After walking for an entire day, the two of them were already exhausted. Once everything was done,
the two spread out the Wild Boar Skin, sat down, and started to rest.
As for Han Pi and the Sand Eagle, one lay beside the campfire, the other perched on a nearby tree branch—one above, one below, one to the left, one to the right—sandwiching Qin Tian and Ye Lin in the middle.
With Han Pi and the Sand Eagle around, if anything happened at night, Qin Tian would know immediately through their reactions.
As the sky gradually darkened, the temperature also dropped. Luckily, covered with Wild Boar Skin, Qin Tian and Ye Lin didn’t feel very cold.
Ever since building the Camp, Qin Tian and Ye Lin hadn’t camped out in the Forest like this again. But after spending so long on this Deserted Island, they had already grown used to the company of the Forest. With their ample preparations, the two didn’t feel afraid; instead, they found it all rather novel.
“I never expected the Sand Eagle to fly such a long distance every day just to hunt.” Ye Lin sighed as she ate dried pork.
The average human walking speed is about four kilometers per hour. Walking at this pace, one can keep going for ten hours in a day. At maximum, a person could walk forty kilometers in a day.
But since she and Qin Tian were carrying things, and walking through the woods to boot, their speed was somewhat slower. Even so, they must have covered at least thirty kilometers today. In other words, thirty li—this was basically foraging across entire cities.
“We’re using our legs; there’s no way we can compare to something with wings.” Qin Tian couldn’t help but laugh.
A single dive from the Sand Eagle easily covers a thousand meters. Compared to the Sand Eagle, this was a joke.
“That’s true.” Ye Lin let the topic drop. “Come to think of it, this Deserted Island is really too big. We walked for a whole day, and we’re still in the Forest.”
“The bigger, the better. The bigger it is, the easier it is to find.” Qin Tian nodded in agreement, though he was thinking something else entirely.
Just as Ye Lin said, this island really was a bit too big.
You know, back home, if you wanted to walk a circle around their Town, it’d take just three or four hours. But this Forest—they’d walked for an entire day and still hadn’t reached the end. One could only imagine how vast the Forest was.
And with a Forest this big, just think about the Deserted Island that held it—
Logically speaking, an island this size should be easy for someone to find. But after all this time, the Search and Rescue Team still hadn’t found them. It was truly strange.
Still, after living on this island for so long, Qin Tian had gotten used to it. Now, his mindset was simply to make peace with wherever he ended up, and he wasn’t especially focused on getting rescued.
After chatting for a while longer, Qin Tian drifted off to sleep.
Even with Han Pi and the Sand Eagle standing guard, Qin Tian still didn’t feel entirely at ease. So tonight, the two of them continued to take shifts keeping watch.
The night passed in peace.
***
The Forest was thick with moisture. As soon as the sun came up, a white mist shrouded the woods. Even sitting around the campfire, Qin Tian and Ye Lin could feel the humidity in the air.
Because of this, after waking, Qin Tian and Ye Lin didn’t hurry to set off. They waited until the mist had mostly dispersed before starting their journey.
This time, Qin Tian and Ye Lin walked for another half day. Near noon, they keenly noticed that the trees around them were getting sparser and shorter.
All of this indicated that they had reached the edge of the Forest.
Realizing this, the two immediately quickened their pace. By noon, they had finally emerged from the woods.
But when they saw the scene before them, both were stunned. In the distance, towering mountains stretched endlessly. Closer by was a vast expanse of rolling hills and plains.
Such a dramatic change made Qin Tian and Ye Lin instinctively wonder if they’d somehow leaped to another place.
“Is this really an island?” Standing at the Forest’s edge, Qin Tian gazed at the view before him in awe.
Beside him, Ye Lin was at a loss for words. Just last night, she and Qin Tian had speculated about the island’s size, but seeing it now, she felt their imaginations had fallen short.
Unlike Qin Tian and Ye Lin’s reaction, Han Pi seemed very excited. Having always roamed the Forest, it was delighted to see such a vast open area—if only it could run wild and free.
“We’re close, we’re close! The mountain, the mountain!” Just then, Qin Tian suddenly received a message from the Sand Eagle and immediately looked toward the distant mountains.
The Golden Eagle’s Nest was usually on the top of tall trees or on sheer cliffs. From what the Sand Eagle conveyed, its nest was of the latter kind.
“Let’s rest a bit. I reckon the Sand Eagle’s nest is on the cliffs. We’ll set out after noon.” Qin Tian said to Ye Lin.
“On a cliff?” Ye Lin grimaced at the thought. With mountains that tall, who knew when they’d be able to climb to the top.
Time was running short. Noon hadn’t passed yet, but as soon as the sun grew less fierce, Qin Tian and Ye Lin headed toward the distant mountains. They’d thought it would take just an hour to reach the foot of the mountains, but reality was quite different.
The mountains seemed to sprout legs. Though they looked close, it took Qin Tian and Ye Lin over two hours to finally arrive at the base.
