Holy crap! No way.
Seeing this, my mood plummeted; this was just too unlucky.
"Top, stay still and don't move, I'm coming to rescue you!" I shouted to the trapped Top.
But Top was just a monkey after all. Once trapped, it instinctively began to struggle, but the more it struggled, the faster it sank.
"Top, don't move around, or your body won't sink so quickly."
At that moment, I was as anxious as a prisoner about to be branded, but I was trapped myself, so how could I save Top?
All I can do now is use my machete to hack at the armor on my body. The quality of this armor is really something else; after a few slashes, it only broke some vines.
The armor I originally designed to protect me has now become a solid cage trapping me, and breaking through it is no easy task.
Top and I were still sinking, but after a lot of hacking, I finally managed to cut a big hole in the armor.
The armor is hollow inside and hasn't been sucked into the mud yet. If I can manage to pull my legs out, I can climb out from the top of the armor and escape.
Just as I was getting anxious, the spear beside me caught my attention.
The mud has such a strong adsorption capacity mainly because the legs are enveloped in the mud, creating a vacuum state. In addition, the mud has poor fluidity, which makes it adhere so tightly.
Thinking of this, I picked up the spear, pointed it upwards, and used the wooden stick to shove it down my thigh, making circles as I did so.
The purpose of this is to increase the area of cavities in the mud, so that the vacuum state can be improved by allowing air to enter the bottom of the thighs.
This method worked! With the stick stirring back and forth, I could clearly feel that one of my legs had loosened up a lot. Overjoyed, I quickly pulled out the spear and poked the mud from my other leg.
The leg that could move a little before wasn't idle either, constantly trying to bend the leg up and down to widen the hole and let more air into the swamp.
With my efforts, my other leg also loosened up quite a bit. At this point, my armor had sunk down to my waist, and I had to hurry.
My legs began to bend wildly, and the wooden stick in my hand kept widening the gap between my legs. After some effort, I found that my legs could now move freely in the hollow swamp.
I leaned forward forcefully, letting the spikes of the armor plunge into the mud, and then used the armor as a leverage point to pull it upwards.
This time it didn't take too much effort; with a few twists and turns of my body, I successfully crawled out of the armor.
Now I dare not run around on this land anymore, so I can only lie flat on the ground to increase the area of my body that bears the weight, and then crawl quickly toward Top like a big lizard.
The mud had now reached up to Top's neck, and the immense pressure of the mud was making it difficult for the monkey to breathe properly. Its face was flushed, and it was clear that it wouldn't last much longer.
I used both hands to dig through the mud, like digging out an eel's burrow, to create a ventilation channel and break the vacuum below.
I kept digging holes around Top with my hands, and as I gradually cleared away the mud, Top's hands were freed first.
Top also started clearing the mud around us with me. After some digging, I grabbed Top under his armpits and slowly pulled him up.
Because I had created many holes below, Top's legs started kicking wildly in coordination. The air inside was making a whooshing sound as it was kicked.
With a soft thud, Top was pulled out of the swamp like a radish.
After pulling Top out, I was so exhausted that I collapsed onto the ground. I had already used up a lot of energy saving myself, and then I rushed to save Top. Now I felt a tingling numbness in my hands and feet.
Top was sitting on the weeds nearby, panting heavily. It was clear that the mud had made it very difficult for him to breathe.
The armor is definitely useless, but thankfully we're all alright. We're incredibly lucky to have survived this ordeal.
I lay there resting for what felt like an eternity before the lactic acid in my body finally broke down.
It's impossible to venture through this area now. I don't know what the road conditions are like ahead, and I might not be so lucky next time I encounter it.
I've never been a risk-taker. If I can find a safer way, I will never take any risks, even if it takes more time.
So I plan to go back to the woodland I was in before, where I should be able to find some suitable materials to make a simple tool that can safely cross the swamp.
After a long trek, Top and I made it back to the woods where we had started that morning.
Right now I'm sitting under a tree, thinking about what materials to use to make that simple tool. I already had an idea on the way back, but now I need to decide which material is most suitable.
For muddy conditions like this, bamboo is the most suitable material. Bamboo is lightweight, and after being unfolded and woven slightly, it can be made into a large, flat insole, increasing the contact area with the ground.
All I have on hand right now are vines, which are okay for weaving. But they're only flexible and can't support a fixed shape.
So vines alone are not enough; we need to cut down some shrubs with harder wood to make the framework of the insole so that it can support a wider surface.
There was no shortage of shrubs here, so I picked up my machete and headed towards the low-lying woods to the west.
After wandering around the woods, I found several shrubs with many branches and relatively straight trunks about the thickness of a thumb.
I selected the two best trees and cut them down, then cut some vines nearby before returning to the camp.
I don't plan to cut off the branches of the shrub; I'll first use a machete to flatten the two sides of the trunk.
The flattened tree trunk now has a flat surface. The top of the trunk is bent back into an oval shape towards the forked end and secured with some vines.
At this moment, the dense branching inside the ellipse becomes the best framework. The next step is simply to thread the vines through these branching branches and the trunk to secure them firmly.
I chopped off the remaining excess tree trunk with one stroke, and an oval-shaped contact insole was successfully made.
I also left a back strip on the insole, like a slipper, so you can wear it as an oversized slipper.
With all that back and forth, it was almost noon.
To save some food, I plan to eat only two meals a day. My stomach is growling now, and although I haven't walked very far, I can't skip this meal.
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