Chapter 262: Treasures in the Cave, Searching for Prey
When Lin Heng heard that there was a discovery, he hurried over.
"What did you find, brother?"
Lin Heng asked as he walked over.
"There's a cave here, and there's something in it."
Lin Yue shouted from the cliff not far away.
"cave?"
Lin Heng was delighted and walked over quickly. If it was really a cave, there would be no need to build a shelter. That would be great.
"Yes, come up quickly and walk on the side. This side is very steep."
Lin Yue was showing Lin Heng the way on the hillside.
"good."
Lin Heng took a look at the place above. There was not much soil in this place, only gray-white rocks exposed. There might indeed be a cave.
He walked up step by step, but did not see the cave that his eldest brother had mentioned. He only saw himself standing on a rock not far away.
When he got closer, he found that there was a half-meter-wide crack on the side of the rock. Inside was a cave with traces of flowing water above it.
"Is there water in this cave?" Lin Heng walked over and asked.
Lin Yue shook his head: "Yes, there are not only water flows but also some strange rocks."
Lin Heng followed his elder brother in to take a look. The cave was more than two meters deep. There were some pointed stalactites on the top of the rock wall, and water dripped from them, making a dripping sound.
There was rust on the wall of the cave next to it, the ground was a bit smooth, and there were some yellow crystalline stones growing on the ground. If you looked closely, it seemed like it was made up of small grains of sand two or three millimeters apart.
There are three crystalline stones in total, one is disc-shaped, one is shaped like a hill, and one is an irregular long strip.
Lin Heng tried to pry it open, but found that he couldn't pry it open at all.
"Brother, do you recognize these stones?" Lin Yue asked curiously.
Lin Heng shook his head: "I don't know. If we can break these off, we can sell them for money, or take them home as ornaments. But we are too far away from home and can't take them back. Also, we should go down quickly to build a shelter. This place is not good and cannot be lived in."
This place would be a perfect shelter if there was no water.
"Well, let's go down." Lin Yue nodded, thinking to himself that he would come over to take a look when he returned to see if he could knock one down and take it back.
"I have chosen the place. We just need to build a simple shelter today. We don't have enough time."
Lin Heng said as he walked down.
After going down the mountain and arriving at the slanted stone wall, the two of them quickly began to build a shelter.
Time was too short so I could only build the simplest shelter. I first found a six-meter-long tree trunk and used tree forks to raise both ends one meter above the ground. Then I placed short branches on both sides of the trunk, forming a triangular space on the ground.
Put some leaves and moss on the branches, which can withstand moderate rain and also block the wind.
Dry grass and dead moss are laid on the ground to separate it from the ground and avoid hypothermia caused by sleeping directly on the ground.
"Brother, you go find some hay and moss first, I'll go get Xiongba and red dates."
After setting up the shelter, Lin Heng looked at his elder brother and said.
"No problem, go ahead."
Lin Yue nodded, he could finish the remaining work by himself.
When Lin Heng walked towards the river, it was already dusk and he could only barely see the road. The mountain wind was blowing, and he felt the chill even in his sweater and double coat. The temperature dropped too quickly.
“Woof woof~”
Before Lin Heng arrived, Xiongba ran over excitedly to greet him.
"Let's go over there."
Lin Heng touched its head and led Hongzao, who was still eating grass, towards the shelter.
On the way, I also picked up some firewood to burn.
By the time he arrived at the shelter, his elder brother Lin Yue had already prepared a large pile of dry moss.
"Is this enough?"
Lin Yue looked at Lin Heng and asked.
“That’s enough.”
Lin Heng tied the red dates to a nearby tree, and came over with dry moss to spread on the ground of the shelter. After spreading it, he tried it out. The triangular shelter, which was only one meter high, could barely accommodate people sleeping inside, and it was difficult to turn over.
But it was still warm, at least I didn't have to worry about freezing at night. Other types of shelters couldn't be built in a short time, and I wasn't sure if I would live here in the future, so it would be a waste to build it too well.
"Brother, I made dinner."
Lin Yue shouted outside.
"Okay, I'll be right out."
Lin Heng nodded. After walking such a long way today, his feet felt tired. Now he just wanted to lie down and rest, and he missed Xiulan's gentle massage.
After crawling out of the shelter, Lin Heng broke off a small branch and poured a little gasoline on it, and soon a raging fire broke out.
"Let's bake some pancakes to eat in the evening." Lin Yue said to Lin Heng.
