As we walked, we kept looking back and noticed that Jiang Dandan had not followed us. The five of us stood on the flat ground outside the cave, peering into the entrance that was as tall as a person. Zhang Xi'er looked into the pitch-black cave and asked with a trembling voice, "Brother Lu Yuan, do you think there might be something inside the cave?" I gave Wang Yan a look, and she lit a torch with a lighter and threw it inside. I nervously gripped the iron rod, ready for any unexpected occurrences. Bang! The torch fell into the cave, instantly illuminating a section of it. I found the cave to be very clean, with no signs of large animals having been there, and because the torch's light was limited, it couldn't shine any further in. Wang Yan lit another torch and handed it to me. I held the torch and carried the iron rod as I walked in. I carefully led the way, with Wang Yan and the other three girls following behind, holding their torches and gripping their iron rods. I noticed that the walls of the cave were all smooth stone, and the cave was very deep, extending downward continuously. I silently counted my steps, and after fifty-seven steps, we reached the end of the cave, where a smooth stone blocked our path. "We've reached the end," I said to the girls behind me. Along the way, everyone noticed that the cave was incredibly clean, with only dust on the ground. The smoothness of the stone walls seemed as if they had been polished, with no stalactites, no cracks, and very dry. Such a perfect cave was simply a gift from heaven. "This is great, as long as we clean it up, this place is really suitable for living."

"Wang Yan said happily. Once decided, the four girls quickly cleaned up the entrance and the front section of the cave. The inside of the cave was too deep and the air was not circulating, making it uninhabitable, but it could be used for storage in the future. It took me two hours to pack up all the things. By this time, Wang Yan and the others had found a lot of dry grass outside, ready to make a straw bed. Seeing the four girls busy and bustling, I casually asked, 'Have you treated these grasses? If you don't shake them properly, you might get bitten by little bugs, and who knows if those little bugs might carry some infectious diseases.' Wang Yan glared at me impatiently and said, 'No need for you to say it, I know. We have washed these dry grasses, and looking at today's sun, they can be dried by tonight.'"

I watched the busy Xia Lan and Lin Xian'er and grinned. Does that mean I can share a big bed with the four of you tonight? Seeing Wang Yan and the others bustling about, I prepared to take an iron rod to scout around and see if there were any signs of carnivorous animals nearby. I had thought about building a fence around the cave to make it safer at night, and then slowly making a wooden door to seal the cave. But all these ideas are now greatly limited. Without tools, such as hammers, axes, saws, nails... Right now, we only have one military knife, one long iron rod, four short iron rods, a lighter, a pocket watch, a plastic suitcase, a pile of clothes, coconuts, wild fruits, and liana. This is all the wealth we five people have. For now, let's scout the surrounding environment first, find a safe and clean water source, and locate a stable food supply. When they heard that I was going out, Wang Yan and the others clamored to join me. At first, I firmly disagreed, but in the end, I couldn't resist and had to agree.

I spent some effort sharpening one end of the four short iron rods slightly, so they could have a handy self-defense weapon. The five of us entered the dense forest from the gentle slope on the west side of the sea cliff, then walked to the small stream we had passed several times. Following the stream upstream in the wilderness, we could not only find clean water sources but also detect whether there were any animal droppings nearby. As we followed the stream, the trees became fewer and the bushes denser. After walking for about ten minutes, I saw a pool formed by several huge pebbles ahead. Standing on the pebbles, I observed the pool. I noticed that there was a trickle of water churning at the bottom of the pool, the water in the pool was crystal clear, and there was no aquatic vegetation growing in it. Could this be the spring of a mountain spring? I squatted down to wash my hands with the water, then scooped up a handful and took a sip. It tasted a bit like Nongfu Spring, and it was also a little sweet. Now I was completely reassured. We had found the spring of a mountain spring! Wang Yan scooped up the spring water and splashed it on her face, Xia Lan and Lin Xian'er drank the spring water dry, and Zhang Xi'er directly lay on the ground and drank heartily. 'This is great, we no longer have to worry about the water source,' Wang Yan said happily, holding my hand. I smiled at Wang Yan. 'Now that we have a stable water source, we need to find a big container to hold the water.' I saw Zhang Xi'er, who had drunk her fill, lying on the pebbles and rubbing her stomach, when Xia Lan suddenly playfully splashed water on Zhang Xi'er. 'Oh! Who splashed me!'

Zhang Xi'er covered her face and protested discontentedly. Xia Lan didn't speak, but continued to splash water at Zhang Xi'er with a grin. When Zhang Xi'er got up and realized it was Xia Lan, she immediately fought back, and for a while, the two of them were in a tussle. Lin Xian'er watched them quietly, a rare smile emerging on the corners of her mouth. After they had their fun, we continued our inspection. After another hour of patrolling, I was finally sure that the surroundings were relatively safe for the time being.