Chapter 1033: Herb collectors
Li Shentan and Little Liren were both wearing light blue outdoor jackets. It was still quite difficult to find such professional outdoor gear being sold in the strongholds. Mainly because there were very few people who needed them. Only some large garment factories would produce such clothing for the rich in the strongholds to use when they went out into the wilderness.
“When you find the right path, I’ll start calling you Big Brother Shentan.” Little Liren said stubbornly, “But before that, you’re just Li Shentan.”
Li Shentan said snappily as he walked, “But does the problem lie with me alone? You could have flown up to the sky to lead the way, but look at what’s happening now?”
Logically, the two of them should definitely not have lost their way. After all, Little Liren knew how to fly. No matter how complicated the terrain between the mountains and forest was, it should not confuse someone who could see everything from above.
But how did it in fact turn out? Si Liren could even fly in the wrong direction even though she was up in the air.
It was a very long way, and if the orientation at which she was flying deviated even a little, it would still make them go around in a circle. This was what troubled Li Shentan the most!
Later, Li Shentan, the lunatic, came up with an idea. “Since you can even end up flying in circles when you’re flying straight, why don’t you just fly around in a curved direction? That way, we might somehow be able to find a way out.”
And then, they completely lost their way.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for this terrible idea, they wouldn’t have been so lost. Liren was still young and did not have much ability to distinguish right from wrong. If she were a few years older, she would have rejected Li Shentan’s suggestion mercilessly on the spot when he came up with such a horrible idea.
Little Liren muttered, “Don’t come up with reckless ideas like that in the future!”
Li Shentan said resentfully, “I don’t understand. How could we have deviated from our route with you flying in the sky?”
“Li Shentan, are you blaming me?” Little Liren asked.
“No.” Li Shentan said dejectedly, “Forget it, forget it. Don’t worry, we’ll get out of this place someday.”
Fortunately, the two of them were supernatural beings, so it was not difficult for them to find food in the forest. Although their meals were a little lacking, they did not have to starve to death.
Li Shentan sighed and said, “If only Ren Xiaosu could come with us to watch the typhoons. At least he wouldn’t get lost. Moreover, he’s very good at roasting meat found in the wilderness…”
“Then why don’t we head to the Northwest first and invite him before heading to the coast?” Little Liren asked.
Li Shentan asked blankly, “Can we still go back?”
That’s right, they did not know where they were at all, so they could not go back even if they wanted to. Little Liren flew up into the sky and had a look. It was just the forest all around them, and it was impossible to see the end of it.
Although these two people were very powerful, they had spent most of their lives in a psychiatric hospital and had an extreme lack of common sense. This was why Li Shentan suddenly started missing Ren Xiaosu.
In Li Shentan’s opinion, Ren Xiaosu was close to being skilled in all the areas he was bad at.
“There’s snakes around us,” Little Liren said as she looked at the treetops in front of her.
Li Shentan suddenly got nervous. “Hey, come stand closer to me.”
He said that not because he was afraid Little Liren would get ambushed by a venomous snake, but because the metallic box Little Liren was carrying could make all kinds of venomous creepy-crawlies scatter.
Although Li Shentan did not know why it worked this way, the venomous creepy-crawlies in the forest seemed to be quite afraid of Chen Wudi even though he was in his petrified form.
Li Shentan was stuck fast to the box. After getting lost in the forest during this period, he would even lie down next to the box to sleep. He even wanted to hug it to sleep.
It was quite funny. The legendary figure who was known as a demigod in the world of superhumans was actually afraid of snakes.
Moreover, even the noxious night air would get dispelled in the miasmic zone around Chen Wudi. In Li Shentan’s words, Chen Wudi was practically invulnerable to all evil. He could basically do whatever he wanted in a place like this that was overrun with venomous creepy-crawlies.
However, Little Liren asked Li Shentan doubtfully, “But isn’t it a little disrespectful of you to use Big Brother Wudi as a talisman?”
Li Shentan said nonchalantly, “Why would that be? Little Liren is so cute, so of course he’ll be willing to protect you.”
“But is he willing to protect you?” Little Liren continued wondering.
Li Shentan thought for a while and said, “Well, I’m also very cute!”
All of a sudden, Li Shentan stopped in his tracks. He took out a pair of shoes from his backpack and put them on for Si Liren. “Someone’s coming. Let’s act normal. Who knows, they might be able to take us out of this place.”
Si Liren said, “But you can just hypnotize them.”
“No, I’ve already promised Ren Xiaosu to be a good person, so how can I hypnotize normal people just like that? If they’re good people, wouldn’t I end up opposing the good side?” Li Shentan said righteously.
“Then what if they’re unwilling to bring us out?” Si Liren asked.
“Then they’re bad guys,” Li Shentan said firmly.
Li Shentan helped Si Liren put on her shoes. Si Liren landed lightly on the ground with the large box on her back. Then she said in distress, “But I can’t pretend to be normal while carrying Big Brother Wudi.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Li Shentan said, “If someone asks, just tell them that the box is very light.”
Li Shentan could not spontaneously come up with any good ideas either, so he decided to just cast aside that worry for now.
After a few minutes, the slashing of overgrown weeds came from within the forest. As the forest was too dense, almost as dense as a tropical rainforest, it was quite difficult for humans to walk inside it.
Li Shentan and Si Liren remained where they were and waited quietly. After a while, someone emerged from the dense foliage, but when the other party saw Li Shentan and Si Liren, he was stunned. “Don’t kill us. We’ve ventured into your territory unintentionally, but we’re only here to gather herbs.”
Li Shentan was slightly taken aback. He and Si Liren looked at each other. “We don’t kill people, and this isn’t our territory either.”
Around eight more tanned herb collectors emerged behind the man. Then he said, “Then you two are… eh, I’ve seen that style of clothing before. Some big shots from the strongholds put on such clothes when they come into the wilderness. Are you two stronghold residents?”
Li Shentan laughed. “That’s right, we came from a stronghold, but we got lost in the forest. Can you please tell us where we are and how far this place is from the Zhou Consortium?”
The herb collectors looked at one another and said, “The Zhou Consortium’s Stronghold 83 is about a 100 kilometers away from here. How did you end up getting lost here?”
“It’s a long story. Can you lead us out of this place? As a reward, I can do magic for you all along the way,” Li Shentan said in seriousness.
The herb collectors chuckled. This was the first time they had heard of someone offering to do magic as a reward. However, they did not mind. One of the men who looked like the leader of the group said with a smile, “It’s not a problem to take you two out of here. It’s just that we need to gather some medicinal herbs in these mountains. After we’re done collecting them, you can follow us and head north.”
Carrying the large case on her back, Si Liren smiled sweetly. “Thank you!”
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the box. Someone wondered, “What’s in this box? Why did you carry such a large box into the wilderness?”
Li Shentan thought for a while and said, “It’s for storing our magic props!”
The herb pickers clearly did not believe him.
Surprisingly, the pickers did not continue asking about it. Instead, they started searching for an open area to set up camp. One of them said to Li Shentan, “We’re gonna set up camp here for tonight. We’ll continue heading into the mountains tomorrow morning.”
Li Shentan looked at the herb collectors and suddenly sighed.
