Lu Wuyai quickly blocked the largest vent, leaving only two bamboo-sized vents to allow air circulation for the time being.

"The temperature has dropped again." Jin Xilu glanced at the thermometer at the cave entrance, which showed a temperature of minus twenty-five degrees Celsius.

Everyone took a deep breath, thinking back to that hazy day last year, wondering how many more people would die this time.

Last year it was a hazy day, but this year it's a rare cold snap.

Lu Wuyai pulled a section of bamboo out of the ventilation hole and found that the entire section of bamboo exposed to the air was completely frozen. When he touched it with his fingers, it was bone-chillingly cold.

"Looks like we'll have to stay in the cave for March too." Lu Wuyai shook his head. The current climate, even during the day, is only minus ten degrees Celsius. In such weather, no humans would ever appear.

That night, another heater was added to the cave to keep the temperature within a suitable range.

In mid-March, the frigid temperatures finally showed signs of recovery, but the snow had not yet melted, and the ground temperature at night was minus 20 degrees Celsius.

On this day, Lu Wuyai led the women to the cave under the bamboo forest again.

"Lu Wuyai, don't peek." Su Xi wrinkled her nose, waved her fist, and gave a warning look in her eyes.

Seeing this, the other women covered their mouths and laughed, then began to take off their coats, revealing their stunning figures.

This scene made Lu Wuyai's throat go dry, but he still turned his head away, pretending not to see it, and walked towards the other side of the cave.

Soon, the sound of rushing water came from the hot spring.

Lu Wuyai took a deep breath. Accompanying a woman to bathe was torture for him every time.

Fortunately, the cave was very large, so he went deeper and deeper until he finally stopped at the entrance of a passage.

There are two forks in the road, one of which is a dead end, which Lu Wuyai had already explored back then.

As for the other one, it is bottomless and its destination is unknown.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Wuyai decided to go and take a look. So he left a mark, picked up his submachine gun, and slowly walked forward.

There was no wind, and it was pitch black, but to Lu Wuyai, it was no different from daytime. Only the sound of footsteps echoed in the cave.

There is a lot of space along the way, and on the surrounding walls, there are occasionally some dark brown moss and fossilized bones left by animals.

The ground was clean, but there were many pebbles piled up on both sides. Lu Wuyai suspected that there must have been a sea here a long time ago.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Lu Wuyai began to retrace his steps. He had been gone for too long, and he was worried that the women would come looking for him.

But a dozen minutes later, Lu Wuyai suddenly felt a strong gust of wind, and the hair on his neck stood up, giving him a strong sense of crisis.

Before he could dodge, Lu Wuyai felt a sharp pain in his back. As he stood up, his opponent's attack struck his chest again.

But this time, Lu Wuyai saw clearly that what attacked him was a tiger, a large, snow-white tiger.

The black king's mark on his forehead looked extremely menacing. Lu Wuyai clutched his chest, blood seeping from between his fingers. The tension in his heart made his nerves more focused than ever before.

"It hurts so much!" Lu Wuyai gasped, feeling as if his body had been split in two. The intense pain in his chest and back was causing him constant agony.

"Why didn't I hear its heartbeat or footsteps just now?" Lu Wuyai realized he had been careless and thought his words were safe. Who could have imagined that such a white tiger would appear?

But doubt followed. Doesn't this passage end in a dead end? Otherwise, where did this white tiger come from?

For a moment, many questions arose in Lu Wuyai's mind, but the White Tiger had already attacked again.

Lu Wuyai had no time to dodge and could only use his submachine gun to block. As a result, the gun was smashed to pieces by the tiger's claws and became completely unusable.

Seeing this, Lu Wuyai narrowed his eyes and raised his hand to punch the tiger on the head.

With a bang.

Ten percent of the force struck the tiger's forehead, and a pitiful roar made it unable to stop itself from retreating.

But Lu Wuyai was in bad shape. His chest, back, and ribcage were covered in blood. He still didn't know the extent of his injuries. He only felt a sharp pain. Snowflakes flashed before his eyes intermittently. He managed to throw a single punch.

