The New Temporary Camp

He observed the veins in the land, and found a relatively flat area where he decided to let everyone rest for a while!

As soon as they heard they could rest, several of the girls were eager to just lie down on the grass.

Seeing the little girls so exhausted, Lu Zhe understood in his heart that carrying so many heavy items while searching for supplies was too inefficient.

He looked around at the surroundings and said, "Let's set up camp here and build some shelters. Everyone can catch up on sleep and rest well!"

Shen Bing asked doubtfully, "Aren't we going to look for a way up the mountain?"

Lu Zhe answered, "Of course we still need to, but wandering aimlessly searching is too inefficient. It's better for us to use this place as a base camp! We can leave the supplies here, two or three people can take some light supplies to search for a way up the mountain, while the others can rest at the camp or dig around to see if we can find underground water! This place matches the characteristics for a fresh water lens in the earth's veins, let's see if we can dig down to it!"

When Tang Xiaoguo heard that Lu Zhe wanted to set up camp here, she was still a little afraid: "But sleeping here, what if we run into ghosts in the middle of the night? So scary!"

Lu Zhe nodded: "That would be great, we might even find some useful survival supplies on the ghosts, or figure out if they themselves could be used for something!"

Ning Shu said, "What could they be used for? To grind flour? We don't have money!"

"Don't rule it out!"

Shen Bing thought for a moment, then said, "I heard my colleague talk about this before - back in the old days, some villages made a living by raiding tombs. After they took all the treasures from the tomb chambers, they would haul the dried corpses back with them too. Guess what they used them for?"

Jiang Yao thought for a bit: "Sell them to archaeological teams for research?"

"They didn't have that kind of awareness."

Tang Xiaoguo asked: "Then what did they use them for?"

Shen Bing lowered her voice mysteriously: "Stake them into the fields as scarecrows to scare away birds. Apparently the results were exceptionally good?"

"Ah?" The few girls' eyes all widened in shock.

Lu Zhe slapped his thigh: "So that means we wasted an important survival resource last night!"

"Ahhh no more of this!"

"Yeah, goosebumps all over!"

...

"But that said..."

Shen Bing also took a closer look around: "There are a lot of banana trees here, so there might really be groundwater!"

The other girls all looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

With unanimous consent, Shen Bing asked: "So Lu Zhe, where should we start digging the well?"

Lu Zhe thought for a bit: "Everyone, no rush on digging the well yet! Let's take a quick break first, then tackle what's in front of us first. I suggest we split into two groups: One group stays here to clear the grass and set up hammocks, build the campsite, get a fire going! The other group can scout the vicinity to see if there is any directly accessible fresh water."

After some discussion, the camp tasks were heavier work so Shen Bing, Jiang Yao, Lin Qianqian and Tang Xiaoguo made up one group to stay and build the campsite. Lu Zhe and Ning Shu would search the nearby area for fresh water and a way up the mountain.

Having removed the heavy packs off their backs, Lu Zhe and Ning Shu both felt much more relaxed!

The two searched a large area around the campsite, only finding some wild vegetables.

Then they went to search the bamboo groves for fresh water, spending two hours combing through a large bamboo forest area before collecting three bottles worth of bamboo pith water.

Ning Shu complained: "Who would've thought fresh water would be so hard to find in the mountains! Do we have to go back to the beach and knock open coconuts?"

"That would be too much work, there are actually ways we can get fresh water, it's just slightly wasteful to do it this way."

"Wasteful?"

Ning Shu was a bit confused.

Lu Zhe walked over to a banana tree, drew out his paratrooper knife, and angled it 45 degrees down to cut a ring around the base of the banana trunk. Before long the entire banana tree was severed.

"Why did you chop down a perfectly good tree?"

"Look here!"

Lu Zhe pointed at the cross section of the severed root base, which had a bowl-shaped indentation, and explained:

"Banana leaves need a lot of moisture, so the roots will absorb water from the ground to replenish the stem and leaves..."

