Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Prey
Hedong City is already covered in snow, but the alternate world remains as warm as spring.
Chen Shouyi carefully hides among the plant clusters, trying to lower his body and moving slowly forward, while the thicket of leaves and intertwined vines around him keep him well concealed.
Shell Lady squats on his shoulder, gripping Chen Shouyi’s clothes tightly, looking more nervous than he does, her little face tense, even her breathing halted.
More than a hundred ters ahead, an animal resembling a moose is leisurely eating the red wild fruit among the shrubs.
Its body is brown-black, with yellow and white spots as camouflage, its fur reflects a faint sheen as if oiled, and its coarse, slender tongue flexibly avoids the small thorns of the shrub, gently curling to scoop a large pile of wild fruit into its mouth.
Looks so fat!
Recalling the taste of creatures from the alternate world, Chen Shouyi can’t help but swallow.
Ever since Chen Shouyi boldly tasted the at of creatures from the alternate world, he has never carried food with him.
However, he doesn’t hunt all kinds of creatures; typically he excludes reptiles and amphibians, as on Earth, most poisonous creatures belong to these two categories. He generally hunts herbivorous mammals.
He moves more cautiously, slowly inching forward.
At this mont, the prey seems to sense sothing, stops eating, and starts looking around, its hooves as white as snow stepping restlessly, alert ears perked up, constantly turning.
Chen Shouyi quickly hugs the ground, staying completely still.
The creature observes for a while, finding nothing, and after a while, resus eating the wild fruit.
Chen Shouyi remains motionless, this prey seems to be eating, but most of its attention is alert to its surroundings.
After it finally lets its guard down, Chen Shouyi continues crawling forward, and when he’s only sixty or seventy ters away, he rises silently from behind the trunk of a large tree, quietly draws a bow and arrow from behind, aiming before suddenly shooting an arrow.
It lets out a pitiful shriek and runs a few steps before falling to the ground, struggling violently.
Chen Shouyi rushes over quickly, twists its neck decisively, ending its misery completely.
"Good Giant, you’re amazing," Shell Lady says excitedly.
Chen Shouyi smiles indifferently and begins to head back with the prey.
Upon returning to his usual spot, he pulls out a sharp knife and skillfully slices open the prey’s fur, peeling the whole skin off and tossing it aside, then extracts the innards and places them on the skin.
He’s not planning to eat these parts; who knows what unknown toxins might be lurking inside. After detaching the prey’s head, he wraps the innards in the skin, walks to a corner dozens of ters away, digs a hole, and buries them.
He gathers the collected dry wood to one side, takes out a portable gasoline can, pours so gasoline after unscrewing it, and uses an alternate-world specific lighter to set it on fire.
The flas are weak but burn well, making them last longer.
Chen Shouyi rubs salt and sesa oil on the prey, skewers it with a stick, and begins roasting it.
In about ten minutes, the fat starts to drip one by one, occasionally igniting sparks on the flas.
The tempting aroma gradually fills the air, and when the prey turns golden brown, Chen Shouyi sprinkles cumin and Sichuan pepper on it.
He continues roasting for a while.
He can’t wait to tear off a leg and take a bite.
For ordinary people, the flesh of alternate-world creatures is too dense, difficult to chew.
But for Chen Shouyi, it feels just right, with a special chewiness and aroma, and once eaten, it fills the stomach for longer, with both hind legs consud, Chen Shouyi starts to feel a bit full.
He tears up the remaining at and packs it into airtight bags, putting them in his suitcase.
Suddenly, the wind picks up around him, tree branches sway, creating a rustling sound.
Chen Shouyi pays it no mind and zips up the suitcase.
Suddenly, he freezes, his body unable to move, sensing he’s being stared at by sothing, a strong feeling of unease rising in his heart.
Fortunately, this sensation doesn’t last long, disappearing almost instantly, as if an illusion.
Yet Chen Shouyi knows it’s no illusion.
He imdiately looks up at the sky; through the dense foliage, he glimpses a massive silver figure gliding slowly across the sky, darkening it.
"Is it a bird?"
This thought crosses his mind, and after about half a minute, he feels the creature has flown far away.
Chen Shouyi quickly climbs a tree, standing on a branch at the top, brushing aside leaves before seeing a distant large silver creature with terrifying flesh wings hovering above the forest.
It’s a creature that’s bird-like but not a bird, resembling dinosaurs that evolved into birds in ancient tis.
It’s covered in silver scales, shimring under the sun, with a splash of vibrant mane on its neck, a snake-like tail swaying gently behind.
Mysterious, beautiful, elegant, stunning.
These are all the words he can use to describe it, like a creature flying out of a mythical world.
Chen Shouyi estimates it’s over thirty ters long from head to tail; excluding the tail, its body alone is over twenty ters.
...
It floats down to the leaves with a grace unfit for its size, as if its massive body weighs nothing, then its head inches into the forest, its body gliding within, quickly disappearing from sight.
Chen Shouyi watches the forest sway gently, a dozen seconds later, the massive figure flies into the sky again, now with prey hanging from its feet.
It flaps its wings high, flying farther and farther away, soon becoming just a dot.
Chen Shouyi wipes the cold sweat from his forehead and slowly climbs down the tree.
"What creature is this?" Chen Shouyi asks Shell Lady with a glimr of hope.
Shell Lady shakes her head, pale with fright, "I don’t know, but it’s scary."
I know that too.
He feels sowhat lucky for his small size.
A creature of this size eats astonishing amounts, tens of tons of at at once; humans probably wouldn’t even fill its teeth gaps. Otherwise, he would have beco its prey earlier.
But nothing is absolute.
This incident reminds him he needs to find a safe place to practice.
Staying directly under the tree like now is too dangerous.
What if it suddenly gets curious about him and wants to try a taste?
It’s best to find a cave!
Chen Shouyi stops practicing for now and starts searching for a suitable target.
The terrain is at a mountain depression, with peaks rising and falling not far ahead; there should be caves there.
Chen Shouyi carries his bow and arrows, cautiously moving forward.
Shell Lady’s hearing and vision are far sharper than Chen Shouyi’s; any slight noise doesn’t escape her ears. With her guidance, Chen Shouyi can always avoid the territories of powerful beasts in advance.
Of course, it’s not without drawbacks.
Her idea of what is powerful often doesn’t align with Chen Shouyi’s, causing him to go quite a distance.
But for safety’s sake, he has no choice but to endure.
PS: Head hurts, wrote quite late.
Reviews
All reviews (0)