Lu Heng packed everything away neatly. A trace of relief had barely crossed his mind when a soft rustle of branches and leaves suddenly came from the woods.
He looked toward the sound, and a creature he had never seen before slowly emerged from behind a tree. It was squat and stocky, covered in short grayish-brown fur, its four stubby limbs planted firmly on the frozen ground. Its back arched slightly, and its blunt, rounded head jutted forward. Beneath the shade, its small eyes gleamed with a cold light. The creature had clearly never seen a human before, and its expression was full of wariness and unfamiliarity.
It did not charge recklessly, instead lowering its body and inching forward. Every two or three steps, it stopped abruptly, its limbs tensed, ears twitching constantly, and nostrils repeatedly sniffing the air. Its gaze swept back and forth over Lu Heng as it cautiously tested the distance.
The noise of opening the chest and sorting supplies had drawn this wild creature out of the woods after all. The smile instantly vanished from Lu Heng's face. His muscles quietly tightened, and he stood rooted to the ground, motionless, his eyes fixed on the creature as he waited to see what it would do.
Lu Heng dared not make any rash moves. He quietly raised his wrist and activated the bracelet, aiming it at the strange beast before him. A pale white screen of light swept over its body, and lines of text appeared.
[Coldland Burrowing Beast] [Grade: ordinary wild beast] [Status: alert, probing, has not attacked] [Habits: omnivorous, suspicious and timid, usually solitary, relies on smell to find food, low aggression, only fights back when cornered]
After reading the description, Lu Heng felt somewhat reassured. This was no ferocious predator. It had merely been attracted by the noise and approached to investigate out of instinctive curiosity.
The Coldland Burrowing Beast opposite him still held its back arched, shifting its short limbs in turn, its steps almost silent. It stopped and turned its head from time to time, nostrils constantly flaring as it carefully distinguished the surrounding scents and sounds. Seeing that Lu Heng remained motionless, it gradually grew bolder and edged several steps closer. Less than ten meters now separated them, and its gleaming eyes remained fixed on the supplies beside his hands.
Lu Heng let his hands hang naturally at his sides, his body rigidly straight. He knew it had only come for food and the strange noise. As long as he did not provoke it or make any extreme movements, it would not readily attack. He quickly considered his options. He neither wanted to waste his strength in a pointless fight nor could he let the wild creature linger and pester him indefinitely.
Lu Heng decided to drive it away himself and end the standoff. He took out the stone axe he carried, abruptly raised his arm, and struck hard at the tree trunk beside him.
With a dull thud, the trunk trembled slightly, and fine wood chips showered down.
The sudden loud noise made the Coldland Burrowing Beast stiffen all over, its forward-leaning body jerking backward. It gave a short, low squeal and dared not linger any longer. Turning around, it pushed off on all fours and plunged into the dense woods, vanishing without a trace in moments.
Only when silence returned to the woods did Lu Heng slowly lower his stone axe, his taut body relaxing a little.
After driving off the burrowing beast, he dared not remain outside for long. Gripping his stone axe and supplies, he hurried back to the cave.
Back at the Shelter, he first put away the purified water, bread, matches, and other items from the treasure chest one by one. Remembering that making a fire was his immediate priority, but concerned that an open flame would easily cause smoke to accumulate in the cramped cave, he decided to prepare the ground and build a dedicated fire pit.
The cave floor consisted of yellowish-brown earth frozen solid over the years, mixed with small pieces of gravel. It was hard, but not as difficult to excavate as the rock walls. He chose a corner near the entrance with the best ventilation and swung his stone axe into the ground again and again.
Dull knocks sounded one after another as the axe blade struck the hard earth. Shallow cracks opened in the compacted soil, and clods mixed with gravel continually broke away. He dug down about half a foot within the area he had marked out, broke apart the protruding clods, and cleared away sharp stones, creating a neat, square depression.
After a short stretch of work, the simple pit took shape. He went outside again to collect flat stones of similar sizes, stacking them in layers around the edge of the pit and fitting them tightly together to build a stone wall a little over half a foot high. The fire pit, which would shield the fire from wind and concentrate its heat, was complete. It could both contain the flames and prevent sparks from igniting the layer of leaves nearby, making things considerably safer.
With the preparations complete, Lu Heng walked to the entrance and gathered dry twigs and the Frostleaf Grass he had identified earlier, laying them in the pit in layers. He lined the bottom with fluffy grass fibers for tinder, arranged thin, dry twigs above them, and added several short pieces of wood in the gaps, deliberately leaving spaces for ventilation.
He took out the waterproof matches and struck one alight. He brought the orange flame close to the Frostleaf Grass, and the dry fibers caught instantly. Small tongues of flame slowly licked the twigs, while smoke drifted out through the cave entrance.
At first, the flames flickered unsteadily, and Lu Heng bent down to rearrange the firewood. Once the pieces of wood were burning thoroughly, steady flames blazed in the pit. Warm air slowly spread, gradually driving out the chill that lingered in the cave.
Watching the dancing firelight, Lu Heng finally felt completely at ease. With a fire, keeping warm, cooking, and boiling the seepage water clean would no longer be problems.
As warmth mingled with the smell of the fire and spread through the cave, hunger suddenly surged in his empty stomach. Lu Heng took out the wild dog meat he had saved and crouched beside the fire pit to cut it with his axe. The frozen ground was hard, and sinews crisscrossed the meat. His movements were hardly practiced, and only after hacking away with effort for a long while did he divide the whole piece into chunks of varying sizes.
After cutting the meat, he walked out of the cave, broke off several straight, thin sticks, and shaved away the side branches and splinters before threading the chunks of meat onto them one by one. He then fetched the White Salt Mugwort he had collected earlier, crushed its stems and leaves, and spread the faintly salty plant fragments evenly over the meat as a makeshift seasoning.
Returning to the cave, he set the skewers above the fire pit. The flames slowly roasted the meat, and fat gradually seeped out, trickling down along its grain. It dripped onto the glowing coals with soft sizzling sounds, and the rich aroma of meat soon filled the entire cave.
While waiting for the meat to roast, he picked up the bottle filled with water that had seeped through the rock and washed the Red Pearl Berries and remaining White Salt Mugwort in the water, one after another. Plants native to this cold region were clean to begin with; they only needed the surface dust rinsed off before they could be eaten directly.
He set the washed plant ingredients aside, planning to eat them raw after finishing the roast meat. Out here in the wilderness, a meal with a staple food, meat, wild greens, and wild fruit all at once was already a rare treat.
His gaze returned to the skewers over the fire. From time to time, he turned the sticks so the meat would heat evenly, quietly waiting for the hot food to be ready.
The aroma of meat grew richer inside the cave. Just as Lu Heng raised his hand to turn a skewer, his ears suddenly caught an unusual sound outside.
It was definitely not the wind stirring plants, but the faint sounds of feet pressing over frozen earth and brushing against dry branches. They approached from far away, the footsteps slow, and he could hear how cautiously the approaching creature moved.
He abruptly stopped moving and cleared his mind of distractions. Holding a skewer steadily in one hand, he turned his body slightly and fixed his eyes on the cave entrance. The firelight illuminated only a small area at the opening. Outside, the night was dark and tree shadows swayed; he could not make out the approaching creature's outline at all.
The strong aroma of meat drifted through the ventilation opening into the woods. Clearly, the scent of food had attracted another woodland creature. Lu Heng held his breath, not daring to make the slightest sound. His other hand quietly reached for the stone axe beside him, his fingers closing tightly around its handle. Every muscle in his body tensed once more as he waited intently for the figure in the darkness to reveal itself.
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