Chapter 23#

Chapter 23 In the Forest

Four days and three nights of wilderness travel and extreme sports?

He Hailou agreed immediately at that time. He had really played this so-called wilderness travel with people in the circle a lot in the past three years—jumping off a small hill was called extreme cliff jumping, and climbing an indoor rock wall was called extreme rock climbing—he just hoped that even if Gu Chenzhou found an excuse to drag him out of the capital, the arranged program would at least not be too cliché.

“Nine o’clock in the morning two days later, is Young Master He okay with that?” Gu Chenzhou asked.

He Hailou raised his eyebrows: “As Young Master Gu arranges.”

Gu Chenzhou nodded, said a few idle words as usual to be polite, and then turned to leave.

This episode did not leave much impression on He Hailou. The last memory of that night, apart from the girl’s soft body, was the crimson walls and dark windows appearing alternately in his vision.

Until eight o’clock in the morning two days later, He Hailou received a call from Gu Chenzhou in bed, yawned and rushed to the airport, took a helicopter for a five-hour flight—even the sun had turned a considerable angle in the sky—and when he landed on the periphery of a dense forest, he suddenly realized that things seemed a little different from what he imagined…

Thick green shade covered the clear sky. On the lush ground, a brown path that seemed to be walked out by human legs appeared faintly in the weeds. Pushing forward a few meters, it disappeared under the tangled drooping roots. The trees connected by these roots, large or small, grew strangely. Some were bent on going up, some were twisted and looking around, and some were lazy and boneless, almost falling on the ground… He Hailou stared at the trees in front of him for a while, and really found a pointed emerald green snake hanging leisurely on the treetop, disguising itself as a vine.

“…Young Master Gu?” At this point, even He Hailou, who didn’t care about anything, couldn’t help but stutter.

“Extreme sports,” Gu Chenzhou picked up the military backpack that came down with the two of them from the ground, took out a dagger and stuck it in his boot, and walked forward first, “I thought Young Master He would like such an arrangement.”

He Hailou also grabbed his backpack from the ground. Because of the wrong idea at the beginning, plus throwing everything to Gu Chenzhou, he hadn’t cared about his backpack since getting on the plane. But now… He Hailou followed Gu Chenzhou, dodging the branches and roots sticking out randomly beside him, while checking his backpack:

A large pot of water, compressed biscuits, chocolate, dried meat, sleeping bag, some medicine, rope, gloves, dagger, folding crossbow, gun, compass… and a small packet of seasoning. Seeing this, he went back to check the amount of food, and found that although the food inside was all small in size and hunger-resistant, it was indeed only enough for three days.

Ropes and gloves were used for climbing, sleeping bags indicated spending the night in the wild, and weapons represented hunting programs.

Four days and three nights of travel… He Hailou thought playfully. Just as he pressed his hand on the tree trunk next to him to step on a dirt platform, a green mantis flew onto his finger, holding two sickles and looking at him.

The two looked at each other silently.

He Hailou dropped his hand, and the mantis flew away suddenly, which disappointed He Hailou who originally wanted to get the insect on the ground and stomp it to death. But at this time, Gu Chenzhou’s voice came from the front:

“Young Master He.”

He Hailou turned back and walked a few steps to Gu Chenzhou: “What instructions does Young Master Gu have?”

“I dare not give instructions. Is Young Master He satisfied with such an arrangement?” He said and pointed forward again, towards the peak standing tall above the forest in the distance, with its tip inserted high into the clouds, and said lightly, “Destination. The helicopter will be waiting there at that time.”

“…” He Hailou.

“Young Master He?”

“Young Master Gu is really unkind. Giving a surprise without saying anything, leaving me unprepared at all.” He Hailou put his hands in his pockets and complained looking at the distant peak.

“I thought Young Master He would miss it.” Gu Chenzhou smiled faintly.

“Miss it?” He Hailou didn’t turn his head, but the gaze cast into the distance became cold inch by inch, “Young Master Gu really understands me. Must have spent a lot of effort, right?”

“Just like the effort Young Master He spent on me.” Gu Chenzhou finished slowly and stopped talking about these things that both of them knew well, and continued forward.

What is in a forest without obvious human traces?

In just two hours of advancing, Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou personally experienced including but not limited to the following: monkeys that throw hard objects and squeak, several snakes of different colors and unknown varieties lingering on the branches, flowers that eat insects, insects that disguise as flowers to eat smaller insects, big rats that suddenly rush out from the grass and are not afraid of people at all, spider webs as high as calves covering the bushes on the way forward, and spiders definitely bigger than palms…

With a rush and a kick, Gu Chenzhou jumped onto the thigh-high natural dirt platform in front of him, stood on the edge and looked forward for a while, turned back and squatted down, extending his hand to He Hailou who was about to come up: “This side is not bad, let’s stop here for today?”

This was a genuine inquiry. He Hailou glanced at Gu Chenzhou’s hand with some surprise, and handed his hand over.

A strong force came suddenly from where they held hands. He Hailou took advantage of the momentum to step forward, and he was already standing on the dirt platform.

