Chapter 266

Chapter 266

From the steep cliffs to the vast forest, this leg of the journey took them another ten or more days.

As the terrain changed, so did the rapidly dwindling food supplies and Old Man Zhao's spirits, which had sunk to rock bottom.

It was no longer a matter of worrying about morale; if they trudged on without any certainty, the others would start overthinking.

Overthinking would lead to panic, and once panic set in, the group would fall apart.

That night, Old Man Zhao gathered everyone together. The old and young sat in rings around a blazing campfire, which not only provided a steady stream of warmth but also kept the endless dangers lurking in the darkness at bay.

This was a hard-earned lesson from their encounter with a mother bear and her cub.

Zhao Sanwang lost his left hand in that accident—a loss even Xiaobao's peach slices couldn't remedy. Thankfully, his life was spared, but he had become utterly disheartened, with no hope for the future.

"Fellow villagers."

In just a month, Old Man Zhao appeared to have aged several years. With stubble and a defeated air about him, and a hint of confusion and anxiety in his eyes, he looked around at the old and young seated around him. The facts were plain, leaving him no excuse, and he had to speak the truth he had been dreading for half a month: "I think we've taken the wrong path."

He took a deep breath, the air stuck in his chest, only making his weathered face even gloomier: "Perhaps it started from the first time we got lost, wandering in the dense forest, and later inexplicably returning to the mountain path."

"I wasn't sure at first. I thought, could there be another road in these deep mountains? I never heard Guixiang's mother mention it. If there were another, the village by the fish pond wouldn't have said this was the only mountain road from Liangjun Prefecture to Yanlin Prefecture." He picked up a twig and drew a long line in the dirt, then made a circle in the middle. Beside the circle, he scratched another line going in a completely different direction from the first.

"Suppose the merchant caravan took this road. Then their destination should be here." He poked a hole at the end of the first line with the twig.

"But we got lost here." He poked at the circle, let the twig wander inside it, then followed the second line he had drawn, poking around above, below, and in the middle. "We're somewhere in here now, completely off the path the caravan took. How far off? No one knows—whether that road is close by or so far away we couldn't reach it with our hands or feet."

"But one thing is certain." He tossed the stick aside, finally letting the pent-up frustration out of his chest, and looked up at everyone. "We're lost. We took the wrong path in these mountains full of wolves and bears."

"None of us know where we are now, how much longer we have to walk, or how far the mountain pass still is. We know nothing."

A profound silence fell; everyone held their breath.

Even though they had suspected it in their hearts, seeing Da Gen's confident face every day, and having collected a large handful of pebbles to mark the days—well past what Guixiang's mother had said ("if all goes well, half a month, nearly a month")—they still refused to believe it until Da Gen said so.

We're not lost. How could we be? We've been following the road!

But whether they believed it or not, the reality was that they had been walking for a full month, and there was no end in sight.

And now, Da Gen had spelled it out, admitted they were lost. They could no longer pretend ignorance.

Food was running out, their strength was failing, their bodies were giving out, and most of all, the will to survive at all costs was about to break.

Someone started crying first, followed by a chorus of stifled sobs.

Old people wiped their tears with dirty sleeves, women covered their faces as tears streamed down, mothers held their daughters and bit their lips, their gaunt frames trembling uncontrollably.

It was like a dream they had clung to being shattered, forcing them to face harsh reality.

Being lost in the deep mountains was as good as having one foot in the grave; survival had become even more urgent and difficult.

The children saw their grandparents and parents crying. The older ones understood: they were lost in the mountains. Perhaps the young are fearless; though they were unsettled, they weren't too scared. They quickly comforted their usually more timid elders: "It's okay, Grandpa, Grandma, don't be scared. So we're lost!"

"We're not on the merchant's road, but we're still on a path. What's the difference?"

"We're not climbing cliffs until our hands bleed, not swimming across a river in winter without clothes, not swinging from tree to tree across valleys with our belongings on our backs. We're walking on solid ground with our own feet!" They spoke earnestly, their dirty faces showing gap-toothed smiles. "Even if this isn't the mountain behind our village, and it's more dangerous and requires more effort to get out, we're still not afraid."

"Grandma, Grandpa, Dad is amazing, and the uncles are too. Grandpa Zhao and Uncle Dashan are strong and brave. They can kill wolves, scare bears, and hunt all the way. The bags of grain are smaller, but we've never gone without meat—we ate meat today! We've lost our homes, so there's no rush to get down to work. Even if we're lost, it's okay. As long as we keep heading in the right direction, one step at a time, we'll definitely walk out of these deep mountains and reach Yanlin Prefecture."

"Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, don't worry. We'll make it."

These were children in the middle of losing their teeth. Usually, they refused to open their mouths unless they were gnawing on dry rations, but now, as they offered comfort, they only made the adults cry even harder.

"The children make some sense. Yanlin Prefecture is to the west. As long as we follow the direction, we'll get there someday." Zhao Shanao, whose leg was broken and was being carried in turns by his children and grandchildren, spoke sternly, worried about resentment. "Getting lost isn't anyone's fault. Back then, it was like a ghost barrier—we couldn't get out of the woods. When we finally saw a path, everyone rushed to take it, afraid to miss out."

