Chapter 243: Departure
Translator: Insignia Editor: Svjohn
Luo Yuan was idling for almost an hour and the sky was slowly getting brighter. Everyone woke up one by one. He waved at them after they finished washing their faces and said, "Hey guys, come here!"
Everyone was stunned and then walked towards Luo Yuan.
"What’s up, Brother Luo?" Huo Dong asked.
Luo Yuan remained silent for a second and then said, "Let's discuss our departure date."
"Where are we going? Are you thinking about going to the rehabilitation center?" Commander Xia asked. He was nervous as he saw Luo Yuan nodded. Commander Xia’s attitude was the most firm amongst the group as his family members were all in the rehabilitation center. Unlike the rest, they would not worry too much. He assumed that the list of dead soldiers would have been sent to his house by now as he has been missing for such a long time. Every time he thought about the fact that his wife may be grieving his death, he felt anxious and extremely uncomfortable.
"When are we leaving?" Huang Jiahui asked.
Luo Yuan continued, "The situation here is getting dangerous, I feel we should leave as soon as possible."
"Brother Luo, it’s your call. We will just follow you." Huo Dong immediately expressed as he knew he could not change Luo Yuan’s mind once he decided on something.
The rest quickly nodded as they saw Luo Yuan look at them.
"Alright, let’s depart today then!" Luo Yuan said firmly.
There were not many things they could bring along except the bare necessities. Other than a few bags of water and about 20 kilograms of salt, they also brought some high quality smoked meat for emergency. However, the pots and containers were left behind as they were not as important as the food and water. They could make new ones as long as there are rocks and wood.
They were all ready to depart at 7 a.m. They climbed up to the back of the giant lizard and then departed.
Insects crowded the sky but they fell onto the ground when they were 40-50 meters away from them. Of course, did those because of Luo Yuan will. He did not even have to use his full power to cause such an effect. In fact, it was not even 1/10 of his power. However, that was more than enough to kill those tiny insects.
Everyone looked depressed and anxious, and some even looked pale. The brambles and bushes along the journey were squashed by the huge feet of the giant lizard as they slowly went further and further away from the cave. Soon, the cave had disappeared from their vision. Furthermore, as the pathway began to look more foreign to them as they went further away, they began to feel melancholic and extremely anxious.
The sunshine penetrated the lush greenery and left some light shadows on the ground. The hot light beams became slightly cooler after a few layers of filtration from the neighbouring leaves. However, that comfortable moment would only last for one to two hours in the early morning.
The temperature eventually shot up to about 20 degrees Celsius during the noon even they were under the shade. At that point, even the wind was burning hot and they could not avoid sweating profusely. Other than Luo Yuan, the rest would need to drink water every hour to rehydrate themselves.
The giant gorilla did not follow them on the land since the forest is their paradise. Its body continuously jumped from one big tree to another with a strong wind following it wherever it went. Fortunately, almost all the trees there were big and strong enough to support it, otherwise, they would have collapsed due to the heavy weight from the giant gorilla.
It stopped and waited for them to catch up once in awhile, and then continued to leap from tree to tree again. It certainly had a lot of fun in the forest.
"Big King Kong! Get some fruits for me!" Wang Shishi suddenly shouted and pointed at her mouth with a biting action.
The giant gorilla frowned and blinked its eyes at her like it really understood what she had said. It scratched its head and then ‘boom'- it disappeared. It had jumped to the big tree on its left and disappeared after a few leaps.
"Do you think it got the message?" Luo Yuan asked. Since he brought him back, he did not actually teach it anything. It had spent time more with Wang Shishi and Huo Dong.
"I have no idea, but I guess it understands some simple words." Wang Shishi said uncertainly.
"Brother Luo, don't underestimate that fella! It is as smart as a human! You just need to teach it once and it will get the message." Huo Dong said while laughing.
"Indeed. This is the smartest mutated beast I’ve ever seen. Even the military dogs can’t compete with it. Of course, giants are in a different league." Commander Xia said seriously.
After about 10 minutes, Luo Yuan heard some sounds.
"It’s back!" Luo Yuan said while hoping to see something.
They heard some sounds as well.
The bushes were shaking vigorously with a sound- ‘bomm,bomm,bomm’. The sound was getting louder as something gradually came nearer to them. In a few seconds, the giant gorilla appeared on a big tree on their left. There were many fruits inside its arms and some fell from the air as they slipped from its arms.
A force gathered all the fruits before they fell onto the ground and the fruits were basically floating in the air. The whole bunch of fruits were then swirled up to the back of the giant lizard and formed a small hill. Every single fruit was as big as a normal bowl and was wrapped by a thick dark red shell. It looked like a walnut but was bigger and heavier than that. It weighed about a kilogram on average.
"Is this edible?" Huang Jiahui asked happily as she looked at Luo Yuan.
After Luo Yuan did the necessary identification, he said, "Yes, it’s edible."
The shell was very hard that Luo Yuan needed to use 50% of his strength to open it. There was something that looked like pink jelly with liquid inside. The fragrance spread around the place and made everyone drool. Luo Yuan finished the jelly in just a mouthful.
It tasted sweet and sour with a minty cool feeling. That made him feel great under the hot weather. As expected, the rest were not as strong as him and they had to use their own knives to open the fruit. The whole fruit easily split into two after a cut as the knives had been modified by Luo Yuan and its material was the bones of the dead giant weird bird. Every single knife in the group is a light green level weapon.
As his power has been continuously increasing, he no longer hides his power anymore. Besides that, there were so many modified weapons swinging in front of them, there was no point to hide it. Even if they tell someone else, he was no longer afraid as people would just try to please him instead of being his enemy.
He thought of it like a kid holding a block of gold in a big crowd. The kid would die soon because the kid is weak. However, if it were a muscular guy then the danger is relatively low. And if there is a long knife tied at his waist, then he is totally fine.
"Delicious!" Wang Shishi said. She immediately opened another one.
Fruits were rare to find during the end of the world. Furthermore, because it was very dangerous in the forest, no one would intentionally hunt for fruits. It was also rare to find an edible one along the journey. Luo Yuan ate a good number of fruits until he felt full.
"Here, take it." Huang Jiahui looked at Chen Jiayi who was sitting alone at the side and then passed her a little.
Chen Jiayi quickly turned around and looked at the fruit for a moment. She kept quiet at first and only after a while, she responded, "Oh! Thanks, Sister Huang. I'm good."
"You don’t like eating fruits?" Huang Jiahui asked.
"Hmm, I have no idea. I feel like I'm no longer a fan." She thought and then replied.
Huang Jiahui sighed. Since the moss had become a parasite on Chen Jiayi, she was getting more alike to a plant. She often idled under the sun and did not eat much. Sometimes, she did not eat anything for a few days. She would reluctantly eat some food when there were some high-quality meats available. No one knows whether the changes are good or not.