Ch303 - Tour Group (5)

In the end, four people chose to go into the mountain, and the program team sent three people to follow them, just in case.

This team was led by a local mountain ranger. In the inaccessible mountain forest, only the most experienced mountain rangers can find their way through the overgrowth to where there once was a path.

“My ancestors were traditional Chinese medicine practitioners who had been collecting medicinal herbs in the mountains. My generation no longer studied it but relied on the knowledge left by the older generation to become mountain rangers,” the speaker was a middle-aged woman with suntanned skin who ran errands in the mountains all year round.

According to the old local tradition, women were not allowed to be mountain rangers. This job was a test of physical and mental strength, requiring familiarity with everything in the mountains, the ability to survive in the wild, and the ability to identify wild animals through faeces, food scraps and footprints. Despite this, she was chosen for the job on her own merit.

The mountain ranger held a homemade shotgun in her hand, loaded with tranquilliser darts. It was the equipment applied for by the mountain ranger and was prepared to deter those nasty poachers.

“Are there any rare plants and animals here?” Since they were poachers, they would not go out for ordinary cats and dogs.

The one who spoke was Chen Shen. She was wearing a camouflage uniform, with her hair tied up and braided, carrying a military-green bag and tools stowed on her body. She looked very clean and sharp, with a heroic appearance.

The young brothers and sisters in the live broadcast room were hoarse from shouting. It was very exciting! They just wanted to lie flat and let this big sister come.

Accompanying them were He Jun, Kong Que, Butterfly, and two staff members who had first aid experience and were good at wildness explorations.

He Jun came to the mountains in search of ‘beautiful scenery’, while Kong Que accompanied him.

As for Butterfly, he simply could not stay still; his legs had their own consciousness, and they said they wanted to go out for a walk and breathe some fresh air.

“The poacher we caught last time had severalyellow-breasted buntingin his cage. But these birds should have gone to the north now and won’t be back until autumn and winter. Don’t worry,” the mountain ranger said as she used her stick to probe the path ahead while keeping the attention of the people behind her.

She was already prepared to take care of the charming guests, but she did not expect that the few people here seemed to have experience in jungle walking. They did not need her advice at all and could do better.

“Have you trained before?” The mountain ranger could not help but ask. Seeing how relaxed they were, she began to doubt who the real mountain ranger was.

Chen Shen straightened her hat and said seriously, “I’ve trained.”

Butterfly was blowing bubblegum as he walked. When he heard this sentence, he popped the bubble and said, “Practice makes perfect.” If you stay alone in a dense forest for a month, you can learn most survival skills as long as you don’t die.

“I am slightly acquainted,” He Jun nodded, his expression becoming gentle, causing the audience in the live broadcast room to lick the screen again to show respect.

Even if he was hiking in sportswear, He Jun still had an ethereal aura. Everyone thought his style would drop if he wore sportswear, but the result showed that he still looked like a fairy.

People who loved cool and noble characters would love him to death.

However, Kong Que said honestly, “Aren’t these very simple? As animals, don’t we all have some survival instincts?”

“Where did this silly young master from a landowner’s family come from? He is not humble at all. The standard answer is, ‘Yes, I trained for a long time and worked very hard’.” Kong Que’s live broadcast room attracted a large number of equally mouthy and tsundere people. On the one hand, they scolded him, while on the other hand, they watched him with fervour.

“Wait a minute!Shhh—” The mountain ranger who was surveying the path stopped. She carefully used a stick to gently push aside the grass, only to see a group of light grey snake moults that were nearly two meters long.

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Kong Que had been eating rattlesnakes since he was young. Eating this food was like humans eatingspicy strips; people would crave them if they had not eaten them for a few days. Therefore, he simply raised his own stock.

In order to raise the rattlesnakes well, he also had the small demons raise white mice until they were clean and plump before feeding them to the rattlesnakes.

