Trembling At A High Altitude

Half an hour later, Li Teng returned with a large bundle of dry firewood.

Then, he went out again.

As if the blizzard outside didn't exist at all.

This time he was gone even longer, almost an hour had passed and there was still no sign of him.

For such a long time, Liu Hui began to wonder if he had gotten lost out there.

Or had encountered some sort of danger.

In such an environment, it was very easy for one to let their thoughts run wild when alone.

Finally, Li Teng returned safely.

This time when he came back, Li Teng had dragged back the rest of the bear corpse.

He was clearly extremely exhausted; the bear corpse was so heavy that he would have needed to rest several times along the way.

"Can we eat that much?" Liu Hui asked Li Teng.

She really hadn't expected him to go out and drag this thing back.

"In a while I'll make a big fire, take off the meat piece by piece, cook it all, and carry it with me, preparing for the possibility that we might not have food for the next few days," Li Teng replied to Liu Hui while using his dagger to cut the bear meat.

Liu Hui said nothing more and squatted down to help Li Teng cut the bear meat.

Although the thought of the bear meat being bitten by zombies, and not just by one, made Liu Hui feel sick,

But Li Teng was right, in the next few days, this might be all they had to eat.

Without food, they would never make it to Point B.

She dared not imagine how much more dangerous the journey would be after passing through Point C, which lay between Point A and B.

Now it was just a fight against zombies, bears, and harsh weather.

But after passing Point C, it would be a struggle against other people.

And even while fighting against people, zombies, wild beasts, and severe weather might not be any less frequent.

When a director and screenwriter swear to kill off a certain actor in a show, it's really hard for the actor to stay alive.

After Liu Hui helped cut the bear meat, Li Teng started making fire by friction.

First, Li Teng found a relatively thick and dry branch, used his dagger to chop off both ends, and shaped it into a flat plank.

Then he found another stick of a harder texture to use as a drill.

Next, he took off his socks, tied the two of them together, attached them to a stick to create a bow, and then wrapped the socks around the previously prepared drill.

Li Teng tore up some pieces of paper into strips and shreds, mixed in some wood shavings scraped off with his dagger, and once everything was ready, he started making fire by friction.

The bow made from socks wasn't very effective, so Li Teng ended up rubbing the drill directly with his hands.

After rubbing vigorously for more than five minutes, he managed to produce some black smoke, but still no spark.

After rubbing vigorously for over five minutes, he finally produced a spark. He quickly placed a slip of paper over it and blew on the spark a few times, but without success.

After two more attempts, Li Teng finally managed to ignite the small piece of paper. He carefully lit other scraps of paper and bits of twigs, and then Li Teng laid some drier twigs on top, bit by bit, until he eventually got the fire going.

"Where did you learn that?" Liu Hui knew about fire ploughing; she had even tried it as a teenager but had given up after failing.

"I learned it from watching short videos before, and there are also detailed descriptions of it in some online novels," Li Teng replied to Liu Hui.

"Is this your first time making fire by friction?"

"Yeah," Li Teng said, watching the fire grow stronger and feeling very happy.

Indeed, it was his first attempt, and he didn't know if he would be successful, but he was. He felt it might have had something to do with the abundance of strength he possessed in his peak state. Without proper tools, he ended up producing the sparks by sheer hand strength in the end, which was very exhausting, and required substantial force.

"Awesome!" Liu Hui gave Li Teng a thumbs up.

As the fire grew, the room gradually warmed up.

But the thick smoke in the room made it hard to keep one's eyes open.

Li Teng had no choice but to open a window to let the cold wind blow in and drive out the smoke.

Of course, with a fire burning in the room, keeping the windows closed would have eventually led to him and Liu Hui succumbing to poisoning and passing out.

He placed some of the thicker logs on the fire, aiming to quickly char them. That would reduce the amount of thick smoke considerably.

After cutting the bear meat into pieces for Liu Hui, Li Teng threaded the sliced bear meat onto some thinner branches and started roasting them over the fire, skewer by skewer.

They also filled a few broken bowls with snow and placed them by the fire; once boiled, they would have hot water to drink.

To avoid ingesting any active zombie virus, they cooked each piece of meat for a long time, making sure it was thoroughly done before eating it.

Both were very hungry, and after cooking two skewers of meat, Liu Hui could not wait, ignoring the fact that the bear meat had been bitten by zombies, and started eating voraciously with Li Teng.

It lacked salt, affecting the taste.

But at that point, they couldn't be too concerned about such things—having something to fill their stomachs was good enough.

"Speaking of bears, I'm reminded of something that happened when I was in my teens," Liu Hui said, looking at the fire and eating the bear meat, beginning to chat with Li Teng.

"Oh?"

"I was quite rebellious at that time and didn't want to go to school. My father was very disappointed in me. In a fit of anger, he spent money to send me to a barracks, where one of his friends helped discipline me. Although the training was very hard, I still had a lot of fun in the beginning."

"Once, we were following our squad leader on a training march, and we passed by a wild mountain. The squad leader told us there was a mother black bear that had recently given birth, and warned us not to get too close to that mountain to avoid being attacked by the bear."

"Back then, there was a new recruit who didn't take the squad leader's words seriously at all."

"He said disdainfully that surely no one would lose to a bear, right? Bears generally don't eat carrion, so I just have to hold my breath and play dead when it comes. Once it turns away, I'll directly put it in a chokehold, lock its hips with my legs, and suffocate it by applying pressure for a minute. Or I could apply a cross lock, and once it's in place it's unsolvable, I'll break its arm and render it powerless—it's at my mercy."

"I remember very clearly the squad leader's expression of being at a loss for words... The squad leader solemnly told him that the rumor about bears not eating dead things had been debunked many times. When bears are hungry, they eat anything, even rotting corpses, so there's no issue with them not eating carrion,"

"Moreover, bears are naturally curious, and they like to thoroughly investigate their prey. Even if they're not hungry, they'll study it. Slapping and licking are their common tactics, and you shouldn't underestimate these moves—one slap can break your bones, and their tongues have barbs that can strip off a layer of skin with meat. Lying there and letting it toy with you, you can imagine the consequence,"

"As for chokeholds and cross locks, the squad leader said, you can consider them when dealing with humans, but trying such combat techniques on a bear with several times your strength is really courting death—I won't stop you if that's what you want..."