Chapter 68

In the afternoon, Cloudy left on her own. Titus and the others seemed to be training until late at night, so she didn't want to linger around aimlessly. Before leaving, Titus was very concerned: "Are you going back alone, Cloudy? Let me walk you back; we'll get there quickly."

Not wanting to return to the settlement immediately, Cloudy declined Titus's escort. She hadn't really explored outside for about ten days, so she decided to take advantage of the daylight to wander around nearby and see what the rainforest looked like after the end of the rainy season.

Before leaving, she had Titus help her quickly make a spear to carry on her back temporarily. Now, her approximate location was a few kilometers northwest from the main entrance of the settlement. It's easy to get lost in the rainforest by wandering aimlessly, so she continued her habit of marking her path as she walked, a sign both she and Titus were very familiar with. In case of any accidents during her exploration, Titus should be able to find her based on these marks.

Her footsteps fell on the damp soil, making a squelchy sound. Each step was a bit strenuous, and the sensation of the soft, slippery mud enveloping her toes and soles made her wonder if there was a lot of unidentified organic matter mixed in.

"Oops..." She stepped on something, sinking deep, almost swallowing her left calf. Cloudy spread her arms to maintain balance, then slowly squatted down to free her left leg. Perhaps this spot was naturally concave, filled with mud that looked no different from the rest of the path. After pulling out her leg, it was covered with many plants that had already withered and turned the same color as the mud, resembling hair pulled out from a drain in a bathroom.

Cloudy shook her left leg continuously, trying to get rid of the smelly plants on it. She had only been exploring alone for less than half an hour and was already covered in mud. Facing such harsh ground conditions and having to embark on an outdoor hunt... Titus and the others were really working hard.

Thinking back to how she had started to feel annoyed by many things in the settlement just now, Cloudy felt ashamed. Since she had promised Titus, she couldn't easily give up!

However, she felt that her sense of detachment at that moment was probably because she hadn't found her place yet, or simply had nothing to do. She decided to find something to do quickly today to lift her spirits... either gather some soft mud to take back for the mothers to make pottery, or find some seeds to plant and play with in the rainforest.

After steadying herself, she planted the spear in the ground and began planning her exploration route. Continuing forward would take her further away from the settlement, towards Green Slope, the direction of her first residence.

Feeling a bit impatient... she kind of wanted to go back to Green Slope and see that little cave.
Now, has she been taken in by the new little animal as her home? Unfortunately, it's not very realistic. The round trip is too long, and she can't make it back before nightfall, not to mention that she's not very familiar with the route from the settlement to the green slope.

Cloudy decides not to dwell on it and plans to explore the nearby area, study the vegetation here, and head back to the settlement before the sun sets.

The idea is good, but walking on this muddy ground is really exhausting. With each step, she sinks deeper into the mud, struggling against the surging mud for two hours until Cloudy finally collapses by the roadside, leaning against a tree trunk, panting. Her legs are now covered in mud, so much so that from a distance, one might mistake it for her wearing pants.

Cloudy takes a few steps along the tree and sees a not-so-high platform boulder nearby. The entire rock is dry without any moss due to its perfect position in a sunny spot. Cloudy plans to climb up there to rest, and clean the mud off her legs. She's quite afraid that there might be blood-sucking insects in the mud.

She climbs up the platform with her hands and feet. Perhaps due to the long exposure to direct sunlight, the surface of the rock is scorching hot. After sitting down, she can't help but exclaim, "It's so hot, so hot!" But it's the only dry and flat spot around, so she endures it. She crosses her legs and starts cleaning the mud off her feet, but her backside is getting hotter and hotter...

Wait a minute, Cloudy suddenly feels like her brain has been struck by lightning. The sensation is like a zombie struck by lightning in a coffin. Her eyes widen, and the scorching sensation from the stone platform keeps reminding her:

You forgot something very important, something you should have thought of immediately.

Yes, yes... that's it! She moves around on the platform, feeling the temperature with her hands from all angles. It's very hot, this whole rock is so hot from the sun that it could be used for cooking meat.

When Titus was sick before, she did heat up stones to use as a substitute for a hot water bottle to put next to Titus. At that time, because the stones were too small, she didn't think of this point at all. In her previous world, there was something called a "kang."

However, Cloudy is not from that place, and she has never seen a real "kang"... but based on her intuition and the bits of information she has seen on the internet, it's probably a way to burn fire under a bed?

No, it seems like it's not just as simple as burning fire under the bed. Thinking about this, Cloudy falls into contemplation again. The "kang" is where you directly light a fire under the stone, and then people sit on top of it?... Wouldn't that just cook them? And lighting a fire indoors would create a lot of smoke, would they need to build a chimney to let it out?

She covers her chin with one hand, sitting upright in the middle of the stone platform. At this moment, many things pop up in her mind.

Pizza ovens, bread ovens, electric blankets, rural cooking stoves. Cloudy feels like these things are somewhat similar to the "kang"... except for the electric blanket, she's not sure why it popped into her thoughts.
The ultimate artifact.

In the end, it would be great if she were blown up with five hundred electric blankets on her body! No, even if there were electric blankets, there is no electricity here... It might be more realistic to wear five hundred down jackets instead. Thinking of a feasible solution, Cloudy's mood became very, very good. This is the first time she has been so happy since moving into the settlement.

If both the fire kang and down jackets succeed, Titus will definitely be very happy, right? There will be more newborns surviving the rainy season... The mortality rate during the rainy season in the settlement will also be greatly reduced.

Damn it, but she really doesn't know what exactly a fire kang should be constructed like. Can she only slowly figure it out and build it herself?

Materials shouldn't be hard to get, just stones and fire. The question lies in how to deal with the smoke generated by lighting a lot of fires, and whether a fire kang counts as a source of warmth for Titus and their kind. After all, 40 degrees in the rainforest is not considered high temperature for them.

With the idea in mind, Cloudy wasted no time. She quickly cleaned the mud off her legs and headed back towards the settlement with a wooden spear in hand.