Seeing Wei Qihai's reaction, Chun Mian pursed her lips and repeated in a very serious tone, "It should be ginseng seeds. I still need to take them back and cultivate them to be sure."
Hearing this, Wei Qihai's legs gave out again. With a loud YELP, he leaped straight onto Chun Mian.
"Snake, snake, snake, snake!" Wei Qihai shrieked uncontrollably. His voice was so piercing it nearly deafened Chun Mian on the spot.
Staring at the small green snake in the grass—which was barely thicker than a thumb—Chun Mian fell silent.
This was the most common type of green snake found in local farmlands and bushes. Because it possessed little medicinal value, Chun Mian had no intention of catching it. In fact, earlier when she had noticed others slithering about, she had simply tapped the grass with her wooden stick to scare them off. Her attention had been so focused on the ginseng seeds that she had completely missed this particular one.
Looking at Wei Qihai, who was shivering while clinging to her for dear life, and then down at her own scrawny arms, Chun Mian momentarily experienced a profound sense of doubt regarding their respective genders. She wondered why this entire scenario felt so completely backwards.
After recovering from his initial fright, Wei Qihai also realized that something was amiss.
"I... I..." Seeing that the little snake had already slithered away, Wei Qihai hurriedly scrambled down from her. He scratched his head in embarrassment but was at a loss for words.
"You need to start working out. You feel even lighter than I am," Chun Mian remarked simply. She didn't say anything else, merely gesturing for them to keep moving forward.
Wei Qihai offered a sheepish smile. He cautiously eyed the surrounding bushes as he followed her up the mountain.
They continued for a short distance. Wei Qihai was still surveying the grass in all directions, terrified that another little snake might ambush him, when he suddenly noticed that Chun Mian had stopped in her tracks. Confused, Wei Qihai halted and craned his neck to look ahead.
"What's wrong, Chun Mian?" Wei Qihai asked in a hushed whisper, having failed to spot anything unusual or any scaly little creatures in the grass.
"Let's head back," Chun Mian replied softly. She stared at a set of large animal tracks on the ground, sniffing the scent lingering in the air before slowly stepping backward.
Though Wei Qihai couldn't understand why she was retreating, he had zero experience trekking through the mountains. Whatever Chun Mian said, went.
Yet the very next second, a furious ROAR erupted from behind them.
Wei Qihai froze in confusion.
"Run!" Before Wei Qihai could even turn his head, Chun Mian grabbed him, hoisted him over her shoulder, and bolted in the opposite direction.
Wei Qihai's confusion doubled. "Come on, Chun Mian! I'm a guy, I have my dignity to uphold, damn it!" he cried inwardly. Upon realizing that he was literally being carried on a girl's shoulder, he lost all will to live.
However, that thought quickly vanished. Because he was slung over her shoulder, his field of vision was flipped backward, granting him a perfect view of what was chasing them. A massive, hulking wild boar was charging madly in their direction.
Wei Qihai was completely dumbfounded. He wondered in a panic, "Haven't these things gone extinct around here over the last few years? This... this... this..."
He gasped for breath, wanting to tell Chun Mian to put him down so he could run on his own. If she continued carrying his dead weight, neither of them would be able to outrun it. After all, the beast was moving incredibly fast. But Chun Mian was running so vigorously that he was being violently jolted up and down. He couldn't force a single word out; it felt as though his stomach was about to hurl itself out of his mouth.
"Chun Mian..." he finally managed to squeeze out in a broken, fragmented whisper.
"Don't speak," Chun Mian commanded. She was terrified that he was about to launch into some melodramatic soap-opera speech about leaving him behind, something like, "Chun Mian, I won't leave you. You go on without me. At least one of us has to survive."
As far as Chun Mian was concerned, the best thing Wei Qihai could do right now was shut his mouth and let her save him. Any unnecessary talking would only distract her and mess up her sense of direction.
