In the misty, drizzling morning, a layer of white fog draped the green mountains ahead like a light veil, giving them a hazy illusion and making them even more beautiful.
Faced with such a scene, Li Mai could not help but take a deep breath, sighing at how wonderful this place was.
Whether it was the air or the food, everything felt incredibly comfortable, making her unable to resist the urge to claim this land as her own.
Since there were no people around, she decided to first observe the surrounding environment.
With that in mind, Li Mai quickly finished breakfast, took her knife, slung her bow and arrows over her back, and prepared to head off in a random direction.
Seeing her hurried figure leaving, Li Shu quickly called out to remind her,
“Eldest Sister, remember to pick up the arrows after you use them, we only have a few left at home!”
Hearing this, Li Mai, with her back to Li Shu, waved the bow in her hand and continued walking forward.
Speaking of it, in the apocalypse, cold weapons like bows and arrows had been quite useful, especially when combined with certain people’s abilities, which greatly enhanced their effectiveness.
However, they did not suit her very well, so she had always used a knife.
After seeing Li Shu hunt wild animals with a bow earlier, Li Mai realized that bows could have unexpected effects here, so she immediately decided to practice.
As she crossed the mountain peak they had previously passed, a sudden burst of birdsong rang out above her head.
Li Mai quickly took down the quiver from her back, spread her legs shoulder-width apart, gripped the bow with her left hand, and nocked an arrow with her right.
It was her first time shooting, and excitement surged uncontrollably within her, causing her hands to tremble slightly.
“Hoo…”
Li Mai took a deep breath, slowing her breathing. She raised her head, straightened her arm, and aligned her right eye, the arrowhead, and the bird in a straight line.
“Whoosh!” The arrow slid off the bowstring with a sharp sound.
From afar, among the overlapping green mountains, a black line suddenly shot into the sky, cutting through the flock of birds.
In the next moment, the black line pierced a white bird, and both fell toward the ground together.
Li Mai did not expect such a result from her first attempt. Her eyes widened in excitement as she quickly ran toward the direction where the bird had fallen.
The shrubs and grass along the way posed no obstacle to her. Following the trail of blood, she quickly found her prey.
Picking it up, she saw that the arrow had pierced straight through the center of the bird’s body, leaving no chance of survival.
Recalling what Li Shu had said, Li Mai deftly pulled the arrow out of the bird, casually cut a vine, tied the bird’s legs, and hung it on a wooden stick.
She tossed the stick over her shoulder, and the bird below swayed as she continued moving.
With the success of her first attempt, in the time that followed, Li Mai almost cleared out an entire mountain’s worth of birds.
The reason was simple, she was still savoring the taste of roasted snake meat.
It had to be said that the meat of animals in this era was truly delicious. Thinking back to when Li Shu had said bats could not be eaten yesterday, Li Mai felt a deep sense of regret.
Now that she had the time, she naturally would not let the animals in the mountains go.
However, Li Mai could not understand why there were only these creatures with barely any meat on them. If only there were something larger, some “big meat,” it would be perfect.
Perhaps the heavens heard her thoughts. After running around, her stamina had been greatly depleted.
Li Mai took out the vegetable flatbread Li Qiao had prepared, intending to eat a quick meal by the small stream at the foot of the mountain.
The water flowed gently, but she happened to encounter a beast that had come for the same purpose.
The beast had two thick tusks protruding from the corners of its mouth, its snout puffing with heavy breaths. Its brownish-yellow patterned hide stretched over its robust body, making it far from pleasing in appearance.
If it were not smaller than the mutated beasts she had seen in the apocalypse, Li Mai would have thought she had encountered another one.
However, if she had met it in the apocalypse, she would have felt tense. Here, she only felt a desire to eat.
She licked her lips, tossed aside the prey she had just obtained, gripped her new weapon, the bow and arrow, and shot at the beast charging toward her.
“Thud!”
But to her surprise, the arrow did not even pierce the beast’s hide and simply bounced off.
Facing such a situation for the first time, her mind froze for a moment, and she stood there in a daze.
This scene was interpreted by the wild boar as a provocation. It dared to disregard it.
The boar forcefully scraped the ground with its front legs, gathering strength, preparing to deliver a head-on attack to the small two-legged creature.
At this moment, Li Mai was still immersed in the failure of her first shot. Refusing to accept it, she took another arrow and fired again at the beast.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
She used up all the arrows in her hand, yet none of them harmed the beast. Li Mai immediately grew irritated.
The wild boar, on the other hand, could no longer tolerate the provocation of the two-legged creature.
With a powerful push from its hind legs, it charged forward at great speed. With a leap, it lunged directly at her.
In its past battles, this move had never failed.
Thus, at the moment it leaped, the boar had already imagined its victory and how it would boast about it among its kind.
But in the next instant, a sharp pain suddenly came from its abdomen. Looking down, its intestines and organs were already spilling out from a cut in its belly.
Its small eyes stared in disbelief at the scene, and even in death, they did not close.
Nearby, Li Mai looked at the blood slowly sliding down the blade of her knife and remarked,
“The knife suits me better.”
After eating her fill, Li Mai picked up the useless arrows, carried a long string of birds over her shoulder, and dragged a wild boar weighing nearly three hundred jin as she headed back.
The main reason was that she wanted to taste the two kinds of animals she had obtained today, she wondered which one would taste better compared to snake.
With this thought in mind, she unconsciously used her ability on her legs. Before noon, she had already returned to the mountain peak opposite the cave.
Going down the mountain was even easier. Since she had brought back quite a lot, as soon as she descended, Li Shu and Li Qiao on the opposite side noticed her.
Li Qiao excitedly sped up her work and said proudly,
“I was right, Eldest Sister would definitely come back at mealtime.”
Hearing this, Li Shu took a closer look at the figure on the mountain. He noticed that the grass pressed down by Li Mai left behind an even larger trail.
He immediately realized that she must have brought back something substantial. He quickly stopped what he was doing and hurried toward the foot of the mountain.
When Li Shu clearly saw Li Mai’s harvest, his eyes widened in shock.
“A wild boar!”
Their father, an experienced hunter, had once said, “First the boar, second the bear, third the tiger.”
The meaning was that in the mountains, the destructive power of a wild boar was second only to bears and tigers. This showed just how dangerous wild boars were. Even seasoned hunters would not dare face one alone.
Yet now, their eldest sister had brought back a wild boar, nearly causing Li Shu’s heart to stop from fright.
He hurried forward, carefully examining Li Mai from head to toe, afraid that she had been injured in the fight.
In the deep mountains, without medicine or doctors, an injury could very well mean death.
Li Shu did not want her, who had finally survived, to disappear again.
While he was worrying, Li Mai clearly heard what Li Shu had shouted and realized that her biggest catch today was called a wild boar.
Her immediate reaction was to ask,
“Wild boar? Can it be eaten? What’s the difference between it and a regular pig?”
If she remembered correctly, many dishes in the recipe books used pork as an ingredient.
If the two were the same species, then making the dishes she wanted in the future would become much easier.
Hearing this, Li Shu did not know how to respond to his straightforward eldest sister. With a blank expression, he said,
“Yes, it can be eaten, and it tastes good. There’s not much difference overall, the meat of a wild boar is a bit tougher, but some people prefer it.”
“Good. Then you handle the wild boar, I want to eat it. Of course, I’ll share some with you.”
Li Mai made the decision generously, her confident tone as if she were bestowing a favor.
Over the past few days, Li Shu had already grown used to this way of speaking.
Looking at the wild boar, which was four or five times his size, he tentatively tugged at the vine tied to it. The boar did not move at all, and he swallowed nervously.
Catching a glimpse of Li Mai about to leave just like that, he awkwardly called out,
“Eldest Sister, could you help… help move the boar to the riverside? I’ll process it there, it’ll be more convenient.”
Hearing this, Li Mai turned her head to look at Li Shu. Seeing how little flesh he had on him, she seemed to realize that his strength was too weak.
She casually said, “With that small build of yours, you need more training.”
After speaking, she grabbed the vine effortlessly and gave it a pull. The wild boar immediately moved along with her.
Only the embarrassed Li Shu was left behind, his face flushed red. But thinking that he was the only man in the family, he felt a surge of determination.
After encouraging himself, he returned to the cave, took a knife, and headed toward the riverside.
Seeing that the wild boar was being properly handled, Li Mai prepared to head back, then remembered the pile of birds.
She asked, “How should these birds be handled?”
“They can probably be handled the same way as chickens. Eldest Sister can go back and ask Little Sister.”
Li Shu replied while skillfully cutting up the boar.
Hearing that the birds could also be eaten, Li Mai immediately became interested and quickly headed back to where she had been earlier.
Then, carrying the long string of birds, she walked toward where Li Qiao was.
When Li Qiao saw the birds slung across her back, enough to cover her entire figure, she froze for a moment in disbelief that this was just the result of one morning.
At the same time, she felt a faint worry about how long it would take to process so many birds.
Li Mai did not notice her concern and said,
“Li Shu said you know how to handle these birds, they can all be eaten.”
“I do, but it will take quite a long time.”
Li Qiao swallowed nervously, already imagining how messy it would be to pluck all those feathers.
“What happens if it takes too long?” Li Mai asked, puzzled.
“If it takes too long, the birds might spoil, and then they won’t be edible anymore.”
“No!”
Li Mai could not tolerate the idea of her hard-earned prey going to waste. She urgently asked,
“Then how can we speed it up? How do we finish processing them as quickly as possible?”