Chapter 71

"Wake up, Big Head, we're about to set off..."

Because his body had not yet recovered from the loss of blood and qi, Zhang Tie's biological clock had automatically extended his sleep time over the past two days. On the morning of the second day, Zhang Tie was woken up by the fatso Bari. When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he saw the sky was just beginning to turn a faint white, with the last star in the east still hanging stubbornly in the sky. His head, which had been resting on a hard stone under the sleeping bag, felt a bit sore.

Seeing that the fatso Bari and Doug were already awake, Zhang Tie quickly climbed out of his sleeping bag and began to pack his belongings. It was still dark, but the animals sleeping in the square were gradually waking up, ready to face the true survival trial.

"I just counted, more than ten groups have already gone down. It's the perfect time for us to go now!" Bari said as he packed his belongings.

"You woke up early?" Zhang Tie glanced at Bari as he rolled up his sleeping bag.

"Of course, I woke up early, and then I counted how many groups went down first. Let those guys scout the way for us. It's not good to be too early or too late."

This fatso is too cunning, Zhang Tie thought, but having this guy as a brother is very reassuring.

Zhang Tie looked towards where Gries and his group had slept the previous night. Sure enough, the four of them were gone, having already descended the mountain early. This trial was Gries' last chance, and he was probably more eager to show himself than anyone else.

The seven members of the Airplane Brotherhood quickly packed their belongings and followed the ten or so groups that had left the square outside the Wild Wolf Castle. A gravel path about 200 meters long wound down the mountain to the valley below. Once they descended the path, they found themselves in the valley. Two groups that had come down with Zhang Tie and his group split off, and from this moment on, everyone was, to some extent, a competitor. The suitable places to live and the food available in the valley were limited, and these things had to be obtained through luck and competition.

The first day of the survival trial was a test for everyone to find a suitable place to settle.

In the wild, a suitable place to settle must meet three conditions: it must be close to a clean water source, it must be safe, and it must be convenient for obtaining food in the future.

Being close to the castle was safe and provided a clean water source, but it was difficult to obtain enough food. Therefore, in previous trials, most people chose to set up camp within one to seven kilometers of the castle. Some groups with strong capabilities or larger numbers chose to set up camp further away.

Baghdad, armed with an axe, led the way, followed by Doug, then Bari and Zhang Tie, with Sista and Savage behind Zhang Tie, and Light bringing up the rear. Everyone took out their weapons and cautiously made their way into the valley. They had to be careful, as Doug had just stepped on a pile of feces left by some unknown wild animal, which appeared to have been left the previous night. As Doug cursed, everyone felt a chill, reminding themselves that this was the Wild Wolf Valley, not Black Flame City.

After advancing about 200 meters into the valley, Savage discovered a water willow and picked a few branches for everyone to chew on as a makeshift mouthwash. In the wild, everything had to be simple. The temperature in the valley was relatively low in the early morning, with a thin layer of mist, and the leaves and grass were covered with dew. After walking for a short while, everyone's pants and clothes were already half-soaked.

Birds with unknown names were chirping from the trees, their calls echoing far into the valley, making it seem even more serene.

Less than 500 meters into the valley, they encountered the first wolf of the trial. The sound of Baghdad's axe had startled a wolf resting in the grass about twenty meters away. The wolf suddenly stood up, looked at the group for a moment, and then quickly disappeared into the forest before anyone could react. This wolf made everyone tighten their grip on their weapons.

After traveling another kilometer, Zhang Tie and his group discovered a small river about five meters wide, with clear water that revealed the pebbles and aquatic plants at the bottom. A group of small fish were swimming happily among the plants.

"I think we should follow this river deeper into the valley. It would be great if we could find a suitable place to settle near the river!" Baghdad suggested.

"Agreed!" Everyone agreed. So they followed the river deeper into the valley. After traveling another mile or so, they passed an abandoned mine. Around the mine, there were dozens of round caves. Two groups had already chosen to set up camp in this area. Looking at the large, round, and neatly arranged cave entrances on the cliff and mountain ridges, Doug asked curiously, "Why are there so many strange caves on those cliffs?"

"I heard that in the past, some gold-eating pythons lived in the Wild Wolf Valley. These caves were dug by the gold-eating pythons. Later, the pythons were killed, and the caves were left behind..." Savage explained.

