Wilderness Survival: The Moon in the Water

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, ...

Chapter 38 Everything is a Bird

After finishing their meal, the two sisters planned to take a walk in the jungle before returning to continue building their treehouse. Having completed the platform the day before, Liu Ruoxi wanted to build walls first to provide basic wind protection so they could sleep in the treehouse that night. Liu Ruoling had no objections. After resting for about ten minutes, they grabbed their military knives, baskets, and bows and left the camp. It's worth noting that the two had made ten wooden arrows the night before using bird feathers and wood; the arrowheads were even charred, giving them some lethality.

Upon entering the jungle, Liu Ruoxi heard birdsong. Looking towards the sound, she saw several birds perched on branches ahead. She patted Liu Ruoling on the shoulder, pointing to the birds and gesturing for her to shoot them. Today, Liu Ruoling felt none of the resentment she had felt yesterday. She immediately drew her bow and shot an arrow, hitting the bird squarely. Both the bird and the arrow fell to the ground, and the other birds scattered. Liu Ruoling picked up the bird and placed it in Liu Ruoxi's basket. Then the two moved on to another spot.

They changed locations three more times, shooting three arrows and hitting three birds. Now they only had one alloy arrow and ten wooden arrows left. Upon arriving at the new location, Liu Ruoling was about to use the alloy arrow again, but after thinking for a moment, she took out a wooden arrow. Fortunately, this time she hit the bird. However, because it was a wooden arrow, the bird wasn't dead yet and was still struggling, flying a distance with the arrow in its wake. Luckily, the two sisters could keep up, and due to the weight of the wooden arrow and the bird's serious injury, it didn't fly very far, only about ten meters, where they could still see where it would land. The two picked up the bird and continued to change locations.

As time passed, the wooden arrows were almost used up. There were now three wooden arrows and one alloy arrow left. They had shot twelve times with the wooden arrows, hitting the target seven times. One of the wooden arrows had gone quite far off target, so they planned to repair some when they got back. Liu Ruoxi didn't plan to let Liu Ruoling shoot the remaining two wooden arrows and one alloy arrow; they planned to look for opportunities along the way back. It was almost time, and they still needed to cut down some trees to take back. So, the two of them returned.

Along the way, Liu Ruoling shot two more arrows, hitting a bird. One missed, flying over the bushes without a clear landing point, so she had to abandon it. Thankfully, it was a wooden arrow; if it had been an alloy arrow, they probably wouldn't have felt at ease until they found it. Nearing the stream, Liu Ruoxi suddenly stopped, blocking Liu Ruoling's path, and whispered, "Did you hear the pheasant's call?" Liu Ruoling listened carefully and indeed heard a clucking sound. She took down her bow from her back, drew her last alloy arrow, and quietly followed the sound. After a while, she found several pheasants pecking at food in the woods, warily watching their surroundings. Liu Ruoling crouched down, drew her bow, and aimed, murmuring, "Pheasants are birds too, pheasants are birds too, pheasants are birds too." With a flick of the wrist, the arrow shot forth, heading straight for the pheasant that had been aimed at. Before the pheasant could react, it was struck. At that moment, another wooden arrow flew by, but by then the pheasant had already detected the source of the danger and immediately took flight. However, that arrow veered slightly off its intended trajectory, narrowly missing a pheasant. Seeing that they had hit one, Liu Ruoling and Liu Ruoxi quickly ran over and picked up the pheasant from the ground. After putting away the wooden arrows, Liu Ruoxi said, "Wow, you can even shoot pheasants now! Are you still my sister?" Liu Ruoling smiled smugly and said, "I found the secret, of course I can shoot them." Liu Ruoxi asked suspiciously, "What secret?" Liu Ruoling said, "Shooting birds, not the birds you told me to shoot yesterday." Liu Ruoxi was speechless for a moment and said, "But pheasants aren't birds." Liu Ruoling laughed and said, "Who said that? I say so, pheasants are birds, and rabbits are birds too." Liu Ruoxi asked in shock, "Did you shoot the rabbit this morning like that?" Liu Ruoling nodded. Liu Ruoxi was shocked. This girl not only shoots birds now, but she also sees all other animals as birds. She guessed there would be more prey in the future. So she said, "Let's go back. Let's go back and deal with these birds first, then cut down some trees to take back, and work overtime tonight to make several walls." Liu Ruoling didn't have any objections to this.

The two returned to the stream. Liu Ruoxi went back to get a pot, while Liu Ruoling gathered some firewood nearby. They needed a lot of firewood today because they were going to scald twelve birds and one pheasant. So when Liu Ruoxi arrived at the stream with the pot, Liu Ruoling had only gathered some firewood and needed to collect more. Liu Ruoxi then lit a fire, placed the pot on it, and prepared to pluck the birds' feathers once the water boiled.

It took the two sisters an hour to process the game. Then, Liu Ruoling said, "Sister, you take these back. I'll cut down some trees near the stream, and you can come and carry them later." Liu Ruoxi had no objections; this had already been discussed. So Liu Ruoxi carried the processed game and a pot of water back to camp. Liu Ruoling, on the other hand, continued cutting down trees along the path they had cleared the day before. This area was full of small trees, so the two of them planned to cut them there, as they were ready to use immediately.

Back at the campsite, Liu Ruoxi put down the pot and covered it with a tree branch to prevent dust and small insects from falling in. Then she hung the birds and a pheasant above the campfire. After dealing with these, she checked the rabbit pelt from lunch; it was badly torn and would have to be sewn back together before use. Finding the pelt somewhat dry, she let it continue to sun-dry before heading to the stream.

When they reached the stream, Liu Ruoling had already chopped down more than ten trees; she estimated that a few more would be enough for the two of them to carry. So Liu Ruoxi sat down on a rock to rest, watching Liu Ruoling cut down the trees. After Liu Ruoling finished cutting, she went to secure the trees, allowing Liu Ruoling to rest. Once Liu Ruoxi had secured the trees, Liu Ruoling had also rested enough, so the two of them carried the trees back to camp.

When the two returned to camp, the sun was already setting, probably around 5 PM. They rested for a while, then Liu Ruoling climbed to the base of the treehouse to secure the walls, while Liu Ruoxi prepared the tree below and handed it to Liu Ruoling. They worked for about half an hour, securing one wall. Liu Ruoxi told Liu Ruoling to take the remaining materials up, then she went up herself, and the two of them secured the wall together. They were much faster, and before dark, they had secured two more walls. Now only the front wall and roof remained to be built; everything else was done. At this point, Liu Ruoxi climbed down the tree to start cooking dinner. Liu Ruoling, still in the tree, broke off some branches to drape over the roof for some shelter, and also broke off more to place on the front wall to block some wind. After finishing, Liu Ruoxi called Liu Ruoling down to eat. Dinner was stewed rabbit with wild vegetables; the wild vegetables were picked that morning, and the rabbit was from a rabbit she had shot that morning. To be honest, it tasted quite good, even better than the wild vegetables.