66: Don't easily trust anyone.

Ai Yue leaned by the window all night. As the sky brightened, she and Da Wang quickly ate some food and prepared to leave. After packing up the items she had taken out, she retrieved a travel bag from her Space and put it on her back, planning to use it as a disguise whenever she took things out of her Space in the future.

She got into the car, started the engine, and was just about to drive off when Ai Yue noticed a dark lump huddled behind her car in the rearview mirror.

Ai Yue quickly got out of the car to check and found that it was the Little Girl who had tried to steal her things last night.

“What are you doing here? Why aren't you going home?” Ai Yue asked, confused.

The Little Girl raised her head and said timidly, “Big Sister, you didn't eat me, so you're a good person. I like you. This is the sweet potato Niu Niu saved, for Big Sister to eat.”

Ai Yue was both surprised and touched. This was the Apocalypse.

How long had it been since she felt kindness from a stranger?

The Little Girl's dark eyes sparkled with innocence. Seeing that Ai Yue hadn't moved, Niu Niu held up the sweet potato with both hands and offered it to her: “Big Sister, please eat it. Niu Niu knows that everyone has nothing to eat and is starving, so this sweet potato is a good thing, a good thing that can keep people alive. Niu Niu is giving it to you.”

Ai Yue's hardened heart softened before Niu Niu's innocent eyes. She sighed and squatted down in front of Niu Niu: “Niu Niu, Big Sister won't eat it, you keep it. You must remember that people in this world become very, very bad when faced with food. You absolutely must not give food to anyone, except your mother and brothers. Even if you like or pity someone, don't give them food, understand?”

“But Big Sister isn't bad.”

“Big Sister is an exception. I don't lack food. If I did, I would definitely grab you, eat you, then kill your mother and brothers, and steal all your food. So, don't trust anyone.”

“Ah...” Hearing Ai Yue say she would eat her and kill her mother and brothers, Niu Niu hugged the food tightly, took two steps back in fear, and stared nervously at Ai Yue.

“Now you don't think I'm a good person anymore, right? Go back quickly. Don't easily appear in front of people in the future, and don't sneak out again.”

The Little Girl listened, half understanding, half confused, but what she did understand was that Big Sister still had food, and once she ran out, she would come, grab her, eat her, and kill her mother and brothers.

Niu Niu was so scared that tears welled up in her eyes, looking ready to spill over at any moment. She bit her lower lip hard, daring not to make a sound. Hearing Ai Yue tell her to leave, she immediately bolted, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Ai Yue hoped this Little Girl had been sufficiently frightened and would never dare to appear before strangers again.

Ordinary people, especially the elderly and children, simply lacked the ability to protect themselves. If discovered by someone stronger, their fate was predictable.

Even she, who was so strong in her previous life, wasn't she still eaten by others?

Ai Yue didn't want to dwell on the dark times of her previous life. She shook her head and left the village.

As Ai Yue drove, she kept recalling Niu Niu's innocent gaze. Thinking of those clean eyes, she felt her heart had been purified. She also remembered that Niu Niu wanted meat last night, and three children had sneaked over to steal meat. Feeling a pang of sympathy, she thought it over and turned the car around, heading back to the house she had temporarily stayed in.

She took out four boxes of luncheon meat, buried them under the ashes in the center of the room, clapped her hands clean, and then left with peace of mind.

After Niu Niu returned home, her mother found out she had sneaked out again and even given away a sweet potato, which nearly scared her to death. She sternly told Niu Niu not to sneak out anymore, and Niu Niu obediently agreed.

Niu Niu's mother realized Ai Yue's good intentions and wanted to thank her in person, so she went alone to the house Ai Yue had stayed in. Upon reaching the door, she saw the car was gone and knew Ai Yue had already left.

Driven by an impulse, she still walked into the room Ai Yue had stayed in. Looking at the room, which was unchanged and completely empty, she sighed, unsure what she had been hoping for.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, her peripheral vision caught something unusual about the pile of ashes in the middle of the floor. She quickly walked over, brushed aside the ashes, and discovered the luncheon meat hidden inside.

She grabbed the cans in disbelief, touching them repeatedly, finally realizing that the items in her hands were real, left behind by Ai Yue. She cried tears of joy while clutching the canned meat, then suddenly panicked, afraid of being discovered. She took off her outer garment, wrapped the cans inside, carefully wiped away the traces she had made, and quickly ran back to the earthen cellar at home, not daring to come up again for a long time.

Every time Ai Yue passed a city, she would go in to search and check, but she found nothing—including the gold and jade artifacts she desperately needed. Even the silver had been completely swept away. Ai Yue even wondered if she herself had visited these cities and cleaned them out?

But she knew in her heart that she had never been there. For some unknown reason, someone else needed these items just as much as she did.

In an instant, a sense of crisis arose in Ai Yue's heart. If all the gold and jade across the country were cleaned out, what would she do? She couldn't possibly go abroad, could she?

Who was competing with her for these things? They were useless in this Apocalypse. Strange!

What Ai Yue didn't know was that the route she was currently taking was the exact path Gu Xiheng and others had traveled. All the gold, silver, and jade artifacts in the cities along this route had been collected by Gu Xiheng's Team beforehand.

This was because, according to the Gu Clan Ancient Records, before collecting the energy stone, a large amount of gold, silver, and jade was required to pave the way in order to truly approach and obtain it.

If Ai Yue knew the truth, she would certainly scoff. Even though it was the Apocalypse, don't resort to feudal superstition! As a Reborn Person, she had the right to state that this had never happened in her previous life; one must believe in science.

To survive in the Apocalypse, humans must stand on their own feet and not rely on supernatural powers.

Seeing that there was no harvest in the cities, she decided to turn her attention to the deep mountains and old forests to see if there were any pleasant surprises.

Ai Yue drove to the foot of the mountain outside the city. Standing on the roof of her car, she controlled a drone to carefully search the entire mountain forest. She found some caves, but they were not suitable for long-term human habitation and were not hidden enough.

After surveying five mountains using this method, she was pleasantly surprised to discover an abandoned small-scale Plant Research Base.

Ai Yue was delighted. Looking at the layout, it was relatively intact, and the entire base was hidden behind the forest, offering excellent concealment.

Ai Yue was satisfied. She used the drone to observe the surroundings and confirmed that this small base had been completely abandoned, showing no signs of human activity.

The road up the mountain was gone. Ai Yue stored the drone and the car, and took Da Wang toward the mountain.

She held her gun and cautiously followed the small path upward. Although she had observed the area with the drone, caution was always the mother of safety.

Checking area by area, there were indeed no humans. Although there were no signs of human activity, there were many traces of animals. Near human cities, most trees on the mountains had been cut down for heating, but here, far from people, the trees were tall and massive, and after several months of recovery, they had completely sprung back to life, looking lush and green.