Chapter 47: Section 48: Surviving Alone
The scorching sunlight felt like thousands of sharp arrows descending from the sky, engulfing the entire desert in its fiery embrace.
Zhenjin walked under the sun, feeling like a fish on a heated iron plate. To avoid getting roasted, he could only try to walk on the shaded side of the dunes, and even so, after moving for a while, he felt a severe depletion of physical strength.
At the same time, a sensation of hunger faintly communicated itself to him.
Zhenjin licked his lips, which were extremely dry, finding it difficult to even swallow his saliva.
His mouth was parched, and his tongue torched.
Zhenjin, as silent as iron, deliberately slowed his pace, strolling forward and calculating the time.
...
Due to becoming unconscious, he did not know exactly how much time had passed.
“But at least one night and half a day had gone by without me eating or drinking anything. It’s normal to feel hungry and thirsty.”
Normally, going such a long stretch without food would certainly lead to thirst and hunger. Moreover, Zhenjin had endured a terrifying sandstorm that had expended a great deal of physical and mental energy. The struggle between life and death had even more severely impacted his spirit.
“My food now is just this snake,” Zhenjin glanced at the snake corpse resting on his shoulder, quietly pondering his predicament.
The island was perilous, and survival in the wilderness was dire.
Previously, in the rainforest and forests, Zhenjin had encountered several dangers. Now in the desert, where resources were scarce, the lush rainforests and forests seemed like paradise in comparison.
“Fortunately, during this period, whenever I had time, I sought advice from Cang Xu, knowing many ways to survive in the desert.”
Due to not understanding the mechanism of transportation, Zhenjin had long considered the possibility that he might also be sent to the desert.
For this reason, he had made some preparations.
“It would be best to find an oasis where I could immediately replenish a lot of water and food.”
“Encountering a cactus would also be good.”
“But only specific cacti.” According to Cang Xu, many cacti are inedible and contain toxins. Moreover, digging out cacti consumes a lot of physical strength and water in the body. Blindly doing so could instead be counterproductive.”
The exploration team had also been transported before, falling to the desert. Their main reliance was still the food and water they carried themselves.
In this regard, Zhenjin was not unprepared.
Every day, he carried a certain amount of food and water, even at night in the tent, he would keep food, water, and crucial survival resources like weapons by his side.
For the exploration team led by Zhenjin, transportation was silent and inevitable. S~ea??h the Novёl?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Live beings and related items around the transported life form would also be teleported.
Thus, the entire team was sent into the desert before, and their clothes, equipment, etc., were not left behind.
This time during the teleportation, Zhenjin had ordered the entire camp to be transported over.
But nobody anticipated that after being transported to the desert, they would be enveloped and ravaged by violent sands.
At that time, after being awakened, Zhenjin thought only of rescuing others, grabbing a blade in his hand and running out of the tent.
Thus, the food, water, etc., in the tent were swept up and buried by the sandstorm.
Zhenjin had not even had time to put on his leather armor, and the only weapon left made from the Blade Spider Legs was the one in his hand.
“Fortunately, even though I was unconscious, I held onto the weapon tightly and never let go. This at least kept me from being utterly defenseless.”
“But my food and water are essentially gone. I must replenish these reserves. Without them, I simply cannot survive.”
An invisible pressure silently accumulated in the young man’s heart.
And soon, this pressure grew larger and heavier, feeling like a huge rock was being carried on his chest, becoming heavier and heavier.
Zhenjin’s breathing grew more and more labored.
This was not merely because of the desert’s scorching air or his ongoing physical decline.
“Surviving alone is completely different from before,” the young man deeply felt.
He reflexively slowed down his steps and paused in the shadow of a dune, supporting his knees with both hands, giving himself a chance to breathe.
How long had it been?
Surviving alone had already made him feel like he was gradually, involuntarily tensing up.
A profound sense of loneliness firmly enveloped him.
No one to rely on, no one to expect help from, only reliant on himself.
It felt as if only he was left between heaven and earth, as if the entire Human Race had perished.
He had to face all difficulties and dangers alone.
“Perhaps I will die here, my flesh gnawed by predators, leaving only white bones to suffer the harsh sun by day and the cold by night in the desolate desert, eventually worn away into fragments by the wind and sand, completely disappearing in this vast, indifferent world.”
Such thoughts continually emerged in Zhenjin’s mind.
No matter how he tried to suppress them, they were unstoppable.
A trace of panic spread in his heart and quickly expanded.
Zhenjin clenched his teeth, showing a bitter smile.
Cang Xu had once warned him: according to his research, humans are inherently social animals, needing the company of others from the deepest parts of their beings.
Once a person starts surviving alone, especially when facing the enormous pressure of wilderness survival, it’s very easy to get nervous and panicked. If not controlled, negative emotions can become a fatal killer. Even with an adequate supply of food and water, and a safe environment, one would find it hard to control emotions, leading to mental breakdowns, hallucinations, and ultimately, madness.
