Chapter 9: The Barren Land

Chapter 9: The Barren Land

The land stretched endlessly before them, dry and desolate. Lin Yue and Li Wei walked side by side, their footsteps echoing in the silence that seemed to consume everything around them. The forest they had just left behind, with its mist and life, felt like a distant memory now. Here, in this vast emptiness, there was nothing but barren earth and the haunting stillness of a world devoid of life.

For hours, they trekked across the parched land. The once-lush vegetation had given way to cracked soil and withered remnants of what might have once been plants. The sun beat down relentlessly, but there was no sign of any living creatures. No birds, no animals. Just the wind, blowing dust and sand across the ground, creating an eerie landscape that felt almost surreal.

Lin Yue scanned their surroundings with a frown. "It's like the land itself has forgotten how to live," she murmured, her voice quiet but filled with awe at the devastation. "The forest had water, but here… there's nothing."

Li Wei nodded grimly, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the horizon.

As they continued their journey, the weight of the land seemed to press down on them. With every step, the exhaustion began to settle in. Lin Yue's legs felt heavy, and Li Wei, though strong, showed signs of fatigue as well. They had walked for hours, but there was no sign of civilization, no hint of the life that might have once inhabited this place.

Finally, unable to go any further, they stopped to rest beneath the shade of a few dry trees scattered across the wasteland. Lin Yue sat down with a sigh, wiping the sweat from her brow as she surveyed the vast, barren landscape.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep going like this,it wasn'tthis far when i was kidnappedyears ago" she admitted, her voice tinged with weariness.

Li Wei, standing a few feet away, didn't answer immediately. He seemed lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the endless stretch of dry earth. It was hard to imagine that this desolation had once been a thriving land. He turned back to her, his expression filled with concern, but also a quiet strength.

"We'll keep going," he said.

Just as they resumed walking, a chilling sight appeared ahead.

Lin Yue's gaze locked onto the horrific scene. In the distance, where the land met the horizon, there was a mass grave. Thousands of bodies lay scattered across the barren ground, their lifeless forms half-buried in dry dirt. Vultures circled overhead, their sharp beaks picking at the remnants of what had once been human.

Lin Yue felt a chill run through her, a wave of disbelief crashing over her. The scene before them was eerily familiar, and for a moment, she felt like she had stepped back in time—back to Earth, to the apocalypse that had ravaged that world.

Li Wei, his face pale, moved closer to Lin Yue, his hand gently grasping her arm as if to steady her. He didn't know what to say.

But Lin Yue remained remarkably calm. She didn't flinch, didn't break down. Instead, she looked at the bodies with a sharp, analytical gaze, as though she were assessing the situation.

"I think they were soldiers," she said quietly, "Their uniforms, their gear..."

Li Wei's grip on her tightened, his voice strained with emotion. "I also wonder what has happened since I was gone for nine years."

"Probably a lot," she said after a moment, her voice sober. "But we can't stay here. We need to keep moving."

Reaching into her inventory, Lin Yue retrieved a mask, similar to those she had once used back on Earth to shield herself from contamination. She held it out to Li Wei.

"Cover your nose with this," she instructed, her tone firm. "It's better to be safe. There's no telling what kind of sickness or contamination is in the air."

Li Wei hesitated for only a moment before he took the mask from her and tied it over his nose and mouth. He looked at her, his brow furrowed in concern.

"Aren't you going to wear one too?" he asked.

Lin Yue glanced at the mass grave one last time, her gaze cold and determined. "Yes," she replied, pulling her own mask over her face. "Let's move quickly and get past this place."

Together, they hastened their steps, moving away from the sight of death and destruction. The bodies of the fallen seemed to haunt them as they passed, but they didn't stop, didn't look back. They had learned long ago that survival meant pushing forward, no matter the obstacles in their path.

The dry land stretched on for what felt like an eternity, but Lin Yue and Li Wei pressed on, their hearts heavy with the weight of what they had just seen. They had to find answers, to uncover the truth of what had happened to this land. But for now, all they could do was walk.

The vast emptiness around them felt suffocating, but they knew they could not stop. Not yet. Not when there was so much left to uncover.