Chapter 27: His Thoughts

This bird looks like a giant chicken, at least two meters long, with gray feathers that make it look plump, and it appears to weigh three to four hundred kilograms.

Lin Manzhi: "What is this?"

Mo Lie raised an eyebrow without a hint of emotion, his handsome face like a deity carved from ancient Greek myth.

"This is the food I caught today by setting a trap; it's a kind of small exotic bird called Terror Bird. Its skin and feathers can be kept for winter blankets, and its meat tastes better than Exotic Beast meat."

He didn't say how much effort he spent, first finding fresh meat from a Small Exotic Beast as bait, then lying motionless in the scorching sand and stones for a long time, and relying on his extremely high hunting essence, he timed the perfect strike.

He only wanted to show the Beast Husband's power before the female in front of him.

Mo Lie lowered his eyes, his gaze landing on Lin Manzhi, and said casually, "Zhi Zhi, later I'll roast a Terror Bird leg for you to try; if you like it, I'll hunt another for you next time."

A huge, huge chicken leg!

"Alright, alright, I'm so excited; you're really amazing, you can catch a Terror Bird that flies in the sky!" Lin Manzhi's eyes were sparkling.

Clearly, Lin Manzhi's reaction made the Beast Husband's mouth curl slightly.

His gaze lingered on Lin Manzhi for a moment, then he turned and carried the Terror Bird to the lakeside to process it.

The stone hammer Lin Manzhi wanted was placed at the well opening.

He not only perfectly prepared what the female wanted, but also took good care of the Little Female's appetite.

Lin Manzhi was in a good mood, waiting for Mo Lie to return, and her gaze couldn't help but follow his movements.

A head of slightly long black hair reached his neck, with a fringe of broken hair above a pair of sea‑blue eyes; he wore a round‑collared black robe, giving him a slender, smooth‑muscled figure.

He drew a forest‑white bone dagger from his tightened belt, his slender bony hand gripping the blade, and calmly removed one leg from the Terror Bird.

The act was very bloody, yet coming from him it resembled a professor lecturing in a medical school, exuding a huge allure in its professionalism.

Lin Manzhi suddenly felt her mouth dry, but she didn't want to look away.

Mo Lie lifted his eyes, wiped the blood off his dagger, gave her a faint smile, "Hungry?"

That question made Lin Manzhi's heart race faster, a thudding sound echoed in her ears, as if she had been discovered, the other party's words carrying a double meaning.

Hungry…

Eat him, eat meat?

Flustered, she shifted her gaze to the courtyard, cleared her parched throat, and thought the abstinent handsome man's lethal power was indeed huge.

She suddenly rose from the mud stove, "Hmm… I'll go check the lettuce downstairs."

His steps were a bit hurried; seeing her silhouette disappear at the kitchen doorway, Mo Lie narrowed his eyes slightly, the depth in his gaze well hidden beneath his long lashes.

This time he was meticulous while roasting; the Terror Bird leg was cut into small skin‑on pieces, salted, skewered on a branch and slowly grilled over the fire, the pieces being so small they required frequent turning.

After washing the Shiny Rice in a ceramic pot, he added water and cooked it in an iron pot.

Over there, Lin Manzhi walked slowly down the earthen steps; only the light at the stairwell made the lower level dim and indistinct, the air less breezy, a bit stuffy.

Lin Manzhi stepped downstairs, and her awareness shifted into the space.

She came at least three times a day, showing little interest in the unchanging patch of land before her; she still checked the lettuce's ripening time, fetched lettuce from the storage, and returned to eat with Mo Lie.

The next second, ten dewy lettuce heads appeared on the dim ground downstairs before Lin Manzhi's eyes.

As a modern person, she was used to having vegetables with meals; finding that Mo Lie also didn't dislike this lettuce, she prepared it for almost every meal, considering it a vitamin supplement.

Lin Manzhi walked around outside, and the odd feeling in her heart soon subsided.

Returning to the kitchen, Lin Manzhi already smelled the rich meat aroma and the long‑missed scent of grains.

As she entered the kitchen, Mo Lie had already poured the cooked Shiny Rice into a cup and handed it to her: "Zhi Zhi, you can eat now."

Lin Manzhi cupped it with both hands; eating such a delicacy while hungry, she couldn't describe how satisfied she was.

The size of Mo Lie's grilled meat skewers was just right to hold in hand, one bite per piece, like a kebab, especially tasty.

Lin Manzhi ate the Terror Bird with Shiny Rice porridge; the Terror Bird was a bit tougher than goose meat, but much more tender than Small Exotic Beast meat, with no gamey or strange taste, making it the best meal she had had here.

She devoured two cups of Shiny Rice and ten skewers of grilled meat in one go, more than she ever ate before.

Watching the satisfied female eat beside him, Mo Lie's lashes drooped; it seemed that winning a female's heart required first winning her stomach, which was very useful.

The Terror Bird was quite large; Mo Lie and Lin Manzhi only finished one leg this meal, and the rest, due to the hot weather, couldn't be stored, so Lin Manzhi salted it and hung it outside.

The household now had four to five more days of food; based on the weight of the jerky in the yard, the stored provisions now lasted nineteen days, and Beast Coins remaining were 2179.

Lin Manzhi continued to calculate the family's assets in her mind; she had bought several bags of salt from Ansen City, and at this rate of curing, she would need to buy more salt in a few days.

She also wanted to buy more fabrics and furniture… More importantly, in a few days the lettuce would total two thousand heads, and she planned to go to a big city, hide her identity, and sell them for a high price!

She wasn't as familiar with this place as Mo Lie, turned her head and asked, "Is the blood salt at the Yang Suo Shop expensive? In a few days I want to go to a city; which city is closest to the tribe?"

"Sajin City is a six‑day walk from here," Mo Lie said.

He had been to Sajin City before; compared to the cities in the desert Green State, Sajin City was relatively orderly, and it would be safer for a female as well.

Sajin City?

Lin Manzhi was startled; in the original book, Sajin City seemed to be where the later heroine's Beast Husband came from.

However, she only wanted to buy daily supplies, never dealing with such lord‑level figures, so it didn't concern her.

She thought for a moment, "Then how about we finish the water cellar these days and go to Sajin City before the rainy season?"

Mo Lie agreed, then seemed to recall something, his eyes dimming slightly, and he replied softly, "Alright."

In the afternoon, Mo Lie was in the kiln cave, repeatedly hammering the ground with a stone hammer; his strength was great and the hammer heavy, each strike punching a pit into the once‑flat earth.

He compacted the ground around the pit, hammer after hammer, hearing a dull "bang bang" as the courtyard floor trembled slightly.

In the neighboring courtyard, Xi Tao, along with the Beastfolk observing this courtyard, heard the noise and all turned to look this way.

"What are they doing?"