238: Chapter 238 Between the Crevices

The daylight filtering through the gaps in the cave entrance's camouflage was no longer the murky, grayish-white typical of the city's edge; it was a more crisp, dust-laden, vast, and bright light that belonged to the true wilderness.

Ling Ye woke up in the shallow cave, his body still exhausted and his wounds throbbing with pain, but his mind was exceptionally clear due to a night of deep "Star Visualization."

He did not leave this temporary shelter immediately; instead, he used his makeshift "periscope" (that hollowed-out steel pipe and convex lens) to carefully and slowly observe the external environment through the gaps in the shrubs at the cave entrance for a full hour.

Within his field of vision was a wide, dried-up riverbed, covered in pebbles and cracked black silt.

On the opposite bank were towering, yellowish-brown hills, eroded by wind and rain into a maze of gullies, stretching all the way to the lead-gray skyline.

The wind was not strong, but it was constant, whipping up fine sand and dust that swirled across the riverbed.

There was no birdsong, no chirping of insects, only the sound of the wind and the faint, distant wailing of what seemed to be a larger air current passing through the mountain passes of the hills.

It was dead silent, desolate to the bone.

This was exactly what he needed.

Once his observation was complete and he confirmed there were no recent signs of human or large animal activity nearby (aside from the wind and sand, there were almost no other traces), he cautiously moved the camouflage at the cave entrance and slid out like a lizard.

He did not linger in the riverbed area; it was too open and lacked cover.

His target was the hills on the opposite bank.

The gullies eroded by the elements, the cracks in the rock faces, and the potential natural caves hidden by shrubs were more ideal hiding places.

He waded across the dried-up riverbed (in some places, the silt was ankle-deep), moving nimbly and trying his best to avoid leaving clear footprints.

Upon reaching the foot of the hills on the opposite bank, he did not choose to climb the steepest front face; instead, he followed the base of the hills, looking for a relatively gentle slope, and began to explore upward, using rocks and shrubs as cover.

The geology of these hills seemed to be a mixture of sandy soil and conglomerate; the structure was not particularly solid, but it was enough to form various complex erosion landscapes.

He spent the entire morning patiently searching for a suitable hiding spot, as if combing through hair.

During this time, he found several abandoned animal dens (possibly foxes or badgers), but they were too small or too shallow.

He also found a few narrow gullies washed out by mountain torrents, but they were either too exposed or ended in dead ends.

Just as he was about to give up on this area and consider exploring further, he discovered an extremely hidden crevice in the middle of a steep, sun-facing slope that was half-blocked by a massive rock.

The entrance to the crevice was half-hidden by several dense, thorny bushes and a few pieces of weathered, flaky rock, making it difficult to spot from below or the side.

It took him a great deal of effort to clear a gap just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

Once he squeezed inside, the space suddenly opened up.

It was a naturally formed, irregular rock cave of about five or six square meters.

The ceiling was about two meters high at its highest point, and he had to stoop in the lowest parts.

The floor was relatively flat sandy soil, dry, and free of any animal droppings or signs of nests.

The air inside the cave circulated well, and it was not particularly cold.

The best part was that on one side of the cave wall, there was an extremely narrow crack extending upward like a natural chimney, letting in faint daylight and providing excellent ventilation, so that smoke (if he were to light a fire in the future) could disperse from there without easily accumulating at the cave entrance.

On the other side of the cave, near the bottom, the rock wall was damp, and in one small area, water droplets were seeping out extremely slowly, forming a palm-sized but very shallow puddle below!

Water Source!

Although it was extremely small, it was constant!

This meant that as long as he collected it patiently, he could obtain relatively clean, drinkable water here!

This was far more reliable than depending on unstable stagnant water puddles in the wilderness!

Ling Ye's heart accelerated slightly due to this unexpected discovery.

This was simply an ideal base for wilderness survival!

Hidden, dry, ventilated, and even having an extremely small but stable Water Source!

The only drawback was that the entrance was narrow, which was not conducive to a quick evacuation in an emergency, but this could be compensated for by internal arrangements (such as reserving ropes) and external warnings.

He immediately decided that this was the place.

He returned to the cave entrance and spent a great deal of time further camouflaging it, without damaging the original appearance of the external vegetation and rocks.

He used the suitably shaped stones and more thorny branches he had found to cleverly reinforce and cover it, ensuring that from the outside, it looked like an unremarkable steep slope covered in scattered rocks and shrubs.

He even cleaned up the traces he had left near the entrance.

Then, he began to arrange the interior.

Using the relatively flat stones he had found, he built a simple platform in one corner of the cave that could be used to place items and serve as a base for a "bed."

He spread a thick layer of the large amount of dried withered grass and moss he had collected (gathered from nearby shaded areas) on top to make a simple "bed" and "cushion."

Near the bottom of the damp rock wall, he used that broken tin can to carefully collect the dripping water droplets.

The water droplets gathered very slowly, but they accumulated over time.

He placed another relatively concave stone slab he had found next to it as a backup water storage container.

He categorized and hid his rebar spear, pipe cutter, fruit knife, sling, woven bag, water bottle, salt bag (now empty), medicine bottle, and that crucial oil-paper package in the crevices of the stones under the "bed" or covered them with withered grass.

