Chapter 289: Extreme Cold 35

"It’ll still take us several more days to cross the grasslands. There’s bound to be a forest ahead, so we should stock up on more branches. Oh, and shouldn’t we gather some snow and ice to take on the road?"

Quincy clicked his tongue. "We definitely need to bring some snow and ice. I, for one, have never seen it snow in a desert."

"Not necessarily. Most of the world’s deserts are in the tropics, but our country is different; we have quite a few deserts where it snows. Besides, with these temperatures, do you really think the desert will be hot?"

Evelyn paused for a moment before continuing, "Still, we should take some ice and snow. We need it for drinking water. The desert we need to cross isn’t huge. Barring any surprises, we should be able to get through it in under ten days."

Miles Vaughn sighed. "Things were too calm for a while there. The past few days it’s been one thing after another—the ice collapsing, avalanches... It’s got my nerves completely frayed."

"Relax. Didn’t we just escape with our lives? Every day we’re alive from here on out is a win. My mindset is solid, at least," Donovan Irving said, patting Miles Vaughn’s shoulder with a cheerful laugh.

"You must be getting close to home now, right?"

"Maybe another thousand kilometers to go. But I feel so lost right now... I don’t even know if my family is still at home." Donovan Irving’s home was in a county in Serena, which was very close to Khoros.

"At least you’re almost home. We, on the other hand, are getting farther and farther from ours. Why don’t you just come with us to Frelia? It’s not safe for you to travel home alone."

Donovan Irving shook his head. He had to go home.

The mention of ’home’ sent Evelyn into a momentary daze. The run-down apartment complex in Corinth... it felt like a paradise she could never return to.

Taylor Vance took out a map to help Donovan Irving trace his route home.

"In another eight hundred kilometers, we’ll reach a county called Crystell. From there, you just head west for thirty kilometers to enter Serena. We’ll still have to travel several hundred more kilometers to get into Varden."

Donovan Irving suddenly felt at a loss. After spending so much time with everyone, the thought of parting ways left a sour feeling in his heart.

"Don’t worry. When the time comes, take some sweet potatoes, cassava, and meat with you. Your carriage is all fixed up, so it’ll be fine on the road." Zion Lowell assumed he was worried about surviving on his own and tried to reassure him, promising they would prepare plenty of food for his journey.

The truth was, Donovan Irving just couldn’t bear to leave them.

"If there’s no one left at home, I’ll probably head to Frelia as well."

"Okay! We’ll wait for you in Frelia, then. You have to come find us, you hear?"

Donovan Irving nodded emphatically. "I will."

After dinner, a bored Evelyn held Mina and zoned out while looking through the carriage window. Ronan Kendrick was reading beside her. The atmosphere inside was peaceful and quiet, the charcoal in the stove glowing a deep, fiery red.

"Why is he so determined to go home? It’s been so many years. His family has probably moved away by now."

Evelyn smiled. "If we ever got separated, would you come back to find me?"

Ronan Kendrick’s brow furrowed. "We won’t get separated."

"I’m just saying, what if? It’s a hypothetical."

"There are no ’what ifs’ and no hypotheticals. We won’t get separated," Ronan insisted.

Evelyn sighed in resignation. "Fine. Let me rephrase. If a family got separated, do you think they’d want to find each other?"

Ronan was silent for a few seconds. "I suppose they would."

"Family means that no matter where you go or what happens, you have to find one another. In that sense, it’s the same as ’going home’."

’Ronan might not have been able to grasp that emotion, but he knew one thing: if he and Evelyn ever got separated, he would search to the ends of the earth and pay any price to find her.’

"So even if he gets home and finds nothing, he still has to go back?"

Evelyn nodded. "Because for him, going home is an article of faith."

Ronan suddenly walked over and hugged Evelyn. "Let’s never, ever be apart."

Evelyn caught the flicker of panic and fear in his eyes and hugged him back.

"We won’t be."

Never.

「The next day」

The convoy re-entered the grasslands. Surprisingly, this stretch had very little snow. Instead, it was covered in low-growing shrubs that were thriving. The leaves had small thorns and gave off a faint, fresh scent. Upon seeing the shrubs, the argali sheep immediately began to graze.

Some of the shrubs bore purple berries, about the size of cherry tomatoes. Evelyn noticed the scent from the fruit was even stronger.

"This is a Purple Sky Fruit." Taylor Vance picked a berry and popped it into his mouth, startling everyone.

"It’s delicious. Purple Sky Fruit is a Khoros specialty. It’s edible, kind of like a blueberry, and extremely cold-hardy."

Hearing Taylor Vance’s explanation, everyone started picking the berries and popping them into their mouths. They were incredibly sweet and juicy, with thick flesh and seeds so small there was no need to spit them out.

"Should we dig up some of these Purple Sky Fruit bushes? The cold weather will keep them from dying. If we take them to Frelia and plant them, we won’t have to worry about fodder for all these argali and Red Deer."

Everyone enthusiastically agreed with Wyatt Vaughn’s suggestion. However, the grassland soil was frozen solid, making it incredibly difficult to dig. Their hoes nearly broke, but the ground’s surface remained stubbornly hard.

Ronan Kendrick watched from the sidelines as several grown men failed to dig up even a single shrub. Shaking his head in resignation, he walked over, snatched the shovel from Quincy’s hands, aimed it at the base of the plant, and drove it hard into the ground. The entire shrub, roots and all, was instantly uprooted.

After effortlessly digging up five bushes, Ronan stopped. The others, meanwhile, used small basins to collect the berries, eating as they picked. They didn’t stop until the bushes were bare. Unexpectedly, eating too many Purple Sky Fruits had a side effect. No sooner had they climbed back into the carriages than Quincy and Wyatt Vaughn leaped out again, making a mad dash for the nearby thicket.

Taylor Vance slapped his forehead in frustration. "I forgot to tell you! You can’t eat too many Purple Sky Fruits. They’ll give you diarrhea."

The group was left speechless.

Hearing the groans of misery from the group, Evelyn sighed, quickly grabbed a packet of herbal medicine, and got out to brew it for them.

"Mr. Vance, you’ve done me in! I’m about to collapse from exhaustion," Quincy moaned, stumbling back while clutching his stomach. A loud GURGLE came from his midsection, and he immediately turned and ran off again, still bent over.

Taylor Vance looked extremely guilty. If they hadn’t all known him for so long, they would have suspected he’d done it on purpose.

"The next time Mr. Vance tells us a fruit is safe to eat, I’m not listening," Zion Lowell groaned, clutching his stomach. He was one of the victims, too.

Taylor Vance shot him a look. "Actually, you can cook with Purple Sky Fruit."

"Oh, just shut up!" Zion Lowell said, so incensed he clutched his stomach and shuffled back toward the thicket.

Evelyn distributed the brewed medicine. She had been observing the sheep and horse herds; although they had eaten the shrubs, the animals’ digestive systems were much tougher than a human’s. So far, they showed no ill effects. It seemed the Purple Sky Fruit bushes were indeed worth taking to plant elsewhere.

After drinking the medicine, everyone’s stomachs finally settled down. The whole ordeal, however, had cost them a full day.

Back inside the carriage, Evelyn couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

’I never thought I’d see the day the ever-erudite Mr. Vance would slip up so badly, haha.’