Chapter 66 The Trapped Lynx

Chapter 66: The Snared Wildcat

After dealing with the mountain rat and the rabbit, Xu Yi brought the rabbit skin back. The mountain rat skin was too small and lacked any practical value, so Xu Yi simply discarded it, letting the river current sweep it away.

Upon returning to the shelter, Xu Yi first set the rabbit meat to roast. Then, he selected a few bamboo stalks, preparing to build a rack. Su Keke carried things up to the second floor, feeling that the room needed a bit of decoration.

While chopping the bamboo, Xu Yi chatted with the viewers. "You've probably all seen those circular frames used for embroidery in historical dramas; those are called embroidery hoops. Not only can they be used for embroidery, but they can also be used for weaving. I'm going to use bamboo to make a triangular frame that functions similarly to an embroidery hoop. This way, we can stretch out the rabbit skin and prevent it from wrinkling together."

If the rabbit skin shrank and curled up, it would lose all its practical value. Previously, they had obtained another rabbit skin, but it had shrunk into a clump. At that time, conditions were limited, so they hadn't been able to process it properly. Now that they had the conditions, they naturally needed to handle it better.

Once the triangular frame was finished, Xu Yi tanned the rabbit skin with wood ash for half an hour. After half an hour, it would be ready to be fixed onto the triangular frame.

Last night, Xu Yi had already tied together the bamboo door, though he hadn't installed it yet. Now, he brought the bamboo door up to the second floor and fastened it into place. With the door installed, the shelter became much more secure.

After finishing the bamboo door, Xu Yi rested for a short while before heading out to cut small shrubs. He needed to build a long bench on the first floor beneath the treehouse, which required a considerable amount of brushwood. There was plenty of it nearby, so Xu Yi didn't have to walk too far.

While Xu Yi was out cutting brushwood, Su Keke emptied the fine soil out of the wooden bucket. Then, she went down to the river to wash the bucket clean.

The time was just about right to start cooking the fish soup. She felt she should do a bit more work and not leave everything to Xu Yi. Washing things and cooking—these were tasks she knew how to do and had often performed back home in her mountain village.

By the time Xu Yi returned with the brushwood, Su Keke had already finished cooking the fish soup.

"Papa, lunch is ready!"

Xu Yi smiled happily, surprised that Su Keke had already prepared lunch. After washing his hands, Xu Yi and Su Keke began to enjoy a sumptuous midday meal together.

Roast rabbit meat, stone-grilled chicken-leg mushrooms, delicious fish soup, and stream snails. Apart from lacking a staple grain, today's meal was the most lavish they had eaten in these past twelve days.

Unfortunately, Xu Yi had eaten rabbit and mountain rat before and had already received rewards for them, so eating them now yielded no additional rewards.

[Number 1, you're going too far! Are you celebrating a holiday or something?!]

[Brilliant, this is the kind of man I admire. If he were in a relationship, he'd definitely be exceptionally sweet.]

[The Goddess of Fortune is spoiling you guys too much. To be eating this lavishly!]

[This is definitely going to make the challengers next door cry from jealousy. It's way too sumptuous.]

The lunch caused many viewers in the live broadcast room to lose their composure. After all, comparison breeds anguish. Xu Yi and Su Keke were eating far too well, utterly crushing the other challengers. In particular, Keke's fans were spreading the word everywhere, causing an even greater influx of viewers.

However, Xu Yi paid no mind. After he and Su Keke finished enjoying their lunch, Xu Yi continued telling her some stories. He believed that telling Su Keke more stories would enrich her vocabulary while also imparting small moral lessons. After all, Su Keke remained very interested in stories, and Xu Yi certainly didn't lack them.

Today, after he told the story of the Magpie Bridge, many viewers began posting stories in the bullet comments, asking Xu Yi to tell Keke stories suitable for her age.

After telling two short stories, Xu Yi set to work on the long bench. Building it wasn't overly complex; it simply required time. Xu Yi was constructing a fixed bench, anchored directly to the support pillars. After measuring the desired width of the bench, he dug a hole in the ground and buried a post. By tying a crossbeam at the appropriate height between the two posts and laying wooden sticks across it, followed by securing them firmly, he had a sturdy long bench.

It took him three hours to complete the long bench.

"Now we have chairs, and the only thing left is a table. Tomorrow, I'll go look for some suitable thick logs; once I haul them back, we can make a table."

Directly above the back of the bench, the floor of the second floor extended outward by more than a meter. As long as he covered that upper extension with thatch, it would provide shelter from the rain. He could use this space as a firewood room to store kindling. Whether for cooking or defending against wild beasts, fire was essential. It was best if the fire in the camp never went out, which meant they needed to store a large amount of firewood to prevent running out of fuel for cooking when it rained.

With the bench finished, it was still not even 4:20 PM, so Xu Yi went down to the river to cut thatch grass. Whether for the roof or the area above the firewood room, thatch was a necessity. Therefore, the quantity needed was certainly not small.

Su Keke stayed behind in the treehouse and did not accompany Xu Yi.

After cutting the thatch, Xu Yi carried it back to the camp in bundles. He only wrapped up his work as night approached.

For dinner, Xu Yi and Su Keke cooked mountain rat soup. They added some lemongrass to the broth, which gave it a wonderful aroma and made the soup taste exceptionally fresh and delicious.

After dinner, Xu Yi taught her a few characters as usual, accompanied her in practicing for a while, and then, at around nine o'clock at night, the two of them went up to the second floor to prepare for sleep.

Around midnight, a little past twelve, the two of them were jolted awake by the miserable screams of a wildcat.

"Papa, is that wildcat caught in the trap?"

Woken up by the noise, Su Keke curiously asked Xu Yi.

"Mhm, it must have been snared. Its cries sound very anxious."

Xu Yi glanced at the time and saw it was just past midnight, feeling a mild wave of frustration. At this hour, if they let the wildcat wail until morning, how were he and Su Keke supposed to sleep?

If they wanted to sleep, they had to go kill the wildcat right now.

However, his cell phone was out of battery, and the tablet was also dead, leaving him with no way to use them for illumination. Furthermore, he hadn't made any lighting tools like torches or lanterns.

He did have X-ray vision, but he couldn't expose that ability. The trap was set two or three hundred meters away, so he couldn't see the situation over there from here.

Right now, either he and Su Keke endured the wildcat's continuous howling, or he went and made a torch, then headed out to dispatch the wildcat. Only then could he and Su Keke resume their rest.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Yi decided to go downstairs and craft a simple torch. Some of the thatch he had cut today was dry, and it could be bundled together to form a crude torch.