Ashley Grant hesitated for a moment, then finally said, “Then tell me why you’re here— I mean, why did you choose to live here?”

“That’s a good question. Of course there’s a reason for choosing this place. First of all, this village has been abandoned for at least twenty years. The reason it was abandoned is because transportation here is too difficult. There’s only one small path leading to the outside world, and along the way there are two spots where the path is just steps carved into the cliffside— the widest part is less than a meter. We’re basically at the top of the mountain here, at an elevation of 986 meters, so forget about cars, even bicycles can’t get through. I had to carry the bike and the big bag up here in two trips. It’s easier to relocate the whole village than to try to help it out of poverty, so the village was abandoned.”

“Oh, there’s only one road? I saw another little path leading to the top of the mountain. What about after you cross the summit?”

“After crossing the summit and heading down, there’s a stretch of farmland, but that’s abandoned too. It’s overgrown with trees and hard to walk through. If you cross the farmland and follow the ridge along the top, there’s basically no path, and it winds around for about eighteen kilometers before you can get down the mountain.”

“With only one road, it’s even safer, right?”

“That’s right. We’re in the middle section of the Taihang Mountains, and the most typical geological feature here is a series of sheer cliffs. Without a path, climbing up or down the mountain is extremely dangerous. The good thing about our location is that, aside from coming up the small path, there’s no way anyone could get here from anywhere else. Plus, we’re far from the main road, so the chances of someone stumbling upon this place are much lower.”

Ashley Grant thought for a moment and said, “So the villa I stayed in before is over there?”

It was pitch black, and Henry Clark couldn’t point out the direction, so he could only say, “The road into the village runs east-west, and I found you to the north. I was chasing a wild boar over there— there’s no path at all, and it’s hard to judge the distance. On the way back, we must have walked about ten kilometers, but…”

Henry Clark fell silent, then frowned and said, “That means it’s possible to get here from the villa, after all.”

“There shouldn’t be any zombies able to make it over, right?”

Henry Clark said in a low voice, “There shouldn’t be. Why would zombies cross the mountain and go through the woods for that far? I’m not familiar with the area where you were staying. Tell me about the terrain nearby.”

“Okay. There’s a new highway, just opened, and the village is near the highway. I saw the village and didn’t dare go any further, then I saw a newly built cement road. I wanted to avoid the village, so I followed the little cement road for about two or three kilometers, and that’s where the unfinished villa was. Later, I went to the farmland near the village, but I didn’t get too close, so I don’t know what it’s like inside the village.”

In recent years, China has developed so quickly that when Henry Clark and the others chose this abandoned village as a refuge, that highway didn’t even exist yet.

“Were there any road signs? Did you notice? Do you know the name of the village?”

Ashley Grant hesitated and said, “I didn’t pay attention. Oh, I remember there was a sign that said it was 32 kilometers to Jin Province, but I didn’t notice any other signs.”

Henry Clark said in a low voice, “Yeah, we’re already close to the border between Hebei and Jin.”

Ashley Grant thought for a moment, then said quietly, “How did you find this place?”

“The three of us…”

They’d agreed not to talk about family, but Henry Clark now realized he couldn’t talk about friends either.

Talking about friends hurt just as much.

So Henry Clark couldn’t go on.

Ashley Grant realized this, and said softly, “I’m sorry, let’s talk about something else.”

“No need.”

Taking a deep breath, Henry Clark said quietly, “The three of us have known each other for a long time. We all like the outdoors, so wherever we went, it was always the three of us. We never traveled with other hikers, because we had different ways of doing things.”

“So you met because of outdoor activities?”

“Uh, not exactly. We’re all from Shimen City, and we all worked in Jicheng. I met Pipe first, because we both liked handicrafts. After we got to know each other, Pipe introduced… Ham to me, because Ham and I both loved the outdoors. Then, as we hung out, I influenced them, and they’re both the type with a strong sense of crisis. We were like-minded and decided that if a real crisis ever happened, we’d survive together, so we’ve always been very close.”

“So you started stockpiling supplies.”

“Yes. We went on trips together at least twice a year. Once, another hiker introduced us to this place, and we found it fit our needs perfectly. So we decided to make this our No. 1 refuge. That time, we hid our leftover biscuits and canned food here. After that, we started coming here on purpose, bringing more long-lasting food and some old but still usable gear to stash here.”

With a soft sigh, Henry Clark continued, “For example, the radio— that was… Ham’s. He’s a radio enthusiast, and he thought we should put a radio here, so he carried one up. But mostly, we stored food. That’s about it.”

“No. 1 refuge— so do you have other refuges?”