Frost Forest

Shrubs tangled through the woods, their unruly branches blocking the way ahead. Lu Heng kept swinging his stone axe, hacking out a narrow path by sheer force.

Thorns bristled along the path, repeatedly pricking his arms and the backs of his hands. Beads of blood seeped from the tiny wounds. He gritted his teeth against the stinging pain and kept inching forward.

A dust-covered treasure chest suddenly appeared ahead. Delight overwhelmed his physical pain. Without giving traps or other hidden dangers any thought, he bent down, dragged the chest onto level ground, and lifted the lid.

Several things lay inside: two dry, hard European-style loaves, two bottles of unlabeled mineral water, and a stone axe identical to the one in his hand. A thin booklet rested quietly on top.

Lu Heng reached out and touched the booklet. Its pages instantly glimmered, dissolving into a stream of data that flowed into his wristband. A new guide immediately unlocked on the wristband interface-the Frost Forest Plant Guide.

He stared at the guide's name, puzzled. So this woodland was called Frost Forest?

His gaze returned to the stone axe in the chest, and Lu Heng relaxed. The axe in his hand already bore plenty of wear. Now that he had a spare, he would no longer have to worry about wear and tear when felling trees or chopping firewood. Even if one broke, he had a replacement. The hard bread and clean water sat beside it, just what he needed to ease his stomach troubles and far safer than raw meat.

Looking at the hard bread before him, Lu Heng instinctively swallowed, his mouth watering. First, he stored the mineral water, the other loaf, and the spare stone axe in his wristband's storage space, leaving out only this hard baguette.

He tried breaking it with his hands, but the bread was dense and hard and would not budge. Left with no choice, he picked up his stone axe and carefully chopped the loaf in half. He put one half into his storage space and kept only the other in his hand.

Next, he took out a few Red Pearl Berries and squeezed them until they burst. Their sweet-tart juice soaked into the bread's dry, cracked surface. He spread the pulp evenly over it as well. Moistened by the juice, the rock-hard bread finally softened a little.

Lu Heng eagerly took a large bite and chewed slowly. The discomfort from days of eating cold, raw meat still lingered in his stomach and intestines. This warm, sweet-tart food eased both his tense body and mind considerably.

After a few mouthfuls of bread, he gradually began to feel full. With berry juice soaking through it, the bread did not stick in his throat, but the dry, hard staple still drew away a good deal of moisture, leaving his throat slightly dry.

He looked around, but there were no streams or puddles in the frozen woodland, no natural water source to be found. Lu Heng had no choice but to take out a bottle of unlabeled mineral water. He tipped his head back and drank more than half of it before the dryness finally disappeared.

After resting a moment, he remembered the guide he had just unlocked, and his interest stirred at once. He looked up at the vegetation growing thickly around him, raised his hand to open his wristband, and brought up the Frost Forest Plant Guide, comparing and identifying the plants one by one.

- Green-Stemmed Cogongrass: short, slender plants with bright green stems and leaves growing in clumps. The guide marked it as nontoxic. Its tender stems could be eaten raw, tasted slightly astringent, and could temporarily stave off hunger.

- Purple-Spotted Bellflower: bell-shaped flowers with tiny purple spots scattered across the petals. The guide explicitly identified it as poisonous. Contact with its sap could easily cause redness, swelling, and itching. Touching or eating it was strictly prohibited.

- Round-Leaved Creeping Vine: grew close to the ground, with rounded, fleshy leaves. Nontoxic, with mild-tasting, drinkable juice. Its crushed leaves could also slightly relieve stinging skin.

- Red-Bearded Grass: had threadlike, scarlet roots and grew on shaded slopes. Highly poisonous. Accidental ingestion would cause severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. It was incompatible with his current physical condition and had to be given a wide berth.

Lu Heng memorized their features one by one, silently counting himself lucky. Without this guide, knowing absolutely nothing as he did, he probably would already have fallen victim to something if he had picked and eaten plants at random. He gathered his thoughts and swept his gaze across the woods again. With this resource to rely on, he could feel much more at ease gathering supplies.

Lu Heng selectively gathered a good amount of Green-Stemmed Cogongrass and Round-Leaved Creeping Vine, sorting them into his wristband for emergencies. Once everything was put away, he tightened his grip on his stone axe and continued slowly into the dense forest. His eyes searched in every direction, intent on finding a sturdier, safer Shelter.

The light in the woods was dim, and a thick layer of dead branches and leaves rustled underfoot. He was looking down at the terrain on either side when his gaze passed over a coil of grayish-brown markings at the base of a tree. His whole body abruptly stiffened.

That was not tree bark at all!

A short, thick-bodied snake lay coiled in the shadow of the roots. Its coloring blended almost perfectly with the surrounding soil and dead bark, providing exceptionally clever camouflage. Had his gaze not happened to pass over it, it would have been almost impossible to notice. Its head was distinctly triangular, and it looked very much like the five-step vipers he had heard about.

Lu Heng's heart clenched. A chill shot up his spine to the top of his head, and he instinctively stumbled two steps backward, his breathing instantly quickening. In his previous life, he had long heard of these venomous snakes' fearsome reputation. Their bites were particularly prone to festering, earning them the name "King of Rotting Feet." Here in the deserted Frost Forest, with neither an antidote nor any means of treatment, the consequences of a careless bite were all too easy to imagine.

Fear gripped him tightly, and his hands and feet trembled slightly. Not daring to make any movement that might disturb the snake, he stood rooted to the spot and stared fixedly at it, barely daring to breathe.

A layer of cold sweat instantly broke out across Lu Heng's back, while a sense of utterly absurd bewilderment welled up inside him.

This was clearly a frozen wasteland swept by bitter winds!

By all rights, snakes should not have been able to survive in such a bitterly cold environment. Yet this highly venomous snake lay coiled in the shadow of the roots, so real that it made his scalp prickle, completely overturning his common understanding.

The sheer incongruity left his mind blank for a moment.

Not daring to provoke the snake, he kept his body taut and touched his toes lightly to the ground, retreating little by little, extremely slowly, to put a safe distance between them.

Once he had backed several meters away, his fear faded slightly, replaced by intense wariness and lingering dread.

Lu Heng's gaze darkened.

This Frost Forest would be the main area where he would spend his time, gather supplies, and search for a Shelter over the long term. A lethally venomous snake with such effective camouflage could hide silently in the shadows, impossible to guard against.

He had only spotted it today because he was lucky.

If he let his guard down in the future while traveling, foraging, or repairing his Shelter, and it suddenly ambushed him with a bite, he would certainly die in this desperate place with neither doctors nor medicine.

This was a danger he absolutely could not leave alone!

At that thought, Lu Heng hesitated no longer. He looked around and searched along the edge of the woodland until he finally found a thick, long wooden stick, thoroughly dry and hard. He hefted it twice. It had enough weight and was sufficiently sturdy.

He gripped the stick, suppressed the lingering fear in his heart, held his breath, and focused. Slowly turning around, he approached the lurking venomous snake again, preparing to eliminate this deadly threat once and for all.

Lu Heng tightened his grip on the thick stick and slowly advanced with light footsteps.

In the shadow of the roots, the venomous snake remained quietly coiled, never shifting an inch. Its triangular head was slightly raised, its forked tongue flicking in and out repeatedly, its gaze fixed firmly in his direction.

He recalled videos he had watched before. Snakes of this kind preferred to stay still and habitually used their surroundings to conceal themselves. Unless faced with immediate danger, they would never readily flee.

A chill crept up his spine. Lu Heng gripped the wooden stick tightly in both hands, his body rigid with tension, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the snake.