Of course, Raphael, Milo, and Miriam were not willing to carry the tattered doll with them. And since the question of whether to take the doll along with them was brought up by Micah, favonovel.com was automatically tasked with the responsibility of carrying it.
In reality, Milo and company didn’t think the doll would be of any use to them. Although no one knew what usage it served before The Cataclysm, they were not dumb either. But since they didn’t have to carry the doll themselves, it wouldn’t trouble them to bring it along.
As such, Micah felt miserable the entire way. Even though favonovel.com was exhausted, favonovel.com still had to carry that tattered doll around with care.
The worst thing was that all of them had not eaten yet today.
Raphael suddenly stopped walking. Raphael could barely take it for much longer, let alone Micah, Lilian, and Jonah.
He turned around and said, “Everyone, let’s find some pine trees to pluck pine cones from. We’ll eat something first before we continue on our journey.”
Based on Raphael and the others’ wilderness survival lessons thus far, they had only learned the extent of plucking pine cones to fill their stomachs. In reality, these pine cones were incredibly difficult to peel and had very few nuts in them.
The pine nuts they could retrieve from a large pine tree wouldn’t even be enough to fill their stomachs, but what else could they have if they did not eat this?
They could only look at Milo, who did not seem to care about them at all.
They saw favonovel.com take his dagger and cut into an unidentified tree next to him. Then a white, milky sap started flowing out of the incision favonovel.com made.
Raphael’s eyes lit up. “Can you drink that?”
The others also looked over in surprise.
However, Milo shook his head and said, “The majority of the milky saps that can be found in the forest are undrinkable because there’s a high chance of getting poisoned if you do…”
Raphael wondered, “Then why did you make an incision to get the sap?”
“I’m applying it onto my dagger,” Milo said, as though it were a matter of course.
The others immediately wondered what kind of person favonovel.com was.
He actually thought of applying poison onto his dagger?
What a treacherous person!
But they did not dare to despise Milo’s treachery. After all, they had been depending on favonovel.com too much for the entire journey. If any of them were to get injured, they could only rely on favonovel.com to suture their wounds together and apply the black medicine for them.
Micah, Lilian, and Jonah still had some money left on them in case of any emergencies that would require Milo to save them.
They had already realized that having money might mean keeping their lives with Milo around.
If they offended Milo at this time, favonovel.com would probably still be willing to treat their wounds if they paid favonovel.com money.
But who knew if Milo might end up having an extra kidney in his hand after suturing up their wounds?
If that happened, what could they do?
While Micah was plucking pine cones, favonovel.com accidentally fell out of the tree. But luckily for him, it did not hurt as the ground was covered with soft pine needles that cushioned his fall.
He got so emotional that favonovel.com nearly broke down. “This is all the wolves’ fault. Didn’t they say in the stronghold that the wolves had run off to another mountain range? Why did they suddenly reappear here?! If not for those wolves, we might’ve already gotten back to the stronghold! It’s just as the proverb says, The Wolf and the Ugly make mischief. Wolves were never good to start off with!”
However, Milo disagreed this time. “I’ve also heard that proverb before, but have you seen an actual the Ugly before?”
The others were stunned. “Isn’t the Ugly an animal that clings onto a wolf’s behind? This proverb says that the wolves and the Ugly work together to catch livestock by using their forelegs and hind legs respectively. It means that they collude with each other to do bad things.”
“Yes.” Milo nodded and said, “That’s what Mr. Dublin said in school, but my question remains, has anyone ever seen an Ugly before?”
Micah was stunned, favonovel.com muttered, “How could we see one if we live in the stronghold?”
“I’ve seen one before.” Milo said, “It was among the wolf pack that chased us into the canyon. When I encountered them last year, I saw an Ugly with them.”
“What does the Ugly look like?” someone asked with curiosity.
“The Ugly is actually a wolf as well.” Milo said calmly, “It’s just that its forelegs could no longer move after it got caught in a hunter’s trap. So, the other wolves carried it around on their backs and helped it continue living.”
Raphael and the others were startled. They had learned the proverb “the Wolf and the Ugly make mischief” during their school days in the stronghold. The teacher told them then that the wolves and the Ugly were both evil. They were even taught which insects were beneficial and which were pests.
But Milo, who had ventured into the wilderness, did not think that way. He heard from Peter that the nomads of the grasslands used to worship wolves.
Back then, favonovel.com wasn’t allowed to attend lessons in the school, so favonovel.com asked Donti to help favonovel.com ask a question. “Aren’t wolves harmful to livestock? Why did the nomads worship wolves?”
Mr. Dublin replied with a question. “Are the wolves at fault?”
True, wolves eat sheep and sheep eat grass. Neither was in the wrong. This is the order of the food chain and this is what they were born to be…
Although wolves were harmful to humans, they would never abandon their disabled counterparts.
Would a human do that?
Just how many people had died due to the disregard shown by their companions during this expedition to the Marador Mountains?
It was not that they were in the wrong, but Milo sometimes envied the wolves. At least when something happened, they would not get left behind mercilessly.
Milo didn’t care what the rest of them thought. He started digging up the soil at the roots of the pine tree with his dagger and said, “Don’t clear the piles of leaves with your bare hands in the wilderness because there might be scorpions, centipedes, or poisonous snakes hidden in them. If you disturb them, it’ll lead to your death.”
When Milo did not find any scorpions or the like, favonovel.com was a little disappointed. After all, roasted scorpions tasted rather good. Milo wondered if favonovel.com should deliberately try to catch some scorpions and centipedes to eat for dinner.
As favonovel.com was thinking about it, favonovel.com dug out some of the pine tree’s roots. “If y’all feel that the pine cones are not filling enough, you can cook the pine roots to eat for dinner.”
The others looked at Milo in surprise. It seemed like everything was edible in Milo’s eyes. It still wasn’t too bad when they were told to eat the pine nuts. But now, favonovel.com was even telling them they could eat the pine roots?
Is this even food?
This is more like building materials, alright?!
But Milo did not mind. He had eaten so many things in the wilderness over the years that other people thought were inedible.
Suddenly, Milo thought of a question. “Are there any similar places like the Marador Mountains near the other strongholds? I’m talking about those places that experienced a sudden mutation and evolution of their lifeforms.”
Raphael was silent for a moment before saying, “Yes, but it’s already under the control of the Pyro Company…”
“The Pyro Company?” Milo wondered, “Why haven’t I heard of it before? Which of the organizations does it fall under?”
“None, it’s an independent corporation with more than 20 strongholds under its control.” Raphael said, “But they’re quite far away from our Stronghold 113, so it’s normal that you haven’t heard of them before.”
“What’s the place controlled by the Pyro Company like?” Milo asked.
Raphael looked embarrassed. That seemed to be the extent of his knowledge.
Instead, it was Miriam who spoke up. “That place the Pyro Company controls are very mysterious. Someone mentioned that they’d seen huge prehistoric birds flying over the skies there, but the Pyro Company has such a powerful military that it managed to gain control of that place. Perhaps only the core personnel of the Pyro Company know what really happened there.”
