Discovering the Bear Cave

June 27th, the 18th day stranded on the deserted island!

Just before this, they had just obtained a big bear and gained some supplies from the bear's body.

Bear gallbladder, bear skin, and the sturdy shin bones on the bear legs.

As for the bear meat, it seemed no one but Lu Zhe could stand that strange smell.

Early in the morning, four greedy little girls were already dizzy and disoriented by the peculiar meat smell.

"Oh my god, how could there be such disgusting meat in the world!"

"Too unpalatable!"

"It hasn't been soaked in urine, has it?!"

"No, Guo'er's urine smell would still be more acceptable than this."

"Qianqian, could you not mention that?"

"Sorry..."

"Lu Zhe, what on earth is going on?"

Lu Zhe rubbed his eyes: "This is the innate smell of bear meat. If you ignore the smell, its nutritional value is actually quite abundant."

"Still a bit hard to accept!"

"You find it hard to accept because your diet has been decent recently. If you starve for three to five days, you would find it quite tasty when you eat it again."

Ning Shu looked around: "The big bear really has been disposed of by you guys, leaving only a skin and four paws?"

Jiang Yao added: "And some bony sticks."

"Yeah, took some effort, but we finally got it done. Don't disturb me, I need a good sleep!"

"Okay, you sleep. But what should we do today?"

"Gather more firewood and dig a well, as deep as possible."

"Where to dig?"

"Where Guo'er is sitting will work! Oh, be cautious of bears and other beasts..."

Ning Shu waved half a trenching shovel: "I understand the rest, you guys go get some sleep."

Lu Zhe and Shen Bing both got on their hammocks, covered their eyes with tattered clothes, and continued napping.

Lu Zhe got up again at noon to see how his beloveds were doing.

The few girls were covered in dirt, almost becoming mud figures, but the results were remarkable—they did dig out a deep pit.

How deep?

When Tang Xiaoguo stood straight, barely revealing half of her little forehead, Lu Zhe immediately knew that this pit was probably about 1.5 meters deep.

"Quite unexpected, you actually dug so deep!"

Ning Shu kneaded her shoulders: "We took turns digging, almost digging ourselves to death. Little cave, why is there still no water?!"

"Let me go down and take a look!"

Lu Zhe pulled Tang Xiaoguo up and jumped down himself.

After carefully examining the wall structure, there were volcanic components as well as coral components, theoretically meeting the conditions for forming a freshwater lens body.

He squatted down to inspect the soil quality below, forcefully pinched a small piece of soil residue from the bottom of the pit, flattened the residue, and his fingers were actually a little wet.

He was extremely delighted—his judgment was correct!

"You girls did well. As long as you keep digging down, water will definitely come out!"

Jiang Yao said, "Alright then, little brother Lu Zhe you come back up, your hand is injured, leave the rest to us."

Shen Bing said: "You all take a break too, I'll dig for a while!"

Lu Zhe nodded: "Then I'll leave the glorious yet arduous task of digging the well to you all. I'm going to look around nearby and keep searching for a way up the mountain peak."

Lin Qianqian wondered: "If we dig fresh water here, is it still necessary to climb up the peak?"

"Of course it's necessary. Even if we can obtain freshwater here, it may not be sufficiently stable for long term use and could turn brackish over time.

And being too close to the mountain body, torrential rain could make this place extremely dangerous. So even with water, it is still not a perfect campsite."

The girls nodded.

Shen Bing said: "You're injured—it's even more dangerous for you to go alone. It's best if two people go with you for safety."

"What about the camp work..."

"We can dig the well slowly. We still have campfires to ward off beasts, don't worry!"

She looked around: "Big sister Ning is having her period, Guo'er is also exhausted from digging just now. Qianqian, Yao Yao, go with Lu Zhe."

"Don't worry, Bing sister."

"The camp is in your hands!"

"Got it!" With two sisters accompanying, it wouldn't be boring for Lu Zhe. There might really be times they could help.

The three coated themselves with mosquito repellent herbs, took stone knives, parachute cord, trench knives, and a few water bottles before entering the woods again, continuing to search along the mountainside.

Twenty minutes into trekking through the woods, they accidentally discovered a cave.

The mouth of this cave was over 5 meters high from the ground.

There were rocks beside it that could be climbed up.

From the smell diffusing from the interior, Lu Zhe judged that this was likely a bear cave!

Malayan bears don't hibernate, and though black bears originating from the north no longer hibernate when they migrate south, they retain the habit of shelter caves.

He wondered if this was the old nest of the bear they killed.

Lu Zhe wanted to go take a look.

With his previous physique, he would never have dared to venture exploring a bear cave.

But now with the system's enhancements, he had confidence to respond to contingencies.

"You two wait down here, I'll climb up to take a look!"

"Lu Zhe, too dangerous. What if this is another bear's cave?"

"Don't worry, I have means to handle it. You two wait here as backup."

"Be extremely careful!"

"Got it!"

Lu Zhe clamped the trench knife in his mouth, climbed up the nearby rocks, and carefully popped his head out.

The cave was empty with some weeds on the ground, but the smell was quite strong, somewhat like a zoo.

Perhaps a natural cave that was occupied by a bear who expanded it and made its home here.

Jump in and take a look!

Lu Zhe discovered the cave entrance was oval-shaped vertically, about 1.5 meters tall and less than 1 meter wide.

Just right for the bear to stoop and enter. The cave was very shallow, roughly 3 meters deep only.

The smell inside wasn't as heavy as imagined. Quite a lot of black fur was discovered among the weeds, very similar to the bear they killed.

It was highly likely its nest.

The smell would slowly dissipate after being vacant for some time.

It could serve as a temporary shelter during certain occasions.

Nothing eye-catching.

Lu Zhe jumped out from the cave mouth, landing in front of the two girls.

"How was it?"

Lu Zhe shook his head: "Very likely it was the old home of that bear we killed."

Jiang Yao nodded: "Looks like papa bear is not home."

"Cartoons always lie. Bears don't live in groups. Two adult male bears would never coexist!"

Lin Qianqian tilted her head and asked: "What about two mama bears?"

Lu Zhe sighed: "Be a bit more normal Qianqian. One male and one female bear don't stay together either."

"How do they make babies then?"

"You can say during mating season, they meet up once, then each goes on their own way. Only when the baby bears are underage would the mama bear live together with them."

Jiang Yao nodded: "More weird knowledge gained."

"Let's go. Found the bear's nest—there may be a water source nearby."

The three continued forward along the mountainside. After less than 10 minutes, they really discovered traces of a water source.