Chapter Six: Journey to the Deep Valley

In a moment of desperation, Qin Fei recalled a strategy often used in games—what if he started a fire at the train car’s doorway? There was no time to debate. He immediately took the wood and small branches from his backpack and stacked them at the entrance.

By now, the sound of wolves’ footsteps was drawing ever closer.

There wasn’t enough time to light a fire in the normal way, so he grabbed the fire accelerant he’d kept in his backpack and poured it all over the wood.

Then he struck a match.

With the help of the accelerant, even in the freezing cold, the fire sprang up in moments. Within seconds, a faint flame kindled on the wood, and soon after, the blaze grew, blocking the doorway completely.

Just then, two gray wolves appeared outside. Standing on the snowy ground, they faced Qin Fei across the fire, barking and growling.

Each time they tried to advance, they would retreat several steps once they got close to the flames, clearly afraid and unwilling to charge through.

It worked!

Relief washed over Qin Fei, and his frantic panic subsided just a little. Though the wolves didn’t dare come forward, neither did they leave; they circled outside, gazing at him, pacing back and forth in the snow.

This wouldn’t do. He had to drive them away quickly! If he ran out of fuel, or the wind picked up and snuffed out the fire, the wolves would charge in at once.

He wouldn’t stand a chance.

With this in mind, Qin Fei crouched down, drew a smaller stick from the fire, and held it in his hand, its tip still burning.

Seeing his movements, the wolves shrank back, warily retreating a couple of steps.

But soon, realizing the human didn’t dare cross the flames either, they crept closer, issuing low warning growls.

As they approached again, Qin Fei seized the moment and hurled the burning stick. It struck one of the wolves, and the creature’s fur, highly flammable, was instantly singed in a small patch.

The wolf howled in terror, bounding madly through the snow, utterly panicked. Though the burn was minor, the fire itself had frightened it out of its wits.

The terrified wolf kept running, and before long, it had vanished into the distant snowfields.

Witnessing its companion’s reaction, the other wolf also howled anxiously and quickly fled.

At last, when both gray wolves were gone, Qin Fei exhaled deeply and collapsed onto the ground. He realized that his back was drenched with cold sweat—those wolves had scared him half to death.

By now, the firewood in the pile was almost spent. Though the wolves had been repelled by fire, they could return at any moment.

Qin Fei took out the reindeer fat he’d collected the day before, wrapped it in cloth, and tied it to a stick, fashioning a simple torch. The fat from these arctic reindeer was incredibly rich in energy, and a torch made with it could burn for a long time.

Thanks to the fire, Qin Fei, whose body temperature had been dropping to dangerous lows while trekking through the snow, felt warmth return to his limbs.

Torch in hand, he hurried along the railway tracks, moving quickly for fear the wolves might return.

Traveling through snow was painfully slow—what once took an hour or two now required a whole day.

When he was nearly exhausted, Qin Fei finally reached the mouth of the deep ravine. Nearby was the Carter Hydroelectric Dam.

He intended to search the dam’s perimeter for useful supplies. The dam was surrounded by a wire fence, with a large unpadlocked iron gate. Qin Fei opened the gate and stepped inside.

He dared not enter the dark interior of the dam itself; in the game, it was home to gray wolves, and he didn’t dare wager that the real-world dam would be any safer.

But the open ground outside held plenty of materials. He decided to take what he could carry. Among the scrap iron and old wood, he found some discarded fishing nets and ropes.

The nets and ropes weighed about two kilos—heavy, but useful in many ways. He packed them into his backpack.

At the dam’s entrance, Qin Fei unexpectedly discovered a reindeer carcass. Crow feathers lay scattered around it, evidence that the crows had already devoured most of the meat, leaving only a few scraps clinging to the bones.

Qin Fei tried to cut some with his knife, but the carcass was frozen solid—his blade could barely make a dent. After a feast by the crows, there truly wasn’t much left for him.

He could have dragged the carcass somewhere warm to thaw, or tried to harvest meat by building a fire right there, but for such meager reward, the effort wasn’t worthwhile. The calories gained wouldn’t cover his energy spent.

He ignored the reindeer remains, but gathered the crow feathers into his pack instead. They would be useful for making arrows—fletching stabilized arrows in flight, making them much more accurate.

With his search nearly complete, Qin Fei picked up a few more pieces of scrap wood and iron until his backpack was full. Then he left, heading into the depths of the ravine.

Night was falling, and he urgently needed shelter.

Relying on his gaming experience, he soon found a shallow cave not far from the entrance. Though shallow, the temperature further inside was much higher than outside.

He checked his status:

[Time: Daytime 90% | Cold: 10%]
[Air Temperature: 3°C | Felt Temperature: 14°C]

Inside the cave, the perceived temperature was above freezing, meaning his body heat would no longer ebb away.

He spread out his sleeping bag, then built a fire near the cave’s mouth. Lighting a fire deep inside could be dangerous—as one slept, the fire might consume all the oxygen, leading to unconsciousness or death.

With the fire crackling, Qin Fei filled his empty tin can with snow and set it to melt beside the flames. Then he opened a can of sardines he’d found earlier, eating them with a handful of cattail stems. The heavy saltiness of the sardines made his appetite surge—he hadn’t tasted salt in ages.

After this meal, his only remaining food was a single packet of military rations, enough for about a day.

There were no houses in the ravine, and almost nothing to eat.

Qin Fei had to get out as soon as possible. If he ran out of food and began to starve, his strength would fade rapidly, and hunger would make it even harder to find more to eat.

Sated and warm, Qin Fei lay down to sleep in the cave.