This area used to be a scenic spot along the edge of the highway by North Lake. The area open for visitors was limited, while the protected area was not allowed for too many people to enter.
There were many migratory birds that came from the colder northern regions to spend the winter. The surrounding area was a desert, so this place became a paradise for birds without any other large predators.
The scenery here was also quite nice, but Wen Qian was busy collecting bird eggs and had no time to admire the view.
Besides collecting bird eggs, Wen Qian also set fish traps here, but she didn't stay for long before moving on.
It was a nice place, but she wouldn't linger here.
She put various kinds of bird eggs into her spatial storage and also filled three small insulated boxes that she previously used for storing goods.
After many years, Wen Qian felt like she was restocking at a wholesale market.
A few days later, Wen Qian reached the highway fork, with two roads shown on the map. One went through the north, closely following a small city, while the other ran far south of the city area.
This became a small city because it was located at the edge of a mountain range, surrounded by mountains on three sides and backed by a large mountain, with a river and a lake at its foot.
This population settlement was established due to this water source, and with the intersection of railway and highway routes nearby, it had gradually become a small city with a population of a hundred thousand.
At this fork, Wen Qian began to ponder her route. The northern highway looked more direct on the map, which could save a lot of time and effort.
She would travel from the mountain foot behind the small city towards the east, reaching the west side of Jade Lake.
The downside was that the route would pass through valleys between the mountains for most of the way.
The southern route, on the other hand, ran along the edge of the desert for about half the distance and also through the mountains, and was more winding, with the end point in the south of Jade Lake.
Although it might take longer, the places it passed through were flat and uninhabited.
After hesitating, Wen Qian eventually chose the southern route because even if she took the northern route to reach the side of Jade Lake, she would still have to make a big detour around the lake to head towards Xia City next.
Since that was the case, she might as well choose the route with a better view.
Therefore, Wen Qian chose to travel the route that she instinctively preferred.
What Wen Qian didn't know was that her instinct was indeed correct.
The northern route was very difficult to pass through due to frequent collapses and rockfalls, and it had not been cleared for many years.
Therefore, taking that route would pose a higher risk, which went against Wen Qian's principles of travel.
The reason Wen Qian instinctively chose the southern route was that she didn't dare to get too close to the main urban area, even though a city with a population of a hundred thousand was not much of a threat to her.
Although she had decided to bypass Xia City through the suburbs instead of entering the urban area, abandoned cities still had an eerie atmosphere and were very dangerous.
If there were still people living in such places, one could only imagine the difficulties they had endured to survive.
Wen Qian was aware of her own contradictions. She wanted to interact with harmless people like herself, but she also feared encountering groups because she would be unable to discern or retaliate in a short time.
She didn't want to linger or spend the night in this place, so she rode most of the time. However, she couldn't complete this stretch of the journey in a single day.
Wen Qian stopped to spend the night in a nearby field, planning to get up early the next day and try to ride from morning till evening, reaching the foot of the mountains on the other side before resting again.
That night, she slept with heightened alertness, resulting in poor sleep quality as she kept waking up.
To be honest, the transition from living in one place for a long time to constantly being on the road was something Wen Qian wasn't fully accustomed to.
While on the road, she found herself sleeping more soundly in places that clearly showed no signs of human or animal activity.
However, in areas with traces of human activity, she felt less at ease and seemed to be constantly tense.
The next morning, she woke up very early and set off again.
The highway passed through seasonal rivers, but now they were just dry riverbeds.
The roads in the small city were laid out in a grid pattern, and as they extended outwards, they would intersect with the straight highways passing horizontally.
Wen Qian felt uneasy as she passed through these areas, so she increased her speed.
She only relaxed once she could no longer see the urban area and only spotted a few industrial buildings, finally reaching the eastern mountain foot to rest.
Due to exhaustion and lingering concerns, she couldn't sleep very soundly during this day's rest.
As a result, her body became sore, and she even developed a headache. So Wen Qian decided to travel a bit further and find a place to rest properly.
Over the next few days, Wen Qian slowed down her pace and extended her rest periods.
She even took a whole day to rest while passing through a desert area.
Here, Wen Qian discovered some nice-looking stones, which were probably the local decorative stones.
So, after getting enough rest, Wen Qian would look for these attractive stones near her temporary dwelling.
In the past, collecting stones and herbs was a way to make a living.
Although there was still some demand for ornaments nowadays, it was only from a small minority of people. Wen Qian collected these stones purely for her own enjoyment and to get some fresh air.
Once her headache subsided, Wen Qian continued on her way. Sometimes she felt like a startled bird.
But her decision to avoid the small city was indeed wise.
Wen Qian herself didn't realize it, but she was highly sensitive to dangerous environments. Perhaps she couldn't rationally analyze the situation step by step, so she just felt it was her instinct.
The past Wen Qian would never put herself in harm's way, such as avoiding crowds watching fights or confessions.
Knowing her lack of self-control, she stayed away from addictive things like online games or novels during her schooling days.
When she saw many people spending days and nights at internet cafes playing games, only to be dragged out by their parents, she realized that these games were so addictive that people would want to continue playing non-stop without eating, drinking, or sleeping.
She acknowledged that she lacked self-control in knowing when to stop, and thus, under later permissible circumstances, she refrained from engaging in such activities.
Rather, this self-awareness allowed her to avoid many dangers, including the aftermath of the volcanic eruption.
However, in Wen Qian's case, she felt that this was often a shortcoming, as she would become unsettled very easily.
There were indeed living people in the small town, but if Wen Qian were to encounter them, it would undoubtedly be a huge problem.
Without realizing it, she evaded the danger.
