In Love, Never Say Never

In Love, Never Say Never Chapter 641-642-643-644-645

In love, never say never chapter 641

“Let’s go that way!” Nora called to us. She spotted Tabitha and Laurel just climbing out of the hole. “What’s up, you two? If you’ve had a good rest, let’s move on!”

The two women nodded as they dusted the dirt and grime off their wrinkly clothes. They glanced at Tessa, who was still immersed in her prayers. Tabitha mumbled, “She’s so pious. Do you think God with really bless her?”

Nora shrugged. “Let’s go!”

The forest was rather humid in the morning. The soil had become loose. One could hear the soft crunching of the earth just by stepping on it.

“Ah!” Laurel screamed. Then, she squatted on the spot she had previously stepped on and began to scrape at the ground.

Very soon, we saw what had been hiding underneath the earth. It was a cluster of yellowish-white fungi. Some of them had been crushed under her feet.

Only a few short and stout ones were spared.

“Mushrooms!” Tessa, who had been reciting her prayers the whole time, promptly came forward and started digging up the plants from under the fertile soil. She wiped the dirt off and began to swallow them a few pieces at a time.

Laurel, looking equal parts terrified and worried, wondered, “Do we… eat them raw? Just like that?”

Tabitha turned around and, indeed, managed to find other mushrooms of the same variety under some rotten leaves.

She passed some of them to us. “Yes, this kind of mushrooms can be eaten raw. There used to be plenty at my place and we did this all the time. Sure, they won’t satisfy our hunger, but it’ll have to do for now. Let’s eat!”

They dug in. The rest of us, having barely eaten anything for a day, followed suit.

Nora helped herself to some mushrooms. A while later, she looked at Tabitha, a question on her mind. “Are you sure we won’t have any hallucinations after eating these? Once, I watched the news about poison testers in the south. They usually do that come May and June. Those who really did get poisoned are said to be able to ‘transcend reality’.”

Tabitha chuckled. “Well, if you know which ones to eat and which ones to avoid, basically you won’t have any hallucinations.”

Laurel found many other kinds of mushrooms in the soil. She turned around to ask the expert, “What about these?”

Tabitha nodded. “Sure, but we’ll need to cook them. If not, we’ll see things that aren’t there.”

“That’s a pity. None of us have a lighter, otherwise, we could have made ourselves a feast supplied by Mother Nature herself,” Nora sighed as she stuffed more mushrooms into her mouth.

“Ah!” Tessa shouted all of a sudden, prompting everyone else to look towards her, surprise hanging on our faces.

“What? Has your God decided to show Himself?” Nora spoke in annoyance.

Tessa’s face turned pale, her body stiffened, as she muttered, “B-B-Bamboo snake…”

All of us followed her gaze simultaneously. There was a tiny green snake, about fifty centimetres in length, hanging around the leaves of the tree next to her.

We would not have noticed it if we had not been paying attention. The snake spat out its forked tongue. It looked like it was preparing an attack.

“This snake is venomous. We have to be careful!” Tabitha yelled, her face pale and haggard.

I scanned the surroundings from the corner of my eyes. There was a branch that must have been snapped in half by the wind. One of its ends seemed rather sharp.

“What now! What now! I’m going crazy just looking at that ugly thing! Ah, it’s giving me goosebumps!” Nora stood close to me. Driven by anxiety and fright, she clung tightly onto me as if her life depended on it.

I wanted to comfort her, but I was scared too. The creature was inches away from us, equipped with venom!

“Is it not too late if we run now?” Nora muttered, already backing away.

“It’s too late!” Tessa said, her voice trembling. “This is a bamboo snake. It’ll come after us.”

“Damn it! But we can’t just stay here like this!”

Laurel was so scared that she was shaking uncontrollably, her face completely drained of color.

“Kill it!” Tabitha proposed. Despite being scrawny, she dared to glare at the reptile hiding among the leaves with a wicked glint in her dark eyes.

Tessa was closest to the snake. Any careless movements and the snake could latch onto her and sink its fangs on her neck.

But she was too frightened at the moment to do anything. Her body kept shaking. “Don’t provoke it, you guys. I’m scared.”

“What are you scared of? You recite your prayers all the time, right? Your God will protect you. Go on,” Nora said, with great irony.

In a situation like this, no one could afford to be distracted.

Tabitha turned to instruct Tessa. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll count to three. You get ready to dodge. I will throw a rock and see if I can hit it.”

What?

Tessa was on the verge of tears. “You can’t possibly hit it! The chances are slim. What if you hit me instead? I’ll die!”

“Do you have other ideas?” Tabitha asked a rhetorical question. Tessa shook her head in despair.

“It’s a gamble then!” With that said, Tabitha slowly bent down and picked up a stone.

Tessa was really having a breakdown, but time was running out and we had no other choice. We had to take our chances.

“One, two, three… Duck!” As if on cue, Tessa promptly moved away.

Tabitha flung the stone towards the bamboo snake hiding among the leaves.

Wild animals often had faster reflexes than humans.

The bamboo snake evaded Tabitha’s attack. Angered, it made its advance on Tessa, who had just barely got out of its way.

In love, never say never chapter 642

A reactionary creature like this was even more fearful when it sprang into action.

It’s going to get Tessa! I hastily picked up the branch I’d spotted earlier on the ground and jabbed its sharp side at the snake.

Thankfully, that single thrust pierced through the snake’s mid-section and successfully pinned it down.

Its head and tail, however, remained wriggling furiously.

