Chapter 42: Kill One

Chapter 42: Killing One

A tree trunk as thick as a bowl and over ten meters long crashed down from a height of more than seven meters. The impact was immense, shattering many of the branches upon contact. To Lu Ning's surprise, the falling tree struck all three jungle gray wolves. One was pinned directly under the trunk, while the other two were clipped by the branches. The latter two sustained minor injuries and scurried away, howling in pain. The wolf trapped beneath the trunk let out constant, low whimpers, seemingly calling out to its companions for help.

The two surviving wolves didn't run far; they stood nearby, growling at Lu Ning. She quickly scrambled down from the tree trunk, grabbed her spear, and hurled it toward the wolves. This was the perfect moment to drive them off. Regardless of whether the spear struck home, the aggression would surely terrify them. The spear flew true, narrowly missing one of the wolves. With low growls, both beasts tucked their tails and bolted into the distance.

Lu Ning climbed down fully and used her axe to finish off the trapped wolf.

"My luck is pretty good. I had originally intended to use fire to drive them away; I never expected them to try to scare me down with their howling, only to end up falling themselves," she mused. "It reminds me of a line from Pu Songling: 'How much trickery do beasts possess? It only invites laughter.'"

She retrieved her spear and returned to the camp. Instead of immediately processing the carcass, she began to build a fire.

"Fortunately, I chose a high vantage point, so only the bottom layer of my firewood got wet; the rest is still quite dry."

With that, she grabbed a handful of dry grass and took down the fire-starting tool hanging from a pillar. Her tool, which functioned like a carpenter’s hand drill, made starting a fire much less labor-intensive.

"I thought having a hand drill made fire-starting convenient enough, but this downpour makes it clear that my plans for a fire starter and an oil lamp need to be accelerated."

Lu Ning had originally planned to make a fire starter so she could ignite a flame quickly wherever she went. An oil lamp would be equally useful for illuminating her treehouse. While her phone’s flashlight worked, it couldn't start a fire. She realized she could craft a few "incendiary devices" to keep in her cabin. That way, if other animals came looking for trouble, she would have a means of defense.

"Also, I need to build a thorny wall around the camp, or perhaps a fence of sharpened stakes like a cheval-de-frise," she considered. "There is so much to do. But first, this gray wolf. They say dog meat is a delicacy—I imagine wolf meat is much the same, right?"

"Unfortunately, I haven't fired my pottery yet. Still, the clay blanks I made a few days ago should be dry enough; I'll try firing one of those."

After building up the fire, she dragged the wolf from under the tree to the nearby creek.

"The creek has risen quite a bit and is a bit murky, but that’s good for me. I can just let the parts of the wolf I don't need wash downstream instead of having to dig a pit to bury them."

Because she had spent so much time building her treehouse, she hadn't explored upstream. Otherwise, she might have been able to catch some crabs or small fish to diversify her diet.

"The wolf hide is still intact. I can peel it off and use it as a rug to sleep on; it will definitely be comfortable."

Lu Ning owned a small stone knife, which she sharpened every night, keeping it razor-sharp. She quickly skinned the wolf, then cut off two portions of meat to roast. It was past noon, and lunch was a priority. With fresh wolf meat available, there was no need to keep eating dried mountain rat.

Just as Lu Ning placed the wolf meat over the fire, Xu Yi and Su Keke were breaking open their cassava.

"Daddy, will we have cassava to eat every day?" Su Keke didn't know how long they would be stuck in the jungle, but she felt that as long as there was food, staying for a few years wouldn't be a problem.

"Only eating cassava is too monotonous. We need to find more food and bring back more game. If we run into any wild vegetables, we can dig them up and plant them."

Survival through hunting alone was difficult. Humans had to follow the path of cultivation. History proved this; even nomadic civilizations often went hungry and had to raid agricultural societies. Farming was the true foundation. The Chinese people might not all be hunters, but they had a natural talent for agriculture. In this primeval jungle, slash-and-burn farming was the key.

A person’s daily range of activity was limited, and the game they could catch was even more so. If you hunted everything in one area, you would lose your food source and have to move to a new region, preventing you from returning to your shelter. If Xu Yi were alone, he could survive by hunting and gathering, but he had a little girl with him. Settling down, farming, and raising livestock was the only viable path.

Cassava was easy to grow, and this region appeared to be subtropical, which was ideal for plant growth. The dense canopy limited sunlight on the forest floor, preventing large-scale plant growth, but clearing trees to create fields would make farming relatively simple. The soil here was incredibly fertile, and plants grew quickly. Some vegetables had a growth cycle of only a few dozen days; planting and harvesting wouldn't take much time. Once established, it would mean a continuous food supply. With a surplus of food, they would have the time and energy to craft weapons and study ways to defend against larger predators.

Of course, to farm, they needed a suitable location for a camp—one with abundant water for irrigation. Such a spot wasn't easy to find. After all, it was already the seventh day, and Xu Yi and Su Keke had yet to find a spring, let alone a river.

Just as he was thinking about the water issue, Xu Yi and Su Keke heard a sound.

"Daddy, what is that sound?" Su Keke grabbed Xu Yi's clothes and whispered. However, she didn't look afraid; she looked mostly curious.