125: Chapter 125 The Wind Stops, The Journey Begins

Two days later.

The last gust of wind outside the cave ceased.

That bone-scraping howl began to weaken in the second half of the night.

By morning.

Only the faint rustling sound of snow particles sliding down the ice door remained.

Dark red charcoal was pressed into the fire pit.

An aluminum pot rested on stones.

A thick layer of snow-white bear fat had solidified at the bottom of the pot.

The wooden rack nearby was hung full of strips of meat.

Bear meat, rock sheep meat, and snow badger meat were arranged in three rows.

They had been dried and shrunken by the geothermal heat and charcoal fire.

Zhao Mengmeng crouched by the fire.

A bone needle pried open the edge of the tough bear hide.

There was a bluish tint under her eyes.

In two days.

She had managed to piece together and sew two sheepskins and half a bear hide together.

"Brother Lin, I'm announcing something now."

Lin Ye was checking the anchor recovery slot of the Dark Weaver.

"Speak."

"If I go back to Blue Star later and someone asks me to do handicrafts, I'll sew them into the sofa on the spot."

"Your technique is quite mature; you could take orders."

"Shut up."

Zhao Mengmeng lowered her head and continued sewing the rock sheep skin onto the inside of the bear hide.

The outer layer was windproof.

The inner layer was warm.

Trimmed strips from the wolf king hide wrapped around her neck and wrists.

A dark red blood scab had formed on the web of Lin Ye's right hand.

There was still a pulling sensation when he made a fist.

He used a bone shard to pick up a piece of roasted bear meat.

The meat had shrunk and hardened.

He put it back on the rack.

"This batch is ready to go."

Zhao Mengmeng looked up.

"Has it really stopped outside?"

"It sounds like it has, but we have to open the door to confirm."

Lin Ye walked toward the ice door.

The crushed ice, slush, and black rock blocks that had sealed it two days ago had frozen into a solid, thick wall.

Icicles hung around the smoke vent.

The light filtering in from the outside was somewhat blinding.

He touched the three warning lines.

The bottom line didn't vibrate.

The middle line didn't vibrate.

The high-position cross line also had no movement.

He drew his Fire Axe.

The axe blade wedged into a gap in the ice wall, and he exerted force to pry it outward.

Crack.

The ice layer split.

Zhao Mengmeng raised her crossbow.

The crossbow muzzle aimed at the crack.

Lin Ye pried three times in a row.

The ice block sealing the door was pushed open by half a foot.

White light flooded into the cave.

The firelight inside was dimmed by the light.

Cold air rolled in.

It carried the dry, biting chill that followed the cessation of snow.

The manic sensation of having one's chest crushed in the ice storm had completely disappeared.

Lin Ye narrowed his eyes.

The snowfield was bleached white by the sunlight.

Black rocks revealed half-buried, cold, hard edges, and the snow surface had formed a solid crust.

In the distance, a giant dead tree was pressed into the snow.

Ice crystals hung on the branches.

The sky was still grayish-white, but the clouds were much higher than the previous two days.

The cooling period had ended.

Lin Ye withdrew his gaze.

"We can go."

The breath Zhao Mengmeng had been holding was released.

"Finally, we don't have to be cavemen anymore."

"Cavemen have meat to eat and hot springs to soak in; the treatment isn't bad."

"If you mention the hot spring again, I'll think of that thermal vent by the pool."

She glanced at the leather boots on her feet.

"It almost turned me into Sichuan-style pig's trotters."

Lin Ye blocked half of the ice door back up.

"Pack up."

The cave immediately became busy.

Zhao Mengmeng divided the dried meat into piles according to hardness.

She stuffed the driest ones into the bottom layer of the backpack.

She smeared the semi-dry ones with bear fat, then wrapped them tightly with scraps of sheepskin and tied them securely.

The bear fat had solidified into white blocks, which were packed into hollowed-out bone tubes and wrapped with bark rope on the outside.

Lin Ye spread all the supplies out on the rock.

Food, water bags, bone tubes of fat, coarse salt, flint.

Aluminum pot, dagger, damaged Fire Axe, crossbow, wooden arrows, rope.

Sleeping bag, bear hide protective gear, wolf king hide scraps.

And that purification potion.

He weighed the supplies with one hand to categorize them.

Zhao Mengmeng stared at the stock that looked like a butcher shop.

"With this much, can we really carry it all?"

"We can't carry it all."

"What do we throw away?"

"Throw away the bones, throw away the heavily polluted internal organs, throw away the excess wet meat. Keep the fat, keep the dried meat, keep the fur."

Zhao Mengmeng didn't argue.

The harsh lessons of the past two days had made her see reality clearly.

In the extreme cold wasteland, heat was greater than everything.

Carrying a pile of wet meat that couldn't be taken away would only tire oneself to death halfway.

Lin Ye divided the backpacks into two.

He carried the heavy pack.

Inside were the bear fat bone tubes, core dried meat, aluminum pot, flint, and spare rope.

Zhao Mengmeng carried the light pack.

