Shiver upon shiver

Following the trail, Xia Lun headed south to the Crossroads at the foot of the mountain below Camp No. 2, then took the dirt path west to the Salt Pillar Forest.

Despite its name, the Salt Pillar Forest had no jagged pillars of salt jutting from the ground. It was a dense deciduous forest.

Xia Lun knew that the Deserted Island ought to lie in the tropics, where a deciduous forest was an odd sight. But he knew too little about the geography of this other world to reason out the anomaly, so he merely filed it away for now.

A rushing stream ran through the entire Salt Pillar Forest, ending in a clear lake.

Xia Lun had a feeling he would be spending a long time on the island, so he established a rest stop beside the lake.

The sun shone brightly, its warm light filtering through the green canopy to dapple the fallen leaves. Xia Lun caught a live fish in the woods, then lit a campfire beside the lake.

He gathered branches, fallen leaves, and stones, stacked the stones together, laid the branches across them, and spread the leaves over the branches. Then he used tinder to light the wood.

With the stone knife Sister Delis had made, he scaled and gutted the fish, then cut it into tender, translucent slices and roasted them over the fire. Once the paper-thin slices were cooked, he took out his tin of biscuits and enjoyed a delicious lunch.

"If you ignore the high mortality rate, living alone on a deserted island is pretty relaxing." After eating, Xia Lun talked to himself as he wove a hammock. "What a unique life experience."

Once he had finished weaving his hammock among the treetops and left some firewood and tinder behind, he continued