As she spoke, the woman began to walk back, unable to just chat without doing anything. She wanted to gather more salt to take back with her.
So Wen Qian pretended to take out a small entrenching tool from the backpack on her bicycle and accompanied the woman to collect salt.
The woman was a minority, but her husband was not. Their child, named Kang Kang, was born the second year after the volcanic eruption.
At that time, things had not completely fallen apart, and she was still able to give birth to her child in a hospital.
Wen Qian had not prepared any questions in advance, just asking whatever came to mind.
The other party also treated her well, asking her how she had been living for all these years.
Wen Qian said that she too had grown up in the mountains, so after the volcanic winter, she moved deeper into the mountains, growing crops, hunting, and digging up wild vegetables to avoid starvation.
Wen Qian said she now longed to go to a warmer place more suitable for growing crops.
The other party asked if she planned to go to the warmer coastal areas in the south to farm, and Wen Qian nodded.
On this matter, Wen Qian did not tell the truth.
Wen Qian also inquired about how the woman processed the salt to make it usable.
The other party also kindly explained it to her, but as she saw Wen Qian digging up more and more, she became doubtful, wondering if she would really take away that much?
She still had a long way to walk.
Then when Wen Qian was about to leave, the woman realized that Wen Qian had been digging for her, and she did not take any away but instead helped her.
After Wen Qian left, the woman found a branch and carried the salt back home.
The child also helped his mother carry a few things, walking by her side.
When they got home, he told his grandmother that the passerby had given him some candy.
The woman was surprised and told her husband about the incident when he returned home.
The other party was somewhat surprised to hear that a woman had traveled alone by bicycle on the highway.
However, if she had come from Mangge City, it made sense that she would not have encountered anyone along the way.
But as she continued onward, she would definitely meet more people.
As for the candy given to the child, the two men tasted it and found that it was indeed well-preserved and edible.
Although the expiration date had long passed, the taste was still good, so they put it away to let the child eat slowly.
The candy Wen Qian gave them was actually a plastic jar filled with colorful gummy candies.
And she did not give them a brand new jar of candy, but had opened a new one and put about two-thirds of it into an old jar.
Originally it was sold very cheaply at the supermarket, but now it would not be easy to have such candy again.
The two adults had a good impression of this passerby. Although she asked many questions, she also gave candy to the child.
They could only hope that she would travel safely and reach her destination.
After leaving the mother and child, Wen Qian started walking forward, observing that there did seem to be people in the small town area.
However, the highway was unobstructed, so she continued on without stopping.
After encountering two people and having a long conversation that they had not had in a while, Little Red was quite happy and satisfied her previous desire to meet people.
After this, she would not need to look forward to encountering anyone else, and might even avoid places with people, focusing solely on making progress.
During the conversation with the woman, the other party did not forget to tell her what her husband had told her.
It was said that in Xia City, there was a period when so many people died that some could not even be buried, and their bodies were simply piled up outside.
This attracted flocks of scavenger birds that circled overhead in the city.
Upon hearing this, Wen Qian's first reaction was to modify her route before going to sleep at night.
She would avoid that city, and if possible, even stay far away from the suburbs.
She did not even want to go to the shores of Jade Lake anymore, as it was not far from Xia City.
What about those who had been looting and plundering? If they were still alive, would they have settled near Jade Lake?
However, she was not wrong in her thinking, as there were indeed people living around Jade Lake, but not many.
There were indeed some bad people scattered in different places, and Wen Qian noticed something was off even before she reached Jade Lake.
The next place she was headed had a fork in the road, with one path longer and one shorter.
The shorter path went through a group of mountains, allowing for a quick arrival at the shores of Jade Lake.
The longer path curved around those mountains and continued eastward.
But as she followed the shorter path, she found many abandoned vehicles there.
Apart from that, not a single shadow could be seen, but Wen Qian simply did not dare to pass through directly.
She did not know why, but she had a feeling that something was off.
So she put away her bicycle and decided to observe from a high vantage point, to see if anything was amiss.
The main reason was that there were many mountains here, and she could not see the situation far away from ground level due to the angle, making her binoculars useless.
Then she noticed the anomaly. The slope she was on was not the highest point, and further ahead on this narrow path, even more things were blocking the way.
From her vantage point, she could see people moving in the valley up ahead, indicating that people were guarding this route.
At this moment, only one thought crossed her mind: "This path was made by me, this tree was planted by me."
This... was robbery, wasn't it?
Now that the world had fallen into chaos, it seemed reasonable for there to be bandits on the roads.
She had heard stories of people going to work in the cities, having their phones stolen on buses, and getting mugged while walking on the streets.
That was over twenty years ago. Now that the world had fallen into disarray, shouldn't one be even more cautious?
So Wen Qian quietly turned around and left.
She considered whether to bypass the route by going around the nearby mountains, but then she thought, what would be the point of reaching the lakeside?
It was highly likely that she would still have to give up on that location near Jade Lake in the mountains.
So she turned back, preparing to take the other highway instead.
This highway route through the mountains was shorter, passing through a small reservoir.
There were also people living in the mountains, but unlike the other isolated individuals, this was an actual village.
Normally, they would hunt and farm just like anyone else, but they had a side business.
This side business was robbery.
Initially, when people were fleeing outward, most chose this route as it was closest to Jade Lake.
So some people got the idea to loot and plunder along this path, and they did indeed succeed in stealing things.
Later, the entire village collectively engaged in robbery.
Although the population here dwindled over time, the village still habitually stationed guards to watch over the route.
Some elderly people who were not capable of heavy labor, or some younger children, would be assigned to nearby mountains, where they could pass the time by chatting or playing.
Once there was any movement, they would use mirrors to reflect light signals to alert the able-bodied adults.
And if people traveling outward were merely robbed of their belongings, those people would continue on their way to Jade Lake.
Those who resisted with all their might would be killed at the hands of the robbers, and naturally, this incident would not be spread outside.
The woman Wen Qian had conversed with was unaware of the robberies taking place here, and her husband did not know that some of the robbers from the town were residing in this village.
After changing her route, Wen Qian wondered if she should continue to alter her planned path, aiming to travel through areas with fewer people or even no people at all.