It held the wooden arrows, dried sheep meat, a small amount of bear fat, and emergency meat chunks.

The crossbow belonged to her.

The Wind-Chasing Claw was fixed to the outside of her forearm.

Lin Ye fastened the Dark Weaver.

The Fire Axe was inserted into the side slot of the backpack strap.

The notch in the axe blade was large.

It was still lethal for chopping ice, prying stones, and cutting cartilage.

Zhao Mengmeng put on the newly sewn protective gear.

Bear hide draped over her shoulders and back.

wolf king hide protected her chest and abdomen.

Rock sheep skin wrapped around her calves.

The bark rope at her waist was tightened, and a thick fur collar wrapped around her neck.

She stood up.

She looked a size larger.

"Do I look imposing now?"

Lin Ye glanced at her.

"Quite thick."

"Can't you say something nice?"

"Very thick, very life-saving."

Zhao Mengmeng rolled her eyes.

Lin Ye also put on his protective gear.

Bear belly hide protected his chest, wolf king hide pressed against his back, and rock sheep skin served as knee and arm guards.

The Dark Weaver was not covered by the fur.

The launch port was completely exposed.

The moment the heavy fur pressed onto his body, the cold wind blowing in from the cave entrance was completely blocked.

Zhao Mengmeng touched the bear hide on her shoulder.

From being on the verge of freezing to death when she first entered the Level 4 Floating Island, to now wearing a violent bear fur coat and walking out of the cave with a bag full of top-quality dried meat.

Only two days had passed in between.

The Great Xia Live Stream had long since exploded.

Golden bullet comments scrolled across the screen in waves.

[Holy crap! This gear gives such a sense of security!]

[Who still remembers two days ago when they were being chased by the ice storm and drilling under tree roots? Now they've graduated with god-tier gear!]

[Bear fur coat, wolf hide chest protector, rock sheep leg guards, a bag of dried meat and a bag of fat!]

[Other countries are still eating frozen grass roots, Brother Eye's team is already living a well-off life!]

[Others are surviving in the wilderness, he is stocking up in the wilderness.]

Inside the cave.

Lin Ye dragged all the bones that couldn't be taken away to the blood drainage ditch.

Violent bear ribs.

Snow badger bone fragments.

Rock sheep skull.

Internal organ remnants dense with gray spots.

He dumped them all into the deep bottom of the ditch.

Zhao Mengmeng crouched nearby, using the Entrenching Tool to cover them with frozen soil.

"Burying it this deep?"

"If it's shallow, it will be dug out."

"Let it be dug out, we're leaving anyway."

Lin Ye pressed a block of black rock into the ditch entrance.

"It's troublesome if things follow us all the way by smelling the blood."

Zhao Mengmeng's action of filling the soil paused.

She understood.

They were going to the Giant Tower.

If a string of carrion-eating predators followed behind them, it would be like dragging half the snowfield's monsters to a feast.

"This damn place doesn't let you take any advantage at all."

"We've taken plenty."

Lin Ye pointed to the bear hide on her body.

The two continued to clean up the traces.

The embers of the fire pit were scattered and extinguished with accumulated snow.

The meat drying rack was broken apart.

Charcoal was buried in rock crevices.

The bloodstains remaining by the hot spring were completely covered by crushed stones.

Lin Ye even used a dead branch to sweep away all the messy footprints near the cave entrance.

Zhao Mengmeng looked at the bare cave entrance.

"Even a mouse would get lost here."

"Mice aren't scary; the things that follow mice are scary."

The last shovel of frozen soil was patted firm.

The blood drainage ditch disappeared.

The spot where the violent bear corpse had lain was covered by black rock blocks and slush.

This cave, which had protected them for two days, turned back into the most ordinary black hole in the snowfield.

Zhao Mengmeng stood at the cave entrance.

She turned back.

The fire was gone.

The meat rack was gone.

The rolling heat deep in the hot spring was being cut by the inflowing cold wind.

She held the crossbow level.

"I'm actually a bit reluctant to leave."

Lin Ye tightened the backpack straps.

"Living people shouldn't get attached to a nest."

Lin Ye pushed away the last ice wall.

Sunlight shone in completely.

The snowfield was blindingly white.

In the distance, clouds and mist covered the peaks.

The direction of the Giant Tower was completely blocked by a grayish-white mist layer.

A very faint black shadow remained at the end of the horizon.

That was the center.

Lin Ye walked out of the cave.

His boot soles stepped on the hard crust of the snow surface.

Crack.

The snow crust shattered, revealing the compacted ice particles in the lower layer.

He carried the notched Fire Axe.

His pace was not fast, but every step was firm.

Zhao Mengmeng followed three steps behind.

The crossbow was held in front of her chest.

Their heavy silhouettes dragged on the snow.

Cold wind hit the fur.

The dried meat in the backpacks collided with each other.

Zhao Mengmeng asked from behind: "Brother Lin, which way?"

Lin Ye stepped over a weathered black rock.

"Of course, we are walking towards the Giant Tower."