The two inside the cave breathed a sigh of relief once the hyenas were gone. Sitting on the ground, Zhang Shengnan said, "What a pity about our pheasants and rabbits." Wu Jing comforted her, "It's alright, we can catch more later." Zhang Shengnan said, "Well, that's all we can do then." Wu Jing said, "Yes, on this deserted island, these predators are much stronger than us." Zhang Shengnan said, "Should we go out and clean them up?" Wu Jing stopped her, "No, let's wait until tomorrow morning. What if the hyenas come back?" Zhang Shengnan said, "Really? They've learned to use tricks." Wu Jing said, "Don't underestimate these hyenas, they're very clever." Zhang Shengnan said, "Okay, we'll clean them up tomorrow." Wu Jing said, "After this experience, I think we should start building an earthen wall tomorrow; that will make us safer." Zhang Shengnan nodded, saying, "Build it high, so these guys can't climb up." Wu Jing nodded, saying, "Yes, higher and thicker, that would be better." The two began planning how to build the earthen wall.
Unbeknownst to them, the hyenas that had left the camp hadn't gone far. Instead, they hid in the woods, keeping a close watch on the cave, waiting for the door to open so they could rush through the breached fence and feast. However, the two men inside remained inside. After waiting for a long time, seeing no sign of them emerging, the hyena leader roared, and the pack charged back towards the camp, this time surrounding the cave entrance. The two men inside tensed up again. But this time, the hyenas didn't attack the wooden door. Instead, they seemed intent on surrounding the cave, lying down around the entrance. They just lay there, occasionally letting out a howl. Seeing the hyenas lying down, the two men inside relaxed their guard and sat down, quietly watching the hyenas outside.
Just as Wu Jing relaxed her guard and thought the hyenas outside wouldn't attack the wooden door anymore, she said to Zhang Shengnan, "Why don't you go and rest? I'll guard it by myself." Zhang Shengnan figured that since the hyenas weren't attacking the door now, it didn't matter whether one or two people guarded it, so she agreed. She returned to her bed and had just lain down when the hyenas outside seemed to know she was there and started attacking the door again. Hearing the noise, Zhang Shengnan quickly got up and, together with Wu Jing, held the door shut. After several attempts, seemingly realizing they couldn't break it open, the hyenas gave up and continued to lie in front of the door. The two inside the cave, seeing that they were no longer banging on the door, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Through the crack in the wooden door, by the light of the fire in the cave and the starlight outside, the two saw that the hyena pack seemed determined to surround them. Several hyenas were lying at the door, while others were walking around inside the camp. They even saw one hyena leave a trail of feces in front of the wooden door, which made Wu Jing and Zhang Shengnan so angry that they wanted to stab the hyena to death with a spear.
After a while, seeing that the hyenas had stopped ramming the wooden door, Wu Jing said to Zhang Shengnan again, "It's getting late, go and rest. I'll call you if there's any problem." Zhang Shengnan nodded. This time it was better, or rather, worse. Just as Zhang Shengnan was dozing off, the hyena pack started ramming the door again. By the time Zhang Shengnan reached the wooden door, the hyenas had stopped. Zhang Shengnan was furious. If she hadn't retained some rationality, she probably would have cursed them out. Zhang Shengnan calmed herself down for a while, suppressing her anger this time. The hyenas outside continued to lie down, some at the cave entrance, some inside the camp.
Seeing that Zhang Shengnan had calmed down, Wu Jing said, "These hyenas are probably planning a sneak attack. Why don't we take turns napping by the wooden door?" Zhang Shengnan nodded and said, "If they're still here by dawn, I'll shoot a few hyenas through the gaps above and see if they're scared." Wu Jing could still see that Zhang Shengnan was angry, so she didn't say anything more. She sat by the wooden door, leaning against the cave wall, and closed her eyes to rest. Seeing Wu Jing close her eyes, Zhang Shengnan followed suit and sat on the other side.
A night passed. The two barely slept that night. Hyenas would frequently ram the door, sometimes just barking loudly at the entrance. Eventually, in the latter half of the night, after one such barking attack, the hyena leader led the pack away from the camp. Still worried, Wu Jing and Zhang Shengnan remained seated by the door. After a long while, the hyenas launched a sneak attack, ramming the door with all their might, managing to break it open a crack. Fortunately, they were at the door; Wu Jing was the first to react, immediately bracing the door and using her spear to poke the hyenas through the crack, while also waking the groggy Zhang Shengnan. Together, they successfully averted the attack. After this, one rested while the other guarded the door. They managed to survive the night, but it seemed the hyena pack had given up; after that attack, they never returned. This allowed the two to get through the night.
As dawn broke, the two decided to eat some dried meat before venturing out of the cave to see if the hyenas were still there. If they weren't, they would first plug the gap in the fence, then tidy up the camp, and while food was still plentiful, rebuild the wall. If they were still there, they would have no choice but to wait in the cave until the hyenas left, or until they could no longer continue their search and chose to leave.
The two men, each chewing on a piece of dried meat, approached the wooden door. Through the crack, they carefully peered into the camp; the hyenas were gone. Instead of risking opening the door directly, they first opened it a crack. After observing the situation and finding no movement inside or outside the camp, they opened it wider, enough for one person to pass through—enough for a hyena as well. They stood guard with their spears for a while, but still found no movement. Wu Jing decided to go out and check first; if possible, she would block the fence, and then Zhang Shengnan would come out.
Wu Jing, spear in hand and a military knife at her waist, cautiously slipped out through the crack in the door, observing as she went. Inside the cave, Zhang Shengnan was also on guard, bow drawn, ready to fire an arrow if she spotted a hyena. Fortunately, no hyenas appeared until Wu Jing reached the broken fence. Wu Jing used some dry firewood to plug the gap in the fence before calling Zhang Shengnan out. When Zhang Shengnan emerged, she only opened the door a little wider, just enough for one person to pass through comfortably, unlike before when the door was completely open.
The two men used some branches to patch up the gaps in the fence, then cleaned the camp again, mainly sweeping away the excrement and shoveling it outside the camp with entrenching tools, digging a pit to bury it. After finishing this, they checked the sun and estimated it was around ten o'clock. They decided to skip lunch and start building the wall immediately. So they began digging outside the camp, partly to build an earthen wall along the existing fence, directly encasing the fence within the earthen wall to increase its strength, and partly to dig a ditch around the camp to serve as a moat.
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