Now the young man experienced it firsthand; recalling Cang Xu’s theory at this moment, he gained a very profound insight.
“Stay calm, stay calm, don’t panic.”
Zhenjin forced himself to calm down, but he did not succeed.
“Oh God, my Great Emperor, you bear the holy name. Your Believer here prays to you, please grant this humble one the strength of spirit to no longer be weak or panic. Allow me to bravely walk the path you have guided, to glorify your name.”
He prayed to his deity again, but the outcome didn’t surprise him at all—there was no response.
He simply sat down on the sand.
He gazed at the boundless desert, watching the monotonous yellow stretch out and eventually blend with the blue of the sky.
The scorching sunlight made the air twist madly.
The young man suddenly felt that the entire desert was like a madman who appeared calm on the surface but was beyond cure. Here, he would eventually melt and be driven mad!
“Zhenjin, oh Zhenjin, how did you end up in such a state?”
“How could you have fallen to this extent?”
“You are the sole heir of the Hundred Needles family, the fiancé of Miss Zi Di, yet here you are?”
The young man angrily questioned himself.
The situation was extremely bad; even his own safety was difficult to ensure.
But what could he do?
Faced with these self-reproaches, he could only remain silent.
For a long time.
The silent young man finally exhaled a clouded breath, muttering to himself, “Indeed, nothing could be worse than now, could it?”
Then, he gave a bitter smile.
He found it strange that, in such situations, he could still manage to smile.
With that laugh, the anger and panic in his heart dissipated a bit, and a new wave of melancholy, helplessness, and self-mockery added in.
Then, miraculously, the young man full of complex emotions gradually calmed down.
The calmed Zhenjin surveyed his surroundings and immediately realized a significant mistake he had made.
He had been too focused on food and water, choosing a direction at random and walking, which, in the desert, was simply a death wish!
Perhaps, at that time, he was too anxious, so these emotions overwhelmed his mind, forcing his body to act without further thought.
“I should find the right direction and maintain it.”
“Without direction, my journey could likely turn into a huge circle in the desert, which would be even worse than spinning in place.”
Now was the midday of a sunny day without the night’s stars and moon to guide him.
But Zhenjin had learned another method to find direction, which he had asked Cang Xu for.
First, he stuck a stick in the ground and made a mark at the tip of the shadow cast by the stick. About ten minutes later, he made another mark on the shifted shadow.
Connecting the two marks formed a line, and the line’s perpendicular bisector indicated north-south.
Whether the end point of the line was south or north depended on the position of the sun.
The position of the sun showed that the end point of the perpendicular bisector was south, and the other end was north.
Zhenjin did not know the map of this island, but he clearly remembered that the direction chosen by Cang Xu when the exploration team was transported to the desert was due south.
Thus, lacking other criteria for judgment, he could only gamble again and chose the due south direction.
Once again embarking, Zhenjin tried to avoid the sunlight, walking on the backside of the sand dunes.
His speed dropped again and again, trying his best to conserve physical strength.
Many times, he voluntarily stopped to rest.
“I must conserve physical strength.”
“Traveling in the desert during the day consumes a lot of physical energy. More crucially, sweating leads to significant water loss.”
“The more I sweat, the closer I am to death.”
This was valuable knowledge that Zhenjin had gained from his interactions with Cang Xu.
While remaining calm, loneliness, and the pressure to survive also stimulated him, making his mind sharper and clearer.
He remembered what Huang Zao had said during their conversation.
“At that time, I had just boarded the ship and was a novice. The beginning period was very tough. I worked on the deck all day long, the workload was huge, and I was soon sunburned. Initially, it was just itchiness that made me scratch uncontrollably with my fingernails. Later, the skin became painfully stinging, forming closely packed blisters. I started to have a low fever, felt drowsy all day, and could only lie weakly in the hammock. Then the low fever turned into a high fever, and I began to stink, and other sailors dared not come near me. Someone even suggested to the Captain that I should be thrown overboard, believing I had contracted a contagious disease.”
“Fortunately, my brother, during a stopover by our ship, obtained herbal medicine from the natives of the island. This herbal medicine, reportedly made from sea mud and local leaves, had a refreshing cooling sensation when applied, truly miraculous.”
“Eventually, I survived. From then on, I never underestimated the common sunlight again and maintained the purest respect for these ancient potions!”
Thinking this, Zhenjin took off his outermost layer of clothes and tried to wrap it around his head.
He was grateful that his underwear was long-sleeved and long-legged, which reduced his skin’s exposure to the sunlight.
“Although my strength and physical fitness far exceed those of Huang Zao, and this place is not the Phoenix Desert, the chances of getting sunburned are very low. But doing this also helps to retain as much water in my body as possible.”
PS: recommending a good book—”I am A Killer Without Feelings.” Divine-level excellent writing!
I, like a pigeon killer;
I, without feelings;
Also, without money.
I am Yi Haizhou, who disappeared under the Yi surname;
The man who mastered half of the four great inventions;
I don’t want to talk to you and threw a BENG at you…