LSLFBW: Chapter 97

After the team marched forward for about half an hour, Qi Bai saw the narrow mouth of the river that Ma Ling mentioned, as well as the single-plank bridge on the river.

However, unlike the single-plank bridge that Qi Bai had imagined, most of the tree trunks blocking the river were hidden under the water. If the forward flow hadn’t encountered an obstruction here and formed a whirlpool, the submerged tree trunks wouldn’t have been easily discovered.

Qi Bai took two steps in the river and stretched out his hand to test the wooden bridge under the water. “This tree trunk should’ve been above the river’s surface.”

It wasn’t known if the tree trunk had been submerged in the river due to last year’s heavy rain. If that was the case, Qi Bai doubted if the tree was strong enough after nearly a year of being soaked and eroded by the river water.

Lang Ze looked at the turbulent river and said to Ma Ling, “Notify the team to dismantle the cart.”

Upon hearing this, Ma Ling immediately nodded and ran towards the team. They could quickly disassemble and reassemble the cart, which was a compulsory course for every member of the trading team. Soon, the beastmen in the team took their human forms and started to move the supplies off the cart before disassembling the cart.

Qi Bai stopped Lang Ze, who was about to walk onto the single-plank bridge, and asked, “What are you going to do?”

“We can only know if this tree is strong by trying it. I can’t let the team go directly into such a dangerous river.”

Qi Bai understood that what Lang Ze said was right. As the captain of the entire trading team, Lang Ze naturally had no reason to back down when he encountered danger.

Qi Bai frowned. “Then you can’t go over like this directly. It’s too dangerous.”

Qi Bai ran to Diao Lan. “Diao Lan, where are all the straw ropes we didn’t use before? Take them all out.”

Diao Lan nodded. “Okay.”

Then Qi Bai said to the people who were disassembling the carts, “Everyone, please collect all the ropes used to tie up the rattan baskets and give them to me.”

Upon hearing this, all the horned beastmen looked up and responded positively.

Qi Bai took the rope from Diao Lan and put one end of it into Lang Ze’s hand, motioning for him to quickly wrap it around himself. “The surface of the river doesn’t look dangerous, but no one knows if there are undercurrents at the bottom of the river. Once a person is swept away by an undercurrent, it will be difficult to stand up again even if one has great strength.”

Qi Bai connected the other ropes front and back, tightening the knot. “We will tie all the ropes together, and you can tie this rope around your body when you cross the river.”

“This rope is long enough. Once you reach the other side of the river, find a sturdy tree and tie the rope to it. We will also secure the rope here. This way, it will be safer for everyone to cross the river.”

Lang Ze understood Qi Bai’s plan. He lowered his head and started to tie the rope around himself. “I was careless. Your idea is indeed better.”

Qi Bai snorted and carefully checked the rope on Lang Ze. He added, “I just checked. The water flow speed in the center of the river is different from that in other places. I suspect that the tree trunk there might’ve been broken by the river. You must be extra careful when you walk to the middle.”

Lang Ze nodded. “I understand.”

The width of the river shouldn’t exceed 50 meters, but the length of their straw rope was close to 100 meters. There should be no problem ensuring Lang Ze’s safety.

Qi Bai tied the end of the straw rope to a big tree on the shore before calling Ma Ling and Xi Zhou over. The three of them would guard the shore and slowly lengthen the straw rope according to the speed of Lang Ze’s advance, ensuring that the rope was always in a taut state.

In this way, they would be able to detect it instantly if anything unusual happened to Lang Ze.

Qi Bai stared straight ahead while Lang Ze remained in a slightly squatting position, slowly moving forward. From time to time, he would tug at the rope in his hand, signaling Ma Ling and the others to let go of the rope.

As Qi Bai expected, Lang Ze stopped for a while in the middle of the river. He even crouched down to check it carefully. Then he stood up and jumped across that section before continuing to walk to the other side.

Qi Bai didn’t sigh with relief until Lang Ze stepped onto the land on the other side.

Following Qi Bai’s request, Lang Ze found a big tree and tied the rope to it. In this way, a rope as thick as a wrist was suspended in the air above the bridge.

Qi Bai carried a rattan basket on his back. Behind him were Xi Zhou, Hu Qiao and Ma Ling. The three of them would stay here for the time being to make sure the rope was stable.

Qi Bai stepped onto the bridge barefoot. The river water flowed over his ankles, making every step he took feel heavy.

Qi Bai tightly grasped the rope hanging in the air, trying to focus his attention on his hands and not looking down at the unfathomable river water beneath his feet.

Once the group reached the middle of the river, they stopped for a moment, and Qi Bai finally saw the situation clearly.

This single-plank bridge wasn’t what Qi Bai thought it was. It wasn’t made of a single tree spanning the entire river. Instead, it was made of two trees from both sides of the river, leaning towards the center of the river.

Qi Bai could imagine that when the river level wasn’t high, even a single-plank bridge formed by two big trees like this should be relatively stable as long as one was careful when crossing the river.

However, the rushing river flooded the bridge deck and washed away the connection between the two large trees. This caused the water to flow faster here than in other places.

If this continued, the gap would only get bigger.

However, it was no longer an easy task to repair and put two trees back together. Even an improper operation might break the balance under the water and cause the trees to be completely washed away, which would be a waste of effort.

It was only a distance of a few dozen meters, so everyone took every step very carefully.

