131 Wilderness Survival
◎It looks like a giant dragon winding on the stone wall.◎
The snowball fight initiated by Ye Zhizhi ended in her defeat. Unconvinced, she continued to fight for several days, ultimately proving that her two hands were no match for their four claws.
Only when Yin Yi and Yin Xiao Hui sided with her did she manage to win. Despite this, Ye Zhizhi was still incredibly happy. This was another of the few games she could play! The wolves would even play with her!
When they were playing snowball fights, they would especially avoid the piles of small animals and move carefully among them. Each animal stood quietly in front of the door, as if looking at the group of lively young wolves.
After this excitement wore off, Ye Zhizhi began to think about going out.
She wanted to go out and see what it was like outside in winter.
The snow outside is too deep.
Ye Zhizhi thought about it, found some thick branches from the firewood pile, made them into long and wide wooden boards and tied them under his feet, then found two thin, straight wooden sticks.
She held the bottom of the stick to support herself, and moved her feet forward. Although her speed was slow, she wouldn't sink into the snow. So she decided to go out and take a look.
When the wolves saw that Ye Zhizhi was about to go out, they also prepared to follow him out.
Ye Zhizhi looked at the thickness of the snowdrifts, which were almost enough to bury the wolves. Wouldn't it be inconvenient for the wolves to escape? So, he refused to let the wolves go out with him.
Yin Yi looked at the thickness of the snow in the canyon outside, as if measuring it, and then while Ye Zhizhi was still howling and making sense, he had already started walking towards the only exit of the canyon.
The wolves had been in and out of this canyon so many times that they had memorized the conditions on the ground. Yin Yi walked to the only passage in the canyon, jumped with all his might, and created a snow path directly in the snow pile, and disappeared in an instant.
Seeing this, Erzong and Sanbai hurried over, followed Yinyi, and ran out directly from the snow path that Yinyi had created.
Silver Gray and Little White, who had their heads hanging down, looked up at Ye Zhizhi, then turned around and ran away quickly, as if they were afraid that Ye Zhizhi would call them, and they ran as fast as they could.
Ye Zhizhi: “…”
She looked down at the wooden board beneath her feet, then at the wolves that had disappeared, and quickly picked up two sticks and chased after them.
Damn wolf, he left her again.
Ye Zhizhi was really worrying too much. Although the snow was thicker than the wolves in some places, there were many places to land in this canyon, and there were no deep pits where one could not get up if they stepped into it accidentally.
The wolves didn't have to worry about being buried in the snow and unable to get out. They simply pushed the snow on the ground to both sides roughly, and their speed was faster than Ye Zhizhi.
When they reached the entrance of the canyon, Ye Zhizhi was still halfway there.
Yin turned back, picked up Ye Zhizhi who was struggling to walk in the snow, and ran quickly towards the path they had opened.
Ye Zhizhi sat on Yin Yi's back and simply removed the wooden board under his feet, but did not throw away the two wooden sticks.
The wolves stopped at the bottom of the cave. Beyond them was the flooded river. The water was frozen, and the height of the ice showed that the flood had not completely receded until the river froze.
Ye Zhizhi turned over, walked onto the ice, and jumped a few times. She could feel that the ice was quite thick and the wolves should be able to pass through smoothly.
Ye Zhizhi let the wolves walk along the edge of the rock wall. The water level here was the shallowest, and there were rocks, so even if the ice cracked, they could climb up.
Ye Zhizhi walked in front, and the wolves followed behind him one by one. From time to time, Ye Zhizhi looked back at the ice under the wolves' feet as they passed by. It was very thick and showed no signs of cracking at all.
Ye Zhizhi was in high spirits. Frozen water was a good thing! That way, even if there were no bridges and they couldn't go hunting during the rainy season, it wouldn't matter much. They could store more food before the rainy season, wait until the heavy snow and ice formed in winter, and then go hunting.
Although most animals are hibernating at this time, you can still find prey if you look carefully.
In this way, Ye Zhizhi doesn’t have to worry about how the wolves will solve the food problem if the bridge she built suddenly becomes unusable in the future.
They wandered around the familiar forest and encountered a prey, which became a meal for the wolves.
Ye Zhizhi was completely relieved. Although it was more difficult to hunt prey in winter, as long as the wolves were not trapped, there would be no food problem and they would be able to survive.
Of course, the bridge still needs to be built.
Ye Zhizhi returned to the canyon with the wolf pack contentedly.
Xiaohua and Daxiong basically did not wake up throughout the winter. Ye Zhizhi saw that they slept for a long time and dragged prey in several times. When they smelled the scent of the prey, their instinct would awaken and they would eat, and then continue to hibernate.
Before he knew it, the snow had finally stopped, and the world outside the cave was covered in snow and ice. Ye Zhizhi knew that in about a month, the glaciers would begin to melt and all things would revive.
