The morning sun pierced through the thin mist, sprinkling onto the heavily snow-covered mountain forest, making the snow accumulated on the pine branches appear crystal clear.
In front of the Flame Stone Tribe’s cave, Alex was bent over checking the equipment for the trip—three sharply ground stone axes were tucked into his animal hide belt, two sharpened spears leaned against the rock wall, and there were also four bags sewn from entire animal hides, containing semi-dried roasted rabbit meat and melted snow water that had frozen into ice blocks.
“Alex, everything is ready!”
Mark ran over carrying a spear, his face alight with irrepressible excitement.
After last night’s watch battle, this young Hunter was completely convinced of Alex’s capability, and now he eagerly volunteered to join the water search team, his eyes full of anticipation.
Alex nodded, his gaze sweeping over the other two team members beside him:
the steady Ashi, and the Old Shaman, wrapped in thick animal hides and clutching a wooden staff.
According to the plan, the water search team consisted of four people—he was responsible for command and direction, the Old Shaman would use his years of familiarity with the mountain forest to find the spring, while Mark and Ashi were responsible for clearing the path and keeping watch, preventing encounters with wild beasts or people from other Tribes.
“I’ll emphasize this one more time before we leave,”
Alex’s voice was clear and firm,
“The snow is slippery.
Every step must be steady.
When encountering steep slopes or areas with deep snow, first let Ashi use his spear to test the path, don’t fall.
Old Shaman, if you can’t walk anymore, you must say so, and we will stop to rest immediately.”
The Old Shaman waved his hand, a hint of stubbornness flashing in his cloudy eyes:
“Don’t worry, this small distance won’t trouble me.
That spring is in a rock crevice on the South Mountain Slope, it never freezes in winters past.
It’s just that the snow is heavy this year, so it might take some effort to find.”
Yuna walked over carrying a pottery jar filled with freshly melted snow water, and handed it to Alex:
“If you get thirsty on the way, drink this.
Don’t eat snow directly; it will freeze your throat.
Also, these few pieces of dried meat are wrapped in animal hide.
Share them if you get hungry.”
Her tone carried concern, and when her gaze fell upon Alex, it lingered a moment longer.
Alex accepted the pottery jar, thanked her, and tucked it into his animal hide bag, smiling at Yuna:
“We will return as soon as possible.
You all keep an eye on the fire pit in the cave, and teach the other Tribesmen to organize the tools.
Once we find the water source, we’ll return to tell everyone the good news.”
After giving instructions for the remaining matters, Alex led the small team and turned to walk into the mountain forest.
They had only walked a few steps when A He’s voice came from behind:
“Alex!
You must find water!
I’m still waiting to learn how to weave fish traps!”
Alex turned back and waved, watching the figures of the Tribesmen in front of the cave grow smaller in the distance, before withdrawing his gaze and quickening his pace to catch up with the Old Shaman ahead.
Walking in the snow was more difficult than imagined.
The deep snow covered their ankles, and every step required immense effort.
The ice crust underfoot occasionally emitted a crisp “crack,” and they would slip if they weren’t careful.
Mark walked at the very front, occasionally using the stone axe in his hand to chop away dead branches blocking the path.
He was humming an ancient hunting song of the Tribe, which added a bit of vitality to the monotonous journey.
“Old Shaman, how much longer until we reach the South Mountain Slope?”
After walking for about an hour, Alex stopped, letting everyone rest beneath a pine tree, while handing the Old Shaman a piece of dried meat.
The continuous walking had caused fine sweat to bead on the Old Shaman’s forehead, and his breathing was somewhat rapid.
He took the dried meat, chewed slowly, and pointed toward the snow-covered slope ahead:
“Once we cross that ridge ahead, we’ll be at the South Mountain Slope.
In previous years at this time, there was a patch of bushes below the ridge, and the direction of the spring was behind those bushes.” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Alex looked in the direction the Old Shaman pointed, seeing the distant ridge like a sleeping giant python, covered in thick white snow, making the supposed bushes invisible.
He frowned, pulling out a piece of charcoal—he had intentionally saved it from the fire pit yesterday—from his animal hide bag, and drew a simple map on a flat stone slab:
“Are the bushes you mentioned on the east side of the ridge?
Is the terrain there slightly lower than the surroundings?”
The Old Shaman’s eyes lit up as he looked at the simple map on the stone slab:
“Yes!
The east side!
There’s a small depression there, and the bushes grow along the edge of the depression.
The spring is in the rock crevice behind the bushes!”
After confirming the direction, the team rested briefly and continued their journey.
While crossing the ridge, Mark accidentally missed his footing, and one leg sank into a snowdrift, half his body buried in the snow, causing him to quickly grab a nearby branch in fright.
Ashi was quick-witted; he immediately extended his spear and pulled Mark up with great effort.
“Be careful!” Alex walked over and helped Mark brush the snow off his body,
“There might be traps or frozen cracks beneath the snow.
From now on, use your spear to probe every three steps.
Don’t be reckless again.”
Mark scratched his head sheepishly: “Understood, Alex.
I’ll definitely be careful next time.”
After crossing the ridge, as the Old Shaman had said, there was indeed a low-lying area on the east side of the ridge.
However, the depression was completely covered by thick snow; let alone bushes, not even a trace of green could be seen.
The Old Shaman squatted down, poked the snow on the ground with his wooden staff, and frowned:
“The snow is too deep.