“Chirp—!”
As they neared the nest, the Sand Eagle, worried for its young, circled above, crying out repeatedly. Seeing this, Qin Tian told the Sand Eagle to return to its nest first.
The Sand Eagle had been trapped for six days, meaning its chicks had also been hungry for six days. To be honest, Qin Tian was genuinely worried that the chicks might starve to death, which was why he hurried over.
Qin Tian had considered letting the Sand Eagle bring its young to the Camp,
but it had refused. With no choice, Qin Tian could only come himself.
With Qin Tian’s permission, the Sand Eagle called out once more in gratitude, then flapped its wings and soared into the sky.
The mountain where the Golden Eagle’s Nest was located was at least a thousand meters high. Standing at its foot, Qin Tian craned his neck but still couldn’t see the summit. Now that it was nearly afternoon, climbing the mountain today was out of the question. The two could only wait until morning.
There was still some daylight left. Qin Tian and Ye Lin didn’t make Camp immediately, instead searching the area.
With such a vast stretch of hills, there were bound to be resources to use. This time out, Qin Tian hadn’t brought much food—only enough for five days—so they couldn’t stay here long. Naturally, they wanted to make the most of their time.
But there simply wasn’t enough time. After wandering around the foot of the mountain for an hour, Qin Tian and Ye Lin found nothing. They could only pick a spot at the foot of the mountain, light a campfire, and prepare for the night.
***
At night, staying in the hills was colder than being in the Forest. Without the trees as shelter, the cold wind mixed with small pebbles, whistling against Qin Tian and Ye Lin’s faces, making them sting.
They had no choice. Qin Tian and Ye Lin could only lean against Han Pi and cover half their faces with Wild Boar Skin to feel a little better.
“I wonder if there’ll be wolves.” Huddled under the Wild Boar Skin, Qin Tian suddenly thought. In these wild hills, if they were to encounter any animal, it would no doubt be the Grassland Wolf.
“Don’t scare me.” Just thinking of a ferocious Wolf Pack made Ye Lin a little frightened, even with Han Pi at her back.
“I only said it was possible, not that it’s certain.” Qin Tian laughed. However, he forgot that he was a jinx with words.
***
“Awoo—!”
Before Qin Tian even finished speaking, a wolf’s howl rang out from afar. Both his and Ye Lin’s expressions changed, and even the sleeping Han Pi jolted awake.
Soon after, Qin Tian and Ye Lin heard a string of footsteps. Looking around, they realized that, at some point, dozens of glowing green eyes had appeared in the darkness, forming a ring and trapping them inside.
Though they couldn’t see the creatures clearly, it was obvious that those hiding in the dark were wolves.
“Stay behind me!” With a shiver, Qin Tian grabbed his stone axe and shielded Ye Lin behind him. If a dozen wolves attacked at once, it would be terrifying.
Still, Qin Tian and Ye Lin had survived the wild boar rampage before. So even now, they weren’t too flustered.
“Roar—!” At that moment, Han Pi gave an angry roar of warning to the Wolf Pack.
When it saw the wolves, it was itching for a fight, but Qin Tian stopped it.
Given the current lineup, Han Pi—with its thick skin and muscle—was like a tank, while Qin Tian and Ye Lin were like the archer and support. The Wolf Pack, on the other hand, were warriors.
One must remember, wolves are creatures that work in packs. Unlike wild boars, who only know how to charge blindly.
If their tank, Han Pi, left to charge ahead, then Qin Tian and Ye Lin—left alone—could easily be picked off by the wolves.
Intimidated by Han Pi, the Wolf Pack dared not make a move. For a time, the atmosphere grew tense to the extreme, both sides locked in a standoff.
“Ye Lin, take the String off the Fire Torch and give it to me.” Staring at the Wolf Pack, Qin Tian whispered to Ye Lin.
Ye Lin nodded, quickly untied the String, and handed it to Qin Tian. Then, Qin Tian wrapped it around an arrow shaft and took out the Recurve Bow.
Lighting the arrow, Qin Tian fired in the direction of the Wolf Pack. In the darkness, hitting a target was impossible—but Qin Tian hadn’t intended to hit one anyway.
With the String wrapped around it, the arrow was much heavier. It only flew a dozen meters before falling to the ground and igniting.
Wild beasts fear fire, and wolves are no exception. As soon as the flames ignited, a gap appeared in the encirclement formed by the Wolf Pack.
Qin Tian fired several more arrows in succession, scattering the wolves and breaking their formation. Only then did he stop. By that point, the Wolf Pack had already retreated some twenty meters away.
This move clearly made the wolves wary. After a moment, another wolf howl came from the darkness. Amid the scattered footsteps, silence gradually returned to the surroundings. Though they couldn’t see, Qin Tian and Ye Lin could tell the Wolf Pack had given up on them.
Relieved after this scare, Qin Tian and Ye Lin both let out a breath. But after such an incident, neither of them dared sleep again, afraid the wolves might double back for a surprise attack.