“This time, the boat capsized in the ditch.” Lu Wuyai pressed down on the rock, touching the bulge on his waist. Those were the two hand grenades he had carried with him when he left, but now he dared not throw them, fearing that the two grenades would not kill the White Tiger, but would instead be affected by the aftershocks of the explosion.

If this passage is destroyed again, it won't just be him who dies, but everyone else.

Lu Wuyai let out a low growl, glanced at the white tiger, and still gripped the rock tightly as he staggered toward the entrance.

Perhaps due to excessive blood loss, Lu Wuyai's condition worsened. He constantly held a grenade in one hand, determined to throw it before passing out. As for the consequences, he could only fight to the death to kill Baihu. Stay.

Finally, when he saw the exit of the passage, Lu Wuyai's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. However, the white tiger behind him kept following, shaking its head. It was clear that Lu Wuyai's punch had knocked it unconscious, and it hadn't recovered yet.

Even so, the white tiger continued to roar, clearly filled with hatred for Lu Wuyai.

The tiger's roar echoed nearby, bringing a chill to the woman who was taking a bath.

"What's wrong?" Yu Mengrou poked her head out of the water, the waves highlighting the opponent's astonishing arc.

"It sounds like a tiger's roar, did you hear it?" Jin Xilu also emerged from the water, her figure possessing a curvaceous beauty that was unparalleled in this dark environment.

"Could it be Lu Wuyai playing a prank?"

"Listen to it again..."

But soon, a series of roars rang out, and the women's expressions finally changed. They wiped the water off their bodies, put on their clothes, and rushed over as fast as they could.

When they reached the entrance to the passage, they saw Lu Wuyai being pinned down by a white tiger. Blood was flowing, soaking the ground. He looked extremely miserable.

"Lu Wuyai." The women were startled, thinking Lu Wuyai was already dead.

The first woman to react was Song Xiaoyou. She saw that Lu Wuyai was not dead; his hand was still stuck in the tiger's bloody mouth.

“Not dead yet.” After saying this, Song Xiaoyou ran over, and stopped suddenly when he was ten meters away from the white tiger. He drew his gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger in one smooth motion.

The bullet fired a burst of flame in the darkness, striking the white tiger directly in the head.

At that very moment, Lu Wuyai, who was struggling desperately, gave up all resistance, tilted his head, and lost consciousness.

Inside the cave, the women rushed up. Just as they were about to help Lu Wuyai up, Gu Yuxin stopped them.

She examined him carefully and found that Lu Wuyai was seriously injured. In addition to scratches on his chest and back, he also had several broken ribs. It would take at least several months for him to fully recover.

Finally, Gu Yuxin and Tang Xin returned to Shiqiu and prepared to drive back.

Inside the cave, Song Xiaoyou and You Li took care of Lu Wuyai, while the others dragged the white tiger's corpse to the stream to clean it up.

"Xiao You, where did this white tiger come from?" You Li asked.

Song Xiaoyou raised her head and looked at the cave not far away, her eyes gleaming with a faint light.

Back in the cave, Lu Wuyai still hadn't woken up.

His body had suffered tremendous trauma. If it weren't for the plant extracts in the cave, he would have been left there to die.

However, even after taking the fifth stage of the medicine, Lu Wuyai's injuries were still very serious.

The white tiger almost ripped his heart out.

The chest injury was indeed severe, and her ribs were broken. As for surgery, Gu Yuxin dared not attempt it lightly. After all, it was a body of flesh and blood. If inflammation occurred, the consequences could be serious or minor.

“He still has to get through this on his own,” Gu Yuxin said.

That night, You Li, who was with her, heard a few groans for the first time. By the time she realized what she was doing, Lu Wuyai had already woken up from his pain.

“Bitch.” Lu Wuyai gritted his teeth. The intense pain in his chest and back made him want to commit suicide.

At this point, Yuli quickly stood up, opened a medicine box, took out some medicine powder, and sprinkled a large amount on Lu Wuyai's wound.