And that day came very quickly.
Ye Zhizhi and the wolf pack began to go out frequently. At first, the ice on the river was solid and thick, but gradually it became thinner and began to melt.
At this time, they could not go out and could only wait for the ice and snow to melt completely and the water level to drop.
The ice and snow in the canyon began to melt into water, flowing into the river, and the ice spikes on the branches and leaves dripped water day and night.
All things slowly wake up. First, the sound of birdsong echoes in the mountains and forests, and then the squirrels on the ancient trees begin to move. They poke their heads out of the tree holes and then walk on the wet branches.
Many of the animal snowmen made by Ye Zhizhi also began to melt. She was reluctant to part with these animals that had accompanied them for most of the winter, but she had no way to keep them and could only watch them slowly melt.
She felt very uncomfortable for a moment.
However, this mood was soon dispelled by the noisy wolves and squirrels around him.
The wolves seemed to be in a playful mood, and from time to time they would try to climb up the trunks of the ancient trees to tease the squirrels. The squirrels were not afraid at all, and would actively extend their claws, but would quickly retract them when the wolves extended their paw pads, and then coo happily.
Occasionally, he was not afraid of being photographed by a wolf. He would step on the wolf's forehead, dance with his hands and squeak.
After a winter of absence, there is still no barrier between the wolves and the squirrels.
Ye Zhizhi was happy to see this.
The water on the river bank is still rushing, and the water formed by the melted snow from the glaciers high up flows into the river, flowing continuously.
Ye Zhizhi put his hand into the river and it was freezing cold. Therefore, even though the water level was not as deep as in the rainy season, he did not wade into the river.
After another five days, the water level began to slowly drop, and the stones they placed in the water were exposed more and more on the surface day by day.
Only when the water level dropped to the level of the wolves' limbs did they begin to wade out of the canyon and go to the mountains to hunt.
Although they prepared more prey, they never saved food. Later, they were active every day and maintained a frequency of eating once every three days.
Now, except for the three preys specially left for Xiaohua and Daxiong Damo, most of them have been eaten.
The mountain forest where they were located was at a relatively high altitude, and the breath of spring had just begun to show, but in other lower-lying areas, spring had already arrived.
The forest is very lively at this time, and the scent of predators and herbivores can be smelled everywhere. After being cooped up for a whole winter, they also come out to look for food.
Since they had spotted the prey pack, the wolves only hunted one prey that was enough for them to eat, and did not bring it back to the cave to store it. They did not need to store the prey now, after all, fresh blood and flesh were more delicious.
Xiaohua and Daxiong woke up at this time.
The first thing they did when they woke up was to eat the prey left for them. After digesting it, they went out to look for Ye Zhizhi and the wolf pack.
After a winter, the florets grow bigger.
Other animals, including the gardenia, also grew, but the growth was not significant. They had all reached their limits. Only the small flower's growth was the most noticeable.
Ye Zhizhi and the wolf pack were already collecting materials needed to build the bridge.
After they have filled their stomachs with hunting, they begin looking for stones.
Ye Zhizhi was a year older, and she felt stronger. She could push huge rocks down the mountain, and even carry smaller rocks on her head.
The addition of Xiaohua, Damo and Daxiong further accelerated the process.
Ye Zhizhi and his friends divided the work and worked together.
The big bear's palms are very strong and can climb trees, so they can help her break the thick and long branches she has set her eyes on.
Ye Zhizhi jumped nimbly among the branches, picking out the thickest and strongest ones. After Daxiong took note of them, he broke them one by one. Then she and Yin Yi dealt with the fallen branches.
Silver Gray and Little White carried the processed branches to the river bank.
Erzong, Sanbai and the two snakes went to get stones together.
By the time they had prepared a large amount of materials, the water level had completely dropped, exposing most of the riverbed.
Under Ye Zhizhi's command, the team dragged the materials to the front, ready to start piecing them together at the canyon exit. The materials they had roughly prepared earlier were not wasted and were used directly.
Ye Zhizhi still remembered the highest point of the flood water level, so she specially raised it about one meter and then dug a distance into the canyon to build a stone bridge.
Ye Zhizhi specially selected long and flat stones to make stone piers in the canyon, and then built a huge stone pier every three to five meters.
She planned the spacing of the stone piers and the placement of the branches based on the location of the canyon cliffs. In some places, where the water flowed rapidly, more stable stone piers were needed for support, while in other places where the water flowed more gently, the stone piers could be spaced farther apart to save materials.
This time she specially used five trees to build the bridge, so that the space was wide enough for the wolves to pass through without appearing too cramped.
Ye Zhizhi tied the branches together with vines and built stone piers one meter higher than the highest water level.
Ye Zhizhi was not tall enough to build the bridge, but she had animals to help her. She could just step on the big bear and then put the tree rack on it.
