"Get down!" Seeing the opponent's horn aimed straight at him, Jiang Hai shouted loudly. His shout was meant for Xiaoya, who was foolishly standing right behind him. The two of them almost dropped to the ground simultaneously. Thick snow instantly covered them, but thanks to this, the opponent's horn missed hooking Jiang Hai's insides.
"Be careful!" Jiang Hai shouted again as two deer suddenly leapt over his head. Without hesitation, he raised the gun in his hand, aimed at the larger male deer, and pulled the trigger with a sharp crack.
This male deer was no ordinary target. At such a critical moment, it forced itself to jump high, and the bullet intended for its head only struck its rump. The deer let out a startled moo and quickly darted into the nearby orchard. Jiang Hai tried to aim again, but the limited range of his phone's flashlight made the deer vanish from sight.
The other male deer wasn't so lucky. Upon hearing the gunshot, it tried to flee, but Jiang Hai was quicker. He shot it directly in the neck. The impact sent the deer flying sideways, falling silently into the snow. Seeing this, Jiang Hai couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
He walked over to Xiaoya and helped her up. Her body was covered in snow.
"Let's go." After brushing the snow off her, Jiang Hai led Xiaoya toward a faint silhouette of a small house in the distance. They weren't far, but the heavy snowfall made the journey take almost half an hour. It was no easy feat.
As they approached, Jiang Hai deliberately shouted several times—he didn't want to cause trouble by trespassing on someone's property without warning.
This was someone else's orchard, after all, and Jiang Hai had no idea if anyone was inside. Once he confirmed the place was empty, he approached the house. The door was locked from the inside, so Jiang Hai shot the lock off before stepping inside.
As soon as he entered, Jiang Hai let out a deep breath. For now, they were safe. Using the light from his phone, he scanned the small room.
The cabin was modest, only about ten square meters, with just a few items visible.
There was a large bed, though no quilt or blanket was on it—likely because it was winter and the Contelai family wasn't using it. Opposite the bed was a fireplace. Other than that, there was nothing else—no table or chairs.
Only a pile of firewood stacked in the corner.
"Looks like we're spending the night here." Jiang Hai said helplessly to Xiaoya.
"Yeah…" Xiaoya sighed, but just as she spoke, she sneezed. Jiang Hai glanced at her and noticed many parts of her body were wet—her face, hair, and clothes all soaked from falling in the snow and trudging through the storm.
Looking at her wet coat, Jiang Hai took it off, only to find the clothes beneath were also damp. He frowned; this could be troublesome.
"Your clothes are soaking wet. It's freezing out there, and wearing wet clothes will make you sick. I need to find a way to start a fire, so you can change into the dry clothes in your backpack first."
"Okay..." Xiaoya nodded. Fortunately, she had mended some clothes earlier; otherwise, there would have been nothing dry to change into.
In the dark, Xiaoya blushed as she went to the corner to change. Since her clothes were tight-fitting, she couldn't wear anything underneath—just a vest and shorts. Thankfully, only Jiang Hai was in the room, so she wasn't too embarrassed.
But Jiang Hai had no time to pay attention to this; he was busy figuring out how to light a fire.
Jiang Hai didn't smoke, and the cabin was clearly well cleaned. If there had been any flint or magnesium rods left behind, they might have caught fire accidentally, so the family probably removed any fire-starting tools.
"What now? Drill wood to make fire?" Jiang Hai scratched his head, trying to recall how to start a fire from scratch.
He remembered Bell teaching him the basics once and decided to give it a try.
He sat down, took off his shoes despite the unpleasant smell, and used his shoelaces as tinder.
Making fire by drilling wood meant rubbing two pieces of wood together to generate heat and create hot ash that could ignite. The technique was similar to twirling shoelaces. Jiang Hai had only heard of it before but never tried it.
Now, he had no choice.
He untied his shoelaces, found a flat piece of wood, carved a groove with his knife, and placed some toilet paper from his pocket as tinder, ready to try.