Along the way, the two had climbed no less than ten such dirt platforms. As the altitude rose all the way, compared to the darkness under the dense leaves two hours ago, although the path this time was also covered by trees, the oppressive feeling at the beginning was gone. On the contrary, the evening sunlight shone down from the sky, part of it fell on the ground forming spots of light, and most of it was evenly smeared on the leaves. Looking up, it was a magnificent color of deep and shallow shades.

He Hailou was also looking at this place Gu Chenzhou suggested for rest: the turf in this place was not very lush. Among the sparse and short green, fine gravel and yellow soil could still be seen. A big tree with a diameter of half a meter broke from the root for some reason and fell obliquely forward, crossing the path they were advancing on. At the same time, it made other surrounding trees retreat a few steps as if by agreement, leaving a circular open space in the middle.

Theoretically speaking… this was really not a particularly good choice for staying.

But indeed, along the way, it was the place with the least lush vegetation and the least danger of forest fire.

And not far from the water source.

He Hailou took a deep breath. The humidity in the air echoed the bubbling sound of water in the distance. He looked at the sky, then nodded to Gu Chenzhou: “Let’s stay here first.”

Although the resting place was determined, Gu Chenzhou didn’t mean to put down his backpack for the time being. He said to He Hailou: “I’ll go check the water source.”

“Then I’ll make a fire.” He Hailou said.

The two split up. Gu Chenzhou walked along the sound of water for about fifteen minutes and saw the water flow hidden under the grass. He walked along the water flow for a while, and the waterway suddenly became wider and deeper. Finger-sized fish, turtles, and small crabs all appeared in the waterway.

But these obviously couldn’t exist as extra dishes for dinner. Gu Chenzhou patiently followed the increasingly loud sound of water and walked forward for a while, until he turned past a bush of human-height grass and came to a mountain wall, witnessing the clear water pouring down from the mountain wall, filling a deep pool under the rock.

Seeing the small pool of unknown depth in front of him, Gu Chenzhou gave up the idea of river fresh food.

But just as he filled a large pot of water and turned to walk back, he suddenly found a few palm-sized fish staying quietly in the waterway extending from the deep pool. Maybe their color was too similar to the stones underneath, Gu Chenzhou didn’t notice when he came.

But now…

Gu Chenzhou raised his arm, holding a small folding crossbow steadily in his hand, squinted one eye and murmured: “Luckily…”

He Hailou was preparing to build a fire on the spot.

This was not a very simple task. He picked a place far away from the broken tree, cleared all weeds and combustibles within a range of two meters, picked up several suitable stones from the surroundings to build a simple fireplace, and finally skillfully piled the dead branches just cut from the dead tree into a woodpile.

It was still early, no rush to make a fire.

He Hailou walked around, looked under several trees for a while, selected one of them, patted the trunk, jumped up, climbed over the trunk in a few strokes, came to the position of the branch, and reached out to touch the bird’s nest right in front of him…

At this time, Gu Chenzhou walked out of the forest leisurely with two fish hanging on a piece of rope.

He Hailou touched the bird’s nest, and his downward gaze met Gu Chenzhou’s upward gaze. Both saw some slight smiles on each other’s faces.

Gu Chenzhou stopped first and said to He Hailou on the tree: “Need help?”

He Hailou glanced at the bird’s nest in his hand, suddenly jumped, hooked the trunk with one arm at the same time, and slid to the ground in a few breaths: “Stopped playing this when I was five.”

Gu Chenzhou smiled, walked to the woodpile and sat down, took out a dagger to clean the fish scales, and then disemboweled to remove the internal organs: “How to eat?”

“Roast it, simple.” He Hailou suggested casually, took out a candle from his bag, and lit the bark and hay under the woodpile.

Walking in the forest for half a day carrying a backpack of dozens of pounds, regardless of whether the two usually insisted on exercising, they were a bit tired at this moment.

Bright flames rose from the brown branches, and the surrounding light seemed to be absorbed by the flames at once. In a while, it became completely dark.

Dinner was simple: a few roasted bird eggs, two river fish roughly smeared with seasoning, a little compressed biscuit and meat strips.

After eating, Gu Chenzhou sprinkled a circle of insect repellent powder around, found a suitable place to start setting up a simple tent, and said to He Hailou at the same time: “Walking forward from here, about thirty minutes away, there is a small pool where you can fish. The beta light is in my bag.”

Perhaps the wind was too clean, the water too clear, and the forest too quiet, or perhaps this place really evoked some happy memories of He Hailou’s childhood. His face didn’t have the ambiguous eccentricity when he was with Gu Chenzhou several times before. Instead, he raised his eyebrows, revealing a vivid and not too annoying complacency: “Beta light? Too weak. I can catch fish with two hands.”

“Just like you touched the bird eggs just now?” Gu Chenzhou tied a rope on the branch and said without looking back.

“Speaking of this—” He Hailou wasn’t angry, “What were you smiling at me for just now?”

“What were you smiling at me for?” Gu Chenzhou asked back.

He Hailou recalled:

“I think the way you walked out leisurely carrying the fish… looked especially like a duck in a certain cartoon.”

“You are really honest.” Gu Chenzhou fixed a corner of the tent cloth to the ground with a nail. Then he said slowly:

“I also think your movement of touching the bird eggs just now was so skillful that it looked especially like a savage monkey jumping up and down in a certain game.”