CHAPTER 22: CRYSTAL STONES

Back in the mountain, Juan was almost done scouring the mountain and any hills near it. She had gained a lot in these past few days; she even ate some fish she caught.

Life in the wild was treating her well as long as she run away from any menacing and ferocious beasts of the wild.

The apple trees she planted were ripe after thirty-two hours and Juan was enjoying the benefits of having an orchard with her. The apples were just so big, juicy, and red.

They were so delicious and eating one wasn’t enough to satisfy her hunger for them but it was enough to fill her belly. On her last day or day fourteen of being in the wild, Juan was almost done checking the remaining places she wasn’t at before.

As she was busy checking what she had missed out, she saw from a distance a bushy area. Attracted by the bushes and wanting to pluck them and throw them into the farm, she sped up and after ten minutes or so she was at the designated place.

Juan began to dig around like a hamster and managed to get something after an hour. After throwing the bush inside, she heard the notification that made all the pain go away.

As she was about to leave, she couldn’t help but notice a strange phenomenon that made her think twice before setting her heart on stone and going along with it.

Juan saw a cave entrance hidden as there were so many rocks there. Curious about this place, she carefully made her way to the cave and removed the stones as fast as she could.

After making an opening, she found a torch and made her way inside. The place was dark and scary but as someone with a lot of cheats on her, she became a bit braver.

Juan could tell that a very long time ago, someone was once in the cave and this made her a bit curious to see what she may find in there. She just prayed that it will not collapse on her as she still has many things to do in the future.

She took so many turns inside and just walk along with no sense of direction as she had no idea where she was or what she may face. It was just that as she walked, she saw a sparkling stone on the ground and the first thing she thought was that she found a gem.

If she were to take it out and sell it, she may get a lot of money but she couldn’t just sell anything she didn’t know so she picked it up and threw it into the farm and the notification made her grin wide.

Juan began to hunt for these stones but they were not easily found as she thought. After scouring the caves inside for more than an hour, she was about to go crazy as she made her way back to where she came from when her foot bumped into something rough.

She stopped as she cussed, she couldn’t believe that in a passage she walked in earlier she could bump into something. Where did it even come from? She flashed her torch at the ground and saw that a small sack was just lying on the ground.

It wasn’t there when she passed so where did it come from? As she was pondering on what was going on, she felt air blowing at her from the other side and when she went to check, she realized that there was something in there.

Juan decided to check the sack first and what she found made her so excited she decided to take any risks. The sack was filled with stones similar to the one she found a very long time ago.

After throwing the sack inside, the notifications made her tear up so she decided to explore this other cave and after an hour or so, she was inside the hidden cave. The place didn’t need any force to open but a secret mechanism she found by mistake.

Inside the hidden cave, Juan’s eyes nearly popped out as she looked at the sparkling stones that were filling up a corner of the whole cave. Seeing so many stones that could get her into trouble if she sells them outside, she decided to upgrade the farm.

Juan became a miner as she used her hands to pick and throw the stones into the farm, picking as many as she could at a time. She didn’t know how much time passed but by the tie, she was done, her hands were bleeding and painful.

She had to soak them into spiritual water to feel better. She then turned to the other side where she found a box closed and she decided to check out the contents when she was out of this place and somewhere safe.

Juan cleared the cave and took everything, since she found the place then it was her destiny to take everything. Juan then quickly made her way out of the cave using the passages she used before.

After making a map with the farm monitor, going out was much easier and when she was back at a familiar place, she was relieved. What Juan didn’t know was that when she left, all traces of her and the caves, as well as the passages, completely disappeared.

It was as if the place didn’t exist at all but Juan will never know about that. Juan was in a hurry to leave the mountain and with the help of the monitor she was able to find a shortcut to leave the place.

It took Juan roughly three hours for her to reach the bottom of the mountain and luckily there was the main road. With a bag on her bag that had a few things as she didn’t want to burden herself, Juan was praying so hard as she walked in the road that a car will pass.

Luckily for her, after walking for around twenty minutes, a car showed up and Juan excitedly tried to stop it but she was unlucky as the car didn’t stop. Juan sighed as she looked at her watch, it was around six o’clock and she desperately needed to be in town before it becomes dark.

She walked for another ten minutes and finally, a good Samaritan stopped for her. The driver was a man in his forties and he wasn’t a flirtatious man so the two chatted merrily and harmoniously all the way.

The man even gave her some advice on what she can use to get rid of the scars and Juan was grateful even though she wasn’t going to use those methods. With her healing fruit on the way, she had nothing to worry about at all.

In less than thirty minutes, Juan was thanking the driver for giving her a ride and the man just shrugged it off.

The first place she went to was to go and pick up her car as she was not going to pay any more parking expenses as she was already back.