Each stone pier was kept at the same height as much as possible. The places that were too high were flattened, and the places that were not high enough were filled with stones.
The squirrels that came out to move around saw the predators busy and strangely busy. At first they didn't understand what they were doing, but when they saw the predators moving stones and trees, they also came to help move the stones.
Ye Zhizhi understood, but it was not necessary now. It was just that the little squirrels were very enthusiastic and did not seem to understand her refusal. They thought that the stones were too small, so they picked out the big stones and carried them over.
Ye Zhizhi was terrified, fearing that the stones, which were bigger than squirrels, would crush them if they were not careful, so he simply let them move small stones.
After more than a month of hard work, a bridge made of stones and trees was built.
The bridge is close to the rock wall, connecting the canyon and the forest at both ends, and is nearly three meters above the riverbed.
Ye Zhizhi and his companions walked back and forth several times. Even a bear the size of a big bear could easily walk across the bridge. Squirrels were also jumping around on the bridge.
At present, this wooden bridge has been successfully built, but it has not yet been tested by floods, so it is unknown how stable it is.
When a group of animals saw the final masterpiece, they roared with joy.
They had experienced a flood, so they could tell. This was Ye Zhizhi's way of dealing with floods. She built a high road so that even if the flood came again, they could enter and exit freely.
The wolf girls are so smart! They never thought that there would be these ways to solve the obstacles from nature.
If we treat them as such, we will only avoid them forever instead of finding ways to solve the problems.
They walked back and forth on the tree bridge excitedly.
After Ye Zhizhi was happy at first, he stopped following and stood under the bridge, looking up at the bridge and began to think about whether there were any other problems.
Ye Zhizhi saw that the wooden bridge was shaking slightly as the friends walked back and forth.
She realized that the bridge might only last two or three years, and no more than four or five years at the longest. It probably wouldn't be able to bear the weight of the wolves, and the wooden bridge would break. Moreover, it was unknown how long the vines used for binding could last. Once they rotted, the trees would fall apart, and then only the stone piers would remain of the bridge, which would also be useless.
Is there any way to make this bridge last forever?
Ye Zhizhi was thinking, and then he saw the small stones that the squirrels were carrying. Because they couldn't be stopped, a large group of squirrels unknowingly carried several piles of stones.
She looked at the gaps between the stone piers. Perhaps in the end, they would need to stack stones one by one to block the gaps, so that even if the wood rotted, they would still be able to walk on it.
In order to make it last longer, the necessary materials cannot be saved.
Ye Zhizhi mobilized the wolves and the squirrels to search along the riverbed. They didn't need particularly large stones, just large and small stones, and all animals could help.
Da Mo and Xiao Hua still like to find big rocks, and Ye Zhizhi just put them in the place where he thinks the water flow is more turbulent.
Then pile the stones into the gaps between the stone piers.
This requires a particularly large amount of work and takes longer than building stone piers and wooden bridges. However, after the animals saw Ye Zhizhi piling up stones non-stop, they began to imitate him.
When the squirrels brought the stones, they put them directly into the gap, piling them up one by one. When the pile became high enough and it was inconvenient for the squirrels to climb up, the wolves bit the stones and continued to put them up, and Xiaohua and Damo rolled up the stones and followed suit.
Going up, the tallest bear will take over.
At the top of the gap, Ye Zhizhi stood on the big bear's shoulder, Xiaohua handed the stone to the big bear, and the big bear took the stone and handed it to Ye Zhizhi to put it.
From time to time, the wolves would take the squirrels to further places to pick up stones. Ye Zhizhi even made a net with vines for the wolves so that they could drag back many stones at a time.
With the wolves protecting the squirrel tribe, they can run around openly.
Apart from hunting, eating and resting, they basically spent all their time on this. It took them three months to finally plug all the gaps.
It was a stone road made of piled stones. From a distance, it looked like a giant dragon winding on the stone wall. It was more than two thousand meters long and looked very shocking.
It was built by Ye Zhizhi and a group of animals, piece by piece of stone and wood.
Ye Zhizhi's side was filled with animals. Even though they were too tired to move, they still stood there, looking at the stone road from afar like Ye Zhizhi.
This can no longer be called a bridge, it's a stone road.
They listened to Ye Zhizhi's instructions from beginning to end. Even when they were very tired, they had no complaints and no animal withdrew. Although they were a little confused, they all felt that they were doing something very great.
Yin Yi's eyes were very bright, and he vaguely felt that he had learned a new skill.
Many emotions surged in Ye Zhizhi's heart, some sour and some swollen, but more of it was a sense of accomplishment and pride.
But she was not satisfied with this. She was still thinking about whether there was any way to make this road more stable and lasting.
The stones in these gaps are large and small. After all, they are not like human infrastructure projects that are solid with cement. These stones are just piled together. If the flood is too big and too turbulent, the stones may be pushed away one day.
She still needs to think of another way.
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