Zhang Peng said that in the five years he was here, the volcano would throw a tantrum occasionally, but it had never erupted before. Therefore, it should not be an active volcano, but instead could be considered as dormant. As for when the volcano would erupt, Zhang Peng could not give an answer to the question. Nobody could possibly answer that question as they were just ordinary people, they were not seismologists.
Perhaps the volcano would only erupt after they died, and it had nothing to do with them at this point of time.
Although Shi Jia did feel lucky, her personality would not allow her to leave things to chance. No one knew what she was thinking recently. She had found an escape route following the direction of the volcanic eruption when she was hunting. The route could probably save their lives if it was a small volcanic eruption, but no number of escape routes could possibly save them if it was a massive volcano eruption. The only thing they could do now was to pray, pray that their luck held out, and also pray that the volcano would remain dormant forever.
It was okay if it threw a tantrum once in a while, but it must not go completely crazy. Otherwise, none of them could survive the full force of its fury.
Their lives would come to an end right here in that situation.
As the days went by, it seemed like they had forgotten everything about their past.
Forgotten that they were modern people, forgotten what they used to do, forgotten what happened in the past, and even forgotten that they had to go home.
Perhaps it was because they had already accepted their fate and had come to terms with their desperation. Most importantly, they had accepted the fact that they might never be able to go back.
“You went to scope out your escape route again?” asked Yao Xiaoyu. She had succeeded in her attempt to grow mushrooms, which made her happier than anyone else recently. She could grind the mushrooms into mushroom powder after they were dried in the sun, and cook it into porridge. Although it did not taste super delicious, but she could finally get rid of her pure carnivorous diet and finally eat something vegetarian. They were all human beings, not beasts. How could they eat meat all day, every day?
“Hmm.” Shi Jia nodded and continued, “Prevention is always better than cure. It’s useful in the event of a minor eruption, but if a large volcanic eruption ever happens, it will still be impossible for us to run away.”
Yao Xiaoyu shrugged. “Then I won’t fret needlessly about it. Death would be inevitable if we are meant to die at that point in time.”
“Anyway, I can drink mushroom soup today!” She went about harvesting the first batch of newly grown mushrooms happily. She really felt that she was very mighty because she could grow mushrooms. If there was any other vegetation that they knew to be edible, then she would grow and cultivate all of them so that they would not have to work so hard to store food anymore.
It’s just that Zhang Peng is so annoying, she mumbled in her mind. His annoying voice sounded in her ears right before she stopped mumbling.
“Oh, so you managed to grow them?”
Yao Xiaoyu ignored him.
Zhang Peng decided to stop teasing her and went up to Yao Xiaoyu. He had brought a gift for her – some rice seedlings that could be replanted. Yao Xiaoyu accepted his offering like they were precious treasures. However, both of them had maintained only an abstract sort of hope that the rice seedlings would grow successfully, as no one had ever attempted to cultivate this crop before.
Nevertheless, it was still better than nothing. At least they had another potential option for food now. If it could be planted and they could grow rice, then their food supply would be sufficient over all seasons and they would not have to go hunting when it turned cold out there. They would not have to injure themselves or risk their lives, and of course, it was unlikely that they would starve to death.
Tremors ran through the ground again, but they had already gotten used to that occurrence. Before this, they would panic as they would think that an earthquake had struck. Now, they would just carry on with their own matters like nothing happened.
Shi Jia raised her head to observe the volcano that was not that far away. Without knowing why, she felt a heavy blanket of depression falling over her heart.
Yao Xiaoyu was still tending to her crops while Shi Jia was making her own arrows when Tarzan rushed out from the other side all of a sudden. He grabbed Shi Jia’s arm and started to run.
Yao Xiaoyu was stunned. What are they doing?
Barely a second later, a crowd of Neanderthals appeared and stampeded all over her painstakingly cultivated garden.
“Why are all of you stepping on my babies?” Yao Xiaoyu cried out in anger, but before she finished shouting, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm tightly.
“Pervert!” Yao Xiaoyu screamed out in fright.
“Don’t shout, run.”
It was Zhang Peng.
Yao Xiaoyu was stunned and momentarily puzzled. She saw that all the animals and wildlife in the forest were all running away like crazy.
“What’s wrong?” Her teeth began to chatter.
“It might be a volcanic eruption. Let’s find a place to shelter ourselves.”
Yao Xiaoyu could not help breaking out in cold sweat out of fear. “Didn’t you say that the volcano will never erupt? Didn’t you say that we will be alright? Didn’t you say that it was all bark and no bite?”
“How would I know if the volcano will erupt?” Zhang Peng ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and said, “I have been living here for five years and I have never seen an actual full-on volcanic eruption before.”
“Maybe you are mistaken?” Yao Xiaoyu whispered. Deep in her heart, she was praying that their luck had not deserted them yet.
“I hope so too,” Zhang Peng agreed as he started to run again, pulling Yao Xiaoyu along with him. In front of them was that group of Neanderthals, Tarzan and Shi Jia leading at the forefront. They had to admit that Shi Jia really had great foresight, and of course she also had an awe-inspiring acuity toward danger. It was fortunate that they had this escape route planned out long before this happened.
Although the Neanderthals were simple and unintelligent, no one could deny that they were naturally born to survive here.
Being at the forefront, Shi Jia turned around and surveyed everything behind her as her legs continued to carry her further and further away from danger. There were dozens of Neanderthals behind her, with both Zhang Peng and Yao Xiaoyu bringing up the rear. Upon seeing them, she let out a sigh of relief. However, the land was shaking like crazy, almost throwing her off balance.
The volcano had been dormant for a long time. Is it starting to become active now?
Right at this moment, everyone’s faces were lit up by a terrible red light. The red light was emitted by the volcano, as though it was death itself.
Soon after that, there was an increase in the intensity of volcanic vibrations. The animals around them scattered and fled into the forest as if they had gone mad. Those red lights came with flaming debris that burned everything they touched. Almost everything was destroyed wherever the fire went. It was like the end of the world, the end of this historical era.
They ran all the way to the highest mountain peak. They had nowhere else to go after that, as it was an abyss from that point onwards. They huddled together, shivering in fear.
Yao Xiaoyu was afraid and threw herself in Zhang Peng’s arms, he could only stroke her hair helplessly, his face devoid of his usual smile. The only thing left was despair. Yes, he was desperate.
They could see the red light shining off the magma that was approaching them rapidly. It did not even matter that they were standing on the highest point possible, as they could not run away.
