novelraw 12 Food Crisis
12 Food Crisis
Led by Qin Mian, the group continued their journey. Along the way, Qin Mian staggered and looked as if he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment, which made the group even more suspicious.
Park Guk-chang's words resonated with everyone, and they all began to doubt whether Qin Mian was truly a ghost.
"Although it's unwise to expose himself so early, his size probably means he can't possibly last fifteen days in the desert, and we only have fifteen days. This timeframe must have been carefully calculated by the God of Dungeons. Being delayed by even one day could be fatal. If he really is a ghost, then risking delays makes sense!" Alice thought to herself as she followed behind Qin Mian, staring at the obese figure.
The others probably thought of this problem as well, and their gazes toward Qin Mian grew increasingly gloomy.
Qin Mian also sensed that the atmosphere seemed to be getting more and more tense. His five senses were very sharp, and he could clearly feel that the hostility in the eyes of those behind him was growing.
He knew that if he didn't find those three trees soon, these people might confront him and force him to reveal his identity.
Although these people look harmless, they have no humanity to speak of in the dungeon.
"Damn it, if the instructions hadn't said that one person absolutely couldn't complete the mission, I would never have come with you guys!" Qin Mian thought to himself, and couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
Although they obtained the Qilin blood, the others also gained their own skills, so they should not be underestimated.
It would be very unwise for him to make enemies of so many people all by himself.
Before he knew it, Qin Mian had no choice but to quicken his pace.
Fortunately, before anyone else could make a move, he finally found the three poplar trees.
"There we are!" Qin Mian shouted hurriedly.
Behind them, Park Guk-chang and Yamamoto Ichiro stood together, whispering amongst themselves, seemingly having already planned to take direct action against Qin Mian. However, upon hearing this, they quickly stopped.
"Damn it, could it be that this kid was right?" Park Guk-chang frowned, clearly displeased.
Yamamoto Ichiro secretly glanced at Park Guk-chang, a cold smile flashing across his lips.
Everyone looked in the direction Qin Mian was pointing.
Although it was night, the moon was very round, and from a distance, you could see three poplar trees arranged in a triangle under the sand dunes in the distance, which was exactly the same as the arrangement of the three small black dots on the map.
"Great! Everyone, quickly search the area!" Scarlett was the first to cheer, the gloom on her beautiful face vanished, replaced by the joy of escaping a desperate situation.
"We really found it!" Alice's brows relaxed, and she gave a self-deprecating smile. "It seems that my previous guess was not accurate. Sure enough, it's not that easy to guess other people's identities in just one day."
Immediately, everyone began searching the surrounding area.
A moment later, Ah Ku Ku called out from under a sand dune, "Here! Come over here!"
Everyone gathered around and saw that in a low-lying area half-covered by wind and sand, what was exposed was not soft sand, but large areas of smooth and rounded pebbles washed by flowing water, as well as deeper layers of dried and hardened riverbed soil.
Although most of it has been swallowed up by yellow sand, the remains of this once wide river channel are still clearly visible, like a scar on the earth, winding into the depths of darkness.
Looking into the distance along the ancient riverbed, the river still appears intermittent.
"Hahaha, great! We've found this ancient riverbed, determined the direction, and also the distance. We can roughly estimate the scale of this map, and based on the distance we've traveled today, we can estimate the time it will take to reach the next ancient city ruin!" Andreev laughed heartily.
Scarlett looked at Qin Mian with a beaming smile, "Qin Mian, this time, we owe you a lot."
"Yes, thank goodness for your keen observation, otherwise we might have wasted another lot of time!" Alice said with a smile.
Qin Mian seemed a little embarrassed by the praise, like a fresh college graduate. He scratched his head and said, "Hehe, actually... I was just lucky. I just happened to see those trees. I didn't really think that much about it. It's good that I could help. It's good that I could help."
"Haha, brother, don't be modest, luck is also part of your ability!" Andreev patted Qin Mian on the shoulder, then let out a soft "Huh, brother, why do I feel like you've lost weight?"
His words drew the attention of others as well.
When I first met Qin Mian, his face was so round it was almost like an electric griddle, and his eyes would crease when he smiled. Now, his round face seemed to have turned into an oval face.
"It seems like she's really lost weight!" Scarlett remarked.
Qin Mian's eyes lit up. Had he lost weight so quickly?
It's only been one day. At this rate, wouldn't I be able to return to normal in fifteen days?
"Hehe, maybe. I guess I'm just tired. I've never walked this far in my life. Sigh, I really don't know how many more days I can keep going..." Qin Mian sighed, looking dejected.
Andreev glanced at Qin Mian's physique, somewhat helplessly, and patted him on the shoulder, "Brother, hang in there! As long as you persevere, the future is bright!"
"Yes, I will!" Qin Mian nodded.
He felt that Andreev was a decent person, straightforward, but of course, this was only a superficial impression.
He glanced at Park Guk-chang again. This guy was shameless enough; now that he had found the river, he didn't mention a word about what had happened before.
[Park Guk-chang, kneel down.]
[A guy named Park Guk-chang, are you impressed or not?]
[Haha, Qin Mian is awesome! He's proven us college students!]
[A 300-pound man has managed to persevere this long; what incredible willpower! I admire him!]
……
Scarlett looked at Alice and asked, "Alice, can you tell now how far we are from that ancient city ruins at the very least?"
Alice kept looking at the map, her brow furrowed.
When Alice asked, he answered.
"Based on the distance we've traveled today, I've done a quick calculation. At our current pace, it will take us at least five more days to reach this ancient city ruin!"
She paused, sighed, and added a more brutal statement: "But that's the ideal situation. In reality, with declining physical strength, changes in the dune terrain, and potential unforeseen circumstances... the actual time we need could be six to seven days, or even... longer."
Upon hearing that it would take another six or seven days, everyone's expression turned extremely grim.
Because food can be eaten sparingly, but water cannot. In this desert, if you don't replenish your water supply, you will really die, and the water they have left probably won't last seven days.
……