Chapter 8: The Lost Fool

“Because the teacher has been in the mountains for more than four days, by now he should have completed building the water source and campsite. At this moment, he must definitely be in the state of foraging for food.”

Although this mountain range is not Liu Yuyun’s home turf, he is more familiar with it than anyone present. Standing in front of the map, marking points and ranges, he looked like a small commander.

Of course, Jizi had more experience with this kind of thing, but it was rare for her to quietly listen without saying much, occasionally glancing at her junior disciple. Although rarely, she could indeed see a trace of that person in Liu Yuyun’s command.

[Isn’t he really his teacher’s student?]

“This also means that finding this ‘half-wild man’ won’t be easy. Three days would be ideal, but it’s also possible that even after a week we find nothing. So, we need to ensure we can survive here ourselves.”

“I have a question.” Mei raised her hand.

“Please go ahead.”

“Although it’s unrelated to the current situation, Yuyun, did you tell your grandparents that you went into the mountain and wouldn’t return for several days?”

“Ah, if my grandma can’t find me, she’ll go to the teacher’s house to look. I left a note there. And if the teacher is in the mountain, she’ll be reassured…” At this point, he suddenly crouched down holding his head, looking terrified. “But my homeroom teacher might kill me for skipping class.”

“You’re more afraid of your homeroom teacher than your grandma?”

“You don’t understand how scary homeroom teachers called ‘班主任’ are in China!”

The fear on his face was genuine. Mei carefully thought about her own homeroom teacher at school — a very kind person. Could Chinese homeroom teachers be different from Japanese ones?

“Alright, we still have to live here for several days, so please don’t bring up my fears, thank you!!” Clearing his throat, Liu Yuyun said, “The first thing to solve is drinking water. I remember the teacher placed a few water containers here… Ah, found them. I’ll take care of that.”

“Next is the food problem.” Liu Yuyun emphasized this, patting the map heavily.

“The reason the teacher chose this camp as the center point is mainly because wild vegetables, mushrooms, and fruits are abundant around here. There are also many fish in the waterfall. I’ll tell you what you can eat and what you can’t pick. Of course, if possible…” Liu Yuyun glanced repeatedly at Jizi, then looked at Kiana and Mei, and sighed heavily.

“Forget it, let’s eat light for these three days. After all, fish count as a protein supplement.”

“Hey hey hey, are you looking down on us, you little brat?!”

“Eh?! Can senior really hunt? Just to be clear, the teacher only taught me how to set traps, but all the rabbits and wild chickens around here migrated to the other side of the mountain after last year’s heavy rain. The only thing left to catch around here is a group of wild boars. Senior, if you want to go die first, I won’t stop you.”

“…That’s quite an old provocation, but I accept the challenge. Just wait and see!”

With that, the red-haired Valkyrie dramatically spun around and left the cabin, her back like a general going into battle.

Three seconds later…

“Um, which direction was that?”

“Over there~~~” Liu Yuyun smiled and pointed, but in Jizi’s eyes, that smile looked like a little devil’s grin with horns and a tail.

“Major Jizi, you seem pretty happy?”

Mei’s sudden comment made Liu Yuyun shiver all over. He shouted in surprise, “OMG! Is my senior a masochist?!”

“N-no, it’s not like that! How do you, a kid, know so much?!” Mei blushed deeply as she retorted.

When talking about this topic, Yuyun suddenly turned his head away, his face pale and helpless as he said, “Ah, when you have a teacher who knows everything and you’ve been with him for ten years, you’ll be shocked to find out you actually understand so much — both what you should and shouldn’t.”

“Sounds tough.” Mei, understanding this, showed sympathy.

“Ah, I’m used to it by now. Oh, Mei sister, here, take this.”

He handed Mei a thin notebook — a fairly ordinary exercise book, obviously used by a middle or elementary school student, with a “One Piece” cover, but with neat Chinese characters below saying “Gathering Records.”

“What’s this?” Mei opened the notebook, finding very detailed records of wild vegetable types and locations, even noting directions from different camps, with vivid hand-drawn illustrations.

“The teacher made this collection archive for the town’s herbal collectors. It clearly marks the food locations and types he encountered in the mountains, plus some dangerous animal habitats. It’s not as comprehensive as an encyclopedia, but even a complete novice in this mountain can know what wild vegetables are edible and what to avoid. Ah, as for this book, it’s actually my exercise book. The reason it’s so thin is that I tore out the used pages!”

“…Your teacher really is impressive.”

After carefully reading all the records, Mei sincerely felt that this teacher, whom she had never met — Jizi’s instructor and future captain of the Hyperion — was an outstanding person.

“Hehe, of course. After all, he’s the pride of our Fuxing Town.” After stuffing the water bottles into his backpack, Liu Yuyun went to where Kiana was crouching in the corner, still weighed down by the shadow of not having dinner at Kenan’s.

He poked her head lightly and gently asked, “Kiana? Kiana sister, let’s go, fetch water, look for food~”

“Don’t poke my head; it won’t grow taller!” Despite her disappointment, she couldn’t hide her proud nature, her voice still clear and sharp.

