Crossover in the Jungle Chapter 5

With the flint for starting fire, Jiang Yan's life in the giant python's lair gradually became less difficult, and at least he could fill his stomach.

After waking up every day, he would go to the river to wash, then pick up the dead hay and branches around him, tie them into bundles with vines and bring them back to the cave for use whenever he wanted to make a fire.

Just now, he had finished fetching water and had just entered the cave when he caught a glimpse of the neatly arranged pile of firewood being swept all over the ground by the giant python's tail. He felt helpless but rearranged it without complaint.

He had tried his best to cram the firewood into the corner, but the python was so huge and domineering that it just coiled in the center, and a slight swing of its long tail was enough to sweep across the entire cave.

But every time it saw Jiang Yan patiently tidying up the firewood pile, it would mess it up again and again, as if it did it on purpose.

Even though Jiang Yan had some complaints, he could not blame the giant python's behavior.

He resigned himself to taking out the firewood he needed, and then put away the rest. Then he carried a large piece of pork that had been stored, took the flint that had been chiseled out of the peak, and took the flint and meat to the river to clean and sort them out.

The weather in the mountains has become much colder, and the meat will not change in taste or spoil even if stored for several days.

Jiang Yan planned to grill more meat this time and keep it away. As the temperature dropped, he gradually became a little lazy. Later on, he wanted to work but was unable to do so due to the limited conditions.

If the python kept him imprisoned in its lair, he would have to make adequate preparations for the coming winter.

At least you need to prepare enough food and firewood, and warm clothes to keep out the cold...

Jiang Yan looked at the two sweatshirts on his body with a little worry. In his original world, he could still wear them through the autumn, but in the jungle, if he didn't rely on the sun to absorb warmth during the day, he would probably have a hard time holding on until the night.

What's more, the cold in the mountains became more and more severe after nightfall, and Jiang Yan was already extremely tormented at night just by relying on the fire for warmth.

He squatted by the river, chiseled the pork, then washed the meat with water, while at the same time arranging in his mind the things he needed to prepare for the winter.

Jiang Yan had cut the entire pork leg, washed it, and brought it back to the platform at the entrance of the cave to air dry.

During the process, Jiang Yan picked up more dead branches and hay around until they filled the two corners. Seeing that the sunset was approaching, he put away the pork, started a fire, and took out a few pieces of pork to roast on the tree branches.

Jiang Yan cut several slits in the pork and turned it over at intervals. He was not idle in the meantime and brought back several bundles of branches and leaves.

He wanted to use these bundles of leaves to block the wind in front of the cave entrance. The temperature in the mountains dropped rapidly at night, and it was impractical to use stones to block the wind without animal skins or the like.

Besides, the territory is not his. When the python comes back from hunting, the stones will be crushed into powder and may even anger the python.

After much thought, using leaves to cover it is the most appropriate option at the moment.

The moonlight fell on the platform outside the cave entrance. There was a long distance from the entrance, so the light could not penetrate into the cave. The cave could only be illuminated by the faint moonlight leaking in from the top of the cave. In the cold autumn night, the stone cave seemed even more empty and silent.

Jiang Yan looked outside the pitch-black cave and walked towards the fire with his back turned.

He first turned the barbecue over with great concentration. The first piece that was cooked had already cooled down, so he tore it open and slowly brought it to his mouth to chew, filling his mouth with oil.

After roasting the remaining pieces of meat, Jiang Yan wrapped them with large leaves, sat cross-legged back beside the fire, picked up the washed fruit and tasted it attentively.

Outside the cave, the autumn wind was blowing and the flames crackled a few times.

There were strange rustling noises outside the cave, which made Jiang Yan feel a little nervous. He subconsciously held his breath and concentrated to figure out what the sound was.

Bugs or beasts?

If a wild beast followed the smell of barbecue to find the cave entrance, Jiang Yan's ability to protect himself would be almost zero as he was alone and had no weapons to defend himself.

Jiang Yan stared at the dark mountains outside the cave, hoping that the giant python would come back soon.

It seemed as he expected. Not long after the thought flashed through his mind, a dark shadow appeared outside and the giant python returned.

When Jiang Yan saw it, he felt much safer, and he didn't even notice when a smile appeared on his face.

His cheeks felt cold, and the giant python lowered its head and swept its tongue across his neck and face. Jiang Yan was quite accustomed to its sudden licking behavior.

With a "bang", the giant python brought back a strangled wild deer. The bloody smell made Jiang Yan's breathing tight.

He stared with wide eyes at the bloody deer that fell beside him. It was very big, enough to eat for a long time, and the deer's body was full of treasures, and a lot of nutritious parts could be stripped out.

He smiled helplessly: "I can't finish it."

If this deer was only for him, he would probably overeat.

The giant python understood what Jiang Yan said, and its pupils showed a little dissatisfaction.

From the python's perspective, Jiang Yan was too small. Not only did he not have any attack ability, but any poisonous insect in the forest could hurt him.

Moreover, Jiang Yan ate very small portions of food, just one piece of meat and two fruits for one meal. It had never seen any beast eat so little.

Jiang Yan was born very small and ate very little. In the python's opinion, it would be difficult for him to survive in the jungle.

So it expressed its dissatisfaction and slapped the deer with its tail, almost beating it into a bloody mess.

