There were no man-made steps, no forest paths. The ground was covered in damp, slippery moss and a layer of rotting leaves that had accumulated for who knew how many years.
He also had to constantly watch out for poisonous shrubs, thorns, and other vegetation, while also being wary of creatures like Jaguars, venomous snakes, Poisonous Frogs, and toxic insects.
To cross this mountain range safely would take more than just a few hours. At the very least, it would require an entire day.
’Is the Lake Lagobaiano cluster nearby...?’
Lin Chen closed his eyes, reviewing his route in his mind. Then, using a branch, he sketched a simple map on the ground.
’First, the entire country of Panama is shaped like a horizontal S, with the Panama Canal between Panama City and Cologne as its center. This ans the production team dropped in the eastern half, but not as far as the Darien Rift.’
’So, that ans my starting point was sowhere in the area between El Porvenir, northeast of Cologne City, and La Palma, which is in the southeast next to the Darien Rift. The Lake Lagobaiano cluster is in the middle.’
’Looking at the map, the Pan-Arican Highway cuts right through the middle of the lake, running through the entire region all the way to the Darien Rift. It should be a very conspicuous, landmark road.’
’But I’ve been heading north or northwest for five full hours and still haven’t seen any sign of the lake or the highway. This implies my starting point must be closer to La Palma City in the southeast. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense—unless I’ve misjudged my direction.’
He glanced at the sunset. The sun rising in the east and setting in the west confird his orientation was correct; he was indeed on a northward path.
’Calculating based on a forest hiking speed of 3-6 kiloters per hour, my pace should be around 4 kiloters per hour. Five hours makes 20 kiloters... Hmm, let think...’
The entire Darien Rift region is about 160 kiloters long. The production team definitely wouldn’t drop soone near this area, so the drop point would be further west. There’d have to be a buffer of at least ten kiloters.
In other words, the drop point itself was already very close to the eastern end of the Lake Lagobaiano region, because it’s only twenty to thirty kiloters from the border of the Darien Rift.
’Could it be that my parachute drop was just east of the lake, and by heading northwest, I’ve been moving parallel to the shoreline, perfectly avoiding this body of water?’
After so judgnt and analysis, he had a rough idea of his current location.
After all, this was an unfamiliar country and terrain, near one of the most mysterious and dangerous regions in the world. There wasn’t much information available online, so he could only rely on his own judgnt.
’Lake Lagobaiano is right next to the Dalian Mountain Range. If my judgnt is correct, I should be at the foot of the mountains right now.’
In other words, as long as he continued north tomorrow, he could start climbing the mountains. Once he crossed the range, he would reach the coast.
’Okay, the plan is going smoothly. Next, I need to figure out where to spend the night.’
Although he hadn’t reached the vicinity of Lake Lagobaiano, he wasn’t particularly disappointed.
In fact, he never planned to stay by the lake anyway; he just wanted to use it for positioning.
Panama’s river basins are ho to a large number of Arican Crocodiles, especially in forest lakes and swamps. He had no desire to rashly throw his life away.
On the other hand, the water in tropical forest lakes is undrinkable. God knows how much of the periodic table is in there; drinking it would be no different from suicide.
Therefore, conventional survival logic didn’t apply here. In fact, staying away from the lake was the safer option.
’Although there are Jaguars on land, they are rare animals here. It’s good to be cautious, but I don’t need to worry too much.’
’Instead of worrying about the big guys, I’d better focus my attention on the little ones.’
Venomous snakes, toxic insects.
These are the main threats to survival in the forest.
’A temporary shelter must be built in the air, preferably between a few trees. It also needs to be treated to repel insects and snakes.’
Seeing the sunset glow dimming bit by bit, Lin Chen couldn’t help but start to feel anxious.
To find a suitable spot, he began to wander nearby. Besides scanning the surrounding trees, most of his attention was focused on the dense thickets on the ground.
There are many ways to repel insects and snakes in a tropical forest. The simplest is to use wood ash. Another thod is to soak or burn aromatic plants, which can also provide effective protection.
After a brief look around the area, he soon discovered a young Bamboo Tree.
This Bamboo Tree was only a little taller than him, about two ters high, and its huge leaves blocked out the surrounding light like a natural umbrella.
’Good stuff!’
His eyes lit up. ’Banana leaves are natural roofing and tarps. They can also be used as a mattress or a tablecloth, and they’re even great for wrapping food to bake.’
’Also, the core of the Bamboo Tree is rich in nutrients. This one alone will be enough to sustain for the night.’
Not far from the Bamboo Tree, he found several tall Caribbean pines.
These pines weren’t much different from the ones he rembered seeing everywhere in the mountains, just taller. The lower branches had almost all withered and fallen off, leaving only bare trunks.
’I’ve found the spot. Now the question is, how do I build a shelter in the air?’
If he were to build a shelter on the trunks of these pines, he would need to chop down a certain amount of wood and then secure it with a lot of rope.
He abandoned the idea almost instantly.
’Looks like I’ll have to spend the night on the ground.’
He wasn’t about to waste ti trying to cut wood with his combat knife. That would only cause the blade to wear out too quickly, or even break. It wasn’t worth the trade-off.
He gathered so relatively thick, dead branches from under the pine trees. Using a tree trunk as a support, he propped two branches against it at an angle, sticking the bottoms into the dirt to secure them, then laid another branch horizontally across them.
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