Chapter 10

The construction of the small door for the cave went much smoother than Cloudy had imagined. With no prior building experience and only basic weaving skills like braiding her own hair, she had to rely entirely on her imagination to create the door.

First, she laid out all the collected branches side by side on the grass, then selected sticks of similar thickness. The cave entrance was circular, but it wasn't necessary to make the door circular too. She straightened the selected branches, trimming off any excess length with a bone knife.

Next, she measured the width and interlaced long, flexible tree leaves she had collected between the branches in a crisscross pattern, similar to a tic-tac-toe weave. After connecting all the branches, Cloudy added two thicker sticks horizontally across the branches to prevent them from swaying like a suspension bridge.

Very good, very good... Cloudy's movements in tying the branches were swift and precise. Watching the branches gradually turn into a small, unattractive wooden door brought her a sense of accomplishment far greater than making fire or finding food. After sweating for over two hours creating the door, Cloudy excitedly lifted her small wooden door and ran around on the hillside.

So much like a wooden door, so much like a wooden door! Such a sense of achievement. Cloudy looked at the wooden door in her hands, admiring it more and more. However, she now faced a second problem - how to install the door? Simply placing it at the cave entrance wouldn't be much different from a pile of rocks...

She sat at the cave entrance, holding the wooden door, contemplating. The cave entrance was originally just a ring of soft soil. After moving in, Cloudy had reinforced the opening with some sticks and stones, but back then, she hadn't paid much attention to aesthetics, resulting in the entrance looking like a broken spring mattress with springs and cotton sticking out.

Was it time to focus on aesthetics now? Not really, but Cloudy realized... the wooden door in her hands gave her great inspiration. Being able to create something relatively beautiful and practical with her own hands could boost morale. Perhaps that's why some leaders insist on having grand and spacious meeting places.

Starting from here, Cloudy raised her hand to redo her hair... Speaking of hair, luckily she still had her hair tie, or she wouldn't know how to manage her hair. Maybe she should find time to cut her hair? But the bone knife was clearly not sharp enough; using it to trim her hair was like dreaming.

Hmm... thinking about it, Titus and the others also had relatively long hair. Cloudy began to recall yesterday's horseback riding. Titus's hair was dry, surprisingly odorless, and looked clean.

This was actually quite strange. Cloudy was too caught up in the joy of horseback riding at the time to think deeply, but now looking back... wasn't it unusual? Titus was a wild man from tens of thousands of years ago, from the dinosaur era; how could he not smell bad? He should have been extremely pungent, right?

The answer must be simple. There must be something in Titus's settlement that could clean the body and hair, something like soap.

Cloudy's eyes drifted.
Light, even though she doesn't have this skill now, since this era can produce things to clean the body, she will eventually be able to learn it!

Cloudy's confidence now is not like creating a wooden door tens of thousands of years ago, but more like creating a rocket out of thin air tens of thousands of years ago. She happily used her hands to tidy up the shape of the cave entrance, pulling out or pressing into the mud the messy branches and roots scattered outside.

After some banging and pounding, the irregular circular cave entrance turned into a very beautiful arch, slightly increasing in height and width. Now the cave entrance is almost half her height.

Cloudy tried to create a groove to slot the door at the cave entrance so it could slide open and shut normally. However, after a few attempts, it was still somewhat challenging because the structure of the mud and stones would loosen after repeated rotations of the wooden door. With the tools at hand, Cloudy could only press the wooden door against the cave entrance like a button.

Is this okay? Cloudy examined her work, and the door was already covering the cave entrance. With the door in place, this place looked a bit more presentable.

Great, let's keep going like this!

After finishing the door, it was almost 6 o'clock. Cloudy rested after eating, sitting in a higher place, staring blankly at the distant rainforest. Whenever there was nothing specific to do, Cloudy would really miss books and some things to pass the time.

I wonder how Titus and the others pass the time?

"Cloudy——"

Not long after thinking this, Cloudy heard a familiar voice coming from below the hill. She now vaguely thought that maybe she had become something for Titus to pass the time... but that couldn't be! She didn't have anything fun to offer, just a creature that looked a bit strange, moving and making noises.

"Cloudy, today, *%&." Shortly after, Titus arrived in front of Cloudy. He looked energetic as usual and this time brought some food. "Cloudy, today." Seeing Cloudy sitting on the ground, he sat next to her and began to show what he had brought.

Slices, fruits, dried meat, and a... fish.

Maybe it was a fish, perhaps it was a fish! Although it seemed to be as big as an arm, with strange, reptilian-like small fins, overall it looked like a fish!!

