Chapter 9: Hope and Disappointment
"I really don't understand why the people of the island country like to eat sashimi so much, is it because of the ingredients?"
The bamboo raft was still moving down the river, and Liu Xiu sat on it and muttered to himself with a melancholy expression.
He wanted to vomit after eating a meal of raw fish and meat, and he gritted his teeth and swallowed it when he thought that he was going to use this thing to survive.
However, when he thought that he would have to eat raw fish and meat next, Liu Xiu suddenly felt that there was nothing to love.
The sky was dark, and he used to fix the bamboo raft in the center of the river for the night, but I don't know why, Liu Xiu felt uncomfortable this night, was it because he didn't have the 'company' of the black wolf?
Although he was safe, Liu Xiu's heart was empty......
The next day, Liu Xiu cheered up and continued on the road, and then he was not so leisurely, after eating the dried fish, he had to catch fish in the river now to fill his stomach, fortunately, with the skill of stabbing the fish with a bamboo pole again and again, he became more and more handy in catching fish in the future, at least he didn't have to worry about his stomach.
The river under his feet seems to have no end, this is the fourth day, Liu Xiu's heart is sinking little by little, he doesn't know if he can get out of this primeval forest, and he doesn't know if he can find the same kind, the reason why he is still insisting is just the obsessive-compulsive disorder in his heart.
Hold on for another day, and if you don't see any hope, go back......
He said silently in his heart, after all, it was too far away from the cave, and it would take more time to go back, although he didn't encounter any other dangers except for the black wolf in the river, but the roar of the beast from time to time in the jungle in the distance still made him feel a chill in his heart.
It was only on the other side of the cave that he could feel a sense of security.
The salt crisis, judging from the current situation, I am afraid that we will have to find another way......
Liu Xiu clenched his fists, although the practice of nameless body cultivation was still steadily increasing, but the feeling of being powerless became stronger and stronger.
Under normal circumstances, if a person can exert ten points of strength, now he can only exert eight points of strength at most, and as time passes, without salt supplementation, this feeling of weakness will become more and more serious.
In the blink of an eye, it was another day, and on the premise of not seeing the slightest hope, even if Liu Xiu was a little obsessive-compulsive, he was about to stick to the limit, and he decided that if he still couldn't see hope before dark, he would go back after a night's rest.
There is no way to do this, and it is probably useless to continue to move forward.
However, often many times the surprise comes so suddenly, Liu Xiu, who was sitting on the bamboo raft and was bored, originally looked ahead with blank eyes, and in a trance he was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked at the riverbank on the right.
He just looked at a place so directly, the bamboo raft had crossed one or twenty meters, and he only picked up the bamboo pole and rowed to the shore, staring at it deadly, Liu Xiu trembled with excitement.
There are no villages, no cities, not even living people on the shore, it is still a primeval forest, but Liu Xiu saw a skeleton!
It was human bones, and he couldn't be mistaken.
Having human bones proves that there are the same kind of people in this world, and seeing human bones in this position proves that you are not far from human society, and your persistence for five days has not been in vain!
Although he was excited to see the bones, Liu Xiu forced himself to calm down, carefully looked around, even if he was sure that there was no danger, he did not rush ashore, but parked the bamboo raft about five meters away from the shore to look at the skeleton, so that even if there was an emergency, he could make timely responses.
Looking at the bones up close, Liu Xiu's heart became more and more excited.
The skeleton is less than three meters from the shore, I don't know how long it has existed, but it has some blackened skeletons, and the skeleton is not complete, judging from the place where the bones are broken, this person should have been killed by some kind of beast, and even his flesh was eaten by the beast, because some broken bones were scattered around.
Seeing the tragic condition of the bones, Liu Xiu once again realized the horror of this forest.
There were some pieces of clothing scattered on and around the bones, and the fabric looked rather rough, a bit similar to the linen cloth in Liu Xiu's memory, which was enough to show that the dead man was not a wild man, but a normal civilization.
There was also a bow and a few arrows next to the bones, I don't know how long it had been, the bows and arrows had rotted, even the iron arrows had rusted into slag, and there was an iron knife on the side that did not escape the fate of rusting into slag.
"Bows and arrows, iron knives, sackcloth, nothing else, I can't see the slightest shadow of high technology, is this world still in the age of cold weapons? Further confirmation is needed......"
His mind flickered, Liu Xiu looked at it for half an hour before he rowed the bamboo raft downstream from the center of the river, his mood was excited, since there were human bones, then he was not far from human civilization.
Without going ashore, firstly, it was impossible to be sure of the safety around the shore, and secondly, there was nothing of value to be obtained from the bones, and the iron arrowheads and iron knives were rusted into slag, no different from the earth, and it was impossible to even rebuild them.
