Chapter 51

"Cloudy..."

Titus stood on the hill, watching Cloudy slowly walk towards the water. "Cloudy! Don't go!"

"It's okay," Cloudy stood in the water, testing the temperature.

Today marks the 25th day of the rainy season. The meat reserves have run out, and all the fish in the cave pool have been speared and eaten by Titus. Titus and Cloudy had been gnawing on roots for several days.

The food reserves were still somewhat under control. Initially estimated to last around 30 days, the root vegetables could sustain them for a few more days. Now, Cloudy was deciding to go hunting because Titus had been looking too grim while eating. Their raft from before was still outside the cave and could be fixed with some minor repairs.

The weather had improved significantly compared to before. At the beginning of the rainy season, the sky was entirely gray, and the lack of sunlight made the cave perpetually dim. As time passed, the rain lessened, allowing more light to filter through the skylight, and the temperature began to rise rapidly.

Previously, when it rained, Cloudy would feel a chill, but these days, it felt rather steamy. The rain no longer cooled her skin; instead, it felt sticky. Titus's animal skins were dwindling, and today, he didn't even need them for warmth.

"Do we really have to go out? What should I do?"

"Since it's not raining heavily and the temperature is good, I'll go out and see if I can catch something to eat." Cloudy carried two wooden spears and a bundle of vines, which she planned to use for repairing the raft.

She realized that no matter how long one lived in this era, food was always a pressing issue to solve routinely. Fortunately, she had matured enough to combat giant insects in the water... and she wondered when she would get the chance to try hunting dinosaurs.

"Cloudy..." With half of her body already submerged in the water, Titus could only anxiously pace on the shore. "I can't go with you. I'm worried. Can you stay close to the cave?"

Titus actually wanted to say that he also wanted to go hunting because... these past few days had been too stifling. Besides wanting to alleviate boredom, he also wanted to show Cloudy that he wasn't completely incompetent!

"I'll stay near the cave, not go far." Cloudy stood in the water, looking at Titus on the shore with a pitiful expression. Unaware of Titus's urgency, she thought he just didn't want to eat roots anymore. "You can rest or make a fire. I'll be back."

"No," Titus began to cautiously step into the water, his large feet testing the water temperature like a duck about to swim for the first time, looking quite comical. "I want to go with you. It's not cold today; I'll be fine."

"Can you handle being in the water?" The temperature was indeed...
The cold was gone, Titus hadn't shown any signs of illness for a while, so she wasn't overly worried. "I haven't seen you go in the water."

"I can go in the water, it's not the rainy season, we can go in the lakes." By now, Titus had water up to his ankles, and the water wasn't as cold as imagined, which excited him. "I don't feel cold now, why don't we go together? I get so bored staying in the cave alone, I want to play with you."

"Is that what I'm here for...?" Cloudy pondered for a moment, recalling the things she and Titus had done over the past few days - eating, sleeping, chatting, eating, sleeping, chatting. Occasionally, she would force Titus to play chess with her, but most of the time, they would stop midway when Titus pretended to be sleepy. The rainy season was indeed quite boring.

Titus was still trying to change Cloudy's mind, either to stay or to take her with him. "There's no land outside, how do we walk then?"

Cloudy had explained this to him many times before, but he didn't seem to quite understand what she meant by "tying sticks together." A few days ago, she might have been more forceful and gone out to find food herself... but now she knew this big guy was only 19 years old, so she instinctively felt she should take on the responsibility of an elder. Even though no one had asked her to do so, in the past few days, her tone towards Titus had become increasingly gentle.

Titus could be 20 or 18, but his age should be between 17 and 20. The exact number of days in a "year" here determined Titus's actual age, but the precise age remained unknown. Since she first met him, Cloudy had a feeling he was quite young, just didn't expect him to be younger than her.

Upon closer thought about Titus's words and expressions just now, she suddenly realized Titus wasn't really worried about food; he genuinely wanted to play with her. Being young... he must just be playful.

Explaining Titus's behavior this way, the initial encounter between the two of them made more sense. There wasn't much interesting happening in the settlement, and interesting people were probably scarce. Her appearance to Titus was like a beautifully wrapped rare toy.

It didn't seem right to objectify herself like that; she definitely wasn't a toy to Titus... Cloudy stood in the water, pondering for a moment. Since food wasn't scarce, and Titus wanted to play together, they might as well play together. But what could they do to keep Titus entertained?

"Do you want to try floating on the water? Like when I went to the settlement." Quickly, Cloudy had an idea. She asked Titus to wait on the shore while she removed her wooden spear and vine and swam towards the underwater cave exit.