We can’t find any trace of the bushes.
How are we supposed to find the spring?”
Mark and Ashi also squatted down, trying to clear the snow with their hands, but the snow was waist-deep.
After clearing snow for a long time, they only saw frozen, hard ground and couldn’t locate the rock crevice.
Mark was a little discouraged:
“Could the spring be buried by snow?
Or maybe it froze this year?”
Alex did not panic; instead, he stood up and surveyed the surroundings of the depression.
He recalled learning in agricultural university that springs usually emerge from lower terrain with moist soil, and even in winter, the snow near a spring melts faster than elsewhere, or the soil temperature is higher, preventing the formation of a thick ice crust.
“Don’t randomly clear the snow,” Alex told the three,
“Follow me.
We need to look for areas where the soil is softer and the snow is thinner.
The soil near the spring is warmer due to groundwater.
The snow either melts quickly, or sinks immediately when stepped on; it won’t be hard like in other places.”
Saying this, Alex took the lead and walked into the depression, forcefully stepping on the snow beneath his feet with every step.
In some places, the snow was as hard as stone, and stepping on it didn’t move it at all; in other places, it sank immediately when stepped on, and the soil beneath the snow carried a hint of moisture.
He slowly walked along these “soft snow areas” and soon discovered a sizable patch of soft snow on the north side of the depression.
“Here!” Alex’s eyes lit up, and he immediately told Ashi to poke the ground with his spear.
The spear had only been inserted a few inches when there was a “poof” sound, seemingly poking soft soil rather than frozen hard ground.
“Quick, clear the snow here!”
Alex squatted down, taking the lead in clearing the snow with his hands.
Mark and Ashi quickly came over to help, while the Old Shaman watched nervously from the side.
The soil beneath the snow was indeed moist, and they could faintly see a few exposed rocks.
“The rock crevice!
It’s there!” The Old Shaman suddenly pointed at a gap between the rocks and shouted excitedly.
Alex looked in the direction the Old Shaman pointed, seeing a gap about half a chi wide between two large rocks.
They could faintly hear a “drip-drop” sound from the crevice, and a faint wisp of steam was rising.
Ashi immediately used his spear to carefully push aside the snow and rubble in the crevice.
Soon, a stream of clear water gushed out from the rock crevice, falling into the small puddle below, making a crisp “ding-dong” sound.
When the water first surged out, it carried a hint of warmth, steaming up fine white mist in the cold air, and it hadn’t frozen at all!
“We found it!
We really found the spring water!” Mark jumped up excitedly, reaching out to cup the water and drink.
“Wait!” Alex quickly stopped him,
“Don’t rush to drink yet.
Let me taste it first to see if the water is clean.”
He squatted down and gently cupped a bit of the spring water in his hand, bringing it close to his mouth to taste—the spring water was sweet and refreshing, with no strange odor, much cleaner than melted snow water.
“The water is clean, you can drink it!” Alex said with a smile.
Mark and Ashi immediately rushed over, cupping the spring water and drinking heartily.
The Old Shaman also slowly walked over, dipped his wooden staff in the water, and after tasting it, a relieved smile appeared on his face:
“This is the spring!
In previous years, I followed the Tribesmen here to fetch water.
I didn’t expect to still find it with this much snow this year.”
Alex watched the continuously gushing spring water from the rock crevice, feeling a sense of relief.
Finding a stable water source not only solved the Tribe’s drinking water problem but also laid the foundation for subsequent activities like making fish traps for fishing, and even salt production.
He took an empty animal hide bag from his animal hide pouch, and carefully filled it with spring water—the animal hide bag had been treated so it wouldn’t leak, making it perfect for carrying water back to the Tribe.
“We’ll fill two bags of water and head back first,” Alex told the three,
“We’ll tell everyone the good news about finding the water source, and then bring more people back to transport more water using animal hide bags.
Also, this spring water is very stable.
We can make a mark nearby so we can consistently fetch water from here in the future.”
Mark and Ashi immediately nodded, helping to fill the animal hide bags with spring water.
Meanwhile, the Old Shaman was on a rock next to the spring, carving the Flame Stone Tribe’s Sun Totem with a stone knife—this was the Tribe’s method of marking territory, informing other Tribes that this water source had been claimed by the Flame Stone Tribe.
After filling the water bags, the small team began their return journey.
Although they were burdened by the two extra bags of water, everyone’s face was smiling.
Mark was still walking at the front, but this time he wasn’t humming; instead, he was cautiously testing the path, afraid of another accident;
The Old Shaman walked in the middle, his steps much lighter than on the way out;
Alex and Ashi guarded the water-filled animal hide bags at the rear, preventing the water from spilling.
Just then, a system prompt sounded suddenly in Alex’s mind:
[Detected that the Host has successfully led the team to find a stable water source, resolving a core survival need for the Tribe.
Meets the standard for “Civilization Progress – Resource Acquisition.” Reward: 30 Civilization Points.
Current Civilization Points: 150 points.]
Alex was delighted; he hadn’t expected finding a water source would also grant points!
150 points, was already enough to exchange for 1 packet of medical gauze, with 120 points remaining.
Saving a little more would allow him to exchange for coarse grain seeds.
He looked up at the mountain forest ahead.
Sunlight filtered through the branches, warm and bright, as if even this desolate, cold winter was no longer so terrifying.
“Pick up the pace,” Alex told the team.
“Everyone is waiting for our good news!”