Chapter 116: Emergency Retreat
After a night’s rest on the tenth evening, they embarked on the journey of the eleventh day. Everyone packed up their belongings and descended the hill together, setting off towards the frontier. If all went well, they would reach a city, now reduced to ruins, in one to two days’ time. Along the way, they spotted many animal skeletons. It was clear what had happened: the ant swarms’ feast from the other night. Faced with the harsh laws of nature, they could not help but sigh.
Suddenly, Xu Haowen noticed a skeleton on the side of the road that resembled a human. On his word, everyone stopped to have a closer look.
From its structure, it did look somewhat human. Had someone unfortunate enough to cross paths with the ant swarms been here that night? But looking at its skull, its head was sharp, not quite like a human. They were puzzled about what it could be; even the knowledgeable Professor Luo could not figure it out.
Lu Yi then made a joke: "Could it be the remains of an ogre that met its end to the ant swarms? Seems like even they are not formidable."
With a chuckle, the group dismissed her suggestion. They decided not to dwell on what kind of creature it once was and continued their journey.
All of a sudden, Gu Fan felt a chill. What if it really was an ogre? Did that mean the ants had devoured all potentially dangerous creatures around them, leaving them with safe passage?
The thought brightened Gu Fan’s mood: regardless of the skeleton’s origin, the fact that the ant swarms had passed meant that any threatening creatures, such as wolves, had been wiped out. They could travel with ease.
"Once we pass through this frontier, we’ll enter the desert. That’s when our real trial begins," Ouyang Jin’s words served as a reminder. The challenges they had faced so far were nothing compared to what the desert had in store for them.
According to Ouyang Jin’s plan, they could reach the desert before sunset by crossing the frontier in just over half a day. But they decided to play it safe by spending the night and embarking on the desert journey the next day.
But Gu Fan had a different idea. Their water supply had dwindled; they had discussed adjusting their path to find a water source if needed.