Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, confused by the dream. Wang Lun participates in a wilderness survival challenge and is placed in the same team with the person he likes.
From then on, ...
That night, almost all the contestants slept soundly in the wilderness. They'd been there for a week and were mostly adapted. However, they were nearing their limit; some would likely have to quit if something unexpected happened. After all, every morning they had to start searching for food and evading various wild animals, poisonous insects, and plants, living in constant fear. Not to mention, some contestants were unlucky and caught nothing, forced to eat only wild vegetables. After several days of foraging, the nearby areas were almost depleted, forcing them to venture further afield. This led to a phenomenon where some contestants would stay in one place for a few days before moving on to another. Because of the frequent changes in location, their shelters were always the simplest A-shaped structures, simply covered with leaves for waterproofing and wind protection. Hopefully, they'd be lucky and avoid a heavy rain...
The next morning, Wang Lun got up early, quickly washed up, and started making breakfast. While getting ingredients from the house, he also woke Li Ling up. As expected, by the time Wang Lun finished breakfast, Li Ling was also ready, and they could eat right away. They quickly finished breakfast, and then Wang Lun continued digging the site for the earthen house with his shovel. Li Ling, on the other hand, first cleaned the pots and pans, then took the molds to the wall, assembled them, and secured them. Then she went over to collect the soil Wang Lun had dug out, added water and hay, mixed it well, and poured it into the molds. Of course, Wang Lun would help Li Ling with this step first; the rest was mostly done by Li Ling alone. Although both felt very tired, they both knew that working hard now to build a sturdy and safe camp would ensure a better life in the future. Besides, with so much food available, without a safe shelter, they wouldn't be able to defend themselves against predators and would be eliminated. Besides, if we don't use some of this food now, are we just going to dry it all? If we don't store it properly, it'll all spoil, and that would be such a waste. In addition, if we don't take advantage of the abundance of food now to do some construction, are we going to wait until there's no food left? Besides, isn't this also a way to kill time?
Liu Ruoling, who was digging for wild vegetables on the hillside, saw a rabbit ahead. She gently put down her vegetables and military knife, her eyes fixed on the rabbit. She took the bow from her back with her right hand, held it in her left, and took an arrow with her right, nocking it on the string and aiming at the rabbit. Suddenly, she remembered something and murmured, "It's a bird, it's a bird, it's a bird." Then, she released the arrow, which flew swiftly. The alert rabbit noticed the unusual movement, but only had time to raise its head; before it could even move, the arrow had struck it. Seeing that she had hit it, Liu Ruoling immediately got up, ran over, and picked up the rabbit. The arrow had struck the rabbit squarely in the abdomen. The rabbit was still trembling, but Liu Ruoling had already lifted it up. Seeing that the rabbit couldn't escape, she carried it to find Liu Ruoxi. Although the two were digging for wild vegetables together, they drifted apart as time went by. Liu Ruoxi, who was focused on digging for wild vegetables, did not notice that Liu Ruoling had already shot a wild rabbit.
Liu Ruoling walked up to Liu Ruoxi. Sensing the movement, Liu Ruoxi turned and saw Liu Ruoling. Before she could ask what she was doing there, she noticed the rabbit Liu Ruoling was carrying. Before Liu Ruoxi could ask, Liu Ruoling smiled and said, "Sister, look, I just shot a rabbit!" She held up the rabbit for Liu Ruoxi to see. Liu Ruoxi said, "Good luck! I'll give you a treat for lunch." Liu Ruoling smiled and said, "Okay, I want roasted rabbit." Liu Ruoling said, "Sure, I'll roast you a rabbit leg." Liu Ruoling smiled and said, "That's great!" Seeing that the sun was almost overhead and that they hadn't eaten breakfast, Liu Ruoxi said, "It's about time, let's go back. Let's process the rabbit first, have lunch, and then go for another walk in the jungle this afternoon." Liu Ruoling walked ahead carrying the rabbit, while Liu Ruoxi followed with the wild vegetables she had found.
As they neared the campsite, Liu Ruoxi told Liu Ruoling to take the rabbit directly to the stream while she went to get a pot and would come back later. So Liu Ruoling carried the rabbit and wild vegetables towards the stream, while Liu Ruoxi went back to the campsite to get the pot. When Liu Ruoling reached the stream, she first set the rabbit aside, washed the wild vegetables, and placed them on a nearby rock. At this moment, Liu Ruoxi came over with the pot and basket. Liu Ruoxi put the wild vegetables into the basket, then watched as Liu Ruoling, holding a military knife, struggled to dissect the rabbit. So, Liu Ruoxi said, "How about I do it?" Liu Ruoling asked, "Sister, are you sure you can?" Liu Ruoxi replied, "It shouldn't be a problem. I took anatomy class before, but I've never dissected a rabbit." Seeing that Liu Ruoxi had dissection experience, Liu Ruoling handed her the military knife. Liu Ruoxi took the knife, placed the rabbit on the rock, and, following the arrowhead wound, began to cut open the fur. It took more than ten minutes to successfully skin the rabbit. Then, Liu Ruoling was given the skin to clean up any remaining pieces of meat and wash it. They planned to make a tripod to support the skin back at camp. Next, Liu Ruoxi continued processing the rabbit, first removing the internal organs, keeping the edible parts like the heart and kidneys, and burying the inedible parts. Then, she processed the rabbit meat, removing the limbs intact, intending to smoke them later. The remaining parts were cut in half into small pieces to be added to the wild vegetables cooked at noon and dinner, with the other half saved for tomorrow. After Liu Ruoxi finished processing the rabbit, the two cleaned up the scene, washing away the blood. Then, carrying a pot of water and some washed wild vegetables, they returned to camp.
At noon, Liu Ruoxi roasted a rabbit leg for Liu Ruoling, as expected. She had only planned to roast one, but Liu Ruoling didn't want to eat alone, so Liu Ruoxi roasted two rabbit legs and cooked a wild vegetable and rabbit offal soup. Seeing that there weren't many rabbit offal pieces, she also added a few pieces of rabbit meat. The two of them each had a rabbit leg and a bowl of soup, enjoying their meal immensely, though it lacked a bit of saltiness. Furthermore, they were currently on a mountain, and although they could see the sea in the distance, it was clearly very far away. Moreover, they could only see it from the mountaintop, and even then, they couldn't see the coastline, only the endless sea. Even this discovery was only made by Liu Ruoling when she was bored and went to the mountaintop to play. After all, they were currently living halfway up the mountain and didn't often go to the top. However, what they didn't know was that if they followed the direction Liu Ruoling saw the sea, crossed the mountain ahead, and reached Wang Lun's camp. But they didn't know that. And they were currently on the right track; there were wild vegetables on the mountain, birds in the jungle, and the camp was being fortified. The treehouse platform has already been built, and it will be ready in a few days. If nothing else goes wrong, the two of them probably won't have to move again. Wang Lun and his companion are even less likely to move. It's not far from the sea, there's a stream nearby, and they have plenty of food. Besides, they're building such a sturdy campsite, so they're even less likely to choose to move.