Chapter 51
1137 Words
Stella's face turned red when she finished speaking.
I wanted to tease her more, but Stella dropped her shy demeanor. She bit her lower lip and glared at me fiercely. She looked like she would fight me if I said another word.
Holding back my laughter, I raised my hands in surrender. "Now let's see if what I'm making is indeed a magical device."
I bent a branch, then wrapped it with a rope until it looked like a tennis racket.
"Oh, I get it. Zack, you're making a tennis racket so we can exercise and stay warm, right?" Zoe raised her hand excitedly, her big eyes blinking at me.
Amused by Zoe's innocence, I shook my head and said, "Of course not. But if you ever want to play tennis, I can make a real racket for you."
"I'll show you how it works," I said, tying the rest of the rope securely around the sole of my shoe. I made another one and tied it to my other shoe.
While the other girls still looked puzzled, Mandy nodded and said, "Zack, you're so smart. After the heavy snowstorm, the snow is thick and loose. Walking is tough. Now, with these, we'll be much safer in the snow!"
Seeing the girls' confused faces, I explained, "These snowshoes increase the surface area of my feet by five or six times. According to the principle of pressure distribution, when I walk in them, the pressure on the ground is reduced by the same factor. To put it simply, I was like a needle piercing the snow with every step before this. Now, the needle is no longer sharp, so it won't sink as deep."
I walked out of the cave wearing snowshoes and took a few steady steps in the snow. Although my speed was slower than usual, I didn't sink into the snow. It was much safer than before.
"Zack, you're incredible!" Crystal exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she threw me a flirtatious wink. "If I had a child with you, he would be a genius!"
Although the other girls weren't as straightforward, they all praised me enthusiastically.
Under the girls' admiring and expectant gazes, I took my weapons and tools, layered on several pieces of animal hide, put on my snow jacket, and set off fully armed.
I ventured deep into the jungle, trying to find that hot spring valley. I thought animals might gather there to stay warm, making it easier to find food.
However, the difficulty of finding food and navigating in the blizzard was much greater than I expected.
The howling, cold wind taught me my first lesson. Soon, my face was red and dry from the freezing wind. Each gust, filled with snowflakes, felt like a slap on my face.
More importantly, the dense snowflakes swirling in front of me made my vision blurry, and I could hardly see the road ahead.
It was scarier than darkness. In the dark, I could use fire to light my way, but in a blizzard, torches were useless. Even with snowshoes, I walked very slowly.
In the end, I couldn't find the hot spring valley. I thought it might be because the hot springs were frozen and buried deep underground. Maybe I had already reached my destination, but because everything around me was white, I didn't recognize it.
In this harsh winter, it seemed that all living creatures had vanished. There were no howling wolves or chirping insects. A sense of loneliness surrounded me.
As I looked around, suddenly, about dozens of yards to my southwest, a black shadow flashed by. I widened my eyes and held my breath, looking in the direction where the shadow appeared.
In such a heavy snowstorm, how big must the owner of that shadow be for me to see it from dozens of yards away?
I lay on the snow cautiously and observed carefully. The wind and snow howled in my ears, blocking out any other sounds. I couldn't tell if there were any footprints on the ground.
'What was that fleeting shadow? A beast? Or was I hallucinating?' I couldn't tell for sure. After hesitating for a while, I decided to take the risk and continue deeper into the jungle, hoping to find a chance of survival.
The deeper I went, the more I felt the temperature rising, though the change was not significant.
It made me feel hopeless. The words left by Eva and the shadow that seemed like an illusion kept swirling in my mind. There must be something even more terrifying in the depths of this island.
As I continued on this risky path, I began to question myself. 'Does this make sense? Am I just walking to my death?' I started to feel very depressed.
The further I walked, the more exhausted I got. I reached out to steady myself on a tree, but the trunk trembled slightly. It was clear this wasn't a healthy tree. I punched the trunk hard.
My punch made a hole in the tree. I knew I hadn't turned into Superman; something was wrong with this tree.
I looked into the hole and saw the trunk was hollow. Inside, many white worms were wriggling around. Each worm was about the thickness of a thumb, plump, and very disgusting.
But I laughed out loud in excitement. These were wood borers! High-protein delicacies! I could imagine the girls would be grossed out, but these worms were rare and valuable food for us now.
Our situation was too dire to be picky. Refusing to eat these worms could mean a lack of protein and even starvation. We had no right to be choosy.
I collected all the wood borers from the hole quickly, then searched the nearby tree trunks for more. Eventually, I filled a whole basket and headed back, satisfied.
"Everyone, look what I found. We can have a feast tonight!" As soon as I returned to the cave, I called the girls over excitedly. They watched expectantly as I opened my basket.
A pile of wriggling, white, fat worms fell out in front of them, and they were stunned.
To my surprise, Crystal, usually the boldest, was the most frightened. Her face turned pale as she took several steps back. "Zack, you must be joking! How can we eat these worms?"
"Why can't?" Stella retorted, casting a disdainful glance at Crystal. "These worms are a delicacy in East Asian countries. There are many ways to cook them. Haven't you seen this before?"
Stella had often been outshined by Crystal's boldness, but today she seized the opportunity to mock her.
Stella looked at Crystal provocatively, raising an eyebrow. "I've eaten these many times while traveling. Are you too scared to eat them?"
Her smug look almost made me burst out laughing.
- Writer
