Chapter 54: Every Arrow Finds Its Mark

By nearly noon, Qin Yun had given up on finding deer sinew and finally came across a patch of old mountain grape vines.

"No choice now—I can only use vines for the bowstring. It's a last resort. A bowstring hand-twisted from vines can't compare to one made from deer sinew or wild boar bristles. The draw weight is enough, sure, but in every other respect it falls short."

Qin Yun said a few words to the camera, then picked up his stone knife, cut through the vines, and carried them to a relatively flat slab of rock. He immediately began smashing the outer skin of the vines with a stone.

"What's the streamer going to do? Vines that thick?"

"No way he's just going to use them as-is, right?"

"Is the poster above illiterate? Obviously he's going to use the fibers inside the vine."

Qin Yun saw it and laughed: "It's normal that you don't know—after all, who goes around studying this stuff for fun?"

The viewers who'd been a bit annoyed, hearing this, immediately replied: "Exactly, calling us illiterate. People aren't omniscient—how could anyone know that much?"

"Pfft… knows a little and has to show off. Learn from the streamer."

Qin Yun soothed them a few words, then went on: "See the white stuff inside the vine? That's the fiber. I need to tear it into thin strips, then twist them. Nothing too complicated—I used to know a bit of woodworking, so I can use the technique for twisting hemp rope."

As he spoke, he began tearing at the fibers. One by one the thin white fibers were pulled aside, and soon a pile lay on the ground.

Though he'd just said he'd use the woodworking hemp-roping method, the viewers in the livestream only half-listened and didn't really understand the principle behind it.

"There are lots of ways to twist hemp rope in woodworking—some need tools, some don't. Right now we'll definitely use the simplest method. First, split the white fibers into two bunches. Grip one end with one hand, and with the other hand rub forward along your calf to twist it tight, like this… once you reach the end, let go, and the tensioned fibers will naturally twist together."

In a few words' time, the loose fibers were quickly twisted into a thin cord by Qin Yun—but it wasn't enough yet. He had to keep twisting until it wouldn't break easily.

Soon, a bowstring that met the requirements was finished.

Next he stripped the bark from the purple linden wood, set the bent section of the branch on the rock, braced both ends with his knees, and gently applied force to correct the curve. With his current carving and woodworking skills, he could control the force down to the finest degree.

After finishing the bow body, he used the stone knife to carve notches at both ends of the bow—to secure the bowstring later and keep it from slipping.

"The notch depth should be around 0.5 cm—just enough to catch the bowstring without damaging the bow's Load-bearing structure." With that, Qin Yun seated one end of the bowstring in the notch, then used the lever principle of the tree trunk—pressing one end of the bow against the trunk, pulling the other end of the string with both hands to bend the bow, seating the string in the notch at the other end, and finally lashing the string and bow tightly together with thin vine strips.

He held the finished bow up to the camera and grinned: "How about it? Looking pretty legit, right?"

"Streamer 666, hands-on skills are god-tier."

"Awesome—you're the most capable executor I've ever seen."

"Badass, the streamer is too strong."

"Langlang the tycoon is getting his big bucks ready."

Somewhere in China, in a villa, a young man lounging on a sofa watching the footage on his phone couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement.

"Nice hands-on skills, badass. But it still has to actually work, heh heh…"

Qin Yun tugged the bowstring, studied it carefully, and said: "Bow length 1.2 meters, draw weight isn't much—only 20 kilograms, weight under half a kilo. I'd estimate the effective range at just over twenty meters. Not great, but in the forest that range and draw weight are plenty—dropping a grouse or a hare would be a piece of cake."

When he finished, he slung the bow across his back: "Next up are the arrows. Without arrows, no matter how well the bow and string are made, they're useless."

"Compared to the bow, we'll keep the arrows simple—just use pine wood. As long as we sharpen the tip, that's fine. No promises on quality, as long as it works, it's OK."

Qin Yun picked a few straight, knot-free thin branches, used a stone as a file to smooth both ends, then shaped the head and carved the tail. Six usable arrows were done just like that.

"Since the arrowheads aren't metal or stone, I'm going to test the effect on a leaf."

Qin Yun took down the bow, nocked an arrow, drew the string, and aimed at a leaf ten meters away.

"The streamer looks kinda cool."

"666, perfect form."

"You can tell at a glance the streamer's had practice."

*Whoosh—! *

His right hand released, the arrow flew out and pierced straight through the center of the leaf. The moment landed in the livestream and immediately triggered a wave of 666s. But what they didn't see was Qin Yun's face flushing red as he cursed inwardly: Damn it—I was aiming at the leaf on the left, how did it pierce the one on the right?

He was helpless about it. With something hand-twisted like this, a big deviation was actually normal—as long as he actively compensated for the offset when he really aimed, it would be fine.

Qin Yun then drew and nocked again, and with a *whoosh* shot straight through the leaf on the left.

"Streamer never misses, badass."

"Hand-twisted and it's still not bad—streamer's amazing."

Qin Yun practiced a few more times until he had a solid feel for the bow in his hands. Then he retrieved the arrows and said to the camera: "Alright, ready to go. Whether we eat meat tonight depends on the next few hours."

"My target is wild rabbits, so we need to know where their activity areas are. First, rabbits like the edges of thickets, clearings in the woods, or places with tender grass and weeds for them to feed on."

Qin Yun walked a few hundred meters, then suddenly crouched and looked at the Footprints on the ground: "Second, rabbit footprints are a two-lobed shape, small in front and large in back. The front prints look like little crescents; the rear prints are about three times larger than the front, oblong, with clear toe marks. Look—doesn't it match what I said?"

