I changed the world.

Page 153

"Hey Hongzi, are you sure this path is reliable?" Wei Chengguang pulled a tissue from his pocket, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked around as he spoke.

“No problem, I have a military map. There’s a mountain stream ahead, and further ahead is a canyon. If we drift down this mountain stream, we can cross the military’s blockade…” The one who spoke was a girl who looked a little younger than Wei Chengguang and was a good half a head shorter than him.

The girl had her hair tied in two buns, was pretty, and had a clever air about her. Like Wei Chengguang, she wore a hooded camouflage outdoor jacket and carried a backpack much smaller than Wei Chengguang's. She was "Dao Hongzi," the online friend Wei Chengguang had previously traveled with to explore several places. Her real name was Zhu Yingwei, but because they initially met online, Wei Chengguang had always called her "Hongzi."

Clearly, this girl's background must be quite extraordinary. After all, what ordinary girl could obtain a military map? Of course, Wei Chengguang didn't care about these things and never asked the girl about her background. The girl also never asked him similar questions. After all, they were both young, and their interactions always revolved around topics of mutual interest.

"It's pitch black now, and rafting in the mountain stream is very dangerous..." Wei Chengguang muttered to himself.

“Hey, I’m talking to you, Bengbeng! I’m a girl and I’m not afraid, what are you, a grown man, afraid of!” The Bengbeng the girl was talking about was Wei Chengguang’s online name, “Bengbeng Bear”.

"Hongzi, don't talk nonsense! I'm not scared at all! I'm just worried that you might fall into the water and I might not be able to save you..."

After bickering for a while, Wei Chengguang slung his heavy backpack over his shoulder again, checked the direction with the compass on his wristwatch, and then headed southwest.

The direction the two chose was practically a dead end; the ground was covered with rotten leaves and soil, and sometimes you could easily sink in.

Therefore, the two of them walked very carefully, and Wei Chengguang would occasionally use his dog-leg knife to cut away the dense bushes or weeds that were blocking the way.

Just two days ago, they were staying at the foot of Yunxiao Mountain. Because Yunxiao Mountain was closed to outsiders during this period, the two of them, who had not received an invitation, could only wait at the foot of the mountain. In fact, because the hotels were fully booked, they finally rented a house from a local farmer to solve their accommodation problem.

Originally, they planned to wait until Yunxiao Mountain was unsealed before going up the mountain to seek out a master. After all, the old master Xiao was known as the one who ascended to immortality, and the whole thing had caused quite a stir on the internet, with all sorts of rumors circulating. Wei Chengguang and Zhu Yingwei also had many guesses in their hearts, but they were ultimately unwilling to give up and wanted to go up Yunxiao Mountain to take a look.

Especially after visiting An Huiling, Wei Chengguang had never been so convinced of the existence of "truly great masters" in this world. And after he shared these joyful experiences with Zhu Yingwei, the young girl's motivation increased significantly.

Just yesterday, Zhu Yingwei somehow got hold of news that something unusual had happened on Sulu Island, and afterwards, some details were scattered and revealed by the media online.

Both of them were bold and decisive, and after discussing it, they figured that since Yunxiao Mountain was already there and couldn't be moved, and the current incident was ongoing, it would be an opportunity to observe it up close. So they simply used the excuse of going on a winter vacation trip with classmates to ask for leave from home, and then bought plane tickets and flew directly to Zhugang City.

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The two walked for another half hour. Hiking in the mountains without paths, especially at night, was extremely strenuous and carried the risk of encountering wild animals. They were young and inexperienced; seasoned outdoor enthusiasts would never have done it this way.

Fortunately, perhaps due to divine protection, the two did not encounter any accidents such as poisonous snakes, ferocious beasts, or sprained ankles, and arrived at the vicinity of the mountain stream unharmed.

The sound of flowing water could be heard clearly ahead, so the two quickened their pace, carefully shining their flashlights around, paying particular attention to whether there were any venomous snakes.

After walking for a while, they came to a shallow area. Ahead was a riverbed covered with pebbles, and the river was about ten meters wide. The current was not very strong at the moment.

Wei Chengguang put down his backpack by the river, stopped to shake his aching shoulders, and then went to the riverbank. He shone his flashlight on the water and carefully observed the depth.

"How is it? Can we launch the boat?" Zhu Yingwei asked as she leaned over and peered into the water.

"I think it should be fine. The water depth here is just right, so we won't sink to the bottom, and the current isn't too strong," Wei Chengguang nodded.

"That's good, let's begin!" Zhu Yingwei waved her fist.

Wei Chengguang nodded, turned around and fiddled with his backpack, carefully pulling out a large roll of something. As soon as this thing was taken out, the backpack visibly shrank by half. The two of them worked together to spread the roll out on the riverbank. Then, Wei Chengguang pressed a few buttons on a small screen on it. Soon, with a series of hissing sounds, the roll slowly began to inflate; it turned out to be an inflatable boat.

The inflatable boat was fully inflated in about three minutes. The entire boat looked more than three meters long and could seat two people in the front and back.

