Chapter 71
Yu Qingxian lay motionless in the ditch.
Suddenly, she thought of the Tyrannosaurus.
She didn't know if that silly dog had taken shelter.
But if it hadn't, it should be fine.
After all, many mutant squads raised mutated animals to help them fight.
So Yu Qingxian was more worried about herself than the Tyrannosaurus.
But Yu Qingxian noticed the car had stopped in the distance, and a group of people got off.
They looked around carefully, then headed up the small hill.
Yu Qingxian looked at those people, then towards the top of the hill, and instantly understood their target.
It was that blood pine tree.
Sure enough, even this mutated plant couldn't escape the clutches of humans.
It was good they weren't after her.
Yu Qingxian didn't dare move, crouching in the ditch, grabbing a handful of grass to cover her head.
There were four or five people hugging guns standing in front of the car on guard.
While the rest carefully went up the hill.
Yu Qingxian saw they were even wearing special helmets, with what looked like fire extinguishers on their backs.
She didn't know what those things were.
But since these people were fully armed, they must have learned something beforehand.
Maybe someone had suffered at the hands of this tree.
Yu Qingxian just didn't know what use a blood-red pine tree could have.
She didn't know what happened on the hill, but could hear some booming sounds.
Then came the sound of an explosion.
The few people in front of the car were startled and looked towards the top.
At this moment, a huge fire erupted from the top, with fiery snakes whipped up by the wind piercing the clouds.
Yu Qingxian didn't dare take out her camera, only taking a few photos and a video with her phone.
Then several people came running down from the top.
"Quick, in the car, even fire can't burn down this tree," the leader said anxiously, running while looking back.
As if something was chasing them from behind.
Those people immediately got in the car and opened the doors.
Once they piled in, the car quickly drove off.
Yu Qingxian watched the big fire on the hilltop, then the car disappearing.
No way...
Setting fires to burn the mountain, (???).
Yu Qingxian didn't know if the fire would spread to other mountains.
Over ten people went up, but less than ten came back.
Clearly those people were left behind on the hill.
Yu Qingxian waited for half an hour, but the mountain fire didn't spread.
She heard the rustling of leaves, then saw a wisp of blue smoke rise from the top, and after that no more movement.
Yu Qingxian climbed out of the ditch onto the roadside, shaking the grass off her head.
Then her nose caught a whiff of a nauseating smell.
....
Those people must have been cooked.
Yu Qingxian pulled her suitcase out of the ditch, stared at the hilltop for a while, then felt the smell slowly dissipating.
She jogged over, seeing the trees in that area burned charcoal black, but that blood pine still standing tall.
Yu Qingxian even felt it was glowing.
Its color even seemed more vivid than before.
Yu Qingxian then realized, this tree eats people!
But it was obvious that a tree like this existing in such a place was a safety hazard.
It's normal for humans to want to get rid of it.
Or perhaps this blood pine had some medicinal or other value.
Yu Qingxian didn't go greet it though.
She just took out her phone and took a few more photos of it.
With so many people going after it, it would probably be dug up root and all eventually.
She might as well get a good look while she could.
As night fell, Yu Qingxian finally arrived at a small town.
This town looked beautiful.
The roads weren't made of concrete, but rather lovely cobblestone-like paving.
The outer walls of the houses were built with wood.
And there were large floor-to-ceiling windows.
Seemingly to enjoy watching the snow.
But all Yu Qingxian could see were those pine trees.
This place used to be snowy year-round, but now the snow had melted, revealing the rocks below in a unique scenery.
And in the soil between the rocks, some green grass had grown. For some reason, Yu Qingxian felt this would be a suitable place to graze cattle.
Sheep too.
Since the higher areas were rocky.
Yu Qingxian found a small building with a decent view and checked in.
After a quick tidying up, she went out into the night.
The temperature had dropped considerably now.
Yu Qingxian's energy was also high.
She passed through the whole town and climbed up a hill.
Standing on top, she could overlook the entire town.
Turning north, she could see another country in the distance.
But that country was sparsely populated, so no need to worry about zombies charging over.
Yu Qingxian looked for a while then turned her gaze back.
The small town she came to was just an ordinary place to see the winter pines.
While the city over ten kilometers away was where most people went.
For things like riding sleds on frozen lakes or skiing.
Yu Qingxian couldn't enjoy those facilities anymore though.
A bit of a shame, but she didn't really feel like doing those anyway.
That said,
Yu Qingxian set out in the middle of the night, heading for that city with all the entertainment facilities over ten kilometers away.
It took Yu Qingxian two hours to walk the over ten kilometers along the road since she had to take a detour.
This whole area was surrounded by mountains, and further southwest there was a huge mountain range.
The birch forests here weren't yet tinged with autumn gold, but Yu Qingxian listening to the wind through the leaves was like the trees on both sides clapping for her.
Yu Qingxian suddenly stopped, waved at the trees on both sides.
"Thank you, thank you!" Yu Qingxian smiled.
She'd only seen videos of others walking through various forests during the day, this was her first time walking this kind of forest path at night.
Yu Qingxian sat on her suitcase and couldn't help singing a song about the birch forest.
Only this time there was no snow here.
Though the atmosphere wasn't quite right, Yu Qingxian was very happy.
After passing through the forest path, Yu Qingxian returned to the road and finally arrived at the city of M as it was about to dawn.
Go further north from here though, and it would be a prime spot to see the northern lights.
Yu Qingxian considered, but the timing was off.
After all, the best time to see the northern lights was after September.
She came to this place during the hottest season.
At a time when the Earth's climate had undergone an extreme change.
Yu Qingxian felt, for places you want to travel to, don't hesitate if you have the time and money, just go.
Because whenever you want to travel is the most appropriate time to travel.
Yu Qingxian checked the map and, following an especially ordinary sightseeing route, first headed for the Northern Frontier.
This was the northernmost town in the entire country.
But Yu Qingxian didn't dare go brazenly.
Because in this place, she caught a whiff of a human scent.
In other words, there were humans here.
This made Yu Qingxian quite cautious.
After all, there were troops stationed in that earliest sunrise city before.
So Yu Qingxian naturally had to be careful.
She didn't want to alert those troops. Luckily this place was quite large, so even as Yu Qingxian passed through, she didn't draw any attention.
She sat on a long bench in the distance, turned back to look at the fluttering red flag.
She stared at the flag for a while, took out her phone, and took a selfie with the national flag.