122: Chapter 122 The Temperature of Survival

Deep inside the cave chamber, heat surged against the rock walls.

Zhao Mengmeng stood by the hot spring, clutching the wolf king hide, motionless.

Her gaze swept across the water's surface, finally resting on the shallow markings Lin Ye had carved into the left rock wall with his dagger.

"Walk on the left, don't step on the white shells, and don't touch the bubbling areas."

Lin Ye's voice came from the fire pit at the front.

Zhao Mengmeng turned back and glared at the dark passage.

"Got it! If you say that again, I'll start to suspect you're going to start charging admission."

"I don't fish out acquaintances if they fall in."

"Just shut up."

Despite her grumbling, she still hugged the left rock wall tightly.

The edge of the hot spring had a layer of white stone crust.

It looked sturdy, but Lin Ye had tapped it with his Entrenching Tool earlier; the thin spots shattered at the slightest touch.

Beneath it lay nothing but scalding hot water and high-heat vents.

If one actually stepped on it, their flesh would be separated from their bones.

Zhao Mengmeng shuffled along the rock wall to the water's edge.

She placed her crossbow within easy reach and wedged her dagger into a crack in the rock, hilt facing outward.

Only after doing all this did she unfasten her coat, which was caked with blood and mud.

The livestream feed was immediately obscured by a pale gray mist.

The Great Xia Live Stream was instantly flooded with question marks.

[Damn, it's censored!]

[supreme will, are you being polite? We're family, what's there that we can't see?]

[Calm down upstairs, what you're saying is already a criminal offense.]

[Mengmeng can finally take a hot bath. I feel refreshed for her just watching through the screen.]

As soon as Zhao Mengmeng's toes dipped into the water, her whole body shuddered violently.

It was hot, but not the scalding heat that would cause injury.

That surge of heat drilled its way up from the soles of her feet, forcibly prying open her frozen blood vessels.

Her numb toes gradually regained sensation.

She braced herself against the rock wall and slowly sat into the water.

The hot water submerged her calves, then her waist and abdomen, and finally reached her shoulders.

Zhao Mengmeng leaned against the edge of the hot spring and didn't speak for a long time.

When she crawled out of the ice storm, only the instinct to survive remained.

The wind and snow seemed to pierce her bones, and her fingers wouldn't obey her.

She had been dragged along by Lin Ye, wrapped in the wolf king hide, slapped awake, and stuffed with hot meat and hot water.

Now, the geothermal water enveloped her entire body.

The needle-pricking pain under her skin began to subside, bit by bit.

Zhao Mengmeng tilted her head back and let out a puff of hot air.

"I've come back to life."

By the fire pit in the front section, Lin Ye sat near the black rock, his Fire Axe resting across his knees.

"Don't fall asleep while soaking."

"I know. You're really annoying."

Zhao Mengmeng's lips twitched slightly.

She raised her arm, and the water washed away the scabs on her skin.

Bear blood, mud, sand, and frozen earth peeled away in layers, spreading outward with the hot spring water.

She grabbed a handful of coarse sand from the rock's edge and scrubbed the filth off her shoulders.

It hurt. The wounds stung fiercely when exposed to the hot water, but the pain meant she was still alive.

Outside the cave, the ice storm continued to batter the ice door.

The door, built from thick ice and frozen earth, emitted muffled thuds, and the thin smoke from the ventilation hole was skewed by the wind.

Beside the fire pit, strips of bear meat hung on a wooden rack, tightened by the heat.

Grease dripped into the fire, crackling.

Lin Ye flipped a few strips of semi-dried meat and cut the bear fat into small pieces, placing them into an aluminum pot to render slowly.

Bright oil soon floated to the bottom of the pot.

The savory aroma suppressed the smell of blood in the cave.

He stood up to check the ice door.

The warning line drawn by the Dark Weaver remained quiet, with no vibrations from any external force.

Returning to the fire pit, he unwrapped the cloth strip from the web of his right hand.

The wound was blackened by blood, and the edges were curled outward.

He rinsed it with hot water and sprinkled a tiny amount of coarse salt on it.

The veins on the back of his hand throbbed.

Lin Ye said nothing as he took a new cloth strip and tightly re-wrapped the wound.

After a long while.

"Brother Lin." Zhao Mengmeng's voice drifted over.

"Hmm."

"Are you still alive?"

"I was almost killed by your question."

"Alright then, I'm relieved."

After another while, she emerged from the hot spring.

Her footsteps no longer wavered.

The gray mist in the livestream feed followed her the whole time.

It was only when she wrapped the semi-dried wolf king hide back around herself that the mist slowly dissipated.

Zhao Mengmeng carried her wet clothes back to the front fire pit.

Her hair dripped with water, and her face was flushed red from the heat.

Her eyes had regained their usual ferocity.

She cradled her crossbow and sat in the spot Lin Ye had just vacated.

"Shift change. You go wash."

Lin Ye tilted his head to look at her.

"Can you stand?"

Zhao Mengmeng tilted the muzzle of the crossbow toward the passage.

"I can pin you to the wall."

"Your spirits are good."

"Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and go. The smell on you is so bad that even a bear would find it unlucky."

Lin Ye looked down at himself.

His tattered tactical suit was caked with a hard crust of blood and mud.

The cuffs were burned away, and the chest was torn.

The wound worn into his skin by the edge of his right arm guard pulled at his flesh with every movement.

He picked up his Fire Axe.