Tessa was still recovering from her fright. Anger and shock coursed through her, forming a volatile mix of emotions.

stone that Tabitha had flung away earlier, then brought it

thus maimed; the snake seemed to be caught in a daze. Without hesitation, Tessa vehemently crushed it

stopped, satisfied, when the snake had been utterly reduced

turned a sickly pale. Nora gulped, then quickly said, “Let’s go. It’s

forward, we managed to pick quite a lot of mushrooms. The forested mountain was ancient and teeming with rich, bountiful

drink. No matter what else happened to us, at

we spotted a red fruit, resembling an apple, growing on

near-constant rate of trekking had left her face

grown in the wild. It’s not very sweet, but it’s

off fiddling with her own belongings. She’d eaten quite a lot of mushrooms along the way and was no longer as concerned

gave it her best shot. Being rather plump and short, however, climbing

a while. Laurel was resigned to waiting on

on the branches. She greedily ate any fruits she’d managed to pluck, blissfully indulging in the

however, maintained a clear head. She’d

of having to face another snake. She wildly surveyed her surroundings, then took another huge bite of the apple in her hand. “That made me

continued throwing fruits down. Laurel continued picking them up in her ungainly

down, Nora observed, “What is that woman doing? She’s been fumbling with her things ever since we got here!

shrugged in

the two of you talking about? Let’s be quick! Once we’re done

can be so flippant about

had enough and a little more besides, we’d wiped out the entire tree. We even took the

that we’d killed was the only aggressive one we encountered. The rest of

water, fruits, and a side of mushrooms, we

resting spot for the night, however. Nora grew visibly anxious, insisting, “Let’s keep going forward. I saw a couple of manmade paths along the trail, which means there must be

other

the village quickly. We’ll be home soon,” we urged each other. Our spirits lifted

and indeed saw flares of light ahead of us

forward, she fantasized out loud, “When I get home, I’ll surely take myself out for a good foie gras and a seafood buffet. Besides, I’ll treat myself

in. “I’ll take everyone out to high tea, then. My

steak. I feel as if I could eat a whole cow,” Nora declared exaggeratedly, popping the rest of the stash she’d picked into

evenly, “We’re lucky to make it

rather dampened our cheeriness. Exchanging glances, the rest of us decided to pay no heed to Tessa’s

say

get to go home this

I want? That question lingered in my mind as I continued trudging forward, deep in

moment’s pause, I concluded, “I want to see the person I miss most, give him a hug, and apologize to him

curiously pressed, “Is it somebody you’re in

faint smile but declined to

reached saw signs of human life. The village we’d arrived at was located in quite a rural area of the mountains, and perhaps due to its inaccessibility, there didn’t seem to be many

of lamps we’d counted shining in the dark, there were probably thirty to

to hunker down for the night,” Nora suggested, already making her way towards the door

the yard

to each other, terrified. Fortunately, the dog was leashed to a rope.

owner of the cottage had evidently heard the ruckus. Out stepped a middle-aged man with tan,

us understood what he was trying to say. After a while, Tabitha gasped.

froze. The arduous journey we’d made, crossing peak after peak, hadn’t brought us any closer to

disarray. Upon seeing our confused faces, the owner of the cottage seemed to

sixteen years of age, ran out of the cottage

conferred with the man for a while. He then grew noticeably calmer

made a few hesitant motions with her hands in return, trying to convey

He did, however, let us into his home

down within. Its clay walls were caked with soot, doubtless from the fire that was burning in

used decades ago. The lamp

The roof of the cottage was, in fact, a tent stitched together out of gunny sacks. There was dust everywhere. It turned to grime at

the tent looked sure to be full

two bowls from a cabinet and

the man continued to gesture furiously. He seemed to be

in front of us. The food was steeped in

exclaimed rather adventurously. She had more of an appetite than

in rather gratefully. The flavor of the pickled onions, spicy with a hint

had been a few days since we’d really tasted anything. The pickled onions thus thoroughly

They gazed at us with curiosity and awe, mixed

persisted in her attempts to communicate with them. Along with her hand signals, she deliberately spoke a few basic words, emphasizing

came to understand that we

were stumped, however, by

We could only wait until the next day for the man to seek help from his fellow villagers. Until then, we’d have to take shelter

blearily woke the next morning, the man was already

the tree with a basket, picking up the soft fruits he’d

up some fruit, she’d beam a smile in our direction. It was

Tabitha mused, looking rather wistful. She looked almost like a child with

frame. “Why? Are you thinking of something sad?”

as if I’ve been enlightened. How we live our lives should be

been destined!” Tessa quipped. This discussion aligned with the philosophical tendencies she’d been harboring all this

we take a break from

ignored Nora. She marched straight out into the yard and began picking up fruits

communicate with words but smiles and gestures seemed to suffice for

never say never

desperation to head home, Nora hauled me along into the

must have a phone around here! we thought. When we knocked on the door of the next cottage, however, Nora’s

best efforts at miming remained futile. We departed after a good

returned to find them sitting side by side, disconsolate. Laurel was the first to speak. “If we can’t get any results here, we should

know how much longer the road up ahead is. If we aren’t careful, we may be mistaken for thieves and locked up,” Nora countered. She plopped down onto the floor with

up?” Tessa asked thoughtfully. “Surely, the local policeman knows a little more than the average villager.

local police, they may be able to

was the most promising idea we’d had. We cheered up instantly at the thought and launching into

in a village on the mountain. Who knows if there’s even a

conviction that she shouldn’t participate in any criminal act, regardless of its motive. She slipped off before

were enthusiastic. “Leave

to one of the villager’s yards under the pretense of borrowing something.

laden with fruit, fully expecting the police to be hot on their

Nora nor Tabitha had counted on the kindness of the villager. The owner of the house had been enraged at the two girls’

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