"It's too dark, why don't we wait until daytime?"
"It is already daytime now!"
Shen Bing also knew that what Lu Zhe said made sense, but she just couldn't let Lu Zhe go out there alone.
"I'll go with you if you need to go."
Ning Shu said: "That's not okay, you're a national treasure now, let me go instead."
Qian Qian said: "The class monitor is still on her period, so let me go with Lu Zhe, and we can get more stuff too."
Lu Zhe understood they would not feel assured about letting him go out alone.
Might as well go together then, so they can watch out for each other.
"Alright, Qian Qian can come. But it's very cold outside, wear a couple more layers of clothes. Let's also make some raincoats."
"Okay!"
Qian Qian put on a vest and Ning Shu's coat on top.
Lu Zhe used banana leaves to make two simple raincoats, and brought rope, a knife and Ning Shu's backpack before leaving the cave with Qian Qian.
As expected, it was raining much lighter outside now.
According to the meteorological standards, it could only be considered moderate rain now.
There were deep pools of water in some places, and shallow ones in others, but even the shallowest barely covered their ankles.
"Where should we go?"
"I want to get some lemons first for battery reserves, then find some bananas and banana hearts as staple foods, and finally chop some bamboo so we can make tables, chairs and hammocks when we get back."
"Okay!" Qian Qian looked around and said: "But I can't see which way we should go in the dark!"
"I remember the general direction. Let's go this way. Step where I step, okay?"
Qian Qian blushed. "What if I get pregnant like that?"
"Is that even possible?"
"I read in the class monitor's phone earlier that a woman got pregnant just from stepping in a man's footprint."
"That's a myth about Fuxi and Nüwa's parents!"
"I see!"
Qian Qian carefully stepped in Lu Zhe's footprints as she followed behind him.
After half an hour, they arrived at the lemon trees.
The terrain here was somewhat low-lying, with lots of accumulated rainwater. It was neither deep nor shallow - Lu Zhe estimated it would nearly reach his chest.
In the darkness, they could vaguely see many lemons floating in the water. After this storm, there were not many left on the trees.
Lu Zhe happily said: "Fortunately we came at this time. After soaking for two days they'd definitely all be rotten."
"Do we have to swim over there?"
"I can, but can you?"
"I can do it too!"
Could she really?
She'd be completely drenched!
His physique could handle it no problem, but Qian Qian would lose heat quickly.
The system had already provided a solution!
Lu Zhe seemed to smell that familiar scent again.
"Come here, Qian Qian!" Lu Zhe said, hanging the backpack on Qian Qian's chest, "Just pick them and put them in here later."
"Huh?" Before Qian Qian understood what was happening, Lu Zhe lifted her up onto his shoulders, just like when he had picked up Guo Er that time.
"This way you won't get wet."
Qian Qian shyly bit her lip. "I still might..."
"But at least it'll be much better."
After thinking for a bit, Qian Qian asked: "Will there be snakes in the water?"
"Possibly, but they generally won't attack us because they're busy trying to escape too."
As he spoke, Lu Zhe brought Qian Qian into the water with him.
"Oh!" Reassured, Qian Qian started picking up lemons one by one and putting them in the bag.
Suddenly she picked up a heavy one. At first the girl was delighted, thinking it might still be attached to a branch, but when she lifted it out of the water, it turned out to be long and slender instead.
Next, this thing wrapped itself around Qian Qian's arm, and she felt a creepy squirming sensation in her palm.
A snake!
It really was a snake!
"Ah..." Qian Qian let out a scream.
Then Lu Zhe felt a warm sensation on his back.
It actually felt rather comfortable for a moment.
But there was no time to think about that. He quickly steadied Qian Qian and got the snake off her.
"Don't worry, it's a king ratsnake - not venomous! But could you explain why my back feels a little warm?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Qian Qian kept apologizing. Lu Zhe could imagine how red her face must be.
"I'll wash it for you when we get back..."
Lu Zhe sighed. What a thing to happen! But when he thought about it, Qian Qian was voted the cutest girl in school, so maybe it wasn't so hard to accept after all.
As Lu Zhe twisted the snake, he said: "But you were amazing to catch a king ratsnake with your bare hands. You can brag about it to the others for a long time when we get back."
"That was...an accident."
Lu Zhe knotted it into a coil, stuffed it in a plastic bag and tightened the opening: "This is great. We can eat it when we get back. Pack it properly!"
Qian Qian carefully pinched the plastic bag and put it in the backpack.
The two picked some more lemons until both their backpacks were halfway full.
"Let's go find more stuff!"
Soon they arrived at the banana grove. They didn't need to pick them - lots of bananas were already floating on the water after the downpour. Finally they went to the bamboo forest.
After chopping some more bamboo, their mission would be accomplished.
But as soon as they reached the bamboo forest, they heard "gu gu" sounds.
Squeals! Pig squeals!
And there was clearly more than one!
Wild boars!
There were wild boars!
Lu Zhe knew it was very dangerous to encounter wild boars in the wilderness. Old hunters even said boars were second only to bears in terms of danger, and even more perilous than tigers!
Sometimes running into boars could be more hazardous than tigers!
Why?
Because tigers were relatively timid by comparison and wouldn't take risks hunting outside their normal prey. Fire one shot and the tiger would be frightened enough to turn tail and vanish instantly.
Of course, man-eating tigers were an exception. Having tasted the tender, salty human meat, tigers would fall deeply in love with that flavor and might risk attacking again.
But wild boars were different. They didn't attack humans to eat them, but due to innate territorial awareness and aggressiveness. They would charge simply to fight you!
Could bullets penetrate them?
Their skin was too thick and tough, and hunters' guns might not be able to shoot through. And you couldn't run away either, because that would arouse its predatory instincts to chase you down relentlessly. Crucially, wild pigs could run extremely fast, too fast for any human to shake off!
So throughout history, many more hunters had been killed by wild pigs than tigers!
But things should also be examined from both sides!
There were different types of wild pigs.
Some big, some small.
The little wild pigs living on the outskirts of cities, even when fully grown, might only weigh 30-40 jin, around the size of a small water tank. That sort could be caught and taken home to improve their diet.
But what about the ones now?
The most aggressive wild boars usually acted alone, while group-living ones tended to be quite timid.
The little ones were more likely!
He added 10 potential to his perception stat!
Focusing his senses, his vision ahead gradually became clearer in the darkness, though he couldn't smell any boar scent with his nose.
The heavy rain had washed away the boars' smell, but at the same time also concealed his and Qian Qian's scents from them.
Lu Zhe decided to try capturing one to take back if possible.
And just as Lu Zhe was sneaking glimpses of the wild boars with Qian Qian in the dark night, something happened back in the cave too. Shen Bing's lower abdomen suddenly throbbed with intense pain, making her break out in a cold sweat.
The three girls anxiously poured her more hot water and applied hot compresses to her belly, but the pain still could not be alleviated.
Then suddenly, a gush of bloody discharge came out.