After all, the supplies of the trading team, especially the salt and sugar in the rattan baskets, couldn’t be exposed to water or the efforts of the tribe would be wasted.

The group safely jumped over the broken tree bridge and followed the river to the other side of the river.

Lang Ze reached out and supported Qi Bai. He was very strong. Qi Bai felt that his feet almost let the water before he stood firmly on the ground again. Qi Bai felt relaxed both physically and mentally.

Lang Ze helped Qi Bai put the rattan basket on the ground. “I will take the beastmen to carry the rest of the supplies back.”

Qi Bai looked up at the sky. “If we go any further, we might enter the territory of other beastmen. Let’s take a break here today.”

The two men had the same idea. Lang Ze led the team back to the single-plank bridge.

Qi Bai arranged the work of the beastmen, leaving Diao Lan and Niu Xi to sort out the supplies and Hu Xue and Quan Nan to collect firewood nearby. Qi Bai took advantage of this time to quickly find the fish basket and hang it upstream of the bridge.

When he was passing by the river just now, he inadvertently saw a lot of figures swimming under the water. He thought it wouldn’t take long for him to get something.

As night fell, a fire had been lit on the shore. After going back and forth four times, the beastmen finally moved all the supplies to the other side of the river.

Xiang Yu and Niu Yong took the animal skins and carefully wiped the wooden boards that were stained with water. Then they handed them to Xiong Feng and Huan Ping, who reassembled the carts.

Qi Bai and Ma Ling were guarding the shore, and they slowly retracted the rope in their hands. The other end of the rope was from Lang Ze, who had gone back to untie the rope and bring it back.

Lang Ze jumped off the bridge and handed the rope to Ma Ling. The rope was untied and tied to the cart again.

Lang Ze looked around. “Where are the others?”

Qi Bai answered, “I asked them to go to the nearby forest to see if they can find any prey.”

At this time, Xi Zhou and Hu Qiao happened to come back from the forest with a few hares. The two of them were obviously not satisfied with their harvest. Hu Qiao held up the hares and said, “We followed Bao Bai’s instructions and didn’t go deep into the forest. We only found these three hares.”

Qi Bai smiled and said, “We aren’t familiar with this place. Three hares are good enough. I’ll go check the fish basket and add some dried meat I brought from the tribe. It will be enough for today’s dinner.” As he said this, he took the hares and ran to the fire.

After handing the hares to Diao Lan, Qi Bai went to the river and checked all four fish baskets. His luck was pretty good today.

Perhaps due to the obstruction of the bridge, but in just a few hours, there were five big river fish in the four fish baskets.

Qi Bai sank the fish baskets back into the river. He cut open the fish, cleaned them on the shore, and brought them back to the temporary camp.

After a simple dinner, everyone went to sleep around the carts and saddles as usual.

An unknown amount of time passed before a slight sound came from outside the bamboo basket.

At first, Qi Bai didn’t take it seriously. Usually, Lang Ze would sleep next to Qi Bai. After all, the bamboo basket he slept in hung from Lang Ze’s saddle.

However, today seemed a bit different. Qi Bai waited quietly for a long time, but didn’t hear the sound of anyone lying down.

The little snow leopard pushed the lid of the bamboo basket open a bit, just in time to meet the sight of Lang Ze squatting on the ground and looking at him.

“Meow?”

Lang Ze seemed to be relieved. He opened the bamboo basket completely, picked up the little snow leopard in one hand, and whispered, “I’m glad you haven’t fallen asleep.”

The little snow leopard tilted his head. “Meow.”

Lang Ze paused before saying, “I’ll take you to a place.”

Qi Bai smacked his lips, turned half a circle in Lang Ze’s arms, found a comfortable position, and patted Lang Ze with his tail, indicating he was ready.

The camp was quiet late at night. The night guard, Huan Ping, looked at Lang Ze’s back. Then he looked away and stared at the river flowing in the distance.

Lang Ze was wandering in the forest. Just when Qi Bai was wondering where Lang Ze was taking him, Qi Bai’s eyes slowly brightened.

The little snow leopard was shocked by the scene before him. He jumped out of Lang Ze’s arms, stood on a big rock, and stared blankly at the valley with the moonlight at his back.

Countless lights shone on the little snow leopard’s face, making his amber eyes seem to be filled with stars.

“Wow.” The little snow leopard let out a low cry subconsciously.

Qi Bai hadn’t seen summer fireflies for many, many years.

The fireflies on the Beastman Continent seemed to be much larger than those on Earth. In addition, their glowing tails dropped tiny dots of light.

The sparkling lights fell on the flower petals and grass leaves, making the whole valley glow with fluorescence. Fireflies danced and played in it, making everything seem like a dream.

Lang Ze’s voice came from above him. “Do you like it?”

Qi Bai woke up as if from a dream. He looked up at the handsome Lang Ze and felt that this person was like an elf guiding a lost traveler into a fairyland.

The little snow leopard jumped left and right on the big rock, his tail wagging behind him. “Meow~ Meow~

The next moment, the little snow leopard jumped into the valley, leaping flexibly. He used his thick paw pads to play with the fireflies flying in the air.

The corners of Lang Ze’s mouth curved up slightly. A huge white wolf appeared on the spot, rushing straight into the valley to play with the little snow leopard.

The fireflies were frightened and gathered and dispersed in the air, splashing lights on the flowers and grass.

This was the most beautiful dream on a midsummer night.