This is apocalyptic

Chapter 47: On the Mountain

The morning dew quickly soaked the trouser legs of both men. The sun gradually rose, and the leafy treetops cut the sunlight into pieces, and the sunlight shone through the gaps between the leaves.

Bai Xiao followed Lin Duoduo's footsteps and felt everything was new and fresh.

He used to live in the plains and had never chopped firewood, let alone the experience of going into the mountains. The most he had done was climb stone steps at tourist attractions, which was completely different from wading through the dense grass like now.

Lin Duoduo skillfully used a machete to cut through the weeds. After walking a little further, the road became a little better. The grass here was shorter and grew in clumps.

Bai Xiao would occasionally see her leaving a mark on a tree. This was near the low grass, where people wouldn't leave much of a mark, but she would leave a mark, apparently to prevent herself from getting lost.

Before Bai Xiao existed, Lin Duoduo once got lost when she went into the mountains by herself. It was an autumn day, and she picked up a full basket of chestnuts. She didn’t know how to get there, and she ended up back at the same place. Fortunately, she didn’t encounter any danger that day, so she found a place to stay for the night and got out the next day.

"Do you remember the way?" Lin Duoduo asked the zombie.

"remember."

Bai Xiao felt good and looked around for some mountain products. It would be great if he could find some ginseng to replenish his body. He had no experience in the mountains and didn't know whether ginseng grew in this kind of mountain. However, from his memory, it seemed to be only found in the northeast and should not be seen here.

"Should we carry this back?" Bai Xiao poked a piece of wood on the ground with a knife.

"Pick it up when you come back."

"Oh……"

Occasionally, squirrels could be seen among the bushes, their figures flashing by. Bai Xiao was about to say something, but suddenly stopped. Without saying a word, he pulled Lin Duoduo.

Lin Duoduo also noticed it, paused, and bent down with Bai Xiao to look not far away.

There is a deer over there.

It didn't look very good and fell to the ground.

"An infected deer." Bai Xiao said softly.

The deer was festering, not completely dead yet, but almost dead. It was rotting from the inside out, unlike the zombie-like rotting.

Lin Duoduo didn't move and looked at it with Bai Xiao.

In this hot weather, a festering deer, its rotting flesh not surrounded by flies or maggots, just lay there, twitching occasionally.

It makes people feel cold.

“It’s not like it can survive.”

This was the first time Bai Xiao saw an animal unable to survive after being infected. It was different from the big cat he met while scavenging in the city.

After looking around for a long time, Bai Xiao did not see any suspected source of infection. There were many possibilities: animals, zombies, or contaminated water sources...

"What do you think infected it?" Lin Duoduo asked.

“There are so many possibilities.”

Bai Xiao has been reading the notebook left by Lin Duoduo's family over and over again these days, and has a general understanding of the possible changes that may occur in animals.

Although there have been some changes in the past twenty years, they are all traceable.

They had only been in the mountains for half a day when they saw this scene. Both of them felt a little heavy. The situation was more serious than Bai Xiao had expected - in this land, in unknown corners, this scene might be happening in many places at the same time.

"I think it's better to bury it." Bai Xiao said, and then realized that he didn't have the right tools.

"It doesn't have much effect." Lin Duoduo said.

Bai Xiao looked at the mountain and forest. Indeed, the mountain was too big and burying one or two would be of no help.

The two men avoided the deer and moved forward more cautiously in silence.

Until Lin Duoduo pointed to a place in the distance and said, "There are chestnuts over there, but they are not ripe yet. In a few months, when the leaves on the mountain turn yellow, you can go into the mountain to take a look."

Bai Xiao looked around. After Lin Duoduo's explanation, it was difficult for him to remember exactly. However, it was enough for him to remember that there were chestnuts in this area. In case of any accidents in the future, he could try to find them by himself.

Lin Duoduo didn't know everything at the beginning. When it comes to a certain point, what people can learn is often beyond their expectations.

Lin Duoduo said there were still hawthorns, but they were not ripe yet. Last year, she was not very lucky. She was a little late when she was ready to go into the mountains, and there were several days of heavy rain, so the mountain roads were impassable. When she finally arrived, many of the hawthorns had fallen and started to rot.

There are mushrooms under the tree. Bai Xiao doesn't know if they are edible. Lin Duoduo rarely tries them. She is cautious about wild mushrooms that are everywhere and difficult to identify. She will not try them easily unless she is sure about them. This is what her family has warned her about.

The sun gradually rose higher and the mountain became hotter.

She walked and stopped from time to time, not going too deep into the mountains. In today's world, there might be some changes every year when entering the mountains, so she seldom walked too deep into the mountains.

When Bai Xiao met a wild pheasant on the road, he pounced on it while wearing a helmet and actually caught it, which even surprised himself.

"I don't think a zombie should carry a hoe to work. The wilderness is my home." Bai Xiao has felt good since entering the mountains.

Lin Duoduo re-examined him and said after a moment: "You finally look like a fresh zombie."

When he faced the big cat when he went into the city to scavenge before, Bai Xiao also used a stick to hold it down.

Bai Xiao touched his helmet and thought for a while. Since he was infected, he was either doing radio gymnastics in the shed or hitting those old zombies with a stick when entering the city. He hardly had any adrenaline rush. The only time he was attacked by a big cat was when he didn't pay much attention.

Tie up the pheasant tightly and carry it with you. You don't want to create any bloody smell when you are in the wild woods.

Around noon, the two found a rock and stopped to rest for a while, drink some water and eat something, because the sun was too strong.

When we walked a little further in the afternoon, we came across a patch of raspberries. The red fruits looked pleasing to the eye. Bai Xiao remembered a game he loved to play when he was in school, called dnf, in which there was an item called raspberry, which could restore HP.

Those memories are very scattered, and they will only suddenly come to my mind when I see something.

"Pick more, this contains a lot..." Lin Duoduo originally wanted to explain its nutritional content to the zombies, but she was stuck for a long time and couldn't remember the difficult words her mother had said to her, so she had to give up.

This time, she picked up a lot of white sugar, so she wanted to pick more. White sugar, like salt, can keep food fresh for a long time and is sometimes more useful than just eating it.

Bai Xiao took the bag and started picking the fruits, while Lin Duoduo went around to check if there was anything else that could be dug or picked. Even if they were not ripe, they could keep an eye out for them and find them directly next time they came.

After picking the raspberries, Bai Xiao carried the bag and walked back with Lin Duoduo. Lin Duoduo went to collect firewood according to her usual route.

There were many dead branches there, which were easy to burn and the road was easy to walk on, all of which the zombies did not have. Once she had found the place, she would untie the rope and take the zombies to collect firewood, occasionally chopping off some branches.

While collecting firewood, Bai Xiao also saw white bones in the woods. Lin Duoduo said that they might be people who hid in the mountains after the disaster, or they might be villagers who died in an accident when going up the mountain. It is difficult to tell which one it is now.

(End of this chapter)