The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 88 Farewell
When Yu Qing woke up, he found his head resting on Mi Fei's lap.

He said somewhat embarrassedly, "I originally wanted to stay up all night with you..."

Mi Fei pinched his upper and lower lips and said, "If you keep talking so sweetly, I really won't want to let you go."

Yu Qing grabbed her hand: "I never said I was leaving now. Are you trying to get rid of me?"

Mi Fei shook her head and said, "I'm afraid I'll change my mind... By the way, are you hungry?"

"Not only was his stomach hungry, but his face was also hungry, and no one was kissing him."

Mi Fei kissed him, picked up a bowl of dark-colored food from beside her, scooped up a spoonful and fed it to him, asking softly, "Is it good?"

Yu Qing said, "It looks like mud, but it tastes really good."

After feeding her a few spoonfuls, Mi Fei asked, "Do you know what this is?"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "Who cares what it is? If you feed it to me, I'll swallow it even if it's shit."

Mi Fei laughed so hard she bent over, and it took her a while to stop. She said, "Do you know? In ancient times, women would use a curse on their men if they were afraid they wouldn't come back. This is a curse from a Winged Clan woman. If you dare not come back, your guts will rot."

Yu Qing was taken aback: "You really used a curse on me? Then have a few more, so I can die faster. What's the point of living without you by my side?"

Mi Fei laughed and said, "You actually took it seriously. It's just a kind of porridge here to strengthen men."

"You dare feed me this stuff? I'll scare you to death later."

Mi Fei put down her bowl and said, "I want you to love me one more time, then get out of here right now..."

Just as Yu Qing was about to say something, he heard a commotion outside and hurriedly asked, "What's going on?"

Mi Fei's expression changed, and she quickly stood up, saying, "It must be that old hag's doing!"

Yu Qing followed Mi Fei to the window, where he saw a dense crowd of winged people standing outside the door, each carrying gifts, about to enter their courtyard.

Mi Fei stamped her foot and exclaimed, "What are we going to do now!"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "You didn't invite this yourself, did you? There's nothing wrong with celebrating."

Mi Fei said anxiously, "You don't know, once they come in, you'll never be able to leave again."

"Why? Are they really going to kidnap someone?"

"Then let me ask you this: if they want to drink with you, will you drink or not?"

"Of course you should drink it, there's no reason to refuse."

"Okay, then you'll be drunk very soon."

"So what if he's drunk? It's not like he's dead."

Do you know what else they'll make you drink when you're drunk?

"Let's have a few more drinks."

"If you keep pouring it in, it won't be alcohol anymore, it'll be a drug to turn you into a winged human, do you understand?"

"Fine, isn't that just what you wanted?"

With tears glistening in her eyes, Mi Fei hugged Yu Qing and said, "I don't want you to suffer like that. If we force this reform, you'll endure three or four years of excruciating pain, and even if it succeeds, you'll only live to be forty. You should go." Yu Qing grasped Mi Fei's hand and said, "Let's go together, and neither of us needs to change anything."

“I can’t leave. They can let you go, but if I go with you, I’m afraid we won’t even get out of Jinchengzi’s territory. Besides, I can’t leave them.”

After saying that, Mi Fei took out a green rope and handed it to Yu Qing: "Women of our Winged Clan can only cut their hair when they reach the age of sixteen. This is a long rope woven from my hair, and I'm giving it to you today."

According to the rules of our Winged Clan, if I dare to betray you, you may use it.

Yu Qing covered Mi Fei's mouth with one hand to stop her from speaking, and took the long rope with the other.

Then he gave the dagger he was carrying to Mi Fei.

Mi Fei didn't take it, and stamped her foot, saying, "You're such a blockhead! In our Winged Clan, this means you're cutting all ties with me!"

Yu Qing quickly put the dagger away, saying, "I really don't have anything else on me..."

Mi Fei hugged him and cried, "You can leave three-tenths of your heart with me."

