"Hm… This is harder than I thought. I wonder if we could split the log into two. That should make it easier to carry." Laurel said when she saw how they struggled to even put the first tree trunk on the ground.
"You could have said that earlier. Before we put the log in there." Lexus rolled his eyes. The two-meter log was heavy. It took two people to carry a single log. Moreover, they were uneven. Just from that single log, Laurel could guess the next one would leave at least a 30-centimeter gap no matter how tightly they placed them. It couldn't be called a house.
"They really made it so simple in games…" Even Shingo, who had designed the house, was speechless.
"So, any idea how to do this?" Lexus asked.
"Mistral said we need to turn these into planks. Or, if we want to make a log house, we need to search for tall trees whose trunks are of similar size from one end to the other." Shingo said. "We still need to make a door for that, by the way."
"There are no trees over ten meters. And even if there were, they would be too heavy to carry. So, I plan to make an upright log cabin. But we need to find some clay to seal the gaps." Shingo said. He had discussed this with Bob at length throughout the night. They thought they had it all figured out, but apparently, they had failed on the very first log.
"Any suggestions on how we should tackle this?"
"Maybe we should just make a smaller cabin?" Shingo said. "It's easier, and it's not like we will all sleep here. Maybe we could split it into boys and girls' cabins?"
"Let's try to find the logs first. The wood in the western forest is irregular. But I think the trees in the southern forest are straighter."
"Why do we have to drag the logs here from the western forest? Let's just build a cabin there in the southern forest." Lexus said. The logs were heavy. He didn't want to drag them all the way across the island.
"That would defeat the purpose. We wanted to build the cabin near the field so we could take a break after tending to it." Laurel sighed. She realized that they had made a mistake by building the field near the western forest. They should have built the field in the southern forest instead, near the ruins. Water would be easy to obtain there, and they could also take shelter in the ruins.
"Let's continue with the smaller cabin." Bob said. "We will deal with the problems as they come. If bringing the logs from the southern forest is too difficult, we can still use the logs from here. We can just pack dirt into the gaps to seal them."
After a day of hard work, one wall was done. They didn't compromise and built it according to their original plan. It took a lot of logs, which made them feel a bit bad.
As the sun set over the horizon, the children slept. At night, Xiaolang returned with Laurel, Lazarus, and Lexus to the eastern plains, planning to harvest more metallic onions. Xiaolang wanted to stockpile food. Moreover, they wanted to expand their fields. If they had more onions, they could make a second field in the southern forest.
"Those snakes came again." Lexus whispered.
However, unlike yesterday, the giant salamander was with them. The children held their breath as both the snakes and the salamander slithered along the sandy beach and into the forest.
The children expected the salamander to wreak havoc, but it didn't. It moved quietly, like an assassin in the night. The snakes slithered behind it. Then, once it reached a rhino, it bit into it, and the rhino never woke up. The salamander then walked over to it, prying open the rhino like a peanut before feasting on its flesh.
Xiaolang soon returned with a second basket filled with onions. He hesitated, wondering whether he should go for another round. Those snakes were bright, but their glowing skin dazzled him, making him think they were farther away than they actually were.
"Should we return?" Laurel asked.
"No. Let's watch," Xiaolang said. Those snakes were easy to kill. A single stab to the head and they died. They could be a source of meat for the group, but now that he knew those snakes had that salamander as a companion, he felt guilty. The attack on the lifepod must have been his fault.
The salamander wasn't very subtle. The crunching sound of it tearing apart the rhino echoed through the silent night. The rhinos woke up, angry. They rampaged. The children expected the rhinos to crush the salamander, but reality was far from that.
The salamander whipped its tail. The flail cracked open the rhino's armor. The children saw its brain splattered on the ground. It was gore. The salamander might have been shorter, but they realized it was much bigger. Without armor weighing it down, it moved swiftly, dodging the rhinos' charges. With every strike of its tail, another rhino was brought down.
The children once again saw a repetition of what had happened when the rhinos scattered and fled to the mountains, like the scarabs that hid deep in the lake. But this time, the rhinos were on the receiving end.
The salamanders didn't give chase. They had come to eat, and there was enough meat to last them for a while.
Just like the scarabs, the rhinos knew they couldn't beat them. The herd had been reduced to a dozen.
