"AHHH—Wolves—"

The prisoners spun around and fled, but the vicious wolf pack descended like a gale, sinking their teeth into them again and again.

Screams of agony filled the air as the heavy stench of blood spread. Jiang Si yelled to Shen Baoying and the others, "Run!"

These were classic mutated wolves—enormous in size, with fur as sharp as needles, incredibly agile, and extremely aggressive.

If a bullet didn’t hit a vital spot, the wolf would retaliate with a bite and refuse to let go until its victim was torn to shreds.

And so, the group of prisoners bought them precious time to escape.

After the pack had killed all the prisoners, their baleful green eyes locked onto Jiang Si, who was providing cover with her gun.

The alpha wolf shot forward, baring its vicious fangs. Jiang Si shoved the grenade into Qin Shen’s hands, aimed her gun at the alpha, and—BANG—

Jiang Si fired, but the alpha dodged with nimble grace. It lunged forward, leaping through the air to close the distance, getting too near for even a grenade to be effective.

Terror seized Jiang Si’s heart. She drew a dagger from her boot, preparing to slit its throat.

The next second, the perilous situation came to an abrupt halt.

The alpha’s pupils widened as if it had seen something utterly terrifying. It slammed on the brakes in mid-air, its body twisting into a knot as it fell to the ground. It scrambled up in a panic and bolted.

The alpha fled, leaving its underlings momentarily stunned. As the leader barreled past them, they seemed to get the signal. Several slipped as if on ice, falling face-first in the dirt before scrambling away.

Jiang Si looked at the dagger in her hand, a little stunned. ’Did they sense my imposing aura and flee in terror?’

’That can’t be right!’

Jiang Si glanced at Qin Shen beside her. She recalled how Little Black and Big Black were afraid of him, and her eyes narrowed. She couldn’t help but ask, "It seems these wolves are afraid of you."

Qin Shen nodded calmly. "It would seem so."

He admitted it so readily that Jiang Si was momentarily at a loss for words.

Just as she was about to ask why the wolves were afraid of him, Jiang Linhai ran over, his voice still shaking with fear. "Sisi, are you alright?"

Jiang Si shook her head. Jiang Linhai asked, "Are we still staying here tonight?"

The cave is full of mangled corpses. It’s horrifying.

Jiang Si nodded. "It’s not safe outside. The wolf pack is gone, so let’s pitch the tents and make do for the night."

"Corpses are far less terrifying than people."

Everyone pitched their tents. As Jiang Si lay in her sleeping bag, her thoughts turned to Qin Shen, and her expression grew somber. She wanted to go find him and demand an explanation, but then she remembered that she had secrets of her own.

’As long as he’s on our side, it’s probably best not to press him if he’s unwilling to talk. I should avoid pushing things to the point where we become enemies.’

Jiang Si eventually drifted off to sleep. The next morning, they had a simple meal of compressed biscuits and set off again.

The food and water in their backpacks would last them another two days.

After that, Jiang Si would have to figure out a way to discreetly take some supplies out of her space.

Lu Zhifeng, unaware of Jiang Si’s secret, was the most anxious one in the group. He spent the entire journey trying to figure out how to get food.

He even found it a pity that they hadn’t been able to catch one of the wolves last night.

There was basically nothing to eat near the highway. During a rest stop, Jiang Si noticed a massive, fallen tree.

The great tree was decaying and riddled with insect burrows. Jiang Si walked over and studied it for a moment.

Lu Zhifeng came over and asked, puzzled, "See anything unusual?"

Jiang Si pulled on her gloves and used her dagger to slice open the rotten bark. Suddenly, a dense swarm of white, thumb-sized grubs appeared before them.

Niu Niu was terrified and shouted, "Bugs! There are so many bugs!"

But Lu Zhifeng’s eyes lit up. "Those are termites," he told Niu Niu. "You can eat them. Not only are they delicious, but they’re also nutritious and have high medicinal value."

Longquan Village was right next to a forest, so termites were common. Some of the villagers still had the custom of eating them.

Jiang Chengwu’s family had been poor when he was a child, and he’d eaten them before. Seeing so many plump, white termites, a nostalgic look crossed his face. "Stir-fried in a hot wok or roasted over charcoal, they’re crispy and savory. Really good. Eating them raw tastes a bit like white carrots."

Niu Niu looked at the horrifyingly squirming termites and began to question her life choices.

Jiang Si had already started, using a pair of chopsticks to deftly pick the termites and drop them into a plastic bag.

’In my past life, a meal of termites would have been a feast.’

There were many ways to catch termites. At night, you could set up a tent and use a kerosene lamp to lure them out and catch them all at once.

But these termites were large enough, and their nest was in a decaying log, so that method wasn’t necessary.

Everyone followed Jiang Si’s lead, and in no time, they had collected several plastic bags full of termites.

"The ordinary worker termites are this big," Jiang Linhai said with a laugh. "The queen must be the size of a potato!"

’The queens I caught in my past life weren’t just the size of potatoes,’ she thought. ’Some were bigger than a small shoe.’

’The existence of these mutated creatures was what allowed me to survive for ten years.’

The thought of how termites tasted was actually making Jiang Si’s mouth water.

The group built a fire nearby, skewered the termites on sticks, and began to roast them.

Shen Baoying pulled some seasoning from her backpack and sprinkled it over the termites. With a SIZZLE and a POP, they turned a brilliant golden brown, looking utterly delicious.

When Niu Niu smelled an aroma like fried crispy pork, her eyes lit up.

Jiang Si handed a skewer of roasted termites to Niu Niu. The termites’ heads were small to begin with, and after roasting, only their ball-like bodies remained. Niu Niu’s fear of the insects vanished completely, and she eagerly took a bite.

The termites were fragrant and crispy, full of protein, and coated in a layer of Shen Baoying’s secret barbecue spice blend.

They were absolutely delicious!

Everyone ate their fill, and they cooked some extra to save for dinner.

As the sun began to set, they entered the suburbs of South City, and the number of houses around them gradually increased.

But most of the houses had collapsed from the torrential rains and floods.

They pressed on, entering South City’s most luxurious villa district.

Each villa in the district was perched on its own hill. Thanks to the high ground and quality building materials, few of them had been completely destroyed.

However, signs of break-ins and looting were glaringly obvious.

The rich always had more ways to save themselves than the common folk. There might still be survivors in these villas who would shoot at them as intruders.

Jiang Si told everyone to be cautious and to look for an empty house to spend the night.

They had just entered the villa district when seven or eight gaunt men, holding an assortment of blades, rushed out to confront them.

Their sunken cheeks and sallow complexions stood in stark contrast to Jiang Si’s group.

It was clear at a glance that Jiang Si’s group was well-fed and carrying plenty of supplies.

The men’s eyes, filled with savage hunger, were fixed on their backpacks. "Drop your stuff and get lost!"

Jiang Si’s eyes turned cold. Just as she was about to teach these fools a lesson, three more men emerged from behind them.

The man in the lead had bloodshot eyes and a malicious smirk playing on his lips, yet he feigned a friendly demeanor. He angrily berated the other men, "Who told you to rob them? Anyone who comes here is a brother or sister! Don’t you know the rules?"