"Gold-eating pythons' caves?" Doug asked, shocked. Everyone looked at the cave entrances, which were about one to three meters in diameter, and swallowed hard. If the cave entrances matched the size of the gold-eating pythons, the size and length of those pythons must have been terrifying. Just thinking about it made Zhang Tie feel weak in the knees.

"Of course, didn't you know?" Savage asked curiously.

"How did you know?" Light asked, his face pale.

"By reading the local history of Black Flame City..." Savage said matter-of-factly. "When Doug asked about the caves, I remembered that the local history of Black Flame City mentioned something about the Wild Wolf Valley. It was over 30 years ago. To eliminate the gold-eating pythons that had been living here for a thousand years, the entire Blackson Human Corridor was mobilized. Many experts came from all over, and with the help of the army and many experts, they finally killed the pythons at a great cost. The Black Flame City also discovered an iron mine and a high-quality crystal mine in the caves dug by the gold-eating pythons. Over the years, the crystal mine has been almost depleted and is no longer valuable. The iron mine was also mined for a while, but after the discovery of the Gran Iron Mine, the cost of mining here was too high, and the quality of the iron was not as good, so the iron mines here were gradually abandoned. This is why you can see so many abandoned mines in the Wild Wolf Valley. The wild wolves also increased in number after the gold-eating pythons were killed, and the area was later named Wild Wolf Valley because of the many wolves."

The local history of Black Flame City, who in the Airplane Brotherhood would be bored enough to read such a thing, except for Savage? Although what Savage said happened over 30 years ago, it still made everyone feel uneasy.

"What if some of those gold-eating pythons were not completely killed, and a small one was left behind..." Doug muttered.

Everyone swallowed hard again and looked at the caves, determined not to stay there.

"I think we shouldn't go too deep. If we don't find a suitable place in the next two kilometers, we should circle back and look again..." Bari said solemnly.

Everyone nodded in agreement, even Baghdad didn't object. Just thinking about the possibility of giant snakes and monsters that could eat rocks made the Wild Wolf Valley seem eerily sinister.

Finally, after nearly four hours of searching, by noon, the seven members of the Airplane Brotherhood found a suitable place to settle about five kilometers from the Wild Wolf Castle. It was a dragon claw tree with a diameter of over ten meters, located next to a small bamboo grove. Whether it was a mutated variety after the Great Catastrophe or not, it was the thickest and largest dragon claw tree anyone had ever seen. The tree was only about 50 meters tall, with a canopy that covered several acres of ground. When they first discovered the place, they only intended to rest, but they unexpectedly found a tree hole about four meters above the ground that was just large enough for someone to bend and enter. Baghdad climbed up to check and found that the space inside the tree hole was quite spacious, easily accommodating three people. More surprisingly, the tree hole looked like it had been used by someone before, probably by someone who had come here for a trial. This discovery sparked everyone's interest, and they all climbed up to check the giant dragon claw tree. At about seven meters above the ground, they found another natural hollow tree hole, but it was much smaller, only large enough for one person to fit, and it was a bit cramped. The tree looked healthy on the outside, but the wood in the center was rotten and decayed, with signs of lightning strikes. When they grabbed the wood inside the tree hole, they could easily pull out a handful of wood chips.

"Why don't we turn this dragon claw tree into a base that can accommodate all seven of us?" Light's suggestion ignited everyone's enthusiasm. The current tree holes could already accommodate four people, and with some modifications, it wouldn't be too difficult. So everyone got to work immediately.

The plan was in two steps. The first step was to expand the space inside the two tree holes. The first tree hole needed to be expanded to accommodate four people and leave space for storing equipment and food. The second tree hole required more work, but if it could be expanded to the size of the first tree hole, it could accommodate three more people, making the base suitable for the seven members of the Airplane Brotherhood.

After expanding the space inside the two tree holes, the second step was to connect the two tree holes vertically, creating a passage and space shaped like an "N." This would allow at least two or three more people to sleep in the N-shaped space, making the base less crowded.

Everyone had learned some basic woodworking skills in school, and this task didn't require any aesthetic or intricate work, so they just rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

With Baghdad's axe and Zhang Tie and Light's multi-purpose engineer shovels, wood chips flew everywhere, and in just over two hours, the first tree hole was modified.

Seeing the wood chips and broken pieces of wood thrown out of the tree hole, Bari called out in pain, "Ah, don't throw them away! These dry pieces of wood can be used for cooking. We won't have to worry about firewood for the next few weeks..."

Everyone laughed heartily...