At a certain point in the afternoon they decided they'd searched enough and returned to their fern encampment. Vaien messily started stuffing their finds into a satchel that had two coarse cords over it to put onto one's shoulders like a back pack.
Zhang Han watched him, became annoyed at how carelessly Vaien was packing, and then took over the job. It had been somewhat quiet and peaceful between them as they went about readying for the night and the journey that was soon to come.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"Hmm...I have an area in mind. Let's head out the morning after tomorrow."
"All right."
Zhang Han did not bother asking over the details yet because he was tired. He huddled himself into the furs, trying to curl his body in a way that was the least painful. Not long after he felt Vaien's body lie down next to him, and some soft hair tickling his neck.
Oh well, he was too sleepy to care.
He passed out into the lull of deep and dreamless sleep.
…
When Vaien woke up curled into the arms of Vaien the next morning, he took a moment to ponder on how and why his life led up to this moment. Sleeping in the arms of a naked superhuman man under ferns in the woods.
Vaien's lower part was energetic today as well, but Zhang Han ignored that as he wormed out his hold, sat up, and yawned.
He expected to get a sharp pain in his ribs from that, but there was nothing. Huh. He put both his arms behind his back to stretch again and still felt next to no pain. There was a slight tug, as though those muscles were tight after not being moved for some time, and tugged open his tunic, and unwound the bandages over his ribs and chest. Underneath were fading yellow-ish bruises and some kind of green paste. The paste was clearly a medicinal ointment.
A tan arm curled around his abdomen and pulled him back downwards. Even this unconscious movement carried a lot of strength, and Zhang Han could not even resist it.
Vaien grumbled something. With his expression softened by sleep, red eyelashes shuddering from the slight disturbance of Zhang Han's movements, he appeared much more adorable than usual.
If not for the fact that Vaien would violently strike at anything that woke up too early, Zhang Han would mercilessly shake him up.
But instead the blankets and warmth of his body felt somewhat comfortable. The morning air was gentle and clear, the scent of unknown flowers in the breeze. He closed his eyes and fell back asleep like a slug.
Wow, that was the first time Zhang Han had gone back to bed after waking up in 17 years.
…
So again, some time later, he was poked awake by Vaien.
"Zhang Han~" he teased. "You're so lazy today…"
Zhang Han sucked in a breath and sat up. He rubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah.
How could he sleep past dawn? Vaien was right, he was a complete sloth. But then he remembered what he'd been extremely interested in asking over.
"What medicine did you give me?"
The wounds he'd sustained would never be healed in a mere few days. He should have been bedridden for months, possibly gotten a relapse fever or developed an infection. All of these gruesome possibilities were likely out here with no hospitals or medical professionals.
Vaien paused. He'd actually started packing up everything. "Oh...that's a mix of common plants that grow all over the place. Everyone at my tribe used them, they work pretty well. Once a guy got a whole poked through his stomach and it healed in a week."
Astounded, Zhang Han blinked.
"...yeah, my ribs seem close to healed, and it's only been a few days."
Vaien waved his hand and gave an exaggerated sigh. "In the end, this kind of thing is like spitting on a wound. A lot of stuff uses poisons or maims in one hit...herbs like that only have limited use."
No, no. Zhang Han thought they were extremely useful.
"There's a kind of plant that's even more amazing," continued Vaien with a flourish, "one my grandma described as a magic-granting flower. At the beginning us that you like to call 'superhumans' weren't this powerful, the plant-"
"A plant can grant enhanced abilities?!" Zhang Han was so riled up he interrupted. "Where?"
Vaien suddenly bit down on his tongue, chiding himself. Whoops, he didn't mean to mention that but had gotten too caught up in showing off his knowledge. He averted his gaze.
"Er...I don't know. My grandmother and most of the first generation are already dead."
Zhang Han's figure slumped. "Oh."
There was clearly more to it than what Vaien let on, but for the moment this conversation topic was at a standstill. In any case, the two had a lot of ground to cover to make it out of the basin. Food eating, readying, and bathing took place.
Usual activities had a tone of finality as Zhang Han knew he wouldn't return to the basin for some time.
Finally, he tucked his lazer gun into his belt and slung the bow over his shoulder. He carried a few other items in his back as he and Vaien set out on a hike.
Vaien pointed towards a part of the basin wall, the top edge of it appeared flatter than other stretches.
"That spot should be a easy area to climb out."
He stepped forward, and Zhang Han followed.
They went through the grassy plains, bugs flying out of the grass and the usual white deer meeping in the sun. Zhang Han stared as the shining blue river in the distance, his eyes following it until it became a thread in the distance as it reached the wall of the basin.
Did it flow from underground, or fall like a waterfall from the top of the rocks? And if that's the case, there must be another way for the water that comes into the basin to get out, otherwise it would pool this entire place into a massive lake.
But these were just thoughts about matters he hadn't noticed before.
Although Zhang Han had been good at paying attention to detail with his job and like at Gaojun, now that he was out in nature things were different. New discoveries awaited behind every corner.
He even wondered how this basin came to be.
With such a tall wall on the outside, what if a big meteor crashed into the surface hundreds of thousands of years ago?
They made it to the cliff without much difficulty. The edge of the land here was dotted with large slabs of rock that had fallen from the ring of mountainous stone that lined the basin, and it was likely why the top was smoothed; from erosion.
About to start climbing up the nearest ledge, the two sensed a familiar rumbling in the ground. All the birds took up into the air and the white deer ran with abandon.
Zhang Han ducked down behind the nearest boulder, and Vaien followed suit.
A pair of Goliath killers, one much shorter than the other, trotted out onto the grassland they had only just finished traversing through. One held a deer in its jaws, but the deer's long neck had been snapped long ago, its body hanging limply.
The smaller Goliath killer made a chirring sound with its throat.
"Kraaa kraaa kraaa…" it looked up at the larger one with what seemed to be pleading.
And so the larger cocked its head and lowered the deer onto the ground. The reptilian beast lifted its razor sharp talons and began to tear flesh off the deer as the smaller one began to nibble it up.
After the smaller one ate a lot and seemed to lose interest, the larger opened is jaw of serrated teeth and dragged the entire rest of the deer into its mouth, swallowing it with one gulp.
The pair finally made their way through the grasslands.
Although Zhang Han and Vaien could still see them because of their size, they were already far enough away that the beasts would not hear nor see them if they moved.
Vaien went out from behind the slab of rock and sighed.
"Ugh, another goliath killer is a big nuisance! Look how well the Mom feeds it…"
Zhang Han blinked.
He, uh, actually thought it was kind of cute. It made him realize that while all these horrifying beasts all have their own dangers, they are also just trying to survive and thrive in their environment. There was a certain kind of beauty and simplicity to it that he hadn't appreciated before.
On that note the two began their climb up the rocky slope, about to gaze over the land beyond.