Xiao Dou dashed out, drooling all the way, and started pecking wildly at the corpses on the ground. She was cleaning up the battlefield. The earwigs were surprisingly tasty, far better than the Sulfuric Acid Ants with their acrid flavor.
Even the little Tai-spot Snake slithered around, dropping the bugs it caught at Snake Spirit's feet. Snake Spirit buried the earwigs in the reddish ash of a dead tree, stretched lazily, and said, "Once they're cooked, we'll have ourselves a nice meal."
Ah Huang followed suit. After starving for two days, he wasn't picky anymore. He'd eat anything now.
Xiao Hei skewered the earwigs on a few red-tinged branches and roasted them over the fire. The soup they'd had a few hours ago hadn't filled him up in the slightest.
The earwigs probably never imagined that after such a serious life-and-death battle between two armies, they'd end up as grilled snacks, roasted over coals and devoured by chickens, dogs, and snakes.
But the earwigs weren't the only ones surprised. Even Jing Shu's teammates didn't expect that these disgusting things would turn out to be their last edible meal in the mountains.
Morning in the apocalypse came as a dim glow after a pitch-black night. The outlines of the endless mountains stood in the mist, the barren trees looked like lonely skeletons, and the cold air stung like needles. Xiao Hei hugged a piece of still-warm charcoal, shivering naked from the waist down.
A new day had arrived.
Xiao Dou tried to crow like a rooster, only to get smacked by a flying slipper from inside Jing Shu's tent. The hen clucked pitifully, holding the slipper in her beak as she waddled closer, begging for a hug.
After a night of fighting, Sulfuric Acid Ant corpses littered the ground outside their defensive ring, while every last earwig had been eaten. Snake Spirit was still licking her fingers, savoring the taste of grilled earwig. Even Tank looked satisfied after a full meal.
But once again, Jing Shu's breakfast stunned the entire team. It wasn't just about the quantity this time—it was about taste and presentation.
She brushed oil on a flat pan, poured in some batter, and flipped out twenty thin pancakes. The ten eggs Xiao Dou had laid overnight were turned into golden, crispy-edged omelets. She cut shallow slits into her sausages and fried them until they bloomed open like flowers. Slices of ham from the pig leg were heated, freshly picked lettuce was torn into pieces, and she wrapped everything up with a layer of melted cheese before taking a big, satisfied bite.
To top it off, she crushed the soaked soybeans with her bare hands into fresh soy milk, added a sprinkle of sugar, and drank an entire pot in one go.
Snake Spirit almost exploded. He slammed his half-eaten earwig to the ground. With a hiss, the little Tai-spot Snake darted forward and swallowed it whole.
Soon after, the group set out again. This time, Jing Shu brought the Sulfuric Acid Ant nest with her. What shocked everyone even more was that in just one night, the ants had become completely obedient. They followed her at a steady distance like well-trained soldiers. Nobody knew what she'd done to make that happen, but they all kept quiet, too curious to ask.
Still, with these Sulfuric Acid Ants by their side, their chances of making it out of the mountains were higher.
The weapons were heavy, and carrying so much weight slowed them down and wasted time. They couldn't just throw them away, so Jing Shu and Tank gathered deadwood and built a mountain crawler cart—a multi-wheel contraption that could grip even a sixty-degree slope. It took off a huge load.
What freaked everyone out was that when some of the deadwood broke, red liquid oozed out like blood. They double-checked and found nothing strange, so they kept using it. Jing Shu couldn't recall ever hearing anything about trees like these.
From then on, Jing Shu's survival experience really came into play. She guided them with expert precision, identifying creatures none of them had ever seen before. They all had one thing in common: rotting bodies, immune to bullets, and completely inedible.
"Damn it, if we don't find food soon, I won't be able to walk anymore. It's been two days since we found anything to eat!" Xiao Hei shouted into the empty forest.
"Are we lost? Why can't we get out of this mountain? How big can it even be?"
The temperature dropped lower and lower. They'd entered the true depths of the mountains. Everyone's clothes were too thin, so they borrowed from Jing Shu. Thankfully, she'd packed plenty of warm gear. Xiao Hei didn't even care that he was wearing women's clothes anymore—his ass was completely frozen.
The sight of the group was almost comical: someone in cropped pants, another in mid-sleeve coats, everyone mismatched and half-dressed.
But the food problem still hadn't been solved. Even Monkey and Ah Huang couldn't find a single bug now. The mountains were deathly silent. After walking for a while longer, they didn't even encounter the rotting creatures anymore.
"Could we be stuck in one of those ghost maze things? Like, maybe we've been walking in circles this whole time? What if this is all an illusion?" Tank muttered.
"You think this is some fantasy novel? I've been marking every area we pass using my own method. We've been moving in a straight line. The mountain's just too damn big," Snake Spirit said with a flick of his tongue.
But Jing Shu couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. She kept sensing eyes on her from the darkness, and the discomfort crawled down to every pore of her skin. She activated her god view, scanning the mountain like it was broad daylight. There was nothing—just emptiness. No life at all.
"We need to move faster and get the hell out of this creepy place," she said. For the first time, she actually wanted to run.
Her mountain of stored meat finally came in handy. Even Ling Ling's chocolate, Tank's rations, and Snake Spirit's emergency food were all gone. Everyone was completely spent.
A meal cost 100 contribution points, and at this point, that wasn't expensive. Not for food cooked by someone with Michelin-level skill. Jing Shu's meals restored their strength like nothing else. She'd prepared everything so perfectly that even the mix of wolf meat, crocodile meat, and fresh vegetables felt like a feast.
When it mattered most, she didn't hold back. She made sure everyone ate until they were full. Tank, especially, couldn't be more grateful. The 100-point price tag saved everyone's pride. They were all once elite soldiers, too proud to take charity, but with contribution points as the cover, nobody felt humiliated.
Right then, Jing Shu's image and authority in the group rose to a whole new level.
But after just a few days, her pig legs and shredded beef ribs were shrinking at a visible rate, and still, there was no end to the mountain trail.
"Please, Boss, let's rest for a few hours. I really regret not turning back when we had the chance. Why'd we have to come into this damn mountain?"
"I regret it too," Tank sighed, scratching his head.
"We can't stop," Jing Shu said firmly. "It's not just the food running out. I can feel danger closing in."
She shoved a piece of beef into Xiao Hei's hand. "Ten contribution points. I'll add it to your tab."