LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 218: No Answers...
The system's mocking laughter continued ringing in his head as Nolan slumped onto the bare hard ground, his chest heaving up and down.
[Told you, idiot! She's a bloody useless mute,] the system said in mockery as Nolan stared at the sky of the cave.
For the last two hours, he had done everything he could possibly do to make the girl before him at least make a simple utterance, but all he got was... nothing.
She just kept staring at him blankly, like a robot.
He had tried to coerce her into writing something down, but all he did was for naught. The girl made no move at all.
It was like she could no longer hear at all, and even made Nolan doubt a little if she was actually alive or a spirit that no one could see.
Still, the answer was simple.
'It's useless. I still have no information at all about this world, and my so-called only ticket refuses to talk. This is disappointing...' Nolan mused silently to himself.
Now he was back to where he began, except for the fact that he now had an extra person whose survival he would have to worry about.
Suddenly,
GRUUUUUUUUUM
The sound of a stomach growling intensely rang out as Nolan sighed and held his stomach.
"Now, I'm hungry too..." he muttered, but his eyes quickly focused as a singular thought appeared in his head.
'You can't be hungry...'
Immediately, he sat up in shock, and his eyes looked to the side where the girl could be seen sitting and looking blankly at him.
Now, her staring position had changed so that it was now at Nolan.
"Is that your stomach?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, but as usual, he got no verbal reply. Still,
GRRUUUUUUUUUM
The sound of the stomach growling loudly rang out once more, and this time, Nolan could immediately see it was from the girl's stomach.
"So that really is you. I guess you can at least be hungry..." Nolan said grumpily, but he knew well that he would have to go out and at least try checking his surroundings.
This was the perfect time.
"See, little girl, I don't know if you're deaf or mute, or if you're just pretending to be, but we both can at least agree we're in quite the fucked-up situation right now."
"We're both stranded in this godforsaken world with no idea where the way back home is, or any idea of how to even get back home."
Stares blankly
"But one thing is sure, and that is the fact that you, little girl, are hungry, and I too need to check the surroundings, and see if this cave is a safe place where we can live, and also see if I get lucky enough and find something that is useful—maybe some map of the world carved in a random tree."
"Some type of miracle from the celestial ones..." Nolan said in exasperation, resulting in mocking laughter from the system.
"So right now, I am the only one who can help you find food by going out and hunting for you, but you offer no sort of advantage, something I'm fine with for now..."
'Hopefully, you'll talk after getting your stomach fully filled...' Nolan silently prayed too.
"So you have to come outside with me, and I will try getting some food for you while I also take some time to explore the surroundings.
If you sit down here alone, anything might happen, and I doubt you can protect yourself at all.
So as risky as it is, you have to follow me out and we both should scavenge. Do you understand?" Nolan asked after his long lecture to try and make her understand, and once more, he was given quite the dose of shock when he saw her rise up on her feet and walk outside, stopping just at the mouth of the cave.
'What the? That can't be a coincidence, is it?' Nolan thought.
He had been trying to reach her since but she made no reply at all, and now she just stood up after his speech and went outside.
Could it be that she heard him and just wasn't speaking, or not interested in giving a reply?
But quickly, Nolan had to push that aside.
Right now, he needed to know where he was and also find food for the girl.
He wasn't about to abandon the only intelligent creature he had found here, that even looked like him.
He had no idea how long he would last here, and loneliness-induced insanity was something Nolan believed in.
So for now, he would keep her by his side while praying that one day, when she grows up to a certain level, she would be able to make some communication back, and then tell him about this world.
At least if he had yet to find another intelligent soul.
With that train of thought, Nolan headed out, and obediently, the green-haired girl followed after him as they soon disappeared into the forest before them.
---
With cautiousness, he weaved through the snow-filled forest, eyes and perception spread out as far as he could cover, and he moved one step at a time like a predator stalking its prey.
Surprisingly, the small girl wasn't a letdown at all, as when he walked, Nolan barely felt the faintest sound of footsteps ringing out from her legs, and she never moved past five centimeters behind him.
That was one more less thing he had to worry about, and it didn't take too long before Nolan felt a tantalizing aroma close by and quickly sneaked towards it.
Barely two minutes passed and he found the source of the smell.
It was a small group of trees, completely covered in snow, but with a little shake from Nolan, the snow all rained to the ground.
What was revealed to them was a small garden of trees filled completely with apple-sized fruits bouncing off their branches.
A fruit tree with two types of apple-like fruits.
Green apple-like fruit and red apple-like fruit.
"Wait, are these?" Nolan asked as he gently plucked off a fruit, but surprise clouded his face when he looked to the side and found the green-haired girl to be... gone!