The Golden Age - Chapter 77: Red Berries
The pouring waterfall was like a mirror, sparkling under the sunlight. The stone cave also gave off a mysteriously and abnormally beautiful reflection.
At this time, Qin Xiao also discovered that many fruits were growing on the walls around him.
These fruits were bright red, but the leaves on the side were purple. Qin Xiao had read many books before and does know some rare plants and flowers, but he had never seen anything like this.
These red berries grew from the cracks of the walls. Although they were not big, they were red like fire and looked incredibly tasty.
Another thing Qin Xiao knew was that in nature, the better something looked, usually the more poisonous they were. He wasn’t sure whether these berries were edible or not.
Although his whole body was still aching, he was able to stand up.
He was still curious about why the ape took him away last night but didn’t eat him. Instead, it threw him into a cave.
Giant apes were completely different from mandrills.
This ape was huge, one that had been living for many years. Maybe there was a purpose that a beast like that ape would bring him to a place like this.
Outside the cave was the stone path. The stone path connected to the large stone platform on the opposite side, and under it was the pool from the waterfall. Ten steps away from the cave was the water curtain.
Qin Xiao wondered if the giant ape was still on the stone platform, so he walked up to the curtain, took a deep breath, and charged through it. The second the waterfall hit his body, it felt like the whole world was crushing on him. Fortunately, that only lasted for a split of a second.
Outside of the waterfall, the sun was shining brightly. In front of him were the stone path and the giant stone platform. The ape was still there, sitting with its back towards him as if it was looking at something.
Last night, all Qin Xiao saw was that the ape had long hairs, other than that, he didn’t catch anything clearly. Now, under the sun, he could see that the ape’s fur was mainly brown, along with several white hairs here and there. It didn’t look young, in fact, it seemed pretty old for an ape.
The ape didn’t seem to hear the movement behind it. It just sat on the platform like a statue, as if it’s just calmly resting under the sun and thinking about its past.
Qin Xiao cursed in his head. The ape was sitting right in front of the stone path. If he wanted to leave, the stone path would be his only exist. With the ape in front of it, his chance of escaping was zero.
He looked down beside him. The stone path was very narrow, and under it was a deep pool. While the waterfall splashed into it, violent waves were thrown back up. If he jumped down from the stone path, then he’ll be in pieces for sure.
In front of him sat the giant ape and beside him was a dangerous deep pool of water. Behind him was a stone cave. Qin Xiao never imagined that he would end up in a situation like this.
He got back into the cave and cultivated for a few hours to calm himself down.
As long as that ape’s there, I can’t leave. My only hope is that this ape leaves soon so that I can escape.
When hunters were hunting, they can usually find giant apes in the forest. That meant that this guy can’t stay here forever.
The only problem now was when this ape will actually leave.
If it doesn’t move, will I die here?
Being stuck there, the first thing Qin Xiao needed to do is find food and water.
Water wasn’t a big problem. Just walk out of the cave and a ginormous waterfall will greet you with all the water you’ll ever need. And there were bowls and containers in the cave as well, perfect for holding water.
But the food was the problem.
Qin Xiao still had the bag that Hong Ye prepared. There was still a bit of food left, maybe enough for two or three days? But what would happen after that?
That thing can’t stay there for three days. As long as I keep an eye out and escape when it leaves, I’ll be good.
Knowing that he still had hope, he stopped stressing.
For the next two days, he ate and drank, and went through the waterfall every once a while to check. But the old ape was still there, like a statue. Every single time, Qin Xiao could only disappointedly go back into the cave.
On the evening of the third day, Qin Xiao went out again and unexpectedly found the ape nowhere to be seen. Finally! My food is about to be gone, if it still doesn’t leave, I’ll literally starve to death.
He looked around, and after making sure the ape wasn’t here, he immediately ran across the stone path. Just when he arrived at the giant platform, a sudden roar came. The ape appeared from behind a giant rock and leaped in front of him in an instant.
Shit, I’m really going to die now. Qin Xiao trembled as he thought.
Yet the ape still didn’t hurt Qin Xiao. It walked around him a few times and sniffed him as well. Then he grabbed Qin Xiao by the collar, and just like last time, it threw Qin Xiao back into the cave.
