Sha Yi couldn’t help but laugh.
The giant-toothed eagle Xi Yi described sounded utterly adorable—certainly more useful than the rongmo, but its goofy personality was a stark contrast to its enormous size and majestic, eagle-like appearance.
Sha Yi reconsidered her plan of hanging a row of rongmo on the raft. This creature was far more formidable, even if its intelligence was lacking. Just having it around would be enough to intimidate the giant snakes. And according to Xi Yi, the bird could even be ridden.
Though, riding a bird was out of the question. If she ever tried such a foolish thing, the oversized bird might end up plummeting headfirst. The only one suffering would be her, since these creatures had no history of dying from falls—otherwise, they would have evolved differently by now.
For now, they needed to stick to their original plan and prepare the rafts as soon as possible for the impending flood.
As she mulled this over, she decided to wash off the mud stains on her body. Just then, Xi Yi turned around and pulled several thick, purplish-red leaves from a vine pouch at his waist, handing them to her. “The soap leaves smell bad. I searched for a long time to find these—their juice is very fragrant.”
Taking the leaves, Sha Yi didn’t hesitate. She quickly washed her mud-streaked hair, then folded the plump leaves to smear their fragrant juice onto her hair. She hadn’t cared much before, but the scent was indeed as Xi Yi described—exceptionally pleasant and strong.
Within moments, the unpleasant smell of the soap leaves was completely masked.
Sha Yi was delighted.
Seeing her happiness, Xi Yi smiled too, but his expression soon turned serious as he took her hand. “Sha Yi, you still haven’t told me why you were covered in bruises and mud after bathing!”
If he hadn’t brought it up, she might have temporarily forgotten the humiliation she’d suffered at the hands of that wild man. But now that he mentioned it, she worried he might do something reckless out of concern. She hadn’t forgotten the two fights sparked by a single gesture or word from Saina.
That savage Garlo was no Saina. He wasn’t from Xi Yi’s tribe, nor was he an easy man to reason with. She didn’t want Xi Yi to rashly provoke a conflict with someone so extreme in temperament.
She refused to let one extreme create another.
It simply wasn’t worth it.
As she hesitated, Xi Yi grew impatient, shaking her arm. “Tell me!”
“I’m fine. I just slipped while bathing.”
“Really?” Xi Yi studied her, unconvinced.
Noticing his skepticism, Sha Yi quickly changed the subject. “Xi Yi, in this entire area, besides the two cave settlements, are there other people?”
“This forest, including the places we’ve been before, has no other people. Everyone has moved to the cave settlements.” His attention successfully diverted, Xi Yi scratched his head in thought before suddenly pointing to the rocky cliff behind her. “There are others near the hot springs, very far from us but close to where the giant-toothed eagles live. There are quite a few of them, but they don’t seem friendly.”
Pausing, he frowned. “Why ask this suddenly? Did… someone from there come here?”
Seeing his suspicion resurface, Sha Yi knew continuing the conversation might drive him into a frenzy. Since nothing had actually happened to her, she nudged him. “Let’s go help with the raft first. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can return. I also want you to bring back some passa wood—the thing we’ve been using to sleep on is actually for bathing. I want to replace it…”
Xi Yi let out an “ah,” as if surprised, but quickly regained his composure.
By now, he was used to being surprised by her. After a brief pause, he grinned and helped her slip on the thin, fur-lined “shoes” before lifting her out of the giant water trough.
Together, they walked toward the downhill passa grove.
When they reached the lightning-struck trees, Sha Yi saw that one raft had already been built. It was ugly, with large gaps between the logs, but it was massive—far bigger than modern shallow-water rafts, easily capable of carrying seven or eight people.
However, there was a critical flaw in its construction: the logs were only laid horizontally, with no vertical supports to reinforce the structure. Whether due to oversight or material conservation, they had merely wrapped thick vines around the outside. Despite the strong adhesive from the bamboo vine resin, Sha Yi found it unreliable. Rainwater would only weaken it further.
Without nails, carving wooden pegs would be too time-consuming. For safety, they needed to add short vertical passa logs to secure the raft. Otherwise, if it broke apart during the flood, the consequences would be disastrous.
She’d rather go through the trouble a thousand times than risk failure at the critical moment.
Without hesitation, Sha Yi instructed the group to remove the vines, reinforce the raft with vertical logs, and then rewrap the vines tightly.
No one objected, and they followed her instructions diligently.
By the time they finished rebuilding the raft, it was nearly noon. Sweat-drenched and hungry, the group wasn’t rushed into continuing. Instead, Sha Yi and Xi Yi set up several fires, using the prepared dry branches and grass stems to start grilling meat with the lighter.
Concerned about time and taking advantage of the rare sunny weather, both teams had brought their own food and firewood. With everyone pitching in, the meal was prepared quickly, and soon they were all enjoying delicious roasted salted meat.
While eating, Sha Yi explained the raft-making process again, correcting the morning’s mistakes, before Xi Yi shooed her off to rest under the shade of a tree with some fruit to rehydrate and cool down.
Meanwhile, he and the other men resumed work on the rafts.
Truthfully, building rafts was far easier than crafting bows—especially with the bamboo vine grove nearby, providing an endless supply of strong adhesive.
She had little to worry about.
The passa grove had been struck by lightning, leaving plenty of usable wood. Even if they made several more rafts, there’d be enough. Judging by their progress, they could likely finish two or three more by evening. Sha Yi considered that if time allowed, they might even make extras. More rafts meant better survival odds, and they could distribute stored food across them to prevent shortages if one got separated.
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