He walked a bit further and pointed at a few small black pellets: "Guess what this is?"

"Do we even have to guess? Rabbit droppings."

"The streamer thinks we're idiots."

Qin Yun smiled: "That's right—these are wild rabbit droppings. They'll be found around feeding areas or resting spots, so there's a good chance rabbits are active nearby. Next is patience. I need to find a concealed spot, but not too far from the rabbits—otherwise my bow is useless."

Qin Yun looked around and decided to climb up a nearby tree.

In no time, he was up in a tree, half-squatting at the edge of a thick branch, his upper body leaning against the trunk. He aimed the camera at the thicket below, occasionally scanning the surroundings—but for a while he didn't spot any movement.

But he was patient. He glanced at the livestream comments and said softly: "I'm going to stay quiet from here on, so I don't alert the animals."

Honestly, Qin Yun was starving now. The bugs and blueberries he'd eaten in the morning were nowhere near enough. That was why he had to go through all the trouble of making a bow and hunting for meat.

Both his combat skill and his rock-climbing skill had pushed his physical fitness well beyond normal—but at the same time, they made his body's energy demands enormous.

Qin Yun waited quietly, the drone hanging motionless at his side. The original viewers in the livestream had the patience to hunt with him, but many newcomers took one look at the camera pointed motionless at the forest floor and had no interest in sitting around. They came in and left again within minutes.

But with all the coming and going, the viewer count had stabilized at around eight thousand.

And so they waited for forty minutes. Suddenly, from the thicket in the distance came a rising and falling *shwa-shwa*—the sound of vegetation brushing together. Qin Yun's eyes lit up. He focused and saw a plump, grayish-white wild rabbit slowly inching its way toward him from not far away.

Extremely wary, it would stop every few steps to twitch its ears and nose.

As the rabbit drew closer, its figure finally appeared on camera, and the viewers in the livestream, who had been bored stiff, finally perked up.

"Ooh, the protagonist appears."

"Congrats, bunny—you've caught the streamer's eye."

"Such a cute bunny, how could the streamer eat it?"

"Dead GAY upstairs, get lost, will you."

"I've already finished a whole plan, and this rabbit only just showed up — really not very professional."

Regardless, the target had appeared, and Qin Yun instantly perked up. He took the bow and arrow in hand, two fingers of his left hand nocking the shaft, in no hurry to act.

Right now, the wild rabbit was at least twenty-plus meters from him. Although it was within range, the kill wasn't guaranteed. If he missed in one strike, or only wounded it, then he'd go hungry again tonight.

At this moment, he was like a lurking beast, staring fixedly at his prey, waiting for the right moment.

When the wild rabbit hopped in fits and starts into his ten-plus-meter range, he could already clearly see the details on the rabbit's body with the naked eye.

This wild rabbit looked plump — clearly never short on food. Its crimson eyes glanced around, its nose twitching. Honestly, it did look rather cute.

But…

"Sorry, Mrs. Rabbit — you don't want your husband to find out, do you…"

Qin Yun narrowed his eyes, drew the bowstring, took aim, and loosed — all in one fluid motion.

In the livestream, they only heard a 'whoosh' of the string, and saw the wild rabbit that had been turning its head left and right in the frame get flipped clean over, twitching violently. Then a figure dropped down, appearing beside the rabbit.

Watching Qin Yun in the video lift the wild rabbit and grin broadly, the livestream audience instantly erupted.

"Worth the streamer's long wait."

"So badass — from making the bow and arrow to taking down the rabbit, exactly as the streamer predicted."

"Awesome, invincible. If it were me, I'd probably be living on bugs."

"666~666~"

Right at this moment, one Carnival after another began flooding across the entire screen in the livestream — Han Sisi had gifted presents.

Han Sisi: "Streamer's awesome, I tip my hat. Ten Carnivals, a small token of respect."

When Qin Yun was hauling the wild rabbit up the tree, he happened to see the comment and immediately replied: "Thanks to Han Sisi for the Carnivals, thank you."

This round, twenty thousand yuan in hand — more than an ordinary person slaving away in a cubicle punching out code for a whole month.

Qin Yun took down the drone, switched it back to flight mode, and said with a smile: "Good thing everything went smoothly. Next, I need to find a suitable spot for a fire — after all, I can't bring myself to eat raw meat."

Qin Yun stowed the rabbit, looked around at his surroundings, and spread his hands: "This place clearly doesn't meet fire-safety regulations, so I have to find a compliant living spot that does. Otherwise, before the moderators even cut my stream, I'd be invited in for tea."

"As for what counts as a compliant living spot — first, it has to be away from vegetation; second, you have to make sure there are no dry grass, fallen leaves, or low shrubs within ten meters around the spot. Let's go — while there's still daylight, find such a place as soon as possible, set up camp, and then show everyone how I start a fire."

"In the wild, if you don't have a lighter, matches, or any modern tech, you can use the method our Laozu Sect ancestors left us — fire by friction."

"Good lord, he's really going to do fire-by-friction? Can't he just bring a lighter?"

"I've seen videos online — fire-by-friction is brutally hard. You can rub your hands raw and still not get a flame."

"The streamer is just suffering for the sake of it, hahaha."

"Looking forward to the streamer's fire-by-friction."

Walking as he spoke, Qin Yun said: "The prerequisite for fire-by-friction is dryness. If your wood isn't dry, if your tinder isn't dry, then it's all for nothing. Everyone surely knows about fire-by-friction, but a lot of people don't know there are three methods: the hand-drill method, the cord-drill method, and the bow-drill method. The hand-drill method is exhausting and still might not catch, so today I'll use the bow-drill method to start a fire."