Jiang Yan quickly stopped him: "Wait, don't be angry."

"I'll try to eat more."

He wasn't lying and was eating as much meat as possible to store fat.

However, Jiang Yan only ate meat every day without any vegetables, and the barbecued meat was very greasy with a fishy smell. He could only eat on time to make sure he didn't go hungry.

He was afraid that the deer would be smashed to pieces by the python, so he said, "I want to peel off the deer's skin to make clothes. The weather is getting colder and colder. Soon, I won't be able to maintain my body temperature at night just by making a fire. I will probably freeze to death."

He fell forward, sprawled out, his neck tilted as if he was dying, his dark eyes reflecting the dancing flames.

"So I want to keep this deer, is that okay?"

Although the python cannot speak, Jiang Yan can strangely obtain information from its light-colored snake eyes.

So he dragged the deer into the corner with great effort and put it away, then took an after-meal walk along the space inside the cave, and finally lay down on his thickly padded "bed" of leaves, staring at the fire with hazy eyes and gradually falling asleep.

The next day, when Jiang Yan woke up, there was no trace of the giant python in the cave.

The sunlight fell from the top of the cave, bringing some dry warmth.

He stretched out his hands and feet that had been curled up all night, his eyes slightly narrowed, and he lay motionless on the bed of leaves like a cat that rarely gets lazy.

Fortunately, the giant python did not restrain him too much. Jiang Yan felt that only when he had his own space could he completely relax.

After taking a moment to relax, Jiang Yan slowly got up, dug out the remaining wild boar teeth and some bones from the corner, and headed towards the nearby stream.

After washing, Jiang Yan slowly polished the wild boar's teeth with a flint, intending to drill a hole on it so that he could make a simple needle for sewing things.

In addition to teeth, he also plans to get some bird leg bones when he has the chance. These bones are thinner and pointed, making them more convenient to use as needles for sewing.

After barely turning the wild boar's sharp teeth into crude bone needles, Jiang Yan returned to the cave and dragged the wild deer he had hidden yesterday towards the water's edge.

He put a lot of effort into it and his face turned red.

I drank some water first, then opened the barbecue wrapped in leaves next to me and tore off a few slices to eat to replenish my energy.

Except for the sound of mountain birds singing, everything was quiet everywhere, without even a trace of wind.

During the day when there is sunshine, the python often does not stay in its nest. It may go out to look for food and only come back when it gets cold at night.

After resting for a while, Jiang Yan stretched his arms and legs, looked at the wild deer by the water, and prepared to spend a day peeling off the deer skin.

It took most of the day to slowly cut out the deerskin with the flint tip. When Jiang Yan picked up the bloody deerskin and stood by the stream to wash it, his eyes were black.

The washed deerskin emitted a warm glow, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was tired, fortunately his hard work was not in vain. He could try to make some clothes out of the deerskin, or use it as a quilt to keep warm.

Jiang Yan placed the washed deerskin on the wooden pole in front of the platform to dry, and then baked it with fire.

There are currently no conditions or energy to process deerskin, so Jiang Yan can only use traditional methods, such as the fumigation method, to process the raw hide.

He lit a fire and put the deerskin on the rack, using smoke to gradually soften the hide. As time was running out, he had to continue smoking the hide every day to turn the raw hide into cooked hide.

As for the other things on the wild deer, they can be peeled off slowly later.

Facing the sky full of red glow, Jiang Yan went to look for fruits under the surrounding trees.

The fruits that the python had pulled up by the roots and brought back were almost ripe and rotten. Without stone tools to store them, there was currently no way to save some fruit juice.

Jiang Yan found the fruit he had eaten a few days ago, knocked down a few with a wooden stick, wrapped them in leaves and brought them back to the cave.

As it grew dark, he roughly covered the entrance of the cave with grass leaves, lit a fire to keep warm, and roughly heated up the already roasted meat.

Jiang Yan drank a lot of water and packed up other things after eating the barbecue. When it was almost time to rest, he took back the deerskin that had been roasted over the fire for half a day. He used it to keep warm first, and would continue to smoke it over the fire after daybreak when it was not so cold.

He unfolded the deerskin and wrapped it around himself. The smell still remained, but the smell was obviously more important than keeping warm.

With the fire, Jiang Yan suddenly felt much warmer than he had in the past few nights.

At night, Jiang Yan wrapped himself tightly in deerskin and stared at the cave ceiling where the stars were sparse. He was about to fall asleep not long ago, but the slightest noise outside could not make him feel at ease.

After tossing and turning for several times, I opened my eyes until this moment.

The grass leaves blocking the entrance of the cave kept shaking, rustling in the wind. The moonlight tonight was almost entirely hidden in the clouds and was not as bright as usual.

Jiang Yan was drowsy and closed his eyes for less than a moment before he was frightened and quickly opened his eyelashes.

He stared at the direction of the cave entrance until it was covered by a dark shadow. When he saw the giant python coming back, Jiang Yan closed his eyes with peace of mind.

Invisibly, he seemed to become more dependent on the giant python. With the presence of the python, the surroundings became completely quiet and nothing dared to make a sound to disturb the cave.

In the past, the excessive silence would make Jiang Yan feel uneasy, but with the giant python present, the silence was a kind of peace where safety was guaranteed.

He leaned closer to the python's tail and accepted being entangled.