After feeding Gu Lang water with a water bottle with a small hole in it, Wang Ping returned to the campfire and began to process the thorn branches he brought back.
At the moment, Wang Ping could think of only himself as the driver who could start the car.
Although his legs are less than 20 centimeters long, Wang Ping has never regarded himself as a real animal. As long as his mindset is not slipping, there are always more solutions than problems. Of course, before that, some preparations need to be made.
First, he selected three of the thickest thorn trunks and used his claws to cut off the thorns to make them smooth sticks. He ran to the car and roughly measured the distance from the pedal to the seat. Wang Ping broke the three trunks and adjusted them to a length of about one meter. Then he used the tip of his claws to slowly dig out a small hole at one end.
The metal wire in the car that was broken by Wang Ping seems to be of no use at the moment, so Wang Ping simply took it off and used it as a rope.
After bending the metal wire into three pieces and passing it through the small holes on three thorns, Wang Ping dragged three bare sticks into the cab and wrapped the ends with ropes around the accelerator, brake and clutch respectively.
Because the claws were not that flexible and the metal wire was too soft, it was difficult to tie it securely. Wang Ping simply wrapped each stick a few more times and used his mouth and feet to barely tie a knot.
After tying it, Wang Ping put his claws on the steering wheel and tried it out. Although it barely achieved the desired effect, it was still a bit troublesome to operate in practice. The steering wheel was still too big for Wang Ping. If there was a sharp turn, his little arm would be broken. Moreover, the stick was only tied at one end, so it was flexible enough, but it was easy to fall to the other side.
The main problem was that the length of the sticks was difficult to control, so my hind paws always missed the target. But if I stepped too hard, the thorns, which were only two centimeters thick, would pierce the pads on my hind paws, which was quite painful.
Wang Ping tried for a few minutes as if he was walking on stilts, and finally collapsed in his seat and became dazed.
It is definitely not possible to drive like this. After a sharp turn, either the stick will fly out or Wang Ping himself will fly out.
Staring at the steering wheel for a while, Wang Ping patted his head and cursed himself for being so stupid. He was always used to thinking about things from a human perspective. Who said that the accelerator and brake must be stepped on by feet? Have you ever played an arcade game
He adjusted the placement of the sticks again. This time, Wang Ping passed the sticks tied to the accelerator and brake through the neutral position of the steering wheel, making them look like two joysticks. This way, they would not fall to one side easily. As for the operation, Wang Ping could control them by pressing them with his front paws.
Wang Ping threw the clutch lever aside. This kind of thing is basically useless after starting, so it doesn't matter if it falls over, and it doesn't take up space. Anyway, there will be no traffic jams on the prairie.
Wang Ping was originally worried that relying on the unreliable thorns to control the accelerator and brakes would not be so sensitive. After all, he had previously thought of using his hind paws to step on them to drive, which was equivalent to extending the pedals.
But now that he was using two joysticks to control the power, Wang Ping felt relieved. It was much more reliable than stepping on it with his claws, at least he didn't have to worry about missing the target at the critical moment.
The remaining question is how to transfer Gu Lang to the car.
He had to give up the tent and sleeping bag, and Wang Ping had no intention of packing them for him, so he just let him stay in the back seat of the SUV.
Wang Ping tried to see if the rear seats could be folded down, but unfortunately he couldn't find any suspected switch after searching for a long time. He had to move the passenger seat as far back as possible to prevent Gu Laosan from falling to the floor during the bumpy ride, and also to allow Xiaohua, who was about to move to the passenger seat, to relax more.
Apart from adjusting the seat, the rest of the work can only be completed with Xiaohua's help.
"I hope this guy is lucky enough to make it to the camp!"
The morning star has quietly lit up in the distant sky, and before I knew it, the whole night has passed in such a busy manner.
Wang Ping decided not to wait until dawn. Anyway, for him and Xiaohua, there was no difference between traveling at night and traveling during the day. They didn't even need to turn on the lights, which was both low-key and energy-saving.