Cloudy's eyes sparkled, in that moment all thoughts of "can't rely on Titus," "need to do things on her own," "don't be too shameless" vanished, and her mind was filled with three words

It's a fish

Not grilled, but seems to be dried... and there were some strange grass bits on it: "What is this, is this for me, can I eat it?!" Cloudy asked excitedly, looking at Titus.

Although she had just scolded him yesterday, Titus didn't show any sadness or anger... Cloudy felt guilty, yet also grateful towards Titus for his gesture.
"Cloudy, eat, Guza... Guza, eat." Titus was taken aback by Cloudy's emotions, his long ears perking up slightly, his pupils shrinking a bit. "Me, friendly."

With that, Titus used his hands to peel back the thick fish skin, revealing the slightly brownish dried meat inside, emitting a faint fishy aroma. Titus tossed the fish skin aside and then handed a whole piece of fish belly to Cloudy. "There!"

After receiving the fish belly, Cloudy felt as if she had lost her memory. When she came to her senses, she had eaten the fish down to the bones, tears welling up in her eyes, not metaphorically but real tears, because it was just so delicious.

This fish meat certainly couldn't compare to the grilled fish and pickled fish Cloudy had eaten before, but the taste in her mouth now felt like something out of a dream, no matter how she savored it.

"Wuwu..." Cloudy still had some fish meat in her mouth, holding onto the fish skin in her hand, as there were still remnants of fish meat on it. "Titus, thank you... This is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten here, wuwu..."

She felt so happy now, yet so sad. The happiness was evident with the fish meat in her hand... The sadness stemmed from how effortlessly Titus could do things she couldn't. Even though it was inevitable, it just made her feel so sad.

The feeling of not being able to live well on her own was truly terrible...

As for Titus, ever since he brought the fish and other food over, he had been in a state of confusion and panic. He first saw Cloudy shouting and laughing, devouring the fish meat like a wild beast. Now he watched her nibbling on the remaining fish skin, crying loudly.

"Cloudy..." Titus reached out and patted her head, then her shoulder. "Cloudy! Happy? Or... sad?"

Being cared for like this, Cloudy felt like she couldn't hold it together. She let out a very unpleasant wail and buried herself in Titus's arms.

"I made a door... I made a door for the cave, at first I was so happy, felt like I did a good job." Ignoring everything, she hugged Titus, gasping for breath, and began to ramble in her native language. "I want to go home... Every day I hope to wake up at home, even if it's not my home, a rented room would do. Although I made a good door, it still can't compare to the iron door of an apartment building."

"I don't want to live in fear every night, I want a desk lamp, I want to lie in bed at night, I want to order takeout... I want to have normal conversations with people, I want to go out for milk tea with friends..."

Titus was startled, he stiffened for a moment, letting Cloudy speak in his arms, even though he couldn't understand her words. Why wasn't she happy? He brought the fish out secretly from the village because Cloudy seemed upset yesterday, hoping to show friendliness with the fish. Did he do something wrong? Why was she crying?
The thin person in Titus's arms trembled more and more violently, their arms wrapping tighter around him. Titus dared not make any sudden moves; he hoped Cloudy could tell him what to do to make her happy, but communication between them was difficult.

"Cloudy..." Titus lowered his head, looking at Cloudy's small head, so different from theirs with only one pupil in each eye, somewhat intimidating but one could get used to it after a while. "Cloudy, happy, Titus."

He tried talking to Cloudy, but it had no effect; she continued muttering incomprehensible words buried in his embrace.

"Milk tea..." Titus picked out words he could pronounce from her long string of language. He remembered how mimicking Cloudy's speech had made her look happy before. "Milk tea, go home... tired. Hot pot and..."

After murmuring for a while, it worked. Cloudy gradually calmed down, partly because she had vented out her emotions and partly because Titus's imitation of her speech tone was amusing, like a foreigner just starting to learn Chinese.

"I'm sorry." Cloudy awkwardly distanced herself, realizing she had left a lot of snot and tears on Titus's sturdy chest during her emotional breakdown. She hadn't felt anything special in the midst of her breakdown, but now she felt like she had taken advantage of the situation.

Seeing Cloudy calm down, Titus also heaved a sigh of relief. "Cloudy, we..." He gestured a bit, pointing to Cloudy's mouth, then to his own.

"We, talk, Titus, think, Cloudy." He spoke slowly and seriously, looking at Cloudy. "Talk, we, same."

In line with Titus's gestures, Cloudy could barely guess the meaning... Titus wanted to communicate with her, to understand better what she was saying and thinking.

"Cry... understand." Titus held Cloudy's arm, shaking it a few times. "We, friendly."