Chapter 112: Return

"Isn't that unlikely?" He Ying was a bit doubtful.

"In theory it's not very likely, but such a huge granary—Qingbei wouldn't let go of it easily."

"But didn't you say the granary would have insects and small animals?"

"I don't know; maybe they have some special means."

"Or I could go check it out?"

He Ying roughly recalled the old days and actually felt a bit eager to try.

Chen Mu also wanted to know what was inside, but he still hesitated, saying: "The terrain ahead is too open and flat; you might be spotted before you even reach the door."

He Ying's eyes darted: "We can go through the grass beside it."

"That's too dangerous, isn't it?"

"It should be fine; I used to walk through grass all the time. Actually, the only real danger is running into poisonous toads or frogs; things like earthworms may look scary but they don't attack people."

"Frogs..." Lu Shanshan just thinking about it made her scalp tingle; they used to hang around only near the teaching building, and indeed they had never encountered frogs.

"It's fine; as long as you stay still, it can't see you. Once I spent over half an hour facing off with a toad, and in the end it left first."

He Ying broke her usual silent, reserved demeanor at home; once outside, she became cheerful, recounting past experiences, and despite the lingering fear, she actually felt a bit nostalgic.

"All right."

Chen Mu also decided to take a risk; after all, if it succeeded, it would save a lot of trouble, and as for Yi Zhong, checking it out later would be fine.

"The two of us will go."

Chen Mu then said to Wei Dalei: "Old Wei, you and Lu Shanshan and Xue Xu stay here, hide out; I and He Ying should be back soon."

"Let me help you." Wei Dalei said, reaching for the giant Opening Mountain Axe placed on the cart.

His shield and weapons were inconvenient to carry, so he would leave them on the flatbed cart when going out.

"No need, we're just scouting the route. If there's no one, I'll call you to push the cart over; keep an eye on that direction, and I'll signal you when the time comes."

"Oh."

Wei Dalei had no objections; since Chen Mu said so, that's what they'd do.

Chen Mu didn't waste words; he quickly followed He Ying, crouching low as they slowly approached the edge of the concrete road.

The height difference between the road and the greenery was about five centimeters.

At that height, jumping down wouldn't be a problem, especially since the ground below was soft soil.

The two small figures bent their knees and jumped down together.

He Ying landed gracefully, her feet touching down lightly.

Chen Mu, this time without an umbrella, found that height useless for any protection.

After landing, he bent his knees to absorb the impact, bracing his hands on the ground; though not as light and relaxed as He Ying, his landing was clean and neat.

For Chen Mu, this was the first time since the disaster that he had walked in such a place, making him especially alert to his surroundings.

The muddy ground wasn't as hard to walk on as imagined; merely, every random blade of grass beside them seemed like a towering tree.

Walking in this environment gave one the feeling of entering an ancient jungle—mysterious and terrifying, as if a dinosaur might dash out at any moment.

"Follow me."

He Ying called out, showing she knew the way well.

The two kept to the side of the concrete road, slowly approaching the house.

He Ying wasn't boasting; she truly had rich experience in this, leading Chen Mu through the complex terrain without slowing down much.

Along the way they encountered many small moths and bugs, but, as He Ying said, they were basically non‑aggressive and too small to threaten humans.

Only when they were nearly there did they run into three or five ants.

To show her experience, He Ying went up and used the short sword Chen Mu had made for her to dispatch them one by one.

The short sword, though small, was very sharp; cutting off an ant's head was still no big deal.

They continued forward.

"What if there are lots of people inside and we get caught—what then?" He Ying asked, just making conversation.

"Then we'll surrender and beg for mercy," Chen Mu said without any psychological barrier.

"I thought you'd say we should fight to the death."

"Being alive is great—why would we fight to the death?"

"What if they insist on killing us?"

"Hmm, then I'll flee first and later come back to avenge you."

"……"

While chatting, they managed to reach the vicinity of the storage room without too much trouble.

Then they climbed up along the corner, and as soon as they were up, they were right beside the door crack.

"I'll go first; if there's no problem, I'll call you."

In terms of speed, Chen Mu was indeed no match for He Ying, so he didn't try to show off.

He Ying crouched low, pressed herself against the wall, and slipped in through the door gap.

Chen Mu gauged the time; about a minute later he saw He Ying walk out confidently and wave at him.

He walked up and asked, "Is there nobody inside?"

"No one, I told you you were overthinking it."

"Then that's good."

"Should we call Da Lei and the others over?"

"Wait a bit, let's see first."

Although they had roughly confirmed it, the two remained cautious, after all the room was huge and its contents piled in disarray; one could hide several people and play hide‑and‑seek for ten days without repeating a spot.

Entering this familiar yet unfamiliar room, Chen Mu almost couldn't recognize it.

A case of bottled water that had been leaning against the door was now just empty bottles; obviously, the people who had come to move things here had drunk all the water.

Besides that, the most striking thing was the mountain of rice piled on the ground.

On the second shelf of the rack, two 10‑kilogram bags of rice had been slit open, now leaking so that only a small half‑bag remained, sagging there.

Obviously, the people of Qingbei had carried away all the rice on the ground, and were even thinking about taking things from above.

Chen Mu frowned and remained silent.

"What's wrong?" He Ying asked.

"You haven't come here, so you don't know, but originally many bags of rice were piled on the floor of this room, yet now they've all been moved away."

"How much?"

Probably five bags, about 100 jin (about 50 kilograms).

"That much?" He Ying clicked her tongue.

"When we first came here, we ended up taking only a dozen or so grains; compared to that, it's nothing but a drop in the ocean." Chen Mu sighed.

He Ying suddenly sniffed and said, "Have you smelled anything?"

Perhaps because a male's sense of smell is naturally somewhat weaker, Chen Mu smelled for a long time before noticing.

"There is a strange smell."

"What's strange about it? It's the fragrance of jasmine."

"I don't know what jasmine smells like..."

"It's this smell."

"All right."

Chen Mu didn't want to dwell on this issue and continued, "I don't know why Qingbei needs so much rice; 100 jin of rice (about 50 kilograms) would be enough to feed them for a lifetime even with that many people."

"The main point is, are they relying on that method just now to transport repeatedly? How long would that take..."

He Ying had only just said half of it.

Chen Mu's face suddenly changed.

"Let's hurry and go!"

"Huh?"

However, before the words had finished, a clang clang came from the doorway.

That was clearly the people of Qingbei, dragging a metal tray back again.