The Peacock Demon was not the only one in this group who had raised snakes. Butterfly also said, “I have raised snakes too, but later passed them on to others. I only have two lizards and two tortoises left at home. In order to let them eat with peace of mind, I also raised cockroaches and shrimps.”

Butterfly seemed to like reptiles very much, and a ‘happy’ expression appeared on his face when he spoke of them.

Although this ‘happiness’ was just expressed through his widened eyes and faster speech.

“You also keep cockroaches?” The mountain ranger, who had seen flying cockroaches in the south, expressed that she was still inexperienced and did not understand city people very well.

Creatures like cockroaches that can fly over and hug your face are no longer just plain scary or disgusting; rather…… they are indescribably disgusting and terrifying.

Butterfly turned his head and looked at the mountain ranger with his dark, slightly dull eyes, “A species called cherrycockroachesare usually fed fresh fruits such as cherries and apples. They are quite picky and won’t even eat carrots. A few of them escaped from captivity and starved themselves to death because of their picky eating habits.”

“……”

“I have two little lizards that just came out here. I don’t want to keep them anymore. I will give them to you for free. I’ll also add three generations of cherry cockroaches. Just feed them some fresh fruits regularly,” Butterfly continued, “Lately, I’ve been trying to concentrate on raising turtles.”

The mountain ranger was silent as she turned her head the other way: Even pets eat better than her these days!

Butterfly looked around, and even Kong Que, the fellow snake keeper, had a ‘don’t look at me, I don’t want to raise them’ look on his face.

The accompanying staff even quickened their pace. Butterfly stayed where he was for a while, “……Isn’t the cherry cockroach that eats fruit cute? What about the Dubia roach? Or the death’s head roach?”

“Help!!!” The three worldviews of the girls and guys in his live broadcast room were quickly dismantled.

“Ah, let me ask little rabbit,” Butterfly muttered to himself, thinking that he could appreciate his pet.

“Achoo!” Ren Yifei sniffed, “I have a bad premonition.”

He was now standing in the village’s small handicraft workshop, which was a large yard with a rainproof shed and some piles of chopped bamboo.

“All the bamboo chosen by the master is neither too old nor too young. Bamboo that is too old is too hard, while bamboo that is too young is too watery. You must choose the right bamboo,” the old village chief introduced him to the bamboo product processing factory in this village.

Saman was not with him. The dried bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, and mushrooms in the village were all very good, so Saman said he wanted to show off his cooking skills and let the audience experience his cooking through the screen.

En…… he was probably still bothered by the fact that Ren Yifei’s fans suspect him of not being a good cook, causing their idol to be a picky eater.

“That’s good. If they buy the dry ingredients here in the future, they can include the recipe for the dish the Best Actor ate.” With a twinkle in his eye, Ren Yifei came up with a little idea for publicity.

“Why don’t we just call it ‘My Boyfriend’s Secret Recipe’? Learn my recipe, and you’re guaranteed to get a partner,” Saman boasted.

“What if they can’t? Are you going to compensate them?” Ren Yifei complained on behalf of netizens.

“If they can’t, then this person might consider getting a set of ‘A Boyfriends’ Heartwarming Tips’ that I’ll write when I return.”

The audience in the live broadcast room immediately booed, with Ren Yifei’s boos perfectly mixed in.

Thus, the two of them were now split into two groups. Ren Yifei was here to learn from this master, and Saman was elsewhere to hold on-site cooking courses.

Many convenient machines had been added to this small factory. However, the old craftsmen inside still seemed to prefer the purely manual method. They used only a few simple tools, held the bamboo poles in their rough hands, and used their own experience to judge what the bamboo was best suited for.

Ren Yifei squatted beside him, and when the old craftsman had time to drink water, he stepped forward and asked, “Can I try it?”

The old man looked up and down and shook his head, “Which part of you look like you would be up for the task?”

However, Ren Yifei insisted and said he wanted to try it. The old man probably wanted to give the village chief some face, so he said, “Alright, then I’ll teach you how to weave a cricket cage.”