Chun Mian had only read about such Ancient Earth creatures in a handful of obscure books. After all, in the interstellar era, these animals had been extinct for far too long. A massive portion of the visual data had been permanently lost and was nearly impossible to restore. If she hadn't spent so much time reading books and researching materials to ensure her survival on Seventy-nine Stars, she doubted she would have even recognized the beast chasing them as a wild boar.
However, even without knowing its exact species, Chun Mian still possessed an acute perception of danger. The moment she had spotted the paw prints and caught the scent of the beast, her immediate thought had been to run. Unfortunately, she hadn't been fast enough.
Fortunately, her physical stamina was still quite decent. While she would be considered half-crippled in the interstellar era, her fitness level was absolutely exceptional for this time period. Therefore, outrunning a wild boar was entirely within the realm of possibility.
Just as Wei Qihai was on the verge of throwing up from the relentless bouncing, Chun Mian muttered, "This isn't going to work. Why is this thing still following us?"
Originally, her plan had been to lead the beast in the opposite direction so it wouldn't charge down the mountain and destroy the village crops. But after sprinting for so long, the beast refused to give up. At one point, she had actually managed to lose it, only for the boar to track their human scent and catch right back up to them. Its tracking abilities were, to say the least, absolutely phenomenal.
They couldn't keep running like this. After muttering that brief complaint, Chun Mian abruptly dumped Wei Qihai onto the ground.
It took Wei Qihai a second to process what was happening. He instinctively grabbed her arm, trying to pull her along. "Chun Mian, I'll carry you!"
He assumed she had completely run out of energy after carrying him for so long. Awkwardly enough, despite pulling with all his might, Chun Mian didn't budge an inch.
Wei Qihai stared at her in utter disbelief.
"We can't shake it off, and we can't run down the mountain either, or it'll destroy the crops," she explained simply. She quickly unhooked the bamboo basket from her back, hung it on a nearby tree branch, and snatched up the sturdy wooden stick she had kept her eye on. Without giving Wei Qihai a chance to react, she charged straight at the boar.
Wei Qihai's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Wait, hold on, Chun Mian! That's a wild boar, not a little bunny or a cute squirrel! Are you out of your mind?!" he screamed internally.
He was so terrified that his heart skipped several beats. By the time his brain finally processed the situation, Chun Mian had already brought her wooden stick crashing down onto the wild boar's skull.
SQUEAL!
The ear-piercing shriek meant that the wild beast was not only enraged but had officially entered a berserk state. Even though Chun Mian's heavy blow had left the creature dizzy and thoroughly disoriented, it had also fully awakened its primal, savage instincts. The boar dug its hooves into the dirt to steady itself before launching a ferocious counter-charge straight at her.
Back in the interstellar era, Chun Mian had amassed a wealth of close-quarters combat experience. She had fought everything from Half-beastmen and superpower people to rogue experimental subjects and all manner of mutated interstellar beasts. Now, squaring off against a wild boar with only average Attack Power, she didn't feel the slightest bit of panic. In fact, if she hadn't been worried that a sudden brawl would scare the life out of Wei Qihai, she never would have bothered running in the first place. But since they couldn't outrun it, it was time to fight!
Wei Qihai fully expected that when he turned his head, he would see Chun Mian pinned helplessly beneath the wild boar's hooves. The reality was the exact opposite. The wild boar couldn't gain a single inch of ground against her. Instead, it was being ruthlessly beaten by her wooden stick, squealing in agony.
Sure, the stick was as thick as an arm, but this was a wild boar! The beast's hide should have been infinitely tougher than mere wood. Yet, not only was Chun Mian swinging the makeshift weapon with terrifying, wind-whipping force, she somehow managed to keep the wood from splintering upon impact. Every single strike landed flawlessly, leaving the boar in a state of absolute misery.
Wei Qihai's breath caught in his throat. Watching the incredible scene unfold before him, he seriously began to doubt reality. Had he just gotten terrible sleep the night before, and was now standing here having a bizarre daytime hallucination?