CHAPTER 927: CHAPTER 903: PARTING WAYS

"Wu Yang, why aren’t you leaving?"

Bai Xiao was puzzled; she had already guessed that Jiang Xiaoxiao wouldn’t leave.

But given the pride Wu Yang displayed when they first met, she didn’t think he would ever stick with a group as weak as theirs.

Surprisingly, the least likely thing happened.

"Because I want to, I’m happy this way."

Wu Yang’s attitude was really asking for a beating.

Jiang Xiaoxiao started packing her belongings.

The three boys seemed to have planned this from the start, and they took all the food with them.

Which meant they had already decided to part ways with them.

But they were ruthless enough not to leave them a single scrap of food.

Xiao Yu suddenly realized that not a single bit of food was left with them.

"Those bastards took all our food, except for these fruits in my basin."

Xiao Yu thanked his love for food because if he hadn’t held onto his basin earlier, these would be gone too.

"They can take it. Now everyone needs to travel light with their luggage. Bring as little as possible, and don’t even bother with a change of clothes. Surviving is the most important thing now. Bring only some food, water, essential medicines, and weapons for survival. Everything else can be thrown away."

Jiang Xiaoxiao began sorting her things.

"Throw everything away? I brought so many good things."

Bai Xiao felt a bit disheartened.

"What’s more important, your life or those things? You decide."

Jiang Xiaoxiao turned around and took out quite a few items.

"I still have a lot of potatoes, yams, and sweet potatoes in my bag. These might be raw, but if we divide them among everyone’s pockets or packs, then even if we get separated, at least everyone will have some food."

Eating them raw isn’t a problem, though the taste won’t be great, at least you’ll survive."

Since everyone was comrades, sharing resources was only natural when information was shared.

And given that she had plenty in her space, Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn’t bear to let these young women perish here.

She would do all she could to help them, but they had to carry their food; that’s a given.

Everyone silently approached, picking up yams, potatoes, and sweet potatoes from the ground.

Each placed a small pile in their backpacks, surprised that even these small piles were quite heavy once packed.

No one knew how Jiang Xiaoxiao had carried such a heavy load, and many still looked at Jiang Xiaoxiao’s backpack with suspicion.

Jiang Xiaoxiao lifted her backpack to show them; they realized she had a mountaineering backpack.

It had zippers at the bottom, and when unzipped, the backpack expanded significantly.

No wonder Jiang Xiaoxiao had managed to fit so many things. Otherwise, they’d suspect she had a pocket like Doraemon’s.

With everything packed, each person was ready to go, carrying only one backpack each.

As for weapons, they couldn’t count on having any now.

Wu Yang thought of a solution since he had a dagger with him, a military blade he particularly liked and hadn’t expected to be their only weapon today.

The irony was stark.

He chopped some branches.

Sharpening both ends to use as temporary weapons, as nothing else was available.

And each girl was given one.

Jiang Xiaoxiao analyzed their route; the boys had dashed to where they had seen the silver box. Even if they rushed there now, they likely wouldn’t find anything good left.

Pick up leftovers.

Instead, they decided to change their route.

They angled towards where the box had been visible, though this meant risky travel.

Because this would involve descending the slope directly, and the dense woods made it hard to predict the dangers lurking.

The bear they had seen earlier was just one of the forest’s natural threats, who knew what wolves, tigers, or leopards might await them.

But staying put was even worse, effectively waiting for death.

If they found the box, they might secure some weapons.

The five set out.

Armed with the dagger, Wu Yang volunteered to lead, clearing the path with it.

Being a man, this was expected of him. The three girls were in the middle, and Jiang Xiaoxiao brought up the rear.

No one assigned roles; it wasn’t Jiang Xiaoxiao’s skill that dictated her position, but necessity.

If the three girls fell behind, finding anyone in such a vast forest would be nearly impossible.

Among them, Jiang Xiaoxiao had some practical experience.

Her partner, Song Moting, had taught her many survival skills, so she had to make full use of all she’d learned.

Entering the jungle, they realized how difficult traversing the slope was.

No path to follow.

The journey was fraught with jungle, bushes, rocks, and threats from venomous snakes, small animals, insects, mosquitoes, and flies.

The three girls complained at first until they saw a wolf howling on a distant cliff.

No more complaints.

Compared to death, these hardships were nothing.

They circled for a long time but found nothing.

The five of them were a bit downcast.

They sat in a clearing in the jungle.

Resting under the trees, they snacked a little.

Two days and a night without food left them all starving, and with twilight falling, they needed to find safe shelter before dark.

Otherwise, they might die in the jungle tonight.

They had seen over a dozen silver wolves, wild boars, black bears, and predators like leopards and tigers.

Luckily, the animals were far away.

When spotting them, the group turned and left before being seen, as falling into a confrontation would likely end in defeat.

Nibbling on raw sweet potatoes,

Jiang Xiaoxiao stayed silent, while Wu Yang finished his food.

"Stay together and don’t wander off. I’m going to scout ahead. It’s getting late, and we need to find a cave or something for safety."

Wu Yang displayed some manliness.

Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded, understanding Wu Yang’s words were partly directed at her. They both realized they had taken leadership in this mission.

With Wu Yang gone,

She was left to protect the girls. Not because Jiang Xiaoxiao was particularly capable,

But to provide some grounding; Wu Yang likely did not see her as primary combat strength.