Ahhhhh, high-altitude survival!

Upon hearing Lin Yue's question, Liang Dong turned around and carefully examined the two plants, scrutinizing them from several different angles for a moment. He ultimately shook his head, indicating that he had indeed never seen them before. He then said nothing more and lowered his head to continue concentrating on dissecting the black snake.

The situation before her was a little different from what she had imagined. Although she didn't know the specific reason, since none of them recognized her, Lin Yue naturally wouldn't make a fuss about it. She smiled and explained, "This is a skill I got from an airdrop crate. It's... well, a kind of summoning! It can summon different plants to help me in battle! Of course, there are certain limitations."

"Holy crap... a cacophony of sounds, like pearls falling onto a jade plate." Zhao Lei's exclamation was cut short by Xu Tiantian's playful wriggling, before the topic was abruptly changed. Despite this, his eyes were still filled with undisguised amazement.

Zhou Zeyang was equally shocked: "Sister Lin Yue is awesome! Is this a hidden quest in a high-altitude survival game? Like a job change skill. For example, I usually like using a knife, so I can become a warrior in the future? Then Sister Lin Yue is a summoner? Then can we develop mages, archers or something like that in the future? High attack, high defense, and even healing bonuses..."

Zhou Zeyang became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he could already see the magnificent scene of them showing off their skills and being invincible in high-altitude survival in the future.

Lin Yue coughed twice, just as she was thinking of how to shatter his illusion, when she heard Liang Dong say from the side, "The black snakes are sorted out. Whose backpack has the most compartments? Put them in there first!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked over.

On the ground were several neatly piled items, including a pile of snake meat, a snake skin, a snake gall, and a snake body that was no longer intact and had been cut open with holes everywhere.

Seeing that everyone was a little confused, Liang Dong explained, "Normally, only these three parts of a snake are truly valuable. This snake didn't have any fangs, so I didn't bother to remove them. As for the rest of the snake, I thought I could just collect it directly, so I didn't cut it open. Maybe I can find something else inside."

Lin Yue thought what he said made a lot of sense, nodded, and reached out to click on the "collect" button.

[Collection successful. Obtained 3 pieces of mutated black snake meat (500g), 2 treasure map fragments. Experience points +5.]

"As expected, we can still collect things!" Lin Yue was quite happy and showed the collected items to everyone. "Sure enough, breaking them down by myself first and then collecting them with the system makes better use of them."

Having unlocked a way to obtain more items, everyone was quite excited. By this time, it was already getting dark, and instead of immediately distributing the items, they quickly packed them up and then habitually looked at Lin Yue, wanting to hear her decision on the next course of action.

Lin Yue looked up at the sky, pondered for a moment, then turned to Zhou Zeyang and asked, "Zhou Zeyang, when you went to lure that black snake, did you find any places that resembled caves?"

Lin Yue always remembered the warning the system gave her when she first encountered the floating islands—they became extremely dangerous at night. Therefore, even though she was currently in the midst of a points-grabbing battle, she didn't intend to use the nighttime to race against time.

Moreover, this black snake is a level-five mutated beast, and like the bamboo rat king they encountered before, it should have its own nest or cave. If they can find it, they might be able to find some good stuff inside. Even without a treasure chest, they'll still need a place to rest at night. A cave filled with the scent of a level-five mutated beast should be relatively safer.

"Cave?" Upon hearing this word, Zhou Zeyang immediately tried hard to recall, but after a long while, he shook his head. "I really don't remember, Lei Zi, do you remember?"

He turned to look at Zhao Lei, who was holding Xu Tiantian's hand, his gaze fixed intently on her profile, a silly grin on his face. Hearing Zhou Zeyang call him, he snapped back to reality: "Huh? What did you say?"

Seeing the teasing looks from everyone, Xu Tiantian felt a little embarrassed. She playfully pinched Zhao Lei's arm and whispered a reminder, "Did you see any caves when you were looking for snakes?"

Zhao Lei suddenly realized, tilted his head and thought hard for a moment, then suddenly nodded: "Yes!"

Zhou Zeyang hadn't held out much hope, but when he heard that Zhao Lei actually knew, his eyes widened, and his voice rose slightly, sounding quite incredulous: "You saw it?"

Zhao Lei nodded affirmatively: "Do you remember when we were looking for snakes, we passed a small hill with a few flowers blooming on it? Those flowers happened to be the purple that Tian Tian likes. I was thinking of going back to pick them with her later, so I took a few extra glances. Then I noticed that behind those purple flowers, there seemed to be a hole slightly larger than a bucket. That should be the cave that Sister Lin Yue was talking about."

Hearing Zhao Lei's words, Xu Tiantian blushed slightly. She gently bit her lip, but her voice became even sweeter: "Silly boy, then why don't you lead the way!"

"Oh? Okay, okay, come with me!" Zhao Lei quickly replied, taking Xu Tiantian's hand and walking in front.

The group followed Zhao Lei's footsteps and hurried along.

As they continued forward, the surrounding scenery gradually changed. The sparse bushes and trees became increasingly dense, and many even began to wither and turn yellow, giving a rather desolate feeling. Soon after, the group came to the edge of a slope, where a few small purple flowers stood out conspicuously among the withered grass.

"This is the place, look!"

Following the direction Zhao Lei pointed, everyone saw an irregularly shaped circular opening.

"I'll go first." Liang Dong stepped past Zhao Lei and headed towards the cave. The others couldn't help but feel a surge of warmth in their hearts. Although Uncle Dong was usually a man of few words, he was truly a sincere and honest person.

As soon as I reached the cave entrance, a cool breeze carrying the scent of earth and dampness, mixed with a hint of decay, hit me. The cave walls were covered with thick moss, which emitted a faint green glow under the dim light.

They crouched low as they entered, following the rugged path of the cave for a while. Just as the cave began to widen and they were able to stand up straight, Liang Dong suddenly stopped and whispered a warning, "Watch out, there are snakes!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly took several steps back. Han Weiyi reacted quickly, swiftly stuffing a cumin-flavored potato into her own mouth, and not forgetting to stuff one into Lin Yue's open mouth as well.

Lin Yue was about to say something but was stopped by her action. She could only chew quickly while peeking over to see what was going on.