This was her first time leaving the cave in many days, and the weather outside seemed to have improved a bit. Besides the pitter-patter of rain, she could also hear some animals making noise.
The originally murky pond now appeared slightly clearer. Perhaps with a different state of mind, Cloudy blinked... The rainforest outside the cave seemed to have been re-colored, looking even more beautiful and vibrant than when Titus was sick. She swam over, exerting a lot of effort, dismantled the small raft at the settlement, and then carried the dismantled sticks underwater as much as possible, stuffing them into the entrance of the cave, transporting them one by one into the cave. At this moment, Cloudy was almost one with the pool water, freely floating like a fish. Before long, the slope of the shore was piled with the wood she had brought in from outside the cave.

"I need to go out and collect some more wood," Cloudy temporarily came ashore to move her body around. "Can you line up these sticks and tie them together with vines at the front and back ends? Is that okay?"

"Sure!" Titus was happy to have something to do. While Cloudy continued to move the sticks, he followed her instructions, lining up the sticks in a row and then connecting them with vines, first at the ends and then in the middle.

However, Titus encountered some difficulties when tying the knots, and he could only stand there helplessly shouting, "Cloudy, I don't know how to do this!"

Just as she floated up with a few sticks in her arms, spitting out the water in her mouth, Cloudy swam towards the shore. "What don't you know?"

Cloudy bounced in place a couple of times, roughly shook off the water from her body, squatted down next to Titus, grabbed his hand, and slowly showed him how to tie knots with the vines: "You have to come through from underneath first, don't loop back, come through from the other side." This was a weaving technique she had figured out earlier on the green slope, which worked perfectly for tying the raft.

Titus watched attentively, frowning. He knew how to tie items, but the way Cloudy was using to tie things was different from what he had learned. "Once it's tied, can I float on the water?"

"Yes," Cloudy was quite surprised that Titus, despite having very well-built houses and walls, had never tried making a wooden boat. The two of them worked diligently for about three hours. Because it was the raft Titus would be sitting on, Cloudy's work was much better this time, at least three times better than the previous one she made for the settlement.

The shape was more regular, and it was more sturdy. This time, they even made a long-handled paddle.

"Are we done?" Titus looked at the large piece of wood floating on the pool. Cloudy was squatting next to him, helping Titus make a raincoat. Even though the rain had become very light, she still didn't want Titus to get wet.

"Let's give it a try." After putting the leafy raincoat on Titus's head, Cloudy walked into the pool, gesturing for Titus to come aboard the raft with her hand.

But Titus seemed hesitant to get into the water.
After hesitating for a long time and not daring to step forward, finally, under Cloudy's scolding, Titus took the first step...

"Wow!" Titus sat on the raft, exclaiming in amazement, "This is so cool!"

"There's even cooler stuff," Cloudy, in order not to reduce the raft's buoyancy, kept swimming by the edge of the raft. She first used her hands to drag the raft towards deeper water. Even with the help of buoyancy, it was still quite difficult for her to pull... Titus was just too heavy. So, before reaching the perfect rowing position she had in mind, she signaled Titus to pick up the tree bark paddle placed on the raft. "Use this to paddle."

Titus picked up the two sticks that looked strange to him and waved them in the air a few times. "Like paddling with hands, should I put them in the water?"

"Yes," to avoid blocking Titus's paddling, Cloudy swam to the front of the raft and said, "Make circular motions with your hands."

Nervously, Titus gently placed the paddle in the water and began rowing for the first time in his life following Cloudy's verbal instructions...

And quickly, the wild man who had never played with this thing before fell in love with the feeling of rowing. Unlike swimming, he didn't need to exert his whole body or stay submerged in water... just needed to wave the two sticks in his hands, and the vessel beneath him would swiftly move forward on the water! Even faster than swimming!

"Cloudy, this is so much fun!"

"Wait..." Cloudy looked at Titus's sparkling eyes, his tall ears full of strength, and his arms rapidly paddling...

Rowing too fast!! How can he row this wooden raft as fast as a speedboat! Cloudy struggled to stay at the front of the raft, feeling like she could be swept under the raft by the water flow at any moment. "Slow down, this thing can't handle such speed, it will break!"

Of course, compared to the raft not being able to withstand Titus's strength and falling apart on its own, they were about to face... crashing into the cave walls.

"Cloudy, how do I turn!" At this moment, the high-speed wild man realized he was in trouble and looked towards the bow seeking Cloudy's help, only to find no one there.

Cloudy had abandoned ship in advance and swam to the side underwater. When she surfaced, she heard Titus shouting her name as he crashed into the cave wall. The raft instantly fell apart, and the wild man tumbled into the water...

"Don't laugh..." Titus sat by the fire pit, waiting for the flames to dry his hair, while Cloudy sat next to him, laughing uncontrollably. "Why didn't you teach me how to steer!"