Seeing his serious expression, Jiang Xi's mind cleared instantly. She was about to go over to check when Yan Zheng stopped her with a gesture.
He made a shushing gesture and waited quietly by the door, his back pressed tightly against the cave wall.
Jiang Xi was so nervous that she had to be very careful and didn't even dare to breathe normally.
After about three or four minutes, he carefully pushed aside the stone outside the door, opened the gate, and went out. Jiang Xi followed closely behind. The two of them were both surprised when they saw the scene outside the door.
Last night, Jiang Xi had tidied up the place, but the pile of firewood that had been neatly arranged was now scattered everywhere. The bushes by the door had also been flattened by some force.
Under a banana tree not far away, all the fish bones and fish bones that Jiang Xi had buried yesterday had been turned upside down, leaving a mess.
Yan Zheng squatted down in front of the fish bones that had been pulled out, examining them carefully. Jiang Xi walked over, and just one glance at her sent chills down her spine.
There were several animal footprints on the ground, each larger than an adult's palm. They looked a bit like giant chicken feet, with only three fingers.
She exclaimed, "What kind of creature is this that's so big?"
“Three fingers indicate a crane,” Yan Zheng said.
After he finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at the bushes again.
Jiang Xi gestured with her foot and said, "With such a big claw mark, this thing must be as tall as a person and it loves to eat fish."
Yan Zheng thought for a moment and followed her words, saying, "If it is a crane, such a large claw mark means its legs must be at least 1 meter long. Walking on stilts shouldn't have caused such damage to the bushes."
He paused for a moment, then added, "It seems we need to move."
"Generally speaking, cranes do not attack people unless provoked, but this place is very different from our world. We don't know the hunting range of cranes in this world."
He looked at Jiang Xi, looked into her eyes, and said seriously, "Besides, it came yesterday."
Jiang Xi was startled. She then thought of Yan Zheng's insistence on sleeping together last night. It seemed that he had discovered it yesterday, but just didn't say anything for fear of making her anxious.
The thought of this thing repeatedly harassing them and spying on their residence sent shivers down her spine: "Then we're being watched."
Yan Zheng nodded and added, "Or rather, we accidentally trespassed on its territory."
Jiang Xi understood that most wild animals are territorial. Her knowledge of cranes was limited to the red-crowned cranes she saw at the zoo when she was young. But could something that wasn't much bigger than a duck really pose a threat?
Without much thought, she asked, "It's just a crane, can't we coexist peacefully with it?"
Yan Zheng just smiled and looked at her helplessly, asking, "You must have been pecked by geese when you were little, right?"
Jiang Xi nodded. When she was little, her aunt raised two big white geese. Every day when she went to her aunt's house, she had to carry a stick in her hand, otherwise she would be chased all over the street by the geese.
Yan Zheng patiently explained to her, "An average-sized crane can take on three geese by itself. Imagine a crane as tall as an adult. Which of us has that fighting ability?"
He added, "Moreover, cranes are social creatures. One might have a chance, but what if you encounter two or three?"
After hearing what he said, Jiang Xi was deflated. She stopped struggling and got up to pack her things.
Before leaving, Jiang Xi and Yan Zheng went to pick figs again, gathering twenty or thirty. Yan Zheng wanted to catch a couple more fish to take with them, but Jiang Xi objected.
On the one hand, they were unsure if there were any creatures in the lake, and the smell of dead fish blood could cause unnecessary trouble.
On the other hand, there are many reeds and aquatic plants on both sides of the lake, so there should be plenty of wild duck eggs. Therefore, they don't need to worry about food for the time being. For safety reasons, they should put aside this idea for now.
Finally, the two boiled a few duck eggs, took some figs, and boiled two bottles of water. This should be enough for them to last a day.
With the presence of large creatures, they decided to abandon their current side of the lake and use the wooden door as a raft to swim to the other side and set up camp.
The wooden door wasn't light, so Yan Zheng tied vines to it and walked ahead to pull it. Jiang Xi followed behind, helping to lift the door when there were obstacles. He also picked out two scrap pieces of wood from yesterday and tied them to a tree trunk as thick as his arm to use as oars.
What should have been a 20-minute walk took almost an hour because of dragging this wooden door.
By the time they reached the lake, Jiang Xi was covered in sweat, looking as if she had been pulled out of the water.
They were finally out of danger when they arrived here. They stopped and started eating breakfast, which consisted of boiled duck eggs and some figs.
After dinner, Yan Zheng scouted the lakeside beforehand to determine the best spot to launch the raft. The two of them worked together to pull the wooden door to the shallow waters near the lake.
From this vantage point, the lake appears to be about 50 to 60 meters wide, and you can clearly see a shallow area on the other side. However, you can only see the details once you reach the other side.
But as she was about to board the boat, Jiang Xi's heart began to pound. As a child who grew up in a land of plenty, although it wasn't her first time on a boat, she had never been on such a simple one before.
Even more seriously, she couldn't swim and was afraid of water; her legs felt weak even before she got on the raft.
Seeing Yan Zheng sitting steadily on the wooden boat, her voice trembled with fear as she asked, "Can you row a boat?"
Yan Zheng did not answer her question directly, but only replied, "I have participated in two dragon boat races."
After hearing this, Jiang Xi finally understood and stepped shakily onto the raft.
She then carefully sat down at the stern of the boat, holding onto Yan Zheng's arm.
Yan Zheng said, "I'm leaving."
Jiang Xi then noticed that the raft had begun to sway slowly.
She clutched the back of his shirt with both hands, closed her eyes, and dared not look at the lake.
After a slight initial swaying, the boat gradually stabilized as the buoyancy of the lake water increased.
Yan Zheng was a skilled rower and wasn't as scared as she had expected. Jiang Xi opened her eyes and saw only the two of them sitting alone on a raft on the vast expanse of blue water.
She had also taken a small boat in her hometown and the ancient town of Tongli, but the feeling then was completely different from now. A gentle breeze blew up the water vapor from the lake and splashed it on their faces and shoulders, instantly dispelling much of the summer heat.
She gradually began to relax and enjoy being in nature.
We rowed for about twenty minutes and reached the shore.
Jiang Xi was much bolder now. She no longer needed Yan Zheng's help and stood up from the raft on her own, wading ashore.
Yan Zheng carefully put away the oars and used vines to pull the raft out of the lake, tying it to a tree on the shore to prevent it from being washed away.
The ground on this side is higher than on the other side, and the lake shore is a shallow beach made of stones. The vegetation is visibly less lush than on the other side.
From the opposite side, this side was all trees. But now that I'm actually here, the trees are all on the mountain peaks, and there's actually more open space at the foot of the mountain than on the other side. The environment here is clearly more open.
This time, they did not choose to go deeper into the jungle because there were no river forks here, and going deeper might not lead to a water source. So this time, they chose to go downstream along the lake.
It wasn't noon yet, and the temperature wasn't too hot, so they didn't feel too much sun as they walked on the shallow beach.
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