“By placing the tower in a place that it can be seen, it will be able to bring hope, yet it could also bring destruction filled with despair,” Lu Chu repeated 7’s words to himself. “in other words, we’ll be able to see the tower no matter where we go — this is hope; but the ‘rules’ wishes to see our crushing disappointment after that hope. So, while we’ll be able to see the tall tower, it definitely would not be in a safe place.”
Song Gui nodded, “that makes sense.”
Yuan Kejie wondered, “it that’s the case, then won’t that tower appear next to those monsters?”
Thinking of those fellas that had so many disgusting arms, a tingling feeling crawled all over Yuan Kejie’s scalp in fear.
Lu Chu looked at her, “we can’t rule out this possibility, or perhaps, this might be the greatest possibility.”
Luo Qi’s expression showed her unhappiness, and she interrupted, “we’ve escaped from a close shave with death so many times, the ‘rule’s disgusting interest has always been maintained quite well through everything.”
Lu Chu didn’t know whether the ‘disgusting interest’ she was referring to was this round of ‘Monopoly’, or it included all the times that she had experienced in the past, but he didn’t ask much.
Hope itself might make people more desperate, but Lu Chu had long decided that he would turn his hopes into reality.
That was it.
.
Perhaps it was due to the river, but their soaked clothes stuck to their bodies. The wind blew under the moonlight, causing them to tremble due to the cold.
Then, Yuan Kejie gave an extremely loud sneeze.
When Lu Chu saw this, he said, “light a fire, don’t catch a cold.”
Song Gui looked around, “all our tools have been abandoned. If we want to start a fire, we can only drill some wood to start a flame.”
Yuan Kejie’s eyes lit up when she heard this, and she raised her hand, “I’m good at this!”
Luo Qi agreed, “you really are familiar with these kinds of things. ”
“If that’s the case, then I’m really something you’ll need to bring along for travel.” Yuan Kejie said to herself as she picked up some suitable dry firewood.
Lu Chu stepped forward. He felt that this might be a good survival skill, and he wanted to learn how she made a fire.
Yuan Kejie knelt down and worked with it, as she talked to the others, “comrades, come and help me pick up some pieces of dry wood.”
Lu Chu and the rest listened to her and and each of them went their own ways to pick up some nearby firewood. Yuan Kejie glanced at it and praised, “not bad.”
Then Yuan Kejie placed a curved firewood on dry leaves, and placed another straighter firewood on the curved section of the one before, then started to constantly rub her hands together. Soon, a slight burning smell emerged, and fine black powder fell onto the bed of dry leaves that were laid out in advance. Once Yuan Kejie felt that the amount of powder was right, she walked to a nearby bush and found a cotton-like plant, then tore it into soft cotton candy texture.
She carefully poured the black powder that she had just collected into the cotton, and wrapped it up like she was making dumplings. Pinching the outer part, she grinned, “next, it’s time to witness the miracle!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she shook the cotton in her hand and waved it side to side. Immediately, the cotton ignited. Yuan Kejie quickly threw the burning cotton into the pile of dry wood, fanned it with her hand, and the wood slowly started to burn.
“Clap, clap, clap–” Song Gui applauded, “perfect.”
Lu Chu also applauded, this was a skill worth learning.
Yuan Kejie smiled even more smugly, “thank you, comrades, for the support!”
Luo Qi wasn’t focused on the same thing as the rest. She sat on the ground, staring at the fire that was burning brighter for some time, then asked Yuan Kejie, “I’m very curious, where did you learn these strange skills? Starting fires, and lock picking.”
Yuan Kejie scratched her head somewhat shyly, “I like watching survival programs.”
Qian Zhen gave a rare praise, “amazing,” referring to her being able to remember the process and put it into action after watching the show.
As they talked, 7 had already started a few more fires, and brought Lu Chu to the side to stay warm by them. After Lu Chu sat down, 7 stood in the direction that the wind was blowing, stopping the silent night breeze that passed by from hitting Lu Chu.
After Lu Chu realised, he pulled the corner of 7’s clothes and looked up at him, his eyes a little damp, “take a sit too.”
Looking at Lu Chu’s eyes, a soft feeling floated across 7’s heart.
To be honest, over the countless years, 7’s survival skills had long been maxed out. Starting a fire was a basic thing, but since Yuan Kejie could do it, there was no need for him to bring it up.
However, this matter had let him realise that he had too much he needed to teach Lu Chu, and he couldn’t do anything sloppily.
He was enchanted by the softness and kindness in Lu Chu’s heart, but also wished that he could become sharper.
If there was a day where he couldn’t continue to guard by Lu Chu’s side, Lu Chu would have already conquer every obstacle, and have no equal.
——————
All of them who had been running for too long dried their clothes, then took turns to sleep and stay awake on duty.
A peaceful night passed.
.
It seemed that the river water was a great obstacle to the monsters, allowing them to get such a long rest time.
Of course, they weren’t sure whether the multi-armed monsters had died in the water, nor whether there were dangers in addition to the multi-armed monsters and the monsters from the first round. So they didn’t let down their guard even while resting.
Now, it was bright. They ate their hardtack biscuits, then used a large bowl-shaped leaf to pick up some clean dew to regain some strength.
“Next, where shall we go? ” Yuan Kejie looked at Lu Chu and asked.
The towers would appear once evening approached, and its location wasn’t fixed. Currently, they were in an unsafe situation and surrounded by dangers, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to wait.
Since the tower would appear in a dangerous area where they could see, they needed to stay as far away from that river which trapped multi-armed monsters as possible. Otherwise, the tower might end up appearing somewhere that they might had to pass by the multi-armed monsters.
Lu Chu shared his thoughts with the rest, and they all agreed.
“Okay,” Lu Chu said, “let’s continue to run in the opposite direction.”
Saying that, Lu Chu pointed to the direction behind him.
This time, they didn’t need to run as fast, and it was daytime again, so the danger was reduced by a lot.
Yuan Kejie looked at the silhouette of the woods that had become clearer during the day, and said softly, “the air’s good.”
Song Gui said, “It’s very clean.”
Qian Zhen didn’t say anything, while Luo Qi carried her shovel and rolled her eyes at Song Gui, resisting the urge to throw the shovel over.
Song Gui raised his hands, “I wasn’t the one who started it, right? Lu Xiaochu.”
Lu Chu could feel how Luo Qi was targeting Song Gui, but this kind of ‘targeting’ wasn’t actually hostile, so he had never paid attention to their actions, and just chuckled and nodded.
7 kept walking beside Lu Chu, with the Japanese sword at his waist.
A sleepy, sleepy couch potato that adores BL. Only second to sleeping.
If you enjoy reading the novels, consider buying some caffeine to perk up this sleepy potato.