The two remained silent for a long time. Mi Fei pushed Yu Qing away and said, "You should leave now. If you don't leave, I'll change my mind."

After saying that, Mi Fei took out a cloak and handed it to Yu Qing: "Winged people are not able to fly on their own before the age of seven or eight, so they wear this kind of cloak. It can sustain flight for about four hours. Although it is a bit small, it is still better than you walking."

Then she told Yu Qing the route from here to Jinchengzi, and then, with tears in her eyes, she dragged him to the back window and pushed him out.

Following the route instructed by Mi Fei, Yu Qing hurried towards the riverbank he had visited the previous night. Upon reaching the river, he opened his cloak, but it was too small to wear; he could only tie it to his back. Then, as Mi Fei had taught him, he unfolded it and flew towards the opposite bank.

But the cloak was originally designed for children and couldn't support his weight at all; it flew into the middle of the river and fell in. He thrashed around in the water like a duck for a long time before finally getting ashore.

After landing, he walked and flew, speeding towards Jinchengzi city. Of course, his "flying" actually just meant leaping forward a few meters, then taking a few steps on the ground before flying again. This was faster and less strenuous than simply walking.

He made contact with Chang'e and the others through the Lingxi necklace. They automatically calculated Yu Qing's location based on the signal's direction and distance, then drove the car as close to Yu Qing as possible to pick him up.

According to his estimate, at his current pace, he could reach the rendezvous point in about forty minutes. However, the place he was currently traversing was rather troublesome; it was an endless expanse of reeds, and he would frequently step into muddy water while walking, and his cloak would often get caught on the reeds when he leaped.

That wasn't the worst part. He felt like he was being surrounded by something. He could hear rustling sounds coming from all around him. To conceal his movements, he began to walk and stop, changing his route.

However, danger seemed to be drawing ever closer. The encirclement was tightening. He was utterly defenseless against these unknown creatures, so he decided to cross the river, hoping to temporarily escape to the other side if necessary. Even so, this would take him further from the rendezvous point.

However, he couldn't determine direction with the naked eye while in the reeds. In fact, his repeated attempts to avoid the flow of the reeds confused him as well. He could only estimate his relative position by using the rendezvous point transmitted to him by the spiritual collar, along with his own azimuth and distance.

The problem was, Chang'e and the others knew Yu Qing was in danger, so they were changing their rendezvous point to get closer to him. This completely disoriented him. He had no choice but to lie on the ground, listening intently to the sound of the flowing water. Now, only the river could guide him.

Unfortunately, he couldn't hear the sound of flowing water. This indicated that he was quite far from the river. Suddenly, an image of a flood appeared in his mind. If the river swelled, these reeds would surely be swept away by the current.

He lay on the ground and carefully observed the sediment at the bottom of the reeds and the traces of water erosion on the reed stems. He roughly determined that the river was on his right, and the direction of the water flow was probably about thirty degrees to the left.

But he wasn't sure. He had to use his cloak to leap quickly over the reeds and then visually confirm if there was a river ahead. If his judgment was correct, he could simply sneak straight ahead and eventually meet the river.

But this was also dangerous, as it would completely expose his location. He couldn't take the risk; he could only trust his own judgment and move forward. At the same time, he summoned Yao Dan and Yan'er to come and meet him immediately.

He crawled forward slowly, careful not to make a sound that would reveal his location. But he couldn't avoid disturbing the reeds. So he would stop every few steps and wait, and when a gust of wind came, he would speed up a bit.

He sensed Yao Dan rapidly approaching him through the Spirit Rhinoceros Necklace. Now, his greatest fear was encountering animals like snakes or water birds; either he would be startled and reveal himself, or they would be startled and betray him.

Finally, he heard the sound of water! Yes, he had reached the riverbank. Now, in case of an emergency, he could quickly run to the bank, unfold his cloak, and leap to the other side for temporary refuge.

(End of this chapter)