"Where are Teacher Yan and the others?"
Qi Chen asked with some confusion, looking behind Feng Yuan who was dusting snow off himself. Feng Yuan replied,
"They’re still searching for people, after all, they’re not sure if she’s the one they’re looking for."
While speaking, Feng Yuan glanced at the little girl he had brought back and, seeing her in a teetering state, rubbed his temples and supported her back saying,
"Speaking of which, do you guys have any fever-reducing medicine? She seems to have caught a cold earlier."
"No, but Ah Mu’s healing moves should work, right?"
Qi Chen said with some uncertainty, then after thinking it over, Feng Yuan looked at Qi Chen and said,
Qi Chen called over Ah Mu and spoke to it, while two little girls started arguing. Watching the standoff between the two mysterious dolls, Feng Yuan said somewhat speechlessly,
"What are they doing? Starting to fight upon meeting each other? Did you get the wrong person?"
Seeing the two quarreling, Dou Yanlan expressed her doubts,
"It shouldn’t be wrong, right? Haven’t heard of anyone else missing."
"However, her condition doesn’t seem very good."
Watching the little girl’s body sway continuously, Dou Yanlan said with a serious expression, clearly recognizing that the girl was not in a good shape. Feng Yuan helplessly commented,
"There’s nothing we can do, with her wearing so little in the snow, it’s already quite fortunate she isn’t frozen to death."
Despite her clothes appearing rather thick, they were useless against the piercing blizzard. Then, Ah Mu came over and waved its hand, casting a green glow over the girl Feng Yuan had brought back. Within the glow, the little girl felt a warmth enveloping her, and she turned to look at Ah Mu but, blurred by the light, she could make out only the familiarity of the clothes etched deep in her mind.
Drowsiness crept over her, and just before falling into a deep sleep, the little girl seemed to urgently speak to the teddy bear and the mysterious doll beside her. After a while, seeing the girl lying on the ground, Feng Yuan, somewhat speechless, brushed off the anxious girl and picked her up. He looked at the departing teddy bear and the mysterious doll, murmuring,
"So what exactly happened? It’s troublesome without Agunas around..."
"You really found her."
An elderly woman came over, looked at the little girl in Feng Yuan’s arms with surprise, and said. Handing the girl over to the elderly woman, Feng Yuan asked,
"Is it her? If I’m not mistaken, I’ll call the others back now."
"Yes, she’s the one, I can’t believe she’s okay... That’s really wonderful."
The elderly woman said with some excitement. She intended to take off the Wolf God’s Robe wrapped around the girl to return it to Feng Yuan, but upon touching the robe, the elderly woman seemed to realize something, hesitated, and finally said,
"Could we borrow that robe temporarily, until we return to our tribe? We have to pass through this heavy snow. I hope you don’t mind."
She could clearly see the girl had been feverish and was not yet recovered. Feng Yuan smiled and responded,
"No problem, I’ll call the others back then～"
From a distance, Gladys quietly watched the cave entrance, seemingly murmuring something to herself.
As Teacher Yan and the others hurried back, everyone decided to set out toward the Mordan’s settlement. Upon knowing that it was Teacher Yan who had found the girl, the elderly woman couldn’t stop thanking him. In the snow, Teacher Yan, carrying the little girl, followed the group. Although the elderly woman seemed to value the little girl quite highly, the others treated her with a special attitude, seemingly hesitant to interact with her.
Everyone was somewhat puzzled by this, but it felt inappropriate to ask. The little girl who had summoned everyone here stayed close to Teacher Yan, constantly checking on the condition of the girl in his arms.
By now, the ritual robe covering the little girl had been switched back to Teacher Yan’s Wolf God’s Robe. As the group pushed through the blizzard over the snow, Feng Yuan looked with some concern at the people in the group and said,
"We won’t get lost, will we? If we take a wrong turn, these people won’t last long."
"We shouldn’t, I see she’s not hesitating at all. Have you thought of a solution?"
Chen Xin asked, looking at Feng Yuan, who scratched his head and replied with some helplessness,
"What can I do? I can’t dispense with Agunas, and without a Spirit Beast that can hasten plant growth, I’m at a loss."