But after half an hour of effort, all he got was a burnt smell from the shoelaces—no sparks, no flame.
"This is hopeless." Jiang Hai muttered helplessly.
"Wait! Jiang Hai, maybe I have an idea." Xiaoya, now changed and sitting on the bed, whispered. Jiang Hai looked at her curiously.
"There's gunpowder in your bullets and gasoline in the car. You just need to use the gunpowder to ignite the gasoline."
Jiang Hai was stunned for a moment, then slapped his forehead—how could he have been so blind? With gasoline and a gun, what was there to worry about?
"Stay here. I'll be right back." After patting Xiaoya's shoulder, Jiang Hai dashed outside to the car. Alone, he moved much faster.
The trip had taken nearly half an hour earlier, but now he ran back and forth in under 20 minutes.
He grabbed gasoline and a flare, poured the gasoline onto the wood pile in the fireplace, then fired the flare. There was a loud bang as the fire flared up suddenly, but it was still controllable.
Jiang Hai had poured too much gasoline, and both he and Xiaoya were scared. If the fire had burst out of control, they would have fled immediately. A house fire was no joke.
Fortunately, whoever owned the cabin had built the fireplace well.
Jiang Hai inspected the flue, which was venting smoke properly, and let out a long sigh of relief. The fire was finally going.
After securing the door with wire, he took out his phone and called home to let them know they were safe but would likely stay until morning.
Bernice and the others were relieved to hear from him—when Jiang Hai hadn't returned earlier, they had been extremely worried.
"Are you hungry? I'll heat up the food we have." After the call, Jiang Hai checked his backpack. Unfortunately, the food had hardened like stone in the cold. He smiled helplessly at Xiaoya.
She glanced up at him but looked unwell. Jiang Hai touched her forehead and found it warm to the touch—she had a slight fever.
It was understandable—she'd been busy all day without eating, got frightened, fell in the snow, and then changed into thin clothes that left her chilled for almost an hour.
If not for Jiang Hai's earlier use of spiritual energy to help her, she might have been worse.
"Xiaoya, hang in there. We'll eat and then get some rest." Jiang Hai gently touched her hair.
"Hmm." Xiaoya responded softly like a kitten, not saying more.
Jiang Hai took off his coat and spread it on the cold bed, then helped Xiaoya lie down and covered her with his sweatshirt. He himself wore only a thin sweatshirt and squatted by the fire to warm some meat.
Thankfully, the meat was already cooked and only needed reheating. Once done, Jiang Hai sliced it and fed some to Xiaoya. After eating, she visibly felt better.
While Jiang Hai was busy, Xiaoya's coat dried by the fire, so he took it off and used it to cover her again.
The warm bed, food in her stomach, and exhaustion helped Xiaoya fall asleep quickly.
When she woke again, it was past three in the morning. The fire still crackled, and her body felt much more comfortable—her fever had gone down, though she was still thirsty.
As she opened her eyes to find water, she saw Jiang Hai sitting by the bed, tending the fire and occasionally adding wood or stirring the flames. She felt warm and safe.
"You're up! Feeling better?" Jiang Hai said as he noticed her movement.
"Yeah, but do you have any water?"
Xiaoya nodded hesitantly.
Jiang Hai handed her a kettle he'd brought back from the car. It wasn't filled, but outside, snow provided fresh, clean water. He melted some, boiled it, and they drank it.
Refreshed, Xiaoya took Jiang Hai's hand.
"You should go to bed too. It's too cold sitting there."
"I'm fine. You know how strong I am." Jiang Hai touched his head and declined.
Honestly, many people joked that the women around Jiang Hai only liked him for his money.
To be honest, besides money, Jiang Hai wasn't exactly someone who attracted instant attention.
He was a bit unromantic—like now, the kind of guy who might be single for ten thousand years.
Rolling his eyes, Xiaoya didn't let him off and insisted he sit on the bed. She gave him half of her coat. Though small, it was warm, and before long, the two of them were squeezed close together...
(To be continued.)