83: Chapter 83 Wilderness Sewing Lesson

The afternoon snowstorm grew increasingly violent.

Lin Ye stood at the cave entrance, looking at the eaves and the ice fissures.

The passage he had just hacked open in the morning was now covered in another layer of white, thin ice.

He grabbed a wooden stick, smashed the icicles with force, and kicked the ice shards out of the cave.

Lin Ye closed the wooden door and turned back to the fire pit.

Zhao Mengmeng was squatting in front of a pile of leftover bones, rummaging through them.

After some picking and choosing, she grabbed a sturdy leg bone of a Spirit Sheep.

"Can this thing really be used to make a needle?"

"Yes." Lin Ye didn't even look up.

"The bone is hard enough. We just need to grind a sharp tip and then make an eye for the needle."

Zhao Mengmeng stared at the bone in her hand, her face scrunching up.

"I've struggled to even sew buttons since I was a kid, and now you want me to hand-craft a cloak?"

Lin Ye picked up a few pieces of dry tree bark.

"First, let's get the thread ready."

He held his dagger, the blade scraping against the bark to remove the rough outer layer, leaving only the flexible, light-colored fibers on the inside.

Strips of wood fiber were pulled out and left to dry by the fire pit.

Zhao Mengmeng watched for a few moments, then grabbed some bark and tried to do the same.

As soon as she started, she used too much force, and with a "snap," the fiber broke into several pieces.

Lin Ye didn't say anything; he just handed her a long fiber he had just pulled out.

"Don't pull it forcefully. Follow the grain of the wood."

Zhao Mengmeng gritted her teeth and slowed down her movements.

After a few failures, she finally succeeded in peeling out a complete, intact fiber.

"I did it!"

Lin Ye glanced at it.

"That length is barely enough to sew half a cuff."

The smile on Zhao Mengmeng's face froze.

The comments in the Great Xia Live Stream rolled by at just the right moment.

[Mengmeng's Sewing Class is now in session!]

[Brother Eye's teaching style is hardcore; he guarantees you'll learn, but not that you'll have fun.]

[My grandma says this actually works. Before cotton thread, people used tree bark to twist into rope.]

[Everyone else is freezing to death in the snow, and these two are opening a tailor shop here?]

Lin Ye threw the softened fibers into warm water to soak.

After they softened, he pinched a few fibers and repeatedly rubbed and overlapped them in his palm.

A rough but highly durable wooden thread soon took shape.

It wasn't pretty, but in the wilderness, it was enough to save your life.

Zhao Mengmeng tried to copy him, but halfway through, the thread unraveled.

She shook her sore wrists and stared at Lin Ye's hands.

"Be honest, did you practice this on the side?"

"I used to twist hemp rope when I was bored in class."

"Your Archaeology Department even teaches how to make hemp rope?"

Lin Ye ignored her.

Once enough thread was twisted, the next step was to grind the bone needle.

Zhao Mengmeng used a stone to crack open the Spirit Sheep leg bone and picked out the thinnest, hardest piece.

She ground it back and forth on a rough stone slab with all her might until the tip was sharp.

The most difficult part was making the eye of the needle.

Lin Ye pulled out a thin piece of wire that had been heated until red-hot and pressed it against the end of the bone shard.

"Sss—"

A burnt, acrid smell wafted through the cave.

Zhao Mengmeng covered her nose.

"Between the smoke and the smell of burnt bone, what did my nose do to deserve this!"

"It still smells better than the Brain Tanning Method."

Zhao Mengmeng immediately shut her mouth.

The trauma from rubbing beast brains yesterday was still fresh.

On the wooden rack nearby, the animal hide was already half-dry.

After yesterday's brain-tanning and slow, low-temperature drying, the inner side was still a bit rough.

But at least it was no longer as stiff as a board; it could now be folded easily.

Lin Ye spread the two largest and most complete animal hides out on a flat stone.

"We'll make cloaks first."

Zhao Mengmeng held her dagger, gesturing as she measured.

"Why not make a coat? Coats wrap tighter."

"Coats need to be fitted, and you have to leave room for arm movement. If you make one wrong cut, the whole hide is ruined."

Lin Ye tapped the edge of the animal hide with his finger.

"Cloaks have a higher margin for error. You just wrap it around yourself; the wind can't get in, the hood covers your head, and you just need to thicken the shoulders."

Zhao Mengmeng pursed her lips.

"In other words, it's the beggar version."

"It's a beggar version that can keep you alive at thirty degrees below zero."

Lin Ye grabbed some burnt charcoal and drew lines on the inner side of the hide.

The outline of the main cloak, the hood pieces cut from the scraps, and the reinforcement patches for the shoulders.

His movements were extremely fast, and he didn't hesitate for a second as he drew.