Afterwards, Wei Chengguang took out a few more items from his backpack, assembled them, and quickly put them together into two oars. The oars and the inflatable boat were made of composite materials, which were strong and lightweight. However, even so, it still took Wei Chengguang a lot of effort to carry them here.

The two placed their backpacks on the raft, then found a calmer riverbank and pushed the inflatable raft into the water. Due to the current, the raft began to drift forward as soon as it entered the water. Neither of them were experienced rafters, and without even bothering to put their shoes and pants in the water, they jumped in hastily. In their haste, they almost capsized the raft. Fortunately, after a few wobbles, they finally managed to stabilize the raft, and the whole boat began to drift downstream in a whirl.

Once the inflatable boat had stabilized, they tried to paddle towards the center of the river. However, due to a lack of coordination, after a period of frantic paddling, the entire boat began to swirl and wobble uncontrollably… Fortunately, the strong current helped them, managing to push the boat towards the center of the river…

Neither of them had extensive experience in water sports. Relatively speaking, Wei Chengguang, who came from the south, had more experience in rowing, but that was limited to certain boating activities. His experience in rafting was very limited, while Zhu Yingwei's was even less.

Both of them were forced into rowing in such rapids, but after a flurry of fumbling and adjusting, they managed to get the boat on course. They then relied on the current to propel it forward. In no time, they rounded a bend in the river and could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Chapter 251 Capsizing

In fact, this kind of nighttime rafting activity was a rather novel experience for the two of them. They attached flashlights to the front of the inflatable boat, illuminating the route ahead, and chatted and laughed while pointing out the surrounding environment, which was quite novel.

After traveling for a while, the boat brushed past a dark sandbar and slowed down a bit. The two could see several animals, perhaps deer or wild sheep, drinking water by the water's edge. Their eyes gleamed with a green glow in the darkness. When they saw the inflatable boat approaching, they quickly darted into the dense forest.

Gradually, the two quickly gained some experience and were able to better control the direction of the voyage. Under these circumstances, Zhu Yingwei even took out her mobile phone and began to take pictures of the scenery along the way, saying that she would show it to her classmates when she got back.

The inflatable boat moved forward with the current, quickly turning a bend in the river with a relatively small arc. The river ahead began to narrow noticeably, and as the river narrowed, the current suddenly became violent, and the two people's inflatable boat entered a rapids area.

In fact, given their rudimentary boat handling skills, navigating in such waters was quite dangerous, especially considering the poor lighting at night and the presence of hidden reefs in the river…

In the rapids, the boat could easily be spun around by the current if the two were not careful, and they were immediately in a bit of a predicament. Zhu Yingwei couldn't care less about filming anymore, so she put away her phone, and the two began to carefully control the course.

Wei Chengguang kept turning back to look at Zhu Yingwei, reminding her to be careful not to get thrown off the boat.

Zhu Yingwei's face was a little pale at this moment, and she didn't care about arguing anymore. She gripped the oar tightly in her hand and tried to balance the inflatable boat. She didn't even notice that most of her clothes were wet.

However, misfortune never comes singly; something even more troublesome has arisen.

Ahead, several jagged rocks appeared, the river rushing between them, creating hill-like waves. The small boat glided atop the waves like a cowboy on horseback. Water splashed everywhere, soaking the two people on board.

The small boat bobbed and swayed through the gaps between the rocks, sometimes being lifted to the crest of a wave, sometimes plunging into its trough. Compared to that, activities like horseback riding were far more stable.

Zhu Yingwei turned pale with fright and couldn't help but scream, "Ah—!"

"Hold on tight, don't fall!" Wei Chengguang shouted at the top of his lungs.

The roar of the surrounding river was deafening. Along this stretch of the river, towering rocks frequently appeared, the water crashing against them, creating sprays of water that rose into the air like countless white sprites dancing wildly. When it encountered smooth stones, the surging water transformed into enormous camel humps.

"Bang bang, this won't do! Let's get to shore..." Zhu Yingwei gripped the oar tightly, looking as if she was about to vomit.

"The current is too strong, it's hard to get close..." Wei Chengguang rowed vigorously ahead, shouting, "Don't stand still! Keep your balance!!!"

Finally, after a flurry of activity, they managed to avoid several rocks, and the river ahead calmed down a bit. Then, the river widened again, and the journey became relatively smooth.

Although their bodies and hair were mostly soaked, both of them remained relatively calm.

Perhaps because they had used up all their bad luck beforehand, they traveled for nearly half an hour without encountering any danger.

Zhu Yingwei no longer mentioned going ashore. In fact, she had already "come back to life" and was chattering away, pointing out the surrounding scenery. She showed no signs of the fright she had just been.

Until, their inflatable boat suddenly stopped, and then, a clear, tearing sound came from the bottom of the boat...

"Oh no!" The boat lurched... The two men cried out in alarm, but it was too late.

A scream came from the river, and then the inflatable boat capsized. Zhu Yingwei's head bobbed on the side of the boat as the current swept it rapidly downstream...

With quick reflexes, Wei Chengguang grabbed Zhu Yingwei and pulled her out of the water. Zhu Yingwei had been caught off guard and swallowed several mouthfuls of water. In addition, her swimming ability and physical strength were not as good as Wei Chengguang's, so she was almost swept away by the river.

