It's called a lake, but it's really just a small puddle, not very big, maybe a hundred square meters at most.
The lake was covered with weeds, leaves, and twigs, and the water was not very clear; it was even a bit black.
Judging from the color alone, Gao Yang knew that the lake water was not drinkable, at least for ordinary people.
The water contains withered branches and leaves, and may even contain various harmful elements produced by the chemical reaction of rotting animal carcasses. After a long period of fermentation, who knows what kind of culinary disaster this pool of water will produce?
As for the wonderful idea of getting some ingredients from this lake, it immediately became a pipe dream.
Not only is the lake water unsuitable for direct drinking, but even the seemingly clear, flowing water from upstream has certain problems.
Fortunately, these challenges were no problem for Gao Feng, as he had brought a water bottle and a lighter.
The main problem now is getting some meat for Xiaohua. Dried fish and the like are probably out of the question, but there's no shortage of small animals and birds here.
You absolutely cannot touch nationally protected animals, not even first- or second-class protected animals, although golden monkeys do look very tempting.
His keen sense of smell, hearing, and eyesight came in handy at this point, and he soon discovered a nest of wild rabbits.
Rabbits are so cute, they must taste even better.
Two large and one small, two gray and one white rabbits were grazing on the ground, completely unaware that a mutated human had set his sights on them not far away.
He picked up a stone about the size of a fist from the ground, weighed it in his hand, estimated the distance between himself and the rabbit swarm, calculated the angle and force of his throw, pulled his right hand behind his head, and threw the stone with all his might.
The distance between him and the rabbit herd was about 15 meters. He didn't consider the factor of gravitational acceleration at all, because it wasn't necessary.
The vertical drop between his arm and the rabbits is at most two meters, which is negligible as long as the stone moves fast enough.
From the moment the stone was thrown to the moment it hit the rabbits, only a moment passed. A dull thud was heard, and a scene of mangled, bloody flesh came into Gao Yang's view.
"Oh my god, how are we supposed to eat this?"
He jogged a few steps forward to clean up the prey, but when he saw the three mangled rabbit carcasses on the ground, Gao Feng was speechless.
He adjusted the angle and threw the stone just as the three rabbits were in a straight line. However, he underestimated the force of the stone. The three rabbits were completely shattered into a bloody mess by the impact of the fist-sized stone, as if they had been pierced by a dumdum bullet.
"Wasting food is not the mark of a good comrade."
Although the three rabbits didn't look like rabbits, they still had some meat. Gao Yang picked out a few large, intact pieces and returned to the lakeside.
Although it had just rained, there was still some dry grass in the tree hollow. After gathering some dry branches and leaves, a campfire was quickly lit.
He doesn't need to eat anything himself, and with no seasonings or anything, the rabbit meat probably won't taste very good. If Xiaohua hadn't been unable to stand it, he wouldn't have bothered bringing a lighter or anything like that.
I filled the flask with some water from the stream, about half full. This time, Gao Ang chose to bring a military canteen instead of a thermos or anything like that. The main reason is that military canteens have a wide range of uses, such as being able to boil water like this.
With a fire, there was no longer any worry about food and drink. Before long, Xiaohua's dinner was ready: roasted rabbit.
"Here, this is for you. Eat it later, it's a little hot."
After cleaning the charcoal ash and other debris from the surface of the roasted meat, Gao Yang selected a few tender pieces that didn't look too bad and placed them on the 'table' made of a few leaves.
I found a few leaves and arranged them into a small 'basin'. I poured the boiled water into it to cool it down, so that Xiaohua could have a few sips of cool boiled water after she finished eating the rabbit meat.
After finishing all that, Gao Ang extinguished the campfire and scooped up several handfuls of water from the lake to repeatedly pour it over the fire until he was sure there were no more embers.
By this time, it had gotten dark. The once bustling primeval forest had slowly changed its style. Before, everything was jubilant and thriving, but now it resembled a silent beast, ready to devour its prey.
The weather at the end of June is inherently unpredictable, and with widespread rainfall across the country during this period, and even flooding in some areas, Gaoyang was caught completely off guard and was hit squarely by large raindrops falling from the sky, accompanied by bursts of thunder and lightning.
"Oh no, I need to find shelter from the rain right away. People are fine, but what if my phone gets soaked and ruined..."
He stuffed the backpack into his arms, waved to Xiaohua, and said, "Xiaohua, let's go, let's go find shelter from the rain."
Little Flower was startled by the raindrops, and when she saw the blazing white lightning in the sky, she let out a "meow" and jumped onto the raised arm.
"Don't you like to perch on my shoulder? What are you doing here?"
"Meow."
