Hot.
This was Qin Huai's first impression of this land.
The sun hung in the sky, scorching the earth, with the dazzling sunlight making it nearly impossible for people to keep their eyes open. The ground was as hard as stone, cracking into irregular pieces, with deep fissures showing no sign of green. The wind brought only heatwaves and dust, even the sky was tinged with a layer of burning red.
An endless expanse of barren land, for the first ti, Qin Huai realized the true aning of the word.
Qin Huai touched the ground, hard and rough, yet without feeling any temperature, then deliberately kicked a stone. It didn't move an inch, and there was no pain in his foot.
Good, it seems I'm rely an observer in this dream.
But where is the protagonist?
This place was a vast wilderness, with as far as the eye could see nothing but endless yellow earth, a few withered trees, and a suffocatingly monotonous color. There were no large rocks to hide behind, no people, no animals, not even wild grass. There was nowhere to conceal oneself.
Qin Huai felt lost.
Surely the system hasn't tricked into a dream just to begin so desert survival, right?
Survival isn't even necessary. I don't feel anything, the blazing sun feels no hotter than usual. An average person would probably get sunstroke and faint after being in a place like this for only a few minutes.
Suddenly, the ground beneath Qin Huai's feet moved.
A small mound rose up.
Qin Huai: !!!
With a scream, Qin Huai jumped to the side as the mound grew larger and larger, and a head broke through the earth.
The adjective might be strange, but it truly broke through the earth. The person's hair and face were covered with dry dirt, even their mouth was full of it. The person who broke through spat several tis but couldn't get it all out, finally gave up and swallowed it, struggling to crawl out. Just like that, an earth person erged out of nowhere.
"Why is it still dayti?" The voice was young and female, sounding sowhat familiar.
The person used filthy hands to touch their even dirtier face, dusting off a layer of dirt to reveal facial features that barely made them recognizable as human.
Chen Huihong.
A young version of Chen Huihong.
Even though she was younger and looked less human, Qin Huai was sure he hadn't mistaken; this was Chen Huihong!
Looking at the much more lively young version of Chen Huihong, Qin Huai quietly muttered, "Impressive."
Rich people are just different. I usually just dream of getting rich overnight.
When Chen Huihong dreams, she buries herself in the soil for desert survival — just a notch below a zombie apocalypse battle royale.
"And still no one," Chen Huihong looked around, "I've switched places three or four tis and haven't seen a soul. Maybe I went to the wrong place?"
"No, it's southward."
With that, Chen Huihong looked up at the sky, "Southeast... this is... east is... where should I go?"
After muttering to herself, Chen Huihong shook her head in disagreent, her fingers fidgeting as if wanting to make 800 tiny gestures in a second.
"This way!" Finally, Chen Huihong successfully pointed south, "I'll walk for ten days and see if I can et anyone."
Qin Huai: ?
A yellow earth marathon?
This dream is way too hardcore.
And then Chen Huihong actually began to walk.
Non-stop.
From day into night, without eating or drinking, only finding a slightly flat ground to lie on for a few hours' rest after the moon rose, waking up to chew and gulp down a piece of thin tree bark from her clothes before continuing on her way.
With that stamina, with that endurance, one could call her a superhuman.
Chen Huihong walked for six days like this.
If Chen Huihong wanted to escape the famine from the environnt's devastation, her direction was likely correct.
Although the ground was still cracked, the sun still scorching, and the air still filled with dust and heatwave, Qin Huai noticed a hidden vitality from the dried earth, desolate riverbeds, abandoned farmlands, tattered earthen houses, and old neglected wells.
People once lived here.
But the drought-induced famine forced them to pack up their families and leave. Chen Huihong wandered like a leisurely player who stumbled upon a wild survival ga, searching every village for things.
Of course, she didn't find anything of real value.
There were certainly no clothes or food, and while she could draw so water from deep wells, it was all murky and unfit for drinking, causing Chen Huihong to pour the water back after one attempt.
For ordinary farm households, a bowl, a spoon, chopsticks, and wooden items were precious assets. All Chen Huihong could retrieve from the houses were crumbling firewood too weak for good fuel, so dry grass that could barely provide warmth on the ground, pebbles, and unidentifiable burned rubbish.
Nonetheless, she did have a few unexpected finds.
From the crevices of a brick-and-tile house clearly belonging to a landlord, Chen Huihong managed to extract a few copper coins and found two broken wooden toys — a figurine missing limbs but vaguely human-shaped and a half-bodied wooden horse with remnants of red paint, showing it was once a delicate toy.
Cautiously, Chen Huihong tucked these fine things into her clothes, keeping them closely guarded, like a video ga player intent on adding everything to her inventory.
This way, Chen Huihong continued to walk and gather, walking for thirteen days.
Qin Huai followed Chen Huihong, walking for thirteen days as well.
If asked about his feelings, Qin Huai really had no clear thoughts. This was Chen Huihong's dreamscape; he wouldn't feel thirsty, hungry, tired, or sleepy. Apart from the sowhat dull storyline and overly realistic setting, it wasn't much different from watching a movie. Moreover, Qin Huai did find sothing during those thirteen days; he noticed that Chen Huihong seed to be learning sothing.
Chen Huihong constantly looked for signs of human presence but was not fixated on finding people. From her route, it was clear that if she truly wanted to find people to join a group, she should be traveling along main roads or at least paths trodden by people. But Chen Huihong didn't; she deliberately took paths that even malicious maps wouldn't display, leading to desolate mountains and rarely seen by humans.
