Chapter 9: Stone Axe and Bed

After sleeping for about an hour, Pan Mengyan was the first to wake up. She got up and walked out of the cave, clutching a relatively sharp stone in her hand. Her gaze swept around before finally settling on a tree about the thickness of an arm. She decided to use this tree to make a handle for a stone axe.

Pan Mengyan approached the tree and began stripping off its bark. Then, she picked up a uniquely shaped stone wide at one end and narrow at the other and placed it against the base of the trunk, carefully aligning it. Next, she took a thin twig and, using charcoal from the bonfire, meticulously traced a clear outline on the tree trunk.

After that, she picked up two more small twigs, clamped a piece of red-hot charcoal between them, and placed it on the outlined section of the trunk to begin burning through. Over time, the charcoal gradually penetrated the trunk, creating a small hole perfectly sized to hold the stone. To speed up the burning process, Pan Mengyan occasionally blew on the embers, hoping to complete this step as quickly as possible.

After about twenty minutes of patient waiting, the trunk was successfully burned through. Pan Mengyan quickly cleared away the sparks and firmly wedged the prepared stone into the hole. To her delight, the stone fit perfectly, as if made for it. She then tightly bound the stone and the wooden handle together with tough vines to ensure the stone axe wouldn’t come loose during use.

After much effort, a sharp stone axe was finally completed. Just then, Jiang Ruoxi happened to wake up. At first glance, she spotted the stone axe in Pan Mengyan’s hand, her eyes lighting up with surprise as she exclaimed, “Wow, you’re amazing! It seems like you can do anything!”

Pan Mengyan smiled modestly and explained, “Actually, I used to enjoy watching survival videos in my free time I found them interesting. But back then, it was just for fun; I never thought I’d get to use those skills one day. Now, faced with this situation, I had to rely on memory and give it a try. I didn’t expect it to work out.”

Hearing this, Jiang Ruoxi couldn’t help but look at Pan Mengyan with admiration. The two decided to use the stone axe to chop down trees and make a comfortable bed. They left the cave and headed into a dense forest to search for suitable wood.

Working together, Jiang Ruoxi and Pan Mengyan used the stone axe to fall one sturdy tree after another. Though the process was somewhat laborious, they maintained an optimistic and positive attitude throughout. After some time, they had gathered enough wood to start building the bed.

First, they measured out the approximate area of the bed by stepping it off, then dug four half meter-deep holes at the corners. They inserted one-and-a-half meter long stakes into the holes, securing them first with small stones before filling the holes with soil and compacting it firmly. Working in tandem, the two quickly set up all four corner stakes.

At that moment, Pan Mengyan suddenly realized a problem: “This bed needs to support both of us, and relying on just four wooden stakes might not be enough. So, we need to add another stake between each of the existing ones.” No sooner said than done they immediately got to work, digging five more holes and driving the stakes into them. Next, they began constructing the bed frame. They found three logs about two meters long and three about one and a half meters long, securing them to the stakes with vines. Once fixed, they wove vines across the wooden frame to create the bed surface and finally spread dry grass over it completing the bed!

Finally, the two lay down together to test the bed and found it excellent and very comfortable. Looking at the bed they had built with their own hands, they felt a deep sense of accomplishment.

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Zephyr Yizelle

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