walked off to the side...
“Who does it suit?!” Yueye snapped back before she could think. But Wang Tong didn’t seem to hear her at all. He went to wake the others...
She patted her cheeks, calmed herself down, and began thinking back to last night’s dream.
“...” Yueye fell silent... Last night’s dream had been so strange... It was as if it had been carved into her mind. The whole thing felt like a memory from her childhood... hazy, yet crystal clear... as though she’d really lived through it...
“Could it really be true...?” Yueye pieced together a possibility from her dream...
“...” Yueye didn’t dare think about it... She didn’t know how she’d feel if she learned the truth...
...Maybe... she’d feel even more lost...
“Yueye... come get some breakfast!” Su Lin called from nearby... Yueye had no idea how long she’d been lost in thoughts of her dream. When she came to, she saw that most of the others were already awake. They’d gathered together and were handing out breakfast.
“Coming!” A little smile appeared on her small, adorable face... She was so cute it made you want to dote on her... A foodie really did brighten up the moment food came up...
As for where breakfast came from...
Of course, the system... One loaf of bread cost 0.1 exchange points, while 0.5 got you a deluxe meal... Compared to life on Earth, the better the food in the system, the cheaper it was... Even the most lavish meal, enough for twenty people to eat twice, cost only 20 points... But... 20 points... could buy 20 bullets...
Of course, they had daily necessities too... Things like tents... The set of camping gear Su Lin had redeemed last night cost 5 points... It came with a tent, cooking gear, and other essentials for camping. Su Lin had bought three sets in total... Each tent could hold about four people, leaving two extra people who could take turns keeping watch... Come to think of it... the moment the tents appeared last night, Yueye’s face had gone red as an apple... Luckily, Zhu Yue noticed and pulled her into the girls’ tent...
“Yueye... did you sleep well last night?” As a pair of warm, soft arms wrapped around Yueye’s neck, her pretty face turned a little red.
“I’m fine!...” Yueye smiled... letting her know she’d slept well...
“All right! Looks like everyone got a decent rest... Let’s set out as soon as we finish breakfast!” Su Lin looked at the forest, still veiled in morning mist, and rallied the team with confidence...
“This forest is huge... When are we ever going to get out of here...?” complained a rather short boy...
“No idea... But I don’t think we’ve actually come very far...” Du Shengjie glanced at the sun, already almost overhead, and thought it over before answering.
“At most, thirty kilometers...” Yang Yufeng adjusted his glasses... He didn’t talk much, but he offered his opinion... As the top student in the class, his words carried some weight.
“...Which means, if this forest is about as big as the Amazon rainforest... it’ll take us at least a month and a half to get through...” he added.
“We have to face reality... If one loaf of bread costs 0.1 points, then our 200 points will only buy 2,000 loaves... That means three meals a day will take 42 loaves... and 2,000 loaves will only last us 43 days. And that’s the best-case scenario... assuming we don’t run into any enemies...” Yang Yufeng laid out the problem... His tone was as calm as still water, as though it had nothing to do with him.
“Yueye... you’re so tiny... You probably only need two loaves a day, right...?” Wang Qian sneered, looking at Yueye, who didn’t even come up to two-thirds of her height.
“.......” Yueye fell silent... Her little hands clenched slightly...
“You’re already so tall. Maybe you can just stop eating...?” Yueye shot back... She’d put up with it the first time she was provoked... but if she let it happen a second time, she wouldn’t have been a guy in her past life!
“Cut it out... Wang Qian, if you can’t stand Yueye, you can leave... She’s already proven she’s more useful than you...” Su Lin looked at Wang Qian, clearly annoyed... Nobody here was stupid... If he weren’t trying to save face, he’d have punched her already...
“Hmph... I was just giving my opinion...” Wang Qian turned her head away, looking displeased...
“Stop arguing!... Listen!” someone shouted... The crowd fell silent in an instant...
“Splash, splash...” The clear sound of running water came from between the trees...
Everyone looked astonished and cautiously made their way toward the source of the water...
“......” Su Lin stared at the slow-moving river in front of them, dozens of meters wide... His face fell. If the water was too deep, they’d have no choice but to take a detour.
Suddenly, he spotted an orange-colored figure. He was at the very front of the group.
“Shh...!” Su Lin quickly raised a hand... signaling for everyone to stay quiet...
“ROAR!” A huge roar came from the direction of the river...
You’ve got to be kidding me... Where the hell did a tiger come from...? Su Lin grumbled inwardly, not daring to move a muscle...
The tiger by the river flicked its tail and lounged on the riverbank.
“Fall back.” Seeing this, Su Lin signaled to the others...
The group slowly retreated until they’d reached a safe distance... Then everyone collapsed onto the ground...
“That was intense as hell.” Wang Tong lay on the ground, staring speechlessly in the direction they’d retreated from...
“What do we do now...?” Zhu Yue glanced at Su Lin.
“Take a detour...”
“But you saw it too. If we keep going forward, we’ll have to cross the river...”
“Let’s look around some more... See if there’s a good place for us to cross...”
The group was stuck in a bind... Crossing the river was their only option now... But they’d seen what the riverbank was like. Wherever there was water, there were bound to be creatures... Crossing wasn’t their only problem to worry about.
—A few hours later—
The group found a narrower stretch of river... The current was fairly fast, but manageable, and there were no other creatures around...
“The water’s deep... It comes up to my chest... I can carry Yueye on my back. We should be able to make it across...” Soaked from head to toe, Su Lin looked toward the others on the bank...
“...You’re already exhausted... Let me carry her...” Wang Tong picked Yueye up and carried her on his back...
“Thanks...” Su Lin gave Wang Tong a grateful look...
“We’re all in this together... Come on. No need to thank me.”
With Yueye on his back, Wang Tong felt a hint of softness against him, but she was surprisingly light... almost like a feather. It was actually quite comfortable...
“As for Zhu Chao... you can swim, right?” Su Lin looked at the only person besides Yueye whose height might be an issue...
“Mm...” The yellow-faced, slightly short boy nodded. He meant that he didn’t need anyone to look after him...
“Then let’s go...” Led by Su Lin, the group stepped into the water, completely unaware that something beneath the surface was watching them...