Luckily, this area was too dry for any wild grass to grow. Otherwise, with the way Chen Huihong was walking, she'd surely end up in deep forested mountains.
Chen Huihong wasn't obsessed with finding people, but she showed great interest in human living environnts.
Whenever she found a village, she'd carefully inspect every house, from the stove and bed to the woodshed and courtyard. Even if an earthen wall had been burned and half collapsed, showing no sign of its original form, she'd thoughtfully observe the ruins.
It felt a bit like a human observing small animals.
Not knowing, not understanding, yet highly intrigued.
It was so strange.
Another night rolled around.
The clouds covered the moon, and "pitch dark" turned into a literal expression. Chen Huihong lay on the ground, eyes closed in sleep, as the little horse she carried at her waist fell to the ground with a slight sound. Chen Huihong didn't hear it, turned over, and continued sleeping.
Soon, new sounds erged from the distance.
Footsteps.
Very light, yet seemingly chaotic.
Qin Huai stood up, looked towards where the sound ca from, and spotted a small silhouette through the dim moonlight, staggering forward. It resembled a newborn fawn, barely able to walk, stumbling and running in Chen Huihong's direction.
The fawn ca closer.
Only when it was four or five ters away from Chen Huihong did Qin Huai realize that it wasn't an animal. It seed to be a small child, extrely frail, unable to stand upright, and forced to half-crawl, half-run with hands and feet.
Chen Huihong awoke.
She sat up, imdiately picked up the fallen little horse, and stared at the child not far from her. The child, seeing Chen Huihong stand up, didn't dare move. They stared each other down until Chen Huihong spoke: "Who?"
A female voice.
The child dared to move, tremblingly stood up, trying to see who was before them. It was too dark to see more than a bloated, hulking silhouette.
Of course, the bulky appearance stemd from all the dry grass cramd into Chen Huihong's clothing. As a proficient scavenger, she didn't even let dry grass go to waste.
"My na is Hui Niang," the child said shakily, possibly from fear or sothing else, with a very hoarse voice.
Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang and said, "Co here."
Hui Niang didn't dare move.
"Why are you here?" Chen Huihong continued to ask.
"I... I..." Hui Niang tilted her head slightly as if trying to see if anyone else was around. After confirming there was only Chen Huihong, she summoned her courage, "I got separated from my parents."
Seeing no response from Chen Huihong, Hui Niang ventured, "Sis... are you also... separated?"
Chen Huihong still didn't respond. The two sat quietly, eyeing each other, neither able to see the other clearly, neither daring to move, like two stone sculptures under the moonlight, making Qin Huai feel very out of place as a spectator.
Finally, Chen Huihong spoke, "Yes, I got separated too."
Hui Niang was instantly elated, almost as if she had found soone similar, stood up, and cautiously approached Chen Huihong. Seeing no reaction from Chen Huihong, her confidence grew, and she directly moved to sit face to face with Chen Huihong.
"Are you also from Yu County?" Hui Niang asked with wide eyes.
"No," Chen Huihong shook her head, thought a bit, "I'm from... next door."
Hui Niang was seemingly easy to fool. Her simplistic response earned a nod of agreent, and she asked, "Then where is big sis going?"
"I don't know."
Chen Huihong asked back, "Where are you going?"
Hui Niang fell silent.
Under the moonlight, Qin Huai felt a strange sense of familiarity with Hui Niang's facial outline.
"I don't know," Hui Niang's voice was even huskier, "I got separated from my parents."
"Why did you get separated?" With just a few words, Chen Huihong seized control of the conversation.
"I was too hungry, couldn't walk anymore, and I fell asleep." Hui Niang's voice trembled slightly, "When I woke up, they were gone."
"I'm so hungry, and so thirsty, I want to find my parents, but it's too dark to see, and I may have gone the wrong way. Then I t big sis."
Looking at the thin and small figure before her, Chen Huihong thought for a mont, then pulled a small piece of tree bark from her clothing, hesitated for a mont, tore off a tiny strip and handed it to Hui Niang.
"This is all I have."
"Nearby there's an old well, it might still have water. When it's bright, you can draw so... I'll think of a way to help you." After saying that, Chen Huihong lay back down, "Sleep, don't disturb ."
Seeing Chen Huihong lay down just like that, Hui Niang sat startled, looked at the piece of tree bark in her hand, hesitated, then stuffed it into her mouth, chewing hard before swallowing, then gently lay beside Chen Huihong, watching her uneasily until hearing the steady sound of breathing, confirming she was asleep, and then laid back comfortably and closed her eyes.
Soon, Hui Niang also fell asleep.
The sky was just beginning to brighten; Chen Huihong, who should have been sleeping, opened her eyes, studied Hui Niang in the faint light, turned over, grasped the little horse that had fallen again, and went back to sleep.
Behind Chen Huihong was Qin Huai, his eyes wide as copper bells.
The daylight, however faint, was clearer than moonlight, enough for Qin Huai to recognize Hui Niang's face.
It was the typical face of a child from a poor family, small, dark, and so malnourished that the facial features hadn't fully developed, not outright ugly but certainly not attractive.
But Qin Huai was exceedingly familiar with this face.
This was Chen Huixi!
During the day, when the child was still dressed in twin ponytails and a sundress, she was fair and cute, obedient and sensible, lively and outgoing, a child always dreaming about her mother.
Yet in her mother's dream, she beca a refugee.
Staring at the sleeping refugee mother and daughter, Qin Huai couldn't help but sigh, "This truly is..."
"A dream of motherly love and filial piety."
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