Meng Jingwei leaned against the tree trunk, watching the masked man gradually walk away. The powerful will to survive spurred her on, and she finally stood up, following the man step by step.
In the wilderness, with nightfall approaching, if everyone were left here, Meng Jingwei didn't know what she would face.
But she didn't want to die!
The masked man walking ahead heard the sound behind him, turned his head, and saw Meng Jingwei staggering towards him. A flicker of surprise flashed in the man's eyes.
Although he didn't speak, his pace slowed considerably.
This woman's vitality was astonishingly resilient.
The two walked for a while longer until the twilight deepened, making it impossible to see the path. They finally found a suitable place to shelter from the rain and rest.
“Are you sure it’s safe in here?”
This was a cave, and if a mudslide occurred, the entrance could be blocked at any moment.
In that case, it would be equivalent to burying them alive.
Meng Jingwei sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, her lips pale and weak, looking at him and asking.
“You can go outside too.”
The man glanced at her, then went to find some firewood and used a lighter to start a fire.
Meng Jingwei, who had walked for half the day, was cold and exhausted. Shivering from the cold, she finally felt a hint of warmth and immediately fell asleep.
The man sitting opposite her poked her with a stick. Sensing that she had fainted, he looked at the wound on her arm.
He hesitated for a moment, walked to her side, and reached out to touch it. Only then did he realize she had a high fever, likely due to an infection in her arm.
The masked man found a dagger on her, looked at her wound, and was torn about whether to treat it.
But in the end, he did nothing, only saying, "Not killing you is mercy enough."
…
Meng Jingwei woke up again the next day at noon.
Although her head was still groggy, her fever had subsided, and her arm was wrapped with a piece of cloth, her wound having been treated.
Fortunately, the cave entrance had not collapsed.
She knew the masked man had done it.
“Hello, is anyone there? Masked man, are you here?”
She called out a few times while sitting there but received no response, and she didn’t want to shout anymore.
Seeing that the rain had stopped outside and the sky was clear and blue, Meng Jingwei didn’t dare to delay and immediately got up and headed towards the direction of the mountain’s exit.
In the deep mountains and old forests, the thorns were dense, making progress difficult. She was starving.
Dragging her weary body through the forest for a day, she found some wild fruits to eat and drank some mountain spring water, barely managing to sustain herself for the day.
At night, Meng Jingwei found a large tree and climbed it to sleep, so she would have a place to escape if wild beasts attacked.
As expected, in the dead of night, Meng Jingwei indeed heard wolf howls.
Her heart trembled with fear, and she was in a panic.
Her only means of self-defense was the dagger the masked man had left her. Now her fate was in the hands of heaven.
Unable to sleep, she leaned against the large tree, trying to minimize her presence. But the wolf howls grew closer, making her feel extremely insecure.
Especially in the dense forests of the deep mountains, facing danger, it was truly a case of calling to heaven and earth but receiving no response.
“Awooo~~”
Suddenly, a wolf let out a long howl.
The sound was very close and exceptionally clear.
Meng Jingwei’s heartstrings tightened. In the darkness of the night, she felt utterly insecure.
Vaguely, she spotted several points of light. When she looked closely, a chill ran down her spine.
Because…
The shining points were pairs of eyes!
It was wolves!
As if sensing her scent, they headed directly towards her.
Although Meng Jingwei was sleeping in a tree three meters high, she saw twelve glowing green eyes – a total of six wolves.
How could she deal with them alone?
Meng Jingwei felt like crying but had no tears.
Damn it, was this how she was going to die here?
The bright moon hung high, its moonlight casting a veil over the land, making everything faintly visible.
Meng Jingwei knew that wolves had a keen sense of smell and must have known her hiding place, so she climbed higher up the tree, using the moonlight.
Even though she had climbed to a great height, the sound of rustling came from the tree trunk – it was the wolves’ claws scratching the tree, accompanied by wolf howls.
It was as if they were summoning their companions.
Meng Jingwei felt as if all her bad luck for the year had been exhausted this year, with misfortune after misfortune.
She vowed that once she left Liangchuan County and returned to Lancheng, she would immediately go to Yuntai Mountain to pray.
And so, Meng Jingwei didn't sleep for the entire night.
The hungry wolves crouched at the base of the tree for the whole night.
It wasn't until dawn the next day that Meng Jingwei clearly saw that the number of wolves had increased from six to ten!
Moreover, they showed no intention of leaving.
Sitting in the tree, she looked at the sky in despair, “Are you trying to kill me here?”
The wolves wouldn't leave, and she couldn't leave, so it became a war of attrition.
Tired, hungry, and thirsty, Meng Jingwei knew that if this continued, she would eventually be eaten by the wolves.
So, she sat in the tree, holding a dagger, cutting off branches, and sharpening them into pointed weapons. She also made good use of the bark, tying the sharpened wooden sticks together and carrying them on her back.
She also used branches to start a fire directly on the tree. Fortunately, there was a dry, worm-eaten branch on the tree, so she found a place to build a pile of extra bark and branches, took out the lighter, and started the fire.
The lighter and dagger were both left by the masked man. While she was grateful, she also resented the mysterious man who had pushed her to the brink of death.
As the fire rose, emitting wisps of smoke, Meng Jingwei carefully watched the fire, preventing it from falling off the three-pronged branch, barely maintaining a small bonfire.
As wisps of blue smoke curled upwards, she kept breaking off branches from the tree and protecting the fire, making the smoke thicker.
From morning to afternoon, the smoke Meng Jingwei produced did not attract any rescuers, but the number of wolves decreased from ten to four.
She knew this was her only chance.
She climbed down from the high perch, stood three meters above the ground, holding the dagger in one hand and the sharpened wooden stick in the other. When the wolves weren’t paying attention, she leaped down, landing on a wolf, and the dagger and wooden stick pierced its body.
“Awooo~~”
The wolf cried out in pain, and the remaining three wolves lunged at her.
Meng Jingwei reacted extremely quickly, rolled, and sprang to the side of the tree trunk. She then pulled out another sharp wooden stick from behind her and watched the wolves circling her, poised to attack.
One of the wolves was the largest, with its tail held highest. Meng Jingwei guessed that it was the leader, the wolf king!
Targeting her objective, she rushed forward and attacked.
But the wolf's reaction was even more swift than Meng Jingwei's speed. It dodged and directly bit Meng Jingwei's injured right hand.
Its fangs sank into her flesh, and the powerful bite made Meng Jingwei grit her teeth in pain. However, the wooden stick in her left hand instantly struck, piercing the wolf king's eye, "Die!"
“Awooo~~ ooo~~”
The intense pain caused the wolf to howl, and it released her arm. Meng Jingwei’s right hand wielding the dagger struck swiftly, piercing its right eye.
The wolf king, unable to see anything, howled in pain and rolled on the ground.