Gradually, a stinging sensation rendered Lu Wuyai unable to move. Even when he bent his fingers, it felt like he was being electrocuted.

This state lasted for several hours.

During the journey, Lu Wuyai fell asleep and woke up repeatedly, completely unable to control his own destiny.

It was unclear how many days had passed before Lu Wuyai felt himself slowly recovering and no longer feeling as powerful as before.

However, he still felt dizzy, supposedly due to excessive blood loss.

"I'm so hungry," Lu Wuyai said weakly. During the days he was unconscious, he was fed by women and ate almost nothing but watered-down military rations because he couldn't chew anything else.

The aroma of meat wafting through the air made his mouth water.

"Your mouth can move," Su Xi asked from the side.

Lu Wuyai nodded and said in a hoarse voice, "Where are the others?"

Even now, Lu Wuyai hasn't heard anyone else's voice, but Su Xi has been sitting beside him, taking care of him.

“We’ve all gone to the rice paddies. Do you want some meat?” Su Xi asked, roasting tiger meat; the smell lingered in the cave. Lu Wuyai was already hungry.

Su Xi picked up a bamboo stick, skewered the tiger meat together, and let Lu Wuyai take a bite.

Perhaps because he had been unconscious for too long, Lu Wuyai had almost forgotten the sensation of chewing, but the tiger meat was surprisingly tender. He had never eaten such firm tiger meat before.

“I heard Gu Yuxin say that this tiger might have mutated. Tiger meat contains a lot of energy. After eating it, you feel warm all over and you're not afraid of the cold at all,” Su Xi said glibly.

At this moment, Lu Wuyai also felt deeply moved. The tiger's meat entered his stomach, like a warm stream of water flowing continuously through his body. Wherever it passed, it felt as warm as spring. Even without the heating on, he probably wouldn't feel cold.

“Anything else is fine,” Su Xi asked.

Lu Wuyai nodded. He couldn't get enough of the tiger meat on the bamboo skewers.

"I'll hold it for you, you eat quickly," Su Xi said.

Lu Wuyai snorted and continued eating the roasted meat that Su Xi handed him.

Half an hour passed. It seemed that eating meat had exhausted Lu Wuyai's energy, and he fell asleep while eating.

Su Xi glanced at the man on the bed, pouted, tore off the last few pieces of roasted meat from the bamboo skewer, and slowly put them into her mouth to chew.

That night, Lu Wuyai awoke from his agony again. He looked at the woman standing at his feet, waiting for him, and took a few deep breaths.

"My chest still hurts." Lu Wuyai reached out to try to get up, but ended up falling back onto the bed. This movement woke Tang Xin, who was sitting at his feet.

Seeing Lu Wuyai's ferocious expression, Su Xi quickly helped him turn to the side. Only then did he notice that the wound on his back, which was almost healed, had suddenly reopened, and blood was flowing out, soaking the mattress.

"It hurts so much!" Lu Wuyai made a face in pain, and it took him a long time to recover.

Su Xi was reapplying the medicine to him. Meanwhile, to speed up Lu Wuyai's healing process, Gu Yuxin prepared some ointment and applied it evenly to the wound. The cooling sensation relieved the pain in his wound.

“You'd better not move around too much lately,” Tang Xin said, her eyes red. “Your ribs aren’t healed yet, and it’s cold. Just stay in bed and get some sleep.”

Hearing this, Lu Wuyai sighed, feeling powerless to do anything about it.

And so, a month passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Wuyai began to try to move around in his wheelchair, and his vision finally began to change.

During this period, Lu Wuyai underwent surgery and nearly died on the operating table. However, thanks to this surgery, most of his injuries were not as serious.

However, he still couldn't walk. The injury wasn't clearly to his leg, but rather to the chest pain and shortness of breath he experienced every two steps. It was obvious that his ribs were far from healed.

It was freezing cold outside. The women would occasionally go out and find corpses in various places, some of which were animal carcasses, but many were human survivors.

"It's already early April." Jin Xilu squatted on the snow, looking at the hard snow under her feet. The cold wind blew, making her cheeks red.