Ning Shu suddenly understood: "I get it, the roots don't know yet that the top is gone, so they'll keep sending water up, and soon fresh water will pool in that hollow?"

"Uh... I don't know how to critique that analogy, but that is actually how it works!"

Ning Shu sighed:

"It's just that destroying a whole banana tree for one bowl of water does seem somewhat wasteful!"

Lu Zhe nodded: "But there's no other way around it, preserving our lives is most important. Besides, there are plenty of other banana trees here, it's no big deal to waste one."

Lu Zhe chopped down another dozen or so banana trees: "We can come collect water from them tonight."

Suddenly, Lu Zhe frowned: "That's weird!"

"What's the matter?"

Lu Zhe checked the severed ends of the banana leaves: "Where did all the bananas go?"

"Could they have not grown in yet?"

"Look here, the peduncles clearly show signs of being plucked already!"

Ning Shu looked around: "Maybe there are monkeys in these woods?"

"Not sure, might also be some kind of bear, or monkeys. We should be vigilant."

Ning Shu's expression turned serious as she nodded in agreement.

After another bit of walking, they discovered another type of plant!

Lemon trees!

A three meter tall wild lemon tree extending out from a low cliff edge. It had over a hundred yellow wild lemons growing on it.

Perhaps because the fruit was too sour, not too many animals paid it any attention, and some had fallen to the ground and started rotting away.

But to Lu Zhe this was just free potential points to collect. Harvesting some is surely no mistake!

"Ding! Gained new vitamin source, +1 potential point."

Ning Shu pried one open and bit right into it, immediately scrunching her eyes closed at the intense sourness.

Seeing her disheveled state, Lu Zhe couldn't help but sigh: "Doesn't seem too bright."

"I'm also trying to sample hundred plants like Shennong, making sacrifices for the greater good!"

"Oww so sour!"

"These can be soaked in honey water to supplement vitamin C. The leaves make for a unique flavored tea. It's a pity we don't have enough fresh water at the moment, otherwise goes well paired with fish too. Let's collect some to take back! I estimate the fire's going by now."

Ning Shu gathered all the scattered lemons off the ground into one plastic bag. In her words, they would just rot away here anyway, might as well bring them back to use.

This trip could be considered a bountiful harvest.

Upon returning to the campsite, the other three girls had cleared most of the wild grass here already!

But they discovered Shen Bing using a simple bow drill trying to start a fire by friction.

Lu Zhe was quite puzzled: "Sis Bing, what's the situation? Isn't there an easier method?"

Shen Bing gave an embarrassed bitter laugh: "That one broke!"

"Broke? How?"

Shen Bing handed the item over - it was the condom, now ripped with a big hole!

She then helplessly sighed: "I was being real careful with it too...this is my bad..."

Lu Zhe gave the rubber a light tug. He noticed the latex no longer had the same elasticity as when freshly opened, the material had also become much more brittle. It was bound to break sooner or later!

He chuckled indifferently: "Can't blame you at all, this isn't something meant to be reusable. Each use weakens its elasticity and tensile strength bit by bit, so breaking down is normal."

Then he caught a whiff of something peculiar: "Hmm, what's that smell on it?"

"Nothing!"

Shen Bing's face flushed red in embarrassment as she hastily snatched it back: "Let's just toss it out!"

"Here, let me start the fire instead!"

"No need, getting a fire going is my responsibility. I will definitely have one lit by nighttime."

Lu Zhe felt that since she was so adamant about it, he should let her handle it. After all they were a team, needing to trust each other right?

Besides, if she could get a fire going, it would be one less thing for him to worry about!

Jiang Yao asked: "Did you find any fresh water?"

"Got a little!"

Lu Zhe set his backpack down, taking out three bottles of water, a pile of wild vegetables, and a whole bag of lemons.

"What's with gathering so many lemons?"

Ning Shu said: "No clue, but what if they come in handy!"

Lu Zhe thought for a bit: "We still have decent reserves of rations, let's fill our stomachs a bit first. I'll go chop some bamboo, after we eat let's build some shelters."