Chapter 313 - 206: Mysterious Black Shadow

Chapter 313: Chapter 206: Mysterious Black Shadow

"Octopus meatballs?"

Erica froze. "You can’t be thinking of stuffing the entire octopus into a single meatball, are you?"

"What an imagination," Lin Chen chuckled. "I *could* stuff it in, but could you even bite through it?"

"If you can stuff it, I can bite it."

"If you can bite it, I can stuff it."

"Alright then, let’s see you try! I’d love to see what a meatball stuffed with an entire giant octopus looks like!"

"Oh, come on. It would be impossible to eat. I was just teasing you."

Lin Chen retrieved seven or eight fist-sized potatoes from the cave. He looked around but found no leftover bamboo sections.

"We’re out of bamboo. I’ll go cut some more."

"Wait, wait," Erica stopped him. "Even if you could manage to chop it down, you wouldn’t be able to carry it back in your condition. Let me go instead."

"And you think *your* hand is any better? We’re two of a kind right now. The recoil from chopping bamboo would be enough to make your wound..."

"I’m not stupid, you know. I’ll just wrap it up!"

Before he could finish speaking, Erica had already grabbed the other bamboo knife. She unwound the Mulberry Tree bark from its handle and wrapped it, coil by coil, around each of her fingers.

Her wrapped fist looked a bit bulky, but it didn’t hinder her movement.

With one layer wrapped around her fingers, and the handle of the other bamboo knife also wrapped in bark, the double protection would significantly lessen the recoil on her skin.

"I’m off. Don’t wander around while I’m gone. If you get hit by a sliding bamboo pole, you can’t blame me."

Having stayed with Lin Chen for a few days, she had of course seen how he transported bamboo. At the time, she’d been utterly amazed, marveling at how on earth he had come up with such a method.

He actually used the terrain of the hillside, letting the bamboo slide to the bottom under its own weight to save energy.

’Someone who doesn’t cut bamboo for a living would probably have a hard time coming up with a method like this, right?’

’It was just like her dad. He’d lived in the forest for years, so he had accumulated lots of little tricks that were useless in everyday life but incredibly practical in the woods.’

She had used the same method when she cut bamboo herself yesterday. It was incredibly convenient and saved a lot of effort—especially practical for a girl like her, who wasn’t particularly strong.

It took her over twenty minutes to climb up to the bamboo grove and another fifteen to chop down three stalks. She tied their thin tops together, then started running downhill, dragging them behind her.

After several days of her and Lin Chen using the same technique, a "chute" had formed on the hillside—a track left by the bamboo poles as they slid down the mountain.

All one had to do was tie the bamboo stalks together and send them down the track, and gravity would carry them to the bottom of the slope, right to the clearing in front of the cave shelter.

"Heave-ho, and away you go~!"

She gave the bamboo a running start before flinging it forward with all her might, quickly jumping to the side.

The bundle of three bamboo stalks followed the grooves in the ground, sliding down the mountain all on its own.

’This should be enough bamboo, right?’

’No, wait. I need to stockpile firewood for myself, too, and reinforce the inside of the shelter. I’d better cut a few more to save myself another trip later.’

An hour had passed by the time she finished chopping the bamboo and made it back down to the cave entrance.

It was now the hottest part of the afternoon. The warm sun beat down on the earth, quickly baking the surface moisture from the soil and restoring it to its usual color.

"Lin! Look at all the bamboo I got! Is it enou—"

She ran gleefully toward the cave entrance, waving her arms and shouting.

But as the scene at the entrance came into view, her voice trailed off before stopping abruptly.

Her footsteps softened. She crept cautiously to the mouth of the cave, her eyes fixed on Lin Chen. He was fast asleep, his head resting against the earthen wall.

’He’s asleep?’

She glanced at the pile of bamboo scattered in the clearing not far away.

It wasn’t too far, only about twenty meters, but the sound they made when landing from that distance should have been deafening.

A full hour had passed since she sent down the first bundle of bamboo.

There was no sign that the bamboo had been moved. The only thing different was the pile of potatoes still in front of Lin Chen, looking as though it was waiting to be prepared.

’Looks like he must have fallen asleep not long after I left.’

’To not even be woken up by the sound of all that bamboo sliding down... he must be completely exhausted. He must have fallen into a deep sleep so quickly.’

She crouched down and moved in for a closer look.

Asleep, Lin Chen’s lips were slightly parted and his features were calm and relaxed, save for his brows, which seemed to be slightly furrowed.

She carefully reached out a hand to smooth the crease away.

’Frowning like a little old man. What are you so worried about? You’re much more handsome this way.’

’I’m not sure where Lin’s features rank by East Asian standards. He doesn’t seem to be the conventionally handsome type, but he really grows on you.’

’His nose has a high bridge, but not as high as a European’s. His eyebrows are elegant and slender, not thick and bushy like a North American’s.’

’I’m so jealous of his skin. You can barely even see his pores. Is that an East Asian trait?’

She stared at Lin Chen endlessly, like a curious child, before finally realizing what she was doing. She took off her camouflage jacket and draped it over him.

Whether her movements were a little too forceful or it was just a coincidence, the moment she draped the jacket over him, Lin Chen’s head slowly tilted away from the earthen wall, as if he were about to fall over.

Without a second thought, she instinctively put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

But Lin Chen was a 1.8-meter-tall man who worked out, and his weight was more than she could support with one hand.

Left with no choice, she sat down against the wall as well, letting his head rest on her shoulder.