In April, the surface temperature is only -15 degrees Celsius, and the temperature at night will be even lower.

At the entrance to the cave, Gu Yuxin was changing Lu Wuyai's dressing. The unsightly scar on his chest looked much better than before.

Looking at the sutures on her ribs, Gu Yuxin was quite satisfied with her technique.

"The recovery ability is quite good; it will be fully recovered in less than three months."

Hearing this, Lu Wuyai finally smiled, took out a piece of jerky from his pocket, and chewed it with relish.

"I heard you went to the cave again yesterday," Lu Wuyai asked.

"Yes, I went there, especially the section where the white tiger came out, but after walking for more than an hour, I didn't find anything special."

“It’s not over yet,” Lu Wuyai said.

The passage was very deep, and Lu Wuyai suspected that the other end of the passage might be on the other side of the deserted island.

To this day, they still do not fully understand this deserted island, nor do they know how large its vast area is.

Soon, Lu Wuyai lay back down on the bed, looking at the tiger painting opposite him, and his excited heart gradually calmed down.

For more than a month, Lu Wuyai has spent at least half of his energy on ancient paintings, and entering meditation is the only thing he can do.

"Increasing strength is key."

Lu Wuyai even felt that his ability to recover so quickly must be closely related to these ancient paintings.

Before long, Lu Wuyai fell asleep, but even in his deep sleep, the tiger and goat on the ancient painting opposite him still appeared in his mind.

......

In mid-April, a sudden downpour struck the deserted island, accompanied by thunder, and the snow melted at a visible rate.

On this day, Lu Wuyai's body had fully recovered, even better than before his injury.

After getting out of bed, Lu Wuyai stretched, and a crackling sound came from his body, like a bomb.

It was midday, and a torrential downpour was falling on the rocky mountain. The layers of rain made it difficult to see anything clearly.

Inside the cave, the women finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Lu Wuyai jumping around.

“It’s alright,” Jin Xilu said.

However, Lu Wuyai rubbed his chest; the area where his ribs were broken felt a little cold. It might take a long time to heal.

"Get me something to eat." Lu Wuyai was so hungry he looked like he wanted to eat a whole cow.

In fact, to celebrate Lu Wuyai's recovery, Su Xi and the others actually hunted down a cow that had run out of a dead tree today.

"This is beef from the Yellow Cattle." Lu Wuyai looked at the young bull piled on the campfire in the orchard. It was now crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the air was filled with an enticing aroma.

When Su Xi and Song Xiaoyou saw that everyone had arrived, they immediately greeted them and then continued to sprinkle the prepared scented powder on the yellow ox.

Lu Wuyai strode over, couldn't resist picking up the knife on the ground, cutting off a piece from the cow, and then quickly putting it into his mouth to chew.

Suddenly, the rich aroma of meat made his cheek twitch.

"It's so delicious!" Lu Wuyai exclaimed, his eyes wide. "This beef is incredibly flavorful!"

This cow was probably born and raised in the countryside. There's almost no fat on its body. The fibrous meat feels so good when you bite into it.

“I think medium-rare is still delicious,” Su Xi said.

Gu Yuxin: "No, it must be very cooked. I'd rather burn it."

For the benefit of those suffering from conjunctivitis, you absolutely must stop eating raw food. If you get infected, it's no joke.

"I know, I was just saying." Su Xi stuck out her tongue and continued to carefully roast the parts of the beef that weren't browned.

The temperature in the orchard was not very high; the thermometer showed only three degrees Celsius.

However, thanks to this heavy rain, the four-month-long winter finally came to an end.

Lu Wuyai and the others sat on the ground. The orchard was full of fruit, some red, some yellow. This scene did not surprise Jin Xilu and the others.

The three of them gradually came to understand the function of these black stones. Besides feeling awe, they were also filled with emotion.

Of course, they also understood why Lu Wuyai and the others could see things in the dark.

"This wild fruit is truly amazing." Jin Xilu looked at the green wild fruit in his hand and sighed.