Chapter 298: Chapter 202: Hidden Treasure on the Tree (With Pictures, Six Days Until Drawing)_3

But it represents hope, a turning point! It’s the slightest bit of mercy this harsh wilderness has shown, just when she was about to give up.

Vonia clutched the squirrel’s body tightly in her hand, feeling the hard-earned warmth of life.

Then carefully hung this hard-won harvest at her waist. The small squirrel felt like a heavy weight, giving her an unprecedented sense of security.

Just as Vonia was about to leave the place that had brought her good fortune, a critical question suddenly popped into her mind.

"Squirrel... tree hollow... food storage..."

"Wait... just now, the squirrel, before being shot, which direction did it climb up the branch from?"

This thought brought her to an instant halt. To an ordinary hunter, getting the prey meant the task was over.

But for Vonia, every hunt was an information-gathering process. The behavior patterns of the prey often concealed secrets far greater than its intrinsic value.

She immediately returned to her previous shooting position, leaned against the massive pine tree, closed her eyes, and forced her hunger-and-excitement-riddled brain to calm down, striving to recall that brief but critical moment from a few minutes ago.

Soon, as if replaying a movie in her mind, she recreated the scene—it wasn’t from the lower trunk that the squirrel had climbed all the way up.

It had darted out from the other side of the trunk, from a blind spot in her view, before nimbly leaping onto the horizontal branch to begin gnawing at the pine cone.

"Its nest might be in that spot I couldn’t see!"

Her gaze immediately locked onto the other side of the trunk, approximately where the squirrel had leapt from. She quickly walked over, circled to the other side of the tree, lifted her head, and began to carefully, inch by inch, observe upwards.

Sure enough! About three meters off the ground, an inconspicuous shadow caught her attention.

It wasn’t a regular circular opening but an irregular recess naturally formed by a broken massive tree knot. The edge of the hole had weathered over the years, its color now matching the surrounding dark brown old bark.

A few dry pine needles and a small patch of grayish-green lichen hung just right above the entrance, forming a natural "curtain."

If not for first analyzing the squirrel’s behavior and narrowing down this area, even passing by this tree a hundred times wouldn’t draw her attention to this hidden entrance.

"No way?" She withdrew her hand from the tree hollow, clutching a handful of nuts, her face showing disbelief and joy to the camera.

"It’s a damn treasure trove! A treasure-filled hiding place! I’ve hit the jackpot!"

Found it! Vonia’s heart pounded fiercely at the magnitude of the discovery! This seemingly mundane tree hollow likely held a treasure that could completely end her hunger crisis.

After confirming the target, Vonia didn’t let excitement cloud her judgment. She calmly assessed the height, then observed the nearly vertical giant trunk, immediately dismissing the option of climbing it barehanded.

She began searching for suitable materials nearby, finally setting her eyes on a few arm-thick dead birches not far away.

She quickly went over, used the logging axe to swiftly fell the two longest and straightest dead trees, then dragged them back to the big pine tree. Next came the most crucial step of the plan.

She approached the big pine tree, estimated the height she needed standing up, then swung the logging axe, hitting forcefully at the trunk about one and a half meters off the ground, carving out a horizontal groove.

"Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!"

The hard pinewood splintered under the axe blade. It was highly labor-intensive work, but Voniya gritted her teeth, each swing precise and powerful.

Soon, a groove about five centimeters deep was etched out by her sheer effort.

Then, she slanted one end of the long birches she had felled into the groove.

Just like that, a simple slanted ladderway was created using the big pine as support and the two long poles as the main structure.

Having completed all this, she took the precious parachute cord from her backpack, tied one end to her waist with a clove hitch knot, then tossed the other end upward, looping it over a stout branch slightly higher than the tree hole, finally tying the rope’s end securely to one of the ladder poles.

This way, if she lost balance while climbing or retrieving items, the safety rope would be her last line of protection.

"Caution is always the first law of survival," she explained her actions to the camera, "especially when you’re about to receive a great reward, you can’t afford to lose it all through a momentary oversight."

She took a deep breath, grasped the two long poles with both hands, placed her feet in the middle, and began climbing the slanted ladderway step by step. When she stood firmly, the three-meter-high tree hollow was now within reach!

She couldn’t help but feel a bit proud of her ingenuity and problem-solving skills. Now she could safely and thoroughly focus all her attention on the imminent "treasure hunt" task.

She eagerly reached her hand inside. The inside was dark and damp, carrying a scent of earth and mixed dry fruit.