A human and a cat faced each other at the foot of a cliff. Although they had run fast enough, they were still soaked to the bone.
Her tall hair was already dripping wet, and there were also many water droplets on Xiaohua's fur. Fortunately, the backpack was fine, and the phone was intact.
This place to shelter from the rain wasn't perfect either; the torrential rain was accompanied by strong winds, and every now and then a bucket of rain would be splashed in.
Looking around, there were no better places to take shelter from the rain anywhere else. As for tree hollows or under trees, Gao Ang simply didn't have the courage to go there to take shelter from the rain.
With lightning flashing and thunder roaring overhead, going under a tree to take shelter from the rain is practically asking to be struck by lightning!
The best place would be a cave or something similar, where he could shelter from the rain, rest at night, and also be protected from the wind. He himself was not afraid of the cold or heat, but Xiaohua was.
Since there are no natural caves, we have to create them artificially.
Holding the backpack in his left hand, supporting the small flowers, he leaned to the left to avoid getting them wet in the rain, while using his right hand to dig into the cliff face.
As he dug, he became somewhat addicted. It felt just like digging in the snow. Before long, he had dug out a temporary cave that was 1 meter deep, 1 meter high, and 0.5 meters wide.
The height is sufficient, but the depth and width need to be expanded, otherwise it will be impossible to lie down and rest at night.
Given Gao Ang's current height, the width should be at least 2.5 meters to allow for some space for his head and feet, otherwise it would be uncomfortable to turn over or cross his legs.
As for the size of the opening, he didn't plan to expand it. Making it a space that is small on the outside and large on the inside is actually quite good. On the one hand, it is convenient for concealment, and on the other hand, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is safe enough.
After placing his backpack and the little flower at the other end of the cave, Gao Ang stripped naked and decided to go all out.
With one hand, he threw down a lump of rock; with both hands flying up and down, the cave was expanding at a visible speed. Little Flower, standing to the side, was dumbfounded, unsure whether she was stunned by his high, white buttocks or by the afterimages created by his hands.
The rain is getting heavier and heavier, and the dark clouds in the sky are getting thicker and thicker. If nothing unexpected happens, there will definitely be even heavier rain later, and there may even be louder thunder and brighter white lightning.
Just as the dark clouds in the sky gathered to a certain extent and were about to erupt, the expensive 'tunnel project' also came to an end.
He pushed all the soil piled up at the entrance of the cave into the rain. As the rain washed it away, the traces gradually disappeared. He stood in the rain, admiring his work with satisfaction.
The location is good enough; it's high enough to prevent water accumulation, and there's some vegetation around it. We'll transplant some shrubs and other plants later, and it will provide sufficient concealment.
"Little Flower, stay put, okay? I'm going out for a rain shower, do you want to come?"
"Meow." A reluctant sound of refusal.
Having just personally overseen the commencement of a magnificent project, Gao Ang was slightly excited and felt a surge of pride, even wanting to emulate the scenes on television and put on a show of bravado.
I looked around, but there weren't any good occasions to show off.
But when I looked up, I saw that this little cliff was quite suitable.
Using all his might, he rolled and crawled, and soon he reached the top of the small cliff, or rather, the small hill.
Standing here and gazing into the distance, even in the darkest night, Gao Feng can see everything clearly.
Every now and then, white lightning flashes, occasionally illuminating an area and startling some small animals that are taking shelter from the rain or resting.
In a deserted place, possessing mutated powers, to use a rather cheesy line: "I am the king under this sky."
"Since there's nobody here, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to show off, right?"
I recalled a scene from a movie: the same small hill, the same domineering gaze, and the same melodramatic line: "My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens!"
He was a well-behaved child from a young age, and he basically followed his family's arrangements for going to school, boarding, filling out college applications, etc. It wasn't until he graduated from university that he had his first direct conflict with his family.
He wanted freedom; he didn't want to follow the path his family had laid out for him: taking the civil service exam, working a job, and retiring...
This is not the life he wants. What he wants is freedom, to make money happily and live happily, not to be a puppet according to his family's wishes.
Head held high, chest puffed out, full of vigor, he gave the heavens the middle finger.
"Cool!"
After making the hand gestures, he still felt it wasn't enough, so he took off running wildly through the forest.
He needs to vent now, to release all the dissatisfaction and frustration he has suppressed for more than 20 years.
He ran faster and faster, not even sure how fast he was going. He only heard the 'whooshing' sound in his ears getting weaker and weaker until he could no longer hear anything. Then he slowed down and stopped when the sound returned.
"Holy crap, where did it go?"
Looking at the concrete road beneath his feet, Gao Ang knew he had really messed up.
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