Chapter 181 A Harmonious Night Together

Chapter 181: A Peaceful Night Together

Once they’d eaten and drunk their fill, they continued searching for a nighttime shelter.

Wu Yue, "It's getting dark. The desert gets cold fast once the sun goes down. We need to find a suitable place to stay before we lose too much body heat."

Shen Que, "Why can’t we just camp by the water?"

Wu Yue, "While filling up on water, I noticed animal footprints on the ground. This is probably the only water around here.

At night, animals come out to hunt and drink—they’ll be everywhere. Staying near the water would actually be more dangerous.

The damp air will also draw out more snakes, scorpions, and bugs—some of them poisonous."

Shen Que, "So where do we go?"

Wu Yue surveyed the surroundings, "There's water here, and where there's water, there's likely wood. But we haven’t seen any dead trees along the way.

Let’s push south. Maybe we’ll spot something."

Shen Que nodded, "Alright."

"Damn, Wu Yue’s a pro!"

"Pfft, big deal. As a member of a combat team, having survival knowledge is just expected."

"Oh? I was watching Shen Qingci and Su Mo’s channel from the Shadow Team, and they didn’t seem to know anything."

"Prince Squire’s whipped for Wu Yue, huh? No backbone at all."

"What, does he have to go looking for trouble, get bitten by a venomous scorpion, or step into quicksand just to prove himself?

First, he’s ‘too obedient,’ then he’s ‘stupid’—make up your minds!"

Shen Que glanced at Wu Yue, "Miss Wu Yue, you really know your survival stuff."

Wu Yue paused for a moment, "Yeah. I like staying alive."

After barely surviving that glacier ordeal with Shen Que last time, Wu Yue had spent nights studying survival techniques for various natural disasters and extreme conditions.

She’d even grilled Uncle Zhou, Aunt Chen, and Yan Wei for tips, combining it with her past-life experiences of escape and survival.

Using her drained mental state as an excuse, Wu Yue underwent a seven-day wilderness survival simulation in the base’s training facility.

Sure, things could still go wrong, but being ready cut the risks way down.

The deeper the night, the colder the desert got, their breaths puffing white in the cold.

No shelter soon meant no surviving the night.

The desert’s cold could lull lost folks into a final, smiling sleep—frozen stiff.

Continuing south, the cold was locking up their muscles, turning their bodies numb.

Wu Yue figured why bother pushing on.

This was just some matchmaking side quest, anyway. She’d meant to coast through this whole thing.

She turned to look at Shen Que. The moment their eyes met, the doubt in her eyes sent his heart into his throat.

Wu Yue said calmly, "Prince, I don't think there's any need for us to continue—"

The mist cleared, and the dark clouds parted, revealing the moon.

Shen Que looked in surprise toward the distance illuminated by the moonlight and murmured, "It's a massive grove of withered trees."

Wu Yue was skeptical, "Prince, are you tired enough to be hallucinating?"

Shen Que shook his head firmly and pointed into the distance, "No, look, it really is a vast stand of barren trees."

Turning in the direction Shen Que indicated, Wu Yue saw that, not far away, an enormous group of dead trees stood quietly.

The largest dead tree in the center was at least a thousand years old, its trunk hollowed out by beasts—so wide it would take five people to wrap their arms around it. Even without a tent, it would provide enough shelter for them to spend a warm night.

Exchanging a glance, the two quickly headed toward the dead trees, adrenaline chasing away the chill in their limbs.

By the time they reached the cluster, they could even feel warmth in their limbs and a light sweat on their brows.

Wu Yue remarked, "This dead tree cluster seems to be a beast's lair. There must be at least a dozen in the pack."

"Would she really balk at stealing a beast's home?"

"Seriously? About to die, and she cares about the beasts?"

Wu Yue smirked, seeming in good spirits,

"The pelts of a dozen beasts would be enough for us to use one to sleep on, another as a blanket, and still have leftovers.

We could also feast to regain our strength—hopefully on something sizable, like lions, wolves, or even desert foxes would work."

First, she lit a fire and tossed it into the largest hollow trunk. The reek of beasts mingled with smoke, carrying far.

Wu Yue bent over, sharpening withered branches with her knife and twisting dry grass into rough ropes.

Despite exhaustion and numb hands, her movements remained precise and unwavering.

Shen Que watched her quietly, "What are you doing?"

Wu Yue replied without pause, "Taunting them. Letting the beasts out hunting know their territory's been taken.

Setting traps—when they return, we'll wipe them out completely.

Otherwise, we won't get a moment's peace for the next two nights."

As she spoke, her hands never stopped working.

Soon, heaps of grass-made nooses and coils of rope lay at her feet, along with twenty or so sharpened wooden spears.

She even pulled rubber bands from the hem of her windbreaker to make two crude slingshots.

After gathering and sharpening stones, she coated them with rattlesnake venom to serve as crude but deadly projectiles.

Yet, strangely, even after waiting for a long time—until the fire in the hollow trunk burned out—no beasts came back.

Instead, during the wait, a pack of desert mice scampered past, two hares stumbled right into their path, and two sand boas slithered out of the hollow trunk, only to be caught immediately.

They ate as they waited and waited as they ate, until they could eat no more.

Wu Yue frowned in confusion, "How odd. These beasts just... surrendered their home without a fight?"

"Su Mo from the Shadow team next door took the wolf cub, and now the Shadow captain is soloing the entire wolf pack..."

Shen Que, "It's getting late, time to turn in."

The bonfire burned brightly under Shen Que's care, with the ring of deadwood forming a windbreak around them.

Wu Yue headed straight for the tree hollow, only to be stopped by Shen Que,

"Miss Wu Yue, you'll sleep in the tent."

Wu Yue and Shen Que exchanged a glance.

Understanding dawned: Oh, political theater, got it.

The higher the nobility, the more they needed to cultivate an approachable image—roughing it in the dirt.

Wu Yue entered the tent, placing her dagger within reach and pretending to sleep with closed eyes.

With someone outside her team nearby, she would never let her guard down completely.

Shen Que leaned against the tree hollow, listening to Wu Yue's steady breathing that never settled into sleep.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

So, she wasn't treating everyone the same after all.

Amid the crackling bonfire, Shen Que could almost swear they were back on the glacier that night.

To keep the fire alive, he would rouse every thirty minutes to check its state.

This constant alertness seemed ingrained in his survival instincts.

Then, in the wee hours, the tent zipper sounded.

Shen Que looked up in surprise as Wu Yue emerged.

"Prince, go inside and rest awhile."

Shen Que, "I'm perfectly comfortable here."

Wu Yue, "Mhm. So comfortable that sticks keep magically tossing themselves into the fire."

Shen Que said earnestly, "Sorry about that. Did I disturb your sleep?"

Wu Yue, "...No."

Even if this was for show, she'd genuinely benefited. Why had she been so bitchy?

She repeated,

"Get some proper sleep in the tent. It'll be morning soon.

We'll need our strength—tomorrow will bring new shit to deal with."

After the sleepless night, Shen Que was getting groggy. He studied Wu Yue for a long moment before obediently murmuring, "Mhm."

Inside the tent, it still smelled like her.

The moment he lay down, he was out cold.