Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 120: Punishment for Failure

"Xu Yi, I’m going to take a bath now." Lu Ke came to the fire pit carrying two jars of hot water and clamped the glowing red stones into the clay pot.

The floor of the bathroom was covered with some small pebbles. Although not as smooth as cobblestones, stepping on them didn’t hurt her feet.

After wetting her hair and body, Lu Ke lathered soap on herself.

Previously, she always bathed in the dark, but today the bathroom had two oil lamps, so it was much brighter.

As a result, the bath time was longer than usual.

After bathing, Lu Ke dressed up and returned to the fire pit.

Xu Yi was still patiently peeling the hemp strands, completely focused.

Lu Ke sat next to Xu Yi, peeling hemp while drying her hair.

When the time came, Lu Ke went to rest, and Xu Yi persisted for more than an hour before going to sleep.

He kept waiting for new notifications, hoping to receive new tasks.

Unfortunately, there was no movement at all. In the end, he could only go to sleep.

The next morning, after getting up, Lu Ke took a piece of charcoal and wrote the number 27 on a peeled log. This indicated that they had been here for 27 days.

Lu Ke felt that if she didn’t keep track, she’d forget in a while.

Actually, by looking at the Star Chart’s countdown, one could know the time.

After leaving the house, Lu Ke warmed up her body and started practicing the Eighteen Forms of Body Strengthening.

"Morning."

Just as Lu Ke finished, she heard Xu Yi greeting her.

"Morning," Lu Ke replied and then went to boil some water.

Today, she could try the fuel-efficient stove Xu Yi had made. It had been drying for a few days and was now ready for use.

Lu Ke stuffed some wood shavings into the earthen stove, and it quickly caught fire.

She found the effect quite good; the fire inside burned brightly.

Sitting on a small stool made of wooden stumps, Lu Ke occasionally added some firewood.

Meanwhile, Xu Yi, after practicing the Eighteen Forms of Body Strengthening several times, went to wash his face and brush his teeth.

"Xu Yi, are we going hunting today?" Their food reserves were not very ample, and the jerky might only last six or seven days.

"Yeah, I made a trap that day, but I don’t know if it caught any wild boars. It’s a good day to check it out," Xu Yi said, taking the hot water Lu Ke handed him.

"Wild boars?" Lu Ke curiously glanced at Xu Yi.

Xu Yi nodded and then said, "Yeah, the other day, I came across a few wild boars, so I set up a trap, hoping to have some harvest."

"Wild boar meat should be quite tasty, right? I always wanted to try it before, but never had the chance," Lu Ke asked curiously, since she lived in the city and rarely got to eat genuine wild game.

"I don’t think it’s as tasty as domestic pork. If not properly prepared, it can have a smoky flavor," Xu Yi replied, though he thought the animals in this world tasted much better, so it might be quite delicious.

"I think it will be good. It’s a pity we have too few seasonings. Otherwise, making braised pig trotters would definitely be tasty," Lu Ke said, swallowing a bit as she spoke.

Thinking about braised pig trotters, both Xu Yi and Lu Ke suddenly found the jerky in their hands more appetizing.

After having breakfast, the two of them went out.

When they reached the trap, Xu Yi realized they wouldn’t be having wild boar meat. The area above the trap was still intact; no wild boars had fallen into it.

"No chance for pork today," Xu Yi said, exchanging a glance with Lu Ke and expressing disappointment.

"Once we finish the hemp ropes, we can set up more traps. There will always be a chance to eat pork," Lu Ke said optimistically, believing that as long as there were wild boars in the jungle, it was only a matter of time before they would taste them.

"That’s right, we’ll eat it eventually," Xu Yi nodded, leading Lu Ke around the trap.

"Let’s go check over there and hope for some other harvest," Xu Yi pointed in the distance to an area they hadn’t explored yet. Since they were already here, they might as well check it out.

So, the two started searching.

After a while, Xu Yi made a discovery.

"Lu Ke, there are wild garlic here," Xu Yi happily announced, starting to dig them up. There was quite a bit of wild garlic here, which was a significant find.

Hearing this, Lu Ke came running over.

They excavated for more than an hour and gathered about twenty pounds of wild garlic. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Xu Yi, can we pickle this wild garlic to make preserved vegetables?" Lu Ke asked happily, looking at the wild garlic in the basket.

Now, he could make clay pots, which were very suitable for pickling preserved vegetables.

The variety of food was increasing.

"Yes, pickling it would taste quite good and it can also be used as a seasoning. Unfortunately, it’s still a bit too little, only twenty to thirty pounds," Xu Yi said, shouldering his basket, ready to return to the camp.

At least the morning hadn’t been fruitless.

After returning to the camp and having lunch, Xu Yi went to look for palm trees to strip some fiber for making a palm mattress.

Lu Ke stayed at the camp, peeling hemp strands. Only with enough hemp could they make ropes to set traps.

"Team 15 failed the mission, lost all their tools, and will be transported to a new area."

"Team 28 failed..."

"Team 233 failed..."

On the way to cut palm fibers, Xu Yi heard more than a dozen alerts.

"It seems Wang Jin and Lu Yao have completed their task, as there was no news about their team," Xu Yi muttered, glancing at his follower camera.

The punishment for failing was quite severe, not only losing all their tools but also being moved to a new location.

This meant they had to start from scratch, and without any tools at that.

"Damn, this punishment is too heavy. Losing the tools is one thing, but now losing the camp too?"

"Too harsh, surviving 500 days is too difficult. One failure and you have to start over. I guess no team can succeed."

"What kind of challenge is this? It’s so unfair. Completing the task gets you a reward, but failing means starting over. It’s too dark."

"Starting again empty-handed, how can one manage? Not even able to last a day."

"So failing a task means elimination. Why not just eliminate them directly if that’s what they’re doing?"

"The most frustrating part is having to find the task goal yourself, with only 52 hours to do so. Is the organizer crazy?"

"I bet those who failed will soon give up. Losing all tools and having to find water, set up camp, and make fire all over again is hard enough with tools, let alone without anything."