Ruan Qiuqiu carefully checked things over. Once she was sure there was enough firewood in the stone stove, she double checked that she put cooked meat and three small wooden cups with healing water by the bed.
She took one last look at deathly pale-faced Mr. Gray Wolf and stopped procrastinating. She picked up the spear and went to the entrance of the cave.
It was gradually growing bright outside. Ruan Qiuqi was relieved that the wind and falling snow had died down a bit compared to the howling wind from last night.
Small snowflakes were fluttering down from the sky. Although they somewhat obstructed her view, it was much better than before when giant snowflakes made it almost impossible to see.
Ruan Qiuqiu sighed in relief. Taking the trap she had assembled from the storage room as well as a little bit of dried meat to use as bait, she walked out of the cave.
Based on her experience when she first came here and when she went to look for Mr. Gray Wolf, the forest was to the north of the cave. If she walked about half an hour in that direction, she would reach a stream. Along the way there, it was mostly giant trees that were bare of leaves and the occasional pine-like primeval trees that still had greenery.
Her plan today was to talk north for about five to six minutes, and dig out a pit for her trap underneath evergreen trees. While she was there, she would try her luck by seeing if she could find any herbs.
If she was able to catch prey or find herbs, she would go back to the cave first before heading south to look for the Fire Wolf Tribe.
If she was unsuccessful with catching prey, she would go south and exchange the blocks of salt in her backpack with members of the Fire Wolf Tribe for food. And then later on, she would come back and check if there was any prey in the trap underneath the giant trees.
Ideally, she would be able to get prey and herbs without being attacked by primeval animals or fiends. It would be best if she could find the location of the Fire Wolf Tribe, so that she could conveniently go there to exchange things.
However, Ruan Qiuqiu knew that it would be too difficult to accomplish so many things in one day. As long as she could get herbs today, she would consider it a victory.
It was very difficult to walk. Her feet sunk into the snow with each step, almost all the way to her ankles.
Fortunately, she was now a level 1 ability user. Her water ability improved her resistance to cold and heat, so the snow didn’t pose much threat to her. She reached the nearby evergreen trees without a hitch. Ruan Qiuqiu chose a spot near the middle and used the weapon to dig. It took her over half an hour to finish digging a pit for her trap.
She used the sticks that she found nearby and snow to simply cover up her trap and put a piece of dried meat that was the size of her pinky and a small piece of tuber on top of it. The trap was tentatively set.
She carefully looked at the surroundings that were densely covered in snow and understood that she wouldn’t be able to see any small herbs. Ruan Qiuqiu took a deep breath, placed her hand on a tree for support, closed her eyes, and used her mutant water ability to search.
When she had been cultivating in the cave, she would occasionally use her ability to preserve the freshness in the food and herbs. When the number of times she had used her ability increased, Ruan Qiuqiu discovered that she could sense the weak vitality in the herbs. There was a difference between the withered grass and medicinal herbs used by demons.
Although she had condensed over 20 droplets of healing water for Mr. Gray Wolf this morning, she had over 20 strands of water energy left. Ruan Qiuqiu carefully drew out two stands of water energy and started to search along the roots of the giant tree, inch by inch.
After about ten minutes passed, Ruan Qiuqiu opened her eyes in disappointment.
There was no vegetation in this area that could be used as medicine.
Or to put it another way, there was almost no vegetation here, and most of the plants that had vitality were gnawed bared.
However, this might be a sign of small animal activity around here. Maybe when she came back later, she would find a prey caught in the trap.
Although Ruan Qiuqiu comforted herself with those thoughts, she wasn’t willing to give up yet.
She walked around the giant trees. After checking she couldn’t really see anything to harvest here, she took off the ugly animal skin hat that she had temporarily made, shook it clean of snow, and put it back on.
Ruan Qiuqiu had originally planned on not going back to the cave if she didn’t get anything, but after she finished adjusting the trap, she didn’t follow through with the next step of her plan. She was too worried about the gray wolf at home.
And so, before walking south to try her luck at the Fire Wolf Tribe, she quietly returned to the cave.
Mr. Gray Wolf hadn’t moved from his sleeping position on the stone bed, and he was still covered up with the thick animal skin.
After confirming that Mr. Gray Wolf was okay, Ruan Qiuqiu drank a bowl of warm water and left again.
Translator Ramblings: It’s interesting that as the readers, we know that members of the Fire Wolf Tribe are hoping for Yuan Jue’s death and wouldn’t do anything to help him, but Ruan Qiuqiu has no clue yet. She only knows that they’re scared of him, and they’re willing to pay a lot of salt and meat to exchange a willing bride for him. I like that she’s not an omniscient heroine.