Sento was also looking forward to the rose hip jam Ai mentioned, and his speed in collecting Rose Hips increased significantly.
The two of them gathered two clusters of Rose Hips, totaling forty to fifty berries, which filled a handful.
“Oh, precious vitamins,” Ai joked in a quirky voice, then clapped her hands and stood up.
Collecting Rose Hips was indeed good, but Sento felt a bit regretful because he hadn’t been able to find any other valuable wild plants.
In the long dark, the number of harvestable wild plants is quite high, and most are very valuable, such as Old Man’s Beard Lichen for disinfecting wounds or birch bark for restoring health after being brewed into tea.
Although he didn’t know how effective these would be in a realistic world, another wild plant’s effect would definitely not be lacking: reishi mushroom.
In this game, reishi mushrooms were like common mushrooms; you could find several large ones just by looking for a tree stump, making harvesting incredibly convenient.
But then again, aren’t reishi mushrooms just a type of mushroom?
Walking along the mountain wall, they crossed several small slopes and passed through a sparse forest.
Just as they were starting to feel tired, a slope appeared ahead.
It wasn’t steep, but it was quite high, and one or two train cars were parked at the top.
These two train cars were both semi-open, with only a steel plate base and a frame made of iron bars, filled with a large number of logs.
Finding the train cars meant they had found the tracks.
As long as they climbed the slope and followed the tracks down, they could reach the Camp Office.
However, the two of them didn’t feel much joy right now, because there were two small black shadows on the slope.
“Wolves?” Sento pulled down the dark curtain fabric in front of his eyes, squinted at the distance, and whispered to himself.
These two wolves were the antonym of robust and sleek-furred; they were both thin, dry, and skeletal, looking not intimidating at all.
The heart that had jumped into his throat the moment he realized they were wolves settled back into his chest after he saw their appearance clearly.
Ai grabbed Sento’s arm, her voice filled with panic: “Ru-Sento-kun, there really are wolves!”
“Don’t worry, they don’t seem to have noticed us.” Sento patted Ai’s hand and reached into his pocket to touch his whistle.
The dog-calling whistle could only be used once a day.
With only two wolves, Sento felt they might be able to handle it themselves without wasting a precious use.
What if they encountered a larger, stronger pack later?
Besides, a direct confrontation wasn’t inevitable.
Sento estimated their position; from their perspective facing the slope, the two wolves were further down and to the left.
If they stuck to the right mountain wall and kept walking, given the perception of wolves in the game, they shouldn’t be detected at this distance.
Once they circled up the slope to the other side of the tracks, away from this side of the slope, the wolves would notice them even less.
Although Sento felt this plan was worth a try, he didn’t act unilaterally and instead whispered his thoughts to Ai.
Although she didn’t have a similar plan, she had the same idea.
Ai also felt that even if these two weak wolves attacked together, they wouldn’t be a match for the two of them.
However, since this was wilderness survival, they had to ensure their safety as much as possible, so she nodded in agreement with Sento’s plan.
“Mm…
I trust Sento-kun’s judgment.
Let’s do that!”
Ai clenched her small fists to cheer Sento on, then suggested, “Avoiding them is best, of course, but shouldn’t we also prepare for a fight?”
Considering Ai’s suggestion, before leading her along the mountain wall to climb the slope, Sento first found two sticks nearby, about the thickness of two fingers held together and 1.5 meters long.
The Hunting Knife was indeed sharp enough, but it was just too short.
Even without much fighting experience, Sento knew the classic saying “an inch longer, an inch stronger.” The Hunting Knife’s blade was only slightly longer than a wolf’s claws, whereas these sticks were longer than an entire wolf, excluding the tail.
He picked up a stick to test the feel.
Sento clicked his tongue; the stick was a bit too long and also a bit light.
With this thickness, it felt like he couldn’t transmit his strength well when swinging it, but he couldn’t find anything more suitable nearby.
He couldn’t exactly swing a log thicker than his thigh, could he?
Tucking the sticks under his arms against his body, Sento led Ai near the mountain wall and climbed up.
Because of the Emergency Snowshoes, they walked quite fast and very quietly.
The two wolves were completely unaware of their movements.
Sento could now be certain that these animals’ perception levels were most likely the same as in the game.
This discovery almost made him laugh out loud.
Compared to reality, animals in the game were practically deaf and blind.
This would make it much easier to avoid hostile animals like wolves or bears, as well as to hunt rabbits and deer.
“Wow, I didn’t expect them to really be unable to see us,” Ai whispered to Sento, barely containing herself.
“By the way, I haven’t played many games.
If animals in games are made this stupid and dull, won’t people complain about the lack of realism?”
Seeing the tracks just ahead and with the two of them about to reach the top of the slope, Sento, who was keeping an eye on the wolves, replied in high spirits.
“If you think the realism is poor, you can play the call of the wild.
The animals’ perception in that game is similar to real animals.”
“Then I’ll pray that the next world we need to survive in isn’t that the call of the wild.
After all, I prefer these stupid and dull animals over realism,” Ai said with a smile, sticking out her tongue.
As she finished speaking, the two of them finally successfully reached the top of the slope.
As soon as they got up, Ai’s eyes widened.
Just as Sento had said, there was a long track stretching out.
With this as a guide, no wonder Sento said they would definitely not get lost.
Sento immediately looked around.
Theoretically, there should be harvestable supplies near the train cars, but unfortunately, he only found two stacks of newspapers and a can of soda.
Sento stuffed the newspapers and soda into his backpack; they weren’t heavy anyway.
He then looked at the dozen or so giant logs piled up in the nearby freight car.
If he could bring these things back to the Camp Office to use as fuel, how long would they burn?
Unfortunately, he could only look on with envy.
Without a good sled, moving such large logs was out of the question.
Sento looked back at Ai and saw her squatting on the ground, untying the straps of her Emergency Snowshoes.
“The snow near the tracks seems very thin; there’s no need to wear snowshoes anymore.”