"Besides, none of us had ever walked the merchant's road. Everything was just hearsay. It's normal for something to go wrong along the way. We've fled from our hometown all the way here—every step was hard, nothing went smoothly. In the end, we always made it through." He looked at everyone, his expression more serious than ever. "What's there to cry about? We still have food, your legs aren't broken, and everyone can walk. Are you worried you won't get out?"

"Even the children are more sensible than you!"

His harsh words silenced the crying. They just wiped their tears, red-eyed.

"No one's blaming anyone. We're just unsettled and scared," Li Dahe quickly said. "Every day we see trees taller than our family genealogies, so tall and dense, the sun rarely shows. A person panics easily and loses their head. It's shameful for an old man to be crying like this."

"Actually, I felt something was wrong a long time ago, but I didn't dare say anything," Old Man Jin sighed. "We've come so far. There's no turning back. We have to make the best of it."

"No one's blaming anyone. We're just scared—scared we'll never get out and die in these mountains! I don't want to die here, a stranger in a strange land. Even as a ghost, I'd be afraid." Old Lady Zhou was about to cry again. She really didn't want to die here.

No one really blamed anyone; after all, no one knew the way. Da Gen might be the nominal leader, but in front, there were men from different families taking turns guiding. They weren't so unreasonable.

Even the most unreasonable Old Lady Zhou didn't blame anyone.

They were just scared.

Once they realized they were lost, the exhaustion hit them all at once. The sky above, the ground below, the endless forest of indistinguishable giant trees—everything felt like a gaping abyss ready to swallow them. They could no longer suppress their fear.

The unknown was the scariest.

Especially in such a dangerous environment. Without the safety of numbers and familiar faces to lean on, they would have collapsed in despair long ago.

Now, the truth they had dreaded was confirmed. Though panicked and scared, they had been through a lot and quickly accepted reality.

With a gentle push from her mother, Zhao Xiaobao walked over and held out her arms to her father, asking to be held.

Old Man Zhao picked up his daughter and sat her on his knee. The soft little girl leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Dad, Xiaobao won't cry. I'm not scared at all."

Dad was working so hard every day. He couldn't even cook a separate meal anymore, and his face grew more haggard by the day. She felt his pain.

Mother said Dad was anxious, wanting to lead everyone out of the mountains quickly.

But some things, the more you rush, the harder they get. Dad was more and more worn out, his hair nearly all white.

"My dear..." Hearing his daughter's soft comfort, Old Man Zhao was nearly moved to tears. He felt he couldn't hold on much longer.

Every day, he saw trusting faces—old folks, children, women—calling him "Uncle Da Gen" or "Grandpa Da Gen," obviously wanting to ask when they'd arrive, but holding back, lowering their heads.

The surroundings changed constantly.

But one thing never changed: they were still deep in the mountains, unable to get out.

At this thought, Old Man Zhao buried his face in his daughter's small shoulder, letting the regretful hot tears soak her clothes.

Since they fled, this was his only moment of weakness, known only to Zhao Xiaobao.

The wind died down, the fire dimmed. Even the flames that scared away wild beasts bowed before nature.

"Even if we took a detour, we've been walking for over a month." When Old Man Zhao lifted his head, his face showed no trace of crying. Calmly, he analyzed and encouraged everyone: "Since we're walking on a real path, not some uninhabited thorny thicket—though overgrown, it must have been used in the past. We haven't veered off deeper into the forest. As long as we keep going straight, I estimate another seven or eight days at most, and we should be out of the mountains."

To make everyone believe, and to make himself believe, he picked up the twig again and jabbed it hard at the very end of the second line: "We might be right here now, just one step away from the mountain pass. We can't give up; we have to keep going."

Zhao Xiaobao listened to her father's soaring tone and reached out to touch her shoulder, which was warm and sweaty.

"Nephew Jin Yu taught me—this is called 'one step away'!" She waved her little fist and said, "We have to keep going and not give up!"

"Da Gen's right, and Xiaobao's even more on the mark. Maybe this is the final step. We can't fall at the mouth of the mountain pass!" Li Laiyin knew that these words were mostly meant to encourage everyone, just as he told them that no matter how tired or bitter things got, they mustn't collapse halfway—that going to Yanlin Prefecture would give them a way to live. A person lives on their spirit; as long as that spirit doesn't fade, they won't die.

Similarly, as long as their spirit remained, no matter how far the road, they could keep walking.

Whether it was true or false, whether it was meant to encourage others or deceive himself, he had to go along with it: "Let's get the crying done tonight, that's enough. Tomorrow morning we still need to muster our spirits. If it gets too hard, just think of it this way—being in the mountains isn't all bad. After that heavy snowstorm for so many days, who knows what's happening outside? There might be another snow disaster, another plague, people dying everywhere, food shortages. In the mountains, we're tired, sure, but we're safe! The men are skilled enough to hunt; we won't starve, so we won't die!"

"Look closely at the ground—aren't those green grasses starting to sprout through the soil?"

He chuckled and said, "The vigor of spring is strong; even the deepest winter can't stop it from reviving. Right now, we are just like that wild grass—this forest can't trap me..."

"Roar—"

Before he could finish, a deep, majestic tiger's roar echoed in their ears.

The blood in everyone's veins ran cold, and their hearts stopped for an instant.