With hope in his heart, Liu Xiu is not ready to go back, even if it takes another five days, he will go to human civilization.
However, God played a big joke on him.
Almost five hours after he left the skeleton, his face changed when he looked at the front of the river, and then he had to stop the raft.
Wanting to cry without tears is enough to describe Liu Xiu's mood at this time, a hundred and ten meters in front of him, the river disappeared so abruptly, of course, it did not disappear out of thin air, but a fault appeared in the ground in front of him, and the river formed a straight waterfall downward.
I couldn't go any further, and there was a deafening roar from below the waterfall, and if I carried it headlong, it would definitely be a broken fate.
The sight crossed the waterfall, until the end of the line of sight, there was no scene of human civilization, and then look at both sides of the waterfall, you can vaguely see the steep cliffs, the drop is probably a hundred meters up!
There's no way ahead......
It's not impossible to take a detour, but how far does it have to be? And in the jungle of crisis, can you really find human civilization alive? What's more, there is no shadow of human civilization at all, God knows how long it will take, and it is not worth taking this risk with your life.
"I can only go back, find a way to solve the salt problem, and next time I must be fully prepared, even if I take a detour down the cliff to find the ...... of human civilization"
Looking at the fault in front of him, Liu Xiu gritted his teeth, and could only turn the bamboo raft around with unwillingness.
In fact, for him, it is a trivial matter to take a detour or not, and it is great to spend some more time, but the problem is security, and in his current state, he has no hope of finding human civilization alive.
For the surrounding forest, Liu Xiu's heart was full of awe.
Subconsciously shook his fist, Liu Xiu felt that it should not be too long before he came here next time, because he practiced the nameless body cultivation technique every day, and his physique was still growing steadily, if he continued like this, at most, in two months, he would take me through the forest to find human civilization, provided that there was no beast that made him irresistible to despair.
A few days ago, he was able to lift a stone the size of a grinding plate with no effort, but now, Liu Xiu felt that he could easily walk with one hand raised......
"Two months, two months at most, I have a great hope of finding human civilization......"
Liu Xiu's heart was full of unwillingness but helplessness, he clearly saw hope, but nature stifled his hope.
The way back is just as boring, but because you know where you want to go back, you won't be as confused as you were when you came.
Two days after the return, Liu Xiu actually saw the black wolf again, and when he saw the other party, Liu Xiu inexplicably felt a strange sense of intimacy in his heart......
"Are you waiting for me? Anyway, wolves are very grudgeful, but I don't seem to offend you......" Looking at the black wolf on the shore, Liu Xiu chattered in his mouth.
Next, Liu Xiu continued to swim upstream, and the black wolf on the shore stubbornly stared at him and followed.
With the black wolf's 'company', Liu Xiu is not bored, talking to each other along the way, saying everything, at first he said everything from all over the world, but in the end he really couldn't find anything to say, Liu Xiu began to talk about it when he was a child, anyway, it didn't understand, and there was no possibility of leaking.
However, after three days like this went on again, Liu Xiu couldn't be happy, because in one more day at most, he would return to the cave, which meant that he was going to go ashore, and it happened that the side where the black wolf was was where he went ashore......
"So, do you always have to fight with this black wolf?" As he got closer and closer to the cave, Liu Xiu's face never got better, and his mood sank into a trough.
The only expectation is that the black wolf can't insist on leaving in the end, just like when he came, but seeing the black wolf stubbornly following all the way, Liu Xiu feels that there is little hope for it to take the initiative to leave.
Touching the stone axe on his waist, Liu Xiu looked at the black wolf on the shore and a trace of madness flashed in his eyes, with his current physique, it is not impossible to overturn the other party!
"It's okay if you leave like this, if you still follow me until I go ashore, then don't blame me for being unkind, I gave you a chance and didn't know how to cherish it, and then I only blamed you for knowing too much......"
Looking at the black wolf muttering to himself, Liu Xiu knew that he could only fight hard as a last resort, don't look at him as only thirteen or fourteen years old, but he is not a weak chicken now.
It's just that Liu Xiu has never fought with the life of a beast, and he has a natural fear of beasts in his heart, especially a ferocious creature like a wolf, which can only kill people.
Before experiencing it, no one was born a warrior, even if Liu Xiu is not his original self now, he still has no bottom in his heart.
It's one thing to work hard, it's another thing to be able to do it, and it doesn't conflict with the innate fear of ferocious beasts in your heart.
In such a tense atmosphere, after a few days, Liu Xiu had already seen the lake at the foot of the mountain from afar.
And the black wolf still stubbornly followed the shore, with a pair of green eyes coldly facing Liu Xiu......