Zhao Mengmeng leaned in close, watching the charcoal lines carefully.

"Why leave the edges so wide?"

"That's for the seam. It needs to be folded over after the thread is pulled through, otherwise a single layer would tear easily."

"Why make the hood so deep?"

"The snowstorm blows horizontally; a shallow hood won't stop the wind from blowing in."

Lin Ye threw the dagger in front of her.

"Your turn. Cut along the lines."

Zhao Mengmeng gripped the handle of the dagger tightly.

The feel she had developed from skinning animals finally came in handy.

She pressed the blade against the charcoal lines and cut downward with steady force.

The edges were crooked.

Lin Ye picked it up and gave it a tug.

"It'll do."

Zhao Mengmeng let out a long sigh of relief.

The sewing process was even more grueling than expected.

The bone needle was blunt, and the animal hide was thick.

For every stitch, Zhao Mengmeng had to use a wooden piece to push the end of the needle with all her might.

Lin Ye helped her by managing the thread ends and cutting the auxiliary pieces.

The wood in the fire pit crackled.

Outside the cave, the Ice Waterfall was being torn at by the wind and snow, emitting a roar that made one's scalp tingle.

It wasn't until the light outside faded that the first cloak was finally finished.

Zhao Mengmeng picked it up and stood up.

The seams were crooked and messy, and some of the stitches let the wind through; it was spectacularly ugly.

But it was large enough; when crossed in the front, it could protect her chest and abdomen, and the large hood could cover half her face.

Lin Ye took the cloak and put it on.

As soon as the thick animal hide was on his shoulders, the bone-chilling cold was blocked out.

He walked to the cave entrance and threw open the wooden door.

The violent snowstorm immediately roared inside!

Lin Ye stood in the draft.

The animal hide cloak billowed backward in the cold wind, but not a single gust could penetrate the material.

The large hood completely wrapped around his head and neck.

He stood in the wind and snow for a full ten seconds before closing the wooden door.

"It works very well."

Zhao Mengmeng leaned in and touched the fur.

"Can it really block the wind?"

"It's more effective than two sleeping bags." Lin Ye took off the cloak and placed it on the stone.

Zhao Mengmeng turned around, sat down, and grabbed the second animal hide.

"Stop talking, let's keep sewing!"

Progress on the second one was significantly faster.

Her stitches were still uneven, but the density was much higher.

Between the hood piece and the collar, she even specifically ground a buckle out of a bone fragment and threaded a bark rope through it so it could be tightened at the chin.

Lin Ye looked at the buckle.

"Good attention to detail."

Zhao Mengmeng tilted her chin up proudly.

"Of course. I'm an old artisan from Sichuan-Chongqing."

Late at night, both cold-weather cloaks were completed.

The two of them put on their respective cloaks and stood at the cave entrance, cracking the door open to test them.

A biting cold current rushed at them.

Zhao Mengmeng subconsciously shrunk her neck.

The fierce wind was blocked outside by the animal hide, with only a trace of cold brushing against her cheeks.

This ugly fur garment she had hand-crafted had actually given her an unprecedented sense of security in this deadly place.

She tugged at the rough collar and grinned.

"I've got the vibe of a Void Sea huntress now."

Lin Ye fastened the bone buckle on the front.

"Huntress, are you ready to head out tomorrow?"

Zhao Mengmeng's smile faltered.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes." Lin Ye retreated back to the fire pit and added a handful of dry firewood.

"The extreme cold won't end in a day or two, and these few pieces of meat won't last us long."

Zhao Mengmeng swallowed hard.

"With this much snow, the prey must have hidden away long ago, right?"

"There's always some that will run out due to hunger." Lin Ye looked up at the gap in the cave entrance.

"We'll check the wind tomorrow morning. If it eases up a bit, we'll head out. Besides hunting, we'll also scout the perimeter to the northeast."

Hearing "northeast," Zhao Mengmeng immediately reacted.

"Are we really going? Didn't you say it's easy to get into trouble if our target is too big?"

"We won't go deep."

Lin Ye brushed the grass clippings off his hands and pulled the crossbow to his side.

"We'll only probe the perimeter. Survival comes first."

The comments in the Great Xia Live Stream were rolling by rapidly.

[Other countries are hiding in caves waiting to die, and these two are actually preparing to go out and grind in the extreme cold?!]

[This is the difference! Gear suppression, get it?!]

[Brother Eye: Mere extreme cold is just a backdrop for my wild hunting.]

The wind and snow outside the cave were still raging.

Inside the cave, the red coals in the fire pit emitted steady heat.

Lin Ye sat on the animal hide bed, slowly wiping the tips of the wooden arrows with a piece of scrap leather.

No matter how heavy the snow is tomorrow.

He would never leave his life up to luck.