And just like last time, Qin Xiao passed out. By the time he woke up, it was already pitch black outside. He struggled to sit up again. That ape is a demon.
Without a doubt, it was obviously hiding behind the rock waiting for himself to come out.
That ape knew what he was planning to do and purposefully hid itself to teach him a lesson.
That ape seemed to have infinite strength and also incredible speed. He couldn’t beat it, and on top of that, he wasn’t even as smart as it.
For the next two days, other than practicing Qi and cultivating, he would occasionally go out to check on the ape. Most of the time, the ape would be there. Two times, it wasn’t there, but Qin Xiao didn’t dare to go out like last time. Instead, he would wait for a while. Once, the ape couldn’t stand it anymore and came back. The other time, after about thirty minutes or so, after seeing no sign of the ape, Qin Xiao sneakily walked up the stone path. As he was about to reach the platform, the ape suddenly appeared from behind the rock and Qin Xiao immediately sprinted back into the cave.
After two more days, Qin Xiao was completely out of food. He had been starving for the whole day. The only thing he could do was to drink water, and by the dusk of the second day, he was already dizzy from the hunger. Yet the ape was still there.
He stared at the red berries on the wall. Qin Xiao knew that if he ate these, maybe he will have to be alive for a bit longer. But he couldn’t confirm whether they were poisonous or not. If they were poisonous, it would be kind of sad to know that he didn’t starve to death, instead he was poisoned to death.
By night, he couldn’t stand it anymore.
He thought about it again, this cave obviously had signs of people living in it before. If someone was here before, they probably ate the red berries too. If the red berries were poisonous, then the person would have died.
If he died, yet the ape couldn’t get through the stone path to eat the corpse, that meant the corpse will rot in this cave.
But there were no bones in this cave. In other words, unless the other person never ate the red berries, it would only prove that they were not poisonous.
If the berries were poisonous, that was only a chance. But starving to death would be certain.
With those thoughts in mind, he ran to the nearest red berries and threw them into his mouth without even thinking about it again. As he took a bite, the juice filled his mouth, and a burst of sweetness came along with it.
“Delicious.” Qin Xiao couldn’t help but admire.
He took a dozen more from the wall and ate them in an instant.
The walls of the cave were full of these red berries. At least two to three hundred. It can last him quite a while.
Although he had already eaten more than a dozen of the red berries, it was still not enough. But it was enough for his dizziness and hunger to stop.
He laid on the haystack and used his bag as a pillow.
After sleeping for a while, he was suddenly awoken by a terrible feeling. At this time, he realized that his whole body was stained with sweat, and what’s worse was that all of his organs felt like they were on fire.
Qin Xiao quickly took off his clothes, leaving only a pair of shorts, but the heat didn’t stop coming.
It was only March, the weather in Xiling was quite cool and nice. Especially at the night, it was even a bit cold. With the waterfall outside the cave, the insides of the cave were even colder during the night.
It’s the berries! Qin Xiao immediately thought of the red berries he was just eating. It must be those berries that caused all of this.
He was angry and annoyed, but with no other choice, he ran to the waterfall hoping the water will cool his body off.
He didn’t dare to walk directly under it, as the pressure was extremely powerful. If he wasn’t careful, he could be easily washed away into the pool. He stood on the edge, but there was enough water splashing onto him.
Cold water was splashed all over his body, and consequently, the feeling of intense heat indeed eased a bit. But it didn’t stop. Although there was cold water constantly splashed onto him, he was still releasing heat and sweating. This was something he never experienced before.
He stood there for about an hour before the feeling of being roasted alive finally disappeared. He took a sigh of relief and returned back into the cave.
He laid down, closed his eyes, and fell back asleep.
When he woke up, it was already daytime again. Qin Xiao sat up and suddenly realized that his whole body was bright red. As if some covered his whole body with red makeup. He was dumbfounded for a few minutes, but as the red color didn’t fade away for a long time, he was unsure of what to do. Even if I made it out of the cave, how can I live normally again if I’m covered in bright red?
Translated by: UnderTheMoon