Chapter 42: Campsite

“Do you want to view the Formless Ghost’s memories?” A message entered his mind.

Li Si ignored it. After kneeling for a while, he stood up, walked to the large blue rock by the pool, and sat down quietly, saying nothing, his eyes staring blankly ahead, his back hunched.

Since coming to this world, he suddenly realized too many people were dying. Many people left just like that, gone in an instant.

Cao Qing was like this, the original owner was like this, even the people in the Zhang mansion were like this.

Li Si felt a fire in his heart, but was powerless to express it. He was now at the bottom of this world, how much could he change? He couldn’t change anything.

“Do you want to view the Formless Ghost’s memories?” The message entered Li Si’s mind again.

“No,” Li Si responded mentally to the message. He didn’t want to review the original owner’s life now, as he had already gained many of the original owner’s memories.

He also knew what the original owner had done after death from their conversation, so there was no need to view the memories.

Actually, the main reason was that Li Si just wanted some quiet time now.

What he didn’t notice was that while he was lost in thought by the pool, a pair of yellow-green eyes were staring at him from the woods about a few dozen steps away. Then the owner of those eyes turned and silently left.

In the quiet dusk of the forest, glimpses of striped fur could occasionally be seen through the gaps in the trees.

Li Si didn’t stay upset for long. He was very good at regulating his emotions.

Because he grew up without parents, with no one to rely on, crying would only annoy the orphanage staff, not bring comfort.

So from a young age, he never cried or made a fuss, learning to control his emotions.

Li Si washed his face in the pool water, then started cooking rice again, though this time he didn’t bother to catch shrimp to add to it.

After eating, Li Si found a slightly higher mound not far from the stream and began to clear it.

He mainly cleared away fallen leaves to one side and pulled up weeds, clearing out a large open space.

Then he sprinkled some realgar wine on this open space to prevent snakes and insects from invading.

After sprinkling the realgar wine, he found some dead branches nearby. While looking for branches, he discovered a withered tree on a small slope. This tree had died from drought due to a landslide that prevented its roots from reaching soil.

Seeing this tree, Li Si went back to get the Black Sword, intending to use it to chop the tree.

Actually, when he went to get the Black Sword, he somewhat regretted not bringing out the Nepalese military knife, as it would have been more suitable for chopping than the Black Sword.

Li Si walked up to the withered tree and slowly drew the Black Sword from its scabbard. Seeing the cold gleam of the blade, although he felt somewhat uncomfortable, he could accept it now.

He put the scabbard aside, raised the Black Sword with both hands, and swung at a thinner part of the withered tree.

Li Si used a lot of strength in this strike, knowing he didn’t have much strength, so he used all his might.

When the sword touched the withered tree branch, his expression changed. It felt like cutting through tofu, with only slight resistance.

But Li Si couldn’t stop the force now. He could only use the force application technique from the “Mystic Tortoise Record” to slightly shift the direction of the sword’s force. The sword immediately grazed past the edge of Li Si’s left leg. The Black Sword slipped from his hands and plunged straight into the trunk of another tree, occasionally emitting a humming sword sound.

As the sword vibrated, it continued to cut into the tree trunk, moving straight down a bit.

A loud thud sounded. Li Si had used too much force and, coupled with forcibly shifting the sword’s direction, lost his footing and fell to the ground.

Now fallen on the ground, his expression was not good, his forehead breaking out in sweat. He never imagined the sword would be so sharp – this tree-chopping attempt had nearly amputated his leg.

This was also partly due to the impact of the original owner’s death, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so careless.

Li Si inwardly warned himself that in the future, for vaguely described items from the system store like the Black Sword, he must test them before use, otherwise he might end up killing himself.

Then he stood up, pulled the Black Sword from the tree trunk, and returned to chop the withered tree.

Due to the extreme sharpness of the Black Sword, the chopping process was as simple as a chef cutting tofu.

Soon, a pile of neatly cut wood was ready.

Li Si then carried this wood back to his previous campsite. However, there was quite a lot of wood, so he had to make several trips.

By the time the wood was neatly stacked to one side, Li Si was already quite exhausted.

But he still mustered his energy to light the campfire.


Li Si placed flat wooden boards under a tree, then sat down, leaning against the tree, watching the roaring campfire and listening to the “crackling” sound of burning wood. He couldn’t help but think of the original owner, who also had flames on his body, and his eyes dimmed.

By now the sun had set, and the entire forest was gradually swallowed by darkness. In the darkness, bird calls and the “uh-uh” sounds of deer could be heard from time to time.

Li Si couldn’t sleep for a while, quietly staring at the campfire in front of him, lost in thought.

He planned to search for Cao Qing’s body tomorrow. Today he was in poor condition, and it was too late to go in the dark night.

After spacing out for a while, Li Si released Xiao Duan to guard nearby.

Then he took out clothes from the book box and wrapped them around himself to ward off the cold of the night.

At this time, he didn’t feel sleepy, but he still closed his eyes slightly to doze. After all, people need rest.

He didn’t plan to sleep tonight, as there could be animal attacks or unpredictable dangers in the mountains at any time.

Fortunately, there wasn’t much wind where Li Si was now, because the slope at the withered tree site blocked the wind, making this a good camping spot.

After dozing for a while, about an hour or so, Li Si felt his body becoming stiff. He got up to add wood to the campfire and stretch his body.

Suddenly, faint human voices came from the mountain, followed by the sound of leaves rubbing against clothes.

Li Si looked over and saw several dark figures moving through the night, occasionally accompanied by the sound of leaves and branches being stepped on.

“There’s someone!” An excited voice broke through the night, sounding like a young man in his twenties.

“Shut up!” A deep, scolding voice came, sounding like a middle-aged man.

Li Si’s eyes narrowed slightly. He had Xiao Duan hide behind a large tree, while he walked to the tree where he had been resting earlier and picked up the Black Sword.