Chapter Five: Encounter with the Gray Wolf Once More

After having his fill of food and drink, Qin Fei felt much more comfortable and lay down on the bed inside the cabin to sleep.

The next morning.

[You have survived: 3 days 4 hours 22 minutes]

As soon as Qin Fei woke up, he immediately began to search the cabin. To his disappointment, there was no hunting rifle to be found, not even a single bullet.

However, he did discover a trap on the workbench—a snare specifically for catching rabbits. The snare was lightweight and not difficult to make, crafted from old wood and rope. To use it, one needed only to fix a wooden stick into the snow, lay the looped rope on the ground, and place it along a path frequented by rabbits.

Rabbit tracks were easy enough to spot in the snow...

Once a rabbit got caught in the snare, it would struggle incessantly, but to no avail. The more it struggled, the tighter the rope would become. Once trapped, it wouldn't be long before the rabbit froze to death in the snow from the cold.

A useful item indeed.

Qin Fei tucked the trap into his backpack.

In addition, he found a can of sardines in the cabin.

[Sardine Can: A canned fish providing 300 kilocalories]

Aside from that, there were various essential supplies around the room—wooden matches, a sewing kit, and some cloth. Qin Fei selected the lighter, more practical items and packed them all into his backpack.

He avoided heavier items because, in his game system, backpack capacity was determined by weight. The pack could carry up to 30 kilograms; exceeding that would slow his movement, and at 40 kilograms, he would be unable to move at all. In the deep snow, carrying a heavy load meant spending more time on the road and a higher risk of freezing to death.

In one corner of the cabin, Qin Fei also discovered a safe, sitting quietly. It appeared to be a very old mechanical dial safe. As a veteran who had played this game for hundreds of hours, Qin Fei naturally knew how to open such a safe.

Using the method of listening to the clicks as he turned the dial, it took him about twenty minutes to finally open it.

[A wad of cash: Just a bundle of bills, now only useful as tinder]
[Marine Corps Rations: Standard-issue military rations for soldiers, high in calories and with a long shelf life!]
[Worn Thermal Underpants: Thermal underwear to be worn under outer trousers]

There wasn't much inside, but apart from the cash, the contents were all highly useful to Qin Fei. Even though he hadn't found a hunting rifle in the hunter's cabin, acquiring these items alone made the trip worthwhile.

He put on the thermal underpants as the inner layer, then pulled his work pants over them.

Now, though his clothes were somewhat bulky and slowed his movement, his ability to keep warm was greatly enhanced.

[Backpack and clothing weight: 22 kg / 30 + 5 kg]
[Well-fed (buff): You haven't been hungry for a long time; you feel full of strength and can carry more equipment. Carry weight +5 kg]

After several days of scavenging, the supplies Qin Fei carried, along with his clothing, totaled 22 kilograms. From now on, he would have to prioritize lighter, more portable items.

Since he hadn't found a hunting rifle in the hunter's cabin, Qin Fei decided to settle for crafting a hunting bow instead. The snare could catch rabbits, but a single rabbit might only provide enough food for one or two meals for an adult. Moreover, the number of rabbits in any one area was limited. Relying solely on snares for survival was unrealistic.

With a bow, Qin Fei could hunt caribou and grey wolves, and with careful use of the terrain, perhaps even take down a bear. The meat from caribou and wolves alone could feed a person for half a month to over a month. And if he managed to kill a bear, he could smoke and dry the meat. Properly stored, meat from a 200-kilogram grizzly would last Qin Fei several months!

Traps and fishing gear would provide rabbit and fish meat, and supplemented with bowhunting larger animals, surviving 200 days would not be too difficult.

As for making a bow and arrows... it wasn't too hard. This was the northern maple country, where maple saplings were relatively common. Maple saplings were much more flexible and just the right hardness compared to other woods—perfect for bow limbs. The hardy and resilient birch saplings of the northern cold zone were ideal for making arrow shafts.

Of course, saplings weren't easy to find, especially in the snow where trees struggled to grow. While mature maples and birches were abundant, their branches were too brittle for bows.

As for the bowstring... the limbs were the most important part, providing the bow's power, but the string didn't require as much. Qin Fei planned to tan dried animal intestines into sinew to use as the bowstring.

Having scoured the entire cabin, Qin Fei decided to move on. Lingering in one place would only lead to exhausting his supplies and, eventually, death.

He now had several options.

Heading south, he could reach the Desolate Marsh. But from his experience, apart from a few caves that could barely serve as shelter for the night, there were no intact cabins. Without better cold-weather gear, going there would only mean freezing to death.

Behind the hunter’s cabin, a cave led toward a mountain town. However, the town sat at a great elevation, and reaching it required climbing a steep peak with a mountaineering rope. In the game, such a risk was no big deal—after all, if you fell, it wasn't your real body that died. But climbing a mountain in reality? Qin Fei was unwilling, to say the least.

To the north of the Mysterious Lake was a hydroelectric dam, rich in supplies, but in older versions of the game, wolves lurked inside. Qin Fei couldn’t be sure there wouldn’t be wolves here, and the dam was pitch black inside. Being cautious with his life, he dared not go there.

After much thought, following the railway to the canyon seemed the best option. There were no wolves in the canyon—very safe. Beyond the canyon lay a new map: the Coastal Highway. Along the coast were several ice-fishing huts where he could fish for food. The road was lined with many houses for shelter, not to mention the wealth of supplies to be found inside.

With that decided, Qin Fei gathered the deer hide and intestines he was drying, packed away the rest of his gear, and stepped outside, heading toward the railroad tracks.

On his way back, he didn't see the grizzly again, so he didn’t need to take a detour. Nor did he encounter any wolves; everything went smoothly. The weather was mild today.

After about an hour of walking, Qin Fei spotted three derailed train cars. Two were completely wrecked, their doors buried under the snow and inaccessible. The third car, however, was intact and still upright on the tracks.

He climbed into the train car to search.

In the corner lay a long-frozen corpse, its clothes already tattered. Aside from that, there was a bottle of disinfectant and a damp, frozen wool scarf—both valuable finds. Qin Fei packed them into his backpack.

"Woof! Woof!"

Suddenly, a bark—no, a wolf's howl—came from outside the train car. From the sound of it, there was more than one.

Wolves?

Every hair on Qin Fei’s body stood on end, his nerves instantly taut.

He reacted at once, trying to close the train car’s door. But the metal door had been frozen solid by the cold and wouldn’t budge.

In the game, wolves couldn’t enter the train cars, but that was a game mechanic—reality was different.

This wasn’t a game—if the wolves had found him, they could charge in at any moment. He couldn’t save his progress, and if he died, that would be the end of everything.

This was bad—what should he do now?

Listening to the approaching footsteps outside, Qin Fei’s heart was gripped by panic.