Lucky, the sweet potato vine is okay.

"Hey, catch it!"

Ning Shu let out a sigh of relief and jumped down!

In an instant, Lu Zhe seemed to see the "little bear" falling down from the sky again!

He's got psychological shadows.

But Lu Zhe was not panicking!

At this time, his physical strength, reflexes and reaction speed have all undergone epic improvements. He believed that even if it was really a little bear falling down, it would not hit his face again.

This time, Ning Shu was wearing a female passenger's blue swimsuit with a floral pattern, without the little bear on it.

This made his nose itchy, ready to catch the free-falling Ning Shu!

However, coincidentally, Ning Shu tripped over a vine, causing her to flip over in mid-air!

She let out a panicked yell, and was already heading down head first!

Afraid that she would break her neck, Lu Zhe stepped on a rock with his right foot, gallantly leapt forward, catching the upside-down Ning Shu by the waist in mid-air.

In mid-air, Ning Shu also subconsciously hugged Lu Zhe's waist!

At this moment, Ning Shu's pretty face turned red, and a familiar number floated up in her mind!

"Pff..."

Then the two fell into the water together.

Did they get hurt?

No!

Ning Shu was a little awkward!

Indeed!

She was looking forward to a free fall, then being easily caught by the prince charming, carried in his arms, looking into each other's eyes, and couldn't help but steal a kiss!

That sweetness would be enough to make one remember it for a lifetime!

But why did this awkward posture appear out of nowhere?

How bizarre!

After a while, Ning Shu frowned and said,

"Hey, hey, hey, control yourself. You're poking my face..."

"You've got some nerve saying that. I told you to just jump down normally. Who asked you to do a front flip..." Lu Zhe grumbled.

"What are you yelling for, I didn't use much strength!" Ning Shu argued.

Lu Zhe sat up with a serious look. "Let me tell you, class monitor, some things cannot be joked about. If you accidentally bite it off, my future would be ruined. We wouldn't be able to have kids, you know..."

Ning Shu giggled. "Well if that happens, then I'll rub it for you..."

"Get lost!" Lu Zhe brushed Ning Shu's hand away.

The two climbed up and saw that most of the crater bottom was submerged, except for the long strip from east to west!

And their vegetable garden was right there!

"Let's go over there and take a look!"

"Alright alright, walk slower and let me hold on to you!"

"The water reached the highest point and is probably level with the lake outside. Any more would start flowing out. So the location I picked earlier was very accurate!"

There was too much vegetation here. And without the wind breaking off branches and leaves, there were dripping waterlines everywhere.

This was good too. The rainwater collected and flowed downward, making it easy to find shelter from the rain.

Lu Zhe pulled Ning Shu to the vegetable garden!

He was shocked!

The protective netting had a hole torn in it already!

A few parrots had gotten in and were hiding under the grape racks to stay out of the rain!

The sweet potatoes were the urgent matter. Lu Zhe hurried to check on the vines!

Luckily, the sweet potato vines were undamaged. The branches and leaves flourished as they climbed up the frames, bursting with vitality.

It seemed that the sweet potato vines were tough and the days of drought did not substantially damage them.

And since there were no exposed fruits, they did not attract the birds to peck at either.

But the wild grapes and carambola trees were not so fortunate, with two-thirds pecked to pieces by the birds.

The chili peppers were also fine. Evidently few creatures besides humans were interested in these spicy things.

Lu Zhe was quite relieved. As long as the sweet potatoes were alright, everything would be okay!

"This was damaged by the birds?"

"If birds did this damage, it should be in several places. But here it is all in one strip..." Lu Zhe inspected the torn hole. He discovered that the ropes around the tear had been pulled forcefully, and the hole was just big enough for someone to pass through!

Has someone been here?

Lu Zhe handed a gnawed fruit to Ning Shu. "Give this rope a try. See if you can snap it."

"Why do I have to try?"

"Of course I can snap it. I want to see if you can snap it!" Lu Zhe said matter-of-factly.

Ning Shu resigned herself and gritted her teeth while pulling with all her might, yet was unable to break the banana hemp rope after all that effort. "How much strength would it take to snap this rope? You try it."

"So the creature that tore this rope has far greater strength than you, at least." Lu Zhe picked up the rope again and easily ripped it in half.

"Maybe I can still fight it!"

"Was it a bear?"

Lu Zhe shook his head, holding up a gnawed fruit. There were distinct mammalian teeth marks. "Don't know, but it may still be here!"

Ning Shu tensed up immediately and subconsciously leaned closer to Lu Zhe!

Ning Shu clung to Lu Zhe's arm. "Hey, should we head back?"

Lu Zhe shook his head. "When we first set up the vegetable garden here, I was worried there wouldn't be enough sunlight, so I chopped down all the surrounding trees. It's been raining nonstop. It must have drank its fill. Let's grab some leaves to provide some cover and take them down when the rain stops."

"Okay..." Ning Shu looked up, "It's pretty high up there. Is there a ladder or something?"

"Who needs ladders? I can give you a boost."

"Boost me up...?" Ning Shu pictured herself sitting on Lu Zhe's shoulders and bashfully laughed. "I'm not as petite as Guo Er. What if I crush you..."

"Afraid of crushing me? Then give me a boost instead." Lu Zhe kept a straight face. "I'm very light, only about 140 pounds. You're an athlete. Shouldn't be able to crush me... oww! Trying to murder your husband!"

Before Lu Zhe finished speaking, Ning Shu twisted his arm again.

Eventually Ning Shu sat atop Lu Zhe's shoulders. The two worked together to prop leaves onto the cage netting and adjusted the direction to let the rainwater flow down past the sweet potato vines on both sides.

With everything done, could they safely leave?

Lu Zhe wanted to find the mysterious protein source that tore open the netting cage. After circling the crater bottom twice with Ning Shu, they did not find it.

Even the bird shelters, firewood doors that they had set up previously showed no signs of being inhabited by other creatures. This puzzled Lu Zhe. Could it have left?

Fortunately they gathered quite some fruits and bird eggs along the way.

Lu Zhe climbed out through the tunnel and paid attention to the footprints within. He noticed that amidst all the mud, only his and Ning Shu's shoeprints remained!

"If it's not here, and didn't come in through this opening, then there must be other passages connecting to the crater bottom."

"What if it was originally living here alone for hundreds of years, and when we arrived it went into hiding. When we left, it came back out?" Ning Shu worriedly suggested.

"Small chance, but it's good that it currently has no interest in the sweet potatoes. No need to find it immediately. We can head back now."

As they spoke, deafening thunder rumbled across the darkening skies. The downpour intensified three to four fold in an instant!

The heavy sheets of rain made breathing difficult!

"Maybe we should wait out the rain before leaving!" Ning Shu shouted.