Wei Chengguang was a fairly good swimmer, and with his years of training, he was in excellent physical condition. While grabbing Zhu Yingwei, he also managed to grab his backpack...

Fortunately, the place was not far from the riverbank, only a few meters away. Wei Chengguang quickly pulled Zhu Yingwei ashore. Zhu Yingwei sat down on the bank with a thud, water dripping from her body.

After Wei Chengguang dragged his backpack up, he looked back and saw that the inflatable boat had been swept far away by the river.

After catching their breath on the shore, Zhu Yingwei muttered helplessly, "The boat is gone..."

"Never mind... let's find a place to rest first." Wei Chengguang sighed. Although the boat was gone, fortunately, neither of them had lost most of their equipment. Wei Chengguang dragged his own backpack up, while Zhu Yingwei's backpack was much smaller than Wei Chengguang's. Because she was afraid of falling into the water when she boarded the boat, she had been carrying it on her back, so it hadn't been lost either.

After a brief discussion, the two roughly understood the cause of the problem. The hull of the inflatable boat had hit a sharp reef, which caught on the bottom and caused it to capsize. The bottom was already damaged, and even if they could pull the boat ashore, it would probably be unusable.

In addition, both of them were soaking wet and needed to be cleaned up immediately. It was still late at night, and there was still a long time before sunrise. The temperature at night was also relatively low. If they wore their wet clothes and let them dry naturally, there was a high chance they would get sick. Also, some items in their backpacks, such as electronic devices, spare batteries, and mobile phones, needed to be cleaned up immediately, otherwise they might become unusable after getting damp.

To dry their important belongings and clothing, they needed to start a fire, and as it turned out, the journey was far more complicated than they had initially imagined...

This was deep in the forest, truly in the middle of nowhere. Somewhat dejected, the two found a relatively sparsely vegetated spot on the riverbank, split up to gather some dry branches and leaves, and then tried to start a fire.

The reason for starting a fire on the riverbank is that starting a fire directly in the forest could easily cause a wildfire.

However, the two encountered some problems when starting a fire. Perhaps because it had rained a few days ago, the plants here were somewhat damp and not easy to ignite.

Chapter 252 A Sword Arrives from Afar

It took the two of them more than half an hour to finally get the fire going. Then, they decided to take turns drying their clothes.

Wei Chengguang first took off his shirt, strung it on a branch, and dried it by the campfire. Then he took out a towel from his backpack and began to wipe his body. After that, he emptied the contents of his backpack and began to organize them by the campfire.

Zhu Yingwei, who was usually sharp-tongued, was unusually quiet. After taking the items out of her backpack and drying them, she didn't do anything for a long time.

Wei Chengguang quickly realized the problem, so he stood up and said, "I'll go and gather some more firewood..."

"When you're ready, call me..." He added as he walked into the woods, turning back to say this.

Zhu Yingwei blushed instantly, but surprisingly, she didn't retort.

Seeing that Wei Chengguang had completely disappeared into the darkness, Zhu Yingwei began to carefully undress...

Although it was actually an excuse to avoid suspicion, since I said I was going to collect firewood, I should at least pick some up to make it look like it was a formality.

Wei Chengguang walked along, searching for dry branches on the ground. The best dry branches for firewood were those that were completely dried, otherwise they would produce a thick, pungent smoke and be difficult to light.

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Picking up a withered branch that had turned black, Wei Chengguang patted off the moss covering it. He glanced at the dozen or so withered branches he had collected and felt that was about enough, since it was just a temporary repair.

Before Zhu Yingwei could call out to him from behind the campfire, Wei Chengguang muttered, "Girls are such a hassle..." Then he found a spot under a huge tree trunk that would take several people to encircle and sat down.

A faint sound, like a tree branch snapping under its weight, quickly faded away. Wei Chengguang stood up alertly and shone his flashlight in the direction from which the sound came.

Immediately afterward, he saw a massive head covered in mane emerge from a clump of tall grass just over ten meters away. Its eyes gleamed fluorescently in the flashlight beam. Its protruding nose and sharp, curled fangs gave it a rather intimidating appearance.

The animal was clearly enraged by the flashlight beam, letting out a series of angry growls. Then, it lowered its head and charged at Wei Chengguang. At that critical moment, Wei Chengguang used a remarkably agile "wild dog snatching shit" to evade the wild boar's charge.

The attackers briefly crossed paths, and through the corner of his eye, Wei Chengguang finally saw the creature that attacked him. It was a large wild boar, and judging from its mane, it was most likely a grumpy male.

The weight of several hundred kilograms had a powerful deterrent effect upon impact. Wei Chengguang glanced at the kukri in his hand, then decisively chose to flee...

In fact, escaping also requires skill. In this environment, running in a straight line will definitely result in being attacked by wild boars. Even Olympic sprint champions cannot escape the pursuit of wild boars during a sprint.

So Wei Chengguang chose to run around the tree. He started running around the tree again and again. This method worked. The huge wild boar was not good at turning and could not catch up with him for a while.