"No, wait! There might be one."
Feng Yuan glanced at Ah Mu behind Qi Chen and paused, then Qi Chen said with resignation,
"Ah Mu can’t hasten the growth of plants..."
"We can learn, can’t we? Otherwise, what can we do? Just call Gitalien and have it open a door to transport food from other regions? Doing that would probably lead to a fight with Veludante."
Feng Yuan said with a mischievous smile. No matter how Qi Chen looked at him, he felt Feng Yuan had some ulterior motives. Agunas flicked his tail in annoyance and said,
"Learn to hasten plant growth in a short time? That sounds impossible, it would be better to find a way to calm Veludante down."
"Are you going? I certainly don’t want to be the one seeking out Veludante."
Feng Yuan refused decisively; who knew what might happen if he met Veludante. Agunas also understood the reason, flicked his tail, looked at Qi Chen and the others, sighed, and gave up on that idea.
"Creating greenhouses could allow us to grow some things, but the current problem is that their food reserves are low, and they can’t last until harvest. I wonder if there’s any other solution."
Chen Xin said somewhat helplessly. Then Dou Yanlan spoke up,
"Are there any crops that grow underground? This heavy snow doesn’t seem to have completely destroyed the vegetation on the ground."
"Are you talking about things like radishes? There seems to be some, but..."
Feng Yuan thought for a moment and then looked at Xiao Ji, who had flown up to him, and said,
"Clear away the snow and see what’s underneath."
Xiao Ji looked puzzledly at Feng Yuan, increased its altitude, and then violently whipped up a whirlwind towards the ground. The snow covering the grass was blown about and scattered all around. Looking at the ground now showing withered yellow grass, Feng Yuan glanced at Dou Yanlan and said with resignation,
"It seems not to work."
"But... If I remember correctly, the grass under the snow near Shenji Rock was green."
Dou Yanlan said doubtfully, though she wasn’t too sure, as she hadn’t paid special attention to this detail at the time. After thinking about it, Feng Yuan looked at Agunas and asked,
"She’s not wrong; the grass near Shenji Rock is indeed dormant and not damaged, possibly due to the influence of Shenji Rock. However... there don’t seem to be things like radishes in that area."
Agunas said, somewhat uncertainly. Feng Yuan said with some disappointment,
"Only near Shenji Rock... That’s not very helpful."
Feng Yuan wasn’t joking; considering Mordan’s attitude towards Shenji Rock, it was unlikely they would plant crops there. Relying on natural growth, even if there was some, how many people could it feed?
"Let’s build the greenhouse first; at least we need to plant the crops."
After thinking it over, Feng Yuan said with some helplessness. Agunas flicked his tail and said with some powerlessness,
"That’s all we can do."
"It’s a pity I can’t use the power of time here; otherwise, accelerating time could also serve as a means to hasten growth."
Agunas said with some regret. Feng Yuan looked at Agunas and asked,
"Speaking of which, can you find out how long this blizzard has been going on?"
"This... wait a moment."
Agunas said and closed his eyes. After a while, he slowly opened them and said with some confusion,
"It’s been several months. According to the timeline, there are still over two months left until this blizzard ends, assuming there are no changes."
"So long... That’s troublesome. I believe the Alliance definitely can’t get supplies here now."
Feng Yuan said, looking at the vast snow. He had thought that at most, the blizzard would dissipate in a month, but it turned out to last so much longer. Moreover, those Ice Snow Giants roaming everywhere were also a problem; they had encountered them so many times. Those creatures completely limited the possibilities for Mordan people to go out searching for food.
After all, if a group of people were to move together, it would be inefficient to say the least, and not necessarily helpful to search separately. The one who is on their own fears not being able to escape should they encounter a herd of Ice Snow Giants. It must be noted that not everyone is guarded by a Rare Level Beast Tamer like Teacher Yan.
"If we could create a safe passage to the seaside, could the Alliance’s aid supplies be brought in?"
Dou Yanlan asked, somewhat curious.