Yesterday's experience left me feeling uneasy, and even after thinking about it all night, I still haven't come up with a suitable way to avoid ferocious beasts like tigers.

I was rather sullen all day because of this, but a few of those leisurely monkeys always liked to follow behind me and watch me do what I was doing, and they never tired of it.

Without absolute certainty, I do not intend to risk exploring the mountains to the east. Any one of those ferocious beasts is more than I can handle. It's better to learn more about this area before taking any further action.

Today I plan to make a smaller basket and go to the lakeside to see if there are any supplies I can gather.

However, I have to take one more step before I get to the lake, even though it may only provide some psychological comfort.

I smashed a large piece of poplar bark with a stone and flattened it as much as possible into the shape of a mask. Then I used sparks to burn out the eyes, nose, and mouth on the mask.

To make it look more realistic, I used some plant fibers and melted pine resin to stick onto my mask, which made it look more three-dimensional.

Especially around the mouth area of ​​the mask, I found two poplar branches and ground them into two thick 15-centimeter fangs to fit around the mouth.

The white fangs made of poplar branches, paired with the dark wood fiber hair, give the mask a more hellish, demonic feel.

I was very satisfied with the mask, and after it was finished, I put it on the back of my head.

It wasn't a whim of mine to spend time making something like this.

In Africa and Australia, local indigenous people make all sorts of strange masks and wear them on the back of their heads so that wild animals behind them will think that there is always a pair of eyes watching them.

Wild animals have a habit of attacking their prey from behind, and the mask is like adding an extra pair of eyes to the back of one's head, making those wild animals dare not act rashly.

There are many masters of disguise in the animal kingdom who rely on imitating the appearance of other dangerous animals to avoid danger, so there is some basis to this practice.

However, the masks I make cannot be as colorful and gorgeous as those of the indigenous people. They use natural mineral pigments such as lapis lazuli and ochre to color their masks, making them look more intimidating.

However, I know that thing is probably only good for scaring monkeys, because most wild beasts are colorblind. They only see black and white, so adding color is just to give themselves some psychological comfort.

With this ghost face mask, at least I feel much more at ease. I can't stay in the tree forever; I need to come down and walk around eventually.

I arrived near the lake, and just as I had expected, there were many water birds. Countless bird nests of all sizes were nestled among the rows of willow trees.

Birds occasionally fly out from among them, presumably to forage for food. Many chicks have already hatched this season and are at the age where they are eager to be fed, so their parents naturally don't have a moment's rest.

I feel that the probability of finding bird eggs in those trees right now is as slim as the probability of winning the lottery, so I don't plan to waste my time on these bird nests.

However, I still made sure to collect the willow branches. With my previous experience in weaving baskets, I was much more adept at this task this time.

This time, the baskets didn't need to be as big as the ones we made last time, so the time required was shortened considerably.

As usual, I made a long rope out of willow branches for my basket, and then tied a large water bottle knot with this rope to make a carrying strap for my basket.

Having learned from my first experience, this time I made the straps as flat as possible.

In this way, the flat shoulder straps can fit my shoulders better, making it more comfortable for me to carry things without making my shoulders hurt.

I searched the lakeside with my new basket on my back. The lake water was clear, gradually deepening inwards on a gentle slope. On a sunny day, the visibility was so good that you could see fish swimming three meters below the lakebed.

The fish here are much larger than those in the rivers and streams before, with fish weighing around one or two pounds being common near the shore. The larger ones are found in the deeper waters further out, and there are quite a variety of species; I recognize several of them.

I don't have any fishing gear right now. If I had a set, with my fishing skills of over ten years, I would definitely be able to catch a lot of delicious fish to improve my meals.

Although I couldn't count on fish for the time being, I soon discovered something new and good on a sandy beach by the lake.

At first, I didn't notice this place. It wasn't until I saw a turtle, which is what we commonly call a soft-shelled turtle, jump from the sunbathing rock into the water that I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were actually soft-shelled turtles, this kind of amphibian, in this place.

It's currently May or June, and the breeding season for soft-shelled turtles falls between April and August. They don't lay all their eggs at once; instead, they dig pits in the sand and lay them multiple times.

An adult female soft-shelled turtle can lay between eighty and ninety eggs per year. These turtle eggs are highly nutritious, several times more so than ordinary free-range chicken eggs, and they taste delicious, making them a good food.

Following the turtle tracks on the sand, I quickly found a spot where the sand was different from the others. The sand here was slightly higher and more compact, clearly indicating that it had been excavated and then backfilled.

I carefully used a wooden spear to dig through layers of sand from the side of the raised sand dune. These turtles that come to the beach to lay their eggs at night don't dig very deep holes, so I dug up the white turtle eggs with almost no effort.

I spread my fingers as wide as possible, and like the workers in the turtle factory, I gently inserted my fingers to scoop out all the turtle eggs.

I counted them; there were thirty-five turtle eggs in total. It was quite a good haul; I can finally have an extra meal tonight.

However, the surprises I received from this lakeside didn't end there. Soon I discovered something even more exciting, something I had been longing to find all along.

While walking along the west bank of the lake, I unexpectedly discovered a bamboo grove behind a patch of bushes!

Bamboo is a rare and valuable material. It can be used to hold water, make lightweight building materials, and make baskets and ropes. Even dried bamboo is a good source of kindling and firewood.

I remember that there are several methods for starting a fire by friction, and dry bamboo is the most suitable for them. You could say that bamboo is a versatile and perfect material in the wild.