Chapter 50 Tempting Honey

Chapter 50: Tempting Honey

Using his machete to clear the way, Xu Yi slowly carved a path through the dense forest.

After walking about a hundred meters or so, Xu Yi spotted a beehive.

The hive looked quite large, roughly the size of his water bucket. By any measure, it was definitely not small.

Xu Yi observed it for a moment, using his X-ray vision to inspect the interior of the hive, and then scanned the surrounding area. There were no other animals around, only the bees.

Looking at the golden honey, Xu Yi felt his mouth watering.

[Number One, you are ridiculously lucky! You actually found such a huge beehive, and it looks packed with honey.]
[If you harvest all of that, it's got to be at least ten pounds of honey, right?]
[You've struck gold! If you can get your hands on that honey, it's going to be absolute bliss.]
[Be careful, Number One. Those bees might be extremely venomous. Don't go up there without proper protection.]

Xu Yi was still twenty to thirty meters away from the hive, but the bees were already growing agitated.

Xu Yi cautiously retreated a short distance. He had no intention of tackling the honey right now. Without adequate protection, he wouldn't make a rash move. Getting stung to death was a very real possibility here.

As long as he prepared thoroughly, he would be able to harvest the honey. The hive was right here, after all, and the bees couldn't just pack up and move away. Therefore, Xu Yi was not in a rush.

Retreating to the riverbank, Xu Yi began chopping down small saplings. These saplings were slender, only about as thick as his wrist. At first, he could manage to fell one with a single strike. After cutting down twelve of them, however, it took two strikes per tree.

Once he had chopped fifty trees, Xu Yi stopped to rest for a moment. Then, he cut down another fifty.

He still needed to strip the branches off these saplings, leaving only the bare trunks.

"Chopping trees really wrecks your hands. Look at this, my blood blisters have popped."

Xu Yi held up his right hand for the audience to see; all four blood blisters on his palm had split open.

[Number One, you're pushing yourself way too hard! You should make a pair of gloves before you start chopping trees!]
[It looks painful even through the screen. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't have lasted this long.]
[There's no help for it. We spent the first seven days entirely on the move, so now I have to get the shelter built as quickly as possible.]

"With a shelter, I'll have more time to take care of other things."

In this wilderness, you had to manufacture everything yourself, and there were simply too many things missing. That was why he needed to put up the shelter as soon as possible.

After a brief rest, Xu Yi bound twenty-three of the trimmed saplings together, hoisted them onto his shoulder, and walked back to the camp.

It was now close to eleven o'clock. Su Keke had already asked the audience about Xu Yi's condition several times.

When Xu Yi returned to the camp, Su Keke was busy preparing to roast some cassava. They didn't have much cassava left; after this meal, there would only be five roots remaining. Xu Yi would soon need to solve the food problem once again.

"Dad, my hammock is finished!" Seeing Xu Yi, Su Keke immediately stopped what she was doing and reported proudly.

"That's amazing! Let Dad take a look."

Saying this, Xu Yi dropped the bundle of trees from his shoulder onto the ground.

The hammock on the ground was exquisitely woven, resembling a fine vine net with perfectly uniform mesh sizes.

"It's woven so beautifully. Our Keke is truly talented."

Xu Yi tapped the tip of Su Keke's nose, his eyes filled with indulgence.

"You must be exhausted after weaving for so long. Let's tie it to the trees so you can lie down and rest for a bit."

With that, Xu Yi picked up a length of vine and threaded it through the hanging loop.

"Dad is the one who's working hard, Keke isn't tired at all." Su Keke replied, picking up her stone knife again to continue digging the earth pit.

By the time Su Keke had buried the cassava, Xu Yi had finished tying up her hammock. To make it easier for her to get in and out, he tied it a bit lower to the ground.

"There you go, Keke. Try out the height."

Xu Yi felt this hammock was much more comfortable than his own, making it ideal for Su Keke to sleep in. Even without laying snakeskin over it, this hammock probably wouldn't feel hard or uncomfortable.

"Mhm."

Su Keke hopped over to Xu Yi happily and sat down on the hammock. After swinging back and forth a few times, she lay down.

"Dad, you should sleep in this hammock."

Su Keke said considerately, wanting to give this more comfortable hammock to Xu Yi. After all, Xu Yi did so much heavy work every day and was especially exhausted. She hoped he could rest well and sleep soundly.

"You should sleep in this hammock. Dad likes his own better."

"Your job is to tend the fire, okay? Dad's going to rest for a while."

With that, Xu Yi used a wooden bowl to scoop some water from the bucket. *Gulp, gulp*, he finished it in one go. He was indeed very parched. Because he lacked a suitable container, he hadn't carried water with him while working.

After drinking the water, Xu Yi lay down in the hammock to rest.

A sharp pain flared from time to time in the palm of his hand, but the expression on Xu Yi's face remained largely unchanged.

[Number One is working so hard. I can feel his exhaustion right through the screen.]
[This must be what a father is like. My dad is the same way, working so hard every day. I need to work harder in the future so he has to do less labor.]
[Over these past eight days, Number One hasn't complained about being tired once, nor has he ever cried out in pain. He must be genuinely exhausted this time, which is why he's letting Keke watch the fire while he takes a break.]

The live stream chat was filled with sympathy for Xu Yi. Having watched for eight days, they knew all too well how arduous Xu Yi's journey had been. Other challengers only had to take care of themselves, but Xu Yi had to look after Keke as well. If he had been traveling alone, he probably would have reached this spot in three or four days.

Before he knew it, Xu Yi drifted off to sleep.

When Su Keke realized he was asleep, she didn't disturb him. She simply picked up her long spear and stood guard beside Xu Yi.

Xu Yi slept for over an hour before waking up naturally. Checking the time, he gently stroked the top of Su Keke's head.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's have lunch."

After a nap, Xu Yi noticed that the pain in his palms had nearly vanished. He figured this must be related to the physical defect repair serum. Human self-healing capabilities were normally quite strong, but as age increased and metabolism slowed down, that recovery ability deteriorated. Right now, he felt his healing capacity might be on par with Su Keke's.

Having observed for eight days, he had a fairly good grasp of things. This was his secret, and Xu Yi had no intention of letting anyone expose it.

"Keke, Dad found a beehive on the other side. Do you have any good ideas on how to deal with them without getting Dad stung by the bees?"

Xu Yi thought that asking for Su Keke's opinion wasn't a bad idea. Who knew, maybe he would get some unexpected inspiration?