Chapter 34: Seeking Shelter from the Rain in the Cave

When everyone hurried over, they saw Yellow Hair lying on his back at the bottom of the hillside, clutching his leg and cursing under his breath.

“What happened? You managed to fall just going to pee?” Chi Xing frowned, clearly annoyed by the false alarm.

Yellow Hair’s face darkened. “Who the hell pushed me from behind?”

Everyone was taken aback.

“Are you sure?” Ji Yuanyuan widened her eyes and instinctively said, “We were all resting over there just now. No one passed by.”

“That can’t be wrong! If no one pushed me, how would I have fallen from there? I’m not stupid,” Yellow Hair said angrily.

“Did you see clearly who pushed you?” Jiang Yao asked thoughtfully after a moment.

“I didn’t even have time to react. I only saw a dark shadow running past! If I catch whoever it was, I’ll beat them so badly they won’t recognize themselves!” Yellow Hair snarled.

Wei Kai stepped forward and helped him up. “You should watch your mouth. You’re hurt like this and still acting reckless?”

Zhuzi shook his head. “There’s no sign of anyone in this wild mountain. Little brother, you wouldn’t have run into some beast, would you?”

Yellow Hair hesitated, growing uncertain.

The incident had happened so suddenly. After tumbling down, he had rested for a moment, then looked up and only caught sight of a shadow.

“Damn, is this mountain cursed or what?”

Zhuzi shook his head again. “There are plenty of wild beasts here, and they’re not afraid of humans. Some even attack on their own. We locals don’t dare to provoke them!”

With no other explanation, Yellow Hair could only chalk it up to bad luck.

Jiang Yao frowned, feeling it wasn’t as simple as some wild animal, though they really hadn’t seen anyone else just now.

After a while, the temperature suddenly dropped, and the sky turned gray.

Everyone felt uneasy. “Is it going to rain? It was bright and sunny just a moment ago.”

In the mountains, rain meant fog would roll in, obscuring vision, and the paths would become muddy and treacherous.

More importantly, if their clothes got soaked, they risked hypothermia.

“The weather in the mountains is unpredictable. One moment it’s clear, the next it can be a storm,” Zhuzi said with a worried expression. “In such harsh weather, we can’t keep going uphill.”

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “But the cave isn’t far from here. We can take shelter there!”

No one objected.

The rain came swiftly, turning into a downpour before long. By the time they reached the cave, they were all somewhat drenched.

The group stomped their feet at the entrance, watching the sheets of rain, grumbling, “How does it just start raining like that?”

Zhao Xiaoting peered inside the cave, which was dry but grew darker the deeper it went. She hugged herself cautiously. “Do you think there might be wild beasts in here?”

If they stumbled into the lair of a large predator, wouldn’t they be walking right into danger?

Zhuzi teased her, “Could be. There are so many animals in these mountains, maybe one calls this place home.”

Ji Yuanyuan looked frightened. “So, do we stay here?”

She thought that facing rain might be better than confronting a beast.

Jiang Yao stepped in a little, sniffing the air and scanning the surroundings. “There’s no strange smell, no animal droppings. This place should be free of large predators.”

Wild beasts mark their territory strongly, usually through scent, as a warning to others.

Relieved, the group finally stepped inside.

“It’s so cold!” Duan Yiren sneezed, shivering violently.

Their jackets were soaked, and the cave seemed even colder, with the wind chilling them to the bone.

“Good thing we brought lighters. Let’s get a fire going to warm up.”

They gathered some dry grass and branches inside the cave and soon had a fire burning.

They huddled around it, their pale faces regaining color.

“Luckily, the jackets and backpacks are waterproof, or else everything inside would be ruined,” Ji Yuanyuan muttered, pulling out some snacks to share. “Anyone hungry?”

After the long climb, everyone was a bit hungry and gladly shared their food.

Once their hunger was satisfied, Xiang Yu glanced around and noticed Jiang Yao standing by a stone wall, staring intently.

Curious, she asked, “Yao Yao, what are you looking at?”

The others gathered to see strange totems and peculiar symbols painted on the wall.

“Could this be the mysterious cave the village chief mentioned?” someone guessed.

Jiang Yao nodded. “It must be.”

“What is that on the wall? It looks like scribbles from a child!” Yellow Hair winced from his sore backside but shuffled closer to take a look, then curled his lips in disappointment.

Jiang Yao ignored him and focused on studying the patterns. “Before written language developed in ancient times, tribes mainly recorded their lives through symbols and drawings. I suspect these are traces from the Suiren tribe.”

Duan Yiren’s eyes brightened. “Suiren? I know that! The tribe that invented fire by friction!”

“That’s right,” Jiang Yao agreed. “Because of discovering fire by friction, the tribe shifted from eating raw to cooked food, learned to use fire for offense and defense, and pushed human civilization forward. Suiren is considered the foremost of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.”

She studied the patterns before her. “This depicts the process of making fire by friction.”

But Suiren lived near Shangqiu, while this region belonged to Lingnan—an inconsistency that made her wonder if the system was mixing backgrounds randomly.

After her explanation, the others began to see the imagery more clearly.

“So it really does look like that! That’s a bird pecking at a tree, right?” Xiang Yu said.

She knew the story: Suiren once saw a big bird pecking a tree with its hard beak, causing sparks, which inspired the idea of fire by friction.

“Ancient people were pretty clever,” Ji Yuanyuan sighed admiringly.

Their interest was brief, and soon they moved on.

“Weren’t there supposed to be human bones in this cave? Where are they?”

Yellow Hair was intrigued and eager to explore.

“Still restless despite being hurt?” Chi Xing shot him a glance.

Yellow Hair looked sheepish. “I’m just curious. Besides, we’ve come all this way…”

Zhuzi pointed inside the cave. “There, just in there! Are you sure you want to see? You might be too scared to sleep tonight!”

“Hey, we’re here to explore!” Yellow Hair said excitedly as Wei Kai helped him up. “What about you guys? If you don’t go, I’m going by myself!”

Jiang Yao pondered for a moment. “Let’s go take a look.”