Chapter Eighteen: Scarcity of Food

Bear paw is highly nutritious and rich in fat, so after eating just half of it, Qin Fei felt uncomfortably full. Once he finished his meal, he continued stripping the brown bear’s carcass. The bear was so large that it took Qin Fei until nightfall to merely remove the skin. When darkness finally enveloped the cave and its interior became pitch-black, he stopped his work.

He had a sleeping bag in his backpack. Coupled with the warmth of the bear’s den, the nighttime temperature was not low, so Qin Fei laid the sleeping bag on the ground and spent the night there.

It took him three full days to transport all the bear meat back to his residence. There was far too much meat to consume at once, so to preserve it for longer, he had to dry it. Turning the bear meat into jerky took several more days. Altogether, the jerky weighed about fifty kilograms.

Although a bear weighs several hundred pounds, after removing the skin and bones, little remained. Much of the meat’s water content was lost during drying, so the final amount was not as much as he had imagined.

As the bear meat was gradually processed into jerky, the skin was dried as well. Qin Fei spent a week fashioning a coat from the dried bear hide. The bear skin coat was exceptionally warm; paired with the fur trousers he had made earlier, Qin Fei no longer felt the biting cold when walking across the snowy fields. The only drawback was its weight.

He had considered making a sleeping bag out of the bear skin, but he rarely had occasions to use one. After much deliberation, he decided a coat was more practical.

With the bear skin coat, Qin Fei hardly needed to light a fire to keep warm when fishing in his ice hut. Besides fishing, he often wandered the snowy mountains, gathering foods such as rose hips, lingzhi mushrooms, and cattails to enrich his diet.

A person cannot survive long eating only meat. Qin Fei needed to consume foods rich in vitamins. Lingzhi mushrooms and cattails could be preserved easily in the polar climate and did not spoil quickly. Rose hips, however, easily rotted. After picking them, Qin Fei would crush the berries and lay them out in the sun to dry, turning them into preserved goods. When he wanted to eat them, he simply soaked them in hot water.

Along the icy coast, he occasionally spotted reindeer. Qin Fei wanted to hunt them with his bow, but the reindeer were highly alert and fled before he could get close. They always kept a safe distance from him. The range of his bow was insufficient; unless he used a rifle, it was nearly impossible to hunt them.

Qin Fei survived in the fishing camp cabin for over two months. In that time, aside from shooting a gray wolf on the ice, he caught no other game.

The number of carnivores was always less than herbivores. After Qin Fei killed two gray wolves in the area, he rarely saw any other carnivores. There were more gray wolves near the Kuangsitejia Station, but they appeared in packs. No matter how desperate for food, Qin Fei would not risk provoking them. Wolf packs were not something he could confront.

Recently, fish caught at the ice hut had dwindled. Supplies in the area were becoming increasingly scarce. If he stayed here any longer, Qin Fei would face a food crisis.

He had no choice but to relocate.

For Qin Fei, a new settlement had to meet two conditions: it must have books to read and sufficient food. Following the road to its end would lead to desolation, but he had already been there once and brought back all the books he could find. Heading east, he could reach an abandoned mine, beyond which lay Pleasant Valley.

Based on his gaming experience, Pleasant Valley was rich in resources. Most crucially, he remembered that the houses there contained plenty of books, which was vital for him. He could tolerate temporary hunger but not the absence of reading material.

To survive in the wild, a person needs more than material necessities; the spirit must also be nourished. Otherwise, even if hunger and cold do not defeat him, loneliness and boredom surely will.

Before leaving, Qin Fei had to abandon some supplies. He had too many belongings to take them all; he had to make choices. Everyday items like windproof oil lamps, fire starters, and sewing kits were essential. Salt, garlic powder, rose hips, lingzhi mushrooms, and other important spices and medicinal herbs were also must-haves. As for tools, he would take his hunting bow, knife, axe, steel saw, and crowbar.

Food was nearly depleted, so he took all that remained. Firewood, bear bones, accumulated scrap iron, pots, bowls, and pans were either too heavy or not useful enough, so Qin Fei left them behind in the cabin.

After a night of heavy snow, the weather cleared up somewhat. Qin Fei packed his supplies into his spatial backpack and set out for the abandoned mine in the mountains.

The system’s backpack did not consider the volume of items, but their weight still affected Qin Fei. Because he was greedy and took as much as possible, he struggled under the heavy load as he trudged through the snow.

Carrying such weight, he could not move quickly. He set out at dawn, but moved slowly, so by the time he reached the mine, night had fallen. Qin Fei lit his windproof oil lamp and entered the mine.

Inside, he found coal scattered everywhere—excellent fuel. However, his pack was already too heavy, so he had to ignore the coal. Adding more would have rendered him unable to walk.

Near the entrance, he stopped. After slogging through snow all day with a heavy load, Qin Fei was exhausted. He ate something and crawled into his sleeping bag.

He rested there for the night.

[You have survived: 83 days, 3 hours, 52 minutes]

At dawn, Qin Fei was awakened by the howling wind. The chill seeped through the cave entrance, blowing over him.

So cold!

He packed up his sleeping bag and left the mine. Outside, a blizzard was raging, making it extremely cold. Such weather was hardly suitable for travel, but with little food left and the darkness inside the mine oppressive, Qin Fei decided to press on despite the storm.

Thanks to his bear skin coat, he could withstand the blizzard; his only problem was a slower pace, and his body temperature did not drop quickly.

Descending from the abandoned mine to the foot of the mountain, he soon reached a highway. There stood some collapsed houses by the roadside.

It appeared to be a crossroads. In the center was a frozen stream with a wooden bridge. Crossing the bridge, he spotted a store on the roadside. Opposite the store stood a church, which seemed to be the location for the third act of the game’s story.

The blizzard was fiercer than before. Even with his bear skin coat, Qin Fei was shivering from the cold. He entered the store on the left side.