After a brief pause, he placed it back down at Zhao Mengmeng's feet.

"If the warning line at the cave entrance vibrates, don't fire the crossbow first; call me."

Zhao Mengmeng rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a novice. Do you think everyone is like those idiots who scavenge, rushing forward the moment they hear a sound?"

Lin Ye lowered the vibration feedback of the Dark Weaver, retaining only the basic early warning.

Carrying a wet cloth and his dagger, he walked toward the cave chamber.

By the hot spring, heat mist rushed to meet him.

He first tapped the left stone crust with his Entrenching Tool to confirm there were no new cracks.

He took off his tactical suit.

The dry, hard blood scabs were ripped open harshly.

Several abrasions on his back oozed beads of blood.

Lin Ye threw his clothes onto the rock and stepped into the water.

The hot water rose over his knees.

Aching pain exploded from his bone joints.

The water level covered his shoulders.

He leaned against the rock wall, motionless.

His right arm was the worst.

The Dark Weaver had continuously undergone high-altitude transfers, climbing giant vines, and strangling powerful enemies.

The arm guard hadn't shattered, but his muscle fibers had been pushed to their physical limit.

The hot water enveloped his entire arm.

The pooled blood dispersed, the throbbing pain turned into numbness, and the stiffness deep within his muscles began to loosen.

He raised his right hand.

He slowly opened his five fingers, then clenched them tightly.

It still hurt, but it could still kill.

Lin Ye leaned against the rock wall, his gaze cast into the deeper darkness of the cave chamber.

The Level 3 Floating Island was already ruined.

The environment of the Level 4 Floating Island was a true natural meat grinder.

There was no shelter from the ice storm at all.

The cave could only serve as a short-term anchor point.

The smell of blood after the violent bear's death would sooner or later attract more ferocious predators in this area.

He had to dry the bear meat, render the bear fat into oil, and peel off the fur as quickly as possible.

He needed to figure out the pattern of the storm's intervals outside.

He had to find the path to continue ascending.

The core objective remained the luck item.

The crisis facing Great Xia had not been resolved.

Lin Ye lowered his head and washed the bloodstains off his left arm.

Dark red drifted across the water's surface, flowing away along the tiny cracks at the edge.

Beside the fire pit in the front section, Zhao Mengmeng kept watch steadily.

The crossbow was braced on her knees, its muzzle aimed at the junction between the ice door and the inner passage.

The firelight illuminated her face, and her wet hair slowly dried in the heat.

The barrage was uncharacteristically quiet.

[These two can finally take a rest.]

[Killing from the ruins to the giant vines, climbing from the clouds to the ice storm, then killing a bear to occupy a cave—I'm tired just watching.]

[Don't talk about it, I went to pour some water just now and realized my hands were still shaking.]

...

The sound of the wind outside the cave continued until the latter half of the night.

Finally, it eased.

Lin Ye returned to the front section after washing.

He changed into his dried inner clothing, with the semi-dried wolf king hide draped over the outside.

His tattered tactical suit hung on the hot rocks by the hot spring to dry.

Zhao Mengmeng pushed the aluminum pot toward him.

"Hot water, it's not poisonous. I just tasted it."

Lin Ye took it and drank two mouthfuls.

"You sleep first."

"Can you hold out?"

"I talk less than you, so my consumption is lower."

Zhao Mengmeng sneered.

"Fine, you'd better not fall asleep, or I'll draw a turtle on your face when I wake up."

"Remember to sign your name after you draw it, so it's easier to hold you accountable."

She wrapped the wolf king hide tighter around herself, leaned against the hot rock, and closed her eyes.

Lin Ye sat by the fire pit and added two pieces of dead roots.

The flames flared up again, illuminating the ice door, the ventilation hole, the meat-drying rack, and the tools scattered on the ground.

He did not relax.

Every once in a while, he would go to touch the Dark Weaver's warning line, listen to the changes in the wind and snow outside the cave, and check the blood drainage channel.

In the latter half of the night, Zhao Mengmeng woke up to change shifts.

Lin Ye had slept for two hours.

He had no dreams.

There was only the sound of the wind, the sound of the fire, and the soft bubbling of the hot spring water in the rock crevices.

The first night on the Level 4 Floating Island was survived just like that.

Early morning.

The howling outside the ice door had subsided.

The light filtering in through the ventilation hole turned from black to white.

The wind and snow were still there, but the ferocity that had shattered tree roots the night before was gone.

Lin Ye opened his eyes.

He moved his right arm.

There was still aching in his shoulder and elbow, and a thin scab had formed on the web of his hand.

His fingers clenched and opened much more smoothly than the night before.

The abrasions on his back had also been dried by the geothermal heat.

His body's recovery speed was astonishing.

The bear meat, combined with the hot spring, had restored a large portion of his condition.

Zhao Mengmeng was asleep on the opposite side.

Lin Ye checked his status.

[Spirit Grid: 99.10%]

Yesterday on the Level 3 Floating Island, he had come into contact with too many lethal objects.

The Blood Vine Main Vine, the giant beast's abdominal cavity, the earth source blood crystal, and the residues of the Pale Species in the ruins.

However, it hadn't broken 1% yet.

There would be no impact in the short term.

He still had a purification potion in his bag as a backup.

Lin Ye closed the light screen.

The embers in the fire pit glowed red.

The wind and snow outside the cave were gradually weakening.

He leaned against the black rock, quietly listening to the movements outside the ice door.