Free Thylacine

A few girls saw it at first and were scared, but seeing the long trail of blood behind it, they also felt a little pity.

Jiang Yao said, "What's wrong with this dude?"

Lu Zhe touched its ribs, several of which were already broken, no wonder it crawled over like this.

"It must have been attacked by some animal and then fell from a height! Its ribs are broken, and there are large areas of abrasions on its back!"

Lu Zhe looked at the wounds on its back: "And it landed on its back, quite serious!"

The three girls looked at each other.

"Landed on its back?"

"Far inferior to cats, no wonder it's going extinct."

"Lu Zhe, after all it's the rarest animal in the world, save it!"

Lu Zhe examined it roughly, then nodded, "One good news, one bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

"Bad news..."

"It's too badly injured, it probably won't make it."

"What about the good news?"

"We are most likely to become the first people in the 21st century to eat thylacine meat!"

The three girls gaped at Lu Zhe, looking at him strangely!

"Kidding! Look here," Lu Zhe smiled faintly, then reached towards its abdomen. The dying thylacine immediately became vigilant, struggling to lift its head, baring its teeth.

"Relax..." Lu Zhe said gently: "I don't mean any harm!"

The thylacine looked at Lu Zhe, and finally, its eyes softened.

Then he put his hand into the thylacine's pouch, and pinched out two fuzzy little bundles from inside.

"Wow, baby thylacines!"

"So cute!"

"Now do you understand why it landed on its back?"

"To protect the cubs!"

"That's right!"

"My god, it actually did that to protect its cubs."

The girls were moved by the thylacine, which they had thought was silly, but had landed on its back for this reason, touching their fragile and sensitive hearts.

"Lu Zhe, you must save their mother!"

Lu Zhe shook his head: "I can't save it, it can only survive on its own. At most I can provide it with some food."

All Lu Zhe could do was tie its mouth shut with a belt, make a thick pad of hay, and lift it on top.

The thylacine seemed to know Lu Zhe was saving it, and didn't resist Lu Zhe's handling.

Anyway there was no threat, so Lu Zhe simply let the mother thylacine live near the camp.

Lu Zhe reckoned it wouldn't last more than three days with such heavy injuries.

After another day, the tree cage was completed, and overnight it had caught one big and two small sheep!

They were probably a family. With Lu Zhe's help, they neatly dedicated themselves to the raft construction.

That day, the thylacine stopped bleeding, and not only stopped bleeding, it even drank a little sheep's blood!

On the third day, they caught five more sheep!

Lu Zhe thought that if they didn't separate from their companions, settling down here might not be a bad choice!

The protein resources were exceptionally abundant!

Have you ever seen survival in the wilderness, with whole racks of fresh lamb meat being tossed into the sea?

That day, the thylacine made further improvement, much more spirited than before, its eyes brighter too!

This made Lu Zhe think the thylacine might really survive!

He went into the woods to get some herbs, crushed them and stuffed them into meat to feed the mother thylacine.

On the fourth day, Lu Zhe and the girls searched half the island's coastline, and found a sea cave, filled with a large amount of washed up garbage.

Bottles, foam, broken tires, and a shoddy inflatable doll.

The workmanship was incomparable to the doll Lu Zhe had found near the sunken seaplane.

One look made you feel like going blind.

But fortunately, it hadn't deflated, and blowing it up and stuffing it with sheepskin would be very useful!

With choppable wood chisels, leftover bamboo from the plane raft, and other useful tools, Lu Zhe's simple sheepskin raft went very smoothly.

He lined up four sheepskins in the middle and three on each side, built a bamboo frame on top, made a small canopy for rain and sun protection, and the simple sheepskin raft was done.

The 3.5 by 3 meter raft didn't feel crowded with four people sitting on it.

Could they set off back to the volcanic island then?

Not yet!

Lu Zhe still had a few important things to do before leaving!

One was to find fresh water!

Enough fresh water reserves would allow them to cope with the heat and thirst at sea!

Coconuts alone certainly wouldn't be enough!

Two was to find plants!

Different islands usually had different plant species, fruits, nuts, vegetables, wild vegetables, of course the more the better.

Even with the same fruit, the appearance and taste would be slightly different!

Plus this island had frigatebirds, who knows if they brought some plant seeds onto the island.

Before leaving, it was absolutely wise to bring back as many local products as possible.

"I'm going into the jungle again to look for fresh water and new plants. Who wants to come with me? If no one comes I'll just take the thylacine!"

Tang Xiaoguo raised her hand first!

"Alright, get your stuff ready, let's head up the mountain!"

"Yay!"

"Remember the main points! Mainly look for fresh water resources, vegetables and fruits if we happen upon them!"

"Got it, my great survival expert!"

Lu Zhe took Tang Xiaoguo into the deep mountains. As expected, they were greeted by all kinds of butterflies, venomous bugs, army ants and snakes along the way.

Occasionally they could also spot a few ill-intentioned monkeys.

Without a strong mindset and professional skills, you definitely wouldn't dare wander around here!

Lu Zhe and Tang Xiaoguo slowly advanced through the valley, but didn't find water sources all morning.

The coconut water they brought was all drunk up. Tang Xiaoguo collected some morning dew and asked Lu Zhe if he wanted to drink it. Lu Zhe took it and sniffed it.

She was very different now from when they first arrived on the deserted island.

Lu Zhe nodded: "This is very useful!"

What use?

Drink it?

No!

Lu Zhe found a pile of rocks with a small hole, inside which a little gold-ringed snake was coiled.

Lu Zhe nodded: "Here it is!"

"What are you doing?"

"Gu'er, haven't you always wanted to catch a snake with your own hands? Now's the chance!"

"I've caught one before!"

"That one doesn't count!" Lu Zhe pointed at the hole: "See, there's one inside, help me get it out!"

"Huh? Why? We have plenty of lamb meat!"

"To find fresh water, my arms are too thick, you'll have to do it."

"Is there fresh water in there! Um..." Tang Xiaoguo peeked inside: "There really is one, is it poisonous?"

"Not poisonous!"

"Bite people?"

"Won't bite!"

"Huh, why is the little snake in the little hole?"

"Surprised?"

"When it grows up can it still fit in there?"

"Stop blabbering, hurry up! This is very important to us!"

"Why are you being mean!" Still, Tang Xiaoguo summoned her courage, and reached her hand into the hole!

"I'll be gentle, hope not to hurt you..."

"You're quite considerate of the snake huh?"

Tang Xiaoguo pouted: "I'm worried about the hole!"

That said, she really pulled the snake out.

As soon as the snake was pulled out, it immediately crawled away. Tang Xiaoguo panicked: "Oh no, it's getting away!"

Lu Zhe completely ignored this, immediately took out the prepared grilled lamb jerky, threw it into the rock hole.

Then he threw the snake away, and pulled Tang Xiaoguo to run far away.