"Okay, let's go get some water and boil it."
Lin Heng nodded and said that the water in the water bag had been finished, and he didn't dare to drink raw water, so he was now thirsty.
Lin Yue smiled and said, "I think so too."
After setting up two thick sticks, the two took their water bags and went to the river to fetch water. Lin Heng brought a flashlight, a compound bow and arrows, and Xiong Ba followed beside him.
They were about 500 meters away from the river, and they arrived in a short while. It was already dark, and there was no moon. There were only stars in the sky, and the ground was completely dark.
It is extremely quiet in the deep mountains. There is no sound of insects. There are occasional bird calls, but everything else is as silent as death.
Soon they reached the river. Lin Heng took out his flashlight and shone it. The water in this section was not as clear as the one below. The water surface was not clear in the distance, but there were many native fish such as tigers and groupers swimming nearby.
"Brother, do you want to catch him?" Lin Yue asked Lin Heng.
"Forget it. I'm too tired today." Lin Heng shook his head. He just wanted to drink some water, eat some biscuits and then go to sleep.
He felt tired all over and didn't want to move at all. If it was a smelt fish, he would be willing to try it, but the brook grouper was too small and he was too lazy to catch it.
"Okay then." Lin Yue nodded.
The two filled their water bags, washed their faces, and returned to the shelter. When they came back, they poured the water into the iron pot and placed it over the fire.
After a while, the water began to boil. They used branches to carry the iron pot out and placed it on the grass to cool. Then they heated up some soft ice that they brought from home.
“Ouch~”
Xiongba rubbed Lin Heng's body and acted coquettishly. He was also very hungry.
"Just make do with it for now. I'll shoot some fish for you tomorrow."
Lin Heng rubbed its head and gave it two soft pancakes. He said there would be no more.
When the water has become warm and the pancakes are almost done, pour the water into the water bag and fill your stomach with the pancakes.
After dinner, Lin Yue asked, "Brother, don't you need someone to watch over you at night?"
Lin Heng shook his head: "No, we brought Xiongba here to keep watch. He is much more useful than a person. Let's go to bed and discuss the next course of action tomorrow morning."
"Okay then."
Lin Yue nodded, and the two of them urinated around the area. Then they crawled in backwards from both sides of the shelter and rested with their feet facing each other.
Lin Heng lay on the dry moss that smelled slightly of decay and soon fell asleep. Xiongba slept next to his head, and Hongzao lay down under a tree not far away to rest.
As the fire gradually died down, Lin Heng felt a little cold, especially in the early morning hours. But the two tired people chose to endure it and did not get up to add more firewood.
The night deep in the mountains was eerily silent. Apart from the occasional scurrying of mice in the woods and the chirping of birds, nothing else could be heard.
In a blink of an eye, it was the next morning. When Lin Heng woke up, it was already seven o'clock in the morning and the sky was already bright.
"Oh, this is terrible~"
Lin Heng got up, feeling sore all over. The large amount of creatine accumulated in his body made it difficult for him to move.
After rubbing his head, Lin Heng felt better. He looked up and saw that the sun had not yet shone down. The grass was very humid. He glanced at his elder brother and said, "Let's go to the river to see if we can catch a few fish to eat, and then start exploring."
"Okay." Lin Yue nodded happily.
Lin Heng took four fish hooks, cut four sections of five-meter-long fishing lines, tied them up, and walked towards the river. But before that, he had to find a place with grass for the red dates, and then walked over with a bow and arrow.
They used a dagger to find a few small earthworms under the stone, and then they put them on fish hooks and went to the river.
"Fuck, that water is so cold."
When Lin Heng squatted down to wash his face with water, he shuddered. The Lengshui River was indeed too icy. It was said that the temperature would not exceed 15 degrees in summer, and there was meltwater from snow mountains all year round.
"I feel refreshed immediately after washing my face." Lin Yue also said with a smile.
"Yes." Lin Heng nodded, "Let's go up, there doesn't seem to be any plum fish here."
This section of the river is only five or six meters wide, and four or five meters at the narrowest point, but the water is at least half a meter deep, making it impossible to cross the river.
The two walked up six or seven hundred meters and finally saw some plum fish swimming in the water. However, there were not as many as yesterday. There were groups of them there, but here there were only a dozen or so swimming in the water.
"Let me try." Lin Yue smiled and threw the fishhook with the earthworm on it into the water.