She jumped up like a rabbit, saw the backpack full of water bottles, and without a word snatched it to carry on her back.

“This kind of physical work should be done by me.”

“…Mei sister, isn’t Kiana sister not dumb?”

Watching Kiana hop outside like a white rabbit and recalling that moment of care, Liu Yuyun asked Mei uncertainly.

Mei gave him a slightly reproachful look.

“I’m guessing you don’t have a girlfriend, huh.”

“Coincidentally, I don’t. The girls in class are cute but none can keep up with my thinking. Talking with them is like having a heart-to-heart with a husky — exhausting.”

[Boy, you’re going to be single forever.]

Mei silently criticized in her heart and sighed softly.

“…Saying that about girls is really uncultured, you know. Kiana just acts before thinking, and she’s actually a kind girl.”

“So basically, an instinctual animal? Like a gorilla?”

“…Serves you right for not having a girlfriend! Hmph!”

Mei couldn’t refute Liu Yuyun’s personality analysis based on biology, so she resorted to her female advantage to curse him with the harshest words, then left the cabin without looking back.

“??? Did I say something wrong? No, biologically this is correct, right? Genetically too?! Mei sister, what did I say wrong??”

Two Valkyries with amazing physical abilities and one mountain kid trained by a monstrous retired instructor — the three weren’t slow and only took five minutes to reach their destination through the difficult mountain paths.

“Ooh ooh ooh! Such a beautiful waterfall!”

Kiana, who often moved between steel cities and the high decks of warships, clearly had zero resistance to natural beauty.

“Really beautiful.” Mei said the same.

Seeing their reactions, Liu Yuyun, who grew up here, felt puzzled and said, “Eh? Really? This is pretty normal here.”

“Eh? Just normal?”

“Yes, there are many places like this in the mountains. Last time the teacher took me to a plain inside the mountains — can you believe there’s a prairie-like scenery in the mountains? But the teacher said there might be wolves, so we didn’t camp there. But if you go that way, there’s an even grander waterfall, not as magnificent as tourist spots, but it’s over 30 meters tall!”

Blushing slightly, Liu Yuyun spoke with the innocence and personality fitting his age, like a little sparrow endlessly praising the beauty of his hometown.

Mei felt both yearning and envy, and strangely also a sense of responsibility.

The existence of ‘Honkai’ is to destroy all this, and fighting for all the beauty in the world is the Valkyries’ duty and fate.

After seeing all this with her own eyes, Mei felt even more compelled to protect it.

“? Mei sister, why do you look so serious? Is the mountain air unfamiliar?”

“Eh?! No, it’s nothing. I just suddenly thought of my own past — even though I could see similar scenery, I didn’t have the freedom you have.”

“Really? Okay, then I won’t ask.” Liu Yuyun started using branches to craft a makeshift plate and searched for wild vegetables near the lake, his voice clear.

“??? Why not?”

“Mei sister, didn’t you say treating girls like that is uncultured? Although I don’t really understand all that means, but…” Liu Yuyun suddenly turned around. “Asking too many questions is probably uncultured too, so I won’t ask. If you want to tell me personally, I’ll keep waiting.”

The boy’s innocent smile blended with the rainbow formed by the waterfall’s spray — beautiful and pure, like the gentle sunlight after spring rain that could melt hearts.

Unconsciously, Mei felt her cheeks flush.

“Eh? Where’s Kiana sister?”

“Eh? Eh eh eh eh! Where did Kiana run off to?!”

“…Though unlikely, Kiana sister couldn’t have gotten lost, right? No, no, no — no one can get lost in such an obvious place. She’ll definitely come back.” Liu Yuyun, confident that a normal person could find their way back from memory and impressions, told Mei not to panic.

“That’s the problem! She herself might not realize, but Kiana has inherited a genetic trait for being directionally challenged!”

“…Quick, find her!!!”

++++++++++++++++++++++

“Hmm?”

Somewhere unknown in the mountain range, a campfire burned faintly.

Dry twigs quietly caught fire in the fire, occasionally crackling — the only sound there.

Beside the fire was a newly built small wooden cabin, a scale that would normally take a team of designers and five professionals a week to build. But in fact, this cabin took only 54 hours from materials preparation to completion.

Between the fire and the cabin sat a person.

He was previously focused on carving sharp wooden stakes with a tactical knife but suddenly looked up at the setting sun, took a deep breath, carefully tasted the moisture in the air, then frowned and muttered, “Fog coming? At this season?”

He completely stopped carving, thought for a few seconds, then looked at his belly.

He hadn’t eaten proper food for over 24 hours. During the previous 54 hours, he only caught a rabbit in the first 30 hours to maintain his energy. But in the last 24 hours, he’d only eaten some plant roots and berries.

Even with his strong physique, he felt weak now.

“Should I check the traps?”

Seven hours ago, he set a pitfall trap about one kilometer from the camp. That was where he’d observed wild boars. If lucky, he might have caught one already. But since thick, unsuitable seasonal fog was expected in about three hours, he hesitated.

The nighttime temperature would be very cold. If he got lost outside, even he would face a miserable situation.

“Whatever, let’s gamble — maybe the bicycle will turn into a motorcycle.”