Chapter 9

To rid oneself of distracting thoughts and return to one's grand plan.

Cloudy sat outside her cave with her hands spread out, facing the sky with her eyes closed. She kept silently repeating in her mind, "rid oneself of distracting thoughts, rid oneself of distracting thoughts," reminding herself not to anticipate whether Titus would come every day, not to anticipate what new help Titus might offer every day.

"It's up to me." Cloudy muttered to herself, taking deep breaths. After finishing digging for worms and roots yesterday, she separated from Titus. At that time, Titus wanted to escort Cloudy back to her cave, but she strongly refused.

Although people can find some comfort in pets like cats and dogs, I am clearly not in that kind of place right now. I can't consider Titus as one of my own; they clearly are not my own... Cloudy pressed her temple with her hand, as if using telekinesis. She was giving herself a psychological counseling session.

Feeling like she was going crazy, Cloudy opened her eyes and looked at the bright, dazzling blue sky. At that moment, several giant creatures flew across the sky, not birds... somewhat like pterosaurs? Cloudy didn't know the name of that kind of dinosaur, but they had pointed heads, and their wings were huge, resembling gliders when fully extended.

Seeing these gliding creatures in the sky, Cloudy crawled back into her cave to hide. With her head towards the bright spot at the cave's entrance, the cave opening acted like a circular frame, framing a small piece of bright grassland outside for Cloudy to see.

She stared blankly at that scene. Last night, she could hardly fall asleep, with strange animal cries and rustling footsteps outside the cave in the dead of night, making her tremble as she sealed the cave entrance with stones from the inside. How long would this kind of life continue? For a few months, or for the rest of her life?

Once Cloudy confirmed that the giant creatures had disappeared from the sky, she ventured outside again. Although her mind was still very chaotic, she began her daily routine - making fire. Feeling stronger after eating well yesterday and this morning, Cloudy decided to try a different approach today. She dug the fire pit deeper and made the opening smaller, about the size of a fist. She stuffed it with dry fluff, placed a stone on top, set the fire starter on the stone, and then laid a layer of fluff around it.

In essence, she thoroughly wrapped up any place that could generate high heat. After preparing the fire pit, Cloudy carefully selected a stick that was convenient for her to hold and began rubbing the fire starter vigorously.

An hour passed as Cloudy rubbed, wearing out three fire starters in the process. But she persisted, partly because she found that making fire put her mind in a very comfortable state of stagnation, and partly because she didn't feel too tired.

Indeed, being well-fed gives you strength for work! Cloudy was sweating profusely, moving her arms and shoulders, then continued to focus on rubbing the stick against the fire starter.
"Oh... oh! Oh oh oh!!" All the efforts seemed to have paid off. After replacing the eighth piece of bark, Cloudy smelled a burning scent. It wasn't just her fatigue playing tricks on her, as wisps of smoke started to rise from the fire hole.

What should she do now?! The surprise was too sudden, and Cloudy was momentarily flustered. Holding the stick, she grunted a few times like a gorilla before quickly remembering she should blow on the tinder to help it catch fire!

Cloudy got down on her stomach, pursed her lips, and started blowing into the hole. The smoke grew thicker, changing from a light white mist to a pale gray, with the smell of char intensifying... Cloudy felt a bit choked by the smoke, but at this moment, the acrid scent wasn't unbearable; all in all, it was starting to smell like barbecue!!

However, no matter how hard Cloudy tried, the fire hole only continued to smoke. She saw no flames or sparks. She blew and added more tinder, but in the end, she could only watch as the tinder turned to ash before her eyes.

Had she failed? Cloudy felt her chin ache as she pushed the last bit of tinder in, and then she slumped down in defeat.

Smoke was rising, but there was no fire. A failure... but not a complete failure. Where had she gone wrong? Was the tinder not dry enough?

Cloudy lay back on the grass, panting heavily. She wasn't breaking down; she was calmly reflecting on where she had made a mistake. She vaguely recalled watching videos where smoke appeared without flames during fire-starting, but she couldn't remember how they resolved it.

She regretted dumping all the tinder in at once, feeling a bit like she had overspent on in-game purchases. Rolling around on the grass, she let out a faint moan. She really wanted fire; roasting those plump insects over a flame would make them tastier, and aside from that, she just craved something warm to eat! Anything warm would do!

She decided to deal with the fire later; all the tinder was gone now. She would need to prepare something more flammable another time. Cloudy rubbed her sore arms on the ground, then took out all the food stored in the cave.

There were 24 roots of plants she often ate, which would last her about three days. Since roots could be stored for a long time, she decided not to prioritize eating them. She organized the roots and set them aside.

There were around 60 odd little berries, red and green, that Cloudy had gathered while digging roots. Titus was beside her at the time and didn't stop her from collecting them, indicating they were safe to eat.

Cloudy planned to eat half of the berries and try drying the other half outside to make dried fruit, which would last longer.

There were three leafy pieces resembling succulents, each about the size of two palms, with a gel inside that sparkled like aloe. However, eating these fleshy leaves would make her very thirsty, and Cloudy wasn't sure why.
As per the text you provided, it seems to be a narrative involving a character named Cloudy who is managing her food supplies in a cave. She is considering various options to preserve her food, including drying fruits in the sun and exploring different food sources like insects. Cloudy also reflects on her past experiences and tries to come up with solutions to protect her food from pests like rodents. Additionally, she contemplates ways to start a fire to dry fruits but faces challenges due to the lack of resources. Cloudy's exploration of the surrounding area leads her to discover unfamiliar fruits and encounter unique insects.

If you need further assistance or have specific questions about the text, feel free to ask!
She had no interest, even though the distance between them was only three meters. The insects showed no reaction, just raising their upper bodies and staying still in the bushes.

There is a possibility that Cloudy appears taller to them visually, so these insects may not easily attack. It could also be the scent? She couldn't be sure, but just because they didn't attack her this time doesn't mean they won't next time. Cloudy silently noted this area in her mind, deciding to be more careful or simply avoid it next time she explores.

During this exploration, Cloudy energetically brought back many things - thorny vines, very tough and slender tree leaves, and a large bundle of branches.

She planned to pull off the longer and harder thorns from the vines, the slender tree leaves could be used for weaving something, even though Cloudy doesn't know how to weave... but she had to give it a try! The branches were intended to be used to make a small door for her cave.

Carrying the materials she had collected with effort, Cloudy walked briskly towards her cave.