Lin Heng gave his to his elder brother Lin Yue, and he opened the compound bow and adjusted it.
"Damn, these fish don't eat it."
Lin Yue soon discovered the problem. Even if he threw the earthworms in the fish's mouths, these guys would not eat them. They seemed not to even look at them.
"You can't catch big fish in clear water, so look at me."
Lin Heng smiled and said that he had anticipated this situation, so he took out a compound bow, tied a thin fishing line to the arrowhead, aimed at the nearest plum fish and shot an arrow.
With a "puff", the arrow pierced the water surface and stirred up a lot of water splashes, which were not clear for a while. But the water splashes soon dissipated, and a fish pierced by the arrow was struggling in the water.
"Awesome!" Lin Yue gave a thumbs up, expressing his great admiration for his younger brother's skills.
Lin Heng smiled and pulled the fishing line to pull the fish back in. It turned out that his daily archery practice was effective. The precise control of the force made the arrow just penetrate the fish without piercing the bottom of the river.
"Here you go." Lin Heng took the fish weighing more than one kilogram and threw it to Xiongba.
“Ouch~”
Xiongba jumped up and caught the fish in mid-air. He chewed it in two bites and swallowed it. Then he licked his lips at Lin Heng with an unsatisfied look.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you have enough to eat today."
Lin Heng smiled and said, there is everything in this river except fish, as long as you have the ability, you will never starve, which is why he only brought ten kilograms of flour.
Picking up the arrow, Lin Heng waited for the fish to calm down and shot another arrow. There was a splash of water accompanied by a crisp sound of "ding". This time Lin Heng failed to control the force and hit the stone with too much force, but the fish still could not escape.
"for you."
Throwing it to Xiongba again, Lin Heng quickly shot another one. It was not satisfied until it shot five for Xiongba.
This kind of cold-water boneless fish tastes very good and can be eaten as sashimi. Xiongba rubbed Lin Heng's thigh with satisfaction.
After Xiongba had finished his meal, Lin Heng walked a little further up and shot and killed four plum fish weighing about one pound. The fish's stomachs were full of fish eggs, which he also fed to Xiongba.
"Brother, there is wild basil here. Let's get some and put it in the fish's belly."
While walking back, Lin Yue suddenly spoke out.
Lin Heng walked over and saw that it was really Zi Su. He immediately nodded in agreement.
After returning to the camp and starting a fire, the two of them placed a black stone slab over the fire, brushed some lard on it and fried it. While frying the fish, Lin Heng mixed some flour in the iron pan, kneaded it into a ball, covered it and put it in a cool place for lunch.
"This fried fish with basil tastes really delicious." Lin Yue exclaimed while eating.
"Yes."
Lin Heng smiled and nodded. As a cold-water boneless fish, mullet does not have much fishy smell, and the taste is very unique when fried with perilla.
Each person ate two pieces, and they were full after eating them. They found a place for the red dates to graze, and the two discussed the direction of today's exploration.
Since we were going to hunt bears, we naturally had to search along the river. During this period, the males would come back from hibernation to catch the mullets returning from spawning. If we couldn't find any traces by the river, there would be no hope in the forest.
So after discussion, the two decided to continue going upstream to see the situation. After exploring this main river, they would go to other large tributaries.
"Is it appropriate to put food and red dates here?" Lin Yue asked with some concern. It would not matter if the food was lost, but it would be a huge loss if the red dates were stolen.
"No problem. There are no signs of human activity in this place." Lin Heng nodded. It was inconvenient to go forward with the red dates.
This place is nearly 20 kilometers away from the village below, so no one should come here. As for large prey, it is unlikely. Predators like tigers and leopards generally do not hunt such large animals.
"Okay then, let's go."
Lin Yue nodded, put on his backpack and carried his gun, and walked side by side with Lin Heng.
"Xiongba, now that you're full, please find clues for me." Lin Heng said as he rubbed Xiongba's dog head.
As they walked up, the two men gradually separated and distanced themselves from each other, with Lin Heng staying closer to the river and his elder brother staying closer to the mountain wall.
The mountains here are too high, with slopes starting at 60 to 70 degrees, and there are even cliffs of 90 degrees. It is extremely difficult even if you want to walk up the mountain.
Of course, not all places are like this, there are also flat places. After walking up about three kilometers, the mountains on both sides suddenly became open again.
Lin Heng was just about to go to the river to wash his face when he suddenly saw a large prey.
(End of this chapter)
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