After waking up Xiaohua, Wang Ping brought it to the door of Gu Lang's tent, ready to put it in the car.
Over the night, Gu Lang seemed to have recovered somewhat. When Wang Ping used his nose to measure his body temperature, he found that it was not as hot as it was at the beginning. However, Gu Lang himself was not conscious yet. He opened his eyes slightly to look at the two people looking down at him, and then fell asleep again.
At this moment, Gu Lang was probably in a semi-comatose state. His soul was screaming to wake up, but his body and brain were firmly against it.
That night, Wang Ping rubbed some willow bud juice into Gu Lang's mouth three times, but he could not feed the cold deer leg into Gu Lang's mouth.
Wang Ping also thought about chewing it up and feeding it to him. But just thinking about it made him feel sick, so he decided to wait a little longer. Maybe he would wake up by himself during the day.
It took Wang Ping about half an hour of gestures and demonstrations to finally make Xiaohua understand that his purpose was just to let it bite Gu Lang's clothes and drag him to the car, not to bite him to death directly and have him for breakfast.
The process is naturally not gentle enough.
In the three-meter distance between the tent and the off-road vehicle, there were countless small stones, dead grass stems, broken branches, and perhaps some broken bones and small insects. Wang Ping pretended not to hear the sound of someone's clothes and pants being torn while moving.
If Gu Lang asked Wang Ping how the various bruises and bloodstains on his body came about after he woke up, it would be difficult to explain.
Fortunately, Wang Ping didn't have to really explain this matter. And there was no need to worry about bruises, because the first aid kit in the car also had iodine and anti-inflammatory spray.
It only took Xiaohua ten minutes to drag Gu Lang from the back door to the car, and Wang Ping spent another half an hour to fix the various bumps and scratches caused by Xiaohua dragging Gu Lang. By the time everything was ready, the SUV was already filled with the smell of disinfectant.
After extinguishing the embers of the bonfire with water, Wang Ping and Xiaohua pressed down the trunk lid from the roof of the car, and this makeshift team was ready to set off.
Gu Lang was lying on the back seat in a "shrimp-pushing" position, holding the roasted deer leg that Wang Ping had picked up from the tent, while Xiao Hua was sitting on the passenger seat, looking at Wang Ping curiously. Sometimes she would look at Gu Lang, and then she would sneeze because of the disinfectant.
Taking a deep breath, Wang Ping sharpened his claws and pressed the lever on the clutch. At the same time, he held the key in the car with his other claw and turned it to the right.
"Woo hum~~~"
The engine roared and the car started successfully.
"Haha! I knew it would work! Let's go!"
Wang Ping felt a surge of joy in his heart, and at the same time, the sense of loss from transforming into an animal subconsciously subsided a lot. He slowly released the lever on the clutch, and at the same time, he grabbed the lever on the accelerator with his right paw and pressed it down.
"Buzz buzz buzz!!!~~~"
The roar of the engine suddenly increased, but the car did not move at all.
After being confused for about ten seconds, Wang Ping subconsciously looked to the left.
"Shit! I forgot to put it in gear!"
Wang Ping was probably the only one in the car who felt embarrassed. Fortunately, Gu Laosan was still conscious at the moment, otherwise he would have been silenced by the ashamed and angry badger.
I put the gear back in and released the clutch again. The car shook a bit and slowly moved forward.
After adjusting the position of the steering wheel, Wang Ping breathed a sigh of relief and began to try to shift gears and speed up.
At this time, behind the SUV, the rising sun slowly jumped out of the earth. A ray of golden light shone in through the rear window, casting Wang Ping's long shadow in front of the driver's seat.
Perhaps it was an illusion. Wang Ping was in a trance as he looked at the shadow of the steering wheel. He suddenly remembered that he had driven a car like this before and walked on such a grassland. At this moment, looking at the steering wheel in front of him, Wang Ping suddenly felt that it was unreal.
"If this is a dream..." Wang Ping calmed himself down, "If you want to wake up, you have to wait until I save everyone!"