Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 230: All Flooded

The two people walked at a relatively fast pace, each carrying a new bamboo basket, which still had a hint of bamboo fragrance.

They arrived at their destination smoothly, without encountering any wild beasts along the way.

They did come across several goats and rabbits, but didn’t take any action. At noon, they didn’t plan to cook anything to eat—eating some smoked meat was more convenient.

Their satchels contained enough jerky for both of them to eat for three days.

Their previous experience taught them to prepare extra jerky to cope with unexpected situations.

Upon reaching their destination, they started cutting flax and bundling it.

They managed to cut eight bundles before preparing to head back.

On their way back, Xu Yi and Lu Ke encountered a flock of wild chickens. Promptly, they took action and shot three, leaving them both ecstatic.

The taste of wild chicken was something they both missed dearly.

They returned to the camp shortly after one o’clock.

"Xu Yi, are we going out again this afternoon?" Lu Ke asked Xu Yi after putting down the flax.

"We’re not going out. Let’s stay at the camp and process the flax. We need to make some rope and set up some snares." Saying this, even if they went out in the afternoon, they wouldn’t go far.

So, he decided not to go out.

There’s plenty to do at the camp.

For instance, setting up the lower fence, making clay for bricks, or tearing flax fibers.

Xu Yi made the decision, and Lu Ke felt she could just follow his lead.

So, she untied the flax, tore the fibers away from the flax stalk.

Xu Yi and Lu Ke together worked swiftly.

In one afternoon, they ripped apart six bundles of flax; they could finish the remaining two bundles in the evening.

Thus, after dinner, Xu Yi took the Engineer Shovel to start digging a water pit.

If everything went well, by night they could crush the flax stalks and soak them. In no time, they’d be making new paper.

By past eight in the evening, Lu Ke and Xu Yi had finished stripping all the flax fibers.

Lu Ke then took a machete to cut the flax into small sections, while Xu Yi was responsible for crushing them and throwing them into the pond to soak.

They couldn’t finish it all in one night, so they didn’t rush the process.

"Xu Yi, it’s raining." Just back upstairs ready to sleep, Lu Ke heard the rain and mentioned it to Xu Yi.

"Yes, not the best timing." Xu Yi looked helplessly, then scooped out the newly soaked flax stalks in the water pit with the main basket.

"What’s wrong? Aren’t we soaking them anymore?" Lu Ke was puzzled seeing Xu Yi taking the flax stalks out.

"It’s raining; I’m worried it will flood the pit overnight, wasting our effort." Xu Yi explained, then packed the unground stalks into another two baskets. After all, a previous basket woven from umbrella tree bark wasn’t discarded and was still good for holding things.

Once packed, Xu Yi placed them outside the stilt house’s corridor.

The ones that couldn’t fit, he arranged them along the corridor.

Since there was no wind, Xu Yi wasn’t worried they’d be blown away.

After sorting everything, the rain outside grew heavier, as if the sky had been punctured.

Luckily, their roof passed the test without leaking.

"Xu Yi, the rain is so heavy. Will our forest be flooded?" Lu Ke, not yet asleep, listened to the heavy rain and voiced her concern.

"That’s improbable; to flood the forest, it would take several days and nights of such rainfall. Typically, such heavy rain should not last long." Xu Yi assured, adding some firewood to the fire.

Inside the stilt house, there was abundant firewood; even if it rained for days and nights, there was enough to use.

"Hopefully, when morning arrives, the rain will have stopped. Honestly, I really don’t like rainy days now." Lu Ke said, shifting her gaze away from Xu Yi.

"Indeed, when it rains, everything is wet, and if it’s sunny the next day, it feels like a sauna. Very uncomfortable." Xu Yi replied, sitting on the bed and lying down.

Lu Ke was somewhat surprised; she thought Xu Yi would wait until she fell asleep before lying down.

After all, over the past two months, Xu Yi had been doing this consistently.

Lu Ke originally thought she would be very tense, but she didn’t feel that way; she calmly watched Xu Yi.

Xu Yi didn’t turn around; he lay down and closed his eyes.

Listening to the rain outside, he quickly fell asleep.

Lu Ke stayed awake for a while longer before falling asleep.

The rain continued all night.

When Xu Yi woke the next day, the sound of heavy rain still dominated outside.

Lu Ke wasn’t indoors but was sitting outside on the corridor.

"System, check in."

Xu Yi completed his 67th day of check-in and then got up.

"The water is really deep now." Xu Yi remarked upon checking the door and noticing the deep accumulation of water.

"Yes, it’s probably over half a meter now. If this continues, it could get deeper." Lu Ke had been awake for a while, and unable to lie around, she stepped out to watch the rain.

"With everything soaked this much, making clay has become somewhat easier." Xu Yi mused, looking skyward without knowing what to say.

"Thank goodness you brought the bricks up last night, or they’d have turned to mush." Lu Ke thankfully noted, glad Xu Yi moved items to the corridor the previous night, avoiding significant loss.

"Though I expected water to accumulate, I didn’t predict it would be this severe. In such conditions, creating our earth kiln is quite impractical; it would just soak away in a downpour like this." Xu Yi suddenly doubted if setting up a new camp in this forest was a wise decision.

This vast forest’s drainage was really subpar, with water flooding after one night of rain. If it went on longer, wouldn’t it reach two meters deep?

Such flooding would inevitably drown most animals in the forest.

This thought made Xu Yi shake his head, recalling instances of consecutive days of rain before.

If so, wouldn’t there be fewer animals in this forest?

He figured there should be areas of relatively higher elevation in this forest.

For instance, the upstream area of the creek.

How else to explain the quantity of animals in this forest?

At half a meter deep, rabbits and mice would surely drown or freeze.

Could he and Lu Ke be forced to relocate again?

Xu Yi shook his head, thinking relocation would waste too much time.

Such heavy rain was rare, not a frequent occurrence.

Just as he was brooding, Lu Ke suddenly screamed.