No one fought with crickets these days, so the old man felt nostalgic when he talked about the cricket cage.

“Perfect.”

The thin bamboo strips used to make cricket cages were readily available, but they needed to be polished; otherwise, the small bamboo strips would irritate your hands.

Ren Yifei took the knife and swung it twice, scraping off the small barbs as quickly and neatly as the old master. When the old master saw that he was still somewhat presentable, his expression also looked much better, and he began to teach Ren Yifei to prepare the bottom of the cage.

At this time, Shan Chuan and Ke Bei were playing chess with the old man in the village.

As for Wen Li, she had set off to the ruins of the old village.

Leaving aside the two people who were playing chess with the old man in the village cultural square and chattering with the old lady at the entrance of the village, Wen Li’s group had already arrived in the old village. The program team did not feel comfortable with her going alone and sent someone to follow her.

The old village was in the mountains, and most people would be out of breath when climbing up. However, Wen Li appeared as though she was walking on flat ground. When they reached the old village, her face was not red, nor was she out of breath. In contrast, the staff who was following behind was already covered in sweat.

“Are you okay? Drink some water.” Wen Li enthusiastically took care of this sturdy young man who was a head taller than her. The young man was so overheated that his face turned red like a ripe tomato.

“I, I’m okay. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve been exercising a lot and forgot for a moment that normal people don’t have the same stamina.” Wen Li said with a smile.

She was a cold beauty. She was so mesmerising when she suddenly smiled that the young man could not resist and started talking incoherently.

“Exercise, exercise is good. Does Miss Wen like the sporty type? No, no, I mean Miss Wen is particularly suitable for sports— really good.”

“Oh——” The live broadcast room started to cheer, Wen Li could not see it, so it did not stop them from having a good time.

“Sister likes well-behaved and obedient people, not sporty ones.” They still remember what Wen Li said when she first arrived. If you meet such a sister, you must marry her!

Wen Li looked at the staff member’s light honey-coloured skin and shook her head secretly: His personality looked good, but his appearance didn’t meet her requirements.

Yes, Sister Wen Li was not only the King of the Sea but also a loyal beauty-con. For her, other connotations were secondary. Anyway, she was greedy for novelty and was not prepared to only eat one dish for a long time. However, it was intolerable if the other party’s appearance did not meet her requirements.

“What a pity,” She thought, silently withdrawing her outstretched ‘little tentacles’.

The two took a short break and entered the old village.

The old village had two to three hundred years of history. Most of the buildings on the mountain were made of local mountain stones. Although there were various disadvantages, such as no ventilation, no airflow, and no insulation from the cold and heat, the buildings themselves were very durable and could still be used to this day after two or three hundred years with some repair.

“This looks like it belonged to a wealthy family,” Wen Li looked at a double-story building, which was located at a high point and had a large garden. There was a pond filled with mountain spring water in the garden, and although the garden had long been withered, there was still a black-backed tortoise lying in the pool. It was unknown whether it was left by the original owner.

“This is Uncle He’s old house, but no one has been in his house for a long time. He himself……” The staff hesitated, “We’d better not go in.”

“Why?” Wen Li caught a whiff of ‘NPC giving a hint’ and she instinctively pursued the question, even though she already had some guesses in her mind.

The staff hesitated for a moment, “After everyone in the village moved away, Uncle He couldn’t bear to leave his old house and remained here. Who knew that one day, he would…… ‘leave’ and collapse in the yard. After that, there were some,ahem, rumours here.”

Before he finished speaking, he heard a bang inside.

He shivered. Despite the heat and being in broad daylight, the young man felt cold. He was drenched in cold sweat and could not help but look around; It’s probably some kind of critter, ahaha, let’s go somewhere else and look, shall we?”

Wen Li’s occupational diseases kicked in. Or rather, these people had never really escaped the Cape of Desolation. Thus, she immediately smiled and said, “Why leave? Let’s go in and take a look.”