He kept only the most accessible weapon (the fruit knife) and tools by his side.

On the inside of the cave entrance, he set up a very simple tripwire warning device using thin string, small stones, and an empty tin can.

Near the ventilation crack inside the cave, he reserved a small, relatively dry, and wind-sheltered area as a place for potentially lighting a fire in the future (which would require extreme caution).

After finishing all this, the sky had darkened again.

In his new "home," he ate the last bit of rat jerky, which was as hard as a rock, washing it down with the small half-can of clear water that had seeped from the rock crevices and collected so slowly.

The burning sensation in his stomach struck again, but it was much better than before.

Food was the most urgent issue at the moment.

This new base solved the problems of a Water Source and concealment, but food required him to obtain it actively.

The next day, he began to expand his range of activities from the cave as the center, under the premise of being extremely cautious, to search for food.

He first tried setting traps.

Using the roll of hemp rope and the tough grass stems he had found, he set several snare traps along the edges of a few nearby gullies where vegetation was slightly denser and small animals might be active.

He also used the broken tin can to make simple pitfall traps in several places where insects or lizards might hide.

Then, he began to search more carefully for edible plants.

The vegetation in this hilly region was sparse, consisting mostly of drought-resistant thorns, wormwood, and low shrubs.

Relying on his memory and extremely cautious testing (taking only a tiny amount each time), he finally confirmed only a few: a type of Crassulaceae plant with thick, juicy leaves and a sour, astringent taste (which could replenish water and a small amount of vitamins), and a type of fern tuber whose roots were rich in starch but required long cooking to remove a slight toxin (which he dared not try easily).

He spent a great deal of time searching on sunny, leeward sides of rocks for any potential drought-resistant wild berries or edible shoots, but his harvest was minimal.

The season and the barrenness of this land determined the scarcity of plant-based food.

In the evening, he checked the traps and found nothing.

The snares were empty, and there were only a few shriveled beetles in the pitfall traps.

He was not discouraged.

In wilderness survival, patience is the primary requirement.

He returned to the cave, continued collecting the water seeping from the rock crevices, and then began "Star Visualization" to accelerate his body's absorption and conversion of that meager amount of food, while slowly healing his injuries.

On the third day, while checking a snare trap located on a higher slope, he made an unexpected discovery—the trap had been triggered, the rope was broken, and there were messy little claw prints and a few strands of grayish-brown fur nearby, suggesting a wild rabbit had struggled, broken the not-so-sturdy grass rope, and escaped.

Failure, but also hope.

It meant there was indeed prey in this area.

He improved the trap, replaced the grass rope with the strongest section of the hemp rope, and adjusted the trap's position and camouflage.

At the same time, while on his way to set the traps, he discovered a small area of weathered shale.

The shale was peeling off in layers, and between the exposed rock layers, he found some deeply buried, fossilized seashells, and... a few pieces of dark-colored, hard-textured flint!

Flint!

The ideal fire starter!

Combined with his fruit knife blade (steel), it was entirely possible to produce stable sparks to ignite tinder!

This was more reliable than that box of damp matches, and also more covert (no flames or smoke)!

He treated them like treasures, collecting a few of the best pieces of flint and some thin, sharp shale flakes (which could serve as cutting or scraping tools).

In the evening, when he returned to the cave dragging his exhausted but hopeful body, he keenly noticed near the entrance that one of the small stones of the warning device seemed to have been moved, deviating by a few millimeters from its original placement.

Had a person or animal touched it?

Or was it the wind?

Ling Ye became alert instantly, his muscles tensing all over.

He lowered his body and did not enter immediately; instead, he circled to the side and, using the cover of rocks and shrubs, carefully observed the ground, vegetation, and the camouflage he had left near the cave entrance.

There were no obvious footprints, and the camouflage seemed intact.

But the displacement of that small stone was incredibly glaring in his eyes.

Was it the wind?

The wind was not strong today.

Was it accidentally bumped by a small animal (like a lizard or mouse)?

Or... a worse situation?

He dared not take the risk.

He did not return to the cave immediately; instead, like a ghost, he silently retreated and lay in wait behind a nearby rock crevice from which he could observe the entrance while remaining extremely hidden himself.

He was like a stone statue, motionless, his eyes fixed on the entrance without blinking, his ears catching every strange sound beyond the wind.

His "Energy Perception" was also pushed to the limit.

Time passed second by second.

The night grew darker, and the cold wind began to rise.

At the cave entrance, there was only the rustling of wind blowing through the thorns.

An hour passed.

There was nothing unusual.

Just when Ling Ye was about to think he was being overly suspicious, or that it really was a small animal that had touched it—

On the distant outline of the hills, in a direction near where he had previously set his traps, a tiny, flickering, faint green light suddenly lit up!

The green light was very dim, like a ghost fire, flickering in the night; its position seemed to be not far from the ground, and it was moving slowly and irregularly.

It was not a flashlight, not artificial light, nor was it the dark blue of the "abyssal eye" or the corrupt fluorescent glow of the "green light" discharge outlets he was familiar with.

This was a more... elusive, eerie, ghost-green light that seemed to have a life of its own.

Ling Ye's heart sank, and his pupils constricted sharply.

What was that thing?!