Hours passed. Once the salamanders had eaten their fill, they left. The children were stunned. The rhinos, which they had feared all this time, were merely food for the salamanders. And the salamanders were merely food for the Seliphesaurus.
Not really, the battle might not be so one sided if Seliphesaures didn't cought it offguard. The salamander's greatest weapon was its spiked tail. If it wasn't so preocupied with the lifepod, the salamander might have a chance.
"Where are you going, Xiaolang? Let's just return," Laurel said to Xiaolang, who stood up and reached for the rhino.
"It's meat. There are tons of them. We shouldn't let this moment go to waste. Let's harvest as much as we can carry," Xiaolang said.
"Let me help you." Lazarus agreed. They still had two more baskets to fill. The night was almost over. In an hour or two, dawn might come, and they wouldn't have a chance like this anymore.
"I will go as well." Laurel turned to Lexus.
"I—I…" Lexus hesitated.
"Understood. Please take care of the baskets, alright? If you spot anything, please signal us with the flashlight," Laurel said to Lexus.
"I-I—I am not afraid."
"This is important, Lexus. Just because you stay behind doesn't mean you are a coward. I'm simply asking you to stand guard. Someone has to guard our belongings, making sure they aren't taken by animals." Laurel said. Lexus had come a long way and she appreciated that.
"Yes. This is also an important job!" Lexus nodded.
"I'll leave it to you." Laurel nodded and went to the corpses.
Xiaolang was the first. He flipped open his pocketknife and started working while Laurel and Lazarus also worked with their stone knives. The baskets filled quickly. Their two baskets were completely full, and they had only worked on one corpse. There were still a dozen half-eaten corpses left.
"Should we go back, ask Anna to salt the meat, and come back?" Xiaolang said. "It seems like such a waste."
"Let's not be too greedy." Laurel said. She then pointed into the distance. "Look. Those rhinos have returned. They might defend the corpses."
"Alright. Let's go. We have enough food for two or three days now."
"We could even stretch it to a week if we ration it." Laurel was happy.
Once they returned to the beach, they shared the events that had happened on the eastern shore with the group. Xiaolang had even videotaped them. Anna gasped, while Shingo looked at the footage wide-eyed.
"I can't believe those rhinos were just food. This world was more dangerous than I thought," he said.
"That salamander could get onto land! We've got to do something!" Lexus panicked.
"There is nothing we can do. Let's sleep after we smoke this meat we brought," Xiaolang said. He then turned to Auscella. "Auscella, are there any weapons in the ruins?"
Auscella tilted her head. She then nodded.
The children turned to her bewildered, wondering whether she actually understood what she had just said. Xiaolang didn't expect her to answer yes. He was just asking to make small talk.
"There are weapons? You should have told us!" Lexus yelled. If there were any weapons at all, she should have told them yesterday or even before that. She knew they were on a dangerous island. Auscella immediately hid behind Lazarus.
"Lexus is a bully!" Auscella chirped.
"Hold it, Lexus. Auscella didn't know. And the weapons might not be like what we hoped. Let's see them tomorrow," Laurel said.
If there were weapons on this island, they ought to get them. Laurel didn't have high hopes, though. Auscella might simply have misunderstood the words. They had only met her a week ago. While Auscella was incredibly smart, Laurel doubted she could have learned their language in a week.
After smoking and salting the meat, they slept. The next morning, the group went to the ruins, led by Auscella. She then took them to the first floor. She stopped beside a wall.
"Here. The ruin said this is armoury?"
"Armoury?" Laurel said.
"Yes. Storing weapons!" Auscella nodded.
"It's just a wall." Lexus frowned.
"Maybe it's a door. This is an alien world, after all." Xiaolang shrugged. Even in their own world, automatic doors were everywhere. Alas, he was excited. If he could obtain a weapon, those monsters would no longer worry him. "So, Auscella. Can you open it?"
She nodded. Then, after closing her eyes, the wall opened.
"Hmm? Are they what I think they are?" Lexus turned toward what was inside.
"Are those… guns?" Lazarus nodded. It was different from what she remembered, but the shape was similar to guns.
It was a surprising find.
Shit. I didn't know this could happen. The lifepod was damaged because of me. I should have killed them all. I should… no. This is a mistake. They wouldn't have come if I hadn't attacked them first. I was too naive. Too resentful. I am sorry. ~Xiaolang