Chapter 389: Chapter 387 “The Calabash Brothers Rescue Grandpa

“Alright.” Ye Qing strode to catch up.

Vine extended its tendrils, like a floral navigator, directing Jiang Yan forward, relying on the memory of the path previously taken.

The wind and snow “whooshed” in their faces as they trudged head-on through the storm, also wary of the cracks in the ground, neither of them speaking anymore, focusing on hastening their pace.

Ye Qing glanced at Jiang Yan, hesitating to speak.

In the vast snowy wilderness, without a functional compass, it is actually very difficult to walk in a straight line as one intends.

But Jiang Yan seemed to be guided by a navigator, not stopping to check directions at all, continuing to move steadily forward with her head down.

He looked at the backpack on her shoulders and ultimately suppressed the urge to help carry it.

On one hand, there was trust in Jiang Yan’s physical strength; on the other, he knew well the importance of a backpack filled with supplies in such a remote wilderness.

After walking for nearly an hour, as the sky gradually darkened, a massive ravine appeared before them.

“Jiang Yan, we’re here,” Ye Qing said with a glance at the AS zone suspended in the ravine, feeling a warm sense of homecoming.

However, a thought surfaced in his mind: if Jiang Yan could find the AS zone, could she also find her way back to Yaoben Base by the same route?

“Jiang Yan, can you find the way back to Yaoben Base?”

“I can’t.”

White Sugar could only remember the paths she herself had traversed.

When they had left Yaoben Base previously, one person and one flower had been hurled out via a parabolic trajectory from the metal house.

Naturally, White Sugar couldn’t remember the way back.

Ye Qing merely “oh”ed and did not press further.

By this time, their hoods were already covered with white ice crystals.

In the distance, the metal house wedged in midair looked strikingly like a mousse cake.

A layer of black, a layer of white, followed by another layer of black.

Jiang Yan knew that was due to the alternating appearances of black and white snowflakes during this period.

Snowflakes falling ceaselessly could condense into ice due to gravity, which wasn’t good for the house hanging in the air.

Usually, the snow on the roof needed to be cleared to reduce the load on the house.

But now, lacking the proper tools, and with a need to leave some snow to camouflage the structure, they had done nothing.

Jiang Yan scanned the surroundings and stopped at the sight near the ravine, “Why are there four ropes over there?”

Ye Qing followed her gaze, “It might be that someone went out.”

His own rope had broken in half earlier and was likely buried by the snow; he hadn’t seen it on the return trip.

However, at this point in time, no one should be going out.

And ropes – could they correspond to four people?

But now was not the time to ponder this; they would know once inside the house later.

Thinking this, Ye Qing looked at Jiang Yan with a smile, “It’s getting dark, shall we go inside first?”

“If they see you, Su Dai and the others will be overjoyed,” he added.

“Okay.” Jiang Yan nodded and then looked around, “How do you usually get in and out?”

Beneath the entire AS zone was an empty expanse, with no apparent means of entering the house.

“Over here.” Ye Qing led her to a slightly depressed area, “We’ve chiseled out an ice staircase.”

The ice stairs were partially covered by snow, revealing only half of the steps.

It seemed that the creator had anticipated the impact of the snow, as each step was deeply and broadly carved.

Jiang Yan looked at the ice stairs and clicked her tongue, “This kind of reminds me of the ice staircases I saw on TV before, in those snowy wonderlands.”

As a Southerner who would get excited at the sight of snow, after the apocalypse, she had lost all interest in any snowflakes.

But at this moment, the sight of the man-made ice staircase still gave her a small thrill.

“This path is very slippery; I’ll stay up here, you go down first.” While speaking, Ye Qing took off the remaining half of the rope from his shoulder and handed it to Jiang Yan.

“I don’t need it.” Jiang Yan said with a smile, waving her hand and then stepping swiftly down the stairs.

“Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!” The sound of footsteps on the snow echoed as she, light-footed, reached the bottom of the ravine.

Once Jiang Yan was firmly on the ground, White Sugar then withdrew the tendrils from her body.

“!!” Ye Qing was shocked for a second, remembering the scene where she leapt into the air and struck down the Snow Wolf, and he began to wonder if Jiang Yan had somehow acquired a sort of Qinggong.

He hurriedly followed along.

“Doctor! Xiao Ye is back!”

“My God! Sister Yan is back too!”

Kong Wu, who was on watch duty at the door, suddenly saw the figures of the two people, and immediately jumped up with joy, waving frantically at the two below, “Xiao Ye, Sister Yan!”

Upon hearing this, everyone inside the quiet house, busy with their training, excitedly rushed out.

Even a few elderly people followed behind Song Haitao and came out.

“Move in a bit! Be careful not to squeeze out!” Kong Wu, seeing a crowd rushing to the door, quickly reminded them.

With everyone standing at the door, Jiang Yan naturally didn’t have Hua Bao carry her up anymore.

Before she had a chance to ask Ye Qing how to get up, a simple iron plate attached to a rope was lowered, “Sister Yan, hold onto the rope, we will pull you up.”

“Okay.”

The two were pulled back into the room.

Su Dai, crying tears of joy, rushed up and gave Jiang Yan a bear hug, then checked Jiang Yan from top to bottom, front and back, to confirm she was alright, before eventually saying through her sobs, “Jiang Yan, you’ve finally returned!”

“Ah, Jiang Yan, I really feel like I’m so useless…” She sighed.

She had been worried for nearly a month but was unable to do anything.

“It’s okay, haven’t I returned?” Jiang Yan said with a gentle smile, and as she looked up, she saw Song Haitao and others looking at them with radiance.

“Dr. Song.” She walked over.

Song Haitao nodded slightly, his eyes somewhat moist, “Jiang Yan, from now on, I will never let you go alone on such dangerous tasks.”

The weather is always changing, and Natural Disasters sometimes emerge without warning.

This meteor and black blizzard were far beyond his expectations.

Thinking about it now, he still feels a sense of dread.

If something happened to Jiang Yan, he wouldn’t know how to explain it to those above, nor to himself.

“It’s a small matter.” Jiang Yan smiled, “I’m safely back, aren’t I?”

“Plus, I’ve made some discoveries, which I will talk about with you later.”

“Good, good, rest first, no rush.”

Lin Xiaohui came over with two cups of warm water sweetened with White Sugar, handing one to Jiang Yan first, “Jiang Yan, drink this to warm yourself up.”

“Thank you, Doctor Lin.”

After saying “You’re welcome” and handing the other cup to Ye Qing, her expression paused, “Xiao Ye, is your hand injured?”

Only then did everyone notice Ye Qing’s hand, which looked like a steamed bun.

Nowadays, everyone needed to wear gloves when going outside, but his hand was bare.

Besides being bare, it was also swollen.

Ye Qing felt his body was not uncomfortable anymore, and he had also received serum, yet he didn’t understand why it was still swollen.

“It’s fine, it’ll be better after some rest,” he said.

Jiang Yan was surrounded by everyone and sat down.

She glanced around and asked with confusion:

“Eh, where are Brother Song, Brother Tao, Qin Lang, and Mo Shiyao?”

She did not see the four of them.

“Sister Yan…” Kong Wu hesitated, “They, they’ve gone to rescue the Vine grandfather…”

After speaking, he glanced at Ye Qing and Jiang Yan.

“Cough cough–” Song Haitao coughed twice and said, “That’s how it is, you didn’t return on the night you set out. The walkie-talkie couldn’t get through, and then the meteor and black blizzard fell. Ye Qing was afraid something had happened to you, so he went out to look for you that very night.”

After saying this, he glanced at Ye Qing.

Everyone’s gaze suddenly turned towards him.

Ye Qing scratched his head and his ears turned slightly red.