After following the forest for two days, Ye Qing hadn’t found a single thing to eat.
As far as the eye could see, everything was withered and yellow. The ground was covered with dried leaves that rustled beneath her feet. At least there was one advantage—she didn’t have to worry about stepping on snakes or insects.
The shoes on her feet had finally been broken in. Walking over dead branches, rotting leaves, and thorny undergrowth no longer hurt.
The daytime sun was unbearably fierce, so Ye Qing had completely turned into a night owl. She only traveled in the early morning, at dusk, and around midnight. At noon, she would find a shady, elevated spot to rest and sleep.
With food and water and no heavy bags to carry, she even had the leisure to appreciate the mountain scenery—if this monotonous sea of yellow could even be called scenery.
She still hadn’t disposed of the two corpses. Deep down, she felt there was more to the matter than met the eye, so she decided to carry them farther away and deal with them only after she had completely left the territory of Sihe Town.
On the fifth day, while resting, Ye Qing took out the map and discovered that she had already left Sihe Town’s jurisdiction.
Sihe Town lay in the northwestern region of the Great Yan Dynasty. Farther north were Sanglin County and Anning Prefecture.
Her current location was near Qingniu Town. If she went south from Qingniu Town and crossed the mountains, she could reach Anning Prefecture in less than two months.
If she headed instead for the nearer Sanglin County and traveled along the official road, one month would be enough.
After carefully calculating the distances, Ye Qing decided to play it by ear.
If the county remained peaceful, she would take the official road. But if the county was also overrun by bandits and soldiers, she might as well continue living like a wild woman in the mountains.
However, after all her calculations, she discovered an even more pressing problem.
She had already been in the mountains for five days. Forget rivers—she hadn’t even seen a puddle!
Only half a jar of water remained, and Ye Qing couldn’t help but feel anxious.
The surrounding trees were still withered and dry. Only a few exceptionally drought-resistant species clung stubbornly to life, but even their branches and leaves were curled and lifeless.
Fortunately, heaven never seals off every path.
Beneath a shady rock crevice, she discovered several clusters of extraordinarily tenacious lichen. Grayish-green and clinging to the stone, they looked like mold unless one examined them closely.
She had heard that this stuff tasted about the same as chewing on shoe soles.
But it could fill the stomach.
Ye Qing carefully scraped it off with her dagger. After a long while, she had gathered only a palm-sized pile.
Better than nothing. Better than starving to death.
At night, she no longer dared sleep beneath trees or out in the open. Who knew what might leap out of the grass and make her its midnight snack?
She specifically chose concealed places like tree hollows, rock crevices, or large forks in trees. At least they gave her some peace of mind.
That morning, Ye Qing discovered a gigantic dead tree. The trunk was completely hollow, large enough to fit two of her inside.
When she crawled in, she was pleasantly surprised to find a broken beehive.
The bees had long since disappeared. Inside remained only a thin layer of dark brown crystallized wild honey, mixed with dried bee pupae and bits of wax.
Ye Qing carefully scraped it off with her dagger and obtained a small lump of sticky sweetness.
Honey was a high-calorie food, and bee pupae were rich in protein.
This was simply heaven-sent nourishment!
She wrapped the lichen and honey separately in large, clean leaves and stored them in her space.
She also noticed that the yellow in this area wasn’t quite as deep and that there was even a hint of green.
That meant there had to be water nearby!
Just as she was preparing to widen her search, a faint rustling came from the dry grass behind her.
Ye Qing instantly froze, every hair on her body standing on end.
She slowly tightened her grip on the dagger and slightly turned her body, glancing over from the corner of her eye.
The yellowed grass swayed gently, and a long grayish-brown figure emerged.
It was a badger.
The creature wasn’t particularly large, weighing perhaps forty to sixty pounds, but it looked extremely robust. Its fur was sleek and glossy, making it stand out all the more during this terrible drought.
Ye Qing’s eyes lit up.
This wasn’t a badger at all.
It was walking meat!
The mere thought of meat made her hunger intensify.
The badger also noticed Ye Qing and immediately stopped. Its small black eyes watched her warily. Its nose twitched constantly, its forelegs lowered slightly, and a low growl rumbled from its throat.
Badger meat!
The thought struck Ye Qing like lightning.
If she could hunt this badger, she would have enough meat for the next few days. Better yet, badger fat was an excellent remedy for burns and frostbite.
But the danger was equally great.
Badgers were fierce by nature. Their claws were sharp, and their bite force was astonishing.
Given her current physical condition and lack of medical care, even a single scratch or bite could prove fatal.
Fight?
Or not?
As Ye Qing hesitated, the badger seemed to have completed its own assessment. Apparently deciding that the skinny two-legged creature posed no threat, it swaggered toward a faintly visible burrow nearby.
An opportunity!
Ye Qing’s heart instantly began pounding like a drum.
She quickly observed the terrain and confirmed that she was downwind and that the badger had not yet entered a fully alert state.
In her previous life, the core of hand-to-hand combat had always been speed, precision, and ruthlessness.
The same principles applied to beasts.
She set down her belongings and gripped her dagger tightly, coiling like a fully drawn bow.
The moment the badger was only a few steps from its burrow, she suddenly burst forward in a zigzag pattern and simultaneously let out a sharp shout to distract it.
Startled, the badger turned and swiped with its claws.
Ye Qing twisted aside, and her dagger slashed across its abdomen.
As the badger lunged at her in pain, she kicked up sand into its eyes.
This dirty trick from street fights worked wonders against beasts as well.
The badger instinctively turned its head and shut its eyes.
Ye Qing slammed into it with all her strength, knocking it off balance and sending it crashing to the ground.
Before it could struggle to its feet, she pounced on it and pinned it down.
Her left hand clamped its head in place while her right hand drove the dagger hard into the vulnerable spot behind its ear where the neck bone was thin.
Its howl ended abruptly.
The badger twitched a few times and then lay still.
Warm blood flowed down the dagger, staining Ye Qing’s hand red.
She collapsed to her knees beside the corpse, gasping for breath, her entire body trembling.
This time, it wasn’t fear.
It was the exhaustion that followed an adrenaline rush and an indescribable exhilaration that belonged to a hunter.
She had done it.
Alone.
With nothing but a dagger, she had slain a fierce wild beast.
More importantly, this battle had made her realize something completely.
Whether dealing with beasts or with vicious people as cruel as wolves and tigers, hesitation meant defeat.
Only ruthlessness ensured survival.
Fast.
Accurate.
Merciless.
Strike directly at the vital points.
That was the true path to surviving desperate situations.
At that moment, Ye Qing’s hunting skills underwent a qualitative transformation.
From this day forward, whether man or beast, anyone who wanted to bully her would first have to weigh the value of their own life.
After a while, Ye Qing forced herself to calm down.
The smell of blood would soon attract other predators.
She had to act quickly.
Suppressing her discomfort at the heavy scent of blood, she began butchering the badger.
Skinning it was a technical skill, and she did a rather crude job of it, but she still managed to obtain a mostly intact badger pelt.
She cut the meat into strips, storing most of it in her space to keep fresh while leaving only a small portion outside.
The badger fat was carefully collected into her clay jar, and she kept all the edible organs as well.
Everything else she left behind as bait.
By the time she had finished, the sun had already begun to sink toward the west.