CHAPTER 924: CHAPTER 900: SEARCHING FOR FOOD

When the sky was just starting to lighten, Jiang Xiaoxiao had already gotten up.

The others were still sound asleep. These privileged ones had never endured such hardship before.

Last night, everyone was up late tending to the fire until the wee hours. Worried about hunger, they tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and only fell asleep as dawn approached. So now, they were all sleeping deeply.

The sound of Jiang Xiaoxiao getting up woke Wu Yang.

Wu Yang yawned, looked around at the people sleeping deeply, and rolled their eyes.

If bad guys came, they could sell these people in their sleep, and they wouldn’t know.

"Where are you going?"

Seeing Jiang Xiaoxiao walking away with a basin, he hurriedly asked.

"I’m going to wash my face by the stream and bring back a basin of water to boil for everyone. The day has already begun. I’ll see if I can find any wild fruits, wild vegetables, or anything edible around.

There’s no food with Bai Xiao either. If we go without food again today, I doubt we can get over the mountain. And who knows how many days it will take to cross this mountain?

If we don’t hurry and figure out a way to be self-sufficient, the days ahead will be tough. We can’t starve like this every day."

Jiang Xiaoxiao wanted a good excuse to take out things from her space, though there were some things she couldn’t take out.

She thought she could bring out some vegetables and, together with potatoes and sweet potatoes, it would surely be enough to fill them up.

She initially planned to secretly bury some things in the ground and then pretend to dig them out as a legitimate reason, but she hadn’t anticipated Wu Yang waking up.

This was like having an additional obstacle.

"I’ll go with you!"

At the mention of food, Wu Yang’s stomach seemed to grumble like thunder.

Jiang Xiaoxiao chuckled, "Then let’s go take a look."

The two of them washed their faces by the stream.

"Hey, Xiaoxiao, I just saw a few small fish over there. How about this, we split up—you go look for any wild fruits or vegetables, and I’ll stay here and try to catch some fish.

Fish soup would count too; it’s better than having nothing at all."

The moment Wu Yang saw the fish, he got excited. It was food, real food.

For the first time, he realized that seeing fish made his saliva flow quickly.

Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded, "Alright, but be careful."

Wu Yang’s suggestion was a godsend.

Jiang Xiaoxiao wandered into the nearby woods.

She was genuinely looking for edible wild plants, as it wouldn’t make sense for sweet potatoes and potatoes to appear out of nowhere. At least they needed to see some wild ones to pin suspicions on.

To her surprise, Jiang Xiaoxiao found a sizeable harvest. She actually found a clump of wild-growing sweet potatoes, and of course, some yams too.

Most importantly, she saw a few fruit trees with wild grapes and mulberries.

These could all be eaten, at least to replenish sugars and vitamins.

Jiang Xiaoxiao put down her backpack and started digging up yams and sweet potatoes.

First, she packed some sweet potatoes and potatoes into her backpack; these were from her space, then she took out a spade and started digging in earnest.

After all, she needed to give everyone an explanation. It wouldn’t make sense not to uncover the entire area after claiming these things were from there.

But with these sweet potatoes and potatoes, plus the yams and these grapes and mulberries, they probably had enough food for today. What made Jiang Xiaoxiao even happier was knowing that, at this rate, they wouldn’t have to worry, even if they spent several days crossing the mountain.

As long as there was water and food on the mountain, it would be an easy problem to solve.

It was puzzling though—could it be that the Medicine God Association wanted to train everyone’s wilderness survival skills?

But normally, doctors wouldn’t have the conditions or opportunities to encounter such situations. They’re not field hospital doctors who need to survive in the wild.

The thought of the so-called Kunlun Secret Realm suddenly crossed her mind.

Could it be that the presidents of the eight major families of the Medicine God Association were aware that the so-called Kunlun Secret Realm might require everyone to fend for themselves?

That’s why they needed everyone to experience this self-sufficient wilderness survival to develop corresponding coping skills for the future!

Perhaps it’s also a method of elimination through survival of the fittest.

Unable to figure it out for now, she decided to set it aside, knowing she’d eventually find the answer.

The old fossils of the Medicine God Association might be hoping for some kind of investigation here.

In this day and age, surveillance technology wasn’t that advanced.

Besides, since yesterday until today, with all the observations along the way, no cameras had been found.

The few that were spotted were scattered and didn’t cover a large area, mostly concentrated on the path up the mountain.

But it didn’t rule out the possibility that the Medicine God Association had people secretly observing in other ways.

So she needed to be extremely cautious when acting.

Jiang Xiaoxiao carried her backpack, holding the basin.

She had just drawn a basin of water to cook sweet potatoes and potatoes later.

However, she had poured out the water to pick the wild grapes and mulberries.

She could only use the basin to carry the fruits since her bag was already full of yams, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

There were still plenty in the ground, but Jiang Xiaoxiao really couldn’t take any more.

Fortunately, she had stored a lot of yams in her space.

God never closes all doors.

"Wu Yang, Wu Yang!"

Jiang Xiaoxiao heard Bai Xiao calling.

"Don’t shout; you’ll scare all my fish away."

Wu Yang grumbled, unable to suppress his sense of failure. He had been busy here for ages and hadn’t caught a single fish.

"Xiaoxiao, how about you? Did you find anything to eat?"

From afar, Wu Yang saw Jiang Xiaoxiao with a basin, standing still, thinking she might have come back empty-handed like him.

"Come help me quickly. I found quite a bit. I just found yams, sweet potatoes, and potatoes in those woods over there. This basin is full of wild grapes and mulberries I picked. They’re all edible. Let’s take these fruits back and spread them out on the big rock to dry. We can refill the basin with water.

I’ll wash the yams, potatoes, and sweet potatoes by the stream. When we get back, we can cook them to eat. If we cook them and carry them with us, they can serve as rations on the road. This is our food for today."

Jiang Xiaoxiao’s words quickly attracted a group of people. It turned out that five or six classmates who had been with Bai Xiao the night before had followed along. When they woke up in the morning and found Jiang Xiaoxiao and Wu Yang missing, they set out together to look for them.

They didn’t expect to stumble upon such a pleasant surprise.

Bai Xiao helped Jiang Xiaoxiao wash the yams, potatoes, and sweet potatoes by the creek.

The others quickly took the basin back and spread the fruits out on the stone to dry.

Then others came with a basin to fetch water.

Someone else had the initiative to go into the woods to collect branches, ensuring they could have a fragrant breakfast that morning.

Having something to eat.