Chapter 33.2 The Promised Land
When clear water appeared in front of him, Sergey choked up. He didn’t care, picked up the clear water with his hands, and rinsed his numb face vigorously.
He took a breath and sat on the bank of the river, almost completely exhausted. He stared blankly at the water rushing past him, finally regaining the peace he had not had for a long time.
That night, Sergey decided to spend the night by the river.
He determined the place to camp and planned to find some firewood nearby. However, he saw a bright fire near the riverbank in the distance, which seemed to have traces of human activity. If it were before, Sergey would have rushed over in excitement, but after what happened to Irina, he did not dare to step forward directly, but carefully observed from the side.
The bright fire was a bonfire that had just been lit. There were two people walking around next to the bonfire. Sergey looked from a distance and saw two Asian faces, one of whom was in their team and the other he did not recognize. The two of them were sitting around the fire, seemingly eating something. Judging from the rich aroma, it seemed to be meat. When he thought of meat, Sergey felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach.
Lin Banxia was indeed eating meat, but what he was eating was fish meat, freshly caught from the river. He and Li Su had been waiting by the river for three days, and still no other team members came. They had nothing to do, so they simply caught some fish from the river and ate them as a sacrifice. Lin Banxia caught the fish. He was born in a water town and has good water skills. He had enjoyed catching fish in the river since he was a child. Therefore, the only thing he had to worry about was whether the fish here could be eaten.
“It should be edible.” Li Su analyzed this. “We don’t have much dry food. We definitely need to find some other food sources, otherwise we will starve to death here. I would rather go crazy than starve to death miserably.”
Lin Banxia agreed with his statement completely. Maybe it was because he never had enough to eat when he was a child, but he didn’t like the feeling of being hungry. So, the two of them worked together, Lin Banxia went into the water, and quickly caught a few fat fish.
Li Su volunteered to cook. He took out a lot of seasonings from his backpack, cooked the fish, and then put it on a wooden stick and grilled it till it was sizzling with oil.
Lin Banxia was drying his clothes by the fire nearby, and asked curiously: “Why do you still carry seasonings with you?” Although he had been joking that he was traveling, he had not really relaxed to this extent.
“It’s all experience.” Li Su sighed. After dark, he took off his mask and sunglasses. The firelight shone on his too-white skin, making his whole body look radiant. He looked gentle. He smiled and said, “This place is too big and it’s in the wilderness. Who knows how many days the dry food can last? If it doesn’t last, you have to eat other things. Even if you dig up the roots of plants, you can add some salt to make it easier to eat.”
Lin Banxia thought about it too.
“I’ll give you the big one.” Li Su said, “I have a small appetite, so I can just eat this one.”
Lin Banxia was about to say a few polite words, however, after staring at the patterns on the fish he suddenly felt a severe discomfort. He covered his mouth, ran into the forest and vomited in an exaggerated manner.
“Hey? Lin Banxia? Are you okay??” Li Su was startled by his reaction, “What’s going on? What’s wrong with you?”
Lin Banxia vomited for a while and then turned around: “Seeing the fish made me feel a little nauseous…”
Li Su: “Huh? Are you disgusted?” He looked at the grilled fish in his hand. The heat was just right, the oil was sizzling, and it was browned nicely. It was sprinkled with salt and spices, exuding a rich aroma, and it was as good as the food he had eaten these days. Compared with other food, it is so much better, I really can’t figure out what is disgusting about it.
Lin Banxia held on to the tree and said with difficulty: “No… I remembered that when I went to the village last month, I saw a crocodile gar in the water…” As soon as he finished speaking, he retched twice more, “And… The carrion underneath the alligator gar!!!”
Li Su was silent for a while, with a complicated expression on his face. Finally, he stepped forward, handed Lin Banxia a bottle of water and motioned for him to rinse his mouth, and said, “You are really good at this job.”
Lin Banxia burst into tears from vomiting, sniffed and said, “I’ll give you the fish to eat. I don’t want to see meat anymore these days.”
Li Su: “Okay, okay, but you don’t want to eat it yourself. You can’t complain to Song Qingluo and say that I bullied you.”
Lin Banxia said of course.
So, in the end, it became a situation where Li Su happily gnawed on the grilled fish, while Lin Banxia ate hard biscuits next to him.
The two were having dinner happily when Li Su suddenly paused and turned to look at the dense forest behind him.
“What’s wrong?” Lin Banxia saw that his expression was strange and immediately became alert.
“It seems like there is someone in the forest.” Li Su said.
Lin Banxia froze and was about to stand up but was held down by Li Su. Li Su whispered: “Don’t move yet, let’s see what he wants to do.” As he said this, he took out a pistol from his pocket and loaded the gun quietly.
The atmosphere was stagnant for a few minutes, and then there was the sound of walking in the forest. Lin Banxia turned around and saw a familiar face. It was one of the Russians named Sergei who was separated from the team.
“Do you know him?” Li Su glanced at Lin Banxia.
“I know him,” Lin Banxia said honestly, “but I’m not sure if he’s a real person.”
“Are you not familiar with him?” Li Su asked.
“Not familiar.” Lin Banxia said, “I haven’t even spoken a few words.”
“Looking at him like this, he must be a real person.” Li Su pondered for a moment, as if he was thinking about something, and finally stood up and shouted a few words in Russian.
Lin Banxia was originally worried about their language barrier, but he didn’t expect that Li Su could actually speak Russian.
Sergey walked forward, and he was determined. He knew that he could not get out of here by himself. The best situation was to find a watcher, to ensure the safety of his life. So, after careful consideration, he still headed towards the bonfire, but he tightened his grip on the shotgun and made up his mind to shoot immediately if something went wrong.
Unexpectedly, the man next to Lin could actually speak Russian. He stood up and yelled at him, asking him if he was one of the lost team members.
Sergey said: “Yes, I got separated.” He glanced at Lin Banxia and found that Lin Banxia had a confused expression. He obviously knew nothing about Russian and felt a little anxious.
“Just call me Li.” Li Su said, “Don’t come over yet – I need to confirm your identity.”
Sergey paused.
“Where did you come from? Did you encounter anything on the way?” Li Su said, “Do you know his name?”
Sergey answered one by one, but still omitted the horrific things he encountered with Irina. Maybe he knew that if he continued to think about it, he would go crazy, so his reason deliberately blurred those scenes. He just said, “On the way I met a person who was exactly the same as my former teammate. After that person was killed, they turned into a puddle of mud.”
Li Su thought about it: “We are going to cross this river to the other side. Do you want to come with us?”
Sergey smiled bitterly: “I can’t go back alone… I can’t pass through that swamp alone.”
Li Su said, “That’s right.” He took a big mouthful of fish and chewed it slowly, “You can come with us, but you must hand over your gun.”
Sergey seemed a little hesitant, which was normal. The shotgun in his hand was the only equipment that could save his life. It was really risky to hand it over to two unfamiliar people…
Li Su was not in a hurry and just waited slowly.
Finally, Sergey made a decision. He took a deep breath and threw the shotgun at Li Su. Li Su winked at Lin Banxia, and Lin Banxia stepped forward and took the shotgun.
“Okay, you passed, come and have something to eat.” Li Su said, “By the way, I want to see your notes.”
Sergey said yes with a wry smile.
Li Su handed Sergey a fish and took the black notebook from his hand. Sergey chewed the food in his hand with a dull expression, feeling the warm fish filling his mouth. Such delicious food. He should have felt happy, but in fact, he found it difficult to even move the corners of his mouth.
Sergey’s notes were also in Russian. Li Su read them quickly. After reading them, he patted Sergey on the shoulder and said, “You’ve suffered.”
Sergey didn’t speak and just continued to eat in silence.
Li Su translated what Sergei described in Chinese for Lin Banxia, saying that this person should most likely be real, and no special flaws had been found in him so far. Then he briefly recounted what happened to Irina. Although Sergey didn’t want to say more, he still dutifully wrote down all his encounters in detail in his notebook.
After hearing this, Lin Banxia also felt sympathy for this poor Russian.
After Sergei finished eating the fish, Li Su told him tomorrow’s itinerary, which was to cross the river first and then walk to the middle of the plain.
After hearing this, Sergey didn’t ask why, he just nodded and said yes.
The team finally gathered together and became three people. Li Su asked Sergey to have a good night’s rest, and he and Lin Banxia were responsible for keeping vigil. After Sergey finished eating the fish, he seemed to have completely let down his guard against them. He casually found a flat place and fell asleep. He looked like he hadn’t rested for a long time. Lin Banxia was responsible for the second half of the night, so when he got up, it was the most beautiful time in the night sky.
He has seen such a night many times, but he was still moved by its beauty. This was a beauty that could not be seen in a city full of light pollution. Listening to the crackling of the bonfire, he unexpectedly felt an unprecedented tranquility.
They spent a peaceful night like this and welcomed the morning sun.
The author has something to say:
Li Su: Is there anything more tempting to you than gold?
Lin Banxia: Yes, yes, Song Qingluo in gold!!
Song Qingluo: